And, until his death in December 1996, Sagan served as a story consultant and scientific advisor. This is undoubtedly the result of Sagan's influence. Contact is believable in part because it doesn't replace true science with vague terms and gobbledygook. In his novel, Sagan was careful to make everything, even the most farfetched parts, theoretically feasible. Although the movie changes and condenses significant aspects of the original material, it remains true to this vision.
Contact opens with an unforgettable sequence that takes the viewer on a tour of the universe.
It starts out in a familiar corner of space, with Earth filling the screen. Then, constantly accelerating, we pull back. The moon passes, then Mars. We zip through the asteroid belt, then speed past Jupiter, through the rings of Saturn, and out into places beyond. Once the Oort cloud is behind us, we careen past stars and galaxies, proceeding ever farther away from our home solar system.