![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Okay, I admit: I was trepidatious at first upon learning that the late, great and sadly missed Dr. Carl Sagan's groundbreaking old 1980s PBS television series Cosmos was going to be "updated" (or "remade," "rebooted," "reimagined," or pick your current TV-industry verb) for the new millennium. Your Humble tends to have a knee-jerk reaction about remakes in general, especially of old and classic shows and films that were unquestionably done right the first time. All too often, the intent of those doing the remake is a cynical attempt to cash in on an existing "brand" rather than any actual need or artistic impulse to improve on the original.
But given that so much has been discovered about the universe and our place in it during the intervening decades, there is certainly at least some justification for an update in this case. And I felt more sanguine about the news once I learned three things that greatly lessened the likelihood of the new show being a desecration of the original: 1) famed astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson (arguably the new Sagan of his generation, and a protegé of his) would be hosting and producing; 2) Sagan's widow Ann Druyan, who co-produced the original, is also heavily involved; and 3) cable's National Geographic Channel would be airing it, along with the Fox broadcast network. (And isn't that a step up? I can remember when nobody but PBS would go near this sort of material for fear of ratings disaster. Yes, I know, I'm showing my age. Now you kids get offa my lawn.)
Even better for us over here on the Dark Continent, NGC's African channel Nat Geo Wild gets the show about a week after its US airing, and is airing it here as well. Now we've finally seen the first episode, and it does seem a promising start, maintaining the spirit of the original while incorporating new data and material (Tyson's recollection of his own visit to Sagan in his Ithaca, NY home is especially apt and moving)—not to mention fabulously updated graphics and special effects. However....
( Long angry nerd nitpicking rant back of the cut. Don't say you weren't warned. )
But given that so much has been discovered about the universe and our place in it during the intervening decades, there is certainly at least some justification for an update in this case. And I felt more sanguine about the news once I learned three things that greatly lessened the likelihood of the new show being a desecration of the original: 1) famed astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson (arguably the new Sagan of his generation, and a protegé of his) would be hosting and producing; 2) Sagan's widow Ann Druyan, who co-produced the original, is also heavily involved; and 3) cable's National Geographic Channel would be airing it, along with the Fox broadcast network. (And isn't that a step up? I can remember when nobody but PBS would go near this sort of material for fear of ratings disaster. Yes, I know, I'm showing my age. Now you kids get offa my lawn.)
Even better for us over here on the Dark Continent, NGC's African channel Nat Geo Wild gets the show about a week after its US airing, and is airing it here as well. Now we've finally seen the first episode, and it does seem a promising start, maintaining the spirit of the original while incorporating new data and material (Tyson's recollection of his own visit to Sagan in his Ithaca, NY home is especially apt and moving)—not to mention fabulously updated graphics and special effects. However....
( Long angry nerd nitpicking rant back of the cut. Don't say you weren't warned. )
