Cosmos discussion thread

[he_who_is_nobody]

Last night I watch the first episode of Cosmos and was amazed. As my wife said; “That was the true definition of what awesome should be.” I thought the CGI was breath taking and Neil deGrasse Tyson was wonderful. My favorite part of the show was the end when Tyson talked about his meeting with Carl Sagan in 1775. I have heard Tyson tell that story before and every time it is just as moving as the first time I heard it.

The first episode set the stage for a wonderful reboot to a wonderful program.

 

[Inferno]

I agree, but for one problem: Carl Sagan set the bar so damn high that I can't help but compare the two. Sure, the CGI is better and the info is more up to date, but is Tyson as good a communicator? I don't know, I'll have to wait until the series is done. I'm also not sure how much I like the animations.

That being said, the first episode was absolutely amazing.

 

[he_who_is_nobody]

I agree, but for one problem: Carl Sagan set the bar so damn high that I can't help but compare the two. Sure, the CGI is better and the info is more up to date, but is Tyson as good a communicator? I don't know, I'll have to wait until the series is done. I'm also not sure how much I like the animations.

That being said, the first episode was absolutely amazing.

I listen to Star Talk and I have tried to watch every video Tyson is in on YouTube. In my opinion, Tyson is a better communicator than Sagan (blasphemy!).

I have read that many people did not like the animation. I thought it was great. I would watch an animated series about almost anything in that style. I am a fan of animation in general.

 

[WarK]

I liked it.

I liked the animation.

From what I've seen of Tyson on yt, he can be quite loud and exaggerated so I liked that he wasn't like this in the first episode.

I can't compare it to the original because I haven't seen it.

 

[Visaki]

Tyson ain't Sagan, but then again that is the point, isn't it? Just making a straight copy of the old one would be actually unscientific. Honor, don't plagiarize (exept the good bits).

On 2nd part I liked how they almost anticipated all the usual (and very, very ignorant) arguments against evolution ("it's only a theory" :roll: )

I liked the first one, I liked the second one, I expect I'll like the third one too.

 

[WarK]

On 2nd part I liked how they almost anticipated all the usual (and very, very ignorant) arguments against evolution ("it's only a theory" :roll: )

Also, just before that I liked how he emphasised that even though mutations are random, natural selection isn't.

I also liked the animation of proteins working on DNA.

I think it was a good episode. It was simple but to the point and without unnecessary tangents. The examples of dog and bear evolution were cool too, as was "the history of the eye". The bear example in particular was good at showing how evolution works.

Another important point that he made clear was that evolution works on populations rather than on a single organism.

An the thing about Titan… good timing

 

[he_who_is_nobody]

On 2nd part I liked how they almost anticipated all the usual (and very, very ignorant) arguments against evolution ("it's only a theory" :roll: )

I could not agree more. Episode 2 knocked down several common creationists' canards, and did it in great fashion. Seeing as how this might be the only time some children get to hear about evolutionary theory in their entire academic life, I am glad Tyson dealt with it in this fashion.

My only grievance with this last episode was the tree of life being an actual tree. I was not too fond of that. I would have preferred an animated tree, it would have allowed him to show how branches fall of (extinction) easier.

 

[Inferno]

Sadly, the third episode didn't come through to Europe. We can only watch the Monday version on National Geographic and it was the re-run of the second episode. Bummer...

 

[keenidiot]

I've been enjoying it. I got my girlfriend to watch the first episode of Sagan's original series before the new series aired, and she refuses to go back to Sagan's program.
I have some gripes with it, the way Giordano Bruno was portrayed for example and the animated segments making of some of the characters as cartoonish villains.
After the first couple of episodes though, I think my biggest complaint was that it wasn't Sagan doing it, which I guess is pretty good praise for the show.

 

[he_who_is_nobody]

I just watched the latest episode earlier today and loved it. My only complaint was the depiction of Robert Hooke. However, I thought the telling of Edmond Halley’s story was wonderfully done. It was amazing that he did so much, yet is only remembered for predicting the return of a comet. My favorite part of this episode was when Tyson pointed out how Halley put all the mystics to shame by making one of the first scientific predictions with such precise accuracy. That is a great example of how science works yet magic and mysticism does not.

I have some gripes with it, the way Giordano Bruno was portrayed for example and the animated segments making of some of the characters as cartoonish villains.

After reading the actual history of Bruno and why he was put to death, I have to say my appreciation for the first episode went down. I feel I know the point the episode was trying to make (i.e. one should be able to question anything openly without threat of death), but Bruno was not killed for questioning the geocentric model. Thus, the whole point of that episode seems like a missed opportunity.

 

[keenidiot]

Yep. There are better examples from history to use, I dunno why they didn't.

 

[he_who_is_nobody]

I loved this last episode. Two things that I found the most enjoyable, the person that played Galileo is someone I know. He volunteers at the natural history museum. I knew he was going to be in it, and I am still jealous because he met Tyson during the filming of Cosmos.

In addition, the ending was beautiful and brought a tear to my eye.

 

[WarK]

I was disappointed by the last segment about black holes, it seemed very speculative.

 

[he_who_is_nobody]

I was disappointed by the last segment about black holes, it seemed very speculative.

Well, Tyson said that he was going to speculate (he is riding around in the Ship of the Imagination after all). I do not have a problem with him speculating, especially when it is pointed out.

 

[keenidiot]

I found the switching between animation and live performances a bit distracting.
I also, much as I love Sagan, feel that they keep referring back to him and the original Cosmos to much.

 

[Foxcanine1]

While we have no definitive evidence of what lays beyond a black hole I think that some mathematics propose such an idea. I agree that so long as Neil mentions that it's speculative then it's fine to ponder it. The same way that he ( and Sagan) pondered about life elsewhere in the universe.

 

[he_who_is_nobody]

This week’s episode was my least favorite. I thought Tyson did a poor job of explaining what exactly the electromagnetic spectrum was. I know after this episode ended, I had to explain a lot of stuff to my wife. I even had to find a video about the electromagnetic spectrum because that explanation was just not there in this episode.

 

[he_who_is_nobody]

This week’s episode was another great one. It explained everything very well and I loved the beginning with the tardigrades. They are so awesome looking.

 

[tuxbox]

I enjoyed the show. I have it setup to record on my dvr.

 

[he_who_is_nobody]

This week’s episode has been my favorite episode thus far. I loved the discussion about the dating of the earth. Watching Tyson break apart the different layers of the Grand Canyon with his mind was awesome. I also found the story of Clair Patterson struggle to find the actual date of the earth and later his larger struggle against the chemical and oil companies as amazing and very relevant to today’s politics.

The one thing I did not like was when Tyson was flying through the asteroid belt. They made the objects found there appear way to close-together. There is actually a lot of space between the different objects found in the asteroid belt.