# 'Cosmos' or 'Elegant Universe'?



## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

I've been thinking about Christmas gifts.

As a long-time fan of Carl Sagan, I am going to invest in the digitally remastered "Cosmos" series from Discovery.com. I would like to have the boxed set of 13 episodes (7 dis cs) for my own personal collection and give several box sets as gifts this coming Christmas, but at $130 a pop, it would run me over $500 _and_ that is just a tad rich for my low-fat financial diet!

As a possible alternative, I see that the two-disc "The Elegant Universe" DVD set, with which I'm not familiar, is also available from Discovery.com for just $20.

For those here who have watched "The Elegant Universe", I would certainly appreciate having benefit of your impressions of the product, but not necessarily in comparison to "Cosmos", which, in my opinion, will _never_ be equaled.

Also, if anyone knows if the theme music from "Cosmos" is available somewhere, I would love to have it.

tia


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## fredo (Dec 1, 2005)

If this is the same "The Elegant Universe" that aired on PBS, I enjoyed it. You can view the program online and decide if you like it and want to buy the DVD for it.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elegant/


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## TNGTony (Mar 23, 2002)

The Elegant Universe was excellent. It is amazing how incredibly complex consepts, theories and observations are boiled down (not dumbed down) to understandable and entertaining bits of information for mass consumption.

The one thing going for it was that it was obviously much more up to date with scientific theories and recent discoveries, and certain previous speculation either confirmed on proved incorrect. The biggest new item is the inclusion of the unified string theory. In fact it is really specifically about string theory but goes deep into the rest of cosmology for background

However, the prose of Carl Sagan makes "Cosmos" stand head and shoulders over the newer rival. As much fun as everyone had at his expense about BILLions and BILLions of star or whatever, he made the show. The music by Vangelis also adds another dimension to "Cosmos" that "Elegant Universe" lacked.

From what I understand, the new collectable "Cosmos" DVD set has a plethora of updated materials and corrections due to recent discoveries, updated theories and proved theories. So part of the plus for "elegant universe" is nullified. But there is nothing like an integrated program with the latest info.

Finally, Cosmos is much more in depth about many different subsjects. But with 13 Episodes to "Cosmos" vs. 2 episodes to "Elegant Universe" I guess it should be.

Oh, and just FYI, Cosmos started another rerun on The Science Channel on Thursdays. The frist episode aired yesterday. Though it is hacked quite a bit, you get a good taste of the show.

See ya
Tony


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