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A terrorist attack on a space elevator happens to figure in the first episode of the TV series Foundation. https://foundation.fandom.com/wiki/Bombing_of_the_St

by Jolter 1y ago

A terrorist attack on a space elevator happens to figure in the first episode of the TV series Foundation. https://foundation.fandom.com/wiki/Bombing_of_the_Star_Bridge https://foundation.fandom.com/wiki/Bombing_of_the_Star_Bridg... It’s about as devastating as you would expect.

lproven 1y ago
That's odd. The first episode was the only one I watched and I don't remember that bit. It might have grabbed me. A terrorist attack on a space elevator is a pivotal plot point in Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson, which IMHO is a better work in basically every way than Asimov's magnum opus.
- Metacelsus 1y ago
  Doesn't the space elevator attack happen in Red Mars not Blue Mars?
  - p_l 1y ago
    There's a terrorist attack, sorta, in latter book, but Red Mars was admittedly a legitimate military strike, as was destruction of Phobos.
  - lproven 1y ago
    I happily defer. I've reread the trilogy 6 times now and they do all blur together a bit. You look to be right: https://www.kimstanleyrobinson.info/content/space-elevator https://www.kimstanleyrobinson.info/content/space-elevator And I'm not the only one to notice the cross-reference: https://www.reddit.com/r/kimstanleyrobinson/comments/pv6zh9/space_elevator_in_apple_tv_foundation/ https://www.reddit.com/r/kimstanleyrobinson/comments/pv6zh9/...
- CaptainOfCoit 1y ago
  > That's odd. The first episode was the only one I watched and I don't remember that bit. It might have grabbed me. I think it's the first episode of season 2 or 3, not the first season. I remember someone else mentioning it, but I've only seen season 1 and don't recall that either.
  - mechanicum 1y ago
    Definitely S01E01, @ ~55-58 minutes. I just watched it.
    - lproven 1y ago
      Huh. OK then. I was not taken by it and don't really want to watch it again, or the whole thing, so I will take your word.
Frotag 1y ago
Terrorists-attacking-elevator is something that comes up multiple times in Gundam 00. Probably as an allusion to 9/11 (resistance to a growing superpower), but the in-universe explanations are pretty interesting too. The elevators were developed for cheap space travel but unsurprisingly centralized the world's economic development around the owner countries. ie the other countries became increasingly reliant on them and the world segmented into (three) blocs. But the owner countries became increasingly protective / paranoid, leading to cold-war era developments where each of them secretly researched fancy space weapons and stockpiled more and more military assets around the elevators. So some of the attacks were by poorer countries lashing out. Some attacks were to expose the military assets being hidden in the elevator (outlawed by intl treaty). Though most were probably just excuses to show things like giant robots vs death star.

by Jolter 1y ago

lproven 1y ago

That's odd. The first episode was the only one I watched and I don't remember that bit. It might have grabbed me. A terrorist attack on a space elevator is a pivotal plot point in Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson, which IMHO is a better work in basically every way than Asimov's magnum opus.

Metacelsus 1y ago
Doesn't the space elevator attack happen in Red Mars not Blue Mars?
- p_l 1y ago
  There's a terrorist attack, sorta, in latter book, but Red Mars was admittedly a legitimate military strike, as was destruction of Phobos.
- lproven 1y ago
  I happily defer. I've reread the trilogy 6 times now and they do all blur together a bit. You look to be right: https://www.kimstanleyrobinson.info/content/space-elevator https://www.kimstanleyrobinson.info/content/space-elevator And I'm not the only one to notice the cross-reference: https://www.reddit.com/r/kimstanleyrobinson/comments/pv6zh9/space_elevator_in_apple_tv_foundation/ https://www.reddit.com/r/kimstanleyrobinson/comments/pv6zh9/...
CaptainOfCoit 1y ago
> That's odd. The first episode was the only one I watched and I don't remember that bit. It might have grabbed me. I think it's the first episode of season 2 or 3, not the first season. I remember someone else mentioning it, but I've only seen season 1 and don't recall that either.
- mechanicum 1y ago
  Definitely S01E01, @ ~55-58 minutes. I just watched it.
  - lproven 1y ago
    Huh. OK then. I was not taken by it and don't really want to watch it again, or the whole thing, so I will take your word.

Frotag 1y ago

Terrorists-attacking-elevator is something that comes up multiple times in Gundam 00. Probably as an allusion to 9/11 (resistance to a growing superpower), but the in-universe explanations are pretty interesting too. The elevators were developed for cheap space travel but unsurprisingly centralized the world's economic development around the owner countries. ie the other countries became increasingly reliant on them and the world segmented into (three) blocs. But the owner countries became increasingly protective / paranoid, leading to cold-war era developments where each of them secretly researched fancy space weapons and stockpiled more and more military assets around the elevators. So some of the attacks were by poorer countries lashing out. Some attacks were to expose the military assets being hidden in the elevator (outlawed by intl treaty). Though most were probably just excuses to show things like giant robots vs death star.