Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Did anyone see tonight's episode?  For those who don't know, it's a remake of Carl Sagan's Cosmos: A Personal Voyage that is narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson.  I think the first part was very well done.  Looking forward to next week's episode.

[Flake]

I loved it.

[afleitch]

I'll need to look out for it. I think Tyson is one of the most eloquent speakers I've had the joy of listening to.

[anvi]

Watched it.  Keep in mind I'm biased, because I was a 10-year old kid already interested in astronomy in 1980 when the original Sagan series came out, and he was such a gifted communicator and the whole production was so fantastic that I'm an eternal fan of that one.  The first episode of this one was ok.  But it struck me as being more for kids than adults, while the original series was for both.  I thought the animation of the Bruno story was pretty lame, and the commercials made the first episode so short that there was no time for any scientific explanation in it beyond merely reciting interesting facts.  I didn't like the CGI either--we have so many telescopic and photographic images, especially of the solar system, that I don't know why CGI should have been used instead.  I like Tyson a lot--and the tribute he paid to Sagan at the end of the program, showing the connection between them in the first meeting in the late '70's, shows why he is for every conceivable reason the right man to do this sequel series.  I'm hoping, and believe, that future episodes will be better.  But I was underwhelmed by the first one.  But like I said, I'm biased.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

It was euphoric.

[RedSLC]

As someone who saw the original series as a kid, I'm happy to see the show recreated for the modern age.

The highlight for me was the re-creaction of the "cosmic year" sequence. This sequence benefitted a lot from the use of CGI.

[King]

I don't like Neil DeGrasse Tyson, so I'll be skipping this one.

[Potatoe]

I don't like Neil DeGrasse Tyson, so I'll be skipping this one.

Why? Just Asking.

[King]

I don't like Neil DeGrasse Tyson, so I'll be skipping this one.

Why? Just Asking.

I find him a little condescending.  He doesn't have the awe of discovery about science that Sagan did.  Tyson just regurgitates things he knows.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

It's good, but the Giordano Bruno cartoon was a bit off-putting.

[dead0man]

I liked it a lot, but I agree that the cartoon wasn't very good.

And while I like NDT, I agree with King that he can be condescending sounding.

[afleitch]

I managed to catch it. I thought that it suited the audience it was appealing to. America, in it's exceptionalism, still has a sizeable proportion who do not believe the fundamentals of science. NDT to me didn't sound condescending as such, but he did lay it down clearly; 'this is what we know, this is what we understand it to be.'

I would recommend people watch Brian Cox's Wonders of the Universe by the BBC. Similar stuff but aimed just a little bit higher.