COSMOS: A SpaceTime Odyssey

The updated version of COSMOS had very big shoes to fill, given the historic goodwill toward Carl Sagan’s original production, a 1980 Peabody winner which was deeply loved by a generation of armchair astronomers and inspired many future scientists. COSMOS 2.0 managed to pull off an impressive hat trick: Thanks to advances in special-effects technology, it looks gorgeous. Thanks to the presence of its host, astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson (himself a protégé of Sagan), the tour of intergalactic wonderlands and subatomic particles is energetic and fascinating. Perhaps most important, thanks to its rigorous, unapologetic belief in the scientific method, the series has the kind of backbone and point of view that would have made the late Sagan proud. COSMOS reminds viewers that individuals are mere specks of dust within a vast interstellar wonderland, but at times, it also emphasizes the idea that, on our little planet, global warming is real and must be confronted. As we ride along with Tyson in his Ship of the Imagination, every corner of the universe and every cell in our bodies becomes fascinating in a host of new ways. For sparking joyful wonder and for celebrating the fruits of rational inquiry, COSMOS: A SpaceTime Odyssey receives a Peabody Award.