Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey

  • Guest, it's time once again for the massively important and exciting FoH Asshat Tournament!



    Go here and give us your nominations!
    Who's been the biggest Asshat in the last year? Give us your worst ones!
Vaclav

Vaclav

Bronze Baronet of the Realm
12,650
877
It was excellent as an introduction - but I really hope they move more into "new stuff" for episode 2 on - I was looking forward to learning lots of new stuff while being entertained - and while I was entertained, all the rest was old hat besides learning about Sagan and Neil's personal interaction at the end portion. (Which while cool - isn't science...)

I'll be very disappointed it I don't start learning some real stuff soon from the program. (Sure, I'm pretty versed on the subject being that it's a hobby that I grasp quite well [although nothing formal past high school] - but I've been wowed by Neil many times before - hopefully I've not plumbed that well fully already)
 
Tarrant

Tarrant

<Prior Amod>
15,956
9,368
Vaclav_sl said:
It was excellent as an introduction - but I really hope they move more into "new stuff" for episode 2 on - I was looking forward to learning lots of new stuff while being entertained - and while I was entertained, all the rest was old hat besides learning about Sagan and Neil's personal interaction at the end portion. (Which while cool - isn't science...)

I'll be very disappointed it I don't start learning some real stuff soon from the program. (Sure, I'm pretty versed on the subject being that it's a hobby that I grasp quite well [although nothing formal past high school] - but I've been wowed by Neil many times before - hopefully I've not plumbed that well fully already)
Click to expand...
You realize they have to start from somewhere right? And the whole point of Cosmos is to put things in perspective for people who may NOT necessarily know much about science.
 
B

bazazu

Lord Nagafen Raider
48
0
supertouch_sl said:
Tyson would be considered the next Sagan if he actually made any scientific breakthroughs.
Click to expand...
Sometimes it's not about that. NGT, regardless of his discoveries, is still a brilliant man. What he does for Science is to bring a sociable person who can explain things to the masses (Similar to Bill Nigh). Sometimes an Industry just needs a spokesperson. NGT is filling those shoes and he's doing a great job at it.
 
Royal

Royal

Connoisseur of Exotic Pictures
15,077
10,643
Well I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised. It was better than I thought it would be, not being a member of the NDT cult of personality. I do wish they would have paid some additional homage to the original series and made the starship look less like something from The Phantom Menace and more like the one from the original series (which resembled the dandelion seed from one of Sagan's analogies). NDT's personal tribute at the end was quite nice though.

The original series was marathoned on NatGeo yesterday afternoon prior to the new series debut. One thing that stood out:

"In the vastness of the cosmos, there must be other civilizations far older and more advanced than ours, so shouldn't we have been visited? Shouldn't there be every now and then alien ships in the skies of Earth? There's nothing impossible in this idea, and no one would be happier than me if we had been visited. But has it happened in fact? What counts is not what sounds plausible, not what we'd like to believe, not what one or two witnesses claim, but what is supported by hard evidence, rigorously and skeptically examined. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence"- Carl Sagan

Yes Ancient Aliens assholes, that's Carl Sagan mocking you from the grave.
 
meStevo

meStevo

I think your wife's a bigfoot gus.
<Silver Donator>
6,533
4,819
Thought it reminded me of of Flight of the Navigator, but totally see the Phantom Menace vibe.
 
Soygen

Soygen

The Dirty Dozen For the Price of One
<Nazi Janitors>
28,528
45,043
S1fCuvG.gif
 
Vaclav

Vaclav

Bronze Baronet of the Realm
12,650
877
Tarrant_sl said:
You realize they have to start from somewhere right? And the whole point of Cosmos is to put things in perspective for people who may NOT necessarily know much about science.
Click to expand...
As I said, it was excellent as an introduction - I'm just hoping I don't need to wait for Season 2 to really enjoy learning stuff myself. I understand the need, I just hope I'm not bored by getting stuff rehashed the entire time.

[Perhaps NOVA ScienceNow! with him had me spoiled - so much of that was brand new to me]
 
Royal

Royal

Connoisseur of Exotic Pictures
15,077
10,643
I'm going into the new series expecting basically the same information contained in the original minus the Cold War overtones (climate change will probably replace it as the major potential threat on the horizon).
 
Serpens

Serpens

<Silver Donator>
1,044
4,705
A good start. Knew most of the astronomy but not the story of Bruno. One question though. It showed the Moon's origin as an accumulation of debris, but isn't the latest theory that it was caused by a huge impact that separated a big chunk from Earth?
 
kudos

kudos

<Banned>
2,363
695
Royal_sl said:
I'm going into the new series expecting basically the same information contained in the original minus the Cold War overtones (climate change will probably replace it as the major potential threat on the horizon).
Click to expand...
Religion seemed to be the major potential threat oddly enough. I walked away saying, " I bet the religious right goes ape shit by the end of this show".
 
Kirun

Kirun

Buzzfeed Editor
19,502
15,878
"The cosmos is all that is, or ever was, or ever will be." - Dat voice, so soothing.

Pretty solid introductory episode. One takeaway from the episode that never really resonated with me before, but that was the explanation about the "observable" universe being 13.8 billion years old(which I knew). It was a "mind = blown" moment, when the realization hit that the universe is likely even older, but the light from the furthest objects simply hasn't reached us yet. Something that seems so simple to comprehend in retrospect, but one of those things I never really thought about(likely due to how difficult it is for humans to perceive units of time that large).
 
Cybsled

Cybsled

Naxxramas 1.0 Raider
17,221
13,764
Serpens_sl said:
A good start. Knew most of the astronomy but not the story of Bruno. One question though. It showed the Moon's origin as an accumulation of debris, but isn't the latest theory that it was caused by a huge impact that separated a big chunk from Earth?
Click to expand...
The most accepted theory AFAIK is that an approximately Mars-sized planet did a bodycheck of the young Earth, which caused the Earth to eject a large quantity of material, which eventually formed the moon. But it's not like it crapped out a sphere shaped moon...the forces that formed the moon are the same that formed the planets. We actually had very little data on how debris accumulated in zero-G until a simple experiment on the space station with granulated sugar gave a planetary scientist a "EUREKA!" moment.
 
Royal

Royal

Connoisseur of Exotic Pictures
15,077
10,643
kudos_sl said:
Religion seemed to be the major potential threat oddly enough. I walked away saying, " I bet the religious right goes ape shit by the end of this show".
Click to expand...
Sagan took shots at religion in the original also, recounting the history of the Library of Alexandria and Hypatia.
 
E

eVasiege_sl

shitlord
359
1
I thought it was pretty entertaining. Thing is, there have been many shows in the past several years that have worked to accomplish the same thing. Wonders of the Universe being the one I really enjoyed. People that watch The Science Channel or The Discovery Channel on a semi-regular basis will probably be familiar with a lot of the topics. I feel like everything just kind of repeats every few years or so with a new show that has higher production quality, but not a lot of new information. Hopefully I'm wrong with this one.
 
Chanur

Chanur

Shit Posting Professional
<Gold Donor>
29,045
47,032
supertouch_sl said:
Tyson would be considered the next Sagan if he actually made any scientific breakthroughs.
Click to expand...
Sometimes a communicator that can keep the public interested in science and learning is just as important as one that makes discoveries. Both are very beneficial to society.
 
chaos

chaos

Buzzfeed Editor
17,324
4,839
I actually never saw the original, before my time really. I am looking forward to this. NDT was on Nerdist's podcast promoting it, it was a great listen.
 
K

Kedwyn

Silver Squire
3,915
80
I just got around to watching it. I've always liked NDT and he has a certain TV appeal to him that is easy to enjoy.

I really enjoyed the show. The ship is a little cheesy but serves its purpose and the slow intro played really well into the best part of the show.

The cosmic calendar was amazing as was the brief history lesson about Giordano Bruno and his battle with the inquisition. Crazy really how much things have changed in such a relatively small window of time. Sad that many lives were lost at the hands of ass holes over nothing more than differing thoughts. Sadder there are those still today that would defend everything that happened. Sad sad sad

From the WikiGiordano Bruno - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Vatican has published few official statements about Bruno's trial and execution. In 1942, Cardinal Giovanni Mercati, who discovered a number of lost documents relating to Bruno's trial, stated that the Church was perfectly justified in condemning him. On the 400th anniversary of Bruno's death, in 2000, Cardinal Angelo Sodano declared Bruno's death to be a "sad episode" but, despite his regret, he defended Bruno's prosecutors, maintaining that the Inquisitors "had the desire to serve freedom and promote the common good and did everything possible to save his life."[33] In the same year, Pope John Paul II did make a general apology for the deaths of prominent philosophers and scientists due to the Inquisition.

Overall its a good reboot of a great series. I've got it locked in on my DVR so I never miss an episode.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.