Hey, another science dork on YouTube!
Oh wait, that’s me.
Update: Coincidentally, Clifford at Asymptotia was going to blog on this very topic when he saw my post! He added it into what he wrote, which is a good read.
This clip is part of the UK show Cosmos: A Beginner’s Guide; this episode was specifically about life in the Universe. We filmed this in Palo Alto quite some time ago, before I moved away from California. It was fun! Lynn Rothschild and I were at the Stanford theater, a really first-rate old-style theater that I highly recommend. We sat and chatted about aliens for a while, and that was that. I’m glad to see the show finally aired, and I can’t wait to see the whole thing (a friend will be sending me a disk, so maybe someday I’ll write about the show itself).
August 28th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
That was way too short.
August 28th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
Way to go, “space scientist”. And…woo! Doctor Who!
August 28th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
Nah, being in a science documentary isn’t geeky. Having “Is that Adam Hart-Davis?” as your first thought when the narration started is. ;^)
August 28th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
Good for you, Phil! Lynn is a great person, good stories to tell about her! she’s married to a college friend of ours and one of the groomsmen at our wedding lo these many years ago…
August 28th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
“Hey, another science dork on YouTube!”
Yup!
August 28th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
Woo-hoo! Parasitic wasps and ctenophores…on an astronomy blog…
Thanks from a bioBABloggee!
Oh, wait a second. I came here to get away from work for a bit. Oh, well. I guess this balances the lost sleep from checking out the lunar eclipse.
August 28th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
Ah, so that’s why I wasn’t going to go out this evening. I was going to miss today’s episode.
August 28th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
That sounds like Adam Hart-Davis. He’s a legend.
August 28th, 2007 at 4:12 pm
[...] I learned (from his blog) that Phil Plait is featured (with biologist Lynn Rothschild) on a television show “Cosmos: A [...]
August 28th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
When is going to be shown over here then, Phil?
August 28th, 2007 at 4:44 pm
That’s odd. Laying parasitic eggs in another life form, draining their fluids and then bursting out of their dried shriveled corpse – isn’t that the way we were all born? That’s the way I remember it.
August 28th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
Could have sworn I emailed you about this a couple of weeks ago, when the episode actually aired here in the UK… sure you’ll enjoy the full episode when you see it.
August 28th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
Hmmm … why all the Doctor Who footage in a show called “Hollywood Aliens”?
August 28th, 2007 at 5:08 pm
It is Adam Hart-Davis.
He’s a gem of British Science broadcasting. Savour him.
I missed the episode (but I dare say it will be repeated ad finitem on BBC3).
Well done Dr. Phil.
August 28th, 2007 at 5:35 pm
It’s a good series, the BBC make some good progs for the Open University.
August 28th, 2007 at 6:43 pm
Paul,
As far as why Doctor Who on a show about Hollywood Aliens, well…
1. Doctor Who has been around a lot longer than most Hollywood producers
2. A good many Hollywood aliens were originally thought of by the BBC in making DW (ever notice the similarities between the Daleks and the Borg?)
3. The Doctor is WAY cooler than virtually anything coming from Hollywood.
August 28th, 2007 at 6:49 pm
[...] the Webmaster Hollywood Aliens » This Summary is from an article posted at Bad Astronomy Blog on Tuesday, August 28, 2007 This [...]
August 28th, 2007 at 8:01 pm
Nice… But I do have to take issue with a couple of things said there.
“Aliens might not be carbon based:”
That’s possible, but if there is life elsewhere, my money is on organicly based. There are more known carbon-based compounds than all others. Carbon seems to be a uniquely good element for easily making very complex chemicals. And organic compounds have been found in abundance in the solar system and beyond. Stuff as complex as amino acids in comets, but also huge amounts of methane and other simple compounds. Carbon is common, reactive and just perfect for this.
Could life be based on other chemicals? Possibly, but I would think it is unlikely. Carbon/hydrogen based chemicals just seem to naturally react in the ways that would possibly create life. Other chemicals: not really seen doing such varied and complex things in nature.
Also: In the Andramada Strain they say intelligent life might be as small as a flea. Again, possible, but unlikely. This would really only be possible if it were somehow structured on an atomic basis, and not organic. As mentioned above, I’d expect life would most probably be carbon based. It might be very different than life on earth. It may not even have cells or something… But it’ll probably still be based on some of the same basic chemicals. Probably..
August 29th, 2007 at 7:14 am
I think you mean the AndrOmEda Strain, drbuzz0. We are nowhere near understanding all non-terrestrial species, but Vegans like myself are carbon-based, although physically very different from humans. For one thing, none of you guys can shape-shift…
August 30th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
I thought that the creatures in The Abyss were Earth creatures. We just never discovered them before because they were so far under water. That wouldn’t really quallify them as alien, would it? It would also explain why they appeared very much like earth creatures … they evolved from some Jellyfish like creature in the same way we evolved from some monkey like creature.
August 30th, 2007 at 7:17 pm
Phil,
You lack the historical context of a true professional. Or do you? Don’t let your wit overwhelm you. ‘Science is fun!!!’ No, it’s not, not always. Sometimes science is dead serious. Be serious when necessary. The stupid-ass movie aliens you talk about in this… whatever it is, are passe. You have a stronger voice than this. Use it.
Watch ‘Cosmos’ again. And again, and again…
John
August 30th, 2007 at 7:26 pm
A small question from a dumb reader, John Kennell: do you mean he should watch the Cosmos series that this clip was part of or the series that the name (Or indeed any offhand mention of the word) makes most of us think of? And if you mean the second one, are you talking about way of speaking or actual, deep-NYC-pausing-between-words physical voice?
September 3rd, 2007 at 9:55 pm
[...] based on life as we know it on Earth. The clip is from of the UK show Cosmos: A Beginner’s Guide. Link [...]
September 4th, 2007 at 4:23 am
[...] Bad Astronomy Blog » Hollywood Aliens Hollywood Aliens, wissenschaftlich betrachtet… (tags: alien film science-fiction wissenschaft weltraum) [...]