Science TV Series Cosmos to Reboot

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in movies on (#3F8)
This Sunday, a reboot of Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" will premier on Fox. PBS aired the orginal series in the 1980's.

From the article:
Based on a preview of the first of 13 episodes, "Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey" is certainly trippy and visually dazzling, but it's also a big-thought-provoking series crammed with scientific and historical fact.
In an age when too many TV documentaries succumb to reality-style formats, and when so many reboots of old shows are little more than ratings ploys, and when special effects obscure or replace substance, MacFarlane and his partners have kept their eyes on the value of the material. They have created something that arouses wonderment, despite the fact that it's airing in prime time, in front of mainstream viewers.
Reply 9 comments

Original Cosmos series on Youtube (Score: 4, Informative)

by koen@pipedot.org on 2014-03-08 16:35 (#B3)

Original Cosmos series on Youtube .

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Off-topic: posting a link (or any text) with an ampersand sign in it gives an error on PipeDot:
error: invalid value - method [post] type [string] name [comment] value [Original series on Youtube.]

Re: Original Cosmos series on Youtube (Score: 1)

by burlyone@pipedot.org on 2014-03-10 17:58 (#D1)

I watched some of it. It was OK. Too many commercials though. I will wait to watch the rest on DVD or whatever without interruptions.

Re: Original Cosmos series on Youtube (Score: 1)

by dast@pipedot.org on 2014-03-10 21:36 (#DK)

It was okay up until the anime sequences. WTF man? Do we expect the audience to be 12 years old? All it was missing was some b!tches in battlesuits.

I'll be skipping it, but it seems like a good idea (Score: 3, Insightful)

by danieldvorkin@pipedot.org on 2014-03-08 18:01 (#B5)

The cult of personality around Tyson irritates the hell out of me, just as the cult of personality are Sagan did then. Both of them deserve a lot of credit both for their science and their popularization of science; I just wish it were possible for people to do this without developing the kind of aura that causes people to treat everything they say, no matter how banal, as oracular wisdom. But this is a personal objection, and for those who don't share it, I hope the show is informative and entertaining.

Re: I'll be skipping it, but it seems like a good idea (Score: 2, Interesting)

by zafiro17@pipedot.org on 2014-03-08 23:51 (#B9)

I agree - I attended a university where Sagan had taught, or taught occasionally, and the aura around the guy was supernatural. In fact, he was rarely around and seldomly seen. Good scientist maybe, but his reputation outpaced his abilities, I think.

Re: I'll be skipping it, but it seems like a good idea (Score: 1)

by cubancigar11@pipedot.org on 2014-03-10 04:45 (#C0)

I don't know if he was a good scientist, but I know his reputation wasn't because of his research. He was a good teacher though, and Cosmos series and his books inspired a great many.

Re: I'll be skipping it, but it seems like a good idea (Score: 1)

by rochrist@pipedot.org on 2014-03-10 18:32 (#D6)

Really, the two (cult of personality and ability to popularize science) go hand in hand. I'm not sure the latter would be nearly as successful without the former.

Re: I'll be skipping it, but it seems like a good idea (Score: 2, Funny)

by hex@pipedot.org on 2014-03-10 21:52 (#DV)

Nothing wrong with personality if it keeps people's interest. Over in the UK we have Prof. Brian Cox, one of the few people to hold a full professorship in physics at a world top 50 university and also had a number 1 pop chart hit. He gets some criticism for his presentation style, but it popularizes a subject usually unpopular with the masses, so it's hard to complain. Plus he looks cute :)

Re: I'll be skipping it, but it seems like a good idea (Score: 1)

by guises@pipedot.org on 2014-03-11 02:29 (#E5)

Oh come on. Being popular is not the same thing as having a cult of personality. Granted, sometimes the fans of a person or product can spoil the product, through no fault of the product itself. I'll agree that Tyson gets perhaps a little more press than needed but, none the less, Tyson seems to simply be an outgoing science advocate, much like Bill Nye.