Another
word for change is adaptation, and none more so from a medium of words to a
medium of people. This is particularly important in adaptations of sources long
on words and short on action, a description which epitomizes the earliest
stories of the Foundation series. Many Golden Age stories suffer from
this, in the opinions of many modern readers, and most lack the rigor of
Asimov’s genius. There is a serialized version of Flash Gordon, black and
white, but the scripts are written with radio in mind. This mismatch is
jarring, even with allowances for the slower pace of action in the early days
of film and television!
The
other challenge is the reflexive presentism of most of the viewing audience.
Logic can tell a person that this work was produced before another work which
received an adaptation sooner, but the nature of television and film,
especially since the development effective CGI, is to bypass that logic. The
number of people who read the book first and watch the show later has
diminished, although the percentage is thankfully not yet so low as Brave
New World levels. Dune and Star Wars used ideas found in Foundation,
but they preceded it to television and film adaptation. The latter adaptation,
therefore, must establish visual distinction from the former.
The third
challenge is a different kind of adaptation. The history of Rome upon which the
Foundation series was based is that of Edward Gibbon. This is a classic
history, but there have been many changes in Roman historiography since his time.
Even if his thesis were correct, there are multiple other causes for the collapse
of the Western Empire. A contemporary adaptation can use this historical knowledge
to expand the world of the adaptation.
The
premise of the Foundation series, in whatever form it may be, is that
the Galactic Empire is stagnant and will fall. There will be a period of
barbarism. The use of psychohistory can reduce this period from thirty
millennia to one millennium. The Imperial government does not like doomsayers
such as Hari ‘Raven’ Seldon. They want to harness the predictive power of
psychohistory for its own continuance. Psychohistory works through probability,
not predication, but the Imperial government either does not understand this or
does not want to understand this. Psychohistory is also more effective the less
people are aware of it, and certainly the less people understand the
mathematics.
In the
show and the books, Trantor is the imperial planet, the world-city save for the
Imperial gardens. The show’s space elevator is impressive and becomes important
later – there is only one dramatic reason to showcase a space elevator. The
trip down the space elevator, unlike the descent to the surface in the original
framing device, is visible to Gaal Dornick, the new kid who provides reasons
for exposition. This visibility is partially to provide the audience with an
idea of the size of Trantor; but it also immediately contrasts with Dune,
in which a rule of the Spacing Guild is that nobody sees planets from space. This
lack of visibility is as important to the plot of Dune as the visibility
is to the Foundation series. The visibility of the space elevator also
contrasts with the literal covering of the inhabited areas of Trantor and its
people. The greater galaxy is hidden from the populace by a physical barrier, just
as the true level of rot of the Galaxy is hidden from the Imperial Government
from their own psychological barrier. Perhaps psychohistory acts as the space
elevator for the entire galaxy; or maybe there are other forces at work.
The
sheer scale of everything is true to the source material, although there are
only as many absolute numbers as necessary – perhaps science fiction script
writers have finally learned their lesson about scale. Everything in the Empire
is large, larger than you can imagine, and this should be regarded as a bad
thing. There is only one technological item which is small, but it is present
to show that the Empire can miniaturize if it wants to. There is also no indication
of the cost of miniaturization, so perhaps it is astronomically expensive. Both
this item and the robot (because no Asimov IP would be a cash cow without at
least one) cover items which are (mostly) unchanging and therefore stagnant,
reflecting this important theme of Foundation.
The
solution to solving the problem of showing galactic stagnation while portraying
personal interactions is quite interesting. The use of Empire (rather than
Emperor, and specifically without the definite) as a personal name is infelicitous
but understandable, if the purpose is to show the identity of Emperor, Empire,
and Imperial Dynasty. The length of the present dynasty as four centuries is
coincident with the length of the Western Roman Empire, and its origin in a
period of interminable civil war may be a reference to the Roman Crisis of the
Third-Century or the fratricidal wars of the Constantinian dynasty. The
existence of Empire is a logical conclusion in a science-fiction setting to the
problems of Constantinian strife, as well as the closest thing to a God-King in
a setting where religion is minimized and treated pejoratively. The action of the
religious leaders on Synnax, Gaal Dornick’s homeworld, illustrate the position
of the Foundation show regarding religion.
The
companion to Empire is not a Bene Gesserit, although that may be the first
impression. Those who have read the books know the identity of Demerzel, but
the series has changed so much that one should not assume. The names given to
Empire alliterate with Demerzel, which in turn suggests Demerzel’s identity,
but the demeanor of Demerzel towards Empire suggests their identity is the
other character whose name begins with D that could fulfill that role –
especially since Seldon’s personal life has changed from the book series. This
change (if true) does raises the question of where Demerzel’s book
identity is; his absence from the series, at least long-term, is inconceivable.
One last note: the brief mention of
the Robot Wars on a time scale not conducive with the timeline of the books is
the show’s way of saying that we know Asimov has robots and everybody loves
them, but that is not the focus of this story. The show is also saying that
this show is (mostly) robot-free, but this is not Dune, in which the
absence of thinking machines in the likeness of a man is a conscious driving
force for the society.
The big
changes over which many have panicked wait for another time. And somehow I have
avoided Hari Seldon almost entirely!
No comments:
Post a Comment