Has anyone seen this show on the History Channel I just started watching it but the show is amazing! Each week they cover different sections of the universe and this week they are going to do Spaceship Earth! I can’t wait to see what they have to say! I just might learn something;)
Thanks for reminding me - I DVR’s this week’s and fell asleep about 2/3’s thru - I’ll watch the rest now
I think it’s a good series but not great - It is certainly the most up to date I’ve seen (in the Mars episode they talk of a probe launched (past tense) in late summer 2007 - I supposee they phrase that way so when the series is rerun over and over again, it will make more sense than saying “to be launched”)
The graphics and animations are very nice - and I have learned some things.
They’ll look foolish if for some reason the probe doesn’t launch, though.
I was thinking about posting about this show a few weeks ago, to ask if anyone was planning on tuning in for it. Figuring the thread would sink and be crushed like a meteor in Jupiter’s atmosphere (as my threads are wont to do), I thought I’d hold out until it had aired. Obviously iluvurmom beat me to it, but I suppose that’s only because I’ve haven’t been terribly impressed with the show.
Most of the new information they’ve presented, while up to date, does little to engender the viewer’s appetite for learning more. It hasn’t exactly inspired a feeling of humbleness and humility in me. The most recent episode on the topic of Earth had me cringing with the painful car analogies … and this is coming from a huge car fan. I love cars and racing, but what audience are they trying to appeal to with comparing the evolution of Earth to the process of racing a Porsche around a track? Apparently, the History Channel is adopting the short attention span documentary syndrome pioneered by Spike TV and Discovery Channel. Next thing you know, they’ll be comparing the rings of Jupiter to professional wrestling and the atmosphere of Venus to WW2 dogfights because people can’t just be expected to learn about space without having there being some comparison drawn to some super-extreme high-adrenaline macho bullshit. Not that I’m against shows about super-extreme high-adrenaline macho bullshit, but it has no place in a series called “The Universe”. I was begging for them to stop with the car analogies and they just wouldn’t. “Cosmos” it certainly is not.
Overall, I think it leaves a lot to be desired. Of course, I’m saying this as someone who is obviously familiar with the work of Carl Sagan, and seeing this show makes me realize even more how I truly miss the vision and passion he injected into the field of astronomy. If it weren’t for him popularizing the idea of understanding our place in the universe, I wonder if secondhand shows like this one would even exist today. Even though “Cosmos” is 27 years old, its message still holds up despite the fact that our knowledge of the universe has grown. Sagan spoke brilliantly enough to the heart of the subject that it became less about special effects and more about what it means to be human (or “yuman” as he seemed to call it :D). I think shows on the subject of space, like this one, should make more of an effort to emulate that idea.
I guess you I did beat you to it. I think the show is really good I personally don’t know that much about the “Universe” so most of this is new for me and for what I do already know they seem to add a little more that makes me think.
When you say it leaves a bit to be desired I think that could be a good thing. If people take what the learn and see on the show to go and further there knowledge of Jupitor, or the moon then that is a great thing. I think its a home run!
Did anyone check out Saturn Tuesday? It was really good and had some great graphics. I really enjoyed the theories they gave for how the rings were created around Saturn
Titan was the star of the show. With methane and nitrogen in abundance, it has the building blocks of organic life. Plus a gooey surface.
I reckon so. There was something for everyone to like about that last episode. This Tuesday they are doing Alien Galaxies can’t wait to see what they feature on this one.
Has anyone been to the Universe website?
I found this
http://www.history.com/universe/sweepstakes/universe-pluto.jsp
and thought it was interesting especially since I was just talking about this the other day with a co-worker. Its about the Pluto debate I mean how can you really make a planet not a planet anymore?