The Universe

This program must have been made for the Joe Bloe uneducated TV viewer. Most of the time, the information being presented is not new or interesting, and it feels as if the writers & producers of the show had to fill up a large time slot with very little source material. So what you get is a bunch of information repetitively going on and on about how "dangerous" gamma ray bursts are, or how imminent asteroid collisions are, blah blah blah. Yes, we all know about these things, but the way the program makes you sit through an hour meagerly trying to make you sit on the edge of your seat for a statistic of like 1 in a billion billion (as seen with the gamma ray bursts) that the Earth will be destroyed by some calamity. Yes, we know already! They could have been done with it in 5 minutes, but no, it's stretched to an hour long program! The sensationalism of this program is just too over-the-top, from the drawn-out "fear factor" bits, to the announcer's XTREME TRUCKS style voice. They obviously should have saved him for the Monster Truck series...

Another thing that bothered me were all the "analogies" that took away from the true dynamics of how certain things in the universe work. For example, dropping a Yogurt container to show how a death star works... or a sprinkler for showing how a spiral star is. While these are "cute" they are indeed more annoying than useful, and assumes a real lack of intelligence of the viewer. Just tell us the science behind it without treating us like 5 year olds.

It really is a shame. This program could have been so much more informative and hosted by a much better narrator (writers are to blame too, of course). There are indeed moments where I laughed out loud because of how dumb the narrator's comments were.

On the bright side, however, the computer effects were done well enough. It is an interesting subject, so that's why I gave it a 5. But all in all, terribly done for such a great topic.

If you agree with the first reviewer's comments, then I guess I'm a 12 year old. I do not believe this series was geared toward the "professors" of the world but average normal people who can relate to terms like "super sonic speed".

The CG visuals are awesome and give you a real image of what they are trying to explain more than any 2d pictures taken by HST could ever help. The scientist an people involved in the show have a real love and passion for what they are saying and make the show genuine and very appealing.

All in all I love this show and think it is worth watching when ever it's on, but I'm no professor emeritus and I'm not cool enough to have a "power off switch" on my T.V.

So if your a 12 year old at heart like me, then you will really like this show!

It really feels like the understand. Why? Because what i was looking for was a show that could teach me about the big damn universe. And so far, it really has. The only problem is, I've gotten addicted, and now i want around 600 episodes, not 50.

Since i have already finished all the seasons, i have had to watch them all over again! Which is great, coz documentaries like this, is not like movies. Good movies you watch once. Great movies you watch twice. Favorite movie, you watch until you hate it. But a show like this, you never stop with! So much fact, some simplified so all can learn and understand!

I love the space. It's big, and i want to learn more about it! This show has helped my understand so much! So. Do you like space? Do you like astronomy? Well then, you should really, really watch this show! It is so great!

Give it a chance, and you will be truly amazed by the show's quality.

It's the perfect type of documentary series that you could explain even with very limited personal knowledge of science to a kid. And at the same time for people with basic to medium knowledge of science it's still a incredibly well done and informative series. I was 20 when this series started. And it really broke apart the terrible experiences I had at highschool with learning the science/astronomy/physics. A really great piece of material.

This series is obviously a serious winner. It makes you think and although it merely touches on different subjects rather than going into heavy depth the explanations are enough to get the point across. Each interview with each astronomer and scientist is short and attention-getting. The proofs for different theories are shown in non-mathematical terms - except for the "billions of billions" thing which can get on your nerves a little because without math then you almost have to take their word for things. Even the scientists make a few blunders by confusing exponential with geometric or the classic confusing literal with figurative which every journalist does all the time but those are small items.

One interesting item from this series is the constant use of the term "global warming" which even taken in the context of this great series is laughable because in the same sentence a liberal scientist brings it up he explains that the sun has far more influence on the weather than the mere pittance man contributes as they obviously mean man-made global warming as opposed to what nature does. So obviously the makers of this series have bought into this bizarre hoax that makes a few people rich at the American tax payers' expense. That's the reason I can't give it a 10/10.

Otherwise I highly recommend this series. Again, it's superb.