5 Years Ago Today: Apple TV Launched One Of The Most Ambitious Sci-Fi Shows Ever Made

When Apple TV first launched, it did so with a big and bold statement — the company was here to be the destination for sci-fi fans. Its first wave of programming included the post-apocalyptic "See" by Steven Knight and Francis Lawrence, and the alternate history sci-fi show "From All Mankind" from Ronald D. Moore (the "Battlestar Galactica" reimagining). Apple TV quickly became the premier place for sci-fi, consistently greenlighting banger after banger within the genre, each offering something new and unique.

It wasn't until 2021, however, that Apple TV unleashed its biggest and most expensive gamble with an adaptation that once felt absolutely impossible — "Foundation." The show is an adaptation of a series of novels as influential (if not moreso) than Frank Herbert's "Dune," and equally as daunting to bring to the screen.

The show adapts Isaac Asimov's seminal sci-fi epic of the same name, which tells the story of a galactic empire that's slowly crumbling, and the efforts to prevent its inevitable collapse from ushering in a dark age. "Foundation" is the show that best exemplifies the Apple TV approach to streaming — spend ridiculous amounts of money on shows that are like nothing we have seen before. They don't need to be conventional in their storytelling approach, or even immediate hits, they just need to be the coolest thing you've seen.

If you haven't caught up on "Foundation," this is the perfect opportunity to watch one of the most ambitious sci-fi shows ever made. It's a bleak show (fitting, since it's about the end of civilization), but also an action-packed show, one with an unparalleled sense of scope and scale, and an incredible ensemble cast.

Many sci-fi shows play with scale, with the vastness of space and the endless possibilities thereof. Few play with the scope of time, telling a story that spans generations. Fewer still do this at the scale of "Foundation." From the very first episode we are told what the show's framing will be, that this is a story that will span centuries. So far, every season of "Foundation" has jumped forward in time by over 100 years.

This means that the entire cast dies and is replaced every season (minus a handful of characters that are either immortal, or just go on cryosleep constantly), which is not only quite expensive, but also means the show has to trust the audience to be invested in the larger story enough that they don't quit when their favorite character dies (which happens often). Indeed, "Foundation" is not afraid to constantly upend its status quo, with battles, assassinations, deals, and reveals that change the entire state of the galaxy, deaths that impact a whole empire, conquests that reshape entire cultures. These give the show an unparalleled sense of scope and scale, and that's before you even get to the expanded universe stuff.

You see, it's not just that the story we see from season to season spans a lot of time, but the story of "Foundation" is but a fraction of a story that's millennia in the making. The character of Demerzel in "Foundation" has been around for several thousand years, with her arc in the show also being an adaptation of Isaac Asimov's influential "Robot" series. 

It's not just that "Foundation" feels like a big story, it also looks the part. One of the reasons Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" series was considered unadaptable is that the novels are much more cerebral and abstract than something like "Star Wars" or even "Star Trek." Most of the action happens off-screen, and we only hear about it in meeting rooms from people who weren't there.

Apple TV's "Foundation," however, takes a different approach. The show does something similar to Denis Villeneuve's "Dune" in taking the source material and passing it through a summer blockbuster filter of sorts. The show introduces romance, gives female characters a lot more characterization than the books, and it also amps up the action and spectacle.

Indeed, "Foundation" is not just an epic story in its handling of time, but also space. We see huge star systems, battleships, and even an O'Neill cylinder fully realized through incredible VFX. There are massive space battles, starfight combat straight out of "Star Wars," with hundreds of ships involved, and also a Death Star-like weapon or two. But it's not just the space visuals that are impressive, the third season of "Foundation" also gave us an astounding action scene with practical effects. It involved hundreds of extras, stunts, an actual person on fire, practical sets, and much more.

This all helps "Foundation" look and feel like nothing else on television. Through three seasons, audiences have seen a show with the visuals of a massive blockbuster, and a story that could only have been told on TV. "Foundation" was a huge gamble for Apple TV, an ambitious sci-fi epic that's just getting better with each season.