Cosmos: Carl Sagan

Great series!

Very pleased to see the series again. Carl Sagan is an inspiration.

Such a great tv show and a must for any one whom loves astronomy or astrophysics, or science in general. Sagan is masterful in his presentation and delivers such great and memorable dialogs. We speak for Earth are obligations to survive and flourish we owe to not only ourselves but to the vast cosmos from which we came .

This show STILL holds up after 30 years. Yes, a small portion of the scientific data is outdated, but the overall experience is quite awe inspiring, especially when you consider the magnitude of what had been achieved back then using what would now be regarded as rather clunky technology. If you are a young fan of the recent Neil deGrasse Tyson-hosted series and are unfamiliar with the original Carl Sagan series, you're in for more of a treat than you'll expect. In fact, for the complete "Cosmos" experience, you must watch the original, because the backgrounds of historical figures in science are different from those on the reboot. Sagan's "Cosmos" also encapsulates the concerns of the time in which it was made: we were poised on the brink of a full-out nuclear World War III, and it posed a question as to why there may not be other advanced civilizations out there, which is, "if our species is typical of advanced civilizations in the Universe, did all those other civilizations self-destruct because they couldn't advance faster than their technology?" The other thing that sets the original "Cosmos" apart from its excellent reboot, is the sheer poetry of Carl Sagan's words. It is one of the reasons Sagan is so rightfully venerated. Carl Sagan's "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage" is not only extremely educational, but it is deeply moving as well. Excuse me while my eyes sweat a little..... (NOTE: So far, this original "Cosmos" series is available in DVD format only. Remember, this is a show from the early 1980's, in the Dark Ages of Standard 480p resolution long before 1080p Hi-Def came along, so expect the visual experience to be a bit crude compared to the current digital resolutions which have spoiled us today. Don't let that stop you from experiencing this beautiful artistic vision celebrating science and our known Universe.)

Who speaks for Earth? Where did life originate from? Where is the human civilization going? What is out there waiting to be discovered? This series sets out to answer these questions as truthfully and as eloquently as it can. Carl Sagan was one of the most brilliant men to have existed in his time and still influences us today. The series puts the known facts of the universe so simply that even a child could understand them. The episodes within this series are inspiring and utterly beautiful. The majority of the information held within this DVD set is still true today, and regardless of whether or not you already know this information, it is still truly something inspiring and charismatic to watch and to have. The series is filled with history, philosophy, imagination, and an absolute respect for the facts, it is a series that challenges any documentary series today and has enhanced my life. I have long been aspiring to go into the professional field of science, specifically in biology, and this series has further pushed my desires to accomplish my goals. We all inhabit this pathetic little speck of a planet in our small corner of the galaxy, which resides among billions more; the fact that we know so much about it and can even summarize a variety of it into 7 DVDs is remarkable. "We are a way for the cosmos to know itself", this phrase continues to inspire me, along with several other Sagan quotes, something that every person should experience, simply because it is our birthright to know everything there is to know of the universe and beyond. This series is something I will forever treasure and share with posterity in the hopes that it will educate, entertain, and inspire them as it has for myself and several others.

Mixes theory with facts. Theology with wisdom.

This is a five-star production, in all honesty, but I'm docking a star to make a point that I hope will be addressed by the Cosmos Studio company who released it: this DVD set has not been coded or mastered properly. I have encountered playback problems in two different sets and this is inexcusable. I bought this new from Amazon in early 2015 (and sent the first set back for exchange), and in both instances I experienced menu screens that froze, discs that do not display a main menu screen, and consistently, discs automatically start to play a second episode even when only ONE episode has been selected to play from the main menu. Worse, several times the program would freeze up as it attempted to make this switch to the second episode and become utterly unresponsive. (Most of these discs have two episodes per disc.) I would have to stop the DVD player and switch off the machine and reload the disc and try to navigate around the glitches by restarting the play functions. I can't keep sending sets back to Amazon and trying replacements and finding the same problems. There obviously was at least one bad batch of DVDs that was released... so buyer beware, as they say. Be forewarned.

Yep, it's a DVD set, and yes it's November 2025 as I write this. Is it worth the purchase price... my goodness yes! Carl Sagan is so impressive, video quality doesn't matter to me, the knowlege and passion over 13 one hour episodes is simply staggering. I am so satisfied with my purchase. It is one of those series you will revisit every couple years, 98% of the facts are still spot on today... science is science, the cosmos is the cosmos. Dare I say, a series that gives us hope. Outstanding.

This was the most fulfilling purchase I have ever experienced.

約40年前リアルタイムで見てました。どうしても見たく購入しました。以外とドラマパートが多く「こんなんだったけ？」と言う感想でした。 もちろん番組を見れた感動はかわりません。

Si nos enseñaran de esta forma en la escuela todos querríamos ser científicos. Imperdible serie y tampoco se pueden perder las nuevas temporadas con Neil DeGrass Tyson

Spedizione velocissima! Prodotto in perfette condizioni. Non potevo chiedere di meglio. Un documentario scientifico che ha fatto storia e ognuno dovrebbe aver visto.

Yes it is old, yes the image is far from HDTV but the content is the most interesting thing I've seen on tv in two decades, before they decided that we were too dumb and that tv had to be about celebrities... A must watch for everyone and you don't have to be scientific minded as Sagan's ability to explain science in original ways has made him a highly recognized popularizer of science. The mix of poetry and science makes this show enjoyable for everyone.