President Obama Introduces Tonight's Cosmos Premiere

[Do4600]

Sadly, we watched some of it and it was not impressive. They had lots of graphics, but no real information, not even basic information. Maybe it got better but we gave up after the flight through our solar system. Just came off as a really bad school educational video, and not nearly as good as the original.

We'll give it another try in a few episodes and see how it has progressed, but for now, it was a miss.

It was an introduction to science as a way of knowing, it introduced key concepts such as "deep time" and the basic structure of the universe. I think the next episode will be better because it will go deep into a single subject instead of a broad overview of what the show will be about. Also you have to remember the original series was broadcast without interruption, this show has something like 40 minutes to go over the material while Sagan had an hour uninterrupted.

 

[RJ 17]

I wouldn't start packing your bags just yet, my friend. We're slowly circling the drain over here. While Europe is just now realizing the errors of their economically liberal ways and desperately trying to crawl out of their hole, our country is diving in head first.

You see when you use liberal as an insult you come off like a jerk and lose credibility. News flash going whole hog one way or the other solves nothing.

I didn't realize I was using the term "liberal" as an insult...I thought I was simply describing the situation as it occurred. Didn't a number of European countries such as Greece get into a financial crisis because of their economically liberal policies? I'm talking about ridiculously expensive pensions for public-sector workers (allowing people to retire at 55 and continuing to pay them for the rest of their life) and public service (welfare, health care, etc) spending.

 

[Saippua]

Well I was going to watch it but if its gonna feature war criminals no thanks

 

[GoddyofAus]

Obama's legacy of space science is shooting NASA in the knee with funding cuts that effectively scuttled their plans to go to Mars while maintaining the US military's exorbitant government funding. Thanks, Obama.

 

[McMullen]

Doesn't this guy have more important things to do? With all of the shit this country is facing right now, is it really necessary for him to pull PR moves like this? Just work toward fixing our problems dude, you're the PRESIDENT, not a fucking celebrity.

One of the things this country is facing is science illiteracy, which is likely to cause a lot of economic damage if allowed to continue. This is an effort to address that.

 

[Kieve]

One of the first lines of the show was "Question everything." So I asked myself, is it really necessary to have the goofy CGI ship from "Flight of the Navigator" zooming around? Apparently that isn't one of the things I should be questioning.

As for Obama... bah. Nothing that man says is worth listening to, he's an empty suit who wastes his time and ours getting in front of every camera available. The sooner we're rid of him, the better. I tuned in for the Science, not the Chief of State.

 

[wulfy42]

Forget Mars, it's never gonna happen at this point. We have, mostly, wasted the last 20-30 years. The steps needed to accomplish a mars base are pretty much set in stone, and we have not made any progress towards that goal in forever.

Ditching the space program we had isn't really a big deal, since it has been accomplishing so little for so long. Honestly we need to have a world wide organized effort to colonize space, or we might as well just give up.

 

[Fifty-One]

Sadly, we watched some of it and it was not impressive. They had lots of graphics, but no real information, not even basic information. Maybe it got better but we gave up after the flight through our solar system. Just came off as a really bad school educational video, and not nearly as good as the original.

We'll give it another try in a few episodes and see how it has progressed, but for now, it was a miss.

Thats unfortunate. I'll probably still tune in for myself, but that's not what I was hoping to hear.

 

[CriticalMiss]

So was he there to announce a drone strike initiative against Mars and a broad surveillance effort against those Venutian scumbag terrorists? Because he doesn't seem like a good fit. I mean, they already have Neil deGrasse Tyson so the only way they could have done better is if zombie Sagan showed up with Feynman in tow and Einstein on the bass.

 

[wulfy42]

Ok, Zombie Sagan...sounds freaking AWESOME. Why didn't they do that? Seriously, imagine the ratings they would have gotten!!

I get that the show was just starting off, and....possibly it had more of an impact for people who where big fans of the original and had nostalgia glasses on. I DVR'd it and watched it with my wife, best friend and his wife, and well....me and my friend where let down by the lack of actual information, both women where just plain bored (Didn't really care about the subject matter) and so by the second commercial break or so, it was time to move on.

Half the time it has to be a comedy or action/drama show just to keep everyone interested now adays!!

I would probably have given it more of a chance myself, though, the intro was a let down. Like I said, just gonna wait and see how it turns out.

But man, now I really wish they would have a Carl Sagan Zombie...although...they did have his voice right at the start...which is kinda close.

Considering I didn't know he was dead (I don't remember stuff like that...my wife loves celebrity trivia so I just don't even pay attention since she always knows everything anyway)....I was a bit surprised they used his voice, cause I was like...why would you replace him if he is still alive....and then use his voice in the intro!!

Now it makes a bit more sense.

Zombie Carl Sagan "Use your Brains.....before I eaaaat them!!!! MMmmmmm Imagination Tastes GOOOOOOOOOD"

 

[renegade7]

It was beautifully produced and impeccably acted by the host who spoke with dignity and passion and brought an amazing level of polish to the show...and then they spent close to 30 minutes romanticizing the theorist who challenged the church. Look, I don't doubt some version of what they showed happened, but when the protagonist is that pure and the representatives of the church are voiced in menacing grumbles, I can't help but be skeptical.

Um...they burned him at the stake for heresy. It's not a fiction of the television program, it actually happened:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giordano_Bruno#Imprisonment.2C_trial_and_execution.2C_1593.E2.80.931600

I don't see how that doesn't make them kind of the bad guys here.

 

[vid87]

It was beautifully produced and impeccably acted by the host who spoke with dignity and passion and brought an amazing level of polish to the show...and then they spent close to 30 minutes romanticizing the theorist who challenged the church. Look, I don't doubt some version of what they showed happened, but when the protagonist is that pure and the representatives of the church are voiced in menacing grumbles, I can't help but be skeptical.

Um...they burned him at the stake for heresy. It's not a fiction of the television program, it actually happened:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giordano_Bruno#Imprisonment.2C_trial_and_execution.2C_1593.E2.80.931600

I don't see how that doesn't make them kind of the bad guys here.

I'm not disputing the burning at the stake thing, nor his ideas and conviction. I'm just get this feeling that the way they portrayed him as the "only one" to think of this stuff was grander than the whole thing actually played out. It's like the Columbus myth where everyone but him believed the earth was flat. Maybe I really am thinking about it too much but it came off as romanticized to me.

 

[Xdeser2]

Sadly, we watched some of it and it was not impressive. They had lots of graphics, but no real information, not even basic information. Maybe it got better but we gave up after the flight through our solar system. Just came off as a really bad school educational video, and not nearly as good as the original.

We'll give it another try in a few episodes and see how it has progressed, but for now, it was a miss.

......it introduced alot of key concepts to people watching, and explained the scale of things they're discussing. Its MEANT to be a mass media thing aimed toward educating alot of people, of course its going to be a bit light on hardcore information and data