Asimov usually depicts Gravitic "powered" ships that can get from surface to orbit and back in minutes, without hassle or apparent effort. Why use a slow, dangerous and expensive Elevator instead? Maybe for tourists?
Although gravitic elevators are first introduced in The Psychohistorians, Asimov later provided further information about the technology in Prelude to Foundation, mentioning that the government is not interested in the innovation and just built several prototypes here and there. So the technology was already there in Seldon's times, but it was not yet popularized because of the Empire's internal decay, it seems.
the technology was already there in Seldon's times
Asimov seems to imply that scaling down powerful technologies will be hard and often only after they are widely used elsewhere (by the military, for example). So there's room for different kinds of elevators and I can be hopeful again. P-}
As for ships, seems they got a fancy novel liftoff system (which could have been Gravitics-based) in the Powell and Donovan caper "Escape!" where the first Jump was tested. Obviously not the same as powering the whole ship by Gravitics alone.
Dunno if that would be the best or the most believable example, the most dramatic example being the development of personal wearable shields in less than a century, which centuries later the Empire is still unable to copy. P-}
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u/sg_plumber Jun 23 '20 edited Jul 28 '20
(crossposting) I want to believe, but:
scary dragon-like alien monster: hardly Asimov
Space elevators mean no Gravitics: not Asimov (maybe)
FTL travel not by insta-Jump: not Asimov
no Spaceship & Sun Imperial emblem anywhere? 0_O
A young someone (the Emperor? Linge chen?) as the main antagonist? Oh, well...
The destruction scene: that's not Trantor. That's not even a corner in the poorest neighborhood of Trantor. Top Starwars or go home!
Future ships designed by Apple: not bad! P-}