Pluto!!!

[peacewithoutgod]

I've watched both Sagan and NDT over the years including Sagan's many appearances on the Tonight Show (Johnny Carson) Bear in mind that Sagan was unique; the first really popular scientist that gave a voice to what was then media wise, new territory. Sagan could be boring. Carson himself started to mock him in small ways, because he tended to hyperbolize everything (millions and millions of stars) so he was by no means perfect. His writings were better by far, well written and thoughtful.

NDT in many respects is forced to live in his shadow. Any effort to reboot or even do a new series is going to be compared to Sagan. But I don't judge NDT on that basis. Read his bio. He is his own man and has not made any effort to ridicule or criticize Sagan for his own gain; that tells me he is not small minded or jealous. NDT is one of the most personable and quotable of modern faces of science, and most importantly almost universally liked. He is a black man that does not use his position to politicize race but continually emphasizes science and education. Right now he is the right man. I for one do not compare the two, and NDT to me is just fine.

NDT is a great man of science, and he's more than personable, there's no denying that. Personable or not, I just didn't feel like he did so great a job at presenting Cosmos as Sagan did. It's hard to pin down exactly what it was that made the difference for me.  I know I didn't care much for NDT's headache-inducing cartoonized scenes in place of human actors with realistic expressions (honest to fuck, whatever made him think that was a great idea?).  I sort of felt like his personality, which is a little over-the-top although not at all arrogant was making it a little hard to follow the content of the show. I also felt a little like he was talking down to his audience (as well the material is for a younger audience, but I still felt irritated about it), whereas Sagan spoke straight from the heart, as did Fred Rogers to his very young audience. Of course I can't be sure what is really on Tyson's mind when he speaks, and I know he had immense and personal respect for Sagan, who he met personally while he was still in high school. Again, the pressure to fill those shoes must have felt immense, so although he can be faulted for trying to do so the way he chose to, I'm still very glad that he did something to remind us what Sagan did, and try to re-inspire us and the new generation in some way.

I did not regularly watch Carson because he didn't really connect with my generation ("X"), so most of what I saw of Sagan was on Cosmos, where I didn't see the "millions and millions" hyperbole as too noteworthy an affectation for older generations. As far as Carson mocking anybody, I do recall him being good at that, and his sort of mockery wasn't always particularly good-natured.

[stromboli]

I have professionally been in the position of "big shoes to fill" and have everyone measure your output against previous occupants of the job. Probably the best advice I ever got was from a former boss; you can worry about what other people expect of you or you can simply do the best you can with what you have. That is how I see Tyson in comparison to Sagan.