I often imagined having an obscene amount of money and what I would do with it; buy houses, cars, fun- but otherwise superfluous gadgets- but there are things I would do that I felt would mean something important. Like fund space exploration, or throw money at creating a cartoon about space that was actually accurate for little kids to watch.
So when I heard that Seth MacFarlane was backing a revamp of the Carl Sagan classic, Cosmos, I felt a twinge of catharsis. So here comes this guy who has made tons of money off delightfully simple and stupidly funny shows, and now he is backing an educational show about space.
After watching the first episode I felt like I was watching the first step in a scientific renaissance for the masses. Sure there have been other shows (History of the Universe, Through the Wormhole), but this show is doing something right: They let an actual scientist host it. Morgan Freeman is great, but it creates a veil that we need a renowned celebrity to make space and learning interesting. Neil deGrasse Tyson (along with others) has continued to break that mold for years.
His enthusiasm for the subject comes through in his somewhat histrionic hosting style that makes me both chuckle and empathize. When you talk about the Big Bang, the formation of Earth, our Sun, the Solar System, or galaxies, it’s hard not to get caught up in the drama of what all that stuff must have been like. That passion pierces through in Tyson’s expressions and is amplified by the awe-inspiring visuals that dazzle the viewers and becomes a smorgasbord for the imagination.
What’s more mold-breaking about this show is that it isn’t relegated to some lame channel nobody watches, it’s on the Fox network. I can only hope that this level of exposure will draw in a younger audience that will so desperately need to find real passion for sciences in a society of growing anti-intellectualism.
The closing for the first episode really sealed that deal for me and was a stroke of genius. Tyson discusses his first time ever meeting Carl Sagan and even presents us with Sagan’s book signed and gifted to a young Tyson. This was like a passing of the torch. Carl Sagan was a brilliant scientist who worked hard to demystify science and bring the wonders of the cosmos into everyone’s home. To see Tyson doing the same thing, with the same show, and to see that link between them adds a sense of kismet (and generally speaking I hate that word) about this show’s revival and what it should mean for science and for the lay viewers at home.
Astrosystems 