“The cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be. Our contemplations of the cosmos stir us. We know we are approaching the grandest of mysteries.” – Carl Sagan

Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey is an updated version of the 1980s PBS documentary series Cosmos that created and hosted by Carl Sagan. The 13-part series takes a look at our world—how it has developed over the past 14 billion years, and some of the major scientific discoveries that help to explain it all.

However, this is not your typical dry documentary—host Neil deGrasse Tyson brings the subject matter to life in an interesting, entertaining and fun way. In the premiere he steps aboard “the ship of the imagination”, which allows him to take viewers anywhere across time and space. He uses this ship to travel the globe, into the furthest reaches of space, and backwards and forwards in time to allow viewers to witness major scientific discoveries and galactic events.

Tyson travels to the actual places where these scientific discoveries took place, many of which are still standing today. The series also uses state of the art visual effects to take viewers up to the stars and down to the ocean floor. The visual effects look stunning, and make you feel like you are right there witnessing the events of the past 14 billion years.

The series also uses animation to retell historical events and discoveries. The animation style is that of a graphic novel, or similar to films like The Secret of Kells. The talented voice cast includes Seth MacFarlane, Richard Gere, Kirsten Dunst, Alfred Molina, Patrick Stewart, Cary Elwes and Marlee Matlin.

Over the course of the 13 episodes, the series covers the following topics:

• “Standing Up in the Milky Way” – introduction to the ship of the imagination, the cosmic calendar, and the planets of our solar system
• “Some of the Things That Molecules Do” – artificial selection and breeding versus natural selection and evolution
• “When Knowledge Conquered Fear” – scientists like Halley seek to explain the scientific reason for comets, rather than believing they are a punishment from the gods
• “Hiding In The Light” – the various kinds of light and what each uncovers; the birth of the scientific method and astrophysics
• “A Sky Full of Ghosts” – how light can be used to see into the past; Einstein’s theory of relativity
• “Deeper, Deeper, Deeper Still” – atoms, molecules, and photosynthesis
• “The Clean Room” – profile of Clair Patterson and how his search for the age of the Earth uncovered a lead-poisoning heath crisis
• “Sisters of the Sun” – the stars, and the women like Annie Jump Cannon, Henrietta Swan Leavitt and Cecilia Payne who cataloged and classified them
• “The Electric Boy” – profile of Michael Faraday and his experiments in electricity, magnetism and light
• “The Lost Worlds of Planet Earth” – the changing shape of the the Earth due to continental drift
• “The Immortals” – the origin of life on Earth, and whether it could have come from another planet
• “The World Set Free” – the carbon dioxide rich atmosphere of Venus, and the staggering and dangerous rise in greenhouse gas levels on Earth
• “Unafraid of the Dark” – a profile of Fritz Zwicky and his discovery of dark matter; a look at the Voyager 1 & 2 missions

The Blu-ray presentation looks fantastic—the picture is crisp and flawless, and the visual effects are seamless. The animation also looks fantastic. The audio track successfully surrounds the viewer in the adventure and events on screen while also clearly delivering the dialog and the amazing score by acclaimed composer Alan Silvestri.

The Blu-ray contains a wonderful set of bonus features—a pilot commentary by the producers, a collection of speeches from a Library of Congress dedication to Carl Sagan, the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con panel, an excellent behind-the-scenes documentary and an interactive Cosmic Calendar.

Overall, I found the series to be thoroughly entertaining and thought-provoking. For the most part it keeps things readily accessible and understandable for all viewers. It was only in episode 8 where I felt there was a lot of assumed knowledge about various types of stars as the host throws around the star classification terms around without any explanation.

What’s Included:

Episodes: (553 min)

• All 13 episodes of the series
  

  • “Standing Up in the Milky Way”
  • “Some of the Things That Molecules Do”
  • “When Knowledge Conquered Fear”
  • “Hiding In The Light”
  • “A Sky Full of Ghosts”
  • “Deeper, Deeper, Deeper Still”
  • “The Clean Room”
  • “Sisters of the Sun”
  • “The Electric Boy”
  • “The Lost Worlds of Planet Earth”
  • “The Immortals”
  • “The World Set Free”
  • “Unafraid of the Dark
• 1080p / Widescreen 1.78:1
• Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French (Quebec), French, Dutch, Portuguese

Extras:

• Audio Commentary on Premiere Episode (46:03)
  The producers provide a running commentary on the premiere episode. The participants include Ann Druyan (who also worked on the original series), Mitchell Cannold, Brannon Braga, Jason Clark, and Kara Vallow (animation producer). It starts off almost like an NPR program with everyone talking softly and excessively thanking/praising one another. However, the excitement does pick up and the folks provide some interesting behind-the-scenes production information. One complaint is that the participants often talk over each other and cut one another off.
• Celebrating Carl Sagan: A Selection From The Library of Congress Dedication (34:37)
  Selections from the Library of Congress dedication to Carl Sagan on November 12, 2013 include:
  • Seth MacFarlane’s fun, informative intro about the world has become science-phobic since the loss of Sagan.
  • Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson’s “Carl on My Mind”—a fun and emotional speech in which he recalls his own memories of Carl Sagan
  • Dr. Ann Druyan’s “A Way for the Universe to Know Itself”—Sagan’s widow introduces family members, and talks about her husband’s legacy.
• Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey at Comic-Con 2013 (40:03)
  Neil deGrasse Tyson talks about being at Comic-Con, and comments on the craziness of the convention show floor. Then the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con panel opens with a long trailer for the series, followed by an intro from Seth MacFarlane (who couldn’t be there in person). The panelists include executive producer/director Brannon Braga, executive producer/writer Ann Druyan and host Neil deGrasse Tyson. The panel is moderated by Jonathan Ross.
• Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey – The Voyage Continues (41:20)
  Documentary about Carl Sagan, his work, and the original Cosmos series. It also provides a great behind-the-scenes look at the making of the new series, including the sets, locations, visual effects, animation and music. Includes interviews with executive producer/writer/director Ann Druyan, host Neil deGrasse Tyson, executive producer Mitchell Cannold, executive producer Seth MacFarlane, executive producer/director Brannon Braga, co-executive producer Jason Clark, production designer Seth Reed, director of photography Bill Pope, visual effects producer Natasha Anne Francis, visual effects supervisor Rainer Gombos, scientific research director Andre Bormanis, animation producer Kara Vallow, supervising animation director Brent Woods, and composer Alan Silvestri.
• Interactive Cosmic Calendar
  After an introduction from executive producer/writer/director Ann Druyan, the viewer is presented with a month-by-month view of the Cosmic Calender. Selecting a month will display a list of major galactic events that occurred during that period. Each of these events has an accompanying narration by Druyan as well as a photo gallery and/or video clip from the series.

• Sneak Peek (3:15)
  Play All or select from trailers for “3 Days To Kill” and 24: Live Another Day.

Final Thoughts:

Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey is a thoroughly entertaining, informative and though-provoking documentary series. Host Neil deGrasse Tyson brings the subject matter to life with his enthusiasm and authority. The Blu-ray presentation is excellent, and the set contains a great collection of bonus features. This comes Highly Recommended!