"Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey"

Has anyone else been watching this series on National Geographic? Tonight is the fourth episode, and the first three have been terrific.

In particular, the second one had one of the clearest explanations of how evolution occurs that I've ever seen. With a little help from me, even my 4-year-old grasps the basics now. It feels almost like an intervention for a nation that still rejects, in large numbers, the basics of a fundamental tenet of biological science.

Highly recommended - lots on the history of scientific thought, as well, accompanied by cartoon dramatizations.

 

Been watching every episode, I think one of the things I enjoy most is "how" discoveries were made.

 

It's great -- I tape it and my 3rd grader and I watch it every Monday night. She's very into space and science (we are members of the Museum of Natural History and see all of the planetarium shows which they have) so it is right in her wheelhouse. I also remember watching the original series when I was not that much older than she is now so there is a nice generational bonding thing.

Kudos to Seth McFarlane for getting this made.

 

Really enjoying the series, especially the little nods to the original Cosmos. My only complaint would be with the music, if only because it's more unremarkable than anything else. The original series made great use of classical music, though it could be that the new series' creators thought that might not play well to the wider audience they are pursuing.

Hopefully the new Cosmos at the very least puts to bed the notion that there's no appetite for science among the general public.

 

A buddy of mine worked on the series; MacFarlane shot all of the interiors with Neil deGrasse Tyson at a small green-screen stage in Santa Fe during his downtime while he was filming his upcoming western comedy. Much of what you see (including music) is stock footage, so as to keep the cost down, as it was a vanity project from the get-go.

 

I saw the original as a kid and loved it. It was on Netflix streaming earlier this year but got pulled. I was able to watch it before it was gone. Loving the new series, too.