All Doom and Gloom from Brian Cox

[tibbs1972]

In 100 years they will be teaching primary school kids reading, writing and quantum mechanics .

Are you talking about the UK education system ?

Anyhow, if we knew everything now, there would be no fun in the learning.

[Si W]

Originally Posted by Si W

In 100 years they will be teaching primary school kids reading, writing and quantum mechanics .

Are you talking about the UK education system ?

Yes, the rest of the World will be learning the theory of everything .

[BrianH]

Add me to the list of those who Liked it!

I was also surprised, as others were, that it started with what is the last chapter in the accompanying book.

However, I enjoyed it and I'm still looking forward to the other episodes and also S @ N later (after 30 minutes of something really boring on BBC Scotland .. political blah blah blah )

[ian h]

Surprised at the amount of negative response here. This thread is much more doom and gloom than the show.

I personally enjoyed the program and will be watching again next week.

[cakemaster5000]

you lot aren't happy unless you're miserable are you?! to my mind time is one of the fundamental "wonders" of the universe. any kind of explanation of the universe without an explanation of the passage of time is pointless.

[starstalker]

why is it depressing that the universe will in end in a trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion years time?(i may have a left a trillion or two out) most of us will be long forgotten in 50 years time!(now thats depressing!) i think it was a good start to the series,and surely as someone once said "THINGS CAN ONLY GET BETTER!" (bdum tsh)

[themos]

BC's voice just annoys me...every sentence...just keeps coming...in the same... intonation...peppered with....pseudo cosmic significance. What that does is make you unaware of which bits are just filler and which bits are the REALLY important ones. Make it faster, and if people don't follow it immediately they can always replay it and catch up. After all, that's how they do crime thrillers, you have to feel as if you're barely catching up with the clues.

Another annoying thing is the use of computer simulations: FLAG THEM UP and say this is imagined or simulated or just plain artistic licence. People are losing the ability to tell the difference between real and simulated when they are always fed this stuff.

The last annoying thing: Namibia for some sand and an abandoned settlement? Are they crazy? Here's a clue, BBC, why don't you simulate THAT on a computer and save some money?

[tibbs1972]

I suspect the problem here was not the show, but maybe that the target audience was Joe Bloggs on the street.

I believe people on this site may have delved into the areas discussed on the show previously via other media sources and reference material.

[Sp@ce_d]

I thought it laboured the point of.. well "what's the point"

Anyway, I thought I'd get in the mood before hand and watch the last of "The Planets" series again from a few years back... blow me half the material in that was repeated almost word for word by Brian.. including the "one pixel of light"..

Look on the bright side.. "Things can only get better" ..

.. geddit.. ok I'll get me coat...

[Woking]

I liked it and expect the series to improve now the introductory arrow of time has been covered.

Content was fine although padded out perhaps too much even for trying to meet the needs of a wide target audience.

Some of the reflective pauses and trendy posturing was a little cringeworthy but they are trying to portray BC as a pin-up to reach a wider audience. So needs must to educate the masses...

Agree that some of on earth locations were unnecessary e.g. the turtle bit

[peteuplink]

Errmmm... it's his second series surely? I just reckon he coulda fleshed it out with a bit more detail and taken less time over the arrow of time. I kept hoping he'd say something facinating or explain some difficult concept in an easy way that joe public would understand - like he did in Wonders Of the Solar System.

Kept hoping he'd mention Einstien/relativity or measuring time with pulsars etc

Each episode is concentrating on just one subject.

I read the book before I watched the first episode and each chapter of the book corresponds to an episode of the series. The first episode (which oddly was the last chapter in the book) was called "Destiny" and was all about time and how it is a one way street leading to the eventual end of the Universe. The next episode appears to be "Stardust" which looks at the building blocks of the Universe and how the raw materials were created from the debris of the big bang (that's the second chapter in the book). To come after that we have "Messengers" which is about light and the information that is stored within light itself (which is the first chapter in the book) and lastly "Falling" which is about gravity and just touches on Einstein's Theory of General Relativity but not in great detail.

[PeterM]

Quite a poor first episode I thought. It was kind of bitty, more like a sequence of him in amazing locations without the over-arcing narrative he pulled off in the other series. However, I'm more than willing to give the series the benefit of the doubt and will no doubt watch all the rest.

[lee allen]

he got my job! its not fair a want to tell everyone it all over Armageddon and 2012 are all good films lol

[D:Ream]

The last annoying thing: Namibia for some sand and an abandoned settlement? Are they crazy? Here's a clue, BBC, why don't you simulate THAT on a computer and save some money?

Because they sell Brian's shows across the globe through BBC Worldwide. He makes the BBC so much money, budget isn't a big issue.

[themos]

He makes the BBC so much money, budget isn't a big issue.

Then the BBC shouldn't be MAKING that kind of program. If it's a money spinner, let the commercial operations do it. You can't blow the licence fee on jollies to Namibia for the sake of so little.

[Ceti Alpha V]

I thought the programme was very good - educational and enjoyable. It was aimed at an audience not just including the Astronomy/ Science community - hence it's showing at a peak time. It is not something for the few or was made for experts or to make you an expert but, to kindle an interest in the subject and perhaps take something from it - even to go on and study it further. I don't think we will ever get prime time type learning TV - OU programmes late at night, if you are lucky.

It's much like Nature programmes by David Attenborogh - you don't have to be a biologist, naturalist to enjoy them - but can learn and see things that otherwise may not be available or within ability to go and see personally.

You can please some of the people.................... True statement for anything these days really.

Pity so many appeared not to like it - shame as it at least promotes Astronomy and the Sciences.

[themos]

It does not promote science, in my view. It just ticks some bureaucratic boxes while, apparently, raking in lots of money.

[Edgardinho]

I'm in the disappointment camp and think the BBC has had too much input in to this instead of leaving the story to tell itself.

The first episode really should have given some kind of indication to the beginner of the relative size of the universe. I think to start talking about time without mentioning the Big Bang will have confused most and left others totally uninspired. Perhaps size/time with graphics to visualise it all would have worked better.

There were some good bits but like others have said, it either didn't know it's target audience or wasn't particularly interested in catering for them as long as it 'looked' good.

Having said that, I'll still watch the other three albeit with less enthusiasm.

[Ianladd]

Add another to the 'really enjoyed it' crew. In a world of Take Me Out, X factor and Dancing on Ice there's a four page thread on this being rubbish? Really?

Agreed.. I actually learned quite a bit from the show and god forbid without it I would have been forced to watch repeats of sex and the city 'again'!

[Si W]

I thought the programme was very good - educational and enjoyable. It was aimed at an audience not just including the Astronomy/ Science community - hence it's showing at a peak time. It is not something for the few or was made for experts or to make you an expert. But, to kindle an interest in the subject and perhaps take something from it - even go on and study it further. I don't think we will every get prime time type learning TV - OU programmes late at night if you are lucky.

It's much like Nature programmes by David Attenborogh - you don't have to be a biologist, naturalist to enjoy them - but can learn and see things that otherwise may not be available.

You can please some of the people.................... True statement for anything these days really.

Pity so many appeared not to like it - shame as it at least promotes Astronomy and the Sciences.

this program was focused on the masses, jo public, i think as astronomer the expectation was to high, and i have to agree with ceti a 5 quote.

[stevelcfc]

I enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next one

[EcoTed]

I thought it was ok... but it could have been so much more (more info and less staring thoughtfully into the middle distance).

If he was going to head off out into deep time - he could have thrown in some of the sci-fi type idea's like Dyson Spheres placed around black holes to harvest the last dregs of energy in the universe or something. I know it's supposed to be fact based, but some of the really deep time stuff (Black Dwarves - of which we think there are none, anywhere in the universe at present???) is maybe a tad speculative anyway.

I'll certainly watch the rest of the series though

Cheers

Ted

[dogfish]

I enjoyed it, always like glamorous locations. But seriously, I hadn't understood how entropy was so linked to the directionality of time and I thought it told that story well. Made me consult wikipedia on the subject - apparently there are exceptions, although they look like fudges. It's also the only astronomy programme I can get my wife to watch (only because she fancies Brian Cox).

Cheers, Martin

[Steep]

why is it depressing that the universe will in end in a trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion years time?(i may have a left a trillion or two out) most of us will be long forgotten in 50 years time!(now thats depressing!) i think it was a good start to the series,and surely as someone once said "THINGS CAN ONLY GET BETTER!" (bdum tsh)

I thought to myself, "where did I put that list of things to do before I die??"

I was less impressed with the episode than I wanted to be, partly as others have said because of, the monotonal presentation style and obvious padding out but also for me the background music was just ott and intrusive.

Hoping it gets better.

[Pete_inthehills]

well, I have mixed feelings...the solar calendar thingy in Peru was ace. I too wondered if I could make one at home...but what was the point of going to an abandoned diamond mining town in Namibia to talk about decay and sandcastles. You could do that in any British seaside town.

And I'm starting to think Brian is a bit dull too...although his teeth do have a strange hypnotic quality...

pete

inthehills