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Summary: cosmos
Review: the best that ever was or possibly ever will be! i have never seen one program that put it all in perspective just as only carl sagan could! delightful,informative series that really makes you look at "the big picture".a must for every family.
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Summary: Quality.
Review: Carl Sagan's quirky tour of science, the universe and everything. Engaging and entertaining, bringing many scientific concepts in accessible format to anyone. I would not like to guess how many people this has inspired to look a little more attentively at the universe which surrounds them and, God forbid, think. As a member of the TV generation with the attention span of a cockroach, I was inspired by this series and moved to take a more active interest in science which has endured for all of my adult life.If it can do this for me, believe me, it can do it for anyone. ....
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Summary: Thank-you Carl Sagan for this visual masterpiece
Review: All I can think to say is thank-you to a man who, in his time, was the greatest and most loved scientist the world over. If he was here today he would be most gratified to see that people still love and adore his videos as they did when he fist released them..Thank you Carl.
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Summary: 16 Billion years of Time couldn't be told better in 13 hours
Review: This video collection is an instant classic. Anyone who wants to know what has happened in the last 16 billion years needs to see this series. "Cosmos" gives it to you straight and in a concise manner. Don't pass it up if you see it anywhere. It's worth it.
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Summary: A jewel that will bring the world to understanding
Review: Cosmos is a masterpiece! Carl Sagan calmly and patiently reveals truths that enlightens the mind. I've seen the episodes about 6 times all the way through. Each time I am profoundly moved by the significance of science and our profound place in the cosmos. If I could get this on DVD I would show it to my grandparents, my children, and my future grandchildren - I feel it's that significant. Cosmos was filmed during the cold war and some episodes cover dated issues. But knowing about the cold war and what it implied makes Cosmos relevant to every age. Carl is sensitive not to offend any point of view, as he sheds light on human error and misunderstanding. I have a much fuller state of mind from having seen it. ....
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Summary: an inspirational documentary
Review: If anybody wants to inspire their kids to ask 'why' this is undoubtedly the best documentary I've seen. I watched this until the tape wore down when I was younger (10). Truly brilliant.
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Summary: A Universally Excellent Video Series
Review: Carl Sagan always had a way of making tremendously complex ideas understandable to the lay person. In Cosmos, Dr. Sagan makes complex ideas understandable in highly entertaining ways. The imagery and music (by composers such as Vangelis and Beethoven)that accompany Dr. Sagan's narration send shivers of awe and amazement through me. ....
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Summary: Enduring Memories
Review: I remember watching the television series Cosmos back in 1982 when I was but a child of 8. Not only was I enthralled by the content, but I delighted in the music accompanying the cosmic adventure. I developed my appreciation for science, astronomy and classical music thanks to Carl Sagan's program. I agree with another reviewer that Sagan had a marvelously soothing narrative voice that only added to the enjoyment of learning about ourselves and the universe in which we live. ....
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Summary: Sagan's Commentary Brilliant.His VOICE Soothing to Listen to
Review: How to add to the many other reviewers begging for the re-release of this classic. Even a Nov. 1999 PBS catalog selling NEW videos advertises its new "The Planets" set by bragging, "Rivaling Carl Sagan's Cosmos." Has no one but me also noticed how wonderful Sagan's voice is--I must check and see if there was ever an AUDIO version done. His relaxing voice and powerful message bring a rare glimpse of humanity in an increasingly cold world. Let's all E-mail various car-sagan.com addresses and beg for all format-release. I wrote Sagan on an open forum several years ago (Prodigy or AOL? ), and he picked one of my messages to reply to (on the excellent reproductions in Cosmos of the Library of Alexandria), but he failed to grab onto my other message about his wonderful VOICE!
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Summary: [Cosmos Boxed Set (Collector's Edition)]
Review: I first saw this series when it originally ran in 1980, when I was 12. It absolutely changed my whole worldview, as it did for millions of future Gen-X scientists. .... This review is based on the 7-tape gift box set released in 1989, which I bought at a book fair in Orlando in 1993.Cosmos is a grand tour, easily the most compelling and best made science television series ever. Sagan shows great poise in front of the camera; one wonders what it must have been like to sit through his classes at Harvard and Cornell. Sagan strives (and almost, but not quite, succeeds) in distinguishing, as he says in episode one, "between speculation and fact. Our journey will require imagination and skepticism both". The series combines film for outside shots and videotape for inside shots. For the most part, the production quality is first-rate, though what passes for "special effects" here and there, while passable for 1980, haven't aged well. This series would no doubt be an even greater visual tour-de-force were it produced today. Episode one, "The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean", is a broad overview of the topics that will be covered in the remainder of the series. Episode two, "One Voice in the Cosmic Fugue", begins the meat of the series, discussing artificial and natural selection, voyaging through the cell and the structure of DNA, and ending with grand speculations on potential life on other planets, most notably and creatively, Jupiter. Episode three, "The Harmony of the Worlds", describes the way the groundwork was laid for our present understanding of astronomy through the life of Johannes Kepler, the oft-overlooked German who, as Sagan describes, was "the first astrophysicist, and the last scientific astrologer". He details Kepler's search for harmony in geometry, his attempts to fit the structure of the heavens in terms of the Greek perfect solids, his contentious collaboration with Tycho Brahe, and his ultimate discovery of the three laws of planetary motion -- and manages simultaneously to take potshots at the political and religious establishments of the time. Episode four, "Heaven and Hell", begins his examination of the planets, looking at planetary catastrophes such as the Tunguska Event of 1908, astronomical lore, and the evolution of our understanding of the nature of Venus. Episode five, "Blues for a Red Planet", examines the planet Mars as well as the history of the pivotal figures in its study, most notably Percival Lowell, whose name is synonymous with Mars, and Robert Goddard, co-father of rocket science. He talks about the Viking missions, and the question of how one determines the existence of a technical civilization from space. Episode six, "Traveler's Tales", looks at the nature of exploration, through the eyes of both 17th century Holland and the modern Voyager planetary probes. Episode seven, "The Backbone of Night", presents the rise of the first scientifically inclined civilization, ancient Greek Ionia, and how the rise of scientific mysticism, led by mathematician-philosopher Pythagoras, snuffed this first budding of science, leaving the world to wait another 1500 years before Copernicus would trigger events that led to the Renaissance. Episode eight, "Travels in Space and Time", introduces us to the bizarre consequences of time and the speed of light, showing how stars drift to build and dismantle stellar constellations, telling the story of Albert Einstein, and going to the Italian village of Vinci, home of Leonardo, to demonstrate the queer consequences of general relativity. Sagan presents speculations on the nature of interstellar vehicles and the detection of extrasolar planets. In Episode nine, "The Lives of the Stars", Sagan covers the massive numbers -- the googol, googolplex, and infinity -- necessary for astronomy, the chemical elements, and the lifespan of stars. Episode ten, "The Edge of Forever", contemplates the origin and possible demise of the Cosmos, through the discovery of the Big Bang by Milton Humason, and touches on Hindu cosmology (certainly coincidentally the only religion whose ideas coincide with scientific theories). Episode eleven, "The Persistence of Memory", examines intelligence, first in whales, then in humans. He spins through brain biology and evolution, and concludes with a foreshadowing of a future topic, whether or not we'll survive as a species because of our intelligence. Episode twelve, "Encyclopaedia Galactica", picks up that thread, beginning with a skeptical analysis of UFOs and our desire to contact other civilizations. He goes back to another search for a civilization via Egypt and Champollion's decypherment of hieroglyphics, then forward to the search for extraterrestrial civilizations, the SETI program and the famous Drake/Sagan equation attempting to estimate the number of intelligent civilizations in the galaxy. The final original chapter, Episode thirteen, "Who Speaks For Earth?", cover the other topic Sagan is most known for, the science and politics of "technological adolescence" in general, and nuclear war in particular, and examines a past destruction, the fall of the Library of Alexandria. He ends with a sweeping, panoramic summary overview of the history of the Cosmos. In this videotape collection, the last volume is balanced out with a dialogue between Carl Sagan and, comically, Ted Turner. This constitutes the only unlikeable segment of this video collection, two Champagne Liberals discussing a hodgepodge of scientific and political topics. When Sagan starts pinning down Turner on how rich people should contribute more to society, during which Turner asks Sagan if he's a socialist (Sagan evades the question, but Sagan was indeed a socialist at heart), eventually they must get into uncomfortable ground for Turner has he abruptly changes the subject. The interview is a mildly interesting glimpse at Sagan, circa 1989, but not necessary viewing. This boxed set, issued in 1989, also included a paperback copy of the book Cosmos, which is a wonderful companion volume to the series. But to be honest, it's not much fun to look at. The ideal companion book to the series is the oversized illustrated hardcover, reprinted in 1995. The book is particularly interesting in its expansion on topics that are only touched on in the series, and occasionally in its coverage of topics not discussed at all. I don't store the book in that last slot in the gift box -- that space is occupied by my copy of the movie "Contact", a fitting eighth volume. It would be a true shame for this collection to remain out of print for long. Even twenty years after its debut, it remains the most compelling science series ever ....
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