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Pebble in the Sky originally had a “bad physics” nuclear fallout premise that was later corrected while being retconned into Foundation timeline in Robots and Enterprise as the result of an “ultimate weapon” by Spacers to make earth uninhabitable. Asimov explains it in a preface.
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In fact the entire Asimoverse is the result of prolific pantsing coupled with masterful retconning. It’s not conceived as an organic whole like LOTR or Harry Potter. It kinda grew like slime mold around his influences. A fox larping hedgehog. An Austrian in Keynesian clothing.
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Cleon is basically doing the tropey emperor-walkabout-incognito thing in this bit. Okay as interpolation but a bit dull. Luminism as a religion feels vaguely Ursula-Le-Guin-ish. Mythology of 3 goddesses, cyclic time etc.
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I honestly don’t get the complaining. I’m a huge Asimov fan/nerd and I’m enjoying every minute of this.
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The last bit with Demerzel and Helima mildly bothers me. Zeroth vs First law conflicts are vaguely implied in the books, but this was so on the nose… but the extreme emotion is an interesting way to cash out law-conflict stresses. In the original robot books you just get stasis.
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Aside: Laura Dirn does an excellent interpretation of Demerzel/Daneel. I hope they do flashbacks all the way back to Lije Bailey. Presumably played by a different actor since we know from the books that Daneel is basically a robotic Ship of Theseus.
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Gonna link this here for those looking to get properly educated in Asimoverse
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Most people don’t realize Foundation is not 3 books but like 14 Caves of Steel Naked Sun Robots of Dawn Robots and Empire Pebble in the Sky Stars, Like Dust Currents of Space Prelude Forward Foundation Foundation and Empire Second Foundation Foundations Edge Foundation and Earth
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Replying to
Ep. 10 pulled a bit of an ex machina stunt to resolve a plot line but I’m inclined to forgive it. My first prediction is now slightly more right but second prediction is wrong.
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Got this one mostly wrong —- Salvor is not a mentallist. Little boy with knife is obviously Raych. Second foundation is in the house obviously. Hugo is the obvious candidate.
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Overall, excellent. I really liked the last scene with Demerzel, and they’ve cued up a different actor playing Daneel next season nicely, a la Doctor Who regenerations. Cleons plot has been satisfyingly blown up in a way that underlines a nice “change is the only constant” note
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Didn’t quite like how they played vault-Hari, but I did like how vault itself acquired a backstory. I think Ghost of Hari is too sentient. Makes for better TV, but weakens punch of recordings. But they’ve cued up his being fallible. Ghost Hari will not like the Mule in Season 2.
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Like the setup of the Second Foundation though. In the books, that’s never really described, besides a vague line of descent indicated between Stettin Palver/Wanda Seldon and Preem Palver in Second Foundation. This Synnax setup is more of a story, and nothing significant changes.
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