# What is your favourite Nova episode? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 21, 2013, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-nova-episode/674449 "2013-11-21T17:12:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-nova-episode/674449/41 "2013-11-22T16:19:23Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Wow, that’s a tough question as there were so many good ones. One that I’ve watched at least 3 times is definitely in the top 5 list for me is > > [Cracking the Maya Code](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/cracking-maya-code.html) Well, so we do have areas of agreement! The Mayan decipherment is great science, a great story, and well told by the Nova episode. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-nova-episode/674449/42 "2013-11-22T16:21:40Z")
My favorite Nova is the one that retells the events of Cliff Stoll’s book _The Cuckoo’s Egg_, “The KGB, the Computer, and Me.” Although [“Submarines, Secrets, and Spies”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgUlFY3QK4s) sticks out in my mind, also. ---
**Author:** ![Fact\_of\_the\_Matter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Fact\_of\_the\_Matter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fact_of_the_Matter)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-nova-episode/674449/43 "2013-11-22T21:35:46Z")
> [@Mithras](#): > > Nowadays, pretty much any episode that isn’t hosted by David Pogue is a favorite. I don’t understand how the decision was made that he is right for that job. It is always a disappointment when I sit down to watch Nova and I see it’s a Pogue episode. > > Other than that, I think my favorites are the episodes focused on a disaster/storm that are aired shortly after the disaster occurs. Those come across as impressively informative given how quickly they’re put together. I was wondering if it was just me. David Pogue would be fine for a children’s science show but I too am usually disappointed when he is doing the episode. One of my favorites Nova episodes was [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/nature/lord-ants.html](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/nature/lord-ants.html) ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-nova-episode/674449/44 "2013-11-22T22:31:57Z")
Pogue and his attempt at funny is there to appeal to a younger crowd. While a worthy goal it distracts from significant learning. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-nova-episode/674449/45 "2013-11-22T23:06:25Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > Pogue and his attempt at funny is there to appeal to a younger crowd. While a worthy goal it distracts from significant learning. Yeah, every episode he does seems to feel dumbed-down and not of the quality you’ve come to expect from Nova. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-nova-episode/674449/46 "2013-11-22T23:19:26Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I totally forgot that B29 Frozen in Time was Nova. I’m not too proud to admit I teared up watching that. Any pilot / aviation enthusiast would at least feel a pang in their guy when that B29 goes into flame… Brian ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-nova-episode/674449/47 "2013-11-22T23:39:09Z")
“Vikings in America” has always been a favorite of mine—for sentimental reasons, if nothing else. > [@N9IWP](#): > > Any pilot / aviation enthusiast would at least feel a pang in their guy when that B29 goes into flame… I was lucky/unlucky enough to know what happened to that B-29 long before the episode came out…I’ve _never_ been able to bring myself to actually watch it. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Eugene\_of\_Sandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c37758/32.png) [@Eugene\_of\_Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eugene_of_Sandwich)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-nova-episode/674449/48 "2013-11-23T00:34:03Z")
> [@bup](#): > > I haven’t watched nearly enough \*Nova \*over the years. What a great show. > > I’m going to go with the 4-part series (yes, I’m cheating) of _The Fabric of the Cosmos_ hosted by Brian Greene. > > That’s among the ones I’ve seen, which is a small subset. > > Oh - why is it great? Greene is, for me, the best writer/explainer of theoretical physics for the layman. He explains things and I \*get \*them - not just get a bunch of little weird factoids. Off the top of my head and fairly recent I’d like to second this mention/nomination. Good stuff. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-nova-episode/674449/49 "2013-11-23T01:10:10Z")
“The Case of the Bermuda Triangle” ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-nova-episode/674449/50 "2013-11-23T01:19:29Z")
That recent episode about the Chelyabinsk meteorite. I found it quite interesting that it did not collide with Earth; we collided with it. And when the story first aired, I surmised that a lot of people who spoke Russian had a good chuckle at all the profanity that aired on American television, and this was indeed addressed in the meantime. There were a LOT of bleeps on that show! ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-nova-episode/674449/51 "2013-11-23T04:16:44Z")
Back in the 90s they did a great episode about the first Hubble Space Telescope repair mission. Followed the astronauts through training, and then the mission itself, which was dramatic. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-nova-episode/674449/52 "2013-11-23T04:35:55Z")
_The Miracle of Life_ is available from Netflix, as well as a bunch of newer stuff. I coulda sworn _Miracle_ was earlier than '82/'83. Huh. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![pdunderhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4bbf92/32.png) [@pdunderhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pdunderhill)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-nova-episode/674449/53 "2013-11-23T16:55:27Z")
Horizon, the BBC Science documentary that has worked in co-production with WGBH, is on BBC 2 tonight at nine fifteen GMT. You may have to do some slightly duplicitous stuff to watch it live! Tried to give a link to the Guardians site but it seems the papers Cat has been let lose around the back of the Server! Peter ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-nova-episode/674449/54 "2013-11-23T17:08:33Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > Any pilot / aviation enthusiast would at least feel a pang in their guy when that B29 goes into flame… > Brian You really couldn’t write the plot more dramatically without including Nazis or aliens. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-nova-episode/674449/55 "2013-11-23T19:08:45Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > You really couldn’t write the plot more dramatically without including Nazis or aliens. I have not seen it yet but did find that YouTube has it – a 58min video, and haven’t watched that yet but if it’s 58mins then I’m guessing it’s the entire show. Wikipedia has a page on it, for the [B-29 named Kee Bird](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kee_Bird). Am reading that now… ETA: [link to YouTube’s mobile version of the video](http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1u4YBwjQTds). Or just search on _B-29 Frozen in Time_ – it’s easy to find the 58min version, and its smaller sub-parts. ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2013, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-nova-episode/674449/56 "2013-11-24T01:28:33Z")
Just a heads up for anyone looking for “The Case of the Ancient Astronaut” on you tube: I found three different videos, and all them came from the same VHS tape with really bad sound and video quality. If anyone has a link to a better quality video, I’d love to see it. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2013, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-nova-episode/674449/57 "2013-11-24T04:22:44Z")
Just about all of them (and I’ve watched them starting in the 1970’s). With so much junk science on the air, it’s nice to see some good explanations of interesting science. But: cuttlefish! It was just so unexpected and different. Also anything debunking conspiracy theories (JFK, 911, etc.) A non-Nova episode I really liked with the _Inside Nature’s Giants_ about sperm whales. ---
**Author:** ![Grapefruit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@Grapefruit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grapefruit)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-nova-episode/674449/58 "2013-11-25T16:41:45Z")
Well that was a weekend well spent for me! I watched the cuttlefish one, the mayan one, and re-watched the Fabric of the Cosmos series. I got about halfway into the Case of the Ancient Astronauts but then got annoyed by the old-timeyness of it. Plus, knowing that there wasn’t going to be onscreen flip out kind of took the wind of enthusiasm out of it for me. Now I want MORE! MOOAAAR!!! Specifically, any suggestions for architectural ones? Has there ever been a Nova episode where they were wrong? I don’t mean outdated, but wrong? I recently realized that I’m highly skeptical of any documentaries that aren’t Nova related. I got about halfway through a documentary about the Great Pyramids which started out sane enough, but ended up with all sorts of “proof” on how there was a world wide conspiracy to the great structures being built by people with “high reasoning” and “advanced technology”. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-nova-episode/674449/59 "2013-11-25T18:41:37Z")
> [@Grapefruit](#): > > Now I want MORE! MOOAAAR!!! Specifically, any suggestions for architectural ones? One of the ones I posted about earlier, [Ancient Computer](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/ancient-computer.html), is about an artifact found in an ancient shipwreck. It’s really an amazing find–a mechanical device that was 1,000 years ahead of its time. The NOVA story is very much about how researchers spent decades studying the device and eventually unlocking many of its secrets. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2013, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-nova-episode/674449/60 "2013-11-25T18:56:25Z")
^:smack: You said “architectural” and I was thinking “archaeological.” Sorry. :o [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-nova-episode/674449.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-nova-episode/674449.md?page=4)