Carl Sagan was a legitimate scientist, he was director of the Laboratory for Planetary Studies and an Astronomy professor at Cornell. Throughout his career he contributed to over 20 books and published more than 600 scientific papers. He was perhaps most well known as a popularizor of science and turtle-neck-wearing-carbon-bag-of-class-and-chutzpah.
Arguably his greatest contribution to mainstreaming science was Cosmos, produced by PBS in 1980. Over 13 episodes Sagan took us on a journey in his ship of imagination to the far corners of our universe and beyond. Cosmos was created by Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan, and Steven Soter.
The show was so successful that it remained the most watched PBS series worldwide until 2009. The series has been intermittently updated to correct for new discoveries and current scientific information. Science however, is continually self correcting so something like this is tentative by definition and requires an occasional reboot. The return of something like Cosmos is long overdue, not because the information in the original series is inaccurate, but because it’s been too long since we had a real focus on science education.
Sagan has since passed away but Druyan and Soter are returning to produce a new series, along with Seth MacFarlane, that premiers March 9 on Fox and National Geographic titled Cosmos: A Space-time Odyssey. Druyan attended the San Diego Comic Con with host Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson to promote the new show. They showed a teaser and had a Q/A in which Druyan discussed the ebb and flow of scientific popularity. She suggested that for the last decade or so the popularity of science has decreased but is now on the upswing and the world is ready for Cosmos again.
The fact that Cosmos had two commercials during the biggest sporting event of the year might be evidence for her case. I hope she’s right. Based on the glimpses received during last night’s super sports championship spectacular, the show won’t be solely focused on space as might be inferred by its name but will instead explore many different facets of existence in the same way the original series did. It will also follow the same 13 episode format.
The spaceship of the imagination has been updated and redesigned and allows Dr. Tyson and the viewers to travel to any place in space, time, or dimension in a way we haven’t seen since Miss Frizzle’s magic school bus. Like a school bus the ship of imagination appears to also have no seat belts but gets better mileage and has tougher shielding. Plus it spins.
My only complaint, and it’s one based entirely on greed, is that there are only going to be 13 episodes. The universe is a big place, there’s literally an endless amount of material, but I understand that educational programming is inherently risky, people turn on the picture tube box to be entertained and to see the beautiful people, not to be taught. Though, let’s get real, Dr. Tyson is super dreamy.
Cosmos: A Space-time Odyssey will air on FOX Sundays 9/8c and National Geographic Mondays 10/9c. Watch the super foosball commercial below.