Five years ago, I allowed myself to contemplate the possibility of
Isaac Asimov's
Foundation Saga making it to television. Unless further delayed by Covid19,
Apple TV expects to start streaming its
Foundation episodes in 2021.
Shorten the Darkness
Foundation is the story of a collection of
pulp magazine stories from the 1940s that were almost forgotten. Then, after a long dark age, Asimov finally continued the Foundation Saga, linking events in the downfall of the Galactic Empire to his famous robot character,
Daneel.
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| Will Hollywood mess this up? |
But seriously, I do hope that positronic robots play a major role in this television show. However, I'm not expecting anything watchable from a television project run by
a comic "book" fan.
Had someone, with no explanation, simply shown me the teaser video for
Foundation, I never would have guessed that it was about Asimov's Foundation. I don't mind if Apple starts with the idea behind Asimov's story and goes in a new direction, but I wish they would go in a direction that will not turn Asimov's story on its head (I'm looking at you,
I, Robot).
Spaghetti Leprechaun Western Space Opera
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| A Roman Empire with Space Pasta |
I admit, I'm a fan of space elevators, but there are no space elevators in the future of Asimov's Galactic Empire.
So where are the spaceships moving through the galaxy by means of hyperspace jumps?
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| Going into Hyper-Hollywood Space? |
Maybe the image shown above was put in the teaser just to look cool. I don't know what it is, so I'm imagining it is a depiction of a spaceship going to or from hyperspace.
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| Trip to the center of the GaLAXy. |
Maybe in David Goyer's Galactic Empire there is not much demand for spaceships and most people just dress like monks and get around in rowboats.
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Who needs light-sabers when you
have a futuristic LED rifle? |
I saw a rumor that Asimov's daughter has a role in this production. It will be interesting to hear if she actually gets to veto some of the absurd ideas that Goyer's team tries to cram into
Foundation. And hopefully, the silly ToysЯUs flashlight gun shown to the right will look totally cool after the CGI is layered on.
Who knows how people will dress thirty thousand years from now? I hope it is not like this (above).
Mentalics. Five years ago I wrote, "A Foundation television show needs to flawlessly show 'mentalic mind
control' and telepathic communication between Second Foundationers and
positronic robots like Daneel." Maybe for TV they decided to fuse Daneel and Dors "Tiger Woman" Venabili into one robot played by Laura Birn. It will be interesting to see if they dare to depict a sexual relationship between Hari Seldon and his beloved robotic Tiger Woman.
Related Reading: Season One of Foundation.
Next: The Golden Age of Space Opera
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