The Foundation series is far from the books of Isaac Asimov. But it was filmed incredibly beautifully

On September 24th, The Foundation, starring famed screenwriter David S. Goyer (The Dark Knight trilogy), kicked off on Apple TV + streaming service. The project was filmed based on the legendary cycle of the same name of Isaac Asimov's novels. Back in 1966, when the writer released the first three volumes, he was awarded the Hugo Prize for the best fantasy series of all time. Later, the author created two sequels and two prequels to the main plot.

Asimov's books greatly influenced the development of literary fiction. But they were never transferred to the screens because of the too large-scale plot. The Apple TV + project only confirms that Foundation, in its original form, simply cannot be turned into a film or a TV series. The authors of the adaptation changed literally all the components, leaving only a general theme. Therefore, in order to enjoy viewing, it is better to completely forget about any connection with the novels. Fortunately, this is not too difficult to do.

Familiar motives in a new reading

Gifted girl Gaal Dornik (aspiring actress Lou Llobell) arrives on the planet Trantor, the capital of the Galactic Empire. She must join the famed scientist Gary Seldon (Jared Harris) in his work on the science of psychohistory. The new mentor tells the heroine that the greatest state will soon fall and civilization will face millennia of chaos. But they can shorten the period of troubled times if they create a global archive of knowledge - the Foundation project. Emperor Brother Day (Lee Pace) considers such reasoning to be heresy, but certain events change his opinion.

In the future, the action jumps forward for years and tells about the settlers on the planet Terminus, in particular about Salvor Hardin (Lea Ferguson). The heroes discover a gigantic artifact in a new place, which no one can approach, and are faced with an attack by aggressive Anacreons.

The plot of the action, that is, the first of ten episodes, largely copies the beginning of the book "Foundation". But very soon only familiar names and locations remain of the original. And even then with a lot of liberties. But the authors of the series can hardly be blamed for the fact that they do not transfer the story from the novel to the screen. There are two reasons for this.

First, the scale of the events. Isaac Asimov's books tell of political intrigue on many planets. This is not even the level of "Dune", where the action is still tied to the same characters. Only the first volume of "Foundation" covers five time periods (a total of 155 years), it describes completely different worlds, characters and events.

If you transfer this structure to the series, then literally every two episodes you will have to change the entire cast and surroundings. In the book, Gaal Dornik appeared only briefly in the introduction. And even the bright story of Salvor Hardin took only about a quarter of the first novel. By the way, yes, in the series, both characters were made women.

Secondly, surprisingly, on such a scale, the action would seem too boring. The book Foundation is more about politics and philosophy than fiction. Heroes weave global intrigues, overthrow governments and prevent wars. But more often it happens simply in the form of dialogues. It is unlikely that anyone would begin to shoot a large-scale series about the Galactic Empire, in which the characters will just sit in armchairs and talk most of the time.

At first, the on-screen Foundation resembles a filler for the main story - a plot about secondary characters that complements the main action. The creators talk about Gaal and Salvor, but devote more time to their formation and experiences. Azimov spoke very little about the personal lives of the heroes, he was interested in the very development of civilization.

Because of this approach, changing the sex of the heroes does not seem to be a very fair move. If the original story had been preserved, it would have made no difference. And so it seems that men here perform exclusively business functions, and emotions are allowed only for women.

But then, literally with every important scene, it becomes clear that the authors of the series do not plan to maintain even the general direction of action. The fates of the main characters, their intersections with each other and even the principles of fighting enemies differ from the book's original source.

Therefore, from about the second or third series, the on-screen "Foundation" turns into a separate work, which somehow got the names and some ideas of Asimov.

Emotional fantasy drama

If the original books can be safely attributed to science fiction, then the version from Apple TV + would like to be called a space opera, or even fantasy. Here, even the very project "Foundation" is remembered too rarely. Much more time is devoted to dynamics, emotions and unusual worlds.

For example, a lot is said about the life of the Emperor. To be more precise - the Emperors, since the authors here too have their own, very strange, vision of history, tied to cloning and a change of power. A significant part of this storyline is devoted to reflection and trying to understand your purpose. And here the talent of Lee Pace is revealed - an excellent actor, usually flickering only in small series and on supporting roles in films.

With the Salvor Hardin part, things are worse. The story about the first settlers on a new unknown planet looks like an interesting one, and the fate of the heroine itself turns out in a very unexpected way. But the confrontation with the invaders from Anacreon turned out to be too stereotyped. The problem here is both in the motivation of the aggressors and in their behavior: for a significant part of the action, they simply stand still.

But the authors add an unusual detective twist associated with Gary Seldon himself. Alas, Harris has too little screen time, and yet he looks like the perfect embodiment of the character. There are even romantic lines for fans of melodramas. These parts may seem far-fetched, but they are spelled out according to all the laws of serial plots.

With the proper success of Season 1, Apple TV +'s Founding has a chance to become a massive saga. Although in the future, the authors will probably have to change the experiences of the main characters to more exciting events. After all, so far this is a too slow story about several heroes looking for their place in life.

Just a beautiful TV series

A separate advantage of the project is an impressive video sequence. It was already clear from the trailers that the creators had invested in the elaboration of the scenery and computer graphics. David S. Goyer said that only the first two episodes spent more budget than some of his feature films.

First of all, they devote a lot of time to the beautiful landscapes of fantastic planets. A separate pleasure is shooting water. Moreover, the authors do not make the setting just a background: sometimes the action almost freezes so that the viewer can admire the next special effect accompanied by a heroic soundtrack. In contrast to Azimov, who described various technologies of the future very sparingly (which is logical for a 1940s novel), here the heroes use the most unusual flying machines and holographic panels.

But most of all, the scale is felt in the part dedicated to the Emperor. Here, literally every scene is tried to be shown as pretentiously as possible: at least dinner, at least the trial of heretics. And they concentrate on any explosions and destruction even for too long.

Of course, to some, this may seem like an attempt to divert attention from a mediocre plot, or just wasting time: each episode lasts almost an hour. But if the conditional channel The CW or SyFy with lower budgets were engaged in the implementation of the project, then these advantages would be lost. And so at least you can watch the imagination of the designers.

One should not expect either the scale or the philosophy of Isaac Asimov from the television "Foundation". Only the main ideas and characters of the books got into the series, and even then with significant changes. But if we abstract from the original, the project looks beautiful, albeit a standard fantasy with bright characters and a good development perspective. True, so far the project can hardly be called outstanding. It's just a good story to watch over dinner.