Watch the trailer for ‘Cosmos’ with Neil deGrasse Tyson
Behold, stargazers: Fox has unveiled the first trailer for “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey,†the Neil deGrasse Tyson-hosted update of Carl Sagan’s classic PBS documentary series, and it’s a doozie.
The 3.5-minute preview, which had its premiere last weekend at Comic-Con, begins with Sagan’s narration from the 1980 original: “The cosmos is all that is, or ever was, or ever will be. Our contemplation of the cosmos stirs. We know we are approaching the grandest of mysteries,†he intones.
Then the voice-over switches to Tyson, who declares, “It’s time to get going again.â€
The rest of the trailer includes a mix of imagery, both animated and live-action, and of course lots of awe-inducing shots of glowing celestial bodies. All in all, it looks like a faithful, if more high-tech, update to Sagan’s beloved original.
As Tyson told reporters at this weekend’s event, “Cosmos†“spent time learning — exploring — how to make science matter to you, as a human being, as a citizen, as a species with the capacity to reflect on its own existence. And those kind of messages are timeless.â€
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The network announced plans to reboot the massively popular documentary series -- said to have been watched by more than 750 million people worldwide -- at its upfront presentation in May. When it aired 33 years ago, “Cosmos†became the highest-rated series on PBS (a benchmark surpassed only by Ken Burns’ “The Civil War†10 years later). It explored such issues as the threat of nuclear warfare, the Big Bang and the possibility of life on Mars.
The new, 13-episode version will air in spring 2014. It is executive produced by “Family Guy†creator Seth MacFarlane, with Sagan’s widow, Ann Druyan, and astronomer Steven Soter serving as writers.
Tyson, the director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City, is a popular recurring guest on “The Daily Show†and may be America’s most well-known astrophysicist.
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