What do you think of The Universe series?

kikko

I've seen a bit and thought it was overly simplified, and disappointed with there being so many interviews and little animation. I think I learned just as much through my intro astronomy class in college. I'm wondering if Hawking's Into the Universe is much better. I actually don't know much about informative space documentaries besides Cosmos and The Planets.

phinds

NONE of the TV programs contain totally factual information as far as I've seen. They all mix in real physics with a large amount of just nonsense and outright false statements. There have been several threads on this forum bemoaning that fact.

They are mass media popularizations, so we really should not expect otherwise. They are NOT in business to tell the truth but to sell ads.

Swankie

The worst are the ones w/ Micchio Kaku. I appreciate him being one of the best theoretical physicists but all he does is preach about how cool the future will be. The worst part of it is all of the technology he talks about is so beyond hypothetical, that it isnt even known if what he is suggesting is possible to do in the first place. But he gets away from it by always saying "In the distant future, we will be able to do "X" ".

I get the audience he is going for is probably the scientific illiterate, but when the all-elusive science television series are put on broadcast, I just expect more.