CosmosLogoIntroduction

“Cosmos: A Personal Voyage” is a documentary television series presented by the renowned American astronomer and scientist Carl Sagan. Consisting of 13 episodes, the popular science television series was developed in the late 1970s and first broadcast by PBS public television in the US from October 1980.

Accompanied by the book “Cosmos” by Carl Sagan, the television series immediately attracted wide-spread attention and won an Emmy award in 1981 for being an ‘Outstanding Informational Series’. Many viewers were inspired by Carl Sagan’s charismatic and enthusiastic explanations simplifying intricate scientific ideas merging science, history, and philosophy, supported by visually attractive scenes and a mix of classical and contemporary music, partly sourced from Vangelis’ 1970s albums. Due to its success the television series “Cosmos: A Personal Voyage” was ultimately broadcast in more than 60 countries, reaching an audience of more than 500 million viewers worldwide.

With the original series developed as a non-commercial broadcast for public television in 1980, a variety of music could and was used as a score, ranging from classical, ethnical and traditional music to more contemporary and electronic compositions by Jean Michel Jarre and Vangelis. The main theme of the series (heard during the opening and closing titles of each episode) was a section titled ‘3rd Movement’ from Vangelis’ album “Heaven And Hell” (1975).

Other music by Vangelis heard during the 13 hours of television are:

  • ‘Creation Du Monde’ from “L'Apocalypse Des Animaux” (1973)
  • ‘Main Title’ from “Ignacio” (from the film “No Oyes Ladrar Los Perros?" (1975))
  • ‘Pulstar’ and ‘Alpha’ from “Albedo 0.39” (1976)
  • ‘Spiral’ from “Spiral” (1977)
  • ‘Part II’ from “Beaubourg” (1978)
  • "The Little Fête’ and ‘Himalaya’ from “China” (1979)

TheMusicOfCosmosLPFrontSeveral of these tracks were incuded on the official soundtrack album “The Music Of Cosmos”.  While copyrighted music could be used freely in the original series due to its educational nature, the music copyrights posed some difficulty when later editions of the series changed to a commercial product. In 1986 Carl Sagan created a reworked and shortened edition of the series titled “Cosmos, a special edition”, where copyrighted music that could not be cleared for commercial licence was replaced with a new original score by Vangelis, unique to this edition.

In 1989 the Cosmos series was sold to Turner Home Entertainment for release on VHS and LaserDisc. This release has shorter episodes compared to the original series as seen on television, yet it added a 14th episode of a 1981 interview of Carl Sagan by Ted Turner. Visually this release is mostly the same as the original version, but again some of the music in the original version was replaced with other music.

After Carl Sagan passed away in 1996, his widow Ann Druyan (and co-writer of the original Cosmos television series) put much effort in producing a final edition of the series on both VHS and DVD. This version released in 2000 has been digitally remastered, restored and enhanced, both in audio and video. Next to that it contains additional science update sequences recorded with Carl Sagan in 1990. Interesting to Vangelis enthusiasts is the fact that this DVD-release includes an audio track with music and effects only (so without the dialogue), and that several cues of Vangelis’ unique score for the 1986 “Cosmos, a special edition” can be heard in this edition as well. For all of the above this version of the series is the recommended option to find if in need of a copy.

In 2005 The Science Channel broadcast a 25th Anniversary edition of the Cosmos series with updated visuals and science updates. As with earlier revisited editions this version is shorter than the original series, consisting of 13 episodes of 45 minutes each. In 2014 Ann Druyan produced a remake of the Cosmos-series titled "Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey", presented by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who as young boy saw the original series presented by Carl Sagan and was inspired by it.

“Cosmos: A Personal Voyage” is a milestone of popular science and has set an example to many documentaries that followed. It has inspired millions of viewers worldwide and numerous of today’s scientists. The worldwide success of the Cosmos television series has put Vangelis' music in the homes of millions of people, many of whom were exposed to this out-of-this-world music for the very first time.

 

CarlSaganCarl Sagan

Part of the succes of "Cosmos, A Personal Voyage" can easily be attributed to Carl Sagan (1934 - 1996), the series’ host. Astronomer, educator and author, Sagan was perhaps the world's greatest popularizer of science, reaching millions of people through newspapers, magazines and television broadcasts. He is well-known for his work on the award winning Cosmos television series. The accompanying book, Cosmos (1980), was on The New York Times bestseller list for 70 weeks and was the best-selling science book ever published in English.

As an astronomer Sagan played a leading role in NASA's Mariner, Viking, Voyager and Galileo expeditions to other planets. As an educator and scientific researcher Carl Sagan held the positions of Professor of Astronomy and Space Sciences and director of the Laboratory for Planetary Studies at Cornell University.

As an author Sagan published numerous scientific papers and popular articles and is author, co-author or editor of more than 20 books, including The Dragons of Eden (1977), for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1978. Sagan's only novel "Contact" (1985) made it onto the big screen when it was turned into a movie in 1996 starring Jodie Foster.

 

Details and credits

  • Title: Cosmos: A Personal Voyage
  • Country: United States
  • Year: 1980
  • Length: 13 episodes of 60 minutes
  • Presented by Carl Sagan.
  • Written by Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan and Steven Soter.
  • Produced by David Kennard, Geoffrey Haines-Stiles and Gregory Andorfer.
  • Sound Design: Kent Gibson
  • Sound Mixer: Gerald Zelinger
  • Audio: Jeffrey Kallestad
  • Associate producers: Robyn Mendelsohn, David F. Oyster, Tom Weidlinger, Judy Flannery, Rob McCain and Richard J. Wells.
  • Directed by Adrian Malone.
  • Produced by KCET Los Angeles and Carl Sagan Productions, Inc.

Episodes

  1. The Shores Of The Cosmic Ocean
  2. One Voice In The Cosmic Fugue
  3. Harmony Of The Worlds
  4. Heaven And Hell
  5. Blues For A Red Planet
  6. Travellers' Tales
  7. The Backbone Of Night
  8. Travels In Space And Time
  9. The Lives Of The Stars
  10. The Edge Of Forever
  11. The Persistence Of Memory
  12. Encyclopaedia Galactica
  13. Who Speaks For Earth?

 

CosmosDVDMedia

Blu-ray

  • 2017 Via Vision VVE1097 Australia

DVD

  • 2000 Cosmos Studios CDVD1010 US and Canada (includes a separate music and effects audio track). 
    Also released on DVD in UK, Australia, Spain, Mexico, Portugal, Brazil, Greece and The Netherlands.
  • 2009 Fremantle Media Enterprises FHED2552

Initially the Cosmos television series was released on VHS and LaserDisc in several countries. Later also a release on blu-ray followed, but due to its upscaled image quality of this blu-ray, the 2000 DVD release remains the recommended option if in need op a copy of the series.

 

Discography

LP

CD

  • 1994 “The Music Of Cosmos” RCA 07863 54003-2 US
  • 2000 Collectables COL-CD-6293 US
  • 2000 BMG Special Products MOC 1100 US (2CD Collector's Edition), includes ‘Comet 16’.

HeavenAndHellSingleFront7” single

 

Links