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Cosmos Episode 9: The Lives of the Stars

What a rousing climax to this episode as Sagan imagines being on a planet somewhere about the central disk of the galaxy and how each morning on that planet, the inhabitants would witness not a sunrise but a galaxyrise.

What a soaring imagination to cover in one episode everything starting with Chemical Elements 101 from the Cavendish Laboratory to talk about white dwarfs, neutron stars, super novae, red giants, pulsars, and black holes.

Not much needs to be revised in this generation old series from his descriptions of the interior of the atoms to his descriptions about the lives of the stars.

And oh, he talks about how black holes might be worm holes through which we might be able to journey to different parts of the universe. The usual science fiction stuff of course but I can hardly wait to fall into a black hole.

It occurred to me that in the time since Sagan made this series, no one else has dared to venture onto this territory and try and improve on Sagan. Seems like an impossible task in spite of the advancements in so many aspects of making TV programs.

That proves that this series was essentially possible due to the singular talent of one man.

Time will tell if there will ever be another one quite as talented.

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