The Cosmos Episodes
1. The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean
![]() |
The Shores of
the Cosmic Ocean (60 min) Color (Cosmos Series,
Part 1) 1980 Carl Sagan talks about galaxies, stars, and planetary systems. On Earth, we visit the ancient library at Alexandria and learn how Erostosthenes computed the Earth's circumference. (Subjects: Astronomy. Galaxies. Stars. Planets.) |
![]() |
One Voice in
the Cosmic Fugue (60 min) Color (Cosmos Series,
Part 2) 1980 A discussion of the origins of life, natural selection, and how different species adapt to their environment. (Subjects: Natural selection. Evolution. Origin of species. Adaptation.) |
![]() |
Harmony of the
Worlds. (60 min) Color (Cosmos Series, Part 3) 1980 Carl Sagan discusses astrology and how people interpreted the patterns of the stars long ago in different civilizations. Johannes Kepler's life and work is also dramatized. (Subjects: Stars. Kepler, Johann, 1571-1630.) |
![]() |
Heaven and
Hell. (60 min) Color (Cosmos Series, Part 4) 1980 Using a mysterious blast in Siberia as a starting point, Carl Sagan discusses comets, meteorites, and theories about the planet Venus. (Subjects: Comets. meteorites. The planet, Venus.) |
![]() |
Blues for a Red Planet. (60 min) Color (Cosmos Series, Part 5) 1980 Explores the planet Mars through actual photographs relayed from Mariner and Viking probes. Theories of the planet are discussed, including those of Percival Lowell. (Subject: The planet Mars -- exploration. |
![]() |
Travellers' Tales (60 min) Color (Cosmos Series, Part 6) 1980 On Voyager II's exploratory mission, Jupiter and its satellites are examined. Space exploration in the 20th Century is compared and contrasted to 17th Century exploration by Holland. (Subjects: The planet Jupiter. Project Voyager. Outer Space -- Exploration.) |
![]() |
The Backbone of Night (56 min) Color (Cosmos Series, Part 7) 1980 Carl Sagan discusses the ancient Ionian "physicists" of the island of Samos. Many discoveries and concepts were formed here from the concept of the atom to the construction of a celestial globe. (Subjects: Physics -- History. Ancient Science.) |
![]() |
Travels in Space and Time (60 min) Color (Cosmos Series, Part 8) 1980 Carl Sagan discusses the concept of a light-year and Einstein's theory of relativity. Also, the history of ideas proposed for space travel is discussed. (Subjects: Light -- Speed. Interplanetary voyages. Relativity.) |
![]() |
The Lives of the Stars (60 min) Color (Cosmos Series, Part 9) 1980 Carl Sagan explores the nature of atoms and the part that nuclear energy plays in the universe. (Subjects: Nuclear structure. Fusion. Cosmology. Creation. Astronomy.) |
![]() |
The Edge of Forever (60 min) Color (Cosmos Series, Part 10) 1980 Carl Sagan explores the origins of the universe. (Subjects: Cosmology. Creation. Astronomy.) |
![]() |
The Persistence of Memory (60 min) Color (Cosmos Series, Part 11) 1980 Carl Sagan discusses the human brain and genes. This is compared to the way we store information in libraries and computers. (Subjects: Brain, Human genetics.) |
![]() |
Encyclopedia Galactica (60 min) Color (Cosmos Series, Part 12) 1980 Carl Sagan presents a discussion of UFO's and explores the possibility of extraterrestrial life. (Subjects: Unidentified flying objects. Life on other planets.) |
![]() |
Who Speaks for Earth? (60 min) Color (Cosmos Series, Part 13) 1980 "Who Speaks for Earth?" Dr. Carl Sagan discusses how, in the past, humans made war with one another. But now the planet is in the midst of a stirring world-wide revolution to become a single global community, and yet humanity's engines of destruction have become able to destroy our civilization as was the great library at Alexandria in the fourth century. |
![]() |
Discussions with Dr. Carl
Sagan (60 min) Color (Cosmos Series, Part 14)
1980 Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. Board Chairman and President R.D. "Ted" Turner and famed astronomer Dr. Carl Sagan present an informal discussion on current, urgent global problems affecting us in the 20th century and those likely to affect us in the future. |