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

Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

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

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.

mediocre performance of one of the great stories.

Audio quality was poor. Muffled dialog. Difficult to understand what was being said. Disappointed with this item.

Great story! Production value is lacking.

Review. Foundation

This is a radio drama. So if you are looking for a reading of the story that is not this.

The content is strong. Asimov is not a master of the craft for nothing. In fact i had not read the trilogy through before, and very much enjoyed it.

However the audio engineering really diminished my enjoyment of the content. Specifically:

The voice actors sound like they are in a large room. Also the volume of the voices goes from very loud to very soft. It required regular tweaking of the volume knob. Overall the voice volume is set very low and required me to use an amplified speaker to really hear it.

In contrast, the sound effects and section break music is tremendously loud. This was very frustrating.

great story, bad rendition

the sound effects in this book kill it. the story is good. the dramatization is over the top.

Quality

Love the book, the quality of the recording unfortunately destroys any fun in listning to it.

Great story, bad mix

One of the great sci-fi stories. I remember hearing this adaptation decades ago. This mix is awful: muffled voices and BBC Radiophonic Workshop sounds at WAY too high levels. Fix the mix and this will be much better.

Great production

What made the experience of listening to The Foundation Trilogy (Dramatized) the most enjoyable?

I really like the feel of it being a production with different readers and sound effects.

If you’ve listened to books by the authors before, how does this one compare?

I haven't.

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

It is fun to listen to different people reading various parts. They were all excellent.

Too many sound effects

What would have made The Foundation Trilogy (Dramatized) better?

Good story, although the performance lets it down. There are too many sound effects and the volume differs greatly.

Good story, bad production

Of course the story was wonderful by the great Assimof. The production was horrible. too nonsense special effects sounds at ear peircing tones.