'Foundation' is very Asimov

Isaac Asimov was a visionary who anticipated the debates we have today about artificial intelligence and robotization, and who envisioned a future in which humanity colonizes galaxies.

The science fiction master, as well as a historical and scientific popularizer, published

in 1951 , the pillar of a saga of 16 novels set before and after.

The author, a rationalist and atheist, wanted the great prophet of his universe to be a scientist who develops psychohistory, a mathematical way of foreseeing the future.

Neither magical forces nor mystical visions.

Pure empiricism.

Neither the cinema nor the television dared with a work difficult to adapt, too intellectual, that is divided into stories, that spans centuries, where love is scarce and has little action. The time has come: the

it is the most ambitious Apple TV + has ever produced. He takes liberties with the script to make it more exciting; that irritates purists. And it shows that there was no lack of resources: technically it is impeccable. The scenarios, compelling: that overcrowded imperial capital, Trantor, that periphery of Terminus and other inhospitable planets. And the performances, notable: Jared Harris (how magnetic his voice) as the prophet-mathematician Hari Seldon; Lee Pace, an emperor like the Romans whose dynasty is perpetuated by cloning (there are always three of different ages; Caesar is the middle one). And the actresses who embody three feminized characters (Asimov did not anticipate the diversity in the cast): the young Lou Llobell, as the brilliant mathematician who will continue Seldon's mission; Lea Harvey,warrior and guardian of the knowledge that contains that total encyclopedia that is the Foundation, and Laura Birn, a robot in which feelings emerge that it is not supposed to have.

More information

'Foundation': the work 'impossible to adapt' reaches television

Silence the mobiles: this is a demanding series, which demands attention, which narrates different time lines in parallel.

Which has visual beauty, which projects our past to tomorrow, which refers to the rise and fall of the great empires, which reflects on tyranny and refugees, on identity, which extols reason over superstition.

The fact that it is released on a minority platform such as Apple TV + may prevent it from becoming a phenomenon like that of the most popular galactic sagas.

If anything, even when he walks away from the books, he has a bit of chill left over and a hint of magic missing, but that is very Asimov.

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