Foundation and Empire

Dec 9, 2021

In the third book of the original trilogy back before trilogies began to overpopulate like rats in New York City, we find the Mule defeated in his search for the impalpable Second Foundation, and the search is then picked up by dissident members of the Foundation. As he has in the first two volumes, Asimov makes the search interesting and fun by throwing out more red herrings than are in the Red Sea. You find yourself first marveling at and then simply enjoying all of the constant revelations and twists as they lead to a both unexpected and satisfying conclusion.

This final volume (at least at that point) caps one of the cornerstone works in the field of speculative fiction. I mentioned last time my fears for TV Foundation experience based on the trailers I’d seen. Well, folks, it turns out that my fears were not unfounded. After forcing myself to watch four episodes of Foundation, each time hoping things would get better and start to make sense and failing to find anything remotely akin to the core novels, I opened the airlock and abandoned ship. Asimov’s core work would have survived the transition to the screen just find if only the producers/writers had trusted it. The TV experience lacks intelligence and heart and a basic understanding of the work on which it purports to be based. Again, do yourself a favor and read the books.

 

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