With Foundation Season 3 in the rearview, we attempt to take a holistic look at the entire season and put it all into perspective, not just within the show but its production. Spoilers to come as usual!
We’re joined by Travis Johnson, Friend of Stars End, formerly of the Black Alert Podcast and Star Trek Podigy, both Star Trek Podcasts, and much more!
“What in the Actual Podcast?”
I feel like we’re crawling from the wreckage. Travis, however, enjoyed the season and was looking forward to discussing it! I hope we didn’t bring him down.
But where are we? The Genetic Dynasty? Gone! Demerzel? Melted! The Luminists, Cloud Dominion, and the Galactic Council? Devastated! David Goyer and a lot of the creative staff? Shuffled off! Roxann Dawson? We don’t know!
Yet, the robot head we’re calling Giskard has WiFi, and it looks like robots writ large will become an important force in what’s to come.
Season 4 has officially been greenlit, but will we actually see it? And is there hope for the narrative going forward? Once again, we try to puzzle it all out! Join us!
Hoo boy! That was one hell of a season finale, wasn’t it? You may have noticed that none of us were exactly bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as we remonstrated about Foundation’s Season 3, Episode 10, “The Darkness.”
“The Darkpodcastness.”
Spoiler Alert, as usual. Of course, you can listen without watching first, but this one needs to be seen to be believed.
But there were small photons of light trying to break through the shroud; we were joined for our conversation by Cora Buhlert, the 2022 winner of the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer. Cora has an incandescent and extensive collection of commentary and fiction. Want to check it out? Start at her blog, CoraBuhlert.com! Her latest foray into fiction is “Queen of the Communist Cannibals,” published in Cliffhanger Magazine.
And speaking of cannibals, how about that David Goyer? Okay, “cannibal” might not be entirely fair, but he recently said that one of the reasons he’s stepping away from the show is that he “was having a hard time figuring out how to keep doing my vision of the show on a smaller budget.” Is that what this is? Full Metal Belt-Tightening? Who needs to send out pink slips when you’re writing the script?
In which we ruminate about Foundation, S3E09, “The Paths that Choose Us.” Spoiler Alert, as if that wasn’t obvious.
“The Podcasts That Choose Us.”
If you thought that episode 8 was intense, this one was a philosophical gut punch after another.
And they come, fast and powerful.
We see the full extent of the Mule’s power as Gaal tries to free Warden Greer.
And we see Dusk, despite the “genetic drift,” doing the most Cleonic Thing possible. If you thought the destruction of Anachreon and Thespis was intense, you’d better buckle up! Sad, alone, and desperate to matter, even his final meal is an act of spite.
Demerzel is questioning. Rather than following an efficient, structured algorithm, a plethora of paths try to choose her. Can she find guidance in the Prime Radiant?
And finally, Brother Dude has escaped the compost heap and is rushing toward the Imperial Palace with the Brazen Robot Head that we can only call Giskard for some reason. Can Giskard help him make amends with Demerzel?
So watch the episode if you haven’t yet, and then join us for the show! What does it all mean? We’re teetering on the razor’s edge. Come see where we fall! Let’s GO!
Join us for another barn burner of an episode as we look below the surface of Foundation, S3E08, “Skin in the Game!” Brother Dude goes on trial, Brother Dawn wakes up, and Brother Dusk is up to something so sinister that Demerzel is preconfessing. We’re picking up speed as we slide into the inevitable conclusion! Also, what’s up with Bayta? Don’t miss this one!
Foundation, S3E07, “Foundation’s End” is another episode that demands analysis! And has big revelations! Don’t tell anyone, but I may have squeed. We have another special guest to help us wrap our heads around this one!
“Podcast’s End”
Spoiler alerts, as usual. And don’t let the title frighten you; we’re not going anywhere!
In this one, she names the robot that dare not speak its name. Plus, brother dude goes on a trip that makes 2001: A Space Odyssey seem tame in comparison! And a surreal fairy tale that probably has something to do with “the Mule’s” backstory! A bit, a bit. To quote the great Hari Seldon, “Tragic story, I wonder how much of it is true.”
We’re joined, once again, by Renaissance Man Extraordinaire, Paul Levinson! Since he was last on the show, Paul has published a short story, “In the Dybbuk’s Pocket,” and expanded the short story we discussed last time into a novel, It’s Real Life: A Natural History of The Beatles. Paul and some friends did a reading from the novel at Big Red Books. You can check that out here!
But first, join us for our deconstruction of what Paul calls ‘by far the best of all the episodes (of Foundation) so far! Once again, you don’t want to miss this one! Let’s GO!!
In which we discuss Apple TV+’s Foundation, S3E05 – “Where Tyrants Spend Eternity.”
“Where Podcasts Spend Eternity.”
We didn’t love this episode as much as the last one. Do you remember the Star Trek Episode “Court Martial?” It’s the one where Captain Kirk is accused of murdering Lt. Commander Benjamin Finney. It’s a little like that.
The climax of the episode comes when Kirk’s attorney, Samuel T. Cochran, deploys the Chewbacca defense. He starts with, “Ladies and gentlemen of the supposed jury, this is Chewbacca. Chewbacca is a Wookiee from the planet Kashyyyk. But Chewbacca lives on the planet Endor. Now think about it; that does not make sense!”
Eventually, he concludes, “If Chewbacca lives on Endor, you must acquit,” and Kirk goes free.
Also, this description does not make sense. There’s a lot of that going on.
Join us as we talk about Foundation, S3E04, “The Stress of Her Regard.” It’s an episode so big, so intense, and so seismic that it’ll take FOUR of us to talk about it!
“The Stress of Her Podcast”
In 1893, Nikola Tesla invented an earthquake machine! Legend has it that by 1898, the machine was so powerful that neighbors called the police, afraid that Tesla’s laboratory was about to shake itself apart!
If you want to wreak that much havoc in the Foundation Universe, you ask Roxann Dawson to direct an episode! Hoo doggy, is this one a humdinger!
We’re joined by Joel McKennon of the Seldon Crisis Podcast as we break down this earth-shattering, paradigm-shifting, and mind-blowing installment!
Don’t miss this one! The entire galaxy might be trying to shake itself apart!
Episode 2 will be next, so I can hopefully get on track for publishing these before the next episode.
You remember how these work. These are Joseph’s reactions, reflections, and ruminations while watching the episode. Also some light summary. Beware. Here be spoilers.
Book! I assume we’re talking about Foundation and Empire here. We’ll see.
Trantor, 3 years ago
Do you ever notice that on TV shows, nobody knows the Dewey decimal system? They just ask the librarian to find things for them. No, not Noah Wyle.
Absolutely love the look of the reserved section.
Is that thing about the gloves true? It’s nice that Dawn shows a certain amount of skepticism here. (Edit: I bought some nitrile gloves for handling old comics and then never used them. I must have come across this fact at some point.)
“The Empire has three heads. Do they all have room for thoughts like this?“
I’m pretty sure that this librarian would’ve been vaporized had this been season one. Is that part of the cognitive decline?
Returning a library book from practically beyond the grave is above and beyond the call of duty. And the librarian just implied that she has a connection to a power outside of the Empire. These guys really are getting lax!
The Dawns collectively are getting better at sneaking out of the palace. This guy basically put on a raincoat and minimal, patchy facial hair. That’s not going to fool anyone. Clark Kent’s glasses were a better disguise.
I thought this Dawn was more deliberative, but here we are again: Dawn + pretty girl = trouble. Possibly treason.
“Mathematics is the language of angels.” It’s prettier, but it’s still too close to math is magic.
“Is it treason if you’re the one making the rules?” Of course it is! This is just Nixon‘s “If the president does it, it isn’t a crime” in fancy dress. And don’t get me started on today’s newspaper.
“… just men who started to think for themselves.” There’s a bit more to it than that. But the Dawns have shown this interesting spark since the little kid in S1E02.
That was a perfectly timed bit of static.
“Now,” whatever that means in a show set millennia in the future.
I like that the little texting device seems like something Asimov would have imagined 80 years ago. In fact, he did imagine it 80 years ago. This is from Foundation.
“The tiny, gleaming sphere changed hands, and Gorm added, “It’s confidential. Super-secret. Can’t be trusted to the sub-ether and all that. Or so I gather. At least, it’s a Personal Capsule, and won’t open for anyone but you.”
Ponyets regarded the capsule distastefully, “I can see that. And I never knew one of these to hold good news, either.”
It opened in his hand and the thin, transparent tape unrolled stiffly. His eyes swept the message quickly, for when the last of the tape had emerged, the first was already brown and crinkled. In a minute and a half it had turned black and, molecule by molecule, fallen apart.”
My current theory on the message? “Personal 210: The Vault is awake. We call.”
We were stuck on “Vault” for a while because I was stuck on “Mule.”
Nice! Great shades of Mission Impossible! It’s nice to know that somebody is reading the books.
Once again, we get a perfect recreation of a scene from the previous episode that pins Gaal’s timeline to everything else.
Gaal wants Dawn to call for an “enclosure“ on Kalgan. He doesn’t want to do it, and he evidently can’t do it without council approval. No hint about that in season one or two.
Dawn doesn’t think controlling people’s minds is possible; Gaal doesn’t answer. I wonder if she is influencing his mind. I wonder if the librarian was from the Second Foundation. I wonder whether a lot of people are Second Foundation.
Kalgan
At the party, Pritcher is very serious.
And we finally see Magnifico with the visi-sonar. “The mule brings him everywhere he goes, even into battle.”
Pritcher sees the Mule. “Now, I just have to get close to him.“ I wonder why that is sufficient. He’s certainly 2F. In a psychic attack from the Mule, we hear “you are like me,” and “Who is Gaal Dornik?” Han flees with a bloodshot eye.
If he is 2F, maybe he won’t spend the rest of the book as a puppet.
“The Mule” is kind of a dick to Magnifico.
“Roughing my flanks?”
Bayta and Toran decide to investigate “the Mule” themselves. They’re more serious than when we first met them, but they are very overconfident.
Toran’s encounter with “The Mule” is ugly, and Toran runs away, licking his wounds. It’s notable, though, that, although “The Mule” threatens to toy with T’s mind, he does not follow through (maybe).
Bayta approaches Magnifico with concern, but the condescending baby talk is annoying. Does she sense that Torin is in trouble?
“That’s not information!” Is funny.
Their ship is definitely an homage to the Millennium Falcon, even though they aren’t topologically equivalent.
More letters, consistent with the message tape.
“Things have a way of working out how they’re meant to.” Seems an out-of-character reaction (unless?).
Trantor
Brother Dude is back at the Claviger Barracks. He wants to escape the palace and get to Mycogen with both Song and her memory. We learn the clavigers’ families are all held hostage. Dude claims he will bring the first claviger’s family along and will reward him generously for his help.
Song presses Dude for information, especially why he refers to Demerzel as “it.” He tells her Demerzel’s a robot.
Why isn’t that an “open” secret? Hasn’t she been in the public eye for centuries? I suppose the official story is that she was also being cloned. I guess that could work.
Dawn is contacting “The Mule.” Dawn = Cleon XXV by the way.
He’s trying to bring Kalgan back into the Empire and offers “The Mule” protection and some other things.
“ You already failed to protect Kalgan. I am the proof.” It goes downhill from there.
Some Jump Gate Somewhere
“The Mule” and his men captured a jump gate. They’re keeping it quiet. But he says something interesting as he dispatches the final guard. “Normally, I would let you enjoy it at least. But someone took my balladeer from me.” He called Gigantigo “it” multiple times.
Maybe this is the Mule, but he is not the one with the mind control powers. Could Magnifico be Giskard? “Do you ever feel like your life is not your own?” “It’s sort of a transcendent feeling you have to kill your way out of.“
The Palace Garden
Dude and Song are planning their escape. Song’s affect is wildly different. She’s now introspective and judgmental about how Dude talks about Demerzel, and she wants to stay near Demerzel. Dude replies with a verse of Pulp’s “Common People.”
Demerzel arrives, and Song makes an odd gesture for Demerzel to see. Could she have been a plant all along?
The Imperial Palace
Dawn is worried about “The Mule.” “He took Kalgan in a day… yada, yada, yada.” He is trying to create the enclosure that Gaal recommended.
Dude and Dusk want none of it, and Demerzel is more worried about the council than about “The Mule.”
“The middle thrown says, no.”
The tone changes dramatically when the Cleons start to discuss Dawn‘s robing ceremony. The bit about strength, wisdom, and fortitude is the Cleon’s at their most human.
…A Bit Later
The first clavager seems to be on board. He brings a plan to Dude.
But when Dude returns to the garden, Demerzel awaits. She explains Song’s strange gesture. It’s from an ancient religion in Mycogen where they worship robots called the Inheritance. The sect believes the robots will return and remove all cruelty, injustice, and misery from the world.
Demerzel sends Song back to Mycogen with her memory wiped. She would have killed her but for Dude. He doesn’t appreciate the gesture. Also, it’s worth considering whether Demerzel is lying or not.
I’m hoping that the first clavager and his daughter aren’t just collateral damage here.
This Mycogenian religion will play a huge role in the rest of the season, I bet. That would explain the prominence of Song’s name in the title of episode one.
(Edit: Song could be a major player in what’s coming if Demerzel didn’t actually wipe her memory.)
Review:
Slightly stronger than the first two episodes. We’re hanging some meat on the bones of some of the plotlines already introduced, with some nice character moments.
We discuss Foundation, S3E03, “When a Book Finds You.”
“When a Podcast Finds You.”
Now, you may find yourself grooving in a Kalgan rave.
Or, you may find yourself with an intuitive giraffe.
Or, you may find yourself in the stacks of a large imperial library.
Or, you may find yourself with a dubious prince, with a dubious beard.
So you may ask yourself, “Huh, how did I get here?”
It was the book. The book found you as it found us all. But what was the book?
Was it some needlepoint mathematics in a Toblerone box, or Foundation and Empire?
It could have been The Zen of Positronic Robots by Sunmaster 74, or even How to Subjugate the Galaxy On Less Than 30 Altairian Dollars a Day by Magnifico Giganticus!
It almost certainly wasn’t The Sensuous Dirty Old Man by Dr. A.
So join us! Come along for the ride as we discuss what we’re calling “Possibly the best episode of season three so far!” You’ll be glad you did!
Comics, the Universe, and Everything 