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Verdict on Stargazing Live 2012


M4lcs67

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A few annoyances but so much better than last year.

Now if they can just dispense with all the comedians.......

I think they have comedians because it works on Infinite Monkey Cage.

I found it a totally professional production where the only bit that felt a bit clunky was the gravity spandex table.

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An excellent program all round. Perhaps they need to be more flexible with their outside broadcasts and the running order of these.

Good choice of presenters in Dara and Brian it is an entertainment show after all so picking a comedian who has studied theoretical physics is an excellent choice....

Enviado desde mi GT-I9003 usando Tapatalk

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Its been a great vehicle to get more people aware of astronomy, I organised an event in Alford and we had 200+ people turn up, in a village of 2000!

The materials provided by the BBC/OU are excellent, the DVD well produced, the 9 activity cards well made, and the Stargazing 2012 booklet well executed.

Fab-u-lous!

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I thought the show was excellent.

About time more hobbies like this are given the mainstream TV time they deserve.

I cannot believe how many people have been talking about it at work, who before Monday didn't even notice if the moon was out!

Fantastic.:)

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I thought it was overall well done, I liked the sequences from South Africa as that's a bit of sky I don't normally see :)

But I felt they could have done a little more live stargazing instead of quite so much live talking about stargazing in places.

Getting out the studio and cutting from one presenter at one event to another somewhere else might have worked to show a broader range of the events going on. Maybe at the end of each show telling people where events were going to be the following night?

I though this too, especially as the local BBC news crews were already at a few events around the country.

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Inevitable that the rather quixotic attempt to switch off the lights for a look at the sky in Dulverton would get scuppered by clouds though

Yes, I saw that, but it was blatantly obvious that they didn't get all the lights off, and the cameraman did his utmost to maintain the illusion of full compliance. Nice idea though.
Its Stargazing Live and Brian Cox's Wonders collection that has inspired me to take up astrology.
I'm sure wonder-boy would be utterly delighted to hear that!:)
Call me Judas, I only watched the 1st episode, then switched off the tv for the rest...
Tut tut! It's really not done to admit to that sort of thing. The next thing you'll be enumerating some of the faux pas wonder-boy made.
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I thought it was excellent - Prof Cox et al were all excellent and I think that anything that raises the profile of science etc. has to be a good thing. I've been staggered at the number of people at work who watched and enjoyed the shows - even my 15 yr old daughter thought they were good.

An idea for next year - if the Beeb can afford to send a presenter and a film crew to South Africa - why don't they send a few amateurs with their kit to somewhere fairly close, and where it's dark at the same time as it's dark in the UK and where clear skies are more certain - like Mount Teide on Tenerife for example? Then they could do some brilliant stuff about less "basic" stuff like guiding, filters, CCD cameras.....etc. I know I'd volunteer to help out!

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I thought it was better than last year, and I watched it all... except the end of the first after-show show... I went out stargazing instead :)

Having said that the after-show - whatever it was called - was a great addition in the style of Autumn/ Springwatch.

Problem is now I want a SuperWASP :)

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I thought they were great to be honest :) I'm still a noob in this world, but I found it rather inspirational and enthusing. As for the ET element, it got the wifey to avert her eyes from her book. I liked the silly captions such as "More Not Actual Footage" or whatever it said. I think it shows the world that particle physics isn't all done by nerds. Also, if they had focussed on the more intense and hardcore astronomy it may have put people off a little bit. Everyone likes the information in the easiest way to understand but the more serious elements of the discussion showed that it was at heart a serious program.

Great job!

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Overall I thought it was great. The fact that it's Live really works well for some reason which surprises me as I wouldn't have thought that. I guess it's because the essence of astronomy is seeing stuff live rather than looking in books or on TV.

I like Brian Cox though I don't like the way he seems to be laying into people who are ignorant of science. For instance I think he made disparaging comments about those who were concerned about CERN creating black holes. Not knowing that these are harmless and will quickly evaporate hardly makes someone an idiot and it makes Cox look like he has some kind of inflated opinion of himself or something. Dawkins does a similar thing particularly with religious believers but somehow does it in a way that is less or at least more subtely offensive.

But overall I think Cox did a great job. And it was nice to see light pollution getting some serious coverage too.

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Why is it that (some) people want to knock Brian Cox? He is after all trying to teach the public and pass on his knowledge. I have found in life that the people so quick to express these opinions against others are usually jealous of the person they ridicule, probably because they don’t know quite as much as they thought they did, or they feel insecure in some other way, or even jealous of someone doing well. I presume he’s worked hard to get where he is in a short space of time, good of him I say.

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The thread is about what we thought of the show and that is one thing I noticed that I didn't like. Has nothing to do with jealousy or anything else you mention which is pure fantasy on your part.

Some people don't like Brian Cox and I can kind of see why that is. We don't all find the same people attractive which is perfectly natural. Personally I like Brian Cox and overall I thought these three programmes were excellent and, apart from the one thing I mentioned above, Cox was excellent.

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I think they have comedians because it works on Infinite Monkey Cage.

I like IMK, but for me that's a very different animal.

Dara is OK when he lets others speak and doesn't interrupt (Gene Cernan :))

But why was the Liverpudlian comedian who's name escapes me on the programme? All he did was make stupid comments about Photoshop being used on the images and hog quite a bit of an otherwise interesting discussion.

It just seems the Beeb are afraid they'll make it too sciencey.

That said, so much better than last year.

PS. The Lovell telescope is just such a wonderful iconic structure

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I like Brian Cox though I don't like the way he seems to be laying into people who are ignorant of science.

Only those who are wilfully ignorant, as far as I can see. He's not disparaging of those who want to understand, just those who refuse to.

For instance I think he made disparaging comments about those who were concerned about CERN creating black holes.

Surely if you understand enough of the science to understand why the LHC might create a tiny black hole, you ought to understand enough of the science to see why it wouldn't be an issue? If you believe it will happen because the papers made a big fuss about it then you deserve a bit of ribbing for taking anything they print seriously without checking the facts.

James

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Only those who are wilfully ignorant, as far as I can see. He's not disparaging of those who want to understand, just those who refuse to.

Surely if you understand enough of the science to understand why the LHC might create a tiny black hole, you ought to understand enough of the science to see why it wouldn't be an issue? If you believe it will happen because the papers made a big fuss about it then you deserve a bit of ribbing for taking anything they print seriously without checking the facts.

James

As the Americans say, "I approve of this message" :) Spot on mate.

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