Don’t miss the kickoff of “Cosmos: A Personal Voyage” this Sunday on Fox or Monday on National Geographic.
I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty excited about the reboot of Carl Sagan’s “Cosmos: A Personal Voyage.” This time around, Neil deGrasse Tyson will host “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey” in an effort to reach as vast an audience as his predecessor did in the 80s.
The Cosmos on TV website lists the series as beginning this Sunday on Fox and Monday on the National Geographic Channel. The site includes a handful of video clips, including interviews with Tyson and Seth MacFarlane and a “first look” preview of the show.
Creators of the show hosted a live, interactive webcast this Tuesday. On its own website, Space.com discusses the event, provides some notable quotes, and links readers to a site where they can watch the webcast in its entirety.
Hosts spoke at length about the people they want to reach with the new show. Although MacFarlane joked about them specifically trying to reach the Kardashians, co-writer Ann Druyan spoke about how she believes the knowledge contained in these episodes “belongs to us all” — that it’s a birthright to learn.
Tyson spoke more pragmatically about the population the show may serve. “I’m worried about scientifically illiterate adults,” Tyson said. “They run the world and wield resources. They’re in charge, and they outnumber the kids.”
“The issue in modern time is, do adults have the wisdom and insight brought to you by scientific perspective to actually lead this world into the future?” he continued. “If the adults in charge don’t have it, you are throwing seeds to foul ground.”
Oregon Public Broadcasting interviewed Tyson further about the matter of balancing show business and science. Tyson suggested that the writers did not have to dumb down the show to make it appealing. He said visualizations combine with the content to create something that both visually and intellectually entertaining. When compared to films such as Gravity, he said, “Cosmos has as its priority to get the science right, above all else, and we will then tell the story with the properly represented science.” Hollywood often gives themselves some leeway within their stories, but Cosmos will do its best to remain factual.
I look forward to being glued to my seat for a whole hour this Sunday evening. I don’t watch a lot of television, but when shows like this arise — ones that promise to delight my eyes and my mind — I don’t like to miss them.
Image courtesy of S. Brunier via Wikimedia Commons
