Foundation: The Leap

 "It's time the dynasty bent..."

Oh my. That was an eventful finale and, ultimately, a rather good one. This season hasn't been excellent but it has, I think, been very good, as much where is departs from canon- inevitable and sensible- as where it follows it.

The big set piece of Hari Seldon in the Vault works well, despite necessary changes- this is not a hologram, but a resurrection, courtesy of magic nanobits, who will awaken only for each Seldon Crisis and then, presumably, live in the new civilisation created by both Foundations. Everything the people of Terminus knew was wrong but, although hurt, they accept it. They, Thespis and Anacreon plausibly unite. So far, so broadly similar to the novel.

But then we turn to the three Cleons. Brother Day's punishment for Azura is truly horrific, proving him to be a tyrant and symbol of a dynasty that must fall. His mercy for Dawn, to the fury of Dusk, is predictable after his religious experiences; we must not have stagnation.

Less predictable, yet utterly logical, is Demerzel's sudden killing of Dawn. She is loyal to the dynasty.

Yet there is a sting in the tale; the rebels have affected the genetics of all future Cleons, starting generations ago. The emperors will evolve. Will this assist their survival? Time will tell.

Both Day and Demerzel have lost a beloved child, although the reaction of Demerzel is more.,.. human. Parenthood is a big theme here, not least for Salvor Hardin, who discovers her genetic heritage. And meets her genetic mother. Yeah, bombshell upon bombshells.

What next?

Foundation: The Mathematician's Ghost

 "It's just that you always leave me..."

Time passes. We see nothing of Gaal (though she narrates; we shall see her again)  or Raych, as decades have passed and a tenuous settement is set up on Terminus. Hari Seldon, statues aside, is not in this episode, yet his legend permeates everything.

We begin, though, with a fascinating examination of Cleons I through to XIV, all with Eto Demerzel and all very much knowing what she is. We see the life cycle of an emperor, from an embryo grown in a vat to the final "ascension", a kind of dignified execution. For each birth, there must be a ritualised death. Only three brothers may exist at once.

It's just as fasciniating to see Terminus, its frontier existence with its Encyclopaedia as contrast.There is a mysterious artifact, the Vault, which only Salvor Hardin can approach. Wde get to know Salvor, her active, thinking mind in a society of ossified fatalists who see no need to act as the Seldon Plan will save them. So when Anacreon seems to be invading they know not what to do.

There are so many nice little touches, too... Salvor's lover is pushing seventy but seems half that age from spending decades on "cryo-ships". No one on Terminus now understands the mathematics of Psychohistory; they're acting blind. And it's fascinating to see the dynamic between Salvor and her parents. This is absolutely brilliant.

Foundation: The Emperor's Peace

 "Oh, it's not a theory. It's the destiny of the human race, expressed in numbers."

You may have noticed I've blogged the original three Foundation novels from the wonderful mind of Isaac Asimov. I've also read the others, plus all linked novels, although admittedly it was some decades ago. But let's say I broadly know how the story pans out in the novels. I shall endeavour to keep these blog posts free of any potential spoilers from the novels.

I've wanted to see this for some time, but wasn't sure whether Apple TV was worth subscribing to as it doesn't look as though there's much else on there I particularly want to see, especially with the lack of archive content. But now I randomly seem to have three free months, so I might as well watch this while I can. It's intriguing; an adaptation of a series of novels that absolutely needs the expansiveness and seriality of TV rather than two hours at the pictures. David S. Goyer is showrunning, so hopes are high.

And rightly so, This is a fairly faithful adaptation of the opening of the first novel. The framing sequence on Terminus features Salvor Hardin. The main flashback to Trantor, perfectly realised, gives us Hari Seldon, Gaal Dornick and Eto Demerzel. There are changes, of course. The novels are a sausage fest, so certain characters need to made female. And the world is fleshed out a little. Gaal's background from an anti-science, religious culture gives her a hinterland. We have the character of Raych. And, intriguing, the empire is ruled by Cleon I... and has been for centuries, with three differently aged  clones at one time, a perfect example of the cultural stasis of a Galactic Empire that no longer grows nor changes. These added bits of depth work well.

This is a superbly made and written piece of television. More please.

The Sandman: Sleep of the Just

 "We begin in the waking world, which humanity insists on calling the real world..."

For once I manage to blog the first episode of a hot new streaming serial on the day of its release- yay me. Even better, it's Sandman. I haven't read all of the sixty-odd issues of Neil Gaiman's late '80s masterpiece, thick with meaning, literary allusion and proper '80s goth aesthetic, but I've read enough of the early issues to cover all of this first season which, I understand, covers the first two arcs. And it does so magnificently. Gaiman has a previous triumph under his belt in terms of transferring a print masterpiece to screen magnigicently with Good Omens. He's only bloody gone and done it again.

This first episode looks sumptuous, and the casting is triumphant. Tom Sturridge seems born to play Dream, helmet perfectly realised. Charles Dance as the Magus is a captivating villain, for Dream literally so. I'm not sure the chronology quite works (Dream is captured in 1916 when young Alex is a child, but Alex and his partner Paul are both still alive when Dream is (quite magnificently) freed after "more than a century" of captivity?), but the epic tale of Dream's capture and eventual escape is gripping telly, not only because of the concepts but the very real characters and their nicely drawn relationships- Rodericks cruelty to second son Alex after his first son dies at Gallipolli, or Ethel's fury towards the man who dares presume to decide whether or not she will keep her baby.

The Corinthian is a deeply disturbing villain, an escaped nightmare who seems to take the eyes of his victims, but many of these characters we shall see grow and grow in this questlike, epic and- yes- dreamlike piece of brilliance.

Blade: Trinity (2004)

 "Sooner or later, the thirst always wins."

So Blade is back. And now it's 2004, well into the era of Marvel superhero films that Blade pioneered. So what do we get for my most recent unwatched Marvel film?

But well, this is a very flawed film, if not an awful one. It tells us two things. Firstly, Wesley Snipes, while an effective '90s action film actor, is... well, washed up by this point. There's something very off about his performance.

Yet this is, perhaps, partly due to the lacklustre performances of everyone in this film. Kris Kristofferson is oddly wooden, too. Even Ryan Reynolds isn't firing on all cylinders. And, if the stars are beneath their usual standard, we must blame the director.

Interestingly, though, the script- by David S. Goyer- is perfectly good. It's just that it's badly directed- also by David S. Goyer. The man can write, as we've seen countless times. He just can't direct. He really can't. This is all very music video, something very popular at the time. Proper cinema it is not, despite the many well-conceived fight scenes.

And that's interesting, isn't it? The script is perfectly good. The concept is epic, Blade versus Dracula (whose Sumerian origin here is weird, like Vlad Dracul never existed), with a rather fun Hannibal King, Jessica Biel as a somewhat cool kind of female Hawkeye, and lots of well-written fight scenes thsat sort of fail in the execution and- especially- the cinematography. A good script, sadly, doth not equal a good film.

Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (1998 TV Pilot)

"Guys like you tend to stick to the bowl no matter how many times you flush!"

I'm stuck at home with a sprained ankle and, alas, am reduced to watching this. Yes, this was indeed made as a TV pilot in 1998, probably the last of the, er, less than stellar Marvel films and TV pilots that were made before it all took off with Blade and X-Men. We shall never see it's like again. I think.

The casting of David Hasselhoff says it all; they're going for the same camp feel of the legendary 1960s Batman series but not pulling it off; instead we have a bog standard, cliche-ridden 90 minutes of action adventure. We have the hero being grudgingly coaxed out of retirement. We have a splendidly over-the -top baddie in Sandra Hess as Andrea Von Strucker, for some reason conflated with Viper, who appears to have an orgasm at one point while shooting a bloke dead. We have conflicts with pen-pushing superiors, we have James Bond gadgets, we have an android duplicate of Fury being used for the predictable plot function of making us think that Fury is dead. We have a poisoned hero going into action to save his life. And, yes, we have Andrea Von Strucker threatening to unleash a deadly virus over Manhattan in return for "one billion dollars". This in a pilot made after the release of Austin Powers.

Thing is, though, the script isn't actually that bad. With better actors and a bigger budget (the helicarrier, in particular, is rubbish, and the whole thing looks like an episode of Knight Rider), the same script could have sparkled. The self-consciously camp directorial style, especially, fails utterly to serve the script.

Hasselhoff himself is exactly as arse-clenchingly embarrassing as you might expect, but everything else sets a tone to patch. We have a character, Alexander Pierce, who seems to be modelled on Hugh Grant and looks utterly implausible as a SHIELD agent. And why, for crying out loud, does Andrea choose to kill Fury by kissing him with poisoned lipstick instead of, you know, shooting him?

This is, basically, rubbish, and should be watched for ironic purposes only. You have been warned...!