Stars End: A Foundation Podcast

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!

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!

We talk about Foundation S2E02 "A Glimpse of Darkness."

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, 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 Seldons Shadow”

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 “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!

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!

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!

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!

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.

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!

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!

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.

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!