News Foundation Adaptation Series Officially Ordered by Apple

Well, I wouldn't know about that since I've never read any non-Asimov prequels.

 

I don't see a problem with Daneel being a female. I mean since he's a robot all he/she has to do is to transfer his positronic brain into another body, which in several millennia he's likely done several times, make that several dozen times, just to account for wear and tear. In fact, in the sequel, it's said that he even has transferred the software of his brain several times into a different brain 'which makes sense too.

The question is: Is Demerzel in the adaptation the robot we know as Daneel? Given the changes that they've done elsewhere, it's far from certain.

 

I’m a big fan of the books and I’m pretty pleased with what I’ve seen so far. I would never have expected the books to be literally adapted to film in any way that would have been interesting to watch. I think nitpicking details that are similar and different is a pointless exercise. I plan to watch the entire series before passing a final judgement.
I can see how some people are tearing their hair out at the changes, though.

 

Femtotech? How would that work? Machines made of electrons?

 

Well, some changes are definitely trifles but others are much more fundamental. I mean there's adaptation and there's writing something completely different with a few token similarities.

 

That's why I was wondering what rights Apple actually has, that may determine who the robot turns out to be.

 

Well, I don't know about rights but I do know that they've already taken many liberties with the initial story.

 

With regard to FTL travel, I'm listening to the show's official podcast, and around 42 minutes in, Goyer explains that a big part of the way the Empire can maintain its power is that they have the only supply of space-folding jump-capable ships, so they're the only ones who can travel across the galaxy instantaneously(-ish). Goyer says that the specifics of jump drives, and how the Empire attained and maintains a monopoly on that technology will be an element that'll be explored later in the show, in future seasons.

He also specifies that slow-ships are, in fact, sublight. He says that the show's science advisors worked out the math and everything checks out, but he didn't remember the exact figures. I'll be surprised if it really does check out, honestly, since it'll either put Terminus very close to somewhere (the ship didn't necessarily leave from Trantor, the people could've all independently traveled to some sort of staging area to meet the ship), or the Foundation's ship will have been traveling at such a speed that five-or-so years for them would've been decades or centuries on any given planet, and the show hasn't given any indication of dealing with time dilation like that.

EDIT: Damn, I got quoted before I could revise my post taking into account the last minute or so of the podcast.

 

I wonder if there will be any time left for the Seldon crises which are the central elements of the Foundation saga.

 

Well, in my Arachne duology, FTL is achieved using a type of femtotech called programmable quark matter.

 

Well, why not?

 

Nuclear matter such as neutronium or quark matter as Christopher mentions.

 

Ok, assuming you can build something complex and stable with quarks, which seems highly dubious, IMO.

 

Never said you should; I was just following up on these posts:

 

In my novel, it's a technology developed by extremely ancient superintelligences and can only be constructed on the surfaces of neutron stars. Luckily, those superintelligences have their reasons for being willing to share it with us pre-Singularity types.

 

It seems dubious to me as well but such technologies are a staple of SF. Occasionally, fictional concepts becomes realised and we have to deal with the consequences.

 

Do we need to even mention that FTL itself is highly dubious?

 

Or Psychohistory itself...

Or superintelligent interstellar hiveminds...

Or Atomic powered miniature jewelery replicators....

 

I think I'd have to call bullshit on that. I mean unless I heard wrong; 50,000LY in 54 months? Not even close to sub light! Even factoring in time dilation only solves the subjective time problem since even travelling only a fraction below C means it'll still take a little over 50,000 objective years to reach the planet, which blows right past the point where galactic civilization is supposed to rebuild on it's own anyway, rendering the trip pointless.

 

Yeah, the science is nonsensical but I'm ignoring that aspect. The original novels were Gibbon's Decline and Fall applied to an SF setting. (The actual Roman Empire didn't cease until 476, 1453, or 1806 CE, depending on how you define it.) The show has useful comments to make about how power is exercised in the real world by countries and by individuals. I like how the Cleons aren't debauched, corrupt, moustache-twirling villains - they're just trying to keep it all together. Making a small bet on Seldon and his followers, who are evidently not terrorists and not active dissidents either, to preserve the imperial legacy is a sensible thing to do. Punishing Anacreon and Thespis without good evidence that they were culpable for the terrorist acts was ill-judged.

ETA: The planet Thespis doesn't appear in the Foundation novels. Thespis, or The Gods Grown Old is the first opera written by Gilbert and Sullivan. It's about a troupe of actors who swap roles with the Olympian gods and cause chaos. Like Earth in the Foundation Galaxy, the score of Thespis is now lost. Thespis was the legendary father of Greek drama - hence thespian is another word for actor. Anacreon was a Greek poet, who was noted for composing drinking songs and erotic poems.