Keep in mind that this groundbreaking documentary was produced forty years ago. Cosmos explores how humans fit into the grand scheme of things, never forgetting that we are part of the natural world, and to quote Sagan, “made of star stuff.” Sagan’s Cosmos is not just the story of how our planet came into being, it relates human civilization and how humanity has evolved and enriched itself, how common beliefs and inventions came into existence, and how our innate curiosities as a species has helped us shape life on Earth into what it is today. Not only does he cover some incredibly complex topics, he illustrates how everyday life and important historical events are tied into the physics, chemistry and science of space. Carl Sagan effortlessly takes highly scientific material and makes it accessible to the average person.

So one can imagine my surprise to find that this is not at all the case. To me the very word cosmos invokes images of highly scientific things which my average intelligence is fully prepared to not understand. So a few years back as sort of an experiment I borrowed the 1980 PBS documentary Cosmos: A Personal Voyage from the library just to see what sort of reception it would get in my house, fully expecting him to lose interest after about twenty minutes. To my great surprise however, it was a resounding success not only did my kiddo faithfully watch every episode, he cried when the thirteen-hour series was over. A bit of an armchair naturalist myself, I’m not entirely sure where he inherited the science gene, but it makes me happy and proud.

I have a kid who is into science. I mean, REALLY into science. Instead of cartoons or other more kid-friendly fare, my guy enjoys documentaries. As we near adolescence I’ve come to accept this as part of his journey to adulthood, but to be quite frank his taste in things nonfiction is not a new development this kid has been watching nature and science shows for years.

Cosmos a spacetime odyssey carl sagan