Having been brought up on Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" programme from way back in the early 1980s, I have to say that "The Universe" does a fine job of informing and entertaining to a wide demographic audience.
As an amateur astronomer myself, I do feel the same kind of "mild irritation" some other reviewers highlighted here regarding the over-use of simple analogies and "dumbing down". But there lies the rub for the producers of the show: how to broaden the scientific appeal to those who are just curious about how the universe works!
Some episodes do require a lot of concentration, even with the use of analogies, given the subject matter (Dark Matter, Dark Energy, Quasars and Pulsars etc), and even I had difficulty trying to understand what was being said by the eminent scientists in the show. But the broad use of CGI and the way some of the astronomers in the show tried to strip away some of the technobabble certainly helped.
The only other mild criticism I would have with shows like this is the narration. I do prefer shows with an on-screen presenter rather than just a talking-head narrating from a studio. Carl Sagan spoke to camera, as does Michael Cox ("Wonders of the Solar System", "Wonders of the Universe"). I always feel more attached to the show with these guys probably because they add emotion to what they're saying, and you feel part of that.
I have just started watching "How The Universe Works", and after only 6 episodes in, I can say that it stands out more than this show, which seems to have ran out of steam after only 3 seasons.
Still worth watching, but it does feel like its more about quantity over quality.
As an amateur astronomer myself, I do feel the same kind of "mild irritation" some other reviewers highlighted here regarding the over-use of simple analogies and "dumbing down". But there lies the rub for the producers of the show: how to broaden the scientific appeal to those who are just curious about how the universe works!
Some episodes do require a lot of concentration, even with the use of analogies, given the subject matter (Dark Matter, Dark Energy, Quasars and Pulsars etc), and even I had difficulty trying to understand what was being said by the eminent scientists in the show. But the broad use of CGI and the way some of the astronomers in the show tried to strip away some of the technobabble certainly helped.
The only other mild criticism I would have with shows like this is the narration. I do prefer shows with an on-screen presenter rather than just a talking-head narrating from a studio. Carl Sagan spoke to camera, as does Michael Cox ("Wonders of the Solar System", "Wonders of the Universe"). I always feel more attached to the show with these guys probably because they add emotion to what they're saying, and you feel part of that.
I have just started watching "How The Universe Works", and after only 6 episodes in, I can say that it stands out more than this show, which seems to have ran out of steam after only 3 seasons.
Still worth watching, but it does feel like its more about quantity over quality.