# Carl Sagan's Cosmos: A Personal Voyage **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 1, 2006, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carl-sagans-cosmos-a-personal-voyage/371103 "2006-09-01T18:37:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jayrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Jayrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayrot)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carl-sagans-cosmos-a-personal-voyage/371103/1 "2006-09-01T18:37:10Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carl-sagans-cosmos-a-personal-voyage/371103/2 "2006-09-01T19:08:28Z")
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). ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carl-sagans-cosmos-a-personal-voyage/371103/3 "2006-09-01T19:45:04Z")
I watched it “_beel_ions and _beel_ions” of times when it first aired. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carl-sagans-cosmos-a-personal-voyage/371103/4 "2006-09-01T20:41:09Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > I watched it “_beel_ions and _beel_ions” of times when it first aired. Then you know that he never said “beelions and beelions” on the series. ---
**Author:** ![Jayrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Jayrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayrot)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carl-sagans-cosmos-a-personal-voyage/371103/5 "2006-09-01T20:48:44Z")
Yeah, I was about to say… 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. ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carl-sagans-cosmos-a-personal-voyage/371103/6 "2006-09-01T21:17:15Z")
It was cosmic. 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”. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carl-sagans-cosmos-a-personal-voyage/371103/7 "2006-09-01T21:30:16Z")
I really liked [This Perspective](http://www.bigskyastroclub.org/pale_blue_dot.htm). Touching and humbling to say the least. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carl-sagans-cosmos-a-personal-voyage/371103/8 "2006-09-01T21:31:08Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > Then you know that he never said “beelions and beelions” on the series. Otto, Otto, Otto… ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carl-sagans-cosmos-a-personal-voyage/371103/9 "2006-09-01T21:38:02Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > Otto, Otto, Otto… Play it again, Bryan. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2006, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carl-sagans-cosmos-a-personal-voyage/371103/10 "2006-09-02T00:10:24Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > Then you know that he never said “beelions and beelions” on the series. . . . but you got the reference, which proves my point . . . (not that I really _had_ point) ---
**Author:** ![Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2006, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carl-sagans-cosmos-a-personal-voyage/371103/11 "2006-09-02T00:59:09Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2006, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carl-sagans-cosmos-a-personal-voyage/371103/12 "2006-09-02T01:11:32Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2006, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carl-sagans-cosmos-a-personal-voyage/371103/13 "2006-09-02T01:59:49Z")
> [@Biffy the Elephant Shrew](#): > > Play it again, Bryan. No. You dirty rat. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2006, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carl-sagans-cosmos-a-personal-voyage/371103/14 "2006-09-02T02:32:16Z")
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.) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2006, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carl-sagans-cosmos-a-personal-voyage/371103/15 "2006-09-02T02:42:51Z")
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. I still have that footage somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2006, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carl-sagans-cosmos-a-personal-voyage/371103/16 "2006-09-02T03:40:47Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > 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. What I remember as the trademark was his statement that “We’re all made of starstuff.” It gave me goosebumps. I loved that series. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2006, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carl-sagans-cosmos-a-personal-voyage/371103/17 "2006-09-02T03:47:02Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2006, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carl-sagans-cosmos-a-personal-voyage/371103/18 "2006-09-02T03:48:40Z")
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! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2006, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carl-sagans-cosmos-a-personal-voyage/371103/19 "2006-09-02T03:52:53Z")
> [@Dewey Finn](#): > > 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. They’re going for about $70 on eBay. ---
**Author:** ![wonderlust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonderlust/32/7237_2.png) [@wonderlust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonderlust)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2006, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carl-sagans-cosmos-a-personal-voyage/371103/20 "2006-09-02T03:59:35Z")
Did you read the OP? “By the way, all 13, hour-long episodes of Cosmos can be found in their entirety on Google Video.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carl-sagans-cosmos-a-personal-voyage/371103.md?page=2)