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 – 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!
If you’d rather not be rudely awakened by some spoilers, you know what to do! We’ll be here when you’re ready.
And speaking of rude awakenings, how about that Gaal Dornick? That whole ordeal didn’t seem pleasant at all!
What isn’t rude is our conversation this week, about Foundation’s Episode 5, “Upon Awakening,” it’s better than being roused by a thunderstorm, a smoke alarm, or a cat licking your face.
And this will really shake you out of your slumber! We’ve got a very special episode for you because we’ve been joined by a very special guest, Joel McKinnon host of the very excellent Seldon Crisis Podcast! Joel’s a very interesting guy with a very interesting podcast and some very interesting other irons in the fire.
If you’d prefer to listen to Seldon Crisis another way, it’s also available on the You Tube.
Also, Joel is in a band! The Jupiter Sheep! You can learn more about them and listen to their music here! And
William Shatner is about to be shot into space! He may want to stay there when he sees how Lee Pace updates the “Kirk can break a computer just by talking to it” shtick.
Spoilers, of course. If you haven’t, go watch the episode. Or listen first, it’s entirely up to you.
Things are really starting to cook now and we’ll have our usual free-wheeling conversation! The Cleons are being asynchronous and there are indeed “Barbarians at the Gate.” Well, they’re Acacreonians and the gate is almost entirely un-gatelike… except that you have to pass through it to go from “out” to “in.” But it’s an exciting episode with some excellent performances! We talk. You should tune in; it’ll be fun!
And for crying out loud, don’t stay in the bath too long; you’ll get all pruney.
“And the beginning of the end, as befitting its name, took place on Terminus.”
Spoilers, of course. Go watch the episode. We’ll be here when you get back.
We’re settling into the weekly groove! In this episode we’ll be talking about “the Mathematician’s Ghost,” episode 3 of Foundation. But don’t worry! No mathematicians were harmed in the filming of this episode… for a change.
But we do get some insight into the genetic trinity that rules the Empire, watch as the Foundationeers arrive on Terminus, and thrill to a cliffhanger! The Anacreonians have landed on Terminus, once again but for the first time!
And we think some more about episode 2. Maybe we’ve figured it out. Maybe not. Not knowing is half the fun!
We talk about it all! Join us! It will be so much fun the Empire may collapse! You wouldn’t want to miss that!
Season 2 Episode 2 – Podcast History is Littered with Charlatans and False Messiahs
And… here we are! The moment to which we’ve been building. After months of anticipation, we finally have episodes to watch and discuss! And discuss them we do!
Join us for a no-holds-barred conversation about Foundation: Episode 1 – “The Emperor’s Peace” and Episode 2 – “Preparing to Live!”
Don’t want spoilers? Run to your favorite streaming device, find Apple TV+, and watch the episodes! Now! We’ll be here when you’re ready!
Too excited to worry about spoilers? Us too! Dive right in! We’re happy you’re here!
This is it! A teevee series 80 years in the making! Brother Dawn may not be able to save his legacy, but we’re giving a nice polish to Philo T. Farnsworth’s as well as that of The Great and Glorious AZ!
As of today, 25 September 2021, Jon, Dan, and I have watched the first two episodes of Foundation and we’ve recorded Season 2 Episode 2 which starts our analysis!
There are some minor spoilers below, so beware!
One thing that seems to be a near-universal opinion is that the series looks great! I (Joseph) think it goes a bit farther than that. There’s some skillful use of imagery to tie the themes and moments together. This shot impressed me. When we see Gaal, there are frequent images of water. Water is tied closely to her home on Synnax and her religion, or rather, Synnax’s religion. In this scene, Jerril is trying to convince her to denounce psychohistory. Betray Hari, he’s telling her and you can go home. And here, with the two of them shrouded in darkness, with all of the water and all of the mist, is where he makes the case. Jerril is pushing the Empire’s interests and the spaceship and sun are central. Further in the background, those interests are tied to the star bridge. More on this soon!.
Here are each of our first impressions.
Jon: Very different from the book. They had a lot of exposition to do and they did it intelligently. I am left wanting to see what happens. I loved Sid in the courtroom scene! No twisting 😦
Joseph: Here’s my tweet from after the first episode.
Dan: We didn’t expect Hari to end up on the ship, either!
And what about episode 2? What do we think about everything else? You’ll have to listen to our next episode to find out! We look forward to seeing you!
The start of the Apple TV+ series is now less than a month away and we’re approaching the end of our discussion of Asimov’s original trilogy!
Join us for episode ten “Finished Podcasts Are For Decadent Minds.” That’s 10! Our first-round number! And it’s not 10 base-two or 10 base-eight but 10 base-ten! That makes it the tenest ten!
We’ve finally jumped into Second Foundation! We’ll be talking about the first story, “Search by the Mule,” known as “Now You See It” when it appeared in Astounding Science Fiction. See the final fate of Han Pritcher! Learn the ultimate destiny of the Mule! Marvel at the awesome presence of the Second Foundation! Swoon at the other stuff! A podcast 80 years in the making!
Sadly, True Believers, no one claimed the No-Prize from Episode 9; the Hitchhiker’s Guide Reference comes from Chapter 25 when two philosophers, Vroomfondel and Majikthise are confronting Deep Thought about how the ultimate answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything. That could put philosophers out of business you know! Anyhow, at some point, Vroomfondel shouts “We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!” which I maintain is one of the finest sentences ever written in the language of Shakespeare. And of which I borrowed a bit in episode 9’s description. Always steal from the best and then provide a citation.
But never fear! That was an obscure one! In this Episode’s Asimov Trivia, you’ll have another chance at the glory of a prize that isn’t actually anything! We’ve added an extra question for you folks at home and to make things more interesting we’ll allow multiple winners! No-Prizes will be awarded not only to the correct answer but to any answer with an interesting explanation. Always show your work!
If you’re keeping up with the Stars End Podcast, Episode 8 has been out for about a week, and Episode 9’s release is imminent. In these two episodes, we discuss the entirety of “The Mule” as we know it from Foundation and Empire. If you’re reading along, of course, it’s pretty easy to find a copy of the book including on Archive.org.
If you want to read this story as it first appeared in Astounding Science Fiction, it appears in the November and December issues from 1945. Not-at-all coincidentally it’s broken up just as we did it on the podcast. The first installment covers the Foundation and Trader Worlds first learning about the Mule and then considering how to respond. It corresponds to Chapters 11 (Bride and Groom) through 18 (The Fall of the Foundation) and ends, as you might guess from the title, with quite a dramatic moment. The December installment covers the remainder of the story and completes the tale with a search for the Second Foundation. Asimov’s writing had gotten better here as evidenced by two nice touches; Mayor Indbur III on Terminus and Emperor Dagobert IX on Neotrantor are excellent personifications of their respective dominions.
As we’ve been seeing, Asimov changes very little from Astounding to the novels. As was the case with “The General” The obligatory Encyclopedia Galactica entry that serves as a prologue is absent, replaced in the first part, by this teaser, probably written by John W. Campbell.
First of two parts of Asimov’s first serial of the Foundation — and of the one factor that even Hari Sheldon could not predict — could not defend the Foundation against. The defenses were based on human psychology; The Mule was a mutant!
Unlike for “The General,” unfortunately, the layouts have largely reverted to rectangles and a lot of the images are tiny. We can hope they do a bit better in part two.
Once again there are some nice illustrations in both parts by Paul Orban. Unfortunately, the scans of these issues aren’t as clean as the previous installments have been so the image quality is uneven.
Second of two parts. Across the ruined, dying Galactic Empire , fleeing from a conquered Foundation, three frightened people and the hunted jester of the new conqueror, the Mule, sought the Second Foundation — the only hope, but it must be warned
That’s followed by a summary of part 1, which you can find here: Astounding Science Fiction, December 1945 if you’d like to read it. Paul Orban’s illustrations are below. They’re larger and more textured than the illustrations from Part 1.
Stars End: A Foundation Podcast 