''Cosmos: A Personal Voyage'' is a thirteen-part, 1980 television series written by

Carl Sagan Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is research on ext ...

, Ann Druyan, and Steven Soter, with Sagan as presenter. It was executive-produced by

Adrian Malone Hugh Adrian Malone (3 February 1937 – 13 March 2015) was a British documentary filmmaker who produced and directed a number of documentaries, including ''The Ascent of Man'' (1973), '' The Age of Uncertainty'' (1977), and '' Cosmos: A Personal ...

, produced by David Kennard, Geoffrey Haines-Stiles, and Gregory Andorfer, and directed by the producers, David Oyster, Richard Wells, Tom Weidlinger, and others. It covers a wide range of scientific subjects, including the origin of life and a perspective of our place in the universe. Owing to its bestselling companion book and soundtrack album using the title, ''Cosmos'', the series is widely known by this title, with the subtitle omitted from home video packaging. The subtitle began to be used more frequently in the 2010s to differentiate it from the sequel series that followed. The series was first broadcast by the

Public Broadcasting Service The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educati ...

in 1980, and was the most widely watched series in the history of American public television until '' The Civil War'' (1990). As of 2009, it was still the most widely watched PBS series in the world. It won two Emmys and a

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

, and has since been broadcast in more than 60 countries and seen by over 500 million people. A book was also published to accompany the series. ''Cosmos: A Personal Voyage'' has been considered highly significant since its broadcast;

David Itzkoff David L. Itzkoff (born March 2, 1976) is an American journalist and writer who is a culture reporter for ''The New York Times''. He is the author of ''Cocaine's Son'', a memoir about growing up with his drug-abusing father. Before joining the '' ...

of '' The New York Times'' described it as "a watershed moment for science-themed television programming".

Overview

''Cosmos'' was produced in 1978 and 1979 by Los Angeles PBS member station

KCET KCET (channel 28) is a secondary PBS member television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the Public Media Group of Southern California alongside the market's primary PBS member, Huntington Beach–licensed KOCE-TV ...

on a roughly $6.3 million budget, with over $2 million additionally allocated to promotion. The program's format is similar to earlier BBC documentaries such as Kenneth Clark's ''

Civilisation A civilization (or civilisation) is any complex society characterized by the development of State (polity), a state, social stratification, urban area, urbanization, and Symbol, symbolic systems of communication beyond natural language, natur ...

'',

Jacob Bronowski Jacob Bronowski (18 January 1908 – 22 August 1974) was a Polish-British mathematician and philosopher. He was known to friends and professional colleagues alike by the nickname Bruno. He is best known for developing a humanistic approach to sc ...

's '' The Ascent of Man'', and

David Attenborough Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural histor ...

's ''

Life on Earth Life on Earth may refer to: Science * Life * Earliest known life forms * Evolutionary history of life ** Abiogenesis Film and television * ''Life on Earth'' (film) (''La Vie Sur Terre''), a 1998 Malian film * ''Life on Earth'' (TV series), a 197 ...

''. However, unlike those series, which were shot entirely on film, ''Cosmos'' used videotape for interior scenes and special effects, with film being used for exteriors and location shooting (this film-video hybrid format was common in British scripted television at the time, but less so in documentary productions). The BBC—a co-producer of ''Cosmos''—later screened the series, but the episodes were cut to fit 50-minute slots. The series is notable for its groundbreaking use of special effects, which allow Sagan to seemingly walk through environments that are actually models rather than full-sized sets. The soundtrack includes pieces of music provided by Greek composer Vangelis, such as ''Alpha'', ''Pulstar'', and '' Heaven and Hell Part 1'' (the last movement serves as the signature theme music for the show, and is directly referenced by the title of the fourth episode). Throughout the 13 hours of the series, many tracks from several 1970s albums are used, such as ''

Albedo 0.39 ''Albedo 0.39'' is a studio album by the Greek electronic composer Vangelis, released in 1976. It was the second album produced by Vangelis in Nemo Studios, London, which was his creative base until the late 1980s. It contrasts with his previous ...

'', '' Meddle'', ''

Spiral In mathematics, a spiral is a curve which emanates from a point, moving farther away as it revolves around the point. Helices Two major definitions of "spiral" in the American Heritage Dictionary are:Beaubourg The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

'', and ''

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

''. The worldwide success of the documentary series put Vangelis' music in the homes of many, and brought it to the attention of a global audience. Turner Home Entertainment purchased ''Cosmos'' from series producer KCET in 1989. In making the move to commercial television, the hour-long episodes were edited to shorter lengths, and Sagan shot new epilogues for several episodes, in which he discussed new discoveries—and alternative viewpoints—that had arisen since the original broadcast. A 14th episode, consisting of an interview between Sagan and Ted Turner, was also produced. This new version of the series was eventually released as a VHS box set. This same re-edited version was also released on 12"

LaserDisc The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diam ...

. Two episodes were released per disc, one episode on each side. The LaserDiscs for the various episodes were sold separately, not in a boxed set (as was done for VHS). ''Cosmos'' was unavailable for many years after its initial release because of copyright issues with the soundtrack music, but when it was released in 2000 on worldwide NTSC DVD, subtitles in seven languages and remastered

5.1 5.1 surround sound ("five-point one") is the common name for surround sound audio systems. 5.1 is the most commonly used layout in home theatres. It uses five full bandwidth channels and one low-frequency effects channel (the "point one"). Dol ...

sound were included, as well as an alternative music and sound effects track. In 2005,

The Science Channel Science Channel (often simply branded as Science; abbreviated to SCI) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel features programming focusing on science related to wilderness survival, engineering, manu ...

rebroadcast the series for its 25th anniversary, with updated computer graphics and film footage, digital sound, and information about relevant scientific discoveries in the intervening 25 years. Despite being shown again on the Science Channel, the total amount of time for the original 13 episodes (780 minutes) was reduced 25% to 585 minutes (45 minutes per episode) in order to make room for commercials. In a 2009 UK release, Fremantle Media Enterprises digitally restored and remastered the original series as a five-disc DVD set which included bonus science updates.

Episodes

Ted Turner Interviews Carl Sagan

Some versions of the series, including the first North American home video release (though not the DVD release), included a specially-made fourteenth episode, which consisted of an hour-long interview between Sagan and Ted Turner, in which the two discussed the series and new discoveries made in the years since its first broadcast.

Special edition

The 1986 special edition of ''Cosmos'' features new

computer animated Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes (still images) and dynamic images (moving images), while computer animation refer ...

sequences and filmed segments with Sagan, as well as new narration. It includes content from Sagan's book ''Comet'' and discussion of his theory of

nuclear winter Nuclear winter is a severe and prolonged global climatic cooling effect that is hypothesized to occur after widespread firestorms following a large-scale nuclear war. The hypothesis is based on the fact that such fires can inject soot into th ...

; this material was not used in subsequent television or home video releases. The special edition premiered as one marathon program on the TBS network, and was later broadcast in Japan, Germany, Australia, Singapore, and Argentina. It is much shorter than the original version, at four and a half hours, divided into six 45-minute episodes: # Other Worlds, Part 1 # Other Worlds, Part 2 # Children of the Stars, Part 1 # Children of the Stars, Part 2 # Message from the Sky, Part 1 # Message from the Sky, Part 2 The 1986 version of ''Cosmos'' contains a mix of music used in the original version, with a unique soundtrack composed by Vangelis specifically for the special edition. The score is often referred to as ''Comet'', as "Comet 16" is used during the opening and closing credits of each episode. Of the 21 cues, "Comet 16" is the only one that has been officially released, although some of the new music appears in the 2000 remastered DVD release.

Music of ''Cosmos''

LP and cassette

In 1981, a soundtrack LP was released by RCA Records shortly after the series' airing, which included the signature theme "Movement 3" (from "Symphony to the Powers B" from the album ''Heaven and Hell'') by Greek synthesist and composer Vangelis (catalog No. ABL 1–4003 and TMS-50061; both also released on

cassette tape The Compact Cassette or Musicassette (MC), also commonly called the tape cassette, cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. Invented by Lou Ottens ...

). Side A #Space / Time Continuum ##"Movement 3" (from "Symphony to the Powers B" from the album '' Heaven and Hell'') – Vangelis ##" Symphony No.11 In G Minor ('The Year 1905'), Op.103: The Palace Square (Adagio)" –

Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his Symphony No. 1 (Shostakovich), First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throug ...

(Performed by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra) ##"Alpha" (from the album ''

'')– Vangelis #Life ##"(Depicting) Cranes In Their Nest" – Goro Yamaguchi ##" Pachelbel's Canon" –

Johann Pachelbel Johann Pachelbel (baptised – buried 9 March 1706; also Bachelbel) was a German composer, organist, and teacher who brought the south German organ schools to their peak. He composed a large body of sacred and secularity, secular music, and h ...

(Performed by James Galway) ##" The Four Seasons: Spring" –

Antonio Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespread a ...

##" The Sea Named 'Solaris' (BWV 788)" – Johann Sebastian Bach (Performed by Isao Tomita) #The Harmony of Nature ##" Partita For Violin Solo No. 3 In E, BWV 1006" – Johann Sebastian Bach (Performed by Arthur Grumiaux) Side B #

Exploration ##"'Vishnu Symphony No. 19, Op. 217" –

Alan Hovhaness Alan Hovhaness (; March 8, 1911 – June 21, 2000) was an American-Armenian composer. He was one of the most prolific 20th-century composers, with his official catalog comprising 67 numbered symphonies (surviving manuscripts indicate over 70) and ...

##"Legacy" – Larry Fast ##" Russian Easter Festival Overture" – Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (Performed by Seattle Symphony) ##"Inside The Heart Of The Universe" – Toru Takemitsu #Cataclism ##"Fly...Night Bird" – Roy Buchanan ##"Beaubourg, Part 2" – Vangelis ##" The Rite of Spring" –

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...

(Performed by Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra) #Affirmation ##"Entends-Tu Les Chiens Aboyer?" – Vangelis ##"

Izlel ye Delyo Haydutin "Izlel ye Delyo Haydutin" ( bg, Излел е Дельо хайдутин, lit=Delyo has become a hajduk) is a Bulgarian folk song from the central Rhodope Mountains about Delyo, a rebel leader who was active in the late seventeenth and early eighte ...

" – Traditional (Performed by

Valya Balkanska Valya Mladenova Balkanska ( bg, Валя Младенова Балканска; born 8 January 1942) is a Bulgarian folk music singer from the Rhodope Mountains known locally for her wide repertoire of Balkan folk songs, but in the West mainly fo ...

) ##"Heaven & Hell, Part I" – Vangelis

CD

In 1994, RCA Records reissued the original soundtrack compilation on compact disc and, in 2002, reissued it on its Collectables label (RCA 07863 54003-2 USA; Collectables COL-CD-6293 USA). In 2002, a special two-disc "collector's edition" of music from the series was released to coincide with the DVD reissue, containing complete versions of many of the songs from the series only available as snippets on previous releases.

Collector's Edition

Disc One #"Heaven & Hell, Part I" – Vangelis (4:09) #" The Year 1905" –

(Performed by Helsinki Philharmonic) (5:38) #"Alpha" – Vangelis (5:42) #"(Depicting) Cranes In Their Nest" – Goro Yamaguchi (1:00) #" Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K. 622" – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Performed by Mostly Mozart Orchestra) (7:53) #" Pachelbel's Canon" –

(Performed by James Galway) (5:08) #"Metamorphosis" –

Jeffrey Boydstun Jeffrey may refer to: * Jeffrey (name), including a list of people with the name *Jeffrey (1995 film), ''Jeffrey'' (1995 film), a 1995 film by Paul Rudnick, based on Rudnick's play of the same name *Jeffrey (2016 film), ''Jeffrey'' (2016 film), a 2 ...

(3:34) #" The Sea Named 'Solaris' (BWV 788)" – Johann Sebastian Bach (Performed by Isao Tomita) (6:04) #" Partita For Violin Solo No. 3 In E, BWV 1006" – Johann Sebastian Bach (Performed by Arthur Grumiaux) (2:53) #" The Four Seasons: Spring" –

(3:21) #"Sonata C-Dur Für Trompete, Oboe, Und Basso Continuo" –

Gottfried Finger Gottfried Finger (ca. 1655-6 – buried 31 August 1730), also Godfrey Finger, was a Moravian Baroque composer. He was also a virtuoso on the viol, and many of his compositions were for the instrument. He also wrote operas. Finger was born in Olom ...

(Performed by Leipziger Bach-Collegium) (1:21) #" Concerto For Mandolin & Strings In C Major" – Antonio Vivaldi (2:34) #"

The Tale of Tsar Saltan The Tale of Tsar Saltan, of His Son the Renowned and Mighty Bogatyr Prince Gvidon Saltanovich, and of the Beautiful Princess-Swan ( rus, «Сказка о царе Салтане, о сыне его славном и могучем богаты� ...

" –

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov . At the time, his name was spelled Николай Андреевичъ Римскій-Корсаковъ. la, Nicolaus Andreae filius Rimskij-Korsakov. The composer romanized his name as ''Nicolas Rimsk ...

(6:35) #"Legacy" – Larry Fast (5:47) #" Russian Easter Festival Overture" – Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (Performed by Seattle Symphony) (7:44) Disc Two #"Pulstar" – Vangelis (5:13) #"'Vishnu Symphony No. 19, Op. 217" –

(4:02) #"Melancholy Blues" –

Louis Armstrong And His Hot Seven Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven was a jazz studio group organized to make a series of recordings for Okeh Records in Chicago, Illinois, in May 1927. Some of the personnel also recorded with Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five, including Johnny Dodds ...

(2:59) #"

Aquarius Aquarius may refer to: Astrology * Aquarius (astrology), an astrological sign * Age of Aquarius, a time period in the cycle of astrological ages Astronomy * Aquarius (constellation) * Aquarius in Chinese astronomy Arts and entertainment ...

–

Hair (Original Off-Broadway Cast Recording) ''Hair'' is the cast recording of the original, Off-Broadway cast of the musical '' Hair: An American Tribal Love-Rock Musical''. It was released in 1967 by RCA Victor. ''Hair'' premiered Off-Broadway at the Public Theater on October 17, 1967, a ...

(3:56) #"Beaubourg, Part 2" – Vangelis (3:14) #" The Planets: Mars" – Gustav Holst (Performed by Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra) (7:09) #"Alien Images 1" – Jeff Boydstun (3:24) #" Fly...Night Bird" – Roy Buchanan (7:43) #"Entends-Tu Les Chiens Aboyer?" – Vangelis (2:50) #" The Rite of Spring" –

(Performed by Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra) (10:31) #"Prayer of St. Gregory" – Alan Hovhaness (Performed by Seattle Symphony) (4:45) #"

" – Traditional (Performed by

) (5:01) #"Comet 16" – Vangelis (3:48) ''(Only the special edition of Cosmos)''

Singles

The main theme, titled Heaven and Hell, Part 1, but edited from Heaven and Hell Part 1 3rd Movement, was released in the UK as an edited 7" single by BBC Records (Cat No: BBC1). The 7" single did not have the quiet keyboard intro to be found on the full Vangelis LP version originally released in 1975. The B-side of the 7" single was an edited version of Alpha, taken from the Vangelis LP Albedo 0.39. * 1981 Heaven and Hell / Alpha RCA 71 UK * 1981 Heaven and Hell / Alpha BBC 1 * 1981 Theme from the TV-series COSMOS / Alpha PB 5356 Holland * 1981 Titelmelodie aus der TV-Serie "Unser Kosmos" / Alpha PB 5356 West-Germany

Sequel series

On August 5, 2011, plans were announced for a sequel to the series, bringing up-to-date special effects and scientific discoveries to the themes and messages of the original series. The new 13-part series, referred to as '' Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey'', was originally announced to premiere in the 2012–13 United States network television schedule, but a Twitter update from Neil deGrasse Tyson in June 2012 indicated an early 2014 release. Episodes began airing March 9, 2014 on the Fox Network and the next day on

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television television network, network and flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel owned by the National Geograp ...

. The new series was hosted by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and produced by the two surviving original creators, Ann Druyan and Steven Soter, with

Seth MacFarlane Seth Woodbury MacFarlane (; born October 26, 1973) is an American actor, animator, filmmaker, comedian, and singer. He is the creator and star of the television series ''Family Guy'' (since 1999) and ''The Orville'' (since 2017), and co-creator ...

. Another sequel series from the same team (with Tyson again hosting), '' Cosmos: Possible Worlds'', premiered on March 9, 2020, on

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

References

External links

The Carl Sagan Portal
*

* ttp://cosmic_voyager.tripod.com/cosmosindex.htm A Complete List of the ''Cosmos'' Soundtrack Music, based on the original cue sheets
''Cosmos'' DVD review on VideoVista
{{Portal bar, Media, Society, Astronomy, Stars, Spaceflight, Outer space, Solar System, Science 1980 American television series debuts 1980 American television series endings 1980s American documentary television series Astronomy education television series Documentary television series about astronomy Documentary television series about science PBS original programming Peabody Award-winning television programs Television series featuring reenactments Works by Carl Sagan