Category: The Apple+Series

Stars End S3E33

“Use the Podcast But Not to Justify Needless Harm to Individuals”

We interrupt our regular program!

Dateline: Capitol District, Trantor

This just in: AppleTV+ has announced the premiere date for Foundation, Season 2: 14 July 2023.

That means that we, at Stars End will be wrapping up Season 3 of the podcast and strapping in for Season 4!

Release Date! Trailer! New Episodes! We’ll talk about it! You’ll listen! It’s a psychohistorical necessity!

You can watch the trailer along with us on the episode right here.

Meanwhile still in season 3, we reach the climax of not merely Robots and Empire but The Great and Glorius Az’s Robot novels collectively! Do we finally get a satisfying ending? You’ll have to listen to find out! And just how philosophical do we get this time? We’re not saying! So tune in and join us already! We promise that no co-host melted down in the recording of this podcast! Probably.

This could very well be where the climax of the novel happens!

And speaking of meltdowns, the ultimate confrontation between Daneel and Giskard on the one hand Amadiro and Mandamus on the other play out against the backdrop of Three Mile Island. In Asimov’s future, this sounds like a vast deserted wilderness and maybe it is 3000 years hence. Not so today. Three Mile Island itself is pretty small, barely big enough for a nuclear power plant or two. Fun fact: TMA-2, the reactor that suffered a partial meltdown and was shut down in 1979 is currently in a state called “Post defueling monitored storage.” It will be officially decommissioned in 2052.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled program. If this has been an actual emergency you would have been instructed where to tune in your area for Foundation and official Asimovalia.

Season 2 Sneak Peek

After a long drought of official information, we finally have an approximate release date and a trailer (well… they call it a “sneak peek”) for Foundation Season 2. It looks spectacular! We’ll discuss it as part of our special Episode 50 coming soon.

So, new episodes of Foundation, Summer 2023. You can watch the trailer below, then join us for episode 50!

Apple TV+’s Season 2 Sneak Peek

Stars End S3E04

“The Podcast as a Whole in its Full Complexity Cannot Be Represented By any Simulation Smaller Than Itself”

After our break, we’re back to reading Prelude to Foundation and things are starting to get weird. Dors and Hari finally journey to Mycogen as we embark on a Voyage to the Space Amish, with apologies to A. E. Van Vogt.

This one has it all! Dors and Chetter deconstructing Hari’s trip to Upperside ad nauseam! Bad bald caps (Boy, does Issac like the word “pate!”)! Rigidly defined gender roles! Lots of complaining! Dors and Hari don’t understand their room! More complaining! And Hari drags some poor guy out of bed in the middle of the night to make him a sandwich. Let’s just say he’s not the ideal guest. Also with some more apologies, this time to Rod Serling, there’s an iPad… and IT’S A COOKBOOK!

Also a new Apple TV+ Minute! Buckle up! This one will be fun!

Stars End S2E12

“We Don’t Expect to Podcast Forever but We Do Intend to Hang On As Long As Possible!”

It’s the final episode of Season 2 where we wrap up our discussion of Season 1 of Foundation with the First Annual Stars End Hari Awards!  Frankly, a lot of it is the three of us gushing about how good the episodes and the performances were. 

But more importantly, you get to find out who won! Best Performance! Favorite Episode!  Favorite Podcast Guest!  All the important stuff.  Not included: unimportant things like “Least Inspirational Quote,” which must be “All love is programming.”

We couldn’t have done it without you!  Our thanks go out to everyone who supported us by voting, commenting, and listening! So, please join us!

Plus a preview of season three!  What will we be doing in the long dark interregnum before season 2 of Foundation?

Stars End S2E11

“We Send Podcasts Out Into Space Hoping Someone Will Answer!”

Although we’re going to continue to refer back to Foundation Season 1 a lot this year, this is the penultimate episode of our official discussion!

And we’ve got quite a lot to say!  This is our first conversation about the season in its entirety!  We’re joined by special guest Luigi DiMeglio of the Foundation Era YouTube Channel!

And be on the lookout for questions and polls!  In our next episode, we’ll be hosting StarsEnd’s First Annual Hari Awards!  And WE want to hear from YOU on all the big awards!  Plus there will be some surprises!  Stay Tuned to our Twitter account @StarsEndPodcast and here at our website StarsEndPodcast.com for news, official announcements, and our usual load of whimsy.

But first: S2E11! Let’s go!

Stars End S2E10

“Under the Genetic Dynasty, There is Only Room for One Podcast”

Haven’t watched Episode 10, “The Leap” yet? We’ll be here when you’re done.

Astoundingly, here we are at the end of Foundation’s Season 1. We’re all about to experience the teevee equivalent of empty nest syndrome.

But not yet! There are two more episodes of Stars End for this season! There’s this one, where we talk about Episode 10 and then there will be one more in about two weeks where we give an overview of Foundation’s epic first season! Also a special guest! Also, also some surprises!

And we’re here for the duration! It might feel like it will be 30,000 years until there will be new content on Apple TV+ but we’ll be here through this new interregnum to make sure that it feels like far less than 1000 years!

You’ve come with us this far! Let’s keep moving forward together!

Stars End S2E09

Stars End S2E09 – Sometimes Podcasts Shout Louder Than Logic.

You know. Spoilers and all that.

In 1987 the Smiths released an excellent compilation album entitled “Louder than Bombs.” It’s the apotheosis of mope rock! In 2021 “Is it Really So Strange” that we would release a podcast episode called “Louder than Logic?” Even if none of us is named “Smith?” We’re nothing but a bunch of alliterates!

But here’s the thing: it fits.

Gaal can feel the future in a way that might undermine psychohistory! That’s Louder than Mathematics!

Lewis was able to wish the Invictus back to Terminus! That’s Louder than Science!

And Salvor always knows how that coin will land! That’s Louder than Random!

Have you ever tried to replace a colorblind, left-handed clone with a perfect replica of Cleon I? That’s Louder than Reason!

You should join us as we talk about “The First Crisis,” a barnburner of an episode directed by the great Roxann Dawson!

I mean it! “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want!” Join us!

Stars End S2E08

Stars End S2E08 – “Your Lack of Understanding Does Not Obligate Us to Podcast”

If you’re a Lee Pace fan, or “stan” as the kids say, or even an “aficionado” like they said back in my day, “The Missing Piece” may be for you!  It’s like the last temptation of Brother Day meets Dune with 100% fewer sandworms.  That is to say, it’s a lot of loincloths and wandering around in the desert. Damn sand gets in everything!

Plus Hari’s still incorporeal, Gaal indulges in some casual vandalism, Salvor and Phara go on a trip, and Ethel the Aardvark goes quantity surveying.

As usual, we talk about it.

This week we’re joined by Rich Greenberg, a screenwriter and old friend of Jon’s.  Rich is known for Zoe (2018), starring Ewan McGregor, Léa Seydoux, and Rashida Jones, as well as the Emmy Award-Winning The Beauty Inside (2018).  Rich will tell us about the process of adapting an intellectual property, particularly a science fiction IP for television.

Join us!  

Stars End S2E07

Stars End S2E07 – An Exhortation from one of the Galaxy’s Major Podcasts

It’s Halloween evening as I write this and the two biggest Sci-Fi franchises have new episodes out.  The premiere of Star Trek Prodigy was last Thursday and the season opener for Doctor Who was this evening.  

But I have another venerable old franchise on my mind.

Namely Twilight Zone.  “Hey, kids!  You want to see something really scary?!?”

Well, “scary” probably isn’t the right word for “Mysteries and Martyrs” but I think some of us found it a little unsettling.

Still, there are lots of big questions!  Is Psychohistory as we know it a thing of the past?  What is the Anacreoneans horrific plan for the Invictus? Has the show succumbed to the Great and Glorious Az’s predilection for exposition?  And in the show with the most per-capita executions might someone get put to death for erroneous thumb-clasping?

We don’t know!  But we’re going to talk about it anyway!  With extra special guest star Cathy Blumenfeld, who has the distinction of escaping that Asimovian indoctrination so many of us suffered as teens.

Join us!  You’ll love it!  It will be like losing yourself in the scar and seeing real clouds!

Stars End S2E06

Stars End S2E06 – An Entire Galaxy Pivoting Around the Actions of an Individual Podcast

There are a lot of things happening in Episode 6, “Death and the Maiden.”

Beware! The spoilers are probably even more densely packed than usual.  “The spoiler-space may even be compact,” he said mathematically.

What a difference a week makes!  We described Episode 5 as a “bridge” episode. In episode 6, there’s stuff going on right and left!  Actually, maybe even in 2, 3, or, 4 dimensions!  This cries out for an “Age of Aquarius” joke, but I don’t have one.  Any help?

Politics!  Religion!  Explosions!  Big themes! Hints about how everything fits together!  This one has it all!

And we have Morgan, as our latest very special guest! She’s a self-described Daneel Olivaw stan and biotechnologist who loves all things Asimov and tweets Foundation-related stuff as @AsimovPosting. She joined us and brought a fresh new voice to the conversation!

You should join us and join the conversation too! You’ll be glad you did!