What is with the way he talks in Cosmos. It's almost as bad, if not worse than Shatner. It's incredibly annoying. Why does he take such long pauses and insert breaks were there should not be. It also seems like he is having trouble modulating the volume and tone of his voice, as it seems to go all over the place.
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It was a bit off-putting to me as well on first view, but three episodes in I'm starting to get used to it. Still it's also a little too I don't know, whimsical for my liking. Tangential if you will. I prefer the slightly drier tone of BBC documentaries like the Planets. For me the whole Samurai crab story was an odd diversion though I enjoyed the Alexandrian library and Kepler story. I'm still not exactly sure what the series is meant to be covering. Evolution, Astrology, Astronomy, 70s lounge fashion. I thought it was just going to be about Astronomy. Perhaps my expectations are at fault and not the tone of the series.
I agree that the Star Trek space ship is extremely corny but I think enough of it is wothwhile and interesting to get over such faults. I like Sagan as well, I like his sense of wonder. I couldn't believe how much he'd aged in the updates.
I like Shatner's dramatized pauses.
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I saw him on The Tonight Show in the 70s and 80s. He's just always sounded like this. Rich Little used to "do him" pretty good. Anyway, I agree with the above poster: "I cannot imagine hearing it said any other way". He doesn't have to sound "normal" or speak like everybody else. His sense of wonder, to this day, is an amazing source of inspiration from me. Certainly more so than what any preacher has had to say to me. I'm not slamming relgion, so stating a fact about myself.
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The purpose of the series was to popularize science and raise awarness of what Sagan and Ann Druyen saw as the very real dangers posed by the combination of a technologically advanced civilization and a general public that now knows almost nothing about science. It covers the whole "where we are, how we got here, and where do we go from here?" of science.
shareWhat does the name COSMOS imply its meaning is simple "The Universe as an Ordered Whole", so I'd have to say that the COSMOS is about everything that exists.
"Gentlemen, This is a War Room, There's no fighting allowed in Here!"
Actually I think he sounds like agent Smith from the matrix :DDD
Mr Anderson.. :P
bump
shareLOL, OK your bump was worth it. That was funny.
"There is another... species... on this planet... that behaves in much the same way. Do you know... what it is, Mr. Anderson? . . . a virus."
I love the way Carl talks. I think he sounds exactly like a teacher should, which is appropriate because he is to me.
Ah... ya beat me to the post by 1 year and eleven months. I hadn't seen Cosmos in dogs years, but the voice I heard out of Sagan's mouth, many times, was definitely Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith.
shareHis presentation is a little ott but you adapt to it pretty quickly, very well presented production, the boxsets fantastic. I noticed with some of the updates his commentary isn't quite so full on, with less spiritual type references
share1. He's a scientist, not an actor.
2. This weirdness adds to the effect. A standard "perfect" voice performance would be easier to forget.
EveryOne is the One...
He probably had Asperger's Syndrome, a mild form of autism which is often found among engineers and scientists. Whereas most people control the tone and volume of their voices automatically, autistic people often have to do it consciously, so it can sound false and affected.
shareI think the original poster is imagining things, his voice does not go all over the place.
shareBillions and billions and billions.......
Carl Sagan rules!