59 Fun Facts About Asimov's Foundation Series

In 2018 a copy of the Foundation trilogy was launched into orbit around the Sun by which company?

SpaceX sent it up on the first Falcon Heavy, stored on a quartz disc inside the Tesla Roadster that rode as the test payload; the disc was meant as the first volume of a library in space.

Seldon's psychohistory can forecast the behaviour of what?

Large populations are all it can handle: the mathematics treats people in the mass, by statistics, so one unforeseeable individual, the Mule, later throws the whole Plan off course.

A Foundation mayor keeps a motto on his office wall that calls violence the last refuge of whom?

The incompetent: the mayor lives by it, outwitting armed neighbours rather than fighting them, and decades later a young rival sneers at the line as 'an old man's doctrine'.

According to Seldon's calculations, how long would the dark age after the Empire's fall last if nothing were done?

30,000 years of barbarism is what his mathematics foresees; he cannot stop the Empire falling, only shorten the dark age, and for saying so he is tried and exiled to the galaxy's edge.

In which magazine were the original Foundation stories published between 1942 and 1950?

Astounding Science-Fiction ran the saga as eight separate stories from 1942; when the first four became a book in 1951, Asimov had to write a new opening section to set them up.

Which historical work did Asimov say inspired the premise of the Foundation series?

Gibbon's Decline and Fall. Asimov had read it twice and, by his own account, set off to pitch a story with no plot in mind, then free-associated from a picture of a soldier to Rome's fall and on to a galaxy's.

Gnome Press, the small firm that first issued the Foundation trilogy as books, had a year earlier published which other Asimov classic?

I, Robot. Gnome sold so few copies, and paid so rarely, that Asimov said the trilogy earned him almost nothing until a horrified Doubleday editor pried the rights away.

What special one-off Hugo Award did the Foundation trilogy win in 1966?

Best All-Time Series. Asimov, the toastmaster at that year's ceremony, was so sure another nominee would win that he had decided the nomination would have to be glory enough.

Which writer of Batman's Dark Knight trilogy went on to create the Foundation television series?

David S. Goyer. He sold the series in one line, as a thousand-year chess game between Hari Seldon and the Empire in which a pawn that crosses the board can become a queen.

On which remote planet is the Encyclopedia Foundation established after Seldon's exile?

Terminus. Seldon had steered his own trial towards this sentence: he wanted his scholars sent to the empty edge of the galaxy, and let the court believe the idea was its own.

In the Foundation series, what is the Galactic Empire's capital world, an entire planet covered in city?

Trantor. After the Great Sack the planet-wide city is stripped for scrap metal and its survivors turn to farming, while the Second Foundation hides among the ruins all along.

Which body puts Seldon on trial in 'The Psychohistorians' and offers him exile rather than martyrdom?

The Commission of Public Safety. This clique of aristocrats, not the emperor, really runs the Empire, which is why its chief, Linge Chen, judges in person the man predicting its fall.

Who, as the Foundation's first Mayor, seizes power from the Encyclopedia's Board and plays the neighbouring kingdoms against each other?

Salvor Hardin. He strikes on the day Seldon's recording appears and proves him right: the great Encyclopedia, it admits, was a fraud, a task to keep the scholars busy until they could not turn back.

Which is the strongest of the four kingdoms neighbouring the Foundation in the early stories?

Anacreon. Its regent Wienis sends a salvaged Imperial battlecruiser against the Foundation, not knowing that the engineers who repaired it for him had built in a remote off switch.

In 'The Mayors', how does the early Foundation keep the four neighbouring kingdoms in line?

With a religion of science. Priests trained by the Foundation tend the kingdoms' nuclear plants as holy mysteries, so a curse from the pulpit can black out a planet or stop a warship dead.

In 'The Traders', Limmar Ponyets frees a colleague on Askone by selling a crude device that does what?

Turns iron into gold. Ponyets hides a recorder inside the machine, catches the buyer using a device that is a capital crime on his own planet, and blackmails him with the pictures.

Which Master Trader investigates the Republic of Korell, is tried for handing a 'missionary' to a mob, and ends up as Mayor?

Hober Mallow. He proves the 'missionary' was a Korellian secret policeman, then wins the war without a battle, simply by cutting off the Foundation gadgets Korell has come to depend on.

Which Imperial general in Foundation and Empire declares war on the Foundation, only to be recalled and executed by his own emperor?

Bel Riose. Asimov modelled him on Belisarius, the Byzantine general, and gave him the same trap: he is winning his war when that very success makes his emperor pull him home.

In Prelude to Foundation, which historian is recruited to protect the fugitive Seldon and later becomes his wife?

Dors Venabili. Sent to keep him alive on the run, she stays for decades as his wife and protector, and only at the very end is she revealed to be a robot.

What is the Mule, the conqueror who overthrows the Foundation in Foundation and Empire?

An emotion-bending mutant. He takes whole worlds without a fight by turning their defenders' loyalty to himself, and his fiercest opponents end up as his most devoted officers.

For most of Foundation and Empire, the Mule travels unrecognised with the heroes in what disguise?

A runaway court clown. As the timid Magnifico he claims to be fleeing the Mule's own service, so the heroes spend the whole journey protecting the very man they are running from.

Who kills the psychologist Ebling Mis moments before he can reveal the Second Foundation's location to the Mule?

Bayta Darell. She has just realised that their timid travelling companion is the Mule himself, so shooting the dying Mis is the only way left to keep the secret from him.

In the early Foundation stories, where does a recording of Seldon appear at each crisis to explain what has just happened?

The Time Vault. Its record is perfect until the Mule invades: that day the recording calmly describes a civil war that never came, and its listeners realise the plan has gone wrong.

In Second Foundation, which planet does the Mule's fleet lay waste, wrongly believing it the Second Foundation's home?

Tazenda. His agent is drawn there because the name sounds like 'Star's End', Seldon's clue to the hiding place, which is exactly the mistake the real Second Foundation wanted him to make.

What title is held by the leader of the Second Foundation's ruling council of mentalics?

First Speaker. The Second Foundation counts itself a society of equals, so the title promises nothing grand: its holder's one official privilege is that, at council, he speaks first.

Which teenage girl follows Homir Munn to Kalgan and later escapes with the trader Preem Palver in Second Foundation?

Arcadia Darell. She believes she has outwitted everyone, but the Second Foundation had adjusted her mind when she was a baby, and the kindly trader who rescues her is its leader.

Which 1982 novel, written after a 30-year gap under pressure from fans and publishers, became Asimov's first New York Times bestseller?

Foundation's Edge. Asimov had dodged a sequel for decades, until a Doubleday editor simply told him he was signing a contract, with an advance so far beyond his usual that he protested.

Which Foundation councilman is sent out by Mayor Harla Branno to search for the Second Foundation in Foundation's Edge?

Golan Trevize. Branno arrests him for treason for voicing a belief she secretly shares, then sends him out as her 'lightning rod', bait to draw the hidden enemy's fire away from her.

What is Gaia, the world discovered in the Sayshell Sector in Foundation's Edge?

A planet-wide group consciousness. Every person, animal and even rock on Gaia shares one mind, and it means to keep growing until the whole galaxy thinks together as 'Galaxia'.

At the end of Foundation's Edge, why does its hero say he chose Gaia over both Foundations?

It alone could later be reversed. Galaxia would take centuries to build, while either Foundation's victory would be final at once; still unsure, he sets off to find Earth and test his choice.

In the novels and the TV series alike, what holds the equations of the Seldon Plan?

The Prime Radiant. In the novels the plan it holds is never finished: each member of the Second Foundation's council earns a seat by adding refinements, in red beside Seldon's black.

On Solaria in Foundation and Earth, the travellers rescue which child, whom the Solarians would otherwise execute?

Fallom. Bliss kills the child's parent by accident while shielding the crew, and on Solaria, a world of hermaphrodite hermits, a child orphaned too young to inherit is simply surplus, so they take Fallom along.

Whom do the travellers finally find waiting on the Moon at the end of Foundation and Earth?

R. Daneel Olivaw. The robot has been quietly steering humanity since long before the Empire existed, and admits that Gaia and psychohistory itself were both his doing.

In Foundation and Earth, what condition do the travellers find Earth in when they finally reach it?

Highly radioactive and lifeless. Efforts to restore its soil had long been abandoned, and its last people were moved to an island on an ocean world of Alpha Centauri, where the travellers meet their descendants.

In Prelude to Foundation, which emperor is on the throne when Seldon presents his first paper on psychohistory?

Cleon I. He wants the young mathematician's predictions to steady his throne and later makes him First Minister, only to be shot dead by a palace gardener desperate to avoid a promotion.

In Prelude to Foundation, the reporter Chetter Hummin turns out to be the same person as which powerful figure?

Eto Demerzel. The minister Hummin himself calls the Emperor's 'brain' and 'evil spirit' has been Seldon's protector all along, and Seldon then makes him admit a second secret: he is a robot.

Which street child from the Dahl sector does Seldon adopt in Prelude to Foundation?

Raych. Once grown he goes undercover for his foster father, feeding a would-be usurper a planted 'secret' about the Emperor's chief minister that leaves the schemer publicly ruined.

Which Foundation novel, the last Asimov wrote, was published in 1993, a year after his death?

Forward the Foundation. It follows Seldon into old age as he loses those closest to him one by one, yet he still sets his great Plan in motion before he dies.

After Gregory Benford and Greg Bear, which author wrote the third book of the authorised Second Foundation Trilogy?

David Brin. Asimov's widow and his estate first asked Benford for a single new Foundation novel; he agreed, then proposed that Bear and Brin each add one to make it a trilogy.

Which economics Nobel laureate credits the Foundation series with turning his mind to economics as the closest thing to psychohistory?

Paul Krugman. 'I grew up wanting to be Hari Seldon,' he wrote, saving civilisation through the mathematics of human behaviour, and he admits economics turned out 'a pretty poor substitute'.

Which classic did critic Tim O'Reilly read as an answer to Foundation with 'the Mule, not the Foundation' as its hero?

Dune. Frank Herbert kept Asimov's crumbling galactic empire but reversed the moral: his far-sighted planners are the ones overturned, by the single gifted individual they failed to control.

Which hard rock band's 1971 song 'The Mule', from the album Fireball, was inspired by the Foundation character?

Deep Purple. Singer Ian Gillan confirmed the link, saying Asimov 'was required reading in the 60's', and on stage the song became the launch pad for Ian Paice's long drum solo.

On which streaming service did the Foundation television series premiere in September 2021?

Apple TV+. Several earlier film and TV projects had collapsed, and the saga was long called unfilmable because it weaves so many plotlines across so many centuries.

Which actor plays Hari Seldon in the 2021 television adaptation of Foundation?

Jared Harris. His Seldon is killed in the second episode, yet goes on steering the Foundation for generations from beyond the grave.

In the Foundation TV series, the three clone emperors who rule together are each called 'Brother' plus which names?

Dawn, Day and Dusk. All three are copies of one long-dead emperor at different ages, so as each clone grows old a fresh one is grown to replace him and the same man never leaves the throne.

In the TV series, Gaal Dornick comes from Synnax, a planet where what is considered heresy?

The pursuit of knowledge. Her people reject science even as the seas rise around them, so Gaal teaches herself mathematics in secret and wins her way off-world through a contest.

In the first Foundation novel, Seldon's prophecies of doom have earned him which bird's name as a nickname?

Raven. Young Gaal first hears of 'Raven Seldon' from a friendly stranger on an observation tower, who turns out to be a government agent sent to follow him.

With which magazine editor did Asimov work out psychohistory and the fall of the Galactic Empire?

John W. Campbell. He shaped the saga to the end: when a bored Asimov tried to write a finale, Campbell refused it and insisted the story be left open for more.

Which comic novelist borrowed Asimov's Encyclopedia Galactica and mocked it as an 'older, more pedestrian work'?

Douglas Adams. His Hitchhiker's Guide claims two advantages over the great encyclopedia: it is slightly cheaper, and it has DON'T PANIC in large friendly letters on its cover.

Which director of disaster epics did Columbia Pictures attach in 2009 to a Foundation film that was never made?

Roland Emmerich. Sony had won a multi-studio auction for the rights, yet the film never materialised, and when the property came free HBO bought it for a series that went unmade as well.

In which country is Troy Studios, the base where the Foundation television series was filmed?

Ireland. Troy Studios in Limerick was home base, though the pandemic shut the shoot down for months and other scenes were filmed in Iceland and the Canary Islands.

Which home planet does the young Hari Seldon leave to present his first paper on psychohistory?

Helicon. It is noted for its martial arts rather than its mathematics, so the thugs sent to rough up the visiting scholar are startled when he fights them off.

The Visi-Sonor, the image-casting instrument of Foundation and Empire, inspired the 'holophonor' of which animated series?

Futurama. Its executive producer credited Asimov's instrument on a DVD commentary; in the cartoon Fry takes up the notoriously complex holophonor in the hope of winning Leela's heart.

Where was Asimov employed when he wrote the Foundation story 'The Mule' in 1945?

A Navy shipyard. He broke off his doctorate to work as a civilian chemist at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, and wrote the story in his West Philadelphia flat.

New Line's failed Foundation film development helped push it toward which franchise?

The Lord of the Rings. New Line's two bosses spent $1.5 million on a Foundation script, gave up and backed Peter Jackson's trilogy instead; ten years later the same pair signed on to try Asimov again.

Which Marvel hero revealed during the Civil War storyline that reading Foundation led him to invent his own psychohistory?

Reed Richards. Mister Fantastic explains that the equations he built after reading Asimov are why he backs the Superhuman Registration Act, a stand that costs him friends and allies.

Which US House Speaker wrote that Asimov's Foundation trilogy had shaped his view of the future?

Newt Gingrich. In To Renew America he called the 'psychohistorian' Hari Seldon Asimov's most exhilarating invention; the House historian he fired later argued that his master plan for America came from those novels.

Which Fawlty Towers actress voiced Lady Callia in the BBC's 1973 radio serial of the Foundation trilogy?

Prunella Scales. Two years before she became Sybil Fawlty she played a warlord's flighty mistress, who is revealed at the last moment to be a shrewd Second Foundation agent.

Inspired by Hari Seldon, which psychologist tried to forecast American elections from the optimism in candidates' speeches?

Martin Seligman. With his student Harold Zullow he scored candidates' speeches for optimism before the 1988 elections, claimed to have called the results, and wrote that Hari Seldon would have been proud.