The Foundation Trilogy (Dramatized)

By: Isaac Asimov, Patrick Tull - adaptation, Mike Stott - adaptation

Narrated by: Geoffrey Beevers, Lee Montague, Julian Glover, Dinsdale Landon, Maurice Denham, Angela Pleasence, Prunella Scales

The opening episode begins on Trantor, capital of the Galactic Empire, with the meeting of Seldon and Dornick, their trial, and their exile to Terminus. The action then jumps forward 50 years, to the first Seldon Crisis, where the repercussions of the recent independence of the Four Kingdoms of the Periphery are being felt on Terminus, and are handled by the first Mayor, Salvor Hardin. The scene then moves forward a further 20 years, as Mayor Hardin faces down the domination of the nearby and most powerful Kingdom, Anacreon.

The Merchant Princes
One-hundred-fifty years after the Foundation was established, the now powerful trading nation faces its greatest threat to date, guided by master trader Hober Mallow.

The General
Two hundred years after its creation, the Foundation battles Bel Riose, the last powerful General of the dying Galactic Empire.

The Mule
A further hundred years have passed, and the Foundation is challenged by an unexpected threat named The Mule.

Flight from the Mule
During the war against The Mule, with things going badly for the Foundation, some key figures under the leadership of the Foundation's greatest scientist, Ebling Mis, flee Terminus in search of the Second Foundation, to warn it of the danger from The Mule.

The Mule Finds
The Mule attempts to find and overthrow the Second Foundation.

Star's End
Sixty years later, and a teenage girl is at the center of the Foundation's renewed search for the Second Foundation.

Changes from the written Trilogy: The conflict between The Foundation and Anacreon takes place 70 years into the Foundation era; in the novels it occurs at 80 F.E. A small segment in Foundation titled "Traders" has been removed entirely. General editing for time has been done throughout. A large, rather comedic section on farming on Rossem has been added to "The Mule Finds".

Please note: This is an historical broadcast recording, produced by the BBC in 1973. The audio quality represents the technology of the time when it was produced.

©2011 ABN (P)2011 ABN

Performace Great/Audio not so

I am a great fan of Asimov's Robot & Foundation series, I've read all of the books and want to listen to all of them also. My problem with this dramatization wasn't the performance, but the lack of audio editing. The voices were fine, however the sounds effects were so loud compared to the vocals that it actually hurt my ears.

Sounds like a broken AM radio

This may or may not be a good dramatization of the Asimov classic. The sound quality is so bad that I gave up trying to listen. It's a shame since the BBC generally does a good job,

Save yourself time and just watch old Dr Who.

I consume books, usually about 2 per week. This took me weeks. dry, boring, too much theremin. I thought it would go fast because you're basically listening to a radio broadcast. but it didn't.
There's very little intrigue. very little science fiction. The "plot" is obvious in the first few paragraphs.
seriously, just go watch old BnW Doctor Who. it's better than this by leagues.

From 1973, Decidedly Lo Fi

The audio quality is a bit sketchy due to the technology available. This recording also contains painfully loud, weird electronic noises as “ bumpers” between scenes - unfortunately the only part of the recording that is very clear and audible. On the plus side, it’s only $2 something?

A great story, with an appropriate style, but with horrible volume levels.

First, this is by Isaac Asimov, so the story is brilliant. Second, it was first released in the early seventies and it was produced in the sci-fi radio style of the fifties and sixties, so the voice acting and theremin-like music/effects are appropriate (if you don't know, you'll find it jarring). Unfortunately, the volume levels were very low and uneven. I played it at full volume, with an earpiece, but if there wasn't complete silence, I might miss several lines.

The price was low and I like the old timey style, so I put up with the awful volume levels. Listen to the sample, and know what you're getting into.

I enjoyed it, but...

The audio quality, when wired in or casted through Bluetooth, was very poor. The voice actors voices are annoyingly under modulated, all but unintelligible when the music and sound fx started playing.
I kept having to turn the volume up and down or adjust the sound tone on the radio or rewind cause I couldn't hear the dialog.
I'm a truck driver, so having to fool around with the sound options on the radio while driving is not an option. The only time I could listen to it is when I was home, sounds good on my tablet.

So, Overall - 3 stars, Performance - 3 stars - I liked the dialog, just wish they would have balanced it out along with the sfx, Story - 5 Can't go wrong with listening to anything from Asimov.

A Guilty Pleasure

If you haven't already read Asimov's "Foundation" trilogy, I highly recommend skipping this program and doing so. If you are already familiar with these novels, however, and perhaps have some nostalgia for the pleasure they gave you, this program is a decent way of bringing back good memories. If you are a fan of "Old Time Radio" as well, and do not mind the unimaginative electronic music used to transition between scenes or stories, I think you'll really enjoy this program.
The script is excellent, aided by the fact that these "novels" consist of several short stories and novellas. Very little feels missing, and the "retro" quality of Asimov's writing is not slicked over as a script doctor might feel compelled to do. There are a few dramatic climaxes that never occurred, such as the end of "The Encyclopedists" and in the middle of "The Mule," when the producers are reluctant to interrupt Hari Seldon's speech even though a panic and a riot are supposed to be taking place.

great story, but it ages terribly

only reason I listened to the whole thing was the interesting take on the dramatization. it's acting is too much tho.

It really is bad.

Amazing story, but it could be unlistenable, depending on how you can listen. If you want to try, use some headphones. Having it played aloud didn't really work because of the insane range of volumes. But noise-canceling headphones let me hear the quiet voices well enough while keeping the volume low, so that I wasn't blasted by the loud parts.

And the voice actors did a good job, I think. So there's at least that.

Sci Fi Noise Album (with some spoken interludes)

It's a shame that the sound effects were so bad they ruined this for me. The noises were loud, constant and almost always completely unrelated to anything going on in the plot. The most dystopic thing about the vision of the future presented isn't the warfare or collapse of civilization, it's the inexplicable proliferation of jarring sci fi noises that have apparently pervaded every aspect of daily life and interrupt every conversation.

This was the typical pattern: quiet discussion about space politics between two English gentlemen...RANDOM SPACE SYNTHESIZERS!!!!...further quiet discussion of space politics. You need to be extremely vigilant when listening to this: at the volume needed to follow the dialogue, you are constantly at risk of a sudden interlude permanently damaging your hearing.

I have no idea what the producer was thinking (possibly the levels just got screwed up in this version), but I have to imagine it was something like the SNL sketch where Christopher Walken keeps asking for more cowbell.