Stars End: A Foundation Podcast

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! I feel like we're crawling from the wr...

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 ." 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 t...

In which we ruminate about Foundation , S3E09, "The Paths that Choose Us." Spoiler Alert, as if that wasn't obvious. 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,"...

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! 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....

Let's chat about Foundation , S3E06, "The Shape of Time!" It's a big episode and we have a big guest star to enlarge our conversation. We call this one, " The Shape of the Podcast ," and people are already calling it "longer than usual!" As you proceed, be warned! Here be spoilers! If the mark of a great episode is that it becomes even more interesting on a se...

In which we discuss Apple TV+'s Foundation , S3E05 - "Where Tyrants 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, S...

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! 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 t...

We discuss Foundation , S3E03, "When a Book 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 fou...

In which we talk about Foundation S3E02, "Shadows in the Math." Spoiler Alert! You know what to do! The pieces are starting to fall into place! S3E02 begins with a brief review of how the Second Foundation has evolved over the past 150 years! We see the Mule trying to consolidate power on Kalgan and get to meet Torin and Bayta! Meanwhile, the Cleons each seem to be going off the rails in...

In which we discuss Apple TV+'s Foundation , S3E01, "A Song For The End of Everything." Now we're into the meat of our new even-numbered season as we finally have a real teevee episode to talk about! As always, this way lies spoilers. If you care about such things, get thee to the platform! We'll be here when you're ready! The premier is dense, and it's a barn-burner!...

It's an even-numbered season of the Stars End podcast! You know what that means! Our Second Interregnum has come to a close! The big news, of which you're already, no doubt, aware, is the return of Foundation to Apple TV+! New episodes are officially set to appear in a mere 65 hours or so! We're here and we're ready! We're going to watch 'em! We're gonna talk about 'em! It's why we came together a...

In this episode, we continue to drift along The Currents of Space, floating into chapters 7 through 12. This almost coincides with the second installment in Astounding Science Fiction for November 1952 (Chapter 7 was published in October). This is the middle section of Asimov's middle Galactic Empire Novel (in-universe chronologically, that is). The middle layer of a current is called the laminar...

We start Asimov's third (or second) Galactic Empire Novel, The Currents of Space , by discussing chapters 1 through 6. This nearly corresponds to the first installment published in the October 1952 issue of Astounding Science Fiction which covered 1 through 7. A friend tells me that our episodes are better when we’re enjoying the stuff that we’re reading. We certainly enjoy reading The Stars E...

We conclude our coverage of The Stars Like Dust ―, with chapters 15 through 22. That corresponds to part 3 of Tyrann as published in The March 1951 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction. "We the People… Do Ordain and Establish this Podcast." As we rejoin our heroes The USS Enterprise, trailer firmly attached by tractor beam, is approaching planet Omega 4. There they find the derelict USS Exete...

And now we settle in for the second part of the Good Doctor's second novel! Join us as we dust The Stars, Like Dust— with commentary like powdered sugar on a doughnut! Let's chat about chapters nine through fourteen! "The Podcast Was Located in a Little Niche Just Outside the Cabin" If this novel had been feeling a little non-Asenion for your tastes, this installment might be for you! If you love...

d novel! Join us for The Stars, Like Dust— ! In this episode, we sift through chapters one through eight. The Stars, Like Dust is book #003 in the Asimov canon. That's a little misleading. Book #002 I, Robot is a fix-up; most of it had been written years before. This was the second time the Good Doctor sat down to write a book and he intended to write a Novel with a capital "N." He w...

We encounter the back cover of the Good Doctor's first actual book as we wrap up The Pebble in the Sky with chapters 14 through 22. If you've been around for a while you probably remember our discussions of the "Great Man Theory of History" vs the "Bottom-Up" paradigm. In other words, do remarkable individuals with unique characteristics write history or is it driven by...

Here's your chance to join the discussion about Pebble in the Sky , Chapters 7 through 13! Also, we'll open up the Stars End Mailbag and talk about Star Trek: Discovery ! A lot of us who are past the point where we would be culled by the 60 take supplements to, theoretically, help improve our memory. Just the other day I couldn't remember the title of the Star Trek episode "Return...

We begin our conversation about Pebble in the Sky with Chapters 1 through 6. Isaac Asimov is famously prolific; if you know one thing about the Great and Glorious Az it might be that he wrote more than 500 books. Asimov-Reviews.net puts the number at 514 counting the Good Doctor's dissertation. Asimov. Fandom.com puts the number at a much more modest 506. Why is this relevant? Well, Pebble in...

In which we talk about "Cal" and "The Fun They Had" with special guest Rachel from the Menuscript Podcast. "Cal" has been called "the last great Asimov short story" and it looks like it's his very last robot story. Cal is a robot who learns how to write ficton and over the course of the story becomes an odd sort of Asimov avatar. "The Fun They Had,&...

We finish our discussion of Foundation and Earth with Part VII: Earth. That includes chapters 19 — "Radioactive?" 20 — "The Nearby World," and 21 — "The Search Ends." I haven't bothered with spoiler alerts for a while. This time, though, if you haven't finished the novel and don't want to be spoilered, seriously, don't look even at the link below. And...

Here we go again! Let's talk about Foundation and Earth, Part VI: Alpha! If you like... complex calculations in a cross between archeology and astronavigation, agrarian societies that nonetheless have advanced weather control and bioengineering, and telekinetic performances on woodwind instruments then chapters 16, 17, and 18 are bananas! Also, Trevize gets lucky and is it just me or is he get...

We're back and we're diving back into Foundation and Earth! This time we're discussing chapters 13, 14, and 15 or, if you prefer, Part V: Melpomenia. This is all of Part V and nothing but Part V. In this section, we bid a not-so-fond farewell to Solaria as our little trio becomes a quartet with the addition of Fallom. We travel to the third and final Spacer world for which we have coor...

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 engineerin...