Just watching this now for the first time (even though I’ve heard so much about it). What an amazing series! As the forward by Ann Druyan explains, even though the series is over 25 years old, filmed in a time before recent huge discoveries in science and technology, the series needs very little updating, revision, and correction.
Already being aware of most of the concepts and history presented, it’s still a joy to hear it presented so well by Sagan. Beginning to understand the amazing complexity and ultimate interconnectivity of everything in the universe is about the closest thing an atheist like me will have to a spiritual experience. “A Personal Journey” is the perfect subtitle.
By the way, all 13, hour-long episodes of Cosmos can be found in their entirety on Google Video.
I never watched the series as a kid, but my folks got me the book that accompanied (maybe came after) the TV series when I was about 13. I tore that thing up for years. I just about had every page memorized, and can still bring to bring the picture of the plastic ball of goop they created life in, the sun “beams” at the Anasazi ruins, the big equation about the probability of the existence of life in the universe.
I completely credit that book, and so also Sagan himself, for being the spark that got me interested in science. . .at least moving away from kiddie stuff about dinosaurs and “how a tornado works”. I’ve seen the series since then (from a library many years back) and I can not overstate how much credit I give Sagan for the direction my life has taken (mathematics in college onto other things in grad school).
I’m only about half way through the series, but I haven’t heard that phrase yet. Sure he’s said “beelions” many many times already, but kind of hard not to when you’re talking about stars, galaxies, cells, atoms, or probabilities.
The perspective that Carl Sagan gave is what I remember the most. When I ponder the vastness of space and the fathomness of the ocean, I have feeling of emptiness and an opposite intangible feeling. It’s like being caught between earth and space, heaven and earth. Carl Sagan was the one who led me to my enthusiam of space as a kid but lately I’ve subdued my enthusiam. Now I understand more of what he meant: “Where we have strong emotions, we’re liable to fool ourselves”.
I was fortunate to have already been a Sagan fan when Cosmos came out… I had read Broca’s Brain and The Dragons of Eden a few times each by then. Cosmos touched a lot more people, though, and if it affected even a few thousand people the way it affected some of us in this thread, then it was wildly successful.
Some of his later writings were perhaps more urgent. I liked all of them, but of The Demon-Haunted World, Pale Blue Dot and, :rolleyes: , Billions and Billions, the latter is probably the best a most poignant read. At that point he knew he was dying, and the epilogue to the book was written by Ann Druyan after Sagan’s passing. Highly moving and highly recommended.
Why is everyone denigrating “beelions and beelions”? Even Carl came to recognize it as his sort of trademark. It is quite evocative of his voice and style. It’s as if his fans are ashamed of his enthusiasm or something.
I’m watching it in bits and peices on The Science Channel. Every time I see an episode I think to start a thread on it. And no, I didn’t become a scientist but I sure did enjoy it.
I found my copy of The Demon Haunted World a couple weeks ago while going through some old boxes. I had read it maybe twice when I bought it back in the mid/late '90s, and I liked it, but I didn’t love it. That has changed drastically.
I got done re-reading it a few days ago and I still can’t stay away from it. I’m constantly skimming through it whenever I have a few spare minutes.
Sagan is like Dawkins with a slightly smaller bite, which makes him much more accessible to the masses (theists and philosophers have such a vitriolic hate for Dawkins that they’ve pretty much Godwinized him out of any discussion, if that’s proper use of the verb.)
I watched the series on its first airing. Loved it. I bought the soundtrack. I have the DVD set.
My friends and I were playing with super-8, and we decided to improvise something. We put a brown jacket on one of my friends. I was behind the camera. My friend walked about looking as if he was in awe, while I did a (very bad) Sagan impression offscreen. He wandered over to a tree and pretended to urinate. Me: ‘Billions and billions of stars in the sky… And I land on a planet that doesn’t have a bathroom…’ (Hey, it was funny at the time.)
As he continued to wander around in awe, I walked in front of the camera doing my (very bad) Sagan impression and another friend took over the camera, following me. Me: ‘No! No! Sagan’s that way! Film that way!’ In our little improv, Sagan had a high, squeeky, parrot-like voice. Still doing my bad impression, I talked to ‘Sagan’ and we decided to keep filming. The Sagan: ‘I just want to collect my billions and billions and get the fuck out of here!’
We ended with ‘Sagan’ talking to a hick who claimed to have been abducted by aliens, then we ran out of film.
Damn. I just checked on Amazon and the series is $115 (too much to purchase casually) and it’s not available on Netflix. So I won’t be seeing it again soon.
When I was a wee lad of 6 my favorite TV shows were this and the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. We also had the book that went along with it and I poured over it.
I’d say I have a natural love for science but he just made it so much better.
And damn the other 1st graders who didn’t know what a googolplex was!