Which edition is that? I’d love to see the updated info. It’s a brilliant series, but it is thirty years old, which means there must be a lot of outdated stuff in it.
General scientific knowledge would be dramatically improved if high school students were required to watch Cosmos instead of taking science classes, and the students would be happier about it.
This guy was the first person I recognized as an actual hero of mine when I was in high school. I was absolutely riveted when watching the series for the first time. A couple years ago I picked up the whole series on DVD which has a 10-year update on some of the episodes. Yes, facts age quite well. I miss him.
Back then When Cosmos came out, it was the first science show that actually talked about history. That suprised me. I also got the book. But nowedays it is a bit outdated.
Related tidbit: when I first saw The Matrix, I thought Agent Smith sounded an awful lot like Carl. Found out later that the Wachowski Bros told him to imitate Sagan deliberately. If you want to see a matchup that illustrates this in uncanny fashion, look up “The Matrix vs. Carl Sagan” on YouTube.
I love this. The vastness of the universe is the most compelling sign that we are not special. Would “God” make anything in vain? NO. It is sheer arrogance to believe that we are the center and sole purpose of this vastness. In fact there may be no purpose whatsoever.
One thing to keep in mind when watching Cosmos. Lots of people (then and now) complain about the long shots of Carl looking at the viewscreen. Those weren’t “vanity shots” as a lot of people claimed. There were special effects sequences that were supposed to illustrate the planets and stars and such that he was talking about, and the company responsible was not able to deliver what they promised. So they had to fill in with what they had. Keep that in mind, because otherwise those long takes can be a bit puzzling.
Otherwise, it’s an extraordinary series. It cemented my fascination with science, and set the standard for science TV for decades.
my hubby bought me the whole Cosmos set for our anniversary last year. I took a college course that was based on the original Cosmos series for my astronomy degree way back when. Great star-stuff!
small confession. I still get misty when I hear the opening music
[...] month Daniel posted the wonderful video of Carl Sagan clips autotuned to make the song “A Glorious Dawn”. I wanted to share a similar video also made by John Boswell, this time including Carl Sagan, [...]
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28 Comments
Quality :D
Track down Cosmos and watch it. Facts age pretty well.
The DVD I have has a sub-title mode with corrections – the majority of which are additional information, not really corrections.
Which edition is that? I’d love to see the updated info. It’s a brilliant series, but it is thirty years old, which means there must be a lot of outdated stuff in it.
http://www.guba.com/all/search?query=cosmos&set=5&x=25&y=10
It’s not subtitled, but it does have updates made ten years later after each episode.
Thank you! I shall check it out eagerly. :)
A galaxy rise sounded pretty awesome until I thought about how many suns would be shining on you. Oww.
Yeah. I burn easy. I’d need SPF 1,000,000 sunblock to deal with that mess.
If you’re in the US (and maybe some other locales), you can watch the whole Cosmos series on Hulu: http://www.hulu.com/cosmos
Ads are a little annoying, but not too big a deal.
Hulu is US only :(
HAHAHAHA! The power of awesome strikes again!
:)
It’s on Veoh, though :D
I’m on episode four now, incidentaly :-)
Huh?
A confessed non-Sagan freak, I’m at a loss watching the YouTube. What on earth is that?
General scientific knowledge would be dramatically improved if high school students were required to watch Cosmos instead of taking science classes, and the students would be happier about it.
This guy was the first person I recognized as an actual hero of mine when I was in high school. I was absolutely riveted when watching the series for the first time. A couple years ago I picked up the whole series on DVD which has a 10-year update on some of the episodes. Yes, facts age quite well. I miss him.
Back then When Cosmos came out, it was the first science show that actually talked about history. That suprised me. I also got the book. But nowedays it is a bit outdated.
Wooooooooooo Autotune.
Best use of Autotune since this
nonono. since this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eooXNd0heM
You should watch all 8 installments, but this one about smoking lettuce is my fave.
No, since THIS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWRyj5cHIQA
Best Autotune of all time. If you don’t get it, watch this first: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUbWjIKxrrs
Anybody else think he sounds a bit like Kermit the Frog? Listen to it again and you will.
I had a professor who not only sounded exactly like Kermit the Frog, but also looked very much like Jim Carrey. It was *very* distracting.
Related tidbit: when I first saw The Matrix, I thought Agent Smith sounded an awful lot like Carl. Found out later that the Wachowski Bros told him to imitate Sagan deliberately. If you want to see a matchup that illustrates this in uncanny fashion, look up “The Matrix vs. Carl Sagan” on YouTube.
That was one of my first thoughts – Kermit, maybe with a little bit of a Brittish accent?
I love this. The vastness of the universe is the most compelling sign that we are not special. Would “God” make anything in vain? NO. It is sheer arrogance to believe that we are the center and sole purpose of this vastness. In fact there may be no purpose whatsoever.
One thing to keep in mind when watching Cosmos. Lots of people (then and now) complain about the long shots of Carl looking at the viewscreen. Those weren’t “vanity shots” as a lot of people claimed. There were special effects sequences that were supposed to illustrate the planets and stars and such that he was talking about, and the company responsible was not able to deliver what they promised. So they had to fill in with what they had. Keep that in mind, because otherwise those long takes can be a bit puzzling.
Otherwise, it’s an extraordinary series. It cemented my fascination with science, and set the standard for science TV for decades.
my hubby bought me the whole Cosmos set for our anniversary last year. I took a college course that was based on the original Cosmos series for my astronomy degree way back when. Great star-stuff!
small confession. I still get misty when I hear the opening music
I still get misty when I hear the opening music
Me too! It did that to me the first time I heard it, and ever since then. It’s so poignant.
That is fantastic use of autotune for once. Thanks.
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[...] month Daniel posted the wonderful video of Carl Sagan clips autotuned to make the song “A Glorious Dawn”. I wanted to share a similar video also made by John Boswell, this time including Carl Sagan, [...]