Quote of the day:
There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”
—Isaac Asimov
To quickly review, on August 1, 1941, when Isaac Asimov was 21 years old, he took the subway to John Campbell’s office as he usually did once a week. But he needed a story idea to pitch to the editor of Astounding Science Fiction.
On the way down I racked my brain for a story idea. Failing, I tried a device I sometimes used. I opened a book at random and then tried free association, beginning with whatever I first saw.
The book I had with me was a collection of the Gilbert and Sullivan plays. I opened it to Iolanthe—to the picture of the Fairy Queen throwing herself at the feet of Private Willis, the sentry. Thinking of sentries, I thought of soldiers, of military empires, of the Roman Empire—of the Galactic Empire—aha!
So he pitched a story about “the fall of the Galactic Empire and the return of feudalism, written from the viewpoint of someone in the secure days of the Second Galactic Empire”. Having read Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire at least twice, Asimov felt he could make use of that. Campbell rejected the idea of a single story but wanted a series of stories, and so The Foundation series was born, a series of novelettes and short novels that Asimov wrote throughout that decade.
Asimov grew tired of the series because each story had to stand on its own, which meant he had to somehow work in the preceding stories’ background into each succeeding story and it became more and more complex. Twice he tried to stop but Campbell wouldn’t have it, going so far as to force him to change the ending of one the stories in order to eke out at least one more story.
Eventually the stories were published into three books which collectively became known as The Foundation Trilogy, which is how I got to know it in the early 60s, and in the mid-60s, the science fiction community honored Asimov by awarding him with a special Hugo for the Best All-time Series. Years later, based on readers clamoring for more, his publisher enticed him to continue the series, so he added both sequels and prequels.
Several attempts have been made over the years to turn the Foundation series into a film or a series of films, but they all came to nothing until David S. Goyer convinced Apple to let him take a crack at it, and the result is, so far, three seasons of Foundation. Apple fired Goyer at the start of filming of season three because of cost overruns, or something. Apple, the world’s wealthiest corporation, was upset about a few million extra dollars? Huh.
Anyway, I just finished watching the third season.
Asimov himself knew that if the series were ever filmed there would have to be a lot of changes. The books, as compelling as they are, mostly consist of people sitting around and talking politics. Almost all the action occurs off-stage, so to speak, and characters merely talk about what just happened. There are a few exceptions, but they are exceptional.
The first episode of the first season, was pretty much a dramatization of the first story of the first book of The Foundation Trilogy. Yes, there were a lot of changes, plus lots of gee-whiz special effects to keep the children watching, but overall, it was recognizable as Asimov’s Foundation.
But that’s where it ended. After that the series took off in its own directions and as far as Asimov’s books were concerned, there were a few character names and maybe an easter egg or two.
So I accepted that this really was not Asimov’s Foundation, it was Goyer’s, based very very loosely on Asimov’s books. I liked some things in it, disliked a few others, and really loathed some other things.
Then the third season came along. Initially I didn’t expect much, but after watching the first episode, it looked like it was sort of on track to loosely follow the overall shape of Asimov’s plot involving the Mule, probably the most famous villain that Asimov ever created. There were several recognizable characters doing things that Asimov had them do, and as the season progressed, it seemed like perhaps the show was going to do the double whammy of Asimov’s double twist ending, or perhaps a reasonable facsimile thereof.
Nope. It substituted its own completely idiotic twist ending, which made zero sense. I saw one commentator call it a “shocking twist”. No, it was a fucking stupid twist.
No, I’m not going to spoil it.
Asimov’s daughter Robyn is listed as one of the producers, so I’m wondering how much input she has in the adaptation. I’m guessing probably very little, if any.
I can imagine three reasons why Goyer and company would depart so radically from the Asimov original:
- Asimov’s plots are so widely known that Goyer wanted to give those familiar with them an opportunity to be surprised.
- Asimov’s plots are so widely known that spoilers from them would be posted on social media.
- Goyer wanted to preserve Asimov’s plots and twists so that those who read the books after seeing the series would still have surprises in store for them.
Yeah, that third one is kinda iffy, but I can understand the reasoning for the first two, if that’s why he did it. Understanding the reasoning for making changes is one thing, but I still don’t like the actual results.
But while I’m on the subject I might as well unload on some of the things that I really hate about the series in general.
For example, whoever designed Demerzel’s costume? I think the directors realize how ridiculous she looks, because they usually only show her from the waist up. It was difficult to find a shot showing the costume below the waist.
And the whole “genetic dynasty” nonsense. Every time one of the Cleons comes on screen I start to yawn. Well, ok, this season Lee Pace got to show off all the pumping iron he did to get ready for the role. Still, eye candy aside, the story lines involving the Cleons are tiresome.
Then there’s the way they treat Hari Seldon. There’s a minor spoiler here in case you haven’t seen the show and are planning to. So don’t read the next paragraph.
Hari Seldon dies in each season. Yeah, it gets old very fast.
By the way, I happened to see some commentary that the show might be laying the groundwork for a spinoff series about the robot wars. I doubt that very much.
But then a lot of the commentary that I’ve seen is pretty silly.
But then so is the series, so what should I expect?