# Cosmos: A spacetime odyssey



## Alimination (Mar 9, 2014)

Anyone else looking forward to the premiere?


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## Daf57 (Mar 9, 2014)

Yes - will be watching tonight! Should be good!  (thank you Seth for *not* getting Morgan Freeman to host!! )


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## eddygdk (Mar 9, 2014)

i cant wait to see it, Neil Degrasse Tyson is the best


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## Joose (Mar 10, 2014)

It was better than I could have hoped for. Now I have something to VERY much look forward to for the next 12 Sundays.

Thank you, Seth MacFarlane and Neil Degrasse Tyson, for bringing this back. I have watched every ome of the originals multiple times; and in some ways, this is even better.

As Seth said, there has never been a more important time than right now to get people interested in this stuff again.


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## zappatton2 (Mar 10, 2014)

I did quite enjoy it, and have always loved both Carl Sagan and Neil Degrasse Tyson. Still, I think maybe I'm just turning into an old-timey cynic, but the whole spaceship element, and the overwhelming CGI, while visually spectacular, seems a tiny bit gimmicky. The show only seemed to touch on a wide variety of topics just enough to get some great visuals out of them, but not quite enough to get into anything in depth, I felt. But again, it was pretty great as a general introduction. 

The only thing I watch with any real enthusiasm are science documentaries, so while I love to listen to eggheads dealve into the minutiae of a particular theory, discovery, etc., I can appreciate that this is meant to inspire a love of science in people who might not be otherwise inclined. It was very much a great overview of the universe, and the history of the earth, looking forward to next week!


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## Taylor (Mar 10, 2014)

zappatton2 said:


> ... it was pretty great as a general introduction.
> 
> The only thing I watch with any real enthusiasm are science documentaries, so while I love to listen to eggheads dealve into the minutiae of a particular theory, discovery, etc., I can appreciate that this is meant to inspire a love of science in people who might not be otherwise inclined. It was very much a great overview of the universe, and the history of the earth, looking forward to next week!


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## Varcolac (Mar 10, 2014)

Very excite for this. My girlfriend got me the original Cosmos on DVD about four years ago. Near-total geek-gasm. Tyson is approaching Sagan levels of awesome, so I am very much looking forward to watching the first episode. 


Also relevant:



Edit: Just watched it: OMG TEH FEELS


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## Alimination (Mar 10, 2014)

I just finished watching the first episode a few moments ago.

The part describing the history of the universe through a regular calendar was pretty cool and engaging. The last few hours-seconds under December 31st was most all of our human presence in this world... man... it was very humbling.

oh oh and the part where Neil briefly talked about his experience with Sagan was very tear jerking too. It was a nice touch.

Lastly, The visual effects were top notch. (I'm a pro 3D artist in the industry too) My eyes were blown away.


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## Joose (Mar 10, 2014)

Yeah, I loved the visuals. That's part of what Seth wanted, stunning visuals and animations to go along with the knowledge. Seth knows how to gain an audience, and this is the type of thing more people need to take an interest in.

Not shows about overdramatic, pretend broken marriages and their counseling.


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## Explorer (Mar 10, 2014)

The original "Cosmos" led to my discovering Vangelis, and then adding Jean Michel Jarre and Larry Fast (Synergy and the keyboard work on Peter Gabriel recordings) to my collection. I played guitar, but loved digging into my DX7 and figuring out how to use effects. 

I didn't know about this new show. Thanks for the heads up!


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## Varcolac (Mar 11, 2014)

Explorer said:


> The original "Cosmos" led to my discovering Vangelis, and then adding Jean Michel Jarre and Larry Fast (Synergy and the keyboard work on Peter Gabriel recordings) to my collection. I played guitar, but loved digging into my DX7 and figuring out how to use effects.
> 
> I didn't know about this new show. Thanks for the heads up!



There seem to be a few nods to Vangelis on the score for this - a plaintive piano melody or two that put me in mind of Heaven & Hell Part 1 - but at the moment I far prefer the soundtrack to the original. Can't have everything, I suppose. 

Carl Sagan's "Pale Blue Dot" speech to the sound of Vangelis remains instant spine-tingling brilliance for me.


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## Rev2010 (Mar 11, 2014)

I have the original box set with Sagan and have also read the book as well as Pale Blue Dot. Actually a big Sagan fan and even my favorite movie of all time is Contact (and I also read the book as well). Haven't seen this series yet but it looks visually beauftiful, I wonder if they touch on any other topics outside the original series. For anyone that hasn't read the book Cosmos I highly highly recommend it!


Rev.


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## zappatton2 (Mar 17, 2014)

I take back my very mild criticism from earlier, last night's show was awesome!! I like that it tackled evolution by focusing on the development of the eye; the Jo Ho's that come to my door every week are always on about how the eye is too complex to have evolved, it seems a real sticking point for them. I'm really happy they were able to present it in a straightforward manner that might even enlighten a few holdouts on the reality of the evolution of the species.


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## Alimination (Mar 17, 2014)

The breakdown on the eye was real cool. I mean I knew the general gist of it, but the detailed breakdown was pretty (as you said) enlightening. ...even for me. I learned a lot from that section along with the segment over Saturn's moon Titan.

I remember hearing a part on Star Talk radio where they describe possible life on Europa (Jupiter ice moon). How the moon gets stretched in and out by Jupiter's gravity heating up the inner area. Possibly hinting an area where life would exist as well.


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## Explorer (Mar 18, 2014)

You know, now that we're a few years beyond that "Alien Astronauts" topic, it's nice to see SSO members who can find wonder without needing there to be "visitors" involved....


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## wankerness (Mar 18, 2014)

Rev2010 said:


> I have the original box set with Sagan and have also read the book as well as Pale Blue Dot. Actually a big Sagan fan and even my favorite movie of all time is Contact (and I also read the book as well). Haven't seen this series yet but it looks visually beauftiful, I wonder if they touch on any other topics outside the original series. For anyone that hasn't read the book Cosmos I highly highly recommend it!
> 
> 
> Rev.



Contact is a really great movie. I've never seen either the original cosmos or this, I should probably do so.


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## Rev2010 (Mar 18, 2014)

wankerness said:


> Contact is a really great movie.



I remember walking out of the movie with my girlfriend at the time and we were both so impressed with the movie... but all the rest of the feeble minded idiots coming out of the theater were bashing it with "Yo man DAT sh_i_t sucked yooo!! We didn't even get to see an alien, how stupid is dat sh_i_t it was her dadz yo!!??" 




Rev.


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## VBCheeseGrater (Mar 18, 2014)

Its good, but i prefer "Through the Wormhole" - a little more cutting edge, whereas this plays more like an encyclopedia. My wife prefers Cosmos - they do put things in more basic terms i think.

Anyway still a cool show, just hard to compete with wormhole, which is really well done IMO


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## Explorer (Mar 19, 2014)

If you want to judge a person's character, look at who decides that person is an enemy.

Science Deniers Are Freaking Out About "Cosmos"

A pretty good overview of who has their panties in a bunch... so far.... *laugh*


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## Joose (Apr 21, 2014)

Last night's episode was great. All about how Clair Patterson figured out the age of the Earth and all he went through fighting the petroleum companies over their use of lead.


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## SKoG (Apr 21, 2014)

Joose said:


> Last night's episode was great. All about how Clair Patterson figured out the age of the Earth and all he went through fighting the petroleum companies over their use of lead.



Until seeing this episode I didn't know about Clair Patterson, but I'd read about Midgley before. A guy that put lead in gasoline AND developed Freon and CFCs. He "had more impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in Earth's history." He probably never knew what kind of long-term damage he was going to be (at least partly) responsible for, but damn.


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