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Carl Sagan Appreciation Thread
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| HarbingerDawn | Date: Thursday, 06.03.2014, 03:31 | Message # 106 |
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| Quote Disasterpiece (  ) Upon suggesting this idea to my teacher, I learned that she lived down the street from him (she is much younger than him, and had never actually met him). Apparently, though, he was like a legend in their school.
That's really cool 
Also, 4 days until the new Cosmos airs.
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| midtskogen | Date: Thursday, 06.03.2014, 08:07 | Message # 107 |
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| Quote HarbingerDawn ( ) Also, 4 days until the new Cosmos airs.
Please make sure to post a review/first impressions! I think there's another week until it airs over here.
I think what lifts the original series to the fame it deserves are Sagan's oratory skills, which might be hard to match, though Ann Druyan is involved also in the new series. My fear is that the new series will focus too much on the visual.
NIL DIFFICILE VOLENTI
Edited by midtskogen - Thursday, 06.03.2014, 08:07 |
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| HarbingerDawn | Date: Thursday, 06.03.2014, 12:03 | Message # 108 |
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| Quote midtskogen ( ) I think there's another week until it airs over here.
I was under the impression that it would be airing on the same day on networks around the world (maybe I was wrong, or perhaps you don't have access to the networks in question). It's worth looking up in any case.
Quote midtskogen ( ) I think what lifts the original series to the fame it deserves are Sagan's oratory skills, which might be hard to match
Not hard. Impossible.
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| midtskogen | Date: Thursday, 06.03.2014, 14:03 | Message # 109 |
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| Quote HarbingerDawn ( ) I was under the impression that it would be airing on the same day on networks around the world (maybe I was wrong, or perhaps you don't have access to the networks in question). It's worth looking up in any case.
http://natgeotv.com/no/cosmos. 16th March.
It has to fit into the schedule in the different networks. Or perhaps extra time is needed for subtitling. I hardly ever watch anything "live" anyway and I totally depend on my PVR.
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| HarbingerDawn | Date: Thursday, 06.03.2014, 21:22 | Message # 110 |
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| Quote midtskogen ( ) http://natgeotv.com/no/cosmos. 16th March.
Ah ok, thanks for checking.
Quote midtskogen ( ) I hardly ever watch anything "live" anyway and I totally depend on my PVR.
Yeah, I usually don't either I usually watch things online at a later time.
NAT GEO WILL BE AIRING THE ENTIRE ORIGINAL COSMOS SERIES BEFORE THE DEBUT OF THE NEW ONE!!!
Episodes 1-6 will air Saturday, episodes 7-13 will air Sunday. Details in the link below:
http://www.latimes.com/enterta....Cu23OpW
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Edited by HarbingerDawn - Thursday, 06.03.2014, 21:37 |
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| HarbingerDawn | Date: Thursday, 06.03.2014, 23:30 | Message # 111 |
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| A first look at some of the footage and creation of the show.
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| HarbingerDawn | Date: Monday, 10.03.2014, 03:26 | Message # 112 |
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| Welp, guess it's time for reviews...
Pros:
+ Tyson is a reasonably good presenter, though not outstanding as Sagan was (but no one is)
+ Episode serves its purpose very well as an introduction, perhaps more so than the first original episode
+ Cosmic calendar is presented better than in the original, for the most part
+ Made a good point about how seemingly obscure and inconsequential events can have history-altering consequences
+ The ending of the episode was perfect in every way
Cons:
- Outer space visual sequences look like they were made by JJ Abrams; there are too many lens flares, which are distracting and make it difficult to see
- The asteroid and Kuiper belts were presented as being dense with objects, which supports people's misconceptions of them rather than dispelling them, and no effort was made to mention what the true scale really was (which was only done when discussing the Oort cloud)
- Galactic-level visual sequences lack realistic sense of scale in size; I understand the necessity of showing the objects themselves, but they should have used a better scaling method that didn't suddenly inflate the galaxies' sizes by an order of magnitude.
- Commercial breaks (unavoidable, but it still has a very negative impact)
Summary:
Space visual sequences have issues and are variable in quality; the ones at the beginning of the episode were especially bad. But the episode serves its purpose pretty well as in introduction, establishing the tone of the series to come, and it does show potential to be a good series overall. Not rivaling the original, of course, but potentially better than the science documentaries of today.
Episode rating: 7/10
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Edited by HarbingerDawn - Monday, 10.03.2014, 03:44 |
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| Watsisname | Date: Monday, 10.03.2014, 04:02 | Message # 113 |
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| Quote midtskogen ( ) My fear is that the new series will focus too much on the visual.
Yeah. The visuals aren't bad, though not too impressive either, but they put way too much emphasis on them vs. the elements that actually made the original Cosmos so great. To be sure, much of that was Sagan's narrative skills and prose which can never be adequately reproduced, but the presentation here just felt terribly un-engaging.
Not that I fault Tyson or even the writing/production -- I believe the problem mostly lies in what qualities media corporations seem to think a science documentary series should have to draw a large viewer base.
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| DoctorOfSpace | Date: Monday, 10.03.2014, 04:44 | Message # 114 |
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| I enjoyed it, seemed a bit fast paced at times.
The whole presentation seemed like an hour long one of these
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| RockoRocks | Date: Monday, 10.03.2014, 08:25 | Message # 115 |
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| I'll still have to wait to see it till march 16th
I will be inactive on this forum for the time being. Might come back eventually
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| DoctorOfSpace | Date: Monday, 10.03.2014, 08:54 | Message # 116 |
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| Why do you have to wait? You can easily find it uploaded to youtube or other websites. Those uploads won't last long with Fox going after them though.
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| midtskogen | Date: Monday, 10.03.2014, 09:25 | Message # 117 |
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| Quote HarbingerDawn ( ) Not hard. Impossible.
If you mostly refer to Sagan's performance, yes. Performance is something personal not to be copied. But the manuscript writing is possible to match, though such writing for oral performance is no doubt an art in decline, since television has an arsenal of other stuff to bombard our minds with.
Looking at Sagan's texts it's clear that they are highly polished, the wording carefully selected, and written to work well for oral performance. He seems to be using the oldest tricks in the book, known from antiquity, but used with rare skill. Tricks that capture your attention, make you remember the text and hammer the message into your mind. He seems to use alliteration, carefully chosen adjectives and nouns, enumeration and suspense, etc, confidently without overdoing it. The pale blue dot text somehow reminds me of the beginning of one of Cicero's speeches (in Catalinam).
NIL DIFFICILE VOLENTI
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| Rhysy27 | Date: Monday, 10.03.2014, 17:12 | Message # 118 |
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| Quick question.
Is the new series an 'updated' version of the original with some extra bits and bobs, or is it more of a sequel?
"It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan
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| midtskogen | Date: Monday, 10.03.2014, 19:00 | Message # 119 |
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| I haven't seen the first episode yet, but I'm under the impression that "remake" would be a better word than update or sequel.
My hopes for the series is that my son will be able to follow it. The original series isn't available on DVD with subtitles in any Scandinavian language, it seems, so most will go over his head, but I expect the new series to be aired with Norwegian subtitles.
NIL DIFFICILE VOLENTI
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| HarbingerDawn | Date: Monday, 10.03.2014, 23:15 | Message # 120 |
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| It's a new series made in the same style as the original, and with references to the original, so sequel and remake are both applicable terms here.
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