Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!
This is it! Isaac Asimov’s Foundation will finally make it to visual media. After the rights passing through a few hands, they’ve finally made their way to HBO. Check out the entire article at The Wrap where Jonah Nolan talks about the new project. I’ll definitely keeping tabs on the development. No dates were given, so I’ll try to hold back most of my excitement until I hear more.
First things first, the Hollywood movie I, Robot (also reviewed) with Will Smith has only has a few things in common with this book of short stories. Keep in mind that the NAME was licensed to the movie studio after the script was already written. Scenes were adjusted to include the Three Laws, Susan Calvin, and Alfred Lanning. That is about where the similarities between the book and the movie end. There might be a few concepts stripped from some of the stories, but by no means is the film “based” on the book. To give the movie makers credit, they only say “inspired” by in the opening.
I, Robot is a collection of short stories by Isaac Asimov. Keep in mind these stories were mainly written in the 1940s then published together in 1950. These stories describe the basics of the Three Laws of Robotics and what can go wrong with them. Asimov uses the Three Laws as a literary device to create puzzling situations. Several of these stories involve Susan Calvin, the top robo-psychologist for the only robot manufacturing company, US Robots and Mechanical Men, Inc. If anyone is interested in reading the Robot Novel series, this book kind of acts as a nice introduction to the basic concepts. As a matter of fact, anyone with any interest in Sci-Fi should read this book. I consider it required reading.
I’m not a big fan of rehashing old game shows, but I will have to make an exception very soon. Deal or No Deal will be having a Star Wars theme on Monday April 28th at 8PM Eastern Time. The highlight for me will be the dozens of models in Slave Leia outfits. Hopefully my wife will understand when I tell her this episode can’t be missed. Aside from the Slave Leia outfits, Darth Vader will be the banker and Chewbacca and R2D2 are supposed to show up some time as well. Carrie Fisher (the original Leia) will even play some type of role. I think that Lucas is trying to drum up some more PR in preparation of the new Clone Wars series and theater premier. Found via TVGuide
This news story reminded me of a website I ran across a few years back. If dozens of models on TV in Slave Leia costumes isn’t enough for you, head over to the Leia’s Metal Bikini homepage. The link has some PG-13 pictures, nothing you wouldn’t be able to see on broadcast TV. There are links to plans for making the costume or even ordering it pre-made. Off of the video page I noticed the Slave Leia girls had a massive photo shoot at Star Wars Celebration IV last year. How did I miss this? Check out the video at GameTrailers.
—edit—
Well, the episode aired and I noticed the folks at Collider updated their post with video from the episode. Head over there and check it out.
At this point if you have not read both The Caves of Steel and The Naked Sun, this review will contain plot spoilers for those novels. I highly suggest reading both of those before even reading this review.
The Robots of Dawn takes place 2 years after the events in The Naked Sun. At the conclusion of The Naked Sun Elijah Baley is resolved to push Earth toward space expansion. He must face the open spaces of Earth and encourage others so they can prepare for colonization. His goal is to approach Aurora, the most powerful Spacer planet to petition for approval for expansion. The Outer Worlds have cut off Earth from immigrating to them, so the only solution is to expand to new worlds. This essentially was the goal Dr. Han Falstofe spoke of in The Caves of Steel. The long-lived Spacers haven’t colonized a planet in over two centuries, and according to Falstofe the future of colonization must lie with Earthers. (more…)