News Foundation Adaptation Series Officially Ordered by Apple

[Christopher]

Yeah, two FTL modes are not in the original but, surprising myself, I wasn't bothered.

Not many women in the original either, no people of color, no continuing characters, and hardly any visible action. It was always obvious that this was going to have to be profoundly different from the source.

Still, not having seen it yet, I have to wonder what the narrative purpose is for adding a "slow" FTL system alongside instantaneous hyperdrive.

 

[oldtrekkie]

...

I believe the longest known prime has nearly 25 million digits (I might be out of date). Her list isn't exactly pushing the boat out.

The methods evolve constantly in that domain, you're probably off by a trillion or so...

 

[Skipper]

I handwaved it as being different levels of hyperspace or warp versus slipstream or something. Yeah, two FTL modes are not in the original but, surprising myself, I wasn't bothered.

Well, actually in the prequels they were two types of FTL: wormholes and hyperspace. The former was faster than the latter. But wormholes depend on a very complex infrastructure which is not longer maintained, so at the end hyperspace remains the only way to travel.

I have no idea why they did that. I suppose that in the 90s "wormholes" were all the rage in sci-fi, so they thought they had to justify why in the book they still used the outmoded hyperspace. And really, I don't remember the last time they used "hyperspace" in a modern sci-fi TV show or book

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

The fast system requires you to be put into some sort of stasis to avoid seeing what's outside or something - a bit like in the Niven Known Space novels.

The methods evolve constantly in that domain, you're probably off by a trillion or so...

A trillion digits? I don't think so. Largest known prime number - Wikipedia

 

[oldtrekkie]

Not many women in the original either, no people of color, no continuing characters, and hardly any visible action. It was always obvious that this was going to have to be profoundly different from the source.

Still, not having seen it yet, I have to wonder what the narrative purpose is for adding a "slow" FTL system alongside instantaneous hyperdrive.

Asimov's only mention of color (Prelude To Foundation) is a bit disturbing... I'd say borderline offensive.

 

[oldtrekkie]

The fast system requires you to be put into some sort of stasis to avoid seeing what's outside or something - a bit like in the Niven Known Space novels.

A trillion digits? I don't think so. Largest known prime number - Wikipedia

Well, I said "probably".

 

[1987SpaceGuy]

A couple of questions:

• Is this a one season (10 episodes) and where are done story or does season 1 only cover a part of the whole primary foundation books/story?
• Is water world girl with religious stones in face, who wins the Harry Sheldon smartypants contest the same character as the black hooded woman who can go close to the "monolith/vault" while all other life "passes out" trying to go near it?

 

[oldtrekkie]

A couple of questions:

• Is this a one season (10 episodes) and where are done story or does season 1 only cover a part of the whole primary foundation books/story?
• Is water world girl with religious stones in face, who wins the Harry Sheldon smartypants contest the same character as the black hooded woman who can go close to the "monolith/vault" while all other life "passes out" trying to go near it?

Well:

1) They're planning several seasons.

2) No, one is Gaal Dornick and the other Salvor Hardin (two very different names).

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

They are addressed by different names and they look quite different to me,

Spoiler: although this is perhaps not what

although one might turn out to be the daughter of the other given what

a scene on the ship that takes the Foundation members to Terminus implies. In the book, I think there are 100,000 foundation scholars and their families. The number in the TV show is presumably much lower.

 

[Skipper]

In the book, I think there are 100,000 foundation scholars and their families.

And I suppose not every of them was happy to go. But I don't think it was never addressed

 

[Christopher]

I have no idea why they did that. I suppose that in the 90s "wormholes" were all the rage in sci-fi, so they thought they had to justify why in the book they still used the outmoded hyperspace. And really, I don't remember the last time they used "hyperspace" in a modern sci-fi TV show or book

Huh? Hyperspace isn't outmoded. It's still used in fiction as often as any other FTL method, including in Iain M. Banks's Culture universe and the Stargate TV franchise, plus Star Wars, of course. The 2003 Battlestar Galactica reboot used an instantaneous jump drive very like Asimov's hyperdrive.

 

[Marc]

And I suppose not every of them was happy to go. But I don't think it was never addressed

I suspect they were quite happy to go given they probably had a much better life expectancy on Terminus than on Trantor.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

I didn't remember there being two FTL modes in the prequels. However, losing the fast mode might be used as a means of further isolating the different regions of the Galaxy in the TV series. It's much easier to keep a tight rein by centralised control if the latency of communication is manageably small. When it takes months or years to send and receive a message, things will tend to fall apart.

 

[oldtrekkie]

I didn't remember there being two FTL modes in the prequels. However, losing the fast mode might be used as a means of further isolating the different regions of the Galaxy in the TV series. It's much easier to keep a tight rein by centralised control if the latency of communication is manageably small. When it takes months or years to send and receive a message, things will tend to fall apart.

I don't know about that. Genghis Khan ruled an empire even though it took about two years to travel from one end of it to the other.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

Still, not having seen it yet, I have to wonder what the narrative purpose is for adding a "slow" FTL system alongside instantaneous hyperdrive.

Probably a way to show part of the tech decline the Fall of the Empire will bring.

 

[Christopher]

I don't know about that. Genghis Khan ruled an empire even though it took about two years to travel from one end of it to the other.

And it fell apart immediately after he died. The point is that while such a thing can be achieved, it's likely to be unstable over the long haul.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

And it fell apart immediately after he died. The point is that while such a thing can be achieved, it's likely to be unstable over the long haul.

Pretty much, the Mongol Empire lasted from 1206 CE when Temüjin was proclaimed as Genghis or ruler of all Mongols to 1294 CE on Kublai's death when it split into four separate khanates. It was briefly the second largest empire in history. It was inherently unstable so it didn't persist. The last remnants were the Mughals in India deposed by the British in the late 1850s I think.

 

[wayoung]

I don't know what the big deal is people are having with their being two different forms of ftl drive, one faster than the other. Most sci Fi universes have multiple. Hell, I can think of half a dozen in Trek off the top of my head.

Makes sense state of the art warships/gov ships/expensive passenger ships have the faster method and a cheap crappy Transpo ship with inadequate shielding is used for the Foundations evacuation to Terminus. Also, it may even be by choice - they need the time to prep for Terminus. Hell, it sounds like the 5 years they have are not enough as is in those discussions.

Plus, tech was never going to match what was in the original trilogy. That's just not possible after 70 years of our own advancement. Everything was just hand waved away as "atomic powered hot butter knives" "atomic powered jewelry replicators" "atomic powered rays" since nuclear tech was so new then. It probably was believable a religion around nuclear energy could arise in the 40's.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Nanotech or femtotech would be an update.

 

[Stevil2001]

The wormholes are from the non-Asimov prequels. In the first one, by Gregory Benford, it's pretty clearly intended to be an update and a retcon; there is no hyperspace, just wormholes, and that's how it's always been. The second one by Greg Bear explains why there's no wormholes in the later books-- that doesn't really explain why they weren't in earlier ones! But throughout he was pretty clearly working his best to smooth out some of Benford's weird ideas.