'Foundation' Brings Isaac Asimov's Unfilmable Vision To Apple TV+ With Overwhelming Purpose [Review]

No matter how much the future changes us, at least we can say two things are certain: Preteens will always triple dog dare each other to lick the frozen metal pole (figuratively, anyway), and authoritarian governments will always scoff at scientists who tell them the world’s on fire. This is also figurative. The world of “Foundation,” Apple TV+’s new series adapting Isaac Asimov’s 1950s same-named science fiction series, is not on fire, which is the good news; it is on the verge of collapse, which is the bad news. The worst news is that the powers that be think their kingdom is too big to fail, either because of stubbornness, ignorance, or vanity, nobody ever learned a thing from Rome. 

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“Foundation” takes place far off in the future. Farther than that. No, even farther. Think of human civilization that possesses technology so sufficiently advanced that everything might as well be magic. (Thanks, Arthur C. Clarke.) That’s how futuristic the future is in “Foundation,” where Hari Seldon (Jared Harris) has, using mathematical sociology he calls “psychohistory,” discovered that humanity is about to plunge into a 30,000 year Dark Age. Psychohistory predicts the course of history for large enough populations via statistical laws governing mass action; the numbers say the current form of government, the Galactic Empire, is screwed, a message that sits poorly with its monarch(s), Brothers Dawn (Cooper Carter), Day (Lee Pace), and Dusk (Terrence Mann). 

The series sets into motion the events that lead to the establishment of The Foundation, comprising exiles from Trantor, the Empire’s capital world, sent to the far reaches of the galaxy to brace for the end and prepare for the future. Seldon’s goal is the preservation of the human spirit. He seems like a good guy. But saving an entire race takes a level of scheming and plans-within-plans that perhaps require a less-than-good disposition, and so most of “Foundation” is set from the perspective of Gaal Dornick (Lou Llobell), one of Seldon’s followers, gender-swapped from the book. Gaal sees Seldon in a light similar to how citizens of the Empire see their emperors, as something of a divine figure; in the show’s first two episodes, “The Emperor’s Peace” and “Preparing to Live,” her image of Seldon cracks and fades in the course of their mission.

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That’s the hook we have to hang onto to breathe through “Foundation’s” overwhelming density. On the plus side, we’re not in “Westworld” territory, where every element on screen could be an Easter egg that, if deciphered, might upend our understanding of the story or our grasp on reality. “Foundation” doesn’t fool about with unreliable narrators. But it’s absolutely packed with details that feel important, if not for the plot then for the series’ worldbuilding. There’s much to see and more to keep up with, and what the show doesn’t leave unexplained is broken down for the audience in heaps of (admittedly lovely) exposition. Bring a notepad. 

The details have their place. “Foundation” is a lot to take in, and what there is to take in is generally stunning. Aesthetically, the series mixes hard science fiction with soft, high-end futurism with naturalism and dystopia; the visuals gleam as often as they bedim. It’s an ugly-beautiful production. The show’s DNA is the reason “Foundation” has a reputation as “unfilmable,” that plus a couple of failed attempts between the late 1990s and 2000s to turn these books into movies; they’re too big, too grandiose, to be distilled into two hours of running time. Now that we’re in the era of streaming and TV has overtaken film as the dominant visual media, “Foundation” has the space for Asimov’s seemingly endless plot points to breathe. Even so, it’s much to take in, though creators David S. Goyer and Josh Friedman deserve kudos for making the effort at achieving the impossible.

Still, there are obvious pleasures worth savoring in all that plot, though the construction is exhausting. Pace and Harris are the series’ chief joys; their expression and articulation of the exposition turn that dutiful explanatory dialogue into something like prose, every word revealing an emotion, an intention as if both actors want to pull back the curtain on their characters but slowly. There’s a deliberate quality to their performances. They put a great deal of thought into the whole of their respective roles. Brother Day isn’t just an arrogant tyrant, though he certainly is arrogant and his leadership style is definitely on the tyrannical side. That’s what happens when a society is ruled by clones of its first emperors: Eventually, you start breeding assholes. But in quieter moments with Brother Dawn, the youngest of the three, Pace adopts an avuncular tone, the teacher to Dawn’s fledgling emperor. He cares. 

This isn’t surprising, exactly, because Dawn is Day. (It’s a bit of a mind-screw.) But the kindness is necessary to strike a horrific contrast between Day’s habit of using draconian punishment to ease his dissatisfaction. Harris, meanwhile, presents Seldon as a kindly sage, a father figure to Gaal and to Raych (Alfred Enoch), another of his followers, as well as to quite literally every man, woman, and child who leaves Trantor with him on his journey to safeguard mankind. But Seldon, too, is arrogant in his own way, though maybe “presumptuous” is a better word. There are no heroes here, Gaal included. She’s the most moral person in “Foundation,” but she’s a witness to history in the making and not so much a “hero.” 

Llobell gives Gaal a soul just as Gaal gives “Foundation” its heart. Suggesting that each episode may deserve more than one viewing is a pretty big ask, but so much goes on that even a few hours of combined running time feels like shortchanging what the series is trying to do. The results stride with a sense of purpose, pomp, and grandeur; individual scenes are small enough to cut through the excess, but the excess is nearly stupefying. Maybe that’s why “Foundation” belongs on the page and not a screen. It’s impressive that anyone bothered trying anyhow. [C+]

“Foundation” is available now on Apple TV+.