We’re a group of middle-aged guys who loved this series as teenagers. In season one we finished revisiting the original trilogy in anticipation of the TeeVee sh...
Stars End S5E20 - I remember my Podcast. I had a Podcast!
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 End Mail Bag! This time when we opened it up, it inspired a short conversation about My Living Doll starring Julie Newmar and Bob Something-Or-Other.And we’re liking The Currents of Space so far! It hits the ground running with a threat of planetary destruction and a hero in the mists of amnesia! This is the Good Doctor’s take on race relations in the American South making it a nice companion to The Caves of Steel which tackled the issue in our northern cities. This gave us a lot to think about!Like, what year was this written? It looks like the answer is actually 1952 and not 1951 like I, Joseph, thought.We see parallels to three (count ‘em! 3!) Star Trek episodes! But which ones? Not "The Omega Glory," I'll tell you that much.Is Ol’ Isaac reading comic books on the side?And how does this compare to the other Galactic Empire Novels?Plus, another round of “Where’s Daneel?“ Have we figured that out yet?And more! You’ll have to listen to find out!
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59:13
Stars End S5E19 - We the People... Do Ordain and Establish this Podcast
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 Exeter in orbit. Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Galloway beam over to the Exeter where the entire crew has mysteriously been turned into common rock salt, just like you can buy from any neighborhood hardware store.
No, wait. I'm confused. That's the "Omega Glory," S2E23 of Star Trek. I swear, sometimes these Star Trek references just write themselves.
Anyway, the beginning of the episode is actually pretty good, but the ending is very, very dumb. So dumb that it lands it in the "So bad you have to see it to believe it" category. Unfortunately for the episode, people only seem to remember that ending.
To Asimov's credit, we know that he did not like that ending, Strangely he didn't like it even some 15 years or so before the episode aired. How does that work? I guess you'll have to listen to our episode.
Meanwhile, being of a certain age myself, I can't seem to get this little earworm out of my head.
Let's all sing along! "Ee Plannista, enor durtofo amo orper fectyoo nion..." Everybody!!
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46:27
Stars End S5E18 - The Podcast Was Located in a Little Niche Just Outside the Cabin
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 Golan Treveze or the version of Hari Seldon who inhabits the Foundation Prequels, you'll like Biron Ferrill better as this installment goes forward! If you think that there is a bit too much buckling and swashing in the first section, there is a bit of action where Biron overpowers a guard, tying him up with a pair of pantyhose. But once Gil and Artemisia help steal a space ship things settle down to storytelling and discussing galactic goings on as opposed to any actual going or actually doing anything story-inspiring. Plus, it's something that passes for a plot twist!
So, let's go! Help us bust the stars like dust with the vacuum of space!
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59:40
Stars End S5E17 - The Podcast Murmured to itself Gently
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 wasn't having a good time of it. Walter Bradbury, Asimov's editor, had liked Pebble in the Sky and wanted a follow-up but he also wanted an outline and a couple of sample chapters. Bradbury rejected the first two proposals. John Jenkins of AsimovReviews.net put it this way.
"...now that he was a Novelist, Asimov was thinking he needed to write like one and was getting carried away. Rather than his sticking to his usual sparse prose, he was getting distinctly florid, and he needed to tone things down."
That's what comes from trying to write a Novel with a capital "N" I suppose. To make matters worse, when Galaxy Science Fiction bought the right to serialize the novel Horace Gold insisted on a subplot that Asimov really didn't care for.
But now it was time to sit down and write, which is what our good friend Isaac does best. Join us to see how the book turned out! This reading coincides with the installment published in the January 1951 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction under the title Tyrann.
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1:00:39
Stars End S5E16 - Podcast Along With Me The Best is Yet to Be
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 powerful historical forces that generate great leaders when needed? It's a false dichotomy, but a useful one. In the Foundation Universe, the bottom-up theory must dominate otherwise psychohistory could not work the way it does.
But Joseph Schwartz is just the right Jewish tailor with a special kind of trick memory who is accidentally thrust to an exact moment in Earth's future. Once there he is brought to the only scientist on Earth doing a particular type of brain research. He then survives a dangerous experiment that gives him an unlikely set of psychic powers which he uses to save the lives of nearly every human in the galaxy.
Put those numbers into your Prime Radiant and crunch them!
This probably delayed the creation of psychohistory by hundreds of years. "I just don't understand it, Hari, the math says everyone in the galaxy should be dead right now."
For additional content check out Of Pebbles and Pulps, exclusively at StarsEndPodcast.com.
We’re a group of middle-aged guys who loved this series as teenagers. In season one we finished revisiting the original trilogy in anticipation of the TeeVee show.
Now that the show is here we won't just be enjoying it, we'll be bringing you our thoughts and predictions every week!
Hopefully, through this podcast, we'll bring you along for the ride. We want to do our part to bring this series to a new group of fans who are hopefully far more diverse than the three of us.
Ireland