Apple’s Foundation TV series is high concept, lavish sci-fi that’s also a bit unapproachable
A short review of the first two episodes now available on Apple TV+.
I must confess I haven’t read Isaac Asimov’s Foundation books upon which Apple’s latest Apple TV+ drama is based, so I don’t have that context. On the plus side that means I can evaluate Apple’s Foundation series as a television series without comparing and contrasting it with its lauded literary forebear. Apple released the first two episodes of the ten-episode first season of Foundation last Friday, and I’ve had a chance to watch them. The show is absolutely worth your time if you’re a fan of high-concept science fiction, but it might not make you feel very good.
The setting is thousands of years in the future. A galaxy-wide empire rules over trillions of people. It is a time of relative peaceful order under the heavy hand of a dynasty of clones of a great emperor from eons past. But trouble is on the horizon. A brilliant mathematician named Hari Seldin has predicted, based on an advanced mathematical discipline, that the empire will collapse in only a few centuries. After the collapse, he predicts that there will be 30,000 years of wars and dark ages after which a new empire will arise to restore order. However, he also has a plan to shorten the gap between empires to 1,000 years by creating a library of the knowledge of human achievement. This library will serve as the foundation upon which civilization rebuilds itself.
I think that plot probably works better in written form. I find it easier to accept premises when I’m reading a book, perhaps because the author has the ability to go into details in a way that you just can’t in a teleplay. But when I’m watching real humans lay out exposition like the above, it raises a lot of questions for me.
Frankly, it’s a bit depressing to imagine a world in which a massive, galaxy-wide, oppressive regime (basically the Roman Empire writ large) is a requirement for peace and order. I don’t hold to that personally, but it seems to be a necessary conceit of the show. Nor do I care for technocrats who think they have the knowledge and wisdom to guide entire societies. So my biggest problem with the show is that while the Empire are clearly the bad guys, I don’t much care for Seldin or his followers either.
I’m also a little unclear on how Seldin was able to convince so many people that his predictions are accurate. The show tells us that a lot of people believe him, but not why they do. The show also makes it clear that there’s only one other human being in the galaxy who has the natural talent in mathematics to confirm his predictions (our main character Goal Dornick). That seems like a pretty flimsy basis for the Empire or anyone else to go on.
One mysterious character we’re introduced to is Demerzel, a chief servant of the three emperor clones who we learn is actually a robot. Not only is she a robot, she’s the last of her kind, and she tells us that her kind was exterminated by humans. Artificial intelligence also seems to be banned in the Empire. That feels very Dune-like and hopefully the show will explain what’s going on there a bit more as the season goes on.
The TV show that Foundation feels the most like to me is HBO Max’s Raised By Wolves, a show about two androids on a desolate planet who are raising human children. Raised By Wolves actually feels like it could be set in the gap between empires in Foundation. Both shows are high concept, hard sci-fi, and both have a sense of hopelessness and loneliness that pervades them.
Despite the dour trappings, I do recommend Foundation to anyone who is a science fiction fan. It’s a gorgeous show. It also has kept me thinking about it even days since I watched episode two, and that’s one of the best things that could be said about a show.