Cosmos, a very personal journey
15 July, 2020Adolfo Marsillach was Ramón y Cajal at that time and for us the great Catalan actor made the Aragonese scientist come to life every week on the small screen. In a way, José María del Río keeps Carl Sagan alive every time we listen to him. And it doesn't matter if it is an advertisement, that it is commenting on Pocoyo's adventures or that it narrates a documentary, and the added value that this brings to each and every one of these productions is clear, but every time I hear him I see the New York astrophysicist.
Such a day as today, ago... my God! 38 years! A 13 year old boy (myself) was settling expectantly in front of the small black and white television when Vangelis's music began to play: “Cosmos” began. That July 15, 1982 (now the series are "glued" to their premiere in the USA, at that time it was 2 years after the broadcast of the first episode in the United States) a new "Universe" opened in front of me, a voice that Since then I have inevitably associated with that series, begans to narrate the wonders of the Universe, spoke about quasars, distant galaxies, black holes, the incoceivable size of the Universe. And sitting in his dreamlike spaceship of impeccable design, (similar to the ship in which Superman arrived on earth, endowed with all the powers to be able to reach any distance, any time) was the host: Carl Sagan, who spoke to us about scientific questions that sublimated in the philosophical: a gift for my generation.
Six years earlier, in 1976, a great team of NASA scientists, including the creator and host of this series, completed the tremendous adventure of landing 2 research ships on Mars. And it was precisely the world's response to this expedition, that is; indifference, which caused Sagan to start thinking about the "Cosmos" project. Since television ignored the great exploits of the Vikings on the red planet, Sagan set out to create his own television program to spread science using the resources necessary to captivate the public unfailingly. That is why he cared so much about the details that were in favor of this crusade, to have Robert Blalack (creator of the visual effects of "Star Wars", founding member of "Industrial Light & amp; Magic") to create some The latest visual effects, with Rick Sternbach, a great illustrator who worked on the television series “Star Trek” or with the music of Vangelis, and his participation in the series could be the trigger for Ridley Scott to count on him to create the soundtrack for "Blade Runner."
The truth is that even I have been surprised when calculating the number of years that have passed since I saw the series because, when seeing it and, above all, when remembering watching it, it seemed to me something so "from this moment" that time leaves to exist, overlapping as if it were one of those possible wormholes Sagan theorized about.
Carl Sagan poses with one of the Vikings in whose project he was actively involved - Credits: "COSMOS • A PERSONAL VOYAGE" / Druyan-Sagan Associates, Inc.
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