Seldon Crisis: Beyond Foundation

A little holiday sampler collecting some of my favorite scenes from the series so far including; Seldon maneuvering Ling Chen into granting him exile, a bit of Lord Dorwin, Hardin vs Wienis on Anacreon, Ponyets vs the Grand Master of Askone, Mallow with Commdor Asper on Korell, Ducem Barr and Bel Riose discussing great man theory, Sgt Luc's fatal charge, a meeting with Magnifico, tea time with Dagobert, and the unexpected death of a psychologist on Trantor. Happy Holiday!

Transcript: Web (Read/Listen) | PDF | MS Word

Script by Joel McKinnon
Voices by Amanda Kreitler and Joel McKinnon
Theme Orchestration by Tom Barnes
Sound Design by Jeremy MacKinnon
Art by Mike Topping – despotica.com

Based on the novels of Foundation by Isaac Asimov.

Please listen to Amanda on these podcasts!
Severed Fate
Dimension Door

Also, please visit the Seldon Crisis YouTube channel for the video trailer, intro promos, and video versions of the podcast episodes.

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A wide-ranging conversation with astrophysicist Stephen Webb, owner of all the canonical works of Isaac Asimov save for a couple of wall charts. Dr. Webb talks about Asimov the teacher, speculations on the distant future of humanity in the galaxy, the plausibility of psychohistory, faster than light travel, robots with positronic brains, other favorite science fiction authors, and the biggest question of all – are we alone in the galaxy or even in the universe?

Transcript: Web (Read/Listen) | PDF | MS Word

Ed Seiler's canonical list of Asimov titles (the one Stephen claims to have all of in his library save for a few wall charts)

David Kuhns' even larger list of Asimovia (including videotapes, computer and board games)

Asimov Online (the ultimate Asimov site)

Where is Everybody? (Stephen's TED talk on the Fermi Paradox)

Where is Everybody? (Second Edition of Stephen's book on the Fermi Paradox)

Other titles by Stephen Webb:
All the Wonder that Would Be
New Light through Old Windows

End of the World with Josh Clark (podcast on Fermi Paradox and various existential risks)

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A brief look at the three mysterious Greek goddesses who were imagined to shape human destiny, and how Hari Seldon chose to challenge their authority. A look at what we must do in our current time, with our own fateful challenges, to be like Hari.

Transcript: Web (Read/Listen) | PDF | MS Word

The Fates - the Destiny Goddesses

Climate Action Now (app)

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Bayta & Toran Darell, Ebling Mis, and Magnifico arrive on the ruined former capital planet of Empire, Trantor. Mis searches frantically in Hari Seldon's psychohistorical archives while their old friend Han Pritcher pays a visit to brag about his promotion under a new boss. Can our heroes find the Second Foundation before the Mule? The fate of the entire galaxy is at stake!

Transcript: Web (Read/Listen) | PDF | MS Word

Script by Joel McKinnon
Voices by Amanda Kreitler and Joel McKinnon
Theme Orchestration by Tom Barnes
Sound Design by Jeremy MacKinnon
Art by Mike Topping – despotica.com

Based on the novels of Foundation by Isaac Asimov.

Isaac Asimov, Mystery Writer (Reddit)

The Philosophy of Foundation with Nathaniel Goldberg (Seldon Crisis Episode 6)

Stars End Podcast

Cora Buhlert Blog

Erasmo Acosta, K3+

Tobias Cabral, New Eyes

Please visit Amanda on Severed Fate!

Also, please visit the Seldon Crisis YouTube channel for the video trailer, intro promos, and video versions of the podcast episodes.

Want to help me make these shows? Please consider becoming a patron!

Foundation has fallen to the Mule and the proud citizens of Terminus are shocked and dismayed. Haven is under siege and our heroes make a mad dash for the center of the Galaxy to find clues to the location of the fabled Second Foundation, the only hope of stopping the Mule from his goal of total galactic conquest. Join Toran & Bayta Darell with Ebling Mis and Magnifico the clown as they seek the ruins of the Imperial Library on Trantor in their frantic search for a powerful ally.

Transcript: Web (Read/Listen) | PDF | MS Word

Script by Joel McKinnon
Voices by Amanda Kreitler and Joel McKinnon
Theme Orchestration by Tom Barnes
Sound Design by Jeremy MacKinnon
Art by Mike Topping – despotica.com
Music by Blear Moon – Learning from Kids

Based on the novels of Foundation by Isaac Asimov.

John W. Campbell (Wikipedia)

Joseph Campbell (Wikipedia)

Please visit Amanda on Severed Fate!

Also, please visit the Seldon Crisis YouTube channel for the video trailer, intro promos, and video versions of the podcast episodes.

Want to help me make these shows? Please consider becoming a patron!

I share some thoughts on the new AppleTV+ adaptation of Isaac Asimov's Foundation series from the perspective of someone who loves the books and wants the elements that make it a beloved classic to me to be retained, but also one who is aware of the challenges of adapting a series of novels written almost 80 years ago to a modern audience. Does it honor Asimov's core concepts? Are the departures valid? Will the showrunner be able to inspire a new generation with the ideas that are so relevant to today's deep societal challenges?

Transcript: Web (Read/Listen) | PDF | MS Word

AppleTV+ Official Foundation Podcast (Apple Podcasts)

We begin the grand story of the unconsidered variable in Hari Seldon's equations, a mutant being of indescribable powers known only as the Mule. He conquers worlds overnight, including the honeymoon destination of Bayta and Toran Darrell. There they meet a clown fleeing from the planet's new lord, the Mule himself. They also encounter Captain Han Pritcher from the security forces, and eventually the Foundation's greatest scientist, Ebling Mis, the man who is the closest to understanding Seldon's psychohistory of any man in centuries. He knows another Seldon Crisis has arrived, and it directly involves the Mule. What will Hari Seldon proclaim in his long awaited return to the Vault?

Transcript: Web (Read/Listen) | PDF | MS Word

Script by Joel McKinnon
Voices by Amanda Kreitler and Joel McKinnon
Theme Orchestration by Tom Barnes
Sound Design by Jeremy MacKinnon
Art by Mike Topping – despotica.com
Music by Scott Buckley (Ambush, The Old Ones, Hiraeth, Hunted, The March of Midnight)
Music by Brian Joseph Davis (Work for 20 DVD Players)

Based on the novels of Foundation by Isaac Asimov.

Want to help me make these shows? Please consider becoming a patron!

Please visit Amanda on Severed Fate!

Also, please visit the Seldon Crisis YouTube channel for the video trailer, intro promos, and video versions of the podcast episodes.

This brief episode is for any prospective watchers of the new Apple TV+ Foundation television series who have not yet read the books and are looking for a quick primer on the series. The new show will likely cover at least the first two chapters of the first book, so that is what I focus on in this episode, with a little more general overview of the remainder of Foundation and Foundation and Empire.

Transcript: Web (Read/Listen) | PDF | MS Word

Resources for commentary on the TV show:

Stars End podcast

YouTube
Foundation Era YouTube channel
Quinn's Ideas YouTube channel

Reddit
r/asimov
r/foundationtv

Discord
Galactic Empire

We go a little deeper on the theme of The General, the opposing forces of psychohistorical determinism vs the futile efforts of Bel Riose to exert his free will against it. Bringing this into our current universe, we talk about Thomas Carlisle's "Great Man" theory of history and some of the pushback against it. Your host then takes it into the personal realm with some reflections on a couple of modern candidates for "Great Man" status in reflecting on his past.

Transcript: Web (Read/Listen) | PDF | MS Word

Great Man Theory of History (Wikipedia)

‘The smartest person in any room anywhere’: in defence of Elon Musk, by Douglas Coupland (Guardian)

The Ministry for the Future, Kim Stanley Robinson (Amazon)
Kim Stanley Robinson: a climate plan for a world in flames (Financial Times)

Why Go to Space? To Save Humanity … and Our Earth, by Wilson da Silva (Medium)

The Mars Society (Website)

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We pick up where we left off with the meager Foundation reeling from the onslaught of the Empire's great general Bel Riose. The Emperor's sycophantic envoy Brodrig joins him at the front and insists on personally interrogating the captured spy, Lathan Devers. He and Ducem Barr plot a means to bribe Brodrig, but he surprises them by bribing Devers instead for information on Riose's hidden plans. The two heroes find an opportunity to turn the tables and begin a mad dash to save the Foundation by any means necessary.

Transcript: Web (Read/Listen) | PDF | MS Word

Credits:

Script and voices by Joel McKinnon
Theme Orchestration by Tom Barnes
Sound Design by Jeremy MacKinnon
Art by Mike Topping – despotica.com
Music, "The Encounter"  by Scott Buckley – www.scottbuckley.com.au

Based on the novels of Foundation by Isaac Asimov.

Want to help me make these shows? Please consider becoming a patron!