After watching Episode 5 of Foundation, "Upon Awakening," I had a come to Asimov moment, and based upon that decided that I wanted to re-watch Episodes 1 through 5 with my new perspective so that I could then watch Episodes 6 through 10 with a different point of view in place. I didn't actually think I'd be able to do it, since (1) I'd watched Episode 5 on a Saturday, which meant that I'd have less than a week before Episode 6 dropped, and (2) those first five episodes had a collective running time of 4 1/2 hours, and that's a lot of tv time for me. But I hadn't factored in my COVID booster shot. I got Pfizer #3 Saturday afternoon, and when I woke up on Sunday, I was not doing well at all. In fact, I didn't even feel well enough to turn the television on, and I spent almost the entire day sleeping. Monday morning I felt slightly better, but still not good enough to do much of anything. But I did manage to turn on the television, and I didn't get up until I had finished re-watching Episode 1. After a couple of minutes of this and that I went back to the sofa and watched Episode 2. That put me halfway through the total running time of the first five episodes, and after a little of this and that I was back on the sofa again and finished off Episode 3. I was back up and functioning Tuesday morning, but still had time to squeeze in Episode 4, and today, Wednesday, I finished off Episode 5. So here I am...a day ahead of schedule and ready for Episode 6.
And quite anxious to see it, really. Because I have a completely different perspective on this show now.
Asimov's Foundation was about a bunch of white guys struggling for power. He tried to change it up a little bit in his two prequel novels and his two postquel novels...adding in a woman or two, adding in a robot or two...but it didn't substantially change anything.
But Apple TV+'s Foundation is quite a different story.
It is a tale of two women.
The first (chronologically speaking) is Gaal Dornick, who is, in both versions of Foundation, a brilliant mathematician from a planet called Synnax...a planet which in neither case is a haven for intellectual brilliance. (Though the Apple TV+ Synnax is definitely on the more extreme end of that insult, and, in fact, serves as a stand-in--and David Goyer said this pretty straight-forwardly on the Foundation Podcast--for climate change deniers in our world.) But in the Asimov novel, Gaal is a white man whose main actions are in the bureaucratic sphere. In the tv show, Gaal is a young black woman who has lots of sex with her boyfriend and swims in the pool onboard the exile ship carrying the Foundation people to Terminus. And I have the feeling that big things are going to happen to her in Episode 6, so stay tuned for more on this.
The second (cs) woman is Salvor Hardin. Yes, Salvor Hardin--as in a mere v, a, and e away from Harri Seldon. I've often wondered what was up with that. But that's beside the point. In both versions of Foundation, Salvor is a person who is in charge of things on Terminus, and who successfully leads the citizens of the little planet through the First Crisis. (Well...I think that's what will happen in the tv show, anyway.) But, once again, the Asimov novel version of Salvor is a white guy bureaucrat, while the TV series Salvor is a black woman who is a very competent warrior...and who has some other as yet not designated abilities which seem to be extra-sensory in nature.
And once you realize that this is the story of these two women, things are much clearer. I did begin to realize this whilst watching Episode 5, but when I went back and re-watched Episodes 1 through 5 with this perspective in my mind, I enjoyed the series much, much, more. And I am sincerely anxious to see Episode 6 now, whereas before my epiphany I was getting a little tired of the show, and actually beginning to wonder if I wanted to spend any more time with it.
Also, I really wish that I had known this (🚺🚺) before I watched the first episode of the show. It would have made a big difference to me.
So I thought I'd put this out there. If you've held off watching Foundation because you heard that it fiddled with Asimov's story, then I hear you, and I feel you. I went into this expecting it to be a visualization of Asimov's wonderful novels. But if you can let go of that and see this more as a paean to Asimov...and as a Tale of Two Women...I think you're really going to enjoy this show.
For one thing, it looks great. Seriously, it's one of the best looking science fiction shows I've ever seen...and I've seen thousands of them.
More news as it happens.
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