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! We welcome the return of friend of the podcast, Alexander Siddig! We recognize Brothers Dawn and Dusk, but we're not sure what we should call the other guy. Is Demerzel having a mid-life crisis? Is that guy really the Mule? Where's Bayta? And what is it with the name "Han," anyway?

So we have questions! Do we have answers? Tune in and see!

Let's GO!

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 as a podcast to begin with!

There's still some of Season 5 in Post-Production. We'll get that out in parallel with season 6!

And we had a question from a listener about whether we have a forum where those interested could find the three of us. Our Twitter account used to serve that purpose, but you know we've mostly evacuated from that cesspool. We've established a new beachhead on Reddit, and all three of us can now be found at r/StarsEndPodcast!

Here are the "official teaser" that came out a few weeks ago and the official trailer!

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 flow. It flows somewhat faster than the currents near the water's surface or the riverbed. We'll leave it to you to decide if this part of the novel flows better or more quickly than the rest of the book.

A lot is going on. Rik is regaining his memories and remembering the world of Spacioanalytics, the Five Great Squires are being blackmailed, Rik and Velona escape into space only to be forced into a room to discuss things with Lady Samia of Fife in classic Asimovian style and the Townsman embarks on a spree of killing and craziness that paradoxically culminates in his being stuck on a ship that he can't pilot.

Check out the chapters, then join us for the conversation! Let’s GO!