Sometimes wishes are fulfilled; but not because it works asking great imaginary friends or an impersonal and indifferent universe. For what interests us here, the unquestionable voracity of the film industry, which unites producers with an appetite for banknotes and artists with ideas, sometimes talent and something to say, favors those of us who wanted to see an adaptation in television format of the absorbing novels of Isaac Asimov. And Apple TV +, the same platform streaming what has also given us The Morning Show (Jay Carson and Kerry Ehrin, since 2019), has answered our lay prayers with Foundation (David S. Goyer and Josh Friedman, since 2021).
This is a great joy for those of us who love the work of the Russian-American writer, whose books we gobble down as if there were no tomorrow. However, our longing now is that they get to transfer to the small screen their seven novels at least: Foundation (1951), Foundation and Empire (1952), Second Foundation (1953), The limits of the Foundation (1982), Foundation and Land (1986), Prelude to the Foundation (1988) and Towards the Foundation (1993).
But what could really fill us with pleasure is to continue with prequels include the other nine volumes that Isaac Asimov himself considered part of the Foundation Series: the Earth cycle (1950-1985) and the Galactic Empire Trilogy (1950-1952). Will David S. Goyer (Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice), Josh Friedman (War of the Worlds) and Apple TV + what do you have to have to make it happen anyway? Based on the results of your efforts, we would love for it to be so.
The great visual spectacle of ‘Fundación’
The first thing he promises us Foundation from the very beginning of chapter “The Emperor’s Peace” (1×01) is that it is about a splendid visual experience: the images of space and extraterrestrial nature that we see give a great pleasure to the eyes of the spectators.
But not only those, but those of the technological virguerias of science fiction and futuristic architecture are also capable of leave us breathless by its magnificence and detail, that we must thank Rory Cheyne (Hannibal) for their exceptional production design, to the artistic team of Adorjan Portik (Dune), to Maryann Adas (The Handmaid’s Tale) and John Neligan’s (Peaky blinders) for the sets and that of Arif Akca (Cruella) in the visual effects.
Hearing is another of the senses benefited by the work of the composer Bear McCreary (The walking dead), which gives us a score like those of the classic epic cinema orchestras, full of emotions and meaning and understanding of the enormous spectacle that he supports with his vibrating string.
To try to guarantee the solvency of all the above and what we will address later, David S. Goyer and Josh Friedman have counted on the British Rupert Sanders, a filmmaker from the big screen who has jumped from directing two feature films, Snowwhite and the legend of the hunter (2013) and Ghost in the Shell: Soul of the Machine (2017), at its premiere in television fiction with Foundation.
From persuasion to awe
On the other hand, “The Emperor’s Peace” generates different questions very soon and, thus, stimulate our curiosity. It makes us know the character of the main characters with great cleanliness, without artifice or annoying underlining; all of which fit with circumspection and, which is precise, with the English phlegm that Isaac Asimov used to choose for his creatures; both heroic and antagonistic. And, as in his novels, about the Foundation and the rest, the plot advances, above all, through interesting conversations.
The scenes in which David S. Goyer and Josh Friedman, who have written this episode, raise the implications of the fascinating psychohistory, and thus the main plot line in this Apple TV + series, turn out to be persuasive in their approach to concepts and dramatically sound.
Because the dialogues are eloquent, the audiovisual planning, adequate and effective, and the interpreters meet to heart with what is expected of them; from Jared Harris (The curious Case of Benjamin Button) like the mythical Hari Seldon or Lou Llobell (Voyagers) playing Gaal Dornick to Lee Pace (Halt and Catch Fire) as Emperor Cleon I, Laura Birn (Walking among the graves) in the shoes of Demerzel or Alexander Siddig (Game of Thrones) as attorney Xylas.
Turns occur with pure narrative logic; And, before the last one, and if we had already been enthusiastic about the splendor and barbarity of the futuristic environments, the exorbitant catastrophe that we are witnessing, almost with the spirit of that naughty boy who is dedicated to trampling the sand castles that someone makes in the beach, it can’t help but overwhelm us. And wish to continue with chapter after chapter of Foundation, hoping that they amaze us again like this.