Stars End: A Foundation Podcast: Recent Episodes
Stars End Podcast
We’re a group of middle-aged guys who loved this series as teenagers. In season one we finished revisiting the original trilogy in anticipation of the TeeVee show.
Now that the show is here we won't just be enjoying it, we'll be bringing you our thoughts and predictions every week!
Hopefully, through this podcast, we'll bring you along for the ride. We want to do our part to bring this series to a new group of fans who are hopefully far more diverse than the three of us.
Join the conversation as we discuss Foundation and Earth chapters 10, 11, and 12 which is to say, the entirety of Part IV: Solaria.
I began our description of S3E18, with "You know what? Solaria is weird."
And here we are again on Solaria. It's been twelve millennia and in the meantime, they've really leaned into the weirdness. The Solarians have been busy genetically engineering themselves into the quintessential Spacers. They've gone so far as to grow their own Tesla coils inside their own brains so that they can wirelessly power their robots. And that isn't all! But don't take my word for it! Read "Robots," "Underground," and "To the Surface" and see for yourself! Then join us here for the episode!
On another note, our first episode dropped on 26 April 2021. Thus, this episode marks the third anniversary of our podcast! Thanks to everybody who has joined us for the ride!
In this episode, we talk about Chapters 7, 8, and 9 of Foundation and Earth, "Leaving Comporellon," "Forbidden World," and "Facing the Pack."
I've largely stopped bothering with the spoiler warnings, but I'm going to spoiler enough in this episode description to warrant one. If you want to discover things as you read and you haven't read these chapters yet, you know what to do.
Tau Ceti is the nearest "sun-like star" to Earth that isn't in a multiple-star system and so it's been a frequent locale in Science Fiction over the years. It was a natural choice for Asimov to place Aurora, the first of the Spacer Worlds, in the Tau Ceti system.
Since Asimov made that decision, we've discovered and cataloged thousands of exoplanets, that is, planets orbiting stars other than our sun. Several of them are in the Tau Ceti system and two, Tau Ceti d and e, are super-Earths that appear to be at the outer edges of Tau Ceti's habitable zone. That seems to fit what we learn about Aurora in this book; it was a terraformed world that, without humans to maintain it, was slipping back into uninhabitability.
There is another, proposed, exoplanet orbiting Tau Ceti, called PxP-4. That one could be smack in the middle of the habitable zone.
In any event, it's time to return to the Tau Ceti system and take a good look around. Also, there are dogs! So Let's go!
We talk about chapters 4 to 6 of Foundation and Earth.
There's almost a framing sequence for this part of Foundation and Earth, "On Comporellon," "Struggle for the Ship," and "The Nature of Earth." At the outset, Trevize had bulldozed his way onto Comporellon by implying that Bliss and Pelorat are involved in illicit activities that can't be allowed to get back to the wife Pelorat does not have. By the end, it's Trevize who's plied a woman for information and favors with his masculine wiles.
In the interim, we see what has become of Baleyworld, the first drop of the second wave of galactic colonization. Frigid, puritanical, authoritarian, and gray it's an uninviting place until we're allowed entry into the private world of Mitza Lizalor and we learn what we need to continue the search for Earth.
Join us as we take it all apart and then put it back together again! Let's go!
We're diving into Foundation and Earth with Chapters 1 through 3.
The story so far:
When last we checked in, Golan Trevize had deduced that the ultimate answer to the ultimate question of Life, The Interregnum, and Everything was "Galaxia" and not "The Seldon Plan" or "42" as we had previously been led to believe.
But still, he has his doubts. Like a proper mathematics student, he's uncomfortable unless he can show his work. And so, he and his two ape-descended companions, Pelorat and Bliss, have begun a quest to find out what the actual question was.
Thus, they search for Earth, the biggest, most powerful computer ever built, even bigger than the Milliard Gargantubrain at Maximegalon. They will find it, learn the actual question, and all will be right with the galaxy. Unless the telephone sanitizers have anything to say about it.
Or something like that. Join us for Chapters 1 through 3 of Foundation and Earth, "The Search Begins," Toward Comporellon" and "At The Entry Station." We'll be sure to get it sorted.
It's our final podcast on Foundation's Edge as we discuss chapters 17 to 20!
My Mom, an unabashed fan of Joseph Campbell, frequently counseled me to "find my bliss." I think I've done pretty well.
Collectively, though, we may have found our Bliss as we reach the closing chapters of our novel, "Gaia," "Collision," "Decision," and "Conclusion." Our heroes have arrived at Gaia, and all our principal characters are on the scene. Stuff is finally happening! This is as action-packed as an Asimov story can be!
And we finally, through Golan Trevize, learn the ultimate answer to the ultimate question of Life, The Interregnum, and Everything! Spoiler alert: it isn't "42." Let's GO!
We talk about chapters 13 through 16 of Foundation's Edge.
We're finally up to the episode where we reveal that Apple TV's Foundation has been renewed for season 3! Not exactly ripped from the headlines.
Also, the Great and Glorious Az wants us to know that, like spaceships, other planets have their own distinctive odors.
It's true! Captain Kirk could have faced the Gorn on the Moon as astronauts tell us that moondust smells like gunpowder. The atmospheres of Venus and Mars contain hydrogen sulfide, which smells of rotten eggs. Ew. Lucky for you if you took off your helmet on either planet you'd be too busy suffocating or bursting into flames to notice the stench. You get the idea.
Still, I'm just happy that this olfactory dissertation doesn't overlap with the exhaustive explorations of restrooms.
So we talk about "University," "Forward," "Gaia-S," and "Convergence" from Foundations Edge. There's a nice bit about The Five Sisters, a pentagonal constellation as seen from Sayshell, that plays an important part in the plot. It reminded Joseph of "Constant as the Northern Star" one of Asimov's science essays from the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction which was collected in Of Matters Great and Small. And we go on a bit of a lengthy, but fun. digression.
Join us!
Dateline – Terminus:
It's sweet that you guys noticed that we hadn't commented on the news about Apple TV's Foundation being renewed for Season 3!
But that isn't exactly what happened; we did, in fact, talk about it on S5E04. Unfortunately, we've all been super busy and the post-production train has a metaphorical Bishop's Claw on the tracks. Believe me, you don't want to mess with one of those. That episode will be out in a couple of days.
But when the news about David Goyer and his status as showrunner dropped, we decided to do something different. Here's our first special bulletin!
Me, I'm hoping for huge budget cuts! Let's strip it down until it looks like a production of Our Town and put The Great and Glorious Az‘s vision on full conversational display.
And let's lean into it! How about a long monologue by Jared Harris, shot on location in a Shoney’s men’s room about how little plumbing has changed in 12000 years? I'd watch that!
Thanks for your dedication to Stars End and never fear! We'll be getting caught up as quickly as we can.
In which we discuss chapters 9 through 12 of Foundation's Edge.
Thanks to Avengers: Endgame lots of people know what the end of a chess game is called. This section of Foundation's Edge which includes the chapters "Hyperspace," "Table," "Sayshell," and "Agent" is much more like the beginning of a chess game, which is called the "opening." That's not nearly as evocative a title. It's mainly about shifting the pieces around in hopes that something will happen.
And that's what's going on here the players are still being shuffled about the board. Even the most eventful chapter, "Table" results in Gendibal and Novi moving toward the center of the board.
But just because exciting things aren't happening doesn't mean these chapters are boring! There's stuff to be figured out, decisions to be made, and things to discuss! This is where the Great and Glorious Az is at his best! Don't miss this one!
Plus we think about what the Milky Way Galaxy would look like from Terminus. Let's go!!
In S5E02 we talk about chapters 5 through 8 of Foundation's Edge.
We're about 40% of the way into the book now and we're still introducing characters!
This section introduces us to the Second Foundation including Stor Gendibal, Delora Delarmi, and First Speaker Quindor Shandass, and shows us that the Speakers' Table is a raucous affair. We also meet Sura Novi, a Trantorian farm woman who becomes important to Gendibal.
We're also treated to an Asenion chain of reasoning describing how Janov figured out the characteristics of Earth.
And we answer some hard-hitting questions like "Are any of the characters actually likable?"
You wouldn't want to miss that, would you? Join us while we discuss "Speaker," "Earth," "Farmer," and "Farmwoman!" When you must — listen! Let's go!
Welcome to our season 5 premiere in which we talk about the first four chapters of Foundation's Edge!
Hello, True Believer! We're back! Again. And we're ready to dive into season five!
You might recall the beginning of Season 3 when we made a pronouncement like this one. "On the Stars End Podcast, Foundation canon is represented by two separate, yet equally important kinds of seasons" the odd-numbered seasons, which discuss Asimov’s writings, and the even-numbered seasons that talk about the Apple TV+ series."
That's been working for us so far, and we have no plans to stop now! And here we are in an odd-numbered season so, we're starting with the first sequel, Foundation's Edge, specifically the first four chapters, "Councilman," "Mayor," "Historian," and "Space." That's the starting point. We'll continue in four-chapter chunks through the entire novel. You can probably guess where we'll go from there, but we promise there will be some treats and surprises along the way.
So join us as we enter the second interregnum between seasons 2 and 3 of the Apple TV+ series. We'll make sure that this one won't seem like 30,000 years either!
After recording weekly throughout Foundation on Apple TV+'s second season, we needed our own interregnum as we rebuilt the galaxy. We can't wait to show you our spiffy new water clock!
But we're back! In our next episode, we launch season 5 of Stars End discussing the first four chapters of Foundation's Edge!
But that's not the main event right now! You voted! We listened! Join us as we bring you the Second Semi Semi Septennial Hari Awards to cap off an excellent season, not just for Foundation, but for us as well! You helped us decide the winners, You'll want to join us in the accolades! Let's GO!
But just between you and me, I hope that the next gap is again exactly 21 months. Otherwise, we'll need a new temporal adjective.
Oh. And there isn't really a water clock.
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 erase all the incest in C-17's brain when 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!
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!
What a wild ride that was! This time we're talking about the season finale of AppleTV+'s Foundation, "Creation Myths!" Haven't seen it? Go! Watch it! Now! We'll be here when you're done!
Then you can join us for the excitement! Not everybody gets out of this one alive! There are beginnings and endings, twists and turns, conclusions and preludes! Everything a great finale needs!
And don't go away after this episode! Foundation season 2 might have concluded but we still have two more episodes to go in our season 4!
In one week we'll have an overview of what might be called the best season of Foundation so far! And we'll open up the Stars End Mail Bag as Dave Letterman might have said.
Then, two weeks after that it's the Second Not Actually Annual Hari Awards for Foundational Excellence! Be on the lookout for the polls, these are your awards as well as ours.
Hmmm... "not actually annual" needs a bit of work. "Sesquiennial" is once every year and a half. Too frequent. "Biennial" means once every two years. Not frequent enough. What's once every twenty-one months? 21 months x 4 = 84 months which is Seven Years, So, how about Semi-Semi-Septennial? That will have to do.
But never mind that right now! You want to hear about the Season Finale! I know you do! Let's go!
Hoo, boy do we go on about Foundation, S2E09, "Long Ago, Not Far Away" In this one! We're joined by Special Guest, Morgan, aka @AsimovPosting on the Dead Bird App.
The Stars End Podcast! This time, 42% longer and with 10% real fruit juice!
Jon had the right idea, the only way to summarize this one is to watch the entire thing! So go watch it! Now! Otherwise, you know, spoiler alert and all that!
But, let's at least whet your appetite!
We get a big chunk of back story for Danee... er... Demerzel that's only a small percentage of the whole picture!
You'll never guess who gets the upper hand in the epic battle between Gaal and Tellem!
And Brother Day (no this one over here) tries to become "The Cleon Who Chose Peace." How do you suppose that went?
Plus the sickest burn in over eight decades of Foundation stories!
You DO NOT want to miss this one... or the next! This is just the prelude to the season finale!
Let's GO!
“If the Podcast Can’t Put its Thumb on the Scale, What’s the Point of Having a Thumb?” I don’t know, but l do know that we talk about Foundation, S2E08, "The Last Empress" in this episode!
Just who is "The Last Empress?" In the real world, Roxanne Dawson deserves the gig! She directed the best two episodes of season one and with this outing, she’s outdone herself!
Could it be Enjoinder Rue? That would require a complicated plan involving Brother Dusk, a time machine, and a bottle of Focus Factor… but maybe.
How about Sereth? She seems to be on a path to becoming the next Empress, and she has more irons in the fire than anybody else, if you’ll excuse the expression. And we know the Empire may not last much longer. Next and last could overlap!
Maybe it’s Gaal. She seems to be High-Muckety-Muck–Elect of the Mentalics! Nothing could go wrong there… right?
And don’t write off Salvor! She’s learning how to explode rocks! Don’t mess with the warden!
Did I miss someone?
We’re pretty sure it isn’t the lady with the comically large statue from episode 206.
Do you want to know? Listen to the episode! We’ll make an educated guess! Let's GO!
We're joined by friend of the show, Travis Johnson, as we talk about Foundation, S2E07, "A Necessary Death."
That title sure sounds dreary so it's hard to believe that it's attached to an episode that's just so compulsively watchable! This episode is so compulsively watchable that no fewer than three characters IN the show are themselves watching the show. And that's last week's episode! It's so compulsively watchable that next week's episode is rumored to consist of nothing but characters watching this week's episode! It's so compulsively watchable that one of our hosts has watched the episode so many times that he's lost count of just how many! Want to know who watched so many times? You'll have to listen to our episode (and then make an educated guess) to find out!
And meanwhile the pile of bodies at Tellum Bonds's feet just... keeps... getting... larger...
You want to hear about this episode! Travis and we want to tell you about this episode! You don't want to miss that and neither do we!
Let's GO!
We discuss Foundation, S2E06 "Why The Gods Made Wine.”
We hope that we haven’t spoiled you with all the great guests lately, but this week it’s back to just the three of us muddling along.
And speaking of spoiling, as always, we’re working on the assumption that if you’re listening you’ve watched the episode. It’s up to you, but if you don’t want the latest episode of Foundation to be as spoiled as a swig of sour milk you know what to do!
If you were hoping for a Hari-centric episode you should be careful what you wish for. It isn’t all Hari all the time though. Two moments with Hober flash by. Queen Sereth expediently and efficiently drops an audacious power play in front of a stunned and scowling Brother Day. Constant and Poly have barely started trying to see Trantor on 30 Altarian dollars a day when the Secret Police all crowd into their room.
The big chunks of the episode are dealing with the Mentalics on Ignus and a flashback to Hari and Dor… uh… Yanna’s brief time together.
But there’s not much humor in this one. It’s dark. Want a theme for the episode? Let’s get the full quote from the title drop. “The gods, made wine to compensate those who can’t afford revenge.” And I’m pretty sure we’re all out of wine.
Join us!
"The Whole Point of the Podcast is that the Future Isn't Set in Stone" in which we discuss Foundation, S2E05 "The Sighted and the Seen" This week media analyst, Fordham professor, and Renaissance human Paul Levinson joins the conversation! That Beatles reference below, Paul? That's for you.
Here's the usual spoiler warning. If you haven't, go watch the episode. We'll be here.
Foundation, Season 2 seems to be leaning even harder on comic relief and sexy time than it had been. Still, the plot wanders forward.
After a fairly dark opening, we get the comic relief from Gaal, Salvor, and Hari. The beggar crashes into a forest on Ignus reminiscent of Star Trek: Generations. Where's Jordi LaForge when you need him? Salvor yells "I'm flying dead stick!" Hari replies, "Is that bad?" That's pretty funny but it's not the best line. They encounter an old friend and then a crowd of mysterious mentalics. Could they be the nucleus of the Second Foundation?
Meanwhile, Sereth and Rue drive their arc forward with the sexy time while the theme of memory is writ large. We learn who was behind the murder of Sareth's Family while Day is becoming more unstable and Demerzel just keeps getting creepier. Rue manages to send Dawn and Dusk on a journey to see the Wizard, which is to say the vending machine version of Cleon the First. Imagine two Junior High School Elvis impersonators meeting the One True Elvis and you have the general idea. Later they're impressed by the size of C-1's... uh... data.
It's a lot to digest and we talk about it. You should join us! We can't promise it will help, but a splendid time is guaranteed for all!
In which we talk about Foundation, S2E04 "Where the Stars are Scattered Thinly." We're joined this week by Joel McKinnon, host of Seldon Crisis, another excellent Foundation Podcast!
As the season slows down a bit to focus on some of the significant plotlines we get the closest thing to a special Valentine's Day episode that this show could possibly do.
Meanwhile, Gaal, as the narrator, tells us repeatedly that "Psychohistory does not give a damn about how you monkeys hook up." I'm paraphrasing.
The narration notwithstanding the situation on Terminus is framed by Hober and Constant's sexual tension. Will they or won't they? Watch the episode!
We learn a lot about the situation with Queen Sereth. Sereth flirts with Brother Dawn! Rue flirts with Brother Dusk! It's all about what Brother Day may or may not have done. Will anybody flirt with Markley? Only time will tell!
And we see Bel Riose's story unfolding through the lens of his relationship with Glawin. "By the time you recognize an atrocity," says Glawin "you may have already been complicit in one!" What does that mean? I don't know, but it seems ominous!
At least we don't see Day and Demerzel in this context; I don't need to hear my skin crawl this week.
It all seems important! I'm pretty sure Gaal is an unreliable narrator here.
Also, enough is going on about wine to make for a reasonable freshman comp essay or at least a session or two with a good therapist.
We've got a lot to talk about! Join us!
In which we discuss Foundation, S2E03 "King and Commoner."
It's an episode for old friends!
Remember Bel Riose from Foundation and Empire? We finally get to meet him in the AppleTV+ universe and he's refreshingly like his counterpart from the source material, steadfast and impressive.
We also meet Hober Mallow who maybe has a sprinkling of his namesake from the book but appears to be a mashup of several other characters including a big dollop of the Outrageous Okona from Star Trek: The Next Generation. The good news is that he's hilarious!
Also, Gaal is mystified by what's going on with Hari's "old friend" Kalle.
As our special guest, we welcome back Rick Tetrault of That Star Trek Podcast and the Infinite Potato Network! Rick has been a friend of Stars End since before our very first episode!
And speaking of old friends, what the hell just happened to Hari?
You don't want to miss this one! Let's go!
A general, a priest, and a warlord walk into a bar. The priest says, "If you thought the season premiere of Foundation had a lot going on, buckle up!"
The second episode, "A Glimpse of Darkness," zips by at a breakneck pace! Join us for the conversation! As always, there are lots and lots of spoilers. You have been warned! If you haven't seen the episode yet, go watch it now or dive right in! It's up to you!
This one has it all! Lightning! Fire! Spaceships! And importantly, several old friends! From the trilogy no less! You don't want to miss this one or our discussion!
But this started like a joke, so we need a punchline. Uh... "Because their horns don't work!"
“In the Shadow of Seldon”
One of the things you can say about Foundation the TeeVee series is that they throw down one hell of a season premiere! And this one is fresh! It’s like a brand new TV show that isn’t a brand new TV show. Let’s talk about it!
It’s up to you, of course, but there are spoilers-a-plenty for Foundation, S2E01, “In the Shadow of Seldon” here. If you don’t want anything spoiled, run right over to the nearest screen and watch the episode! We’ll be here when you’re done!
We’ve proverbially hit the ground running! There’s already stuff we’re dying to learn in episode two! Can Gaal and Salvor work as mother and daughter? Why is the Vault opening? And could this be the beginning of the end for the genetic dynasty?
But there’s a question that we have to ask ourselves in the next week. You’ve noticed that there are already two Hari Seldons wandering around. It’s a murder of crows and a parliament of owls. What do we call a group of Hari’s? Because I think there’s very little chance that particular guy is going to be content with two.
Hari Seldon is called Raven Seldon, so let’s not mix the metaphor. A group of ravens is called a a “rave,” an “unpleasantness,” a “conspiracy,” or a “treachery.” Which of these do you like best? Or do you have something even better in mind? Let us know and we’ll talk about it next week!
Well, The First Interregnum has ended. Season 2 of Apple TV+s Foundation is just three days away. The goal for our season 3 was to make the gap between the TeeVee seasons seem to fly by quickly! We hope it seemed like less than 30,000 years! Thanks to everyone who's stuck with us!
That's the raison d'être for season 4 of Stars End, we'll be recording weekly for the duration, bringing you the best analysis of each episode of the Apple TV+ program as it airs as quickly as humanly possible.
So, join us for this, our season premiere, as we play at being psychohistorians and ponder what we might see in the coming weeks, and chat about what we expect in Season 2. We'll even be aspirational as we voice what we hope to see. We've been on a slow ship since season one ended, now it's time to hop onto a jump ship and soar through these new episodes together! Let's go!
I podcast, therefore I am. Or is it, "I podcast, therefore I philosophize?"
If you've listened to some of our recent episodes, you might think it's the latter as recently we're delved into topics like free will and pondered whether there's an objective morality beyond things that we might be programmed with, like societal norms or the Three Laws of Robotics.
Well, if you like that stuff, you'll love this episode! There's a new book out called Asimov's Foundation and Philosophy (AF&P), a collection of essays about... well, you've figured that out, right?
Remember books, by the way? They're weird. You can read them, but they don't have batteries and they're made of wood of all things!
We discuss this book with three of the authors who are simultaneously two-and-a-half special guests!
Josef Simpson is one of the editors of AF&Pand helped bring the book to life. He also wrote "A Foundation-al Lesson on Free Will and Determinism" for the project.
Our second guest is long-time friend of the show, Cora Buhlert! Cora was our first guest way back in Season 1 Episode 7. She now becomes our first returning guest and the first Hugo Winner to appear on our show as she was chosen the Best Fan Writer for 2022! Congratulations, Cora! Cora contributed "Between Cynicism and Faith" fo AF&P.
The book also contains a chapter by our very own Dan Fried, "The Dao of Psychohistory!" Thus, Dan is our one-half of a special guest as he splits his duties between interviewer and interviewee!
So if our excursions into philosopy have wheted your appitite for such things, pick up a copy of Asimov's Foundation and Philosophy. You're sure to enjoy it! And if you want to read the book without harming a trees, or through inaction allowing a tree to come to harm, here's one one option.
Sometimes we bury the lede in the title so let's rectify that straightaway: featuring special guest Melinda Snodgrass!
We've never been shy about our obligatory Star Trek references and as we've undertaken our long, strange trip through Asimov's Robot Novels and some related short stories, those references skewed sharply in the direction of The Measure of a Man, which is in my opinion "the moment when The Next Generation earned the right to call itself Star Trek." It's great TV and great SF and a monument to themes and ideas that Asimov championed throughout his career.
So for this episode, we going to treat you to an episode-long Star Trek reference as we're joined by the author of The Measure of a Man, the aforementioned Melinda Snodgrass!
Please excuse us, we’re all a bit starstruck.
In addition to writing the quintessential Data episode for TNG, Melinda Is a lifelong Science Fiction fan who has written many novels including the Circuit series, co-created the Wild Cards series of books, and has extensive screenwriting credits including L. A. Law, Sliders, and The Outer Limits. Within the realm of Star Trek, Melinda has written Tears of the Singers, a TOS novel, and five episodes of TNG, which also include a second Data-Centric episode, The Ensigns of Command. She was the Story Editor on Next Generation while the show transformed from a program struggling to find its voice into the science fiction juggernaut we all know and love.
As Jon puts it, this episode “slaps!” You do not want to miss this one! Let’s go!
We finally know that season 2 of Apple TV+'s Foundation will begin on 14 July. Rather than tackling another novel, we're wrapping up season 3 of Stars End with short stories and guests.
In our next episode, we're both pleased and proud to announce that we'll be interviewing Melinda Snodgrass, author of the first truly great episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the source of many of our Star-Trek-related digressions, "The Measure of a Man."
But in the meantime, for this episode, we're reading The Great and Glorious Az's "The Bicentennial Man," (TBM) which is based in part on a suggestion from famed science fiction editor Judy-Lynn del Rey. To quote the good doctor, "Of all the robot stories I ever wrote, 'The Bicentennial Man' is my favorite and, I think, the best." In The Complete Robot, he pairs it with our last episode's subject, "...That Thou Art Mindful of Him" (TTAMoH) in a section entitled "Two Climaxes" where he envisions the ultimate fate of the three laws and the science of robotics.
Of the two, TBM has the less auspicious genesis. You'll recall that TTAMoH was commissioned for an anthology entitled Final Stage which charged the authors with taking their themes to their ultimate conclusion. TBM was commissioned for an anthology entitled "The Bicentennial Man" where the stories could be anything at all so long as it was suggested by the phrase, "The Bicentennial Man." That, to a large degree, was the way things worked in the US in 1976.
But there was an earlier suggestion from del Rey about "...a robot who has to choose between buying its own liberty and improving its own body." After reading TBM, Judy-Lynn wanted the story, and when the original anthology fell through, Judy-Lynn got the story. It appeared in a different anthology, one that she edited, Stellar Science Fiction #2 published in February 1976.
So, don't miss our discussion of "The Bicentennial Man, " the Good Doctor's favorite Robot Story, and his third favorite story overall, surpassed only by "The Last Question" and "The Ugly Little Boy."
Let's go!
Asimov's story "...That Thou Art Mindful of Him" has an interesting pedigree. It was initially commissioned for an original collection entitled, Final Stage: The Ultimate Science Fiction Anthology edited by Edward L. Ferman and Barry N. Malzberg. The intent of the anthology is compelling. Here's how the editors described the premise.
"The assumption was that science fiction — that branch of literature, half beast, half-civilized —sits upon perhaps, a dozen classic themes, which, in various combinations, permutations, and convolutions, underline most of the work in the field. Like the ten to twenty basic chess attacks and defenses, these themes can lead to winning combinations of great beauty or, in less talented hands, to disastrous and obvious clichés."
Some of science fiction's most astounding writers were each given one of these classic themes and charged with crafting that theme's ultimate story. The assignment of "Robots and Androids" could only have gone to the good doctor. Each contributor was also tasked with writing an afterword on the theme and their story.
Thus, "...That Thou Art Mindful of Him" was born. Ed Malzberg was also editor of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction at the time. According to Peter King writing on Amazon.com, Malzberg, upon receiving the manuscript, was compelled to include it in his magazine first. It appeared in the April 1974 issue. In his afterword to the story, The Great and Glorious Az proclaimed "...having followed matters through to the logical conclusion, I have possibly destroyed the Three Laws, and it made it impossible for me to ever write another positronic robot story."
But then, of course, he qualified it, maybe not. And he said something similar after writing the Bicentennial Man two years later (that's for next week). He qualified that as well, "But then again," he wrote, "I might. I'm not always predictable." Two novels and a bunch more short stories later, the good doctor might have been more predictable than he thought.
Anyway, we talk about it. Please tune in and join the fun! Let's go!
You can read that entire afterword on our website!
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 (which you can find here)! New Episodes! We'll talk about it! You'll listen! It's a psychohistorical necessity!
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.
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.
We hit some big, philosophical issues in this episode.
As a mathematician, it seems odd that I'm frequently the one to point out that some things can't be quantified. We're reaching the limits of quantifiability with the Three Laws of Robotics, just as we did with Psychohistory. How do you quantify harm? Take the First Law, for example. Even within a single human, there's psychological harm or physical harm, at least if you're Giskard. How do you compare the two? It's not even possible to measure the two things with the same unit. What's bigger: 17 furlongs or 200 degrees on the Rankine scale? And there's also social harm, financial harm, legal harm... the list goes on. It's even trickier if the question is about the amount of harm between two humans. And what about the Zeroth Law? Quantifying harm between groups of humans? Species of humans? Collections of sapient beings that might be humans? That way, it seems, lies madness. What's bigger: royal blue or next Tuesday? The only possible path to an answer is the ability to predict the consequences of any action. That brings us back to Psychohistory. It's a vicious circle.
We get into it as Daneel continues to evolve into a Zeroth Law robot in chapters 15, 16 and 17 of Robots and Empire. Meanwhile we revisit the caves of steel, experience the pomp and circumstance surrounding Gladia's visit to Earth, meet a government functionary, and witness an assassination attempt! Plus: a space maneuver worthy of Captain Kirk himself! You'll enjoy this one!
We also ask: do college professors think? We never quite get to the bottom of that one, either.
Let's go!
Joanne and I stayed in a hotel one night last week and I was delighted to discover a pancake robot while exploring the continental breakfast.
I know that sounds pretty damn cool, but it was disappointing. Do you have a mental picture of a pancake robot? Whatever it is, I'd wager it isn't a box. This one looks like a box.
Today the feeling is more akin to bewilderment. I searched for a picture of the pancake robot and got a truly absurd number of hits. There are lots of pictures and cartoons that look like that mental picture from before. Another that looks like a 3-D printer making love to a hot plate. Also, an annoyingly catchy song that even has its own video. I did not see any of that coming. Well, mostly.
But let's get back to Daneel and Giskard, the more traditional science fictional robots who never seem to make pancakes even though they could.
In this episode, we continue our odyssey through the excellent Robots and Empire and talk about Part 4: Aurora, or, if you prefer Chapters 11 through 14, The Old Leader, The Plan and the Daughter, The Telepathic Robot, and The Duel.
Together we'll see how Amadiro and Mandamus' plan to destroy Earth starts to come together, Vasilia's machinations to regain possession of Giskard, and watch in real-time as Daneel evolves into the first-ever 4-laws robot, saving Giskard from Vasilia and in turn, Giskard saving Daneel from destruction! It's great and you'll want to join us!
Also, there is some Latin. There may even be pancakes.
Join us as we continue our journey through Isaac Asimov's masterpiece Robots and Empire, as we delve into chapters 7 through 10.
In this episode, we take a closer look at "The Overseer," "The Settler World," "The Speech," and "After the Speech," as Asimov continues to link his major works into a future-historical tapestry.
We see how The First Law of Robotics can be undermined as foreshadowed in The Naked Sun.
We witness Gladia becoming the true successor to Elijah Baley's legacy as she learns public speaking, articulates a political vision filled with peace and harmony, and changes the course of the rest of her life all in the space of a lazy afternoon.
And we watch as Elijah Baley lays the groundwork (dare I say "Foundation?") for the Zeroth Law of Robotics from his deathbed.
And of course, Daneel and Giskard go on about the whole thing.
Please join us for our discussion about Robots and Empire, and where it's taking the universe Asimov built. Let's go!
Join us as we continue to wind our way through Robots and Empire, the final book in Asimov's Robot series, even if you count collections of short stories.
In this episode, we discuss chapters 3 through 6. "The Crisis," "Another Descendent," "The Abandoned World," and "The Crew."
In these chapters, the Great and Glorious Az establishes Robots and Empire as an important bridge between the Robot Stories, the Galactic Empire Novels, and the Foundation Saga; it's both a prelude and a coda.
Elijah Baley isn't in this novel except in flashbacks, but his presence looms large. Daneel and Giskard try to deduce what Elijah's nemesis, Amadiro might try in the aftermath of Fastolfe's death. As they do, they're forced to ponder the Three Laws of Robotics, which seem to be impeding their efforts. Together, these discussions wrap up the Robot Stories.
Meanwhile, these two robots are pondering Elijah's ability to predict, in broad brushstrokes, the future that has unfolded over the past two centuries, including an oncoming crisis. Giskard, in particular, is trying to deduce the "Laws of Humanics" that Elijah must have understood to see so clearly. In this, of course, we see the seeds of the Foundation.
How do the Galactic Empire Novels figure into all of this? For that, you'll have to stay tuned.
If you're a fan of Issac Asimov, you probably like robots, the Three Laws of Robotics, and characters having long, expository conversations about interesting ideas.
If that's true, then Robots and Empire is the book for you! It features, except for when the plot forces its way in, our two favorite robots, Daneel and Giskard, having long, expository conversations about the Three Laws of Robotics. Jon is quite outspoken about how those are his favorite bits. Dan and I are more apt to keep that revelation to ourselves.
Robots and Empire lives in between the three Elijah Baley novels and the Foundation books. As a consequence, it never seems to get the attention of Asimov's other major novels; it's never, for example, been made into an official mass-market audiobook.
But if you love the three Elijah Baley novels and the Foundation books and if you've bought into Asimov's project to link most of his work into a tremendous future history, Robots and Empire isn't just essential, it might even be the most important piece.
And we're finally talking about it, starting, in this episode, with the first two chapters, "The Descendent" and "The Ancestor." You don't want to miss this one!
It's human nature, it seems, to celebrate round numbers, 40th birthdays, 20th wedding anniversaries, 10th high school reunions, and so forth. New Year's Day 2000 was a huge deal even though, as Arthur C. Clarke was quick to point out, the third millennium CE didn't start until 2001.
Early on, we poked a bit of fun at this tendency, culminating in episode eight, because eight is a very round number: It's "10" in base eight, "20" in base four, and "1000" in base two. That was also when we tied Manimal for their number of episodes.
But now we're celebrating our 50th episode and that is a milestone. Fifty isn't just 6.25 on the Manimal scale, it's when a lot of comics and magazines (remember those?) have their first special issue! It's a half-century, a semi-centennial, and a golden jubilee! You might even say that we're almost playing with a full deck!
So we celebrate, reminisce a bit, and wax some nostalgia. And we take care of some business since there's a trailer out for season 2 of Foundation.
But the main event here is the most shocking of plot twists! The most special of special guests! It's the one guest that no one, I say, no one, could have expected! And not just because he's 103 years old and refuses to leave his apartment! It's our interview with the professor of biochemistry, the great explainer, and the father of robotics. He's the founder of foundations, he's one-third of the big three, he's the best science writer according to the Clarke-Asimov Treaty, and he's The Sensuous Dirty Old Man. It is, of course, the Great and Glorious Az, Issac Asimov himself! And he joins us for a conversation! Believe it or don't believe it, but DO NOT miss it!
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, it is said, "always get their man." I haven't checked, but I'm confident that's been updated. "Always get their human" might not work perfectly in the context of Asimov's Robot Novels, so let's settle on "always get the perpetrator." A perpetrator could be an animal, vegetable, or mineral.
In Elijah Baley's time, millennia in the future, it isn't clear whether New York City has grown to include parts of Canada but it isn't likely. If it had, Lije would have been part of this same tradition. And yet, as we've noticed, Lije hardly ever "gets" the guilty party. Usually, he has figured out who it is, but the actual "getting" part never actually happens. It's like watching an episode of Law & Order where the latter half kinda goes off the rails. As we approach the denouement of The Robots of Dawn we have to ask... will Lije finally have an unqualified win?
You want to know! You need to know! We know! And we talk about it! Let's go!
And in one week... Episode 50!
Happy New Year! Today, 2 January, is National Science Fiction Day here in the States, and not coincidentally, the birthday of Dr. Asimov, aka the great explainer, aka the Great and Glorious Az. Happy Birthday, Issac!
It's also National Buffet Day and World Introvert Day. Make of that what you will.
Thus, today we're dropping a special episode of the Stars End Podcast, our first musical episode! Well, kinda. There's a bit at the end where we talk about music and songs that would be apropos to the real action, where we discuss Chapters 13, 14, 15, and 16 of The Robots of Dawn. Don't worry, None of us sing.
So, head on out to Golden Corral, find yourself a nice quiet corner away from the humans and read about R. Daneel and R. Giskard. Then join us back here for our musical episode. Or, just listen to the episode. That's cool too.
For our part, we're recording another episode this evening, each safely in our own space, securely separated by state and/or national boundaries. This one's a very special episode; it's our 50th and we've got something different planned for the milestone! Stay Tuned!
But first, episode #48.
And as a bonus, you can find our soundtrack to The Robots of Dawn on our website, StarsEndPodcast.com. That, of course, can never be complete unless we can find someone to record (The Robots Want to Wear My) Red Shoes for us.
Let's go!
In a departure from our recent episodes, we have breaking news! Well... probably! The Midgard Times tells us that Apple TV+'s Foundation has been renewed for a third season. No word yet on when season two will premiere, but there's more information that you'll need to listen to learn!
Who is The Midgard Times and how did they manage to scoop the competition for this vital information? We don't really know! We can tell you though that if you're looking between hard-hitting journalism like "Muspelheim in Danger of Freezing Over" and "Troll Literacy Rate Rises to 3%" it isn't there.
You need to go to... hang on, it was here a minute ago... give me a second... here! This The Midgard Times, appears to be a subsidiary of moviesr.net which reminds us of nothing so much as a vanity license plate that... isn't quite what the car's owned really wanted.
And what of the news from Svartalfheim? Gesundheit!
Aside from this, we revisit "Mirror Image" and, of course, we continue our discussion of The Robots of Dawn. This time, it's chapters 10, 11, and 12 in which we wrap up the interview of Vasilia and get the entirety of Baley's conversation with Gremionois. Also, Baley goes to the bathroom and has lunch! Without this, no Asimov novel would be complete.
Meanwhile, we'll always be at StarsEndPodcast.com and StarsEndPodcast.WordPress.com but not at StarsEnd.anything because we don't know what those are either, but we think there are squatters.
Cross-examinations are a staple of teevee. On Law and Order, there is a plethora of great scenes where Jack McCoy presses the defendant until they break and inadvertently provide irrefutable evidence against themselves.
Lije Baley wants us to believe there is no benefit to cross-examining a robot, but teevee and Captain James T. Kirk argue against this. Consider this scene from "The Ultimate Computer," restored to the intended version that was prevented by copyright issues. Ironic because Star Trek walks right up to the border of the ground Asimov covered in The Naked Sun in this one.
M5: This unit is the ultimate achievement in computer evolution. It will replace man so that man may achieve. Man must not risk death in space or other dangerous occupations. This unit must survive so man may be protected.
SPOCK: Captain, attack force almost within phaser range.
KIRK: There were many men aboard those ships. They were murdered. Must you survive by murder?
M5: This unit cannot murder.
KIRK: Why?
M5: Murder is contrary to the First Law of Robotics.
KIRK: But you have murdered. Scan the starship Excalibur, which you destroyed. Is there life aboard?
M5: No life.
KIRK: Because you murdered it. What is the penalty for murder?
M5: Death.
KIRK: And how will you pay for your acts of murder?
M5: This unit must die. (It disconnects itself from the power feed in Engineering and goes dark.)
KIRK: M-5?
CHEKOV: Sir, deflector shields have dropped.
SULU: All phaser power is gone, sir.
SPOCK: M-5 is leaving itself open to attack. The machine is ignoring the Third Law to atone for its violation of the First Law.
So, despite Baley's repeated assertions to the contrary, Kirk shows us it can be productive to cross-examine a robot, perhaps even forcing a mental freeze-out.
"Mental freeze-out!" you might exclaim! "Dr. Han Fastolfe says that's practically impossible!" I suggest we ask Captain Kirk about that too.
But let's think about this together as we discuss chapters 7, 8, and 9 of The Robots of Dawn. It's a monument to cross-examination and interrogation. And not just of robots. We talk about it, you can join us! Let's go!
The scene from "The Ultimate Computer" was taken from Chrissie's Transcripts Site. (and then shamelessly edited).
This is the city, Eos, Aurora. It's the city of the dawn on the planet of the dawn. It's the largest and most important city on the oldest and most important Spacer World. Mostly, good things happen in Eos, the Robotics Institute is in Eos as is the planetary government. Sometimes bad things happen; things that require a lot of discussion. Was the victim even alive? Was this even a crime? Questions that need answers. When that happens, I go to work. I carry a badge.
Friday, October 30. It was windy in Eos. We were working the day watch out of the roboticide division. Our host is Han Fastolfe. My partner's Daneel Olivaw. My name is Baley.
Join us as we get into the meat of The Robots of Dawn. Baley starts to learn the details of the case, and Fastolfe performs some experiments on Baley. Plus the return of an old friend, the wackiest trip to the lavatory in all of the Asimov canon, and the Great and Glorious Az tries his hand at writing romance. As always, you've read it, we talk about it, and fun will be had.
Obligatory Star Trek reference loading…
Do you know what a “teaser” is? You probably do, but just in case I’ll tell you anyway.
A teaser is the bit of a teevee episode that precedes the opening. Nothing much happens in a teaser except to set up the action and hopefully grab your attention. A wedding on the Enterprise is interrupted by a red alert. A landing party beams down to Cestus III to find the outpost destroyed. Chekov screams in terror because he’s been startled by an inexplicably elderly couple. You get the idea.
And boy, does the Great and Glorious Az have a teaser for you! A quick 126 pages of astral viewing, etymology, rhetoric, and a description of a government official that made Joseph‘s wife, Joanne, groan in faux outrage. That’s the first three chapters of The Robots of Dawn and not a whole hell of a lot happens.
We talk about it, you listen to us. A splendid time will be had by all. Hopefully.
Also, a spoiler warning. If you’re new to the podcast and haven’t finished the novel yet, you might want to read ahead before listening to the episode. Or not. It’s up to you.
We didn't set out to do it, but we did it.
What, you might ask? We've created an episode that's an excellent jumping-on point for anyone who's been itching to try the podcast, but doesn't know where to start.
How? Well to start with, we're talking about a short story. You don't need to read the books or watch the shows we talk about to enjoy the podcast, but we certainly understand if want to! We're talking about "Mirror Image" from Robot Visions, in which Lije Baley and R. Daneel Olivaw help to solve a dispute between two mathematicians. It's about 19 pages long, a comfortable, digestible chunk.
And? And we have guests! Episodes are better with guests and we're joined by two charming mathematicians, Coleen and Charlie Jacobson, long-time science fiction readers and friends of Joseph from Elmira College. They'll help us decide if the off-screen mathematicians are true-to-life! On a personal note, if you remember Joseph from EC you might enjoy hearing from half of what he calls, the "Mathematics Faculty Classic" that existed from 2012 to 2014.
So, if you're a regular listener, settle in for another excellent episode. If you're new to the podcast, buckle up! You're in for a fun ride! Let's go!
I learned something today.
Did you know that when Elements are named to honor cities the Latin names for the cities are used rather than the common names? The funny thing is that this is true even if the city has no Latin name. This is how we get the name for holmium, which is named after Stockholm or rather after "Holmia" which is the Latin name for Stockholm that the chemist made up.
This is from the essay "Names! Names! Names!" by the good doctor. It's all about naming elements and, although I haven't quite finished it yet, I'm pretty sure it covers all hundred or so that were known at the time. The essay appeared in the December 1956 issue of Astounding Science Fiction, the very same issue as our final installment of The Naked Sun. This led John W. Campbell to declare Asimov a "two-headed author." Isaac's predilection for non-fiction was starting to show.
Being trained as a chemist, Asimov gives us a ton of Asenion names to enjoy in this final section! There's GalDIEah Delmarre, Kloitta Cantero, Jothan Leebig, Corwin Attlebish, and Anselmo Quemot. And who could forget Benzadril Copperbottom? In this final section, which corresponds to chapters 13 to 18 in the book, Baley survives the assassination attempt, gets his portrait done, almost strolls to his death, and solves the case! Of course, we talk about it all. Join us for the setting of The Naked Sun!
You know what? Solaria is weird.
Looking back over our podcast, it turns out that a lot of Asimov's work is weird. Solaria may not be Mycogen-weird, but it's pretty weird.
Last time we were introduced to the extreme isolation of Solarians and the preponderance of robots. Those were weird. And that seeing vs. viewing thing? That was weird too.
This time? Murder attempts where only Asenion robots are present? Weird. Fetuses grown in vats? Weird. Child farming? Weird. A plot to make the entire Galaxy like Solaria? Weird. And there's lots more!
What do we learn this time? Solaria is weird. But don't take my word for it, listen to the episode and you can see for yourself. Let's go!
Some things can't be seen. If you've listened to our podcast, you know that we've bemoaned the fact that although there was a BBC adaptation of The Caves of Steel, we cannot see it because all known copies of the original tapes have been destroyed.
Did you know that there was also a BBC adaptation of The Naked Sun? It came out in the third season of Out Of The Unknown and starred Paul Maxwell as Elijah Bailey and David Collings as R. Daneel. We can't see that either. You'd think that the BBC would have learned its lesson by 1969, but no such luck. All known copies of those tapes have been destroyed as well.
And then there's Joseph's friend Andy, our special guest in this episode. He has studiously avoided having a social media presence and so he's something else that can't be seen, online anyway.
In The Naked Sun, we learn all about things that can't be seen. Lije wants to see the crime scene and he wants to see the outside and he especially wants to see Gladia but the Solarians are determined that he only view these things. Seeing is not the same as viewing.
But sometimes we can hear even if we can't see. That episode of Out Of The Unknown? There's a reconstruction, so the soundtrack must still exist. You can hear that if you can find a copy.
You can hear Andy here on the podcast, in his World Wide Web premier.
And you can hear about chapters 1 through 6 of The Naked Sun because that's what we're talking about this time. We'll get to that viewing vs. seeing thing and much more!
So join us! You've got to hear this!
It was right about this time last year one of us got up in the middle of the night to share the latest Foundation trailer with you on
This year there was a sneak peek of Foundation season 2 at San Diego Comic-Con. More than a week later we haven't seen it anywhere. If that's about generating interest, they're missing the mark.
Luckily, we have our own news!
Our very own Jon Blumenfeld stars as Librarian Homir Munn in "Search by the Foundation, Part 1" on Joel McKinnon's excellent Seldon Crisis Podcast!
Also, in S3E13, we talked about how Asimov said he made "extensive changes" to "Liar!" when he revised it for I, Robot. Want to know why? Want to know how extensive? We plug the line-by-line comparison on our website!
Also, also way back in S1E01, we talked about Joseph's Grandfather's artwork. There's now a website where you can see and enjoy that artwork! Please visit JosephFranke.com and see what all the fuss.
All this plus: we wrap up our conversation about The Caves of Steel! Jessie is revealed as a Medievalist! Another murder rocks the NYPD... wait... is it murder? And in the final denouement we discover who did it in this who done it! You don't want to miss all that! Let's go!
We're not an etymology podcast even though we sometimes make up our own words. Nevertheless, if you follow our blog you've recently read about the origins of the words "robot" and "robotics." Asimov has been known to make up his own words too. In fact, he's credited in the Oxford English Dictionary as the originator of the word "robotics." In this episode, we learn the origin of the word "Asenion" through a miraculous combination of brilliance, scholarship, and real-time detective work which the uninitiated might dismiss as mere Google-fu. Did the Great and Glorious Az invent the word "Asenion?" You'll have to listen to find out!
Meanwhile, we ruminate over the second section of the Caves of Steel in which Baley throws around some wild theories, learns the sinister, not-so-sinister, or not-sinister-at-all designs of Spacetown, and sees an object eerily similar to a slide rule. If you think that sounds like fun, you're in for a wild ride! Join us!
Just over a century ago, the word "robot," derived from the Czech word "robota" which means "forced labor," was introduced to the English language in the play R. U. R. by Karel Čapek. In it, a scientist has created artificial humans, called "roboti" or "robots." Robots replace workers in factories, then become the basis of the economy. Eventually, the robots revolt, supplant humanity and ultimately cause humankind's extinction.
In this episode, we start discussing Asimov's The Caves of Steel where the theme of robots replacing humans looms large. There's already a palpable sense of economic anxiety within the New York Police Department as lower-level employees have already been replaced. Now Detective Elijah Baley is assigned a robot partner named R. Daneel Olivaw who is all but indistinguishable from a human being. It's essential that Baley not only solve a murder but solve it in a way that doesn't lead to many more humans being supplanted by robots.
If you're reading along, we talk about Chapters 1 through 7 which coincide with the first installment of the novel as it was published in Galaxy Science Fiction.
This is Asimov at the height of his abilities and it's going to be a blast! Let's go!
Well, we're between books this episode, so we decided to read "The Robot Chronicles" from the Great and Glorious Az's Gold: The Final Science Fiction Collection. It's an essay in which Asimov discusses his robot stories, their inspirations, and their milestones.
So far, I've found Gold enjoyable. It contains the last of Asimov's science fiction short stories, essays about his stories, and essays about writing Science Fiction. He insists, by the way, that Science Fiction be abbreviated "SF" and not "sci-fi." You can find out why and read "The Robot Chronicles" and the rest of Gold here.
But, really, the bulk of this episode is an engaging and free-wheeling conversation with our special guest Travis Johnson, whom you may know from Twitter as @travisjohnson and/or @startravcommand. He's one of the hosts of the Black Alert Podcast and created, with his 11-year-old daughter, a Star Trek Prodigy podcast called Star Trek Podigy. He has also published A Matter of Right: Futures of Justice, a "science fiction comics and prose anthology" about the US criminal justice system. Join us as we discuss Robots, Foundation, all things Asimov, and more! You don't want to miss this one!
Are you troubled by premonitions of unsavory equations or non-standard beverages?
Do you experience feelings of dread from your grandfather's office furniture?
Have you or anyone in your family experienced prestidigitation, clairvoyance, astral projection, or sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia?
If the answer is yes, don't wait another minute! The Second Foundation is for YOU!
Our courteous and efficient staff is on call 24 hours a day to serve all your psychohistorical prediction needs!
In this episode, we come to the end of Forward the Foundation with the story of Wanda Seldon where we finally see the inception of the Second Foundation as Hari discovers Wanda's abilities and Wanda first becomes an important part of the Seldon Project before striking off with Stettin Palver to form the nucleus of the Second Foundation. Meanwhile, we hit the bittersweet part of any biography. Hari's life winds down as he says goodbye to everyone he's ever loved and is left only with psychohistory before we finally say goodbye to Hari himself.
If you're read our one piece of fan fiction, "Dors," by our very own Jon Blumenfeld, you've read an origin story of sorts for Dors Venábili. If you like this character like so many do you should check it out; it's excellent.
In this episode, we finally get to the chapter of Forward the Foundation featuring... well no, they all feature Hari but this one's named after Dors. It was called "The Consort" when it ran in Asimov's Science Fiction in April of 1993 and to be honest, there's a lot Dors plays a larger role in this story than the so-called "featured" characters in the other eponymous chapters. If you hadn't noticed the book has a bit of a pattern. In each section In this section, Hari and we get to say goodbye to Dors, nicely bookending with Jon's story.
Well, here we are again with another installment on Asimov's swansong, Forward the Foundation.
You might recall that Forward was written as a series of Novellas the first three of which appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. The installment we're discussing this time is "Cleon I" which originally appeared in the magazine's 15th-anniversary issue in April 1992 as "Cleon the Emperor." Much like the previous story, it isn't very much about the titular character but it's a lot about Hari Seldon. This one is set during his tenure as Cleon's First Minister.
The cover, by Gary Friedman, is lovely; it's Asimov himself alongside a woman who is almost certainly Dors Venabali. I can't say it's Dors for sure, but I can state with absolute certainty that character is neither from Mycogen nor Dahl.
Inside the issue, there's an extensive editorial about the Foundation series and its history and it answers, in part, one of the questions we posed on the podcast. We'd wondered why Asimov decided to write Forward as a series of novellas and evidently, the genesis of the idea came from Jennifer Brehl, who Asimov calls "my brilliant and lovely editor."
You can see the cover and read more about the editorial at your leisure on our website.
And, if you want to learn more about those costume design awards, there's some more information here.
But in the meantime, join us for our latest episode as we continue through the life story of Hari Seldon!
Have you been with us for a while? If you have you might remember some jokes back in the long, long ago about the longevity of our podcast. We were pretty stoked (is that what the kids say nowadays?) back in Season 1 Episode 8 when we surpassed the Manimal Threshold for example.
Well, on 26 April 2021 our first episode was squirted out into the aether so we have another milestone to celebrate; we've officially been a podcast for over a year.
Thirty-two episodes in and we're starting to talk about our fifth book, Forward the Foundation by the Great and Glorious Az. It's a departure in that it started life as a series of novellas like the original trilogy; three of those appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine starting in November 1991. The book and the stories within are somewhat bittersweet; we touch on that a bit in the podcast and we'll get back to that here as soon as we're able.
And we have a special guest in this episode, who you may know as @stratotron from that bluebird site! They are a perfect person to join us in a discussion of a chapter entitled "Eto Demerzel." Join us and welcome the delightful Daneel Adrian Cayce to the conversation, Asimov Enthusiast, Trekkie, Twitterer, chiptune creator, and namesake of the quintessential character in the entire Asimov canon! It's going to be good!
And thanks to everyone who's stuck with us for an entire trip around the sun! Never fear, there's no getting rid of us now!
How time flies! It's our final Episode on Prelude to Foundation and you're not going to want to miss this one!
Our heroes finally, despite their best efforts, find themselves in the sector of Wye. That's pronounced "why" and The Great and Glorious Az has a bit of fun with that. Also, "Who" is the Prime Minister, "What" is the neighboring sector, and "I Don't Know" is on third. And while Raych gets to go to the Zoo, Rachelle eventually finds herself in the penalty box. I'm kidding, mostly. But whadya asking me for? You should take a look at this to see how this is supposed to be done!
Also War! And the final climactic ending which, in classic Asimovian style, is people in rooms having conversations! But with tons of intrigue, lots of reveals, and a bit of what some might even call romance.
There's more! A special report from our man on the scene at Star Trek: Mission Chicago! A special interview with a classic Captain of the USS Enterprise and a special surprise from one of our favorite Foundation actors!
Don't wait! You don't want to wait! Let's go!
It is a little-known fact that each April 1st on Terminus, Hologram Hari Seldon would appear in the Vault and, in the absence of a bona fide Seldon Crisis, would launch into the strangest and most mystifying stand-up routines anyone had ever seen from a hologram in a wheelchair. Mostly no one was in attendance but there are legends of routines entertaining maintenance workers and assorted rodents alike. Inexplicably, the jokes were mainly concerned with skin caps, luxurious black mustaches, and someone known only as "Prince Albert in a Can." Seldon never seemed to warm to the audience centuries in his future.
Encyclopedia Galactica, 116th Edition, 1020 FE.
It's our penultimate episode on Prelude to Foundation! We wrap up Dors and Hari's visit to Dahl with more intrigue and more fisticuffs! Did someone call the police? Also, an announcement from Jon that you WILL NOT WANT TO MISS! Let's go!
Did you know that sleep podcasts are a thing? Podcasts that people listen to go to sleep.
You can imagine it, can't you? Someone like Sam Waterston, Tony Shalhoub, or Jane Lynch probably reading poetry in a quiet, soothing voice. Like, what? I don't know. Something in the public domain probably. Wordsworth?
Calm is all nature as a resting wheel.
The kine are couched upon the dewy grass;
The horse alone, seen dimly as I pass,
Is cropping audibly his later meal...
I'm sleepy already. Most poets will do, but not Emily Dickinson. Everyone who's anyone knows that all of her poems can be sung to the tune of the Yellow Rose of Texas. Try it, it's fun!
Because I could not stop for Death-
He kindly stopped for me-
The Carriage held but just Ourselves-
And Immortality.
We're not one of those.
If you're reading along with us, this time we're talking about "Heatsink" and "Billibotton" from Prelude to Foundation. We've left the depilated pates of Mycogen behind, but the strangeness remains. Hari and Dors arrive in Dahl, where all the men luxuriate in their impressive black mustaches and sweaty people provide half of Trantor's power while in various states of undress. Also, Dors buys TWO knives ("I've got two hands," she explains) and she and Hari fight off a bunch of street-toughs. Plus we meet Hari's future adoptive son Raych and hear the first arcane and enigmatic legends of a planet called "Earth."
Plus, a bonus: Foundation shines at the Visual Effects Society Awards.
Join us! No one could fall asleep to this one!
Introducing this episode puts me in mind of Tom Lehrer's Alma, which was inspired by, as he puts it, "the juiciest, spiciest, raciest obituary it has ever been my pleasure to read." The amount of prime humor that one mathematician can fit into a three-and-a-half-minute sound clip is impressive.
Hari Seldon, our protagonal mathematician, isn't nearly so funny. In fact, he seems to take himself quite seriously. But he does get to participate in the juiciest, spiciest, raciest scene in the entire Asimov canon. And that includes the non-fiction.
That scene is also startlingly strange. We'll talk about it. Then we'll move on to other grandiose notions like the nature of religion, governmental ethics, and Pascal's Wager. Also, there is a robot!
Join us as we follow Hari and Dors through the remainder of their sojourn in Mycogen. You'll be glad you did!
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!
AND our first Apple TV+ minute in some time! Buckle up! This one will be fun!
I think I need to listen to "Flowers in the Dirt" again. That's the 1989 Paul McCartney album where Sir Paul collaborated with Elvis Costello. I was hoping that Elvis might bring some of the sharper edges that John Lennon brought the Lennon-McCartney songwriting duo. No such luck as I recall but maybe 32 years farther on I'll hear something new.
What brought that up? Well with Hari on the mend from his excursion to Upperside we've decided to take a quick break from Prelude to Foundation before we begin our excursion to Mycogen.
We're joined this time by Paul Levinson; Fordham University Professor, author, singer-songwriter, podcaster, all-around renaissance human. Lots of that springs from his philosophy, "If I enjoy something, I try to do it," he says. We chat about robots, the Foundation, robots, Asimov, robots, artificial intelligence, robots, and lots of other things. Also robots.
Want to know more about Paul? Check out his blog, Paul Levinson's Infinite Regress, or his podcast Light On Light Through, or his Twitter feed, @PaulLev. You can take it from there.
Oh, and that Flowers in the Dirt thing? That was mentioned in Paul's new short story, "It's Real Life," an alternate history involving the Beatles. You can read that for free here.
But first, our latest Episode: "Your Podcast is Obscure but I Think I Understand." Let's go!
Our second conversation about Prelude to Foundation, in which we discuss "Library," "Upperside," and "Rescue."
It was 1-degree Fahrenheit when we recorded this episode. That's -17 Celcius to the rest of the world. I personally prepared for this episode by running around outside dressed as though I still lived in Florida or on Helicon, maybe. Then I rearranged all my bookshelves and wondered if I could create a model that would predict the future of the Marvel Universe.
In these chapters, Hari gets settled in at Streeling University and begins working on Psychohistory in earnest. We also meet Dors Venabili who knows her way around a history library and is a quick study at Tennis. And Hari goes for a stroll to get some fresh air; that's easier said than done on Trantor.
Also Trees! And our first MAS*H reference! Don't miss it!
In the criminal justice system, the podcast is represented by two separate, but equally important kinds of seasons. The odd-numbered seasons, which directly discuss Asimov's Foundation and the even-numbered seasons that talk about the Apple TV+ series.
So now we start the interregnum between seasons 1 and 2 of Apple TV's Foundation. That's our cue to start Stars End season 3. That's as many seasons as Gilligan's Island or the original Star Trek but far fewer than Law & Order. We're shooting for the latter.
We have a plan and if you follow our plan and listen to our podcast it will seem like far less than 30,000 years until we start to get new episodes of the teevee show.
So in this episode, we start discussing Prelude to Foundation in which we meet Eto Demerzel and begin Hari Seldon's long journey to create Psychohistory. If you're reading along this time we talk about the first three sections, "Mathematician," "Flight," and "Library." But whether you're reading along or not, let's go! This will be fun!
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?
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're 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 our website StarsEndPodcast@Wordpress.com for news, official announcements, and our usual load of whimsy.
But first: S2E11 - We Send Podcasts Out Into Space Hoping Someone Will Answer! Let's go!
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!
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?
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 this barnburner of an episode directed by the great Roxann Dawson!
I mean it! "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want!" Join us!
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 IP, particularly a science fiction IP for television.
Join us!
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 Bloomenfeld, 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!
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 this week we have Morgan as our latest very special guest! She's a self-described Daneel Olivaw stan and biotechnologist who loves all things Asimov! She tweets Foundation-related stuff as @AsimovPosting. Morgan 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. You can learn about them all on our website, StarsEndPodcast.Wordpress.com!
You should check these things out.
But not right now! Right now it's time for the also excellent StarsEnd Podcast! Let's go!
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 Foundationers arrive on Terminus, and thrill to a cliffhanger as 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!
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!
Let's go!
The naysayers said it would never happen and that our plucky little podcast would never see a second season! Yet here we are defying the laws of Psychohistory, renewed and ready for the advent of the Apple TV+ series in roughly 24 to 48 hours.
That will be our focus for season 2. We’ve been waiting with bated breath and our patience (or lack thereof) is about to be rewarded! We’ll be recording weekly for the duration, unless it turns out that we’re recording weakly... but we’re not going to let that happen!
So, as you count down the final few hours before Foundation hits your teevee, join us for our season premiere where we talk about our hopes and expectations for the show. Then we can all strap into this metaphorical roller coaster and enjoy this ride together!
As the Manimal threshold fades into the rear-view mirror, we reach our next milestone, with number 11 we now have as many episodes as Cop Rock! You know, it takes most shows years to get around to a musical episode, but those guys? Musical episode right out of the gate! Never fear; Stars End: The Musical is toward the end of our Thousand Year Plan.
Right now though, please join us for Episode 11 - A Podcast Has No End.
And podcasts don't, but books and trilogies do. We're at the end of Second Foundation, and we talk about the very last story, "Search by the Foundation," known as "...And Now You Don't" when it was published in Astounding. We'll meet Bayta Darell's grandaughter, Arkady, and see a reveal of where the Second Foundation might be followed by the reveal that there is no Second Foundation, followed by another reveal of where the Second Foundation might be, and then... well, you get the idea. Plus, we discuss the latest trailer and squeeze in one more round of Asimov Trivia before we start Season 2, coming soon to one of them WWWs near 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. 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 which I borrowed a piece of for 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!
Join us!
With the Threll of the Las Vegas 55-Year Mission winding down and the excitement of the Apple TV+ Foundation series winding up, now is a perfect time to check out our Stars End Podcast! Whether you're looking for a new decades-old franchise to enjoy, you want to catch up on some of your favorite old SF before enjoying the new teevee series, or if you're just looking for something entertaining to listen to at the airport, Stars End can fill that need! We're not even off-brand yet!
Please join us for Episode 9 as we wrap up Foundation and Empire with the resolution to Episode 8's cliffhanger and learn the sooper-secret identity of the Mule. Will the Foundation persevere? Will the Mule conquer the Galaxy? What's up with Bayta? And where the heck is the Second Foundation anyway? All will be revealed as long as it falls outside our rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty. Thus we merely foreshadow Second Foundation which may or may not be about the location of Seldon's Second Foundation.
Also "Asimov Trivia" and a new game: find the Douglas Adams reference in this very episode description!
Hello, again folks! It's 8/8 (or if you write dates the European way 8/8) and here we are with Episode 8. We're quite proud, we now officially have just as many episodes as Manimal! Imagine! For those of you tracking our milestones, eight is a very round number: It's "10" in base eight, "20" in base four, and "1000" in base two. Soon, once we're past the Manimal barrier, we'll quickly approach an actual, genuine round number. In base ten even. Tom Lehrer tells us that "Base eight is just like base ten really, if you're missing two fingers" but maybe it will be even better!
As for what's in store we start with our "Apple TV+" minute where we see what we can learn from an interview with David Goyer, Foundation's show-runner. We have another round of "Asimov Trivia" and discuss the first half of the second half of Foundation and Empire, "The Mule." One of the highlights of the series.
Coincidently, this part of "The Mule" ran in the November 1945 issue of Astounding Science Fiction which was the first issue to go to press after the Atomic Bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. We'll take a moment to reflect on John W. Campbell's editorial from that issue.
Please join us!
All the children danced in the street! "It's here! It's here!" they cried! "The seventh episode of Stars End is here!!"
It's true! Our seventh episode, "Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing a podcast" is now available! Even though we had some technical difficulties (our sound quality isn't up to our usual standards; our apologies) it's a great episode!
It's great in part because it's different! We're honored to welcome Cora Buhlert as our first guest on the podcast! Instead of talking about Foundation, we'll talk to someone else about Foundation. Also, science fiction in general, becoming an SF fan as a kid, Hugo Awards and a bunch of other stuff.
Cora is an amazingly prolific and eclectic writer. So prolific that Jon joked about her owning "Asimov's Typewriter" and we suddenly had a new imaginary episode of Warehouse 13 in our heads. So eclectic that no matter your tastes there's a good chance that she's written something that you'd enjoy. If you like stories about galactic empires like Foundation, she's written two full series you might like, In Love and War and Shattered Empire. She's also a two-time Hugo Finalist for Best Fan Writer.
I could go on and we do in the Episode. She was an excellent first guest and you can learn more about her at corabuhlert.com.
The episode is also great because it's the same! We have new installments of our two regular features, the "Apple TV+ Minute" and "Asimov Trivia.: In the Trivia segment, we explore Asimov and Comic Books while in the Apple TV minute we react to the new trailer which you can watch along "with" us at our website, https://starsendpodcast.wordpress.com/!
Join us and Enjoy! Please rate and review.
Music: "Creative Commons It is Coming" by Alex Mason is licensed under CC Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International
Episode 6 is now available! This week, Dan starts his tenure as quizmaster, Joseph learns what wasn't covered in his Shakespeare class (way back in 1988) and as always Jon tries to keep us all on track.
We also have breaking news! So breaking that we had to add an addendum in post-production! That means Monday.
And of course, we start discussing "The General," the first section of Foundation and Empire. This one is almost like Asimov himself was replying to our discussions of the "Great Man" theory of history vs. the "Bottom-Up" Theory. Join us!
Music: "Creative Commons It is Coming" by Alex Mason is licensed under CC Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International
In which we wrap up Foundation with a discussion of “The Merchant Princes.” and get ready to start Foundation and Empire. We’ll also have another Apple TV+ minute for you and another installment of Asimov Trivia! Is this true? It certainly sounds true!
Our fourth episode, "A Podcast is the Last Refuge of the Incompetent" is now available for your edification. We've run out of Laws of Robotics and have moved on to famous Salvor Hardin aphorisms. That's a bit more on-brand for a Foundation podcast.
We talk about "The Traders," part four of Foundation. This story first appeared, with surprisingly little fanfare in the October 1944 issue of Astounding under the title "The Wedge."
In addition we have our second Apple Plus Minute and another edition of Asimov Trivia with a new contestant and a new quiz master.
Please join us! We're looking forward to it and Hari Seldon already knows how it's going to end!
Music: "Creative Commons It is Coming" by Alex Mason is licensed under CC Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International
As foretold! Mayors! Bridles! Saddles! (Oddly, no actual horses) and the ultimate answer to the ultimate cliffhanger! Also show news, we react to the trailer (which you can find here)...and more Asimov trivia! Join us! Please rate and review.
Music: "Creative Commons It is Coming" by Alex Mason is licensed under CC Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International
We start discussing the first novel, Foundation, in earnest and get all the way through the first two stories, "The Psychohistorians," and "The Encyclopedists." We also try our hand at doing a new segment, "Asimov Trivia." Please join us.
Music: "Creative Commons It is Coming" by Alex Mason is licensed under CC Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International
An introduction to us and this podcast.
Music: "Creative Commons It is Coming" by Alex Mason is licensed under CC Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International