“Preparing to Live”
Hari Seldon is put on trial for treason after predicting the Empire's fall. He argues for the creation of the Foundation — an encyclopedia project on the remote planet Terminus — to preserve knowledge through the coming dark age.
Air Date
September 24, 2021
Runtime
62 min
Directed By
Alex Graves
Written By
David S. Goyer & Josh Friedman
Episode Recap
In the aftermath of the Star Bridge attack, the Empire retaliates with devastating force against the planets of Anacreon and Thespis, suspected of harboring the terrorists. The disproportionate response demonstrates the Empire's brutal power.
Hari Seldon is arrested and put on trial for sedition. In a pivotal courtroom scene, Seldon argues that the Empire's collapse is mathematically inevitable, and that the only way to shorten the resulting dark age is to establish a Foundation on the remote planet Terminus — ostensibly to compile an Encyclopedia Galactica.
The Emperor, unable to refute Seldon's mathematics, sentences Seldon and his followers to exile on Terminus rather than execution — precisely the outcome Seldon had engineered through psychohistory.
Key Events
Empire destroys Anacreon and Thespis in retaliation
Hari Seldon's trial for treason
Seldon proposes the Encyclopedia Foundation
The Foundation is exiled to Terminus
Featured Characters
Book Connections
Closely adapts Seldon's trial from 'Foundation' Part I ('The Psychohistorians'). In both book and show, Seldon manipulates the trial to achieve exile to Terminus. The destruction of Anacreon and Thespis is original to the show.