The Foundation Trilogy (BBC Radio)

Last updated

The Foundation Trilogy
Genre Radio audiobook
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Language(s)English
Home station BBC Radio 4
Hosted by Patrick Tull (1-4)
Mike Scott (5-8)
Directed by David Cain
Original release6 May (1973-05-06) 
24 June 1973 (1973-06-24)
No. of episodes8

Isaac Asimov's The Foundation Trilogy was adapted for the BBC Radio 4 in eight hour-long episodes by Patrick Tull (episodes 1 to 4) and Mike Stott (episodes 5 to 8), directed by David Cain, first broadcast in 1973, and repeated in 1977 and 2002.

Contents

Episodes

Originally broadcast in 8 parts, between 6 May and 24 June 1973.

1: Psychohistory and Encyclopedia

The opening episode begins on Trantor, capital of the Galactic Empire, with the meeting of Hari Seldon and Gaal Dornick, their trial, and their exile to Terminus. The action then jumps forward fifty 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.

2: The Mayors

The scene moves forward a further twenty years, as Mayor Hardin faces down the domination of the nearby and most powerful of the Four Kingdoms, Anacreon, whose ruler intends to annex the Foundation by force.

3: The Merchant Princes

A hundred and fifty years after the Foundation was established, the now powerful trading nation, guided by master trader Hober Mallow, faces its greatest threat to date.

4: The General

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

5: The Mule

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

6: 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.

7: The Mule Finds

The Mule attempts to find and overthrow the Second Foundation.

8: Star's End

Sixty years later a teenage girl is at the centre of the Foundation's renewed search for the Second Foundation.

Changes from the novels

Cast

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