Join us! It’s our overview of Apple TV’s Foundation Season 2 in the penultimate episode of Stars End’s Fourth Season!
There’s still so much we don’t know! Will Demerzel hunt down and kill Dawn, Sereth, and the baby? Who gave Hari a living body and why? Will Tellum emerge from the Aether to become the Mule? Did anybody remember to scrub all the incest in C-17’s brain before they woke up his pickle? Is the Prime Radiant becoming sentient? Just how many Hari’s are there in a conspiracy, anyway? And where the hell is Dors, damnit!?!
There’s more! And we talk about it all! Well, most of it. Uh… some! Some! No! A bit. A bit. We did do the nose! And the hat!
We also open the Stars End Mail Bag and answer some of your questions!
You’ll want to stick around for the end of this one so you can learn how to help us choose the winners of the Second Semi-Semi Septennial Hari Awards!
Let’s go!
Stars End: A Foundation Podcast 
This is the best podcast I have found. Not just on Foundation, but for its discussions on Asimov and science fiction. It is informative, fun, and perfect length, although I cannot get enough. More importantly is I enjoy the show as much in between Foundation Seasons. Thank you for your work.
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I’d like to extend my thanks for mentioning me in your recent podcast’s mailbag section. Your show has become a regular part of my routine, and I’ve enjoyed actively participating as a commenter. I understand the significant time and effort you invest in the podcast, so it means a lot to hear from one of your many listeners. Rest assured, there’s no need to go on a wild hunt if some of us ever miss an episode or two!
I consider your podcast a valuable companion to Apple’s podcast with David Goyer, which tends to focus more on the guests rather than offering in-depth thoughts on each episode. Your discussions and insights into the Foundation books and TV series have greatly enhanced my enjoyment of the show.
Speaking of the Harry awards, I may not know how you select the winners, but I wanted to express my enthusiastic support for the remarkable ‘Harry’s Toupee.’
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We finally finished up this season after a late start. As a work on its own this second season was even better than the first – well played for sure – and the many almost too many plot threads were riveting.
In the first season I would say there 8 quintillion stories in the Naked Galaxy and this has been one of them – why would we think any one history, like the self-serving ones the Foundation wrote, were the true stories? Roman history is a contradictory mess. But in this 2nd season has not only diverged even more from Asimov but it’s diverged pretty far from Decline and Fall. I have no idea where we are at. The Bel Riose piece in the book was clearly paralleled on Justinian & Belisarius. Part of the empire had already collapsed. In the TV show, who knows? It seems like the empire is pretty much as good as ever, just maybe a little retracted on the edges. Are we in the era of the Julian-Claudians? The crisis of the 3rd century? Theodosius’ dynasty? Who knows? It just doesn’t resemble the unravelling of any human empire historically. Mongols maybe? This is a little disturbing – maybe if they tracked the dissolution of the empire the premise of how psychohistory is applied would make more sense in this series. I also took away the idea in the books that technology was going backwards in the empire (Foundation was opposite). I am sure that’s in the prequels but I thought there were incidents (that weren’t decisive) in the core trilogy.
So, I think the tv series story is out on a limb, sawing it off, but I’m enjoying it anyway!
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