Wonders of the Universe (2011)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Pretty Good

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

This documentary will probably be more appreciated by a well-educated audience, especially if you've already seen more detailed documentaries on cosmology. It references larger scientific concepts in fields like anthropology, biology, chemistry and physics. But, what is best about it is the narrator himself, Brian Cox, who has such a unique way of communicating his perspective. For example, when describing space-time in relation to the theory of the "Big Freeze", he says that when the last energy has dissipated from the Universe, time will cease to exist. I had never thought of it that way before, and I even found myself talking about it to someone later. I studied Einstein's theory of relativity in college, and I've seen other detailed documentaries on theories of the end of the Universe, but never presented in this way. While this series is not particularly detailed or specific to one area of cosmology, I found that it was comprehensive if you already had some background knowledge to fill in the blanks. Good teachers, after all, don't simply recite facts that they assume you've read in your textbook. They review and expand on this knowledge by giving a fresh perspective, which is exactly what is done here.

I loved this series, being a big fan of the Cosmos series my feeling is that Brian Cox has the best of Sagan's ability to explain and transmit the excitement and joy of astronomy and physics, he keeps it interesting, exciting and simple to us all non-scholars of complicated astrophysics. I found very interesting that he made huge references to the Cosmos series, he sure is a big fan of Sagan's work and he passes that with a more modern twist and the use of nice CGI. Overall a great documentary and a nice addition to other Universe related films, the locations filmed are amazing and Professor Cox's way of talking is mesmerizing.

I was shocked to find this "documentary" has almost 9 points on IMDb. This show is watchable if you have never seen any documentary about our universe before. In that case I can understand how this show got 9 points, its strong points are; beautiful scenery and space CGI mixed together with some jaw dropping numbers.If however you have seen ANY previous documentaries about space, you will be greatly disappointed. 70 percent of the screen time is taken up by our presenter Brian Cox, who for some reason thinks its a good idea to grin and walk around in slow motion in front of the sunlight. All the while talking about some of the most obvious scenarios in space.So if you have never seen a documentary about space before, this could be worth a watch. If however you are even MILDLY educated in physics/cosmology all this show has to offer is beautifully shot scenery (space and nature) with a very annoying commentator. The information was so stretched out, that I think they could have done a single episode instead of 4.

I'm not sure what some people were looking for here. It's not meant to be a university lecture. But it is meant to be a way to communicate to the average person (who may reside in Jesusland instead of an ivory tower) our current knowledge about the universe.Yes, Brian Cox is beautiful. Who do you want to learn from? He's enthusiastic, friendly, nice to look at, and knowledgeable. That's exactly who should be presenting science. Look at who you are competing against, for viewers.While I was expecting something like a visit to various celestial objects, similar to a tour of our solar system (and we do get a bit of stuff like that), this takes a much wider view.We see the sheer size of the universe, in both space and time. We see how a universe like ours is necessary to support life, but that life can only exist for a relative instant. And then we explore two other big concepts on the scale of the universe: gravity and light (although frankly, the first two episodes are sufficient by themselves).This is, without a doubt, the clearest documentary description of humanity's place in the universe that I have seen. And it is presented in a way that properly dramatizes it, and simultaneously shows off the beauty of Earth as well.The two minor drawbacks I see are: the episode order is in roughly decreasing emotional impact and should be adjusted/edited, and there are too many repetitive shots of Brian in the same place (for example, standing on the peak of a mountain).