Wonders of the Universe

I loved this series, being a big fan of the Cosmos series my feeling is that Brian Cox has the best of Sagan's ability to explain and transmit the excitement and joy of astronomy and physics, he keeps it interesting, exciting and simple to us all non-scholars of complicated astrophysics.

I found very interesting that he made huge references to the Cosmos series, he sure is a big fan of Sagan's work and he passes that with a more modern twist and the use of nice CGI.

Overall a great documentary and a nice addition to other Universe related films, the locations filmed are amazing and Professor Cox's way of talking is mesmerizing.

Brian Cox is a brilliant narrator and gave the series his best. Equally good was the visual effects and when these two factors met together it created something majestic to say the least.

I was shocked to find this "documentary" has almost 9 points on IMDb. This show is watchable if you have never seen any documentary about our universe before. In that case I can understand how this show got 9 points, its strong points are; beautiful scenery and space CGI mixed together with some jaw dropping numbers.

If however you have seen ANY previous documentaries about space, you will be greatly disappointed. 70 percent of the screen time is taken up by our presenter Brian Cox, who for some reason thinks its a good idea to grin and walk around in slow motion in front of the sunlight. All the while talking about some of the most obvious scenarios in space.

So if you have never seen a documentary about space before, this could be worth a watch. If however you are even MILDLY educated in physics/cosmology all this show has to offer is beautifully shot scenery (space and nature) with a very annoying commentator. The information was so stretched out, that I think they could have done a single episode instead of 4.

Some reviews on here are either woefully stupid or they just don't understand the reason for this program.

Now bear with me here: this is a prime time show on mainstream television. Did you understand that? No? Well just to clarify: the program doesn't assume we are all scholars in the fields of cosmology, particle physics, thermodynamics and quantum mechanics. This is a TV show, not a lecture. Although one reviewer seems to think that gravity is not a force (it is), so would have been utterly confounded by a proper lecture.

As someone who does know a fair bit about cosmology I watched this show with high hopes, as I very much enjoyed the previous series Solar System. It certainly lived up to my expectations. I watched it with my mother, who previously had little interest in the subjects covered, and she became more and more fascinated as the series progressed. This, I suspect, is the whole reason for the show: to bring science to the masses, rather than keep the knowledge within a group of people who already know it.

So to summarise: if you are well versed in physics and want to learn something new then you should probably avoid this show. However if you are merely interested in astronomy, cosmology et al and want a plain, easy to understand welcome to the field then I very much recommend this show.

Very well done BBC!

looks like the science guru's have decided to write reviews for this and slammed it. personally i have enjoyed the series. Yes it has fantastic vista's and glorious visuals , and probably not enough content for the want-to-be or actual geologists within each episode. It does however bring a visual feast and captures the feel of how i certainly used to look out at the stars at night as a child. Its warm, educational, and puts hair on the back of your neck. Brian Cox has a wonderful way of making you understand everything he is explaining (for us mortals that is)In my opinion i appreciate, to "aficionado's" this is child's play, but for the rest of us bored with reality TV , this is compulsive viewing.