Asimov's empire
Apple's big science fiction series Foundation debuts on its streaming platform today. For decades, fans of Isaac Asimov's series have wanted to see an adaptation, but have had to contend with it simply influencing a considerable amount of SF canon. I've seen the first couple of episodes, and this week, we're going to talk about it — and some other related things.
Foundation is going to run through the next eight or so weeks: I'm planning to continue writing about the series as it plays out with a weekly recap — that'll be something that I'll send out to paid subscribers on either Friday or Saturday, with some additional discussion taking place in Transfer Orbit's Slack channel — I've opened up a dedicated room for the show's discussion. Come join us!
1966 was quite the year for science fiction. As fans gathered in Cleveland, Ohio for that year's World Science Fiction Convention, Tricon, NBC's Star Trek was just days from premiering, while fans had an impressive ballot in front of them for that year's Hugo Awards. That year's award contained a new, one-off category for Best All-Time Series — a showdown of the genre's best-known stories: Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom, Robert A. Heinlein's Future History, E.E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman, J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, and Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy. By the end of the evening, Asimov's trilogy took home the prize.
