Even Empire’s greatest psychohistorian, Harry Shedden, could hardly have predicted that “Foundation” would make such drastic changes to the original. The American drama quickly received a huge amount of criticism. Foundation’s current rating on Douban has dropped to 7.1, which is basically a death sentence in the American drama world.
The main reason for such a large production of a science fiction drama, but the harvest of such a low opening score is that “Foundation” on the original magic is too much. Now, based on the two episodes that have been released, it is difficult to say definitively whether the adaptation of “Foundation” is good or bad.
But at least, with such a bold adaptation of the idea, “Foundation” will be this year, in addition to the yet to be released “Dune” in addition to the most topical work of science fiction. To talk about “Foundation”, “Galactic Empire” is absolutely inescapable topic. Even if you have not read it, you have at least heard the name of “Galactic Empire”, a science fiction novel that almost sealed the deal.
Nowadays, I’m afraid it’s not too much to say that “The Galactic Empire” is the greatest science fiction novel in the world. Asimov’s novel is a well-deserved science fiction epic. He depicts the long history of the rise and fall of the Galactic Empire and Al Qaeda, spanning thousands of years. Every reader will marvel at the great imagination of The Galactic Empire.
Of course, all such divine works of adaptation, is never an easy task. From the current plot, “Foundation” is an adaptation of the first part of the original plot. The narrator at the beginning of the first episode also implies that the timeline of the entire show will be set to focus on the period of Shedden, Harding, Marlowe and Mule, that is, the story of the first four generations of leaders of the base. In the original “Galactic Empire”, the core science fiction concept is the psychohistory founded by Harry Shedden, a discipline that combines psychology and economics to predict the direction of history.
In layman’s terms, this stuff is similar to big data algorithms, except that what can be budgeted is much more ambitious and abstract. As a result, Shedden’s predictions often seem ridiculous. The whole story begins with a prophecy by Shedden about the fate of the empire: although there is no sign, but has existed for 12,000 years of the galactic empire is about to fall.
This prophecy in the emperor’s ears must be alarmist, how can a good country will suddenly end it? The emperor wanted to execute Shedden, who claimed he had a way to reduce the empire’s demise to a few thousand years. The emperor therefore spared Shedden and banished him and his followers to the farthest reaches of the empire, where they were allowed to continue their research and fend for themselves. Endpoint then became the home base of the future First Base. The base had a hidden mission that even its participants were not aware of, and it would be the key to saving the fate of the Empire for thousands of years to come.
And all of this never deviated from Shedden’s original prediction. With that premise out of the way, let’s compare what parts of “Foundation” were actually changed. First, the U.S. show brought the original Dragon character Gail Donick to the lead role and changed the character’s setting from a middle-aged white male to a young black female.
At the same time, Shedden’s adopted son Ricky was also changed to a black man, Ricky and Gail between an additional emotional line. Secondly, the original Wanda Shedden character was omitted. Wanda is Harry Shedden’s granddaughter, is also the founder of the second base, the pioneer of spiritual mechanics, but the TV series to the credit of all of these to Gail. Let Gail set a thousand halo in one. Again, the father-son relationship between the original Ricky and Harry Shedden was originally very harmonious, both teachers and friends, trust each other. But the TV version portrayed Ricky as a character with serious emotional conflicts with Shedden.
In addition, in the original, Shedden did not go to the End Point. The TV version arranged for him to set up a base on the Endpoint himself, as if to deliberately design a scene in which Ricky kills Sheldon. And the writers also thus explained Gail’s departure as Ricky let her out to avoid disputes, rather than her initiative to build a second base to leave. Finally, it adds a lot of court scenes in the imperial capital of Chuantao.
In the original, there were very few episodes related to Trantor. But the play version spends a lot of ink to talk about the response of the three royal brothers to the crisis in Sheddon. The royal family is obviously aware of the threat of the Shedden prophecy, and has launched a series of religious and political measures to demonstrate the power of the empire, and to do everything possible to eliminate the influence of the Shedden prophecy in the public. In Asimov’s original novel, human emotions were downplayed as much as possible to show the grandeur and magnitude of the interstellar epic.
But the changes in the show’s version clearly prove that “Foundation” is moving in a different and contrary direction. The first two opening episodes quickly explain the complex relationships between the characters, and you can see that each character has his or her own hidden concerns or secrets.
The entanglements between these characters should become the core of the next episodes. This approach will make the show more dramatic, but perhaps sacrifice much of the grandeur of the original. In writing “The Galactic Empire”, Asimov had reference to “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”. The theatrical version in the basic visual design is also imitated in the Roman court style, it can be seen that the political game, the light and darkness of human nature and such topics will become the most important theme of “Foundation” performance.
A technically smooth epic has been changed into a space version of “Game of Thrones”. This variety of changes, but there is an understandable place, such as the entire plot of the show more humane. The original is too large and epic depiction, although many deep science fiction fans, but after all, not everyone can be interested in watching. Nowadays, the plot style is more in the direction of a courtroom drama, also hoping to attract as many passers-by as possible and lower the barrier of entry. The original story actually tested the reader’s comprehension of abstract science fiction concepts, and the drama version is less obscure in this regard. On the contrary, after adding more complex character relationships, these science fiction concepts will be naturally explained.
Secondly, it is for financial reasons. Putting aside the controversy over the plot, “Foundation” is really impeccable in terms of visual and audio sophistication. Just take out a picture can be used as wallpaper. If you are a pure passerby viewer who has not read the original, you can definitely see “Foundation” as a visual effects blockbuster.
But even if Apple is rich again, it is estimated that there is no way to completely replicate the grand scenes in the original, the current two episodes of the TV series are mostly static scenes, the dynamic grand scenes are only a few key. After all, “Foundation” is planned to shoot at least eight seasons, no matter what, you have to tighten your belt to live. If the audience’s attention is not drawn to the relationships of the characters and to the literary drama in the room, then the burning of funds will really have no boundaries.
Of course, there are some hard to understand aspects of these changes. For example, it’s hard for me not to interpret the placement of so many black actors in the show as politically correct. The transformation of Gayle’s character from white male to black female has little to no consideration for the plot, and the change or lack of change would not have affected the character’s story. It’s not that political correctness is bad, but in this way, the big picture of scientists sacrificing themselves for their ideals in the original series suddenly becomes a political stand for feminism and anti-racism in the TV series, and the pattern is smaller.
In short, “Foundation” for the original adaptation, whether for plot considerations, or for political stance, are quite justifiable. Faithful to the original is never the iron law of film and television adaptations, self-justification is the key, at least in the first two episodes, the logic of the plot is quite self-consistent. I’m afraid that in the subsequent episodes, Apple is going further and further down the road of political correctness and court battles. If really shot into the space version of “Power Play”, it is a pity that such a good IP.
The magic of “Foundation” will inevitably lead to significant changes in its subsequent plot, I venture to predict the next episode. After Gale was banished into space, it is reasonable that he should go to establish a second base. This plot design undoubtedly brought forward the establishment of the second base by several years.
If the writers can after the death of Harry Shedden, the perfect explanation for his own set up a bureau, then the overall story line can be pulled back a little. Ricky’s betrayal and Gale’s departure may also be explained as a critical assignment to Shedden. I believe that the story will probably be designed in this way, because the second episode ends with Ricky’s look not like a very angry after the murder, he instead acted very panic, as if something bad was going to happen.
The ensuing chain reaction is likely to be the overall speed of plot advancement, the conflict between the parties in advance of the outbreak. Chunduo, who is facing both internal robot secrets and external base threats, will be in crisis more quickly, and the checks and balances between the second and first bases will come early.
The overall plot now looks like dominoes being pushed back faster by tighter character relationships, moving in an increasingly unpredictable direction.
But as the famous Shedden crisis foreshadowed, perhaps the solution to the crisis is destined to emerge in the unknown.
