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Author Topic: Foundation (Spoilers)  (Read 2253 times)

Ratman_tf

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Re: Foundation (Spoilers)
« Reply #15 on: October 04, 2021, 12:39:01 AM »
Just finished episode 3. I really liked the stuff about the clone emperors.

I can see Salvor Hardin as a warden before becoming mayor.

I'm not thrilled with how they've mystified up The Vault.

Still, I'll check out episode 4. They haven't lost me yet.
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Banjo Destructo

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Re: Foundation (Spoilers)
« Reply #16 on: October 04, 2021, 12:49:50 PM »
I listened to the audio book version of the foundation series about a year and a half ago. I dunno, I wasn't that impressed. Not enough to sub to amazon to watch the show.  It's an interesting idea but boy it gets strange at the end. I can see why people might have a soft spot in their heart for Azimov because he was so prolific, but IMO he is more of his time as an author than something that could be a timeless masterpiece.  Like.. a lot of his ideas don't hold up well to 30+ years of tech advancement we've had since then.
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BoxCrayonTales

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Re: Foundation (Spoilers)
« Reply #17 on: October 04, 2021, 05:11:10 PM »
Quote from: Banjo Destructo on October 04, 2021, 12:49:50 PM
I listened to the audio book version of the foundation series about a year and a half ago. I dunno, I wasn't that impressed. Not enough to sub to amazon to watch the show.  It's an interesting idea but boy it gets strange at the end. I can see why people might have a soft spot in their heart for Azimov because he was so prolific, but IMO he is more of his time as an author than something that could be a timeless masterpiece.  Like.. a lot of his ideas don't hold up well to 30+ years of tech advancement we've had since then.
Ah yes, the one weakness of science fiction... science!
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Pat

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Re: Foundation (Spoilers)
« Reply #18 on: October 04, 2021, 05:25:24 PM »
Quote from: Banjo Destructo on October 04, 2021, 12:49:50 PM
I listened to the audio book version of the foundation series about a year and a half ago. I dunno, I wasn't that impressed. Not enough to sub to amazon to watch the show.  It's an interesting idea but boy it gets strange at the end. I can see why people might have a soft spot in their heart for Azimov because he was so prolific, but IMO he is more of his time as an author than something that could be a timeless masterpiece.  Like.. a lot of his ideas don't hold up well to 30+ years of tech advancement we've had since then.
Original trilogy: 1942 to 1951
31 years later: Books 4 and 5
37 years later: The Prequels

If you want to know why it gets weird at the end, just look at that 30+ year gap. The person who wrote the later books was very different person.
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Banjo Destructo

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Re: Foundation (Spoilers)
« Reply #19 on: October 05, 2021, 08:53:05 AM »
Quote from: Pat on October 04, 2021, 05:25:24 PM
Quote from: Banjo Destructo on October 04, 2021, 12:49:50 PM
I listened to the audio book version of the foundation series about a year and a half ago. I dunno, I wasn't that impressed. Not enough to sub to amazon to watch the show.  It's an interesting idea but boy it gets strange at the end. I can see why people might have a soft spot in their heart for Azimov because he was so prolific, but IMO he is more of his time as an author than something that could be a timeless masterpiece.  Like.. a lot of his ideas don't hold up well to 30+ years of tech advancement we've had since then.
Original trilogy: 1942 to 1951
31 years later: Books 4 and 5
37 years later: The Prequels

If you want to know why it gets weird at the end, just look at that 30+ year gap. The person who wrote the later books was very different person.

Yeah I remember that. Azimov had a lot of other strange ideas too, like people on earth living in dome cities, earth becoming gradually more radiated and the people there not knowing why.  I guess when you didn't have much other sci-fi azimov could be said to be good, but compared to what we have now he's kinda just forgettable.
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Ghostmaker

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Re: Foundation (Spoilers)
« Reply #20 on: October 06, 2021, 09:36:53 AM »
Although I've seen some interesting works set in Asimov's universes. Roger MacBride Allen's Inferno (set in Asimov's Robot universe) is a murder mystery -- it just involves robots.
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Ratman_tf

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Re: Foundation (Spoilers)
« Reply #21 on: October 10, 2021, 04:12:41 AM »
Episode 4.

Where is this going?

When I watch a show that gets bombastic and self-important, I ask the question, is this going somewhere interesting, or are the show creators just huffing their own farts?

Salvor Hardin being some kind of magic prognosticator who receives mystic visions from the vault is really rubbing me the wrong way.

Gaal Dornick's narration is getting on my nerves.

They better start paying off some of this setup so I know I'm not just being led around in circles.


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The notion of an exclusionary and hostile RPG community is a fever dream of zealots who view all social dynamics through a narrow keyhole of structural oppression.
-Haffrung

hedgehobbit

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Re: Foundation (Spoilers)
« Reply #22 on: October 10, 2021, 06:26:32 PM »
Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on October 04, 2021, 05:11:10 PM
Ah yes, the one weakness of science fiction... science!

I've read a ton of science fiction from the 30s and 40s and find that the more action oriented stories, such as from Leigh Brackett, hold up better than the more sciency stories. I tried to read Foundation years ago and found that it was a strange thing, a sort of retelling of historical events (the fall of the Roman Empire) but set in the future. That framing device didn't really work for me. In a way it is kinda like Dune's retelling of Lawrence of Arabia. Maybe it's just that as soon as I recognize the trope, I can't unsee it and take the story seriously. From what I remember, the first Foundation book flat out states that the sci-fi empire of the book is following a historical cycle. It didn't help that the historical cycle in question was pretty much revisionist history.
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