Foundation and Earth by Isaac Asimov

 Like Robots and Empire, this novel can very much be seen as continuity-driven, tying up loose ends in what Asimov has decided to make a single universe of Foundation, Robot and Empire novels and stories. In a sense, it's a kind of self-fanwank. It just so happens to simultaneously be a bloody superb novel. You'll noticed I read it rather quickly after my last Asimov despite working full time and having rather a lot going on. This novel is a Class A substance. It's dangerously addictive. You have been warned.

Part of the reason it's so damn satisfying, of course, is the fanwank. Everything is resooved- where the Solarians went; what happened to Earth; why Galaxia is necessary; why women seem to find the rather annoying Golan Trevise so damn irresistible. You can tell that Asimov, in his sixties, is rather enjoying being able to reflect in his writing some rather more relaxed sexual mores than he would have known in his youth.

The ideas are not so central as earlier novels, perhaps, but they are there. The society of Solaria reaches its logical extreme.And there are thrilling moments- Comporellon is Baleyworld! Aurora has literally gone to the dogs! And on the Moon is... ah yes.

This ties everything up rather neatly. I'll get round to the other Asimov novels eventually but for now, I think, I'll diversify my diet. But this novel, while obviously not self-contained and with a lot of required pre-reading, is a real joy.

Robots and Empire by Isaac Asimov

I've said before that I used to see Isaac Asimov's 1980s novels as being, while highly enjoyable, essentially as a kind of self-fanfiction in relation to his novels of decades before, with Asimov focusing more on continuity than concepts. That was my original impression, back when I first read these novels thirty (ouch!) years ago. With Second Foundation and The Robots of Dawn, however, in this rereading at least, I haven't found this to be the case at all.

Well... perhaps third time is the charm. Spoler alert: you have been warned... but I find this novel seems to exist in order to fill a continuity gap. It serves to explain how the Settlers would ultimately come to eclipse the Spacers without being destroyed by them. It explains how Earth becomes radioactive, in order to fit the continuity of (if I recall correctly) The Currents of Space. So, for once, Isaac Asimov would appear to be guilty as charged, convicted of self-fanfiction.

And yet... does this make any difference to the actual quality of the book? Well... no. It's full of engaging and original ideas. The philosophical conversations between Daneel and Giskard, in which they come up with the concept of the "Zeroth Law" are fascinating. And the ending, while I predicted it slightly in advance, is clever: the Aurorans' plot to make Earth radioactive, and thus uninhabitable over time, serves not to undermine the Settlers but to spur them on, removing the umbilical cord that was holding them back.

It must also be said that, despite the fact that no one reads the novels of Asimov, all of which are novels of ideas, for his characters, the development of Gladia as a character is highly satisfying here. Beginning the novel as a decadent, long-lived Spacer who is just waiting for death, she finds renewed purpose, meaning and, indeed, love amongst the Settlers.

I'm running out of Asimov novels. That's a truly scary thought.

The Robots of Dawn by Isaac Asimov

 

Yes, I know, I'm chain reading Isaac Asimov. I'll blog another novel first before I go on to Robots and Empire, honest. To be fair, though, these novels are a Class A substance.

... Which rather spoils from the outset that I very much enjoyed this much-delayed conclusion to the Elijah Baley trilogy. Ah well. And, incidentally, it still doesn't seem to me that Asimov's '80s novels are in any way inferior to his early work. Like Foundation's Edge, this compares very well to its predecessors.

Once again we have a rather agreeableb mix of genuinely clever whodunit, philosophical variations on the Three Laws of Robotics, and pondering on the spacefaring future of mankind. There's also, in the ultimately moribund decadence of the Spacers with their robots, a warning to us all: technology making our lives easier is a double edged sword. We may not, in 2024, have many anthropoid, two-legged robots. But we have Alexa, we have Siri, we have smart speakers: we have robots, just not on two legs. 

Auroran society, while less extreme than that of Solaria, is no less fascinating, although one can't help seeing its casual, easy attitude to sex without thinking of the post-#MeToo reputstion of its author. The troubling consequences of extreme longevity are handled well, as well as a reluctance to engage in political conflict. Baley himself, perhaps, was never the most engaging character, and the love triangle between him, his fawaway wife and Gladia has its awkward side. But no one reads Asimov for characterisation. This is an extraordinary novel of ideas which I thoroughly enjoyed to the point it's genuinely difficult not to just read Asimov after Asimov. But yes, something else first, and something rather different...

Foundation’s Edge by Isaac Asimov

I’ve consistently said, ever since I first read most of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation, Robot and Empire novels some twenty-odd years ago, that Asimov is a writer of two halves. The Asimov of the ‘40s and ‘50s is a powerhouse of brilliant ideas, while the older Asimov of the ‘80s writes Asimov fan fiction full of continuity. High quality fan fiction, for sure- fan fiction is often superb and should not be disparaged- but more focused on continuity than in the big ideas of Asimov’s youth.

Having just reached the ‘80s with this rereading in the shape of this novel, however… I don’t get that impression at all. Oh, there’s continuity, all right. The Foundation universe is linked to the Robot universe for the first time. But… the book positively fizzes with ideas. The plot is a devilishly clever game of ten dimensional diplomatic chess, and for Asimov, it’s not really about characters: plot is all. Getting to see the political skulduggery of not only Terminus but the Second Foundation is a real joy.

Then there’s the ending. Yes, obviously the Gaia stuff owes a lot to James Lovelock, obviously. But the context is ingenious. The Gaia hypothesis as political ideology… is there a very, very left-wing subtext here, anti-individualism? It’s unclear. I don’t necessarily approve but, if said subtext is there, it’s nicely done.

The ending is devilishly clever: I particularly love the studies ambiguity as to whether or not Bliss is a robot.

Out of This World: Little Lost Robot

 "The wheels of Dr Calvin grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small."

This is the first episode I've ever blogged of this fourteen episode ITV series of plays from 1962, all science fiction, whether original or adaptations. It is also, barring a near-miracle, the last, as this episode is the only one to survive the junkings to which British television was so very prone. This being ITV, this time we cannot blame Pamela Nash.

I won't say much about thestory, which I recall from the original I, Robot short story. There is, it must be said, an odd change in that the robot with the modified First Law is said to be able to kill, which it is not: it can merely passively allow a human to come to harm. There was, I suppose, a fear that this, a stoiry of ideas, was too talky and lacking in action. Yet TV of this era was pretty much theatre with a big camera pointing at it. Talky is no sin.

Changes aside, I very much enjoyed this. It is a very early 's view of the future, of course: by 2039 we shall be orbiting Saturn and beginning to master hyperspace with our robot slaves, apparently. The robots themselves look... well, hilarious, and I say that with affection. The banks of computers, at lreast, look way cooler than real computers eventually would.

What makes this adaptation a triumph, however, is Maxine Audley's extraordinary performance as Susan Calvin. It's extraordinarily that she is, I think, still the only person to have played the part. Yet she will be a tough act to follow. This adaptation is, perhaps, just what it is. But it's a very nice little artifact. The intro from the actual Boris Karloff is just a bonus.

The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov

Having reread this novel for the first time in decades- this time having actually having read Caves of Steel first- I've concluded that it's good, very very good. In fact, I'm pondering on the possibility that the two novels taken together may be Asimov's masterpiece. Then again you could argue that about Foundation. In both cases, it's all about the ideas, and the ideas are profound.

Like its prequel, this is a whodunit set in a future with an overcrowded Earth and robot-obsessed colonists, "Spacers" who lord it over the old homeworld, with complex and intriguing sociological undercurrents.These's a bit of an emphasis on the Laws of Robotics, but the ideas in play here far bigger than merely those.

Oh, the novel dates in places. In the future, everyone smokes, at least on Earth. Gendeer roles are very '50s. It's taken as axiomatic and universal that children are to be disciplined by physical force. Most amusingly, sex is rationed on Solaria in order to control the population, in a serialised novel written just three years before the advent of the contraception pill.

Yet there's so much to explore here. Ideas of decadence through technology slowly giving us lives of ease, something which, I think, in 2023, is very far off. Yet Solaria, though an extreme example, is a cautionary tale of what happens if we put too much of our social life into virtual channels rather than face to face, which since Covid we've all done to such extent, with a certain amount of our social skills beginning to atrophy.

This is a work of genius, both as a whodunit and with its conclusions on the future of the society it depicts.

Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov

 Yes, I know. It took me months to read Infinite Jest, rewarding experience though that was, and a couple of days to read this Isaac Asimov comfort food. I loved The Caves of Steel.

This novel may not be impenetrable in the slightest, but it’s full of ideas to stimulate the mind. On the surface it’s a murder mystery set in a future society, and a good one, but it’s the thrilling succession of concepts that linger in the mind. Especially for me, as this is the only one of Asimov’s earlier novels that I hadn’t read until now.

It is, of course, of its time. We are thousands of years in the future. Earth once had the drive to colonise other planets, but overpopulation now crams the citizenry into colossal domed cities which people never leave, all rural work being done by robots and, although the subtext . Meanwhile, the Spacers, on their fifty worlds live on other worlds, disease-free, controlling their population by infanticide. We have two fascinating types of decadence… yet the pill hasn’t yet been invented.

The Spacers live for centuries, yet life expectancy on Earth is… well, slightly less than it is in the 2020s. Also, of course, everybody smokes. All the police are men, as is everyone with a job. 

However, the ideas are superb, and this novel is a triumph. And that’s before we even get into its Asimovverse legacy.

Foundation: Upon Awakening

 "I was not afraid of the dark..."

We are, it must be said, diverting a little from Asimov here, not that we haven't already. Yet this is a path not at all trodden by the books, although of course the nature of television drama makes this necessary from time to time.

So we have Terminus in very serious trouble and seemingly in the procerss of being destroyed by Anacreonians, coded very much as terrorists, who blame Seldon for what happened to them. We have the imperial military being rigidly incompetent behind the bluster. Yet we have Salvor Hardin, creative and clever, thinking. We know she's going to save them all.

But, most of all, the story focuses on Gaal, freshly awoken from stasis after thirty-four years. The flashback to her upbringing on a world where catacysmic climate change gave rise to extreme religioius reaction against all learning, and how she was inspired to reject such idiocy at the cost of parental rejection. The metaphor of a black hole, and the event horizon from which there is no escape, works well here.

Gaal is brought up to speed. She sees she is suspected of taking part in Hari's murder. She sees Raych's execution, and how Hari's murderer's dying words are to trust in the plan. What is going on? For Gaal, who shows how bloody clever she is herself by working out where she is, there's the fear of going to Helicon, Hari's home, as his suspected murderer. And yet... is Hari seemingly right there? What? This is clever, intriguing telly, much though I hope it know's what it's doing with this.

Foundation: The Mathematician's Ghost

 "It's just that you always leave me..."

Time passes. We see nothing of Gaal (though she narrates; we shall see her again)  or Raych, as decades have passed and a tenuous settement is set up on Terminus. Hari Seldon, statues aside, is not in this episode, yet his legend permeates everything.

We begin, though, with a fascinating examination of Cleons I through to XIV, all with Eto Demerzel and all very much knowing what she is. We see the life cycle of an emperor, from an embryo grown in a vat to the final "ascension", a kind of dignified execution. For each birth, there must be a ritualised death. Only three brothers may exist at once.

It's just as fasciniating to see Terminus, its frontier existence with its Encyclopaedia as contrast.There is a mysterious artifact, the Vault, which only Salvor Hardin can approach. Wde get to know Salvor, her active, thinking mind in a society of ossified fatalists who see no need to act as the Seldon Plan will save them. So when Anacreon seems to be invading they know not what to do.

There are so many nice little touches, too... Salvor's lover is pushing seventy but seems half that age from spending decades on "cryo-ships". No one on Terminus now understands the mathematics of Psychohistory; they're acting blind. And it's fascinating to see the dynamic between Salvor and her parents. This is absolutely brilliant.

Foundation: Preparing to Live

 "The more human I act, the more human I am."

Here we begin to branch out from the original novel. There are divergences, the four or five year trip to Terminus beuing the most obvious, a good way of establishing characters and the dynamics amongst the proto-Foundation. Yet there are also elements from later retcons in the novels- I now remember who Raych is, for a start. And it's startling to hear Hari mention the "Robot Wars" and, all the more so, to have it revealed- not only to us but Brother Dawn- that Eto Demerzel is a robot, apparently the only one. Why, then, does the share this knowledge with Dawn?

There is utter horror in this episode. The Cleons, or certainly Dusk, know the two ambassadors and their worlds are innocent... but their entire retinues are judicially killed anyway, by slow, tortuous hanging. And their worlds are bombed to bits. All for the sake of a scapegoat for the satisfaction of the masses. Such is the Empire.

We see the Foundation develop and grow, with Hari Seldon revered. We also see Gaal and Raych grow closer and plan life together, yet Raych and Hari seem to grow apart. And the end is seemingly shocking. With the maths of psychohistory seemingly unfinished, Raych stabs Seldon and forces Gaal into an escape pod, ejecting her into space after, er, telling her he loves her. Why? What happens next?

The dynamics between the three clone emperors are fascinating too. This is superb, deep telly.

Foundation: The Emperor's Peace

 "Oh, it's not a theory. It's the destiny of the human race, expressed in numbers."

You may have noticed I've blogged the original three Foundation novels from the wonderful mind of Isaac Asimov. I've also read the others, plus all linked novels, although admittedly it was some decades ago. But let's say I broadly know how the story pans out in the novels. I shall endeavour to keep these blog posts free of any potential spoilers from the novels.

I've wanted to see this for some time, but wasn't sure whether Apple TV was worth subscribing to as it doesn't look as though there's much else on there I particularly want to see, especially with the lack of archive content. But now I randomly seem to have three free months, so I might as well watch this while I can. It's intriguing; an adaptation of a series of novels that absolutely needs the expansiveness and seriality of TV rather than two hours at the pictures. David S. Goyer is showrunning, so hopes are high.

And rightly so, This is a fairly faithful adaptation of the opening of the first novel. The framing sequence on Terminus features Salvor Hardin. The main flashback to Trantor, perfectly realised, gives us Hari Seldon, Gaal Dornick and Eto Demerzel. There are changes, of course. The novels are a sausage fest, so certain characters need to made female. And the world is fleshed out a little. Gaal's background from an anti-science, religious culture gives her a hinterland. We have the character of Raych. And, intriguing, the empire is ruled by Cleon I... and has been for centuries, with three differently aged  clones at one time, a perfect example of the cultural stasis of a Galactic Empire that no longer grows nor changes. These added bits of depth work well.

This is a superbly made and written piece of television. More please.

I, Robot by Isaac Asimov

I should say, at the start, that this novel, unlike all the other Asimovs so far, isn’t one I’ve ever read before.

This, like the Foundation trilogy, masquerades as a novel but is not, strictly speaking, any such thing. Yet the various short stories are linked together into a kind of narrative by the narrator, with the common themes revolving around Asimov’s famed Three Laws of Robotics.

Yet the whole thing has a kind of coherence, and the short stories are fun to read- revolving, as the do, on the puzzle of how a robot is behaving in a certain way in relation to the Laws.

It’s amusing, of course, to see the course of the twenty-first century as seen from the 1940s. Gender roles are very much as they were. Smoking is ubiquitous. Even in 2052 there are no issues with oil and gas. The “Machines” that control the economy are interesting to contrast with modern computers and AI, and our fears of the Singularity. There is also an annoying and American prejudice in the final story, seeing Europe as old and exhausting. And we end with a dispiriting kind of infantile utopia where the Machines take care of humanity but we have no agency.

For all its flaws, though, and for all its lacking the depth of ideas of Foundation, this is nevertheless an extraordinary novel that develops the idea of the robot in ways that others- including Asimov himself- would go on to push towards bigger and better things.

The Stars, Like Dust by Isaac Asimov

This is, on the surface, a science fiction novel. Spaceships and alien planets abound. There are even little nods towards the fact that this is the same continuity as the Foundation novels,  albeit millennia before those events- things like interstellar travel working the same way, or that psychic musical instrument from Foundation and Empire.

And yet the trappings of science fiction are just that- trappings. This is essentially a spy novel full of clever twists and turns but no mind-boggling science fiction idea. While the plot twists are clever and entertaining, and I enjoyed the novel, Asimov’s limitations here in terms of prose and characterisations loom larger here in the absence of big ideas. This is a fairly good novel but, I fear, not touched with greatness.

Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov

Yes, I got through this bloody quickly, but these novels are so damn readable. Again, the prose and characterisation are basic, but nobody cares when the ideas and the plot twists are so good. Like The Jetsons, too, this is a space-hopping future that is a kind of eternal 1950s but, again, we can allow ourselves a brief amused smile and move on. This is bloody brilliant.

The plot is full of revelation and counter-revelation, with both halves of the novel turning their attention to the mysterious and fascinating Second Foundation, a society of rigorously mathematical psychologists- no Freudian quackery here- who are the guardians of the Seldon Plan, desperate to put things back on track after the Mule ruined everything. Everything here is a game of ten dimensional chess, with the truth hidden beneath many layers. The whole thing is profoundly addictive to read and is the perfect end to the original trilogy.

And it doesn’t matter at all that Asimov can’t write teenage girls or dictators’ mistresses for toffee.

I fear I don’t currently have access to the later Foundation novels. But more Asimov is coming..

Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov

This second novel is not, in a sense, a novel at all, just like it’s predecessor. It is a compilation of a serialised succession of short stories telling a story, and Sotho question of where one Foundation novel ends and another begins is a little arbitrator. Yet there is a certain coherence to this instalment, as the expansion of the Foundation runs up against the remnants of the Galactic Empire.

There are two segments. The first pits the Foundation against the decaying rump empire and is very much Gibbon with spaceships, cleverly using the fact that any emperor will be suspicious of the loyalty of any successful general.

We then more on to the Mule. The ideas here are magnificent- the Seldon Plan being led astray due to a mutant who can control minds, and hints as to the Second Foundation. Yet the oppressive gender roles as depicted mainly via the character of Bayta, and the silly dialogue of the “clown” Magnifico, are a little embarrassing.

None of that means that the ideas here, or the central concept, are anything other than extraordinary. The flaws of prose and characterisation cannot undermine this novel’s greatness.

Foundation by Isaac Asimov

The Michael Moorcock marathon is briefly interrupted by an unexpected change in my circumstances (nothing to worry about), so I’ve managed to squeeze in this short and extremely readable old favourite.

This isn’t so much a novel as a rather obviously serialised sequence of linked short stories. The prose is basic and functional. There are few women in it. This far future, to the reader of today, quite obviously has the mores of the mid twentieth century, with everybody smoking and no women in professional positions. Characterisation is no less functional than the prose.

Yet this is quite possibly the greatest science fiction novel of all time, and a real joy to read.

This is a novel of big ideas. Tens of millennia in the future, humanity has spread throughout the Galaxy, and comprises a Galactic Empire. Yet this empire, in terms Gibbon May recognise, is falling, slowly but inevitably. But one Hari Seldon, mathematician and “psycho historian” plans a Foundation on an obscure planet which will slowly grow in power, shortening the Dark Ages to come. And he does this via a mathematical science of predicting future historical trends, on the basis that, given sufficiently large populations of people, individual foibles cancel out.

It’s a superb central idea, and seeing how Terminus progresses over its first few centuries of Seldon Crises is utterly gripping. Who cares about prose and characterisation when the ideas are this good.