Is there worse engeance than the series scripwriter? Has literary idols been trained more deadly assassins? Not. The buffoon is cold, efficient, fully in accordance with its mold. Proud of his massacre, even, watching the donkeys chew the remains of the work. The most desperate thing, is it the targeted viewer content with his cinematic fast food? Or rather the scriptwriter who thinks him incapable of the slightest effort to raise his thought, to make him reach the altitude that the author hoped.
Because the scripwriter excretes a formless faeces, residue of the wonderful delight that the author wanted us to enjoy. Put himself in the wake of this brilliance? No, the copyist only thinks about the laborious digestion of some consumers. The zapper is king. The author’s image has been monetized. It is permissible to smear it, write it in fluorescent letters and hang it in a corner of the film, to seduce those who would have been immediately discouraged by the nullity of the scripwriter.
Foundation, last victim
The series targeted today is Foundation, according to Isaac Asimov. Not even according actually. The scriptwriter probably only read the 4th cover. Then plated it on a series of series, as the bland industry knows how to get out of it kilometers. The conscientious worker inserts his modules into predefined spaces. Sequence ambition – emotion – action, repeated 4 times then the brief insert stunned and generic at the end of the episode, leaving us in the state of chimpanzees surprised and drooling on the sofa, frantically crushing the touch of the next episode.
Is having put Asimov’s daughter as a co-producer a guarantee of fidelity to the father’s work, or profitability? Isaac Asimov’s goal was not to teach 5-year-olds basic human feelings. He sought to amaze teenagers fascinated by the scientific perspectives of his time. The mediocrity of the scriptwriter is frustrating all the more so as the photography is dazzling and the special effects perfect, bringing an incredible realism to this series. Futuristic universe for everything… except humans, all stupid and impulsive kids. Kids projected in a technological toy store, with Grendizer’s dialogues.
AIs are already here
Who is becoming an artificial intelligence today? The scriptwriter, who could now be replaced by an algorithm, or the viewer, manipulated to become a model of a series too?
Finally, digital technology does not only have disadvantages. Today I walk around with my thousands of old books in my pocket. Even one volume of Foundation (paper) did not house there, even in the edition sold to enter it …
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Links:
Marguerite Duras about film adaptations of novels (video)
Foundation: what is the TV adaptation of the SF monument worth?
How is Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Cycle a major work of SF?