Isaac Asimov's Fovndation: Part I The Psychohistorians is a Fan Webcomic and adaptation by Jonathon Dalton, of Isaac Asimov's "The Psychohistorians", published online since July 2010. The entire story is covered, in a slightly more concise style compared to the original work.
Foundation - The Psychohistorians provides examples of:
- Adaptation Deviation: Jonathon Dalton changes the year of Seldon's death from 1 F.E. to 3 F.E. in order to resolve the contradiction of Seldon dying the same year that Terminus was colonized and Gaal meeting him two years before his death, but six months before Terminus is colonized.note This adaptation also adds Funetik Aksents to Gaal Dornick and Lars Avakim, intended to imply a more diverse culture.
- Adaptation Distillation: Much of the dialogue is cut from the original story, to better fit the space constraints of the 2x2 comic panels that Jonathon Dalton preferred at the time.
- The Backwards Я: The title page displays FOUNDATION as FOVNDATION, replacing the u with a v to look more Greek. The "u"s of the University and Supreme Court are similarly replaced.
- Comic-Book Adaptation: This work is a fan-made adaptation of Isaac Asimov's "The Psychohistorians", using 2x2 panels for the layout.
- Culture Chop Suey: Realizing that Dr Asimov had been using aspects of In the Future, Humans Will Be One Race and Invented Linguistic Distinction for most of Foundation, this adaptation makes a deliberate effort to combine various modern-day culture traits. Gaal Dornick speaks with an English countryside accent, wears an Luo Ogut Tigo, has medium-brown skin, and has a bolo on during the courtroom scenes. While riding the spaceship down to Trantor, he's seated nearby a person in Puritan Pilgrim-style clothes. Hari Seldon wears a white cheongsam suit, a white kippah, an american yellow and brown vest, and has white skin and hair. The courtroom they're in is strongly influenced by Chinese design, with the uniforms worn by the committee and the gong instead of an English gavel. The courthouse has Greek columns and designs.
- Dutch Angle: As Hari Seldon shows Gaal Dornick how the various probabilities of assassination, revolt, economic depression, declining exploration affect the Galactic Empire, the camera view is tilted back and slightly to the side, to show how the thought of Trantor's destruction is a frightening certainty.
- Encyclopedia Exposita: This adaptation expands the details given by some of the Encyclopedia Galactica entries, since they're displayed as a computer window with extremely plain graphics, like what you might find in the 1980s instead of paragraphs that can start/end with ellipsis.
- Establishing Shot: Gaal Dornick's arrival to important locations is prefaced with wide-angle shots of the location. His ship's approach to Trantor (he tries to invoke the establishing shot, but all windows are closed), his taxi arriving at the Luxor Hotel, his carriage arriving at the University of Trantor, and his ship's arrival on Terminus.
- Funetik Aksent: Two accents are added to this adaptation:
- In this adaptation, Gaal Dornick has an English countryside drawl written into his speech bubbles that reflects the fact that he comes from a backwater planet."Ah was hoping t' catch a glimpse o' Trantor. 'Tis muh first trip t' the capitol planet." —Gaal Dornick's first lines.
- In this adaptation, Lors Avakim and Linge Chen drop certain "oh" sounds, saying "cent'ry", "emp'ror", and "psychohist'ry".
- In this adaptation, Gaal Dornick has an English countryside drawl written into his speech bubbles that reflects the fact that he comes from a backwater planet.
- In Case You Forgot Who Wrote It: The cover page prefaces the title with Isaac Asimov's name, explicitly crediting the original author before the adaptation author/artist.
- Invented Linguistic Distinction: When Dr Asimov wrote "The Psychohistorians", the only character in Foundation (1951) with a Funetik Aksent had been faking it. In the following decades, Dr Asimov would add several characters with genuine accents, so Jonathon Dalton took that idea and incorporated accents into the lawyers and Gaal Dornick.
- Our Graphics Will Suck in the Future: The 21st century artist invokes the idea of early 1980s style computer graphics when representing the Encyclopedia Galactica entries, using pixelated green text and borders.
- Retro Rocket: The spaceships used by the galactic citizens are grey and blocky, but when it comes to insignia signifying spaceships, the sleek rocketship is a favourite. The Galactic Empire uses one such rocketship flying across a stylized sun as their emblem.
- Room Full of Crazy: The cover page for the story gives the impression of a jumbled mess stemming from the mind of Hari Seldon due to the red mathematical and Chinese symbols filling the sky behind him.
- Shout-Out: During his courtroom trial, Seldon literally shouts the words, "decline and fall of the Galactic Empire", which is only one word off from the
inspiration for the (original) work, The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon. - Suddenly Shouting: When Hari Seldon is calmly talking about the purpose of a hundred thousand people connected to his project, he exclaims about the "decline and fall of the galactic empire!", causing the crowd present for the trial to roar out cries of traitor! (Doubling as a literal Shout-Out to the inspiration for the (original) work, The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon.)"I refer, my lord, to the developing DECLINE AND FALL OF THE GALACTIC EMPIRE!"
- Title In: Gaal Dornick's arrival at the Luxor Hotel is shown by an Establishing Shot and the name clearly stated in a box at the upper left of the frame. The hotel's sign (Luxor Hotel) is somewhat visible in the lower-right corner, behind a taxi.
