Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking

Compared to other similar documentary miniseries (Wonders of the Universe, Cosmos) I found this one to be somewhat sloppy and cheesy in tone.

In terms of script, consider just two things I remember from the third episode: 1. Stephen Hawking (or his narrator) calls us a breed of monkey, when in fact we're a species of ape. 2. Stephen Hawking (or his narrator) says that for a room floor covered in evenly-spaced spheres, they all experience the same gravity from each other, which is of course false because the gravity at the boundaries would be different than the gravity in the middle.

The first two episodes I would rate as 6/10, wild and wasteful speculation with pretty graphics and annoying music.

Only the third episode is worth watching, if you understand it's been dumbed down and hyped up for today's US audiences. But because it's twice as long as the previous two, I rounded the score up to 7/10.

One word: Amazaing!

This is so damn good and i could watch it over and over again. The time travel episode just cleard my mind and answered me every question i had about time travel into the future and past. This need to be watched.

a brilliant series. professor hawking has created something special here - a complex subject made simpler with great examples and explanation , even i could understand - this should be required viewing in every school. the graphic's are absorbing and the dialogue holds your attention so the subject stays fresh. i could have watched this for far longer. if only it had more episodes. the last episode explaining the history of everything was gripping with science's knowledge of how the universe began and how it might possibly end shown with good explanation. the episodes start with professor hawking's computerised voice then another voice takes over after a few minutes of dialogue - at just the right point i think.

Newer than my school days but now getting a tad long in the tooth. Still covers many things that one might have missed.

Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking (2010) S1 - E1 Aliens

We get a Stephen Hawking view of Aliens. Makes me think of Carl Sagan on Alien Abduction and Cosmos, who making love to an alien is like making love to a petunia.

We start out with a large numbers overview. There are lots of psychedelic graphics to have something to watch while listening to a narration on big galaxies and speculating on alien environments.

There is an annoying English narrator, instead of a good California neutral accent. Drives me up the wall as the narrator cannot pronounce evolution.

We are treated to a compare and contrast to Star Wars and Star Trek. Speculation from spontaneous to asteroids. Just add water. Now voyaging to the vastness beyond our solar system.

He prefers to talk about the observatory in Hawaii. I prefer the one in Griffith Park as I know it. And we are off again into space. Space is alive.

We get speculation on the chemistry of life. The average male hold about 6 gallons of water. This implies that the average female cannot old water.

Stephen Hawking likes as a standard abduction story a person lost alone in nowhere at night. I prefer "I Married a Monster from Outer Space" (1958). Again, Carl Sagan preferred petunias.

Looks like we will have to wait and see when they get here.

Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking (2010) S1 - E2 Time travel

Free to explore the universe and ask the big questions such as, is time travel possible? Can we open a portal to the past? Or find a shortcut to the future?

We start out with a large numbers overview. There are lots of psychedelic graphics to have something to watch while listening to a narration on the nature of time as seen by Stephen Hawking.

There is an annoying English speech impediment, instead of a good California neutral accent. So, several words will be mispronounced.

We need to look at time the way physicists do. The fourth dimension. It sounds almost pornographic as he describes tiny worm holes and their properties. Oh, the space/time type of worm hole.

We are treated to visions of tiny crevasses, wrinkles, and voids. Oh my!

We get a lesson on why we should not Feed the wormhole. Now we look at GPS and its part in time differentials. By this time, you may wat to take a break as concepts move faster. I suspect there may be some fillers. Revisit black holes and light speed. Lots of "Ifs"

Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking (2010) S1 - E3 The Story of Everything

Free to tour the universe. We start out with a large numbers overview. There are lots of psychedelic graphics to have something to watch while going from the big bang to life, to the end of time (or forever.) We get a quickie about dark energy.

There is an annoying English speech impediment, instead of a good California neutral accent.

We get a Newton version of gravity or non-relativistic classical mechanics that treats time as a universal quantity of measurement which is uniform throughout space and separate from space. Instead of an Einstein general theory of relativity, wherein spacetime is curved by mass and energy. The spacetime of special relativity is today known as "Minkowski spacetime."

As some sort of joke, we get how the end of the earth will affect the Japanese stock market.

Stephen Hawking, the wheelchair-bound theoretical physicist who joined Einstein and Newton at Data's holodeck poker table in Star Trek:The Next Generation brings us this stunning look into the realms of sci-fi speculation and science. You may think a documentary hosted by someone who can't move and speaks in a computer-generated monotone would be boring but this three episode mini-series is anything but. Hawking appears only to punctuate the segments and a smoother-voiced narrator speaks for him most of the time. It's his inner vision of the universe and it's incredible possibilities that take us along on this fantastic ride.

The first two episodes seem more like sci-fi than science; the third is mostly a cosmology primer- the basics of the history, structure and dynamics of the universe:

• "Aliens" gives us an intriguing look at what life might look like in bizarre extraterrestrial landscapes and the possibilities and implications of first contact.

• "Time Travel" explores the scientific basis and intriguing "what ifs?" of travel through time.

• "The Story Of Everything" brings us back to pure science for the most part covering the basic tenets of cosmology with the same compelling examples, engaging style and eye-candy photography and graphics as the first two episodes. It dabbles in sci-fi towards the end as it speculates about human migration to the stars.

For me personally, the third episode was an anti-climax twice as long and half as interesting as the first two. This is because I've watched many cosmology documentaries and despite the presentation the subject matter covered was just too basic and repetitive to interest me. If you're new to cosmology however, you'll probably find it as riveting as the first two episodes. If you're a strong believer in a Creator or Intelligent Design, you may be a bit put off by the unambiguous lack of support for them here.

This series is very accessible for a layperson or student who doesn't follow science, anyone from grade school on up should enjoy this series. Hard-core science fans like me should appreciate it for it's wonderful imagination and spectacular presentation. Check it out.