Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey

Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey
GenreScience documentary
Based on
Cosmos: A Personal Voyage
by
Written byAnn Druyan
Steven Soter
Presented byNeil deGrasse Tyson
ComposerAlan Silvestri
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes13
Production
Executive producers
Producers
  • Livia Hanich
  • Steven Holtzman
  • Jason Clark
Production locations
CinematographyBill Pope
Editors
  • John Duffy
  • Eric Lea
  • Michael O'Halloran
Running time41–44 minutes[1]
Production companiesCosmos Studios
Fuzzy Door Productions
Santa Fe Studios
Original release
NetworkFox
National Geographic
ReleaseMarch 9 (2014-03-09) –
June 8, 2014 (2014-06-08)
Related
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey is a 2014 American science documentary television series.[2] The show is a follow-up to the 1980 television series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which was presented by Carl Sagan on the Public Broadcasting Service and is considered a milestone for scientific documentaries. This series was developed to bring back the foundation of science to network television at the height of other scientific-based television series and films. The show is presented by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who, as a young high school student, was inspired by Sagan. Among the executive producers are Seth MacFarlane, whose financial investment was instrumental in bringing the show to broadcast television, and Ann Druyan, a co-author and co-creator of the original television series and Sagan's wife.[3] The show is produced by Brannon Braga, and Alan Silvestri composed the score.[4]

The series loosely follows the same thirteen-episode format and storytelling approach that the original Cosmos used, including elements such as the "Ship of the Imagination" and the "Cosmic Calendar", but features information updated since the 1980 series, along with extensive computer-generated graphics and animation footage augmenting the narration.

The series premiered on March 9, 2014,[5] simultaneously in the United States across ten 21st Century Fox networks. The remainder of the series aired on the Fox Network, with the National Geographic Channel rebroadcasting the episodes the next night with extra content. The series has been rebroadcast internationally in dozens of other countries by local National Geographic and Fox stations. The series concluded on June 8, 2014, with home media release of the entire series on June 10, 2014. Cosmos has been critically praised, winning several television broadcasting awards and a Peabody Award for educational content.

A sequel series, Cosmos: Possible Worlds, premiered on March 9, 2020, on National Geographic.[6]

  1. ^ "Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, Season 1". iTunes. March 9, 2014. Archived from the original on November 16, 2018. Retrieved May 29, 2016.
  2. ^ Overbye, Dennis (March 4, 2014). "A Successor to Sagan Reboots 'Cosmos'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 4, 2014. Retrieved March 4, 2014.
  3. ^ Sellers, John (August 5, 2011). "Seth MacFarlane to Produce Sequel to Carl Sagan's 'Cosmos'". Reuters. Archived from the original on January 5, 2022. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
  4. ^ "Alan Silvestri to Score 'Cosmos – A Spacetime Odyssey'". Film Music Reporter. January 14, 2014. Archived from the original on November 16, 2018. Retrieved August 11, 2014.
  5. ^ "Library of Congress Officially Opens The Seth MacFarlane Collection of Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan Archive". News from the Library of Congress. November 12, 2013. Archived from the original on November 13, 2013. Retrieved November 12, 2013.
  6. ^ Maas, Jennifer (November 7, 2019). "'Cosmos: Possible Worlds' Finally Gets Premiere Date at Nat Geo, Will Air Later on Fox". TheWrap. Archived from the original on November 7, 2019. Retrieved November 7, 2019.