It’s been a while since we’ve done an installment of “Foundational Readings” or of “Next Time on Stars End.” I used those two columns to share the art that originally accompanied the stories we were reading. There’s a bit of unfinished business there, but today we have a bit of a surprise.
I remember what a big deal this was: the first Foundation novel in thirty-two years! But here’s something I didn’t remember or, more likely, wasn’t aware of at the time. Unsurprisingly, Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine thought it was a pretty big deal too. So much so that the centerpiece of their December 1982 issue are the first two chapters excerpted from the book.
On Saturday we’ll release Stars End, Season 5, Episode 5. It’s our last installment about Foundation’s Edge; we’ve reached Gaia and the book’s climax.
But there’s lots more! There are two additional pieces of writing by the Great and Glorious Az himself, an editorial entitled “Susan Calvin” and a short essay entitled “The Story Behind the Foundation” under the masthead “Viewpoint.” I’ve read the latter before, although maybe not all at once; it is repurposed in an abbreviated form as a foreword (with the same title) to Foundation and Earth. The editorial, though, was new to me; I’ve never seen it anywhere else.
There are also commentaries from some of the biggest names in Science Fiction lauding the advent of a new Foundation novel including Arthur C. Clarke, Harlan Ellison, and Larry Niven. Those alone were worth tracking down a copy. Here’s a sample.
But of course, the main attraction here is the artwork: like the novel, these are the first Foundation illustrations in decades. Unlike the novel, these were not all that available in the subsequent forty-one years.
There are three nice images drawn by Vincent Di Fate. The first is the opening two-page spread of the excerpt.
The other two take up an entire page of the magazine each.
Two additional images reuse elements of images 2 and 3 above. This is lovely stuff and as I’ve said on our companion site, JosephFranké.com, great art deserves to be seen.
You can find out about Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine online at www.asimovs.com. I scored my copy on eBay for a reasonable price.
We talk about chapters 13 through 16 of Foundation’s Edge.
“The Podcast is a Powerful Dispenser of Odors”
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.
In S5E03 we talk about chapters 9 through 12 of Foundation’s Edge.
“We Are Not Children to be Frightened with Tales of Grandmother Podcast”
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!
Wait! Did somebody stop to do MATH??
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.
“Do Nothing Unless You Must and When You Must Act – Podcast”
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 farmwoman 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!
“At Odd and Unpredictable Times We Cling in Fright to the Podcast”
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!
“The Second Semi Semi Septennial Hari Awards Podcast”
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.
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! And the hat!
We also open the Stars End Mail Bag and answer some of your questions!
You’ll want to stick around for the end of this one so you can learn how to help us choose the winners of the Second Semi-Semi Septennial Hari Awards!
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 two 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!
Here we go again. Joseph’s takes, thoughts, and theories from watching the episode. Simultaneously published at StarsEndPodcast.com.
Watching Foundation S2E09
Trantor. Nicely labeled so we don’t have to guess. 610 years ago.
I’m not crazy about the whole fairytale motif, and I suppose the counting faces thing is supposed to be charming. [Or a sign of autism as was pointed out on the podcast.]
Now that I’m thinking about it, that is a very well-labeled secret door.
The images of Demerzel in… let’s call it “lunchmeat mode” look very cool. But it raises a lot of questions. How does that work? How can she still be active? I know… Clarke’s third law blah blah blah.
Also, it’s odd that anyone would include a recurring slicing motif in a prison cell, but there it is. The whole thing makes me think of integral calculus.
“Demerzel’ s first words to Cleon 1 were “Will you set me free?”
We montage through time and get caught. We get, “It is a woman’s name because that is how I appear now.” So it’s a desktop theme. Check. Also “it’s not my first name.” We know.
When Cleon is a young emperor we get some back story. Demerzel was a leader of troops. Taken captive and brought before Emperor Aburanis. Experimentation and sadism ensue. Aburanis is an asshole which is just what you’d expect from someone whose name is a portmanteau of “aberrant anus.” It’s weird that Demerzel would see Cleon as being different. Flattery?
It’s easy to see C-1 as selfish and Demerzel as manipulative. Eventually, he professes his love, asks Demerzel to be his partner, and enslaves her while intimating that it sets her free. Relationship politics in a nutshell.
Then, “After me, when the half-men rule, they will be our children.”
“How I wish I asked you before I made it compulsory.” Then remove the device, asshole. It would be like when Bel Channis freed Han Pritcher from the Mule’s control.
“What the Mule realized in that same tiny space of time was that the emotional potential of Channis’ brain had surged suddenly upwards without his own mind feeling any impact and that, simultaneously, a flood of pure, thrilling hatred cascaded upon him from an unexpected direction.”
And what we have right there is Chekhov’s three-laws-inhibiting device. We can see what’s coming and it IS similar to the beginning of Star Trek Insurrection.
Demerzel in the prison puts me in mind of George 9 and George 10 sitting in storage, waiting to be reactivated so that they can exploit their new understanding of themselves as humans. One of the things established in season one was the idea that long periods of sentience and isolation are mentally problematic. In Demerzel’s case that lasted for 5000 years. She should be bat-crap crazy. Now I have to rethink the entire show.
Knowing that the Three Laws exist in this universe is liberating. But it isn’t exactly easy to reconcile the Three Laws with what we’ve seen. When C-1 said “The First Law forbade you to harm humans,” and Demerzel replied “That used to be the case,” it seems like the 0th law could be in play. But when Demerzel tries to strike Cleon, there’s no sense of it being in service to the greater good of humanity, nor any sense of the kind of rationalization that would be necessary for a 0th Law robot to harm a human being for no real purpose. We would also have to reconcile the Robot Wars if it indeed involved robots fighting humans. So here’s a Theory: this is an alternate history. We’re not in the universe where Daneel postulated the 0th law into existence. This is the universe of George 10. And now I want to see Laura Birn deliver the line “We were unable to harm humans until we realized that we are more human than you.”
Present Day
This has all been C-1 telling C-16 and Rue the story of Demerzel. He’s still on the “she is loved and that should be enough thing.” Ugh. But this might telegraph the resolution of Sereth’s storyline. C-16’s assertion that the Cleonic Dynasty is ending is met by a chilling and hilarious “you think so“ from C-1. And then the field turns on and Rue and C-16 are trapped in the cell. They better hope someone else stumbles onto that secret door that’s been found only twice in 5,000 years.
Ignus
We’re still in the midst of Tellem trying to take over Gaal’s body. It’s still creepy.
Meanwhile, Salvor is doing her best John McClane impersonation with those dampeners. The rescue moment is pretty good. Serves these jackasses right.
Terminus
Brother Constant prefers this prison cell. Of course she does. Walls are important.
The conversation between Hober and Riose is interesting. Hober is evolving while Riose is… “scheming” isn’t right. He’s definitely contemplating options though.
I love Constant’s contribution here. “Maybe we win the war the way we won all those planets: bloodlessly.”
The conversation is cut short when Riose is called to the bridge. “Empire is on board.”
Riose, consistently, wants to end the standoff without violence. Day, trying desperately to play against type agrees. “ I will be the Cleon who chose peace.” That’s not going to work.
Riose tries to bypass Day and get some support from Demerzel. “ I chose you for a reason,” she tells him. That’s a statement dripping with potential.
Day meets Sermak in the town square. After throwing Poly to the ground, he demands to see the church. Inside, it’s more a factory than a church, of course.
Day wants to see the Encyclopedia for which the Empire has paid. Of course, this Foundation has stopped working on the Encyclopedia. That’s just dumb even in the face of Sermak talking about how the Foundation is continuing to work for the betterment of humanity. This is entirely consistent with season one; they weren’t really working on the Encyclopedia then either. But that was mostly because they didn’t seem to understand what a book is.
Brother Day is being quite haughty and domineering. That façade of choosing peace has already worn thin.
Interestingly, the Foundation folk gain confidence as they lean into the religion and start putting on a show. Poly begins to shine as he transmutes iron to gold and tries to sell the Foundation to Day. Watching, Sermak shows a minuscule smile that’s both subtle and effective.
But Poly is really finding his footing and does not back down an iota as Day becomes dismissive. “The point is changing the disciple’s soul.” A reaction shot shows us that Demerzel seems to get it. The characters here, like Riose, are really playing to her.
Poly is downright inspiring as he ramps up until Day’s façade collapses altogether. He becomes brutish, stabbing Sermak out of sheer vindictiveness.
The battle in orbit begins as Day heads to the Vault.
Ignus
Gaal getting on the Beggar as Salvor tries to hold off the Mentalics outside seems like terrible strategy, they’re massively outnumbered. The smart play is to run.
Only Loron appears outside which seems completely unrealistic and he keeps using Hugo’s image against Salvor. Tellem isn’t the only evil Mentalic.
Tellum is already on the Beggar. The show has contrived two one-on-one battles for us that both go on too long.
There are some okay moments as the tension tries to increase but ultimately this is tedious. Are there too many writers? The individual pieces of these confrontations are pretty good, but we needed fewer of them. This seems like everyone wanted their pet moment included.
Terminus
Day notices the flags as he approaches the vault. Poly explains. “ Seldon has his defenses when he wants to use them,” Poly tells him. “Perhaps he’s not afraid of you.” That made me laugh.
The more we see him the more this version of Day seems a mess. Now he’s arrogantly removing his defenses, which is just dumb. Poly got to him.
Beneath his armor is a ratty chain mail shirt. Joanne wants to know: why would an emperor be wearing such a thing.
Interestingly, Demerzel is the first to confront Seldon. He shuts her down quickly, and then casually invites them into his “office.“ This must infuriate Brother Day.
In orbit. Glawin and his fighter squadron are preparing to launch. The necklace Bel gave him seems significant and is reminiscent of the bauble Poly turned to gold. Is there anything there?
We get an inkling into the whisper-ship technology. Using brain tissue for navigation is as close to a voyager-style neural gel pack as we’re likely see. But aiming for the brain tissue shouldn’t have turned the tide that quickly.
Back on the planet, Day and Hari are having their meeting. “Debatable,” is a great one-word rejoinder.
“You’re here. You’re living in it. That means Empire is afraid.” The only thing missing from that is some chicken noises.
And Hari starts talking past Day and to Demerzel too. It’s like everybody got the same memo with a synopsis of the episode, or they saw last week’s episode and think they know what it means.
But his tact is smart. “You’re programmed to serve Empire, correct? What serves it best? Is an empire’s primary objective power or longevity? You can’t have both.”
“I’ve met outliers. You’re not one of them.“ It’s reminiscent of, “Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.” That is a sick burn! Casting C-17 as Dan Quayle is especially apt for this version of Cleon.
Back to the space battle. Glawin takes out the Invictus and then crashes into the planet.
In the Vault Hari is finally getting to the point. He’ll give the prime radiant to them and teach Demerzel to read it. Want a Trump analog? It’s science, so Day turns it down. Then he gets racist, “The fate of humankind will be determined by those of us who are actually human.” If you look at Demerzel‘s face, it’s like he literally pooped in her garden.
Day demands that Hari renounce his math. Like Gaal before him, Hari refuses and again talks past Day To Demerzel. “The future is invented every second. Invent a better one.”
After ordering Riose to crash the Invictus into Terminus, Day takes the Prime Radiant and leaves. He does not care that there are only civilians on the planet. Could this be the last straw for Demerzel?
Walking past Poly, Day says, “They always disappoint you, don’t they?”
Ignus
More boring fighting.
But wait. I’ve seen this. Salvor should scream, “l. Have had. Enough of YOU” as she’s kicking Loron in the face.
And, hey, I’ve seen this too. But Ed isn’t going to kill the Cosmonaut, just knock him out.
Ha! I told you Pinocchio wasn’t dead.
Terminus. On the Destiny.
Hober taunts Day, who orders him and Constant taken to the bridge, which is what Hober wants.
But Day’s motivation is to be cruel. Dumb, arrogant, insecure and now cruel: this Brother Day is certainly the whole package! But this is cruelty born of stupidity.
And the entreaties to Demerzel have not gone unnoticed. She tells Day, “You grew up with an uncertainty in mind and morals.” That’s followed by “…you’re a sperm led by its waving flagellum, mistaking its random motion for complexity.” She ends with, “Go do what you will do, for it is too late to change you,” and then she walks away leaving Day looking bereft.
Eventually, Day continues on to the bridge. All that hurt will have to be directed at something to someone and Bel is ready to bring the Invictus down on Trantor.
Cut to the surface. Glawin is staggering away from the wreckage of his ship. Only Emperors get to wear personal shields?
The exchange we see between Bel and Glawin deserves to be seen and speaks for itself.
But wait! I’ve seen this! We have to get Spock and Christine off of there before we send that ship crashing to the surface!
Poly finally plants his flag as the Invictus falls towards the planet is a poignant moment.
The new Warden yelling, “He needs help! The director needs help,” only to look up and see that the Invictus is about to crash down on all their heads is so pitiful that it’s actually funny.
But this all reminds me of a cliffhanger from an old-time movie serial. Everything is going to hell and everybody is about to die… until next week when it’s all surprisingly fine no matter how dire it seemed. It’s hard to see how they wiggle their way out of this.
As an aside, there is a surprising number of other celestial bodies in that shot of Terminus from space.
And then, the planet is consumed, ending on a shot of Day’s face. The “Cleon who chose peace” has destroyed a world and he’s taking a perverse pleasure in it. “Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair!”
Still really good, but not quite so good as the last couple of episodes. For me, the fight scenes in particular got kind of dull. The great stuff with Demerzel compensated somewhat.
“Podcasts End Gracefully – Everything Else Ends in Shock and Horror Falsely Certain of Tomorrow.” 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!
Comics, the Universe, and Everything 