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All Doom and Gloom from Brian Cox


CGolder

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I've not seen it yet, I was working so it'll have to wait till tomorrow to pass judgement. Ive been looking forward to it loads, I hope it's as good as I've been hoping.

I have to say though there are a lot of comments on here that make Me^ even more convinced that BC and his teeth need to stay well away from The Sky At Night.

Are you listening Mr. Beeb ?

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I'm trying to be open minded about the series atm... That was just the first episode, and yes, like most comments here, I didn't find it the most exciting programme ever. But I'm tempering that by thinking about how insanely mind boggling some of the concepts and timescales he's going to talk later on are. A bit of early ground work seems like a good place to start, even if it wasn't the most exciting show.

Hopefully it's setup for some rather more dramatic stuff :)

But there were far too many shots of BC standing manfully in a variety dramatic landscapes! Something for the ladies I guess, apparently he's highly regarded.

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All said and done we will all probably watch the rest of the series to the end. Like most TV documentaries most do start of slow.

Its a pity he hasn't joined the forum......................or has he ?

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How many people here would like to have a go at explaining the "arrow of Time " concept to their other halves and succeeding ??

I think a lot of you are being far too harsh ! These are fundamental aspects of cosmology that need to be explained to a much wider audience and yeah it's doom n gloom -cos that's the way it is ! His expression of the sliver of time available for life to exist in the Universe was an eye opener but hey, it wasn't unexpected!

I agree with Sam-he needed to start laying some of the ground work for the bigger stuff, else it's just going to be another "pretty pictures" program of Hubble images and not much new.

Give the bloke a chance! As was mentioned earlier ....."what a fickle lot "!!

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Heheh... Naughty Guardian:

TV review: Wonders of the Universe, Civilization: Is the West History?, South Riding | Television & radio | The Guardian

Personally, I was waiting for Jarvis Cocker to "Do a Michael Jackson" on poor BC. But, "What is Life"?

(Aaarg, Cox-itis is catching!) - If we cannot allow ourselves the odd, irreverant chuckle.... :(

Based on real-time twitterings... it's a difficult task. <G> The "Don't understand a word - but he's so dishy etc.", seem largely irredeemable. Also, so MANY of "Joe Public" (scientists or not) have wised-up to the BBC's (expensive) "extended travelogue" format. :)

Even within Science, I sense that "rabid enthusiasm" (sorry - boyish charm?) are requisite for government funding. I'm not sure (my personal heroes) Newton, Turing [Henry Cavendish?] would have stood a chance, in today's economic climate! :)

On the PLUS side, I am more sympathetic to BC now. He does say that the object is merely to convey a couple(!) of scientific ideas per program? I think there's still a vague... "snobbery" aspect in science, that sadly dissuades many (Ph.Ds too!) from admitting that they "never quite understood" ... the laws of thermodynamics, wave particle duality etc. Heck, I am even wary of expressing such deficiencies on SGL science threads. [part teasing] :p

For me personally, the program pushed me to look into:

Heat death of the universe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So, in that sense, and level (intent), it succeeded. :)

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I just found it a bit 'same old'. After 20-30mins I started wondering what else was on. Not a bad program by any means, but I hope the rest of the series gets a bit more interesting.

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But there were far too many shots of BC standing manfully in a variety dramatic landscapes! Something for the ladies I guess, apparently he's highly regarded.

Thats the problem I have with it I think the BBC are trying to make him into a poster boy - he is on the cover of Radio Times as well. I also felt that it was a bit light on content and the only thing I really remember about it is the entropy analogy

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That's what a lot of people are now saying: they remember the sand bit, which could have been shot anywhere.

My preferred entropy analogy is cooking and cleaning the dishes. Cooking is creating disorder (a stew, say) from order (ingredients in separate packages). Washing up is creating order (plates in the cupboard, everything else in the bin or down the drain). You are a lot more likely to find something accidentally cooked than last nights dishes accidentally washed and put away. Washing up is therefore to be prized more highly. Well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

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I also had been looking forward to this for months and months... I admit it was a little slow, but definitely improved toward the end, I had been *taught* entropy during my Chemistry A-level but it was taught so poorly that the entire concept left me cold, but Brian managed to explain in a way that triggered straight away!

I personally don't mind the 'doom and gloom', I still find it almost humbling what teeny-tiny speck of time we accommodate, and as soon as the credits rolled I was straight on to the internet reading further into the heath death, and surely this is the key aim of these sorts of programmes - to inspire people to WANT to research further into the ideas put forward during a 60 minute 'lecture' (the teaching kind, not the other kind)!

But then that's just me...

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I did feel a little peeved that I gave up an hours observing to watch, what was a poor episode, with clear skies being at a premium right now.

Let’s hope that the next instalment is better?

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I think the BBC are trying to make him into a poster boy

I would rather have him as a poster boy for todays generations than many of the other so-called celebrities out there... At least he might prompt people to look into things in more detail and might even help people enjoy science.

Personally I quite enjoyed the show... Yes it was focussed on the down side of things, but its hard to talk about time and the universe without talking about how it will end.

I agree it wasn't the most technical epsiode in the world and didnt go into the n'th degree of detail on things but I think he would have lost a lot more of the audience if he tried that in episode one. This way there are just a few people complaining and they will still probably all tune in again for the next episode. :p

I'm looking forward to the next episode and will have another read on the subjects on wikipedia later :)

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I personally think it was good (just watched it now), all I can say is, have you guys forgotten just how **** television is, I mean, come on, just before this was Top Gear with a bunch of monkeys who cant drive, think they are above their stations! Also wasn't that wonderful programme on ITV on just before Mr Cox, erm.... oh thats it, Dancing on Ice !!! Brian Cox any time of the day for me chaps!!!

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I personally think it was good (just watched it now), all I can say is, have you guys forgotten just how **** television is, I mean, come on, just before this was Top Gear with a bunch of monkeys who cant drive, think they are above their stations! Also wasn't that wonderful programme on ITV on just before Mr Cox, erm.... oh thats it, Dancing on Ice !!! Brian Cox any time of the day for me chaps!!!

Actually thats a fair point but you also forgot to mention the excellent Naill Ferguson documentary on Channel 4 just before it !!:)

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I think it is OK to criticise. Just because it is a Science programme and it has Brian Cox in it, dose not mean it was that good. I do not want good Science programming to turn into Dancing on ice or Top Gear, and the only way not to let that happen is to voice your opinion when you are disappointed.

Every body loved Horizon with little criticism and now it has turned in to a mystical programme....ooh, Science...its magic.

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I think the programme was a little laboured and I'm not sure that the mining village or the shipwreck worked particularly well as metaphors for the lifetime of the universe, but on the other hand I'd never thought about the link between time and entropy before last night and I liked the piece about the towers in Peru being a calendar. I'm actually quite intrigued by the latter. If they could measure time well enough to be able to build it, why did they need it?

What always came through in WotSS and didn't particularly well in this programme for me was BC's huge enthusiasm for his subject. Perhaps it's difficult to be enthusiastic about the end of the universe :)

James

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I was disappointed in the show too. I think what I was wanting from it was more like the episodes of Horizon that he did. In those programs he has already covered this stuff but in s much more engaging and much more interesting way.

Check out these Horizon episodes:

What time is it?

What on earth is wrong with gravity?

Can we build a star on earth?

All three were as good as wonders of the solar system and much better than last nights show.

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I am in agreement with you all, I think we all judge things from different angles. You take what you want from documentaries and feed from what ever knowledge you may have gained. I believe these programmes are aired for a different form of audience rather than previous docs, just what type, im unsure of yet? There is a huge leap to keep todays audience captive by the information given, there is a long way to go yet for anybody to recreate the passions of a certain David attenborough, shows such as blue planet, planet earth etc... These only got better with the aid of technology, and did capture minds from the very young which is where I believe is the key, these are the future. Maybe Mr Cox's show was put out too late, the original horizon series if I remember when i was a kid was on at tea time on sundays. Give the guy a chance he has awoken many individuals to look up rather than look down at their feet and expect everything to be here tomorrow...... All donations are kindly excepted to the Brian Cox Astro fund, please send a stamped addressed envelope to..... ( joking of course !)

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If he wanted to demonstrate the scale of time, he did an excellent job. That's what happens when you fit a half hour program into an hour slot. I don't believe that the universe is going to fizzle out as he described. Matter can neither be created nor destroyed, it can only change state. There can never be 'complete nothingness' – and one day, I hope to be able to say, 'I told you so!'

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