Foundation: Season 1

  

Based on: book series of the same name published starting in 1942 by Isaac Asimov

Created by: David S. Goyer and Josh Friedman

Starring: Jared Harris (Hari Seldon), Lee Pace (Brother Day, Cleon XII & XIII), Lou Llobell (Gaal Dornick), Leah Harvey (Salvor Hardin), Laura Birn (Eto Demerzel), Terrence Mann (Brother Dusk, Cleon XI & XII), Cassian Bilton (Brother Dawn, Cleon XIV)

Foundation Season 1 trailer:

When it comes to sci-fi, I particularly enjoy stuff that's really out there--and Foundation was that. 

I'd heard the name Asimov before but never really knew who he was. I think I knew he was associated with high literature (as in academic and intellectual stuff), but I didn't know anything else. So for the purposes of this series, I went in basically blind. 

The pilot did a good job of introducing the foundational (hehe) concepts. We learn of a teenage girl, Gaal, from a remote subsistence village who solves an incredibly complex algorithm, which earns her a one-way trip to the empire's capital where she meets with the planet's greatest mathematician, Hari. They use the algorithm to predict the empire's future--and it's not a good one. 

Gaal & Hari stand before the emperor, ready to present their algorithm

After that, things get a bit more complex. There are time jumps, timeline switches, entirely new characters introduced, and it's frankly hard to keep track of it all. In fact, it took me up until about the penultimate episode to realize that a young woman who had appeared in half the series, Salvor, was not an older Gaal, but Gaal's daughter. Things get pretty dense, and not just in terms of characters, but such out-there sci-fi introduces clones, android robots, other worlds, and different but related timelines, and some episodes spend so much time on the clones and their robot that we forget there was story about Gaal, Hari, and math prophecies--and how old are they in this timeline, now? It was dense enough that though I started this series with two other friends, we collectively decided to quit around episode 3 because not one of us was able to keep up. 

The beautiful capital palace where the Cleon clones rule. Perfectly manicured and flawless, just like the clones themselves and their static empire

One of the Cleons admiring a decorated palace wall. I loved that we saw the art being manually painted on, yet the images shifted digitally as characters watched

The android servant Eto leading multiple Cleons through the palace

It was only months later that I kept remembering how cool that intense sci-fi was, and how fancy the production quality of the series was, and I had a desire to really challenge myself and try to keep up with the show's intellectual level. So I dove back in, on my own. Honestly, once I got a few fundamental things figured out, everything clicked a lot better. (The Gaal and Salvor thing was definitely one them... would have helped to have realized that about 8 episodes earlier!!) It also took me an embarrassingly long time to realize the clones (Cleons) were part of a centuries-long dynasty ruling the capital empire; like a traditional dynasty where sons replace fathers, but it's all the same clone, repeatedly cloned as he grows too old to rule. Once I got those two basic fundamentals figured out, the rest fell into place a little easier. 

Salvor standing before a mysterious & advanced artifact which emits a nausea/confusion-inducing field

In fact, I don't have any major complaints about the season. I wish there may have been more assistance in understanding some of those concepts, but I don't know how much people want to be spoon-fed those things; others may welcome the intellectual challenge more than I did. Otherwise, the world was built up impressively well and there was no character who I really felt was lacking in depth or characterization. Even the more minor side characters, like Eto, the android servant of the Cleon clones, and Zephyr (T'Nia Miller), a priestess of another world that one of the Cleons visits, get impressive characterization and moving emotional moments. 

If you're up for the challenge of keeping up with a complex story and some out-there sci-fi, I highly recommend it. Plus, it's already been renewed and should be returning this year (2023, as I write this), so you won't be investing in another cancelled series!