This episode left me with one important question: why did Tyson choose a red? If you are going to sit in the sun on a fine pale-green day in Italy, toasting the evanescence of glory and of starlight itself, why would you choose a red wine? It’s too heavy and sedate, plus you’ll have a headache. Better to choose a crisp Pinot Grigio, or a bright prosecco, something that will let the sunlight through before you transform it into acoustic energy to speak of the stars.
Once again the influence of Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything is apparent in this new series, and I for one have no complaint. The undertold stories of Annie Jump Cannon – how can the bearer of such a name not be fantastic – and of Henrietta Swan Leavitt will never appear again in so dramatic a fashion.
I have said before that this new series is not for the likes of me, the oldening person who liked the quiet pace of the first series just fine. But the reference to “the backbone of night,” one of the original series episode names, and the direct quoting of Sagan was clearly intended for those of us that remember. It seems that every time I sit down and turn the lights out for this show, I am moved more than I expect to be.
L.T. Patridge 