[Isaac Asimov was a science fiction giant. But the Apple TV
version of Foundation addresses one place the books fell short.
Foundation is no longer just a boy’s club. ]
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PORTSIDE CULTURE

FOUNDATION IS FIXING THE TRICKIEST THING ABOUT THE ASIMOV BOOKS  
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Ryan Britt
August 11, 2023
Inverse
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_ Isaac Asimov was a science fiction giant. But the Apple TV version
of Foundation addresses one place the books fell short. Foundation is
no longer just a boy’s club. _

, Apple

 

The _Foundation_ novels
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Isaac Asimov may very well be one of the best science fiction book
series of all time. And, the current Apple TV+ series based on those
books is easily one of the top five best contemporary sci-fi TV shows
airing right now, period. But, what makes _Foundation_ unique among
sci-fi book adaptations is that it dramatically improves upon its
source material, and outright corrects aspects of the novels which
simply don’t work today. In the fifth episode
of _Foundation_ Season 2, one of the most powerful characters in the
show, Queen Sareth (Ella-Rae Smith) challenges the Emperor of the
Galaxy, Brother Day, in a way that characters from Asimov’s books
never could.

Like Season 1 before it, _Foundation_ Season 2 pushes back against
one of the things that make the classic novels tricky for contemporary
audiences; the novels often lack strong female characters, which is
something the show tackles head-on, especially in Season 2, Episode 5,
“The Sighted and the Seen.” SPOILERS AHEAD.

QUEEN SARETH CHALLENGES CLEON

In one pivotal scene from “The Sighted and the Seen,” Queen Sareth
(Ella-Rae Smith) challenges Brother Day (Lee Pace) about their
impending arranged marriage. In the tense scene (watch the exclusive
clip from Apple above!) Sareth makes it clear to Day that she’s only
interested in marrying him and having an heir because it’s good for
her kingdom, Cloud Dominion.

In the books, Queen Sareth doesn’t exist, and although there is a
Cleon I in Asimov’s prequel books, _Prelude to
Foundation_ and _Forward the Foundation_, he’s not a serial clone
in those novels, and the inherent patriarchy he creates isn’t
addressed at all. In fact, overall, Asimov’s novels contain few
strong female characters at all, specifically in the original three
novels of the “trilogy,” _Foundation, Foundation and
Empire,_ and _Second Foundation_. While it’s true that the
Foundation and various powers do destabilize the Empire in the classic
books, there wasn’t a great character like Queen Sareth at the
center of it. Just the existence of this character not only creates an
amazing foil to the Cleon dynasty in the show’s canon but provides
an amazing counterbalance to the male-dominated novels.

_FOUNDATION’S_ FEMINISM

[Gaal in 'Foundation']

Gaal in _Foundation_ Season 2.

APPLE

In addition to Sareth, one remarkable thing about _Foundation_ is
how it manages to side-step its male-focused source material to the
point where it actually scans as a feminist show, at least, relative
to the books. Heroic characters Gaal Dornick (Lou Llobel) and Salvor
Hardin (Leah Harvey) were men in the books, but are women in the show.
The near-immortal robot Demerzel was also presented as male in the
books. But as played by Laura Birn on the show, Demerzel is the true
power behind the toxic male Cleons, who actually only _appear_ to be
in power. As Queen Sareth is coming to learn, her enemy might not be
Brother Day at all, but instead, Demerzel. So, the actual power
struggle, at least on the galactic stage, isn’t between Hari Seldon
and Empire, but instead, between Sareth and Demerzel.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the galaxy, Gaal and Salvor may have
to contend with Hari Seldon’s eccentricities, but it’s become
rapidly clear that Gaal’s agency is superior to Hari’s.
“You’ve never really seen a sci-fi character like her before,”
Lou Llobel told _Inverse_ 
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Season 2 aired. “She gets so much put on top of her. So much
responsibility ... it can be isolating for her, as she was in Season
1. But, it’s different now.”

Unlike Season 1, Gaal’s mentor Hari is unmoored and without answers,
which was something Jared Harris intended in his performance in Season
2. Instead of being the all-knowing old man with the answers, the
version of Hari we see in “The Sighted and the Seen,” is having to
face his own arrogance. “He's obviously more vulnerable,”
Harris told 
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to the SAG-AFTRA strike). “I was trying to get away from the idea
that he knows everything because that just sucks all the dramatic
possibility out of every single scene.”

This last point from Harris actually sums up what
makes _Foundation_ Season 2 so compelling. In a show that is about
predicting the future, we don’t know what is going to happen next.
Right now the only thing we do know is that the intellectual
brilliance of Asimov’s books continues to shine through. Only
now, _Foundation_ is no longer just a boy’s club.

* Foundation
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* Isaac Asimov
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* representation
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