News Foundation Adaptation Series Officially Ordered by Apple

Apple has posted a brief making-of video with shots of sets, costumes, and miniatures.

 

I just saw episode 9.

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Brother Dusk to the rescue. It was awesome to see the imperial military in action. The empire maybe in decline but their military is still very well trained.

 

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When all the different groups are together at the vault I was thinking, 'Finally! They are going to sit down and have a meeting!'

I don't really feel like this is all THAT different from the book aside from the very obvious. The same events thematically happen, with the addition of creating characters to pad out some of those themes.... just with a lot more guns and punching and emotion porn. The story that the production team wants to tell through the lens of Foundation's story is not at all a bad one to me, and repurposing characters and traits to fill in narrative structure gaps, and then figuring out how or why they made the changes they did...that is totally an interesting part of this experience for me. Foundation has so many characters that do the same things over and over again that it's sensible that the show would want to create through-line characters to maintain a "single" story.

Like the theory that current Dawn will end up being The Mule...I love it! Gaal as The Mule, not so much, but I'm guessing she will be the narrative bridge between the clueless First Foundation and whatever happens next century and not The Mule.

 

Well, I liked it. I mean it has many surprises, although I knew something was odd the moment brother Dusk showed the tricked mural. I mean why didn't he arrest the kid right away? Not to mention that all that complex artistry seems a bit of an overkill just to confirm someone's color blindness (he obviously already suspected it beforehand). So it definitely looked like a plan within a plan. When faux dawn made it plain that he didn't know about the exposition of the colorblindness, it was obvious that he was just as tricked as the first one...

The "resolution" of the crisis seems a bit anti-psychohistoric. I mean it rested on the villain being stopped by an arrow through her throat a few seconds before she'd've blown up the time vault with her lasers (or whatever these are called). The science of psychohistory is supposed to be a bit more solid than that not to mention not depending on the vagaries of individuals. But hey! It's an adaptation, a loose one, a very loose one. Just keep that in mind and everything will be fine.

I bet next week will be nothing but a build-up to a heart-stopping cliffhanger that will have people crave for season two.

 

The showrunners seem prefer the "great-man" theory of history. That goes against Psychohistory, which is more like a mathematical form of Marxist historiography. It's exactly why a mutant like the Mule is a danger to the Seldon plan. The vault on Terminus appears to have preserved Seldon as an alpha-level simulation who is prepared to intervene where necessary. He's not just a recording to tell the Foundationers why everything got resolved in the last crisis due to highly probable historical necessity.

Of course, we know Asimov realised the shortcomings of Psychohistory - hence the Second Foundation and then the other elements he borrowed from his other works as sequels and prequels. The reimagining is fine for the most part and the episodes are improving in quality again.

 

I am not complaining mind you. I am just saying that it's not Asimov's psychohistory. I mean how can you make calculations resulting in predictions about something so dependant on individuals? That's more voodoo than science IMO.

I know that psychohistory is not real science and that it's likely impossible the way it's been described but nothing in the TV series even suggests that any of what's has been happening is the result of complex calculations. I mean you get better predictions in Las Vegas... Gaal's one-hundred-year sleep is bizarre... It means she'll be likely present for the next crisis or the one after that.

Could she be the Mule? Well, why not? She's already proven that like the Mule she doesn't give a Rat’s Patooty about the Seldon plan. In fact, can we be sure that there is a Seldon plan? For all, we know it could just be a bluff (in that universe) and based entirely on the interventions of Seldon's interactive hologram.

 

I'd prefer it if they took Psychohistory seriously and devised plots where the characters found that the plan worked out exactly as Hari's recording in the Vault described - their actions being more forced by historical necessity rather than individual volition. The psi powers of the Mule derailing the plan would then be much more shocking to them. At the moment, it seems like Psychohistory means zip without constant intervention.

 

Exactly.

 

Crisis isn't over yet, they probably still have to work out the whole working together thing and fix the big doom ship before the Empire responds to crazy chick blowing up one their ships with their usual beat them with a stick plan.

 

Can't really argue with that, it would elevate this show above typical high-concept expensive prestige sci-fi series to something a bit more special compared to all the rest.

 

That would allow not only Selon's mind to survive for centuries but also to be present in as many places a necessary at once. In fact, the whole second foundation could be a bunch of Seldon holograms scattered throughout the galaxy.

 

I think it is. I believe the next episode will be a plot leading to a cliffhanger. Expect something big.

 

I bet Jared Harris only gets paid one fee though.

 

Well, the same goes for Brother Dawn, Day, and Dusk. (I mean the actors of course).

 

Coincidentally, Harris is the middle son of Richard Harris's three sons.

 

It's an entertaining enough sily space opera, but I too wish they'd actually delve into how psychohistory works. I guess that's not the show. Felt like there were way too many twists in the Cleon story this week, just felt silly by the end. And Salvor, who is always hyper competent, failing to properly secure Phara just so they could have one finally showdown was really dumb (at least Phara's dead now!)

But it's entertaining enough to watch.

 

I felt more like it was starting to tie together the loose ends from the last few episodes.

 

Tied together but using quite a contrived and not terribly convincing knot. The CGI of the Thespin ships getting blown up near the time vault also looked pretty unconvincing. I guess we should get to hear what the Terminus version of Seldon has in mind for them, which will be completely contrary to how things worked in the original trilogy. However, next week will probably be mostly about Brother Day handles the situation with Dawn, Dusk, and the faction that is trying to overthrow their dynasty.

I doubt we'll see Gaal Dornick again until the crisis involving either Korell or General Bel Riose, probably the former spiced up a bit. Whether Hober Mallow will be a new character or an existing character forced into that role remains to be seen. I do wish they'd move things on a bit faster. A whole season devoted to the Korellian crisis could be incredibly dull.

I do understand that the showrunners are trying to maintain a core ensemble cast across the series to avoid it seeming like an anthology but, to me, this does appear to destroy the sense that the series is meant to be spread over hundreds of years.

 

The Cleon clones seem like a good metaphor of how many organizations stagnate because they have essentially the same type of leaders who are unable to adapt to change, and it collapses THAT empire.

I agree that they seem to be stretching keeping the cast to keep them a part of the show, when it SHOULD be about a long term saga. But it's so hard to let go of Jared Harris -- a great actor.

 

Trantor is supposed to fall before the arrival of the Mule and that means no more Cleons. I wonder if they'll respect that or find a way to keep the dynasty alive to give these three actors something to do.