Drabblecast 200 - The Last Question

[strawman]

Feature: The Last Question by Isaac Asimov





Friday, March 25, 2011
It all had a beginning in the original cosmic explosion, whatever that was, and it'll all have an end when all the stars run down. The sun will last twenty billion years and maybe the dwarfs will last a hundred billion for all the good they are. But just give us a trillion years and everything will be dark. Entropy has to increase to maximum, that's all...

The Dunesteef
Ray Sizemore
Mike Boris
Frank Key & The Hootingyard
Escapepod
Cheyenne Wright
Phil Rossi
Mur Lafferty

Winners of 2010 People's Choice Awards!
Best Story: Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette
Best Drabble: Chris Munroe
Best Art: Lizanne Herd

Music by Norm Sherman, Gringo Motel, Clint Mansell
Special Closing Music by 19 Action News

Art by Adam Doyle, Lizanne Herd, Jan Dennison, Broken Cyborg, Aimee Leonard, Skeet Scienski, and Josh Hugo

[thatbaldguy]

Every episode of The Drabblecast is awesome. But this one, #200, is even more awesomer because "The Last Question" was so influential -- formative, even -- for me personally.

I first read it when I was, what? 10, 11 years old? And I pretty much chose my career and started forming my ontological worldview on the spot.

Thanks Norm!

[ROU Killing Time]

I always thought this was a very interesting piece to come from a leading secular humanist and avowed atheist.

Perhaps one of the points he's making is that ones man's God is another man's natural process?

(I've found the argument to be pretty much one of semantics, myself...)

[tbaker2500]

Wow, 200 episodes. I started listening around ep 8 or 9 I think, right after Steve Ely mentioned you. Hearing that scratchy intro with the bad, tinny mic- I always imagined you sitting in front of a laptop mic, with a boombox next to you playing track 4 on your CD. When you wanted it to fade out, your turned the volume down. I also imagined it in sepia tones.

I had read a lot of fiction, but nothing as punchy and weird as you were blatantly unafraid to be. I remember giving a CD of ep 25, "Worm Within" to my college freshman niece. I remember, later, listening to my voice mail, and hearing my beloved niece shout "Thanks a LOT!!" in a somewhat unsettled tone. Ah, good times.

But I don't think I could've predicted the community which grew up in the forums. The raw talent being slung around on a daily basis is shocking. Pretty soon the forums will have 1,000 members. Take out all the spam bots, and that's like 30 people! Quite a following.

I was nothing but pleased with the collection of voice actors you gathered for this story. That combined with a great story and fantastic production make this one hell of a 200th episode.

Great job, weirdo.

[ROU Killing Time]

Oh yeah, right.

What Tom said bout episode 200. (but more eloquently)

Uh, grats and stuff...

[ElectricPaladin]

You win, Sherman. You win. I've resisted joining the Drabblecast forums (for no real reason, mind you - just sheer laziness) for years now. And now... this.

This story sent shivers up my spine. It gave me a fierce smile - I love it when mankind takes natural laws like entropy and punches them in the face. Entropy is stupid, anyway. When I was a kid, my dad used to tell me slightly simplified versions of Aasimov short stories at bedtime, and this one was always one of my favorites.

Story aside, the production blew me away. Wow. Just... wow. I had to brush the dust off my account and say hi. And thanks.

So, I guess I'm new here. I'll be around.

[ROU Killing Time]

You win, Sherman. You win. I've resisted joining the Drabblecast forums (for no real reason, mind you - just sheer laziness) for years now. And now... this.

This story sent shivers up my spine. It gave me a fierce smile - I love it when mankind takes natural laws like entropy and punches them in the face. Entropy is stupid, anyway. When I was a kid, my dad used to tell me slightly simplified versions of Aasimov short stories at bedtime, and this one was always one of my favorites.

Story aside, the production blew me away. Wow. Just... wow. I had to brush the dust off my account and say hi. And thanks.

So, I guess I'm new here. I'll be around.

Welcome to the forums. New here, but clearly not new to the drabblecast.

Another old friend stopping by to say, "Hi."

[alhilton]

I just listened. I had never read/heard the story before, and wow! Gave me chills. A great selection, perfectly executed.

You've come a long way since the possessed dog, Norm...although I think possessed dogs still fit on the podcast. What you've created with Drabblecast is uniquely brilliant, and I hope you're still doing it another 200 episodes from now.

[tbaker2500]

...and I hope you're still doing it another 200 episodes from now.

Abbie! Don't depress him like that. The only way we keep him going is by saying "Just one more episode, then you're done. Just one more!" each week. We give him a day or two to forget about how hard it is, then coax another episode out of him.

[alhilton]

The only way we keep him going is by saying "Just one more episode, then you're done. Just one more!" each week. We give him a day or two to forget about how hard it is, then coax another episode out of him.

Aw, you're probably right.

At least 201, Norm. You can do it! ...Or I'll start forwarding you Silveo's fan mail. And you really don't want that. Really.

[tbaker2500]

[At least 201, Norm. You can do it! ...Or I'll start forwarding you Silveo's fan mail. And you really don't want that. Really.

Wow he heard you already, and he's already done 201! Wow.
Betcha ya can't make it to 202!

[ROU Killing Time]

...and I hope you're still doing it another 200 episodes from now.

Abbie! Don't depress him like that. The only way we keep him going is by saying "Just one more episode, then you're done. Just one more!" each week. We give him a day or two to forget about how hard it is, then coax another episode out of him.

Did Isaac Asimov let thoughts of Opus 200 slow him down? Nay, I say.

Here's looking forward to the Drabblecast Episode #500 Extravaganza, wherein Norm causes a worldwide panic due to the incredible production values and believability of his own take on "War of the Worlds..."

[FAIL:SAFE]

Yes yes yes! I love this story and this was one of the best productions to date.

mighty Mur being the voices of the ACs made me geek out, all the art work was exceptional, the score was exquisite and the whole thing left me tingling.

I always felt that Clarke's 9 billion names of god was a great companion piece for this story- so maybe for episode 300?

Great news about more from the mongoose-verse.

F:S

[Granite State]

Great job on ep 200. I realized I may be giving my children a warped view of the world when, while listening to the episode in the car, my 11 year old spontaneously fist-pumped and said "yeah!" when Norm announced that Steve Ely was doing one of the voices.

[emily]

*in awe*

[Praxis]

Mur Lafferty's destiny as a nearing god-like super computational entity.....

Seems obvious now.

The episode was great. I'm jealous of anyone who hadn't read the story before and gets to experience it for the first time in this form.

Congrats, Norm.
Like the others have said, "just one more week and you're done."

[GSV What Gravitas?]

I think I have a new competitor for the top spot in my short fiction favourites list. My reading list has been woefully short on Asimov up until now.

Getting home late and exhausted and hearing the intro to this one made me all teary eyed. I felt warm and mushy, Norm. Warm And Mushy. A whole bunch of my favourite podcasters all in one story. I shall continue working on the assumption that you all live in a special little bubble together, skipping gleefully hand-in-hand across the plains of transdimensional terror, cranking out top notch podcasts like messages in bottles set to wash up and make the shores of reality that bit more interesting. Or something.

I have to say, should I happen to be around at the heat death of the universe, my final words before I merge with the group mind AI remnants of the human race will be;

"At least these last words spoken in the universe will come to a nice round hundred characters. Goodnight Drabbleverse!"

[Mr. Tweedy]

I was actually feeling a bit disappointed when I read this story in preparation for the artwork. It seemed dry and old to me. But hearing the superb production made it come alive in a way I was not at all expecting. The music, the voice acting, the timing of the delivery of the narration, everything came together to make the story seem so much more animated.

You took a story I thought was meh and made it awesome. That's awesome.

[Phenopath]

Congratulations Norm. Thanks for all of your hard work.

[Kevin Anderson]

200 episodes. It's hard to believe. I started listening about episode 10, and its been amazing to see how it has spread. Like an infection, but in a good way.

Podcasts come and go, but the Drabblecast keeps on twitching. Viva la Drabblecast!