Talk:Cosmos: A Personal Voyage

message: I think the article is missing a little piece in the introduction explaining what the series was about. I haven't seen the series since it was first aired in the UK more than twenty years ago so my memory is a little hazy. I propose to add "The series covered a wide range of scientific subjects including the origin of life and a perspective of our place in the universe." at the end of the first paragraph  --Etimbo | Talk 14:53, 9 Feb 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: That's done. --Etimbo | Talk 12:38, 2 Mar 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  What was it actually about? 

message: I have moved the external link to the list of music used in the series to the See also section. This is because the site it links to does not assert that there were copyright problems with the music and so I believe the link does not belong in the main body of the article as a reference. I also removed the text about missing images: when I looked that the site in question an image was shown. --Etimbo | Talk 15:05, 18 Mar 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  External link to list of music 

message: What do you think yes, no, ...
Theo Pardilla 13:15, 14 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Article could be improved with Quotes

message: What's a really good documentary or documentary series that deals with astronomy that is more accurate to today's knowledge, or is Cosmos still worth viewing to a modern audience?--Sonjaaa 05:24, 20 April 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Cosmos is not only still worth viewing nearly thirty years from its inception, but ought to be mandatory viewing for every high school in the nation.  While certain specifics may be in need of up-dating, the brilliance of this series lies in the broad strokes - Sagan's delivery is powerful and moving, his words near poetry, and he illicits a timeless passion for science and reason.  Watching it now, I find myself stunned by just how damned good this show is.  --Jeffrey O. Gustafson - Shazaam! - <*> 08:47, 28 May 2006 (UTC)

text: try PBS Nova: The Elegant Universe.  Super-recommended if you liked Cosmos.  And think up some more stuff -- perhaps we can make a "see also" section for the article. Te2rx 06:17, 5 June 2007 (UTC)
replies: text:  I've seen both Cosmos and The Elegant Universe. They discuss slightly different topics, with the latter including more about modern theoretical physics. I still prefer Cosmos between the two, since much of what Sagan discusses is (relatively) timeless. Being older doesn't necessarily make it dated.129.2.167.219 (talk) 22:22, 10 August 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: The Elegant Universe is a bit more flash-bang whizz-whizz than Cosmos, I find, even taking into account the advances in technology. It's probably aimed more at the shorter attention span of today's viewers and doesn't really have any of the extended sequences seen in Cosmos. That's not to say it's not worth mentioning, though it's certainly a very good show. I agree with the previous comment that the message of Cosmos is timeless, and so would have to list it as my personal all-time favourite documentary. Another great one I've seen was the BBC production The Planets (TV miniseries) which I recommended wholeheartedly. It deals mainly with the solar system and the space age though, and not with general science or scientific reasoning. --Alcareru (talk) 08:32, 18 August 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Modern equivalent

message: The show might be comprised of multi-media. But it was either shot on video or film. And it was very very unlikely to have been shot on film. - Abscissa 00:56, 2 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  "The show was shot on multi-media" 

message: Does anyone recall if the "14th episode" -- the Ted Turner-Carl Sagan interview that was included in the first VHS release of the series -- had a title? Also, I state in the article that it wasn't included on the DVD, based on what I've been able to find out about the set (which is apparently very rare); I'm happy to stand corrected if the interview is included after all. 23skidoo 04:47, 20 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Title of 14th episode

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thread_title: Fair use rationale for Image:CosmosDVDC.jpg

message: :Image:Sagan VLA2.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.
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BetacommandBot (talk) 12:35, 21 January 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: done! Necessary Evil (talk) 19:32, 21 January 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Fair use rationale for Image:Sagan VLA2.jpg

message: :Image:Sagan planetary orbits2.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.
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BetacommandBot (talk) 12:36, 21 January 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: done! Necessary Evil (talk) 19:33, 21 January 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Fair use rationale for Image:Sagan planetary orbits2.jpg

message: :Image:Cosmos a special edition3.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
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BetacommandBot (talk) 20:37, 13 February 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: done! --Necessary Evil (talk) 20:24, 14 February 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Fair use rationale for Image:Cosmos a special edition3.jpg

message: Is it true that the Science Channel is only airing 8 episodes out of the 13 originally in the series? Latitude0116 (talk) 02:33, 4 March 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Science channel confusion

message: There's a quote I remember from watching the program when it fist aired: “The scientist’s job isn’t to find answers, but to find questions.” Can anyone verify this? Morganfitzp (talk) 16:33, 18 June 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Looking for quote

message: Hulu.com has added the original, unedited 13 episodes.  I tried to add the link to External Links at the bottom of the article, but User:Fastily has reverted my addition, saying the link is inappropriate. Given that there is a paragraph relating the (former) difficulty in finding the unedited original episodes, I don't agree that adding a link to those episodes is inappropriate when the host site is free to the public.
: I agree with having a link. This is not a link to a youtube or other copyright-breaching copy. This is basically the official licensed on-line version. Given the comments about difficulty finding them, this is an appropriate link to have. Quadparty (talk) 08:13, 20 March 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Seems people continue to remove the links to the videos.  Per the guidelines, these external links are appropriate to this article.  Quoting the External Links guidelines: "Linking to websites that display copyrighted works is acceptable as long as the website has licensed the work."  And this: "An article about a book, a musical score, or some other media should link to a site hosting a copy of the work if none of the 'Links normally to be avoided' criteria apply," which they don't. WholeNote68 (talk) 23:58, 20 March 2009 (UTC)
replies: text:  I agree that links to episodes are useful, but please avoid making it a "link farm". It's not clear that all the links to videos are necessary (Hulu, GUBA, Google Video). If none contains content which is a subset of the other three, then it's perfectly fine. (See follow up response.) Thanks! Plastikspork (talk) 23:07, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

text:  Now ALL links to the videos have been removed.  Since the Hulu.com is officially licensed and of high quality, I'm adding that link yet again. WholeNote68 (talk) 23:58, 20 March 2009 (UTC)
replies: text:  There is a reason why the bot removed the hulu link. Plastikspork (talk) 00:25, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

text:  And that reason is?  I have yet to see anyone quote a SPECIFIC guideline that suggests that link was inappropriate.  Please do so. WholeNote68 (talk) 02:06, 21 March 2009 (UTC)
replies: text:  Hulu is only available within the United States. See WP:ELNO item 7. There has been more lengthy discussion of this Wikipedia_talk:External_links#Links_to_Hulu_and_other_sites_only_accessible_in_specific_regions. As I said before, there is a reason why the linkbot removed it. Plastikspork (talk) 14:56, 21 March 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Links to Online Episodes 

message: I remember watching this as a 16 year old in 1980, and it was shown around 7:00pm or 8:00pm, which is evening prime time. I need someone to cite the time properly for me before I correct the bit that refers to late screening in the UK - I don't call 7 or 8 in the evening 'late' ! Unfortunately I can't find any references to the original UK airdates. Anyone? Blitterbug (talk) 13:59, 10 October 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Late to respond, but thanks! Blitterbug 04:52, 7 January 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Original UK Airdate / Time 

message: IMO this section is just a curiosity and doesn't have any important informative value about the series.
:It was to avoid an edit war, since people were correcting the spelling to what they read in the book, on the DVD cover etc. --Regards, Necessary Evil (talk) 11:42, 19 November 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Episode name spelling discrepancies > What for? 

message: Can someone look into this? There are snippets on Youtube which have an introduction by Carl Sagan's wife who briefly discusses the changes in the series from the 1970s to the 1990s (or 2000s, I forget when it was aired).  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.80.113.218 (talk) 07:26, 12 November 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: The DVD box from 2000, disc one, has the 'Ann Druyan Intro' on it. She talks about a tribute to Carl Sagan so he must have been dead (+1996) at the time it was filmed. IMHO it must be a "Cosmos Update 20 years later". --Regards, Necessary Evil (talk) 12:07, 19 November 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Version with introduction by Sagan's wife? 

message: There is a section which describes Dr. Sagan and the fact that Plato was against publicizing astrophysics in using telescopes. Could one imagine the lines to see through telescopes back then? Hypothesis: Plato was concerned with communications between persons here on Earth. For, Carl </\>75.203.1.55 (talk) 02:11, 23 February 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: That was certainly incorrect, and perhaps a hack or vandalism, whatever we call intentional misinformation in a Wikipedia article.  Sagan did mention Plato, in his discussion about the emergence of the scientific method in the Greek cities of Ionia around 400 BC.  He explains that Plato and his followers believed the world was made of up elements corresponding to four regular solids-the cube, the tetrahedron, the octahedron, and the icosahedron.  The fifth regular solid, the dodecahedron, they associated with heaven, and they sought to suppress knowledge of this idea.  They were mystics.  So perhaps whoever added that section was thinking of that story.  Best regardsTheBaron0530 (talk) 14:34, 3 July 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Plato 

message: When did the title change from "Cosmos" to "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage"??  Personal to whom??  That sounds like "creationist re-branding" as "personal to Carl Sagan".  --Scasey1960 (talk) 09:50, 28 February 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: This article was created as "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage" in 2002 .I've examined my DVD box (7 NTSC disc, region zero, 2000), the DVD labels and the menu; and I've failed to see the suffix "A Personal Voyage" anywhere. Was it called "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage" when it was aired? Else I suggest that the article is being renamed Cosmos (TV series). --Regards, Necessary Evil (talk) 11:18, 28 February 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: In every episode, during the opening sequence, the word "Cosmos" is shown in blue letters on the screen, then is replaced by "A Personal Voyage" followed by the title of the episode. I believe it refers to persons in general. As in, "This isn't about dry numbers and impersonal facts; this is about people and our relationship to the universe" but I'm speculating. In any case, it really is the subtitle of the series. --Thoughtcriminall (talk) 12:12, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

text: Well, if you read the booklet that comes with your boxed set, you will set the Ann Druyan herself called it "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage" more than once.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.69.170.255 (talk) 23:43, 17 May 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: That was added in the later publication of the series.  When it originally aired, it was not subtitled "A Personal Voyage", it was simply, "Cosmos."  Best regardsTheBaron0530 (talk) 14:36, 3 July 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  A Personal Voyage?? 

message: Fox announced a Cosmos remake/update thing created by (among others) Ann Druyan (Sagan's widow) and staring Neil Tyson. Should it have a mention on this page? --Thoughtcriminall (talk) 12:21, 5 August 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: The “successor” series, as Fox is terming it, now has its own section.—Quick and Dirty User Account (talk) 09:18, 16 February 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Series remake 

message: "Aired" and "Air Date" are unscientific because radio and TV broadcasts do not have anything to do with the air! Radio waves do not have anything to do with the air. The expression "On the Air" is an archaic one from the 1920s and 1930s, back when 99.9 percent of people did not understand the reality behind radio waves.
You ought to at least be scientific about a scientific TV series.
D.A.W. - bachelor of electrical engineering and M.S.E.E.98.67.96.230 (talk) 13:23, 27 September 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Aired", "Air Date", etc., are all unscientific and absurd  

message: Per WP:ELNEVER, Material that violates the copyrights of others per contributors' rights and obligations should not be linked....This is particularly relevant when linking to sites such as Scribd or YouTube, where due care should be taken to avoid linking to material that violates copyright. I have removed all of the links to the episodes illegally hosted on YouTube.—Ryulong (琉竜) 15:20, 28 July 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  YouTube links 

message: The updated version of the series that is stated in the “Overview” section to have been released in 1989 or shortly after sounds suspiciously like the 1986 special edition mentioned later. Both are said to include new content, and are associated with Ted Turner: the 1986 version is stated to have premiered on TBS, and the later version is said to have come about after “Turner Home Entertainment purchased Cosmos . . . in 1989.” A significant difference is that the 1989 version is implied to include all thirteen episodes (though abridged), plus a new fourteenth, while the 1986 version is specifically stated to be cut down to only six episodes. At the least, if these are actually distinct versions, the “Overview” section is incorrect when it states that the series was “making the move to commercial television” after the 1989 purchase, since the special edition would have aired on TBS three years earlier (I would infer that the ten minutes cut from each episode by the BBC may been removed for the purpose of inserting commercial breaks also). 
Neither section of text cites any sources.
:—Quick and Dirty User Account (talk) 11:19, 16 February 2014 (UTC)
replies: text:  Re: the above comments; I don't know why the BBC cuts were made, but it certainly was not for commercial breaks.  The BBC does not have any commercial breaks.  Regards, David J Johnson (talk) 12:31, 16 February 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Circa 1989 Turner version versus 1986 special edition 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Hi, I don't know if this is relevant, but I just borrowed the 'Seven Disc Collector's Edition' from the Library here in Brisbane, Australia, and it is different to any of the other descriptions I have seen. Released by Ovation and Cosmos Studios in 20?? (I can't read the small writing), it says Digitally remastered and restored, but that's it. It has the original full length 13 episodes, and the photo gallery. No interview with Ted Turner. There are NO special features at all, no Dolby 5.1 sound, no subtitles, and no choice of language at all. No menu at all in fact, except to choose one of two episodes. This is probably not noteworthy for the article, but I thought it was strange. Probably the 'cut down' Aussie version? David / blucat. 15/4/2016.~  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 1.178.105.232 (talk) 19:41, 14 April 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: You must be blind. I have this same boxed set. It says right on the bottom, "(C) 2000 Cosmos Studios." On the back, it lists the special features and audio aspects you say it doesn't.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.69.170.255 (talk) 23:46, 17 May 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  A 'Different' Seven Disc Collector's Edition 

message: We should probably include mention of the "billions and billions" expression which Sagan used so often in this series that it became a catchphrase (Google: ), and was lampooned by The Far Side and others, and became the title of Sagan's final book.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽ʌⱷ҅ᴥⱷʌ≼  17:35, 26 April 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Billions and billions" 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Greetings,
I do not recall the exact date (approx 1990 to 1994) that I saw the original Update to Episode 10 of Cosmos: A Personal Voyage.
I had just come home from work and turned on my TV and heard the end title music for Cosmos.
I was preparing to change the channel from which ever Turner Broadcasting Channel it was (because I had obviously missed the episode) and there was Dr. Sagan in a black turtle neck!
What a surprise!  
He looked a little older - there was some gray in his black hair - otherwise he looked the same as he had when I first saw the PBS version.
He started talking about the IRAS satellite and how before it ran out of fuel - they had decided to image the entire sky.
And he said something to the effect: "...and we found something astonishing..." or "amazing"... 
His image was replaced with a circle of red dots on a black background.
He then said that each red dot was a galaxy, quasar or ("...") cluster.
And then I realized the circle was a sphere of red dots because it rotated approximately 90 degrees and there was a humanoid form (kind of like the Architectural bathroom door signs) in the middle of the dots!
A shiver traveled up my spine!  I had just read a description of the image in the Mundaka Upanishad (Part I, Chapter I) the day before!
He may have said something about the "13 billion light-year cone" and "Cepheid variables".
Sadly I did not have a blank VHS tape or a camera handy. 
 
I emailed the IRAS team and they all remember seeing the IRAS Infrared spherical projection image - however none of them knew where the image could be found.  One person even told me there had a been a poster...
 
When Cosmos: A Personal Voyage was released on DVD - I was very disappointed.  Dr. Sagan was wearing a sports coat and his hair was completely gray and he began talking about people seeing things in images that are not there.
His image was replaced with a color version of Dr. Geller's "stick man" image - which I had already seen in her book some years before the Ted Turner version of the show.
Does anyone else recall seeing the original update to Episode 10 that the Turner Network broadcast?
Xray1zero (talk) 09:00, 1 June 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  The IRAS, all sky, spherical projection, infrared image - presented in the original Turner Network Update for Episode 10... 

message: There isn't currently a place to put this in the main article, but should it ever be expanded to include more detail about its production, it's possible to date at least some of the New York City filming in Episode 2 to September 21, 1979, because Sagan is shown buying a stack of newspapers at a newsstand, one of which has the infamous "The Beatles are Back!" headline the New York Post ran on that date (as at the time it was rumoured they were reuniting for a charity concert; the concert happened, but the reunion didn't). The episode itself aired just over a year after, and only a couple months before John Lennon died. 70.73.90.119 (talk) 14:52, 15 December 2019 (UTC)
thread_title: Production dates, etc.

message: The answer would be helpful to anyone wanting to quote from the series for books or articles they are writing. 2600:8801:B011:300:B09F:3FEF:E7EB:2AC5 (talk) 15:59, 28 March 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Who is the current copyright owner of the Cosmos: a personal voyage TV series?