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This is a revival/follow-up to the 1980s Cosmos series created and hosted by Carl Sagan. This series was hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist and curator of the Hayden Planetarium in NY, written by Sagan's widow Ann Druyan, who had collaborated with Sagan on the original series, and produced by the creator of Family Guy, Seth McFarlane.
There are many similarities and many differences between that series and this one. Like the original series, this one covers many different topics in science, focusing on Astronomy, but covering chemistry, physics, biology, and more. Each episode deals with a different topic, and usually tells the story of one or more scientists that contributed to the field being discussed. The series did not focus on just the "big" names like Newton and Einstein but discussed other scientists and mathematicians like Halley, Hooke, Keppler, etc. In the original series, the stories of the historical figures were told using human actors, but in this series, many of the stories were told using animation and voice actors. I was not a fan of the animations when I first watched the show, but upon a subsequent viewing, they did not really bother me. And, of course, the CGI graphics are orders of magnitude better than what could be accomplished in the original series.
For those who get the Blu-Ray, the A/V quality is fantastic. The visuals are fantastic (both the real and the CGI) and the sound is very good. The extras include an audio commentary on the first episode, with Druyan, producer Mitchell Cannold, producer/director Brannon Braga, producer Jason Clark and animation producer Kara Vallow, a 40-minute comic-con panel discussion, a 41-minute making-of documentary, a 35-minute portion of a dedication to Sagan at the Library of Congress, and interactive cosmic calendar.
Like Sagan before him, Tyson is able to explain complicated topics in very simple terms without sounding like he is talking down to the audience. Of course, the audience for this series was much larger than that of the original series airing on Fox versus PBS. Even though the series aired at a time when science has been caught in the middle of the idiotic political divide the country has been marred in, for the most the show ignored all that and just presented the scientific fact and ignored science deniers. The one exception is the episode on climate change, which distilled the problem and the cause to to very simplistic terms without hyperbole, and included a clip of an interview from back in the 1960s in which an old guy who is certainly not a part of a "woke" mob and proving that scientists knew that the amount of greenhouse gasses being pumped into the atmosphere back then was a problem. And there were clips from the original Cosmos series in which Sagan described the concerns and what the possible consequences could be (and then showed how many of those consequences have started coming to pass).
One thing I wish the show would have done a bit better is explain the scale of the cosmic calendar (e.g., that 1 month corresponded to approximately 1.2 billion years, 1 day corresponded to approximately 40 million years, and 1 second corresponded to approximately 440 years) so that when Tyson said that something took place at midnight on December 31st, people did not actually think he meant something happened midnight on some random December 31st, but instead meant about 3600 - 4000 years ago. Probably the best moment of the series is when they did a CGI zoom out starting on Earth through the solar system to the galaxy level to the famous "pale blue dot" narrative by Carl Sagan. Overall, the series is wonderful and definitely in my must-watch category.
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Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey - Outstanding
Neil Degrasse Tyson delivers. Explaining things on a layman’s level, Tyson presents this topic well. Many reviewers criticize him and the material for being amateurish, on a child’s level. Perhaps that was the point! To help even youngsters understand and even enjoy learning about Astronomy, it’s necessary to bring it down from a scholar’s level. That said, there is much value even an adult can appreciate.I also found it to be a fitting tribute to the late Carl Sagan.That said, this BD (Blu-ray Disc) presentation was very well done. The stunning visuals and rich audio really pop. Crisp, clear, nearly 3D quality on a flat-screen TV nearly puts you there. Subject matter takes the viewer from the very reaches of the universe to the infinitesimal microscopic life. Each episode is so engrossing and informative; it’s over before it started. Tyson takes you on a trip with his “Ship of the Imagination.” This is one of the few TV shows of this era I found myself eagerly awaiting each week’s episode. It is a shame there were only 13 episodes.Brannon Braga (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Enterprise, Voyager; Threshold, 24, etc.) directed and was Executive Producer.Alan Sylvestri composed the fitting musical score.The packaging was done well. Discs are available on plastic “pages” in the typical blue BD case. This makes disc access easy, unlike some which are packaged on a spindle.If you find Astronomy fascinating, I have no doubt this will be a worthy addition to your collection
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- Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2014
