MovieChat Forums > Wonders of the Solar System (2010) Discussion > It's so vast.

It's so vast.

posted 14 years ago by jimthechin
4 replies | jump to latest

Why do these TV programmes always describe everything as "vast". David Attenborough does it in his nature documentaries too. It's a word that you can say in a wonderous tone of voice that is supposed to evoke amazement and awe from the audience. I think these people should write a proper script and stop trying to create cheap emotion in this formulaic way. Maybe someone will count the number of times Brian says vast in this episode or the coming episodes. It's certainly not a vast vocabulary that he has.

[–] olebentsen 14 years ago

As far as television presenters and space go, they've all got Carl Sagan and his 'Cosmos' series to measure up to, so don't berate them too much if they try to reach the heights of Sagan awesomeness (is that a word?).

It's not too strange that they all wish they could be as silver-tongued and spine-chillingly eloquent as Carl. :-)

[–] Chris_Oblivion 14 years ago

I guess it's just the most succinct way of saying something is incomprehensibly massive without going over the top? As long as they don't use 'epic' then I'm happy(!!). Every man and his dog uses that word for more or less everything on the old 'net nowadays!

Love this series though.. The universe is truly an amazing phenomenon.

EDIT: The music is great too!

Sid woz ere

[–] Mousuke 14 years ago

Well the universe is vast, how else would you describe it? Big? Large? Immense? Whatever word you go with, when talking about something which is too big for us to comprehend it will always sound like they are trying to evoke awe. And really, if you are going to feel awe for anything surely it should be the sheer size of the universe?

[–] jimthechin 14 years ago

What I mean is he could use a different adjective once in a while. It's not just the size of the universe he describes as vast either, it's everything, the oceans, the Martian landscape, the Sun. He probably thinks Britain is vast... His favorite chat-up line probably involves calling a certain part of his anatomy vast.