The Shrine

The show is called “For All Mankind” it’s on Apple+ (which is extremely cheap and has a trial period) and is currently 20 episodes in. The third season is going to begin soon. Here’s the trailer (spoilers are pretty non-existent except for how far they are in the timeline).



Here’s my no spoiler description: The show is a drama that focuses on how society would change if NASA hadn’t ended the space race in the early 1970s. Most of the main characters are in NASA or have some relation to NASA, but the show deals a lot with the US political situation and the Cold War in the later stages. It begins in the late 1960s and Episodes sometimes cover weeks, months, even years. The first season ends in 1974, the second in 1995. Presumably, it’ll keep going into the future.

Ronald D. Moore has always been big on politics in his science fiction shows, and I think he nails it a lot better here than he ever did in TNG, BSG, DS9, or Caprica - just because he didn’t have to rely so heavily on metaphor and could dive right into the bureaucracies, political tribalism, and corruption/games being played at the time.

The cinematography, acting, and character development is excellent. And I feel Moore has improved on how to shape an episode a lot since his BSG/Caprica days… don’t get me wrong, I liked those shows, and felt Caprica ended far too early, but he spent a lot of time building threads that didn’t resolve or resolved far too late to be interesting for most people. This show has some meshes cliffhangers and payoffs very strongly; I’m 6 episodes in, and so far each one has ended in a cliffhanger that also pays off the main conflict of the episode and hooks the viewer in for the next episode.

If you like drama, science fiction, and alternative history, this show is a must.


Also on Apple TV+ is Foundation season 1, I burned through that one REALLY fast but I don’t know if I’d recommend it to anyone who hasn’t read Asimov’s core books - as the show is loaded with factions, references, planets, and themes that might be meaningless to people who haven’t read the books. My preferred read order, which I’d suggest to avoid spoiling the later books is not a chronological read order but closer to the order published. The show isn’t a direct remake of Foundation - that would make for some fairly boring TV since the books are virtually just dialogues, but VERY interesting to read - IMO - among my favourite books of all time.

Also, the Thranduil actor (from the Hobbit films) makes for a great Emperor.

Asimov’s book series kind of has two starting points: the Robot series and the Foundation series. It’s good to read them kind of at the same time, rather than one and then the other, because Asimov’s writing style changes drastically, and it’s difficult to go back to his early style later on (IMO) because his early books have virtually no character development, not really any meaningful characters - characters are cogs in the plot. His later books have excellent characters, and the story flow is much more comfortable. I’ll put years where the books take place in (2022) brackets.

1. Foundation (12067 to 12267); and I, Robot (1996 to 2057) - IMO, it’s alright to read these two at the same time, both are short story compilations that all fit an arc. These are also the two entrances into the main plot.
2. Foundation and Empire; Second Foundation - sequels to Foundation (12267 to ~12550)
3. The Robot trilogy - Caves of Steel, the Naked Sun, and Robots of Dawn (4721 to 4724)
4. (Optional) The Galactic Empire trilogy - Currents of Space and The Stars Like Dust I generally skip, but Pebble in the Sky is worth it. These books do little to advance the main story, but do give an insight as to what the Galactic Empire was like in its heyday. These are earlier writings than The Robot trilogy, but I like to stick them after because of a certain plot point in the Robots of Dawn.
5. The Foundation sequels - Foundation’s Edge and Foundation and Earth (~12600)
6. Robots and Empire (4922) - this book connects the two series in a way, if read before the Foundation sequels or the Robot trilogy, there will be some nonsensical stuff and spoilers.
7. Foundation prequels (~12000 to 12070) - Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation - which is where the whole mask is ripped off. These basically reveal all the information about the story and end a few years after chapter 1 of the first Foundation book.

Part of the reason I suggest reading the books first is because there are things pulled from all over the story. The show has Seldin as a POV character, so they don’t hide much about his plan and motives. They also reveal characters who weren’t revealed in the early books, but were in the prequels. And there are a lot of things brushed on that mean a lot to people who read the books, but I’d say next to nothing to those who don’t.

Anyway, if you’re an Asimov fan, I’d check this one out too on Apple TV+, but IMO the show For All Mankind is much more accessible. Of course, I only have my own point of view to judge the Foundation Show - I’ve read complaints on Reddit, but social media is a festering cesspool of complainers; so it’s difficult to see if those are legit complaints or just the product of whiny social media types. But everyone I know who has read all of Asimov’s core books loves the show.

One thing about the drama, it gets heavy, but Moore also seems to know how to handle it. Deaths in particular, and severe injuries. They’re quick and shocking, and then you see the drama in the fallout. A very stark difference to the 1990s, and even the 2000s, when you knew a character was going to die a long time before they did… sometimes before they were even in danger; they’re saying goodbye, reminiscing, and everything is resolving for them before they even know they’re going to be in danger. This show is more a shock, it’s like thwack! “Oh my god! Buzz just blew to bits!” And then the drama is how the characters go about their regular lives and duties in high stress situations after.

Although, probably my favourite dramatic death scenes were Frasier from Stargate or Amber from House. That’s a trick you can only do once on a show; that is have the drama for a death, but you don’t know who it is and then the shock comes in midway or late in the episode. Of course, House is also a drama, Stargate just had someone who knew how to write drama on the staff.