Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey

[ER]

OK, a PM verdict on this series now that it's been off for a bit. I hate to say this....I mean I really, really, really hate to say this, but the Cosmos reboot would have been better at about eight episodes in length. Not only did the show feel like it ran out of steam long before it ran out of air time, but it fell into the trap of getting up on a soap box, and if there's one thing that's hard to take, it's when science's advocates get preachy. I'm still glad Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey was made, the world needs more avenues for the appreciation of the wonders of science and all that science does for our lives, but somehow toward the end, maybe those last 3-4 episodes, the show just got heavy for the wrong reasons. I was thrilled for the first third of the episodes, my interest was hit and miss for the middle programs, barely there for the last last third. In its best moments this series was brilliantly executed; at its worst it was tedious, agenda-fueled, and heavy-handed. Carl Sagan's Cosmos filled me with wonder while deGrasse's felt defensive to the point of self-pity. 2014's effort is worth seeing, not worth cherishing.

I never got round to watching this reboot precisely for the reason of it getting on its high horse (or soap box), and telling us its all our fault.

I have watched (and read) the original Cosmos with Carl Sagan, and even though it is quite dated in terms of 1980 graphics and scientific discovery, it still reaches out to me, enthralls me, and entertains me. Yes, he does get a little preachy at times, but that can be forgiven because of Sagan's self-assured charisma.

We are star stuff!

My gosh, you seem too good to be true!

[Svengoolie 3]

Shows like this make me nearly weep with joy.  I wish I could shoot Neil Degrasse Tyson with a duplicator ray set on full auto.  We need more people like him.

Do you watch and How the universe works'?  If you like cosmos try it.  There are a. Lot of YouTube videos that people who like cosmos should like.

[ER]

Shows like this make me nearly weep with joy.  I wish I could shoot Neil Degrasse Tyson with a duplicator ray set on full auto.  We need more people like him.

Do you watch and How the universe works'?  If you like cosmos try it.  There are a. Lot of YouTube videos that people who like cosmos should like.

Sven, I think the original Cosmos was brilliant, yet the attempted revival was agenda-fueled and had an ax to grind, and it showed. The sequel had its moments, I don't deny, but after looking forward to it for months I came away unexpectedly deflated.

As I saw it where it failed in its approach was.....well, science should never stoop to a street fight with anything or anyone. Science is truth most glorified and it speaks for itself. Science should not be socially-weaponized, only pursued, with the effort to gain greater understanding ranking as among humankind's noblest callings. Unfortunately that pursuit has become more difficult than ever, since sources of funding demand a certain social agenda. (Think of the hijacking of National Geographic in recent years, turning it into a preachy platform for first-world guilt and slanted views on complex matters, stripping it of its wonder and its fun.)

For a lot of my life I wanted to be a biologist, but found I hated the atmosphere in universities and labs, so I changed my mind after getting my degree, yet things that have only grown pronouncedly worse since then. Getting into science these days has much in common with joining some neo-Gnostic cult that tolerates no dissent and has a restrictive creed. And that's not what science is supposed to be. Science is about free-roaming thought, hypothesis, experimentation, the cultivation of sheer curiosity.

The first series, well Cosmos let me call it, since I don't consider the more recent series to be a continuation despite the name, was the product of the Second Turning and its mindset of optimism and looking beyond for answers, while this 2010's version was launched in the late Third Turning, a time of strife and division and impending crisis. The tone seemed to be less about presenting the sheer wonders of the universe than it was about picking a fight.

Also N.D.T. is no Sagan. He lacks Sagan's gift for communication, his calm capacity to discuss but not argue, to hold a position without attacking another, and something about that last shot, him standing on the sea cliff where Carl Sagan stood so long ago, actually angered me in its attempt to link itself to Sagan's legacy, when Sagan's input, the incorporation of his writings and those things that concerned him late in life, was almost nil. It was like watching a SJW/atheist manifesto moreso than a science presentation, and I was disappointed and angry.

What I will say is I wish science was more valued in our society today, and I do hold out hope for better things.

[Svengoolie 3]

So are you. Critical of people who reject the science of human influenced climate disruption?

[ER]

So are you. Critical of people who reject the science of human influenced climate disruption?

Nah, I think the issue should be settled according to the rules of Irish shin kicking. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you are though.

[Svengoolie 3]

I believe in human aggrevated climate change. Ever since we started having thunder in December in my area,  which never happened most of my life.