Science-fiction movies from the 1950's and science-fiction novels from the 1950's are wildly different. You can't judge the writing by the movies, much as I love both. There's quite a bit of excellent science fiction from the 1930's to the 1950's which holds up quite well.The novel was written in 1951. Maybe it was true to the novel?Foundation on Apple TV+.
The Hubble constant was discovered in 1929. Though measurement of galaxies was quite inaccurate in early years, certainly through much of the 1950s, I suppose they (and hopefully Asimov) would have been able to roughly figure all of what you discussed above by 1951.
That said, I don't think that much sci-fi in that era was concerned with scientific facts. My recollection is that most of it was written for teenage boys (thus all the ditzy, scantily-clad heroines in the 50s movies).
I never read The Foundation. Largely because, though it was iconic, I have been told by many that, like most pre-1960s sci-fi, it did not hold up to time. I have been tempted to read it for its historical significance but was always more tempted to read other things.
Based on your review of the TV series, I probably won't watch that either.
Thanks.
P.S.....don't watch Disclaimer. It's stupid. I gave up midstream, though I did learn what a "poppet" is in British slang, so I suppose it wasn't a total waste.
Silo is still good in S2, though not as good (imho) as S1. I am still interested enough to watch S3 when it comes out. The character "Solo" was pretty annoying. The subplot surrounding him meandered and didn't go anywhere very interesting.
I'm looking forward to Severance S2 when it debuts on the 17th.
(All of the above on Apple +)
The Foundation series was mainly published during WWII as a series of stories in Astounding. The last part was done in the late 1940's. Asimov at the time was a terrible writer. Wooden. Far too influenced by Campbell's nuttier ideas. Asimov eventually became a pretty good writer ("The Gods Themselves" may be his best novel) but not in the 40's.
Statistics: Posted by littlerfish — Mon Jan 13, 2025 5:53 pm — Replies 6776 — Views 865167