Comments on: Cosmos: From Grade School to Itunes

By: Jim Lippard

Jim Lippard — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:02:25 +0000

There was an updated version of “Cosmos” released on DVD in 2000, which had “Updates” at the end of most of the episodes. I take it the updates aren’t on the iTunes versions?

By: The Continuing Return of Carl Sagan | The Loom | Discover Magazine

The Continuing Return of Carl Sagan | The Loom | Discover Magazine — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:24:53 +0000

[...] time revisiting my geek childhood by watching old episodes of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos on Itunes. As I blogged here, it’s may be as badly dated as a disco ball, but still wonderfully captivating to my [...]

By: John

John — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 16:57:02 +0000

Hi Carl,

I also got completely caught up in the original TV series in the 80s and the Vangelis soundtrack is ideal for the subject matter.

Although the special effects and props might have aged the science hasn’t and it’s remarkable how few major discoveries in cosmology there have been since Sagan’s time. Imagine a similar TV show done in 1970 – no quarks or gluons or superstrings, black hole singularities but no radiation.

Cosmos is dated in style but not in content, something from my childhood that will actually impress my kids!

Regards,

John

By: Steven

Steven — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 16:13:30 +0000

Hi Carl,

I just watched COSMOS for the first time a few years ago and I am 26. I live in Glasgow, Scotland so it may not have been shown here in the past but thanks to the internet I have seen it a couple of times over now. The special effects are dated and Sagan does portray an overly romantic view of science, perhaps the way we all wish it was. However this did not stop me enjoying every single episode of it and I actually like the COSMOS introduction music from vangelis.

I would love an up to date version of it but still with Sagan’s narration. Perhaps if I get my flux capacitor working I will go back and get him

Regards

Steven

By: JohnK

JohnK — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 17:13:52 +0000

Thanks for the tip. I’ll take a look.

Last summer I spent some time looking at the old Bell Science TV series from the late 50s and early 60s. My memory of them was that they were very good, especially “hemo the magnificent”. These very-self-consciously merged hollywood style graphics and animations with science content.

I found a few on utube. They were very good, especially the one on sensory systems. What is most interesting is the way animations are used then vs now. They used artists to create very cute cartoons. Currently, science is dominated by fancy computer graphics. I’m sure which I prefer. Also, the old shows taught a lot more science (bits/segment-between-commercials) than current science tv, but still were entertaining.

By: Nemo

Nemo — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:31:33 +0000

It shaped who I am, too.

I just wanted to point out that, in addition to iTunes, it’s run on The Science Channel in the last year (several times, and they may run it again — they have a version with some updated graphics), and has been available on DVD for several years.

By: Jesse

Jesse — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 17:09:23 +0000

Ok, I will concede that in the case of the Manhattan project the scientists are morally responsible. But think of all the research that had to go on prior to atomic weapons regarding quantum mechanics, that made the weapons possible. This research was not done with the intent of building atomic weapons. Atomic weapons were an implication that resulted from where scientific research led them. I think in general, you can’t hold scientists responsible for the implications of their research (unless they are clearly doing something morally wrong for money). I don’t think Sagan’s viewpoint is that out of date, obviously scientists today are under constant attack by the “forces of evil” regarding evolution, global warming etc.

By: Carl Zimmer

Carl Zimmer — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 12:10:42 +0000

Jesse: With all due respect, who paid for that research, and why?

By: Jesse

Jesse — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 04:24:45 +0000

Saying that the scientists who built the atomic bomb are intertwined with war is a bit naive. Did the scientists make the decision to use it? Scientific research leads in many directions, whether its nuclear fission, computer technology, or something has harmless as a new species of trilobite. The destructive moral and political decisions are almost never made by scientists. In this situation I think Sagans viewpoints (even today) are right on the money.

By: DrGaryG

DrGaryG — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 12:27:52 +0000

The first episode is still fascinating to me. I like to show it to my honors section of freshman psychology to give them a sense of the enormity of the universe and our place in it. It still causes my students to raise many interesting questions about just who we are.

By: Blake Stacey

Blake Stacey — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 04:40:49 +0000

I’m with you on the datedness of the fashion and the cardboard, unfeathered dinosaurs. The “spaceship of the imagination” is only truly effective in a few places, such as a dream sequence in a later episode which foreshadows the opening scene of Contact. The later episodes, too, develop more nuances on top of the ideas presented early on (which, I guess, only makes sense, as good nuances take time to develop). I had not actually seen the TV series of Cosmos until a couple years ago, although I’d read the book when I was much smaller, so what surprised me most was how much of the material was still valid and useful. “Headline science” can fade, can be reevaluated or driven into obsolescence by newer discoveries, but grand principles endure. Whatever the mass of the Higgs boson, we will still be kin to bacteria and made of starstuff.