Cosmos! rebooted

[GlassHouse]

http://www.cosmosontv.com/

Who's planning on watching Neil Degrasse Tyson's reboot of Cosmos?

The first episode aired Sunday night and will be repeated Monday.

And how many of you remember the original?

NatGeo showed a lot (if not all) of the original Cosmos this afternoon. What a groundbreaking show that was. Just the visuals alone. I remember being awed by it back in 1980.

Tyson has a lot to live up to, so many people remember the original as something really special. But I liked the first episode of the new show and his personal story [spoiler] of how he met Sagan when he was 17 [/spoiler] was a nice tie in. There were also a lot of other nice references (visual and otherwise) back to the original show. I'm sure I wouldn't have recognized most of them if I hadn't seen the originals this afternoon.
The science itself was very basic to anyone who pays attention to this kind of stuff but that's OK. It may be that the show is meant for young people just getting acquainted with the science and history of our understanding of our place in the cosmos or it may progress to more complicated subjects as the show goes on. I don't expect it to be anything like as detailed as Brian's Green's mini-series that was on NOVA a couple years back.
My only real complaint was the number of commercials (should have been on PBS). My son put it pretty well when he mocked
how the show went; "There are billions of stars (VERIZON!) in billions of galaxies (SAMSUNG!) and we are all made of star (COMCAST!) stuff."


Here's a treat, all 12 original Cosmos episodes from 1980.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dADUBcoE ... 7D52968201

[portia]

I watched it and I recall the original. I also though it was basic, but that is probably OK as there are other shows that go into a lot more detail of various subjects. I like Tyson, and he was a good choice to narrate the show.
Thank you for posting te link. I saw it in the listings, but I was busy.

[Wildwood]

I liked it! I didn't know what to expect. I liked the production. I didn't expect a lot of in depth stuff on the first episode, because it was the introduction. Sort of "here's what we're gonna do". I will definitely be watching more of it. I will dvr it, so if I have to miss it, I can catch it later. If you want the honest truth, I was surprised there was a show on FOX that would talk about the big bang and evolution of species! I would have thought they'd be afraid of alienating a big chunk of their viewing audience with science!! I would have expected a reality tv show following that stupid creationist museum in KY (my home state. sigh.) rather!

[Minardil]

I watched it with my 15 year old daughter, who was so uptight about possibly missing the show that she was almost in a panic (I seem to remember a certain 15 year old BOY feeling almost the exact same way back in 1980, when HE was afraid that HE would miss the opening episode of Sagan's original. Of course, there was no way to record or playback TV shows back than - certainly my family didn't have a VHS machine at that time - so when we missed a show, it bloody well stayed MISSED, whereas today we have DVR built into the cable box, and every thing is available On Demand from the cable company anyway. . .but I digress. . . )

I've been a fan of Tyson's for some time, he has certainly picked up Sagan's mantle as a great "popularizer" of Science, a Missionary for Science, if you will. I loved the first episode, but thought it hewed a bit closely to the original. Even that line "We are all Star Stuff" was one of Sagan's lines. So, I'm hoping they break some new ground in subsequent episodes. Also, I LOVED watching my daughter's face as SHE watched it. She's never seen Sagan's version, so this was all new to her, and she was eating it up!

[portia]

This week's episode is supposed to be the history of Earth, and the changes in the crust, etc. That is an area that is forever fascinating to me, and I love to learn about the newest research (I digress, but I was shot down in Middle School for pointing out the similarities of the West African Coast and the East Coast of South America before the Continental drift idea was widespread, so I like to see it accepted.)

The graphics are great, which really helps understanding.

The landscape of science programs on TV has changed, so I wonder whether Cosmos will take that into account, or stay with large topics. There are a lot of programs that go into the controversies over Stonehenge, or the confirmation of finding Richard III's bones, but not so many, anymore, that cover a wide topic.

[Gungnir]

There are a variety talents at the ready suitable beat faculties.

I couldn't have put it better myself

[portia]

I finally saw last Sunday's Cosmos (hooray for DVDs).
It did something that I do not recall the older COSMOS doing. It took a subject (the no-longer-controversial-issue of lead) and showed how an industry and scientist, whose judgment was--shall we say--influenced by his employer, distorted the debate and delayed the removal of lead from gasoline and many other things.
The lesson was clear. we need to separate science from industrial profit and politics. Just because it makes money, (some of which is donated to political causes) it isn't necessarily a good thing. It is a much more complicated issue.

[Morwenna]

I watched the original faithfully back in the day, but I blush to admit that I've only seen two episodes of this incarnation. I think we've just been forgetting about it. I'm not the one who checks out the TV, and if hubby doesn't remember, I certainly don't! But this thread has given me the impetus to start paying attention again. I do hope it's on On Demand.

[siddharth]

Having never watched the original, I saw the first two episodes and thought they were fantastic.

I was especially fascinated by the presentation of the "Universe calendar" with us humans evolving only in the last 14 seconds of the last day of a year.
Like Morwenna, I keep forgetting about Tv shows. But I hope to catch a few more eps soon.