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Cosmos Season 1 Episodes
Season 1 Episode Guide
13 Episodes 1980 - 1980
13-part odyssey through the universe which is informative and gives a clear and understandable presentation of facts, enhanced by host Carl Sagan's enthusiasm for the subject.
Episode 1
The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean
Sun, Sep 28, 1980 60 mins
Carl Sagan's "ship of the imagination" visits the wonders of the solar system. On Earth, at the ancient library of Alexandria, he explains how Eratosthenes computed the planet's circumference.
Episode 2
One Voice In The Cosmic Fugue
Sun, Oct 5, 1980 60 mins
Life on Earth: how it originated, evolved, diversified and yet maintained fundamental molecular similarities among all its forms. Also: host Carl Sagan speculates on possible life forms on the turbulent planet Jupiter.
Episode 3
Harmony Of The Worlds
Sun, Oct 12, 1980 60 mins
Carl Sagan examines astrology and ancient astronomy, and traces the life of Johannes Kepler (1571-1630). Kepler was the first to abandon preconceived ideas of heavenly motions in favor of observed data, from which he derived his laws of planetary motion.
Episode 4
Heaven And Hell
Sun, Oct 19, 1980 60 mins
A program about astronomical disaster areas investigates comets, impact craters on the planets and their satellites, and Venus. Host Carl Sagan examines Velikovsky's theory that Venus originated as a comet and contrasts its climate with Earth's.
Episode 5
Blues For A Red Planet
Sun, Oct 26, 1980 60 mins
Fascination with Mars is traced from H.G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds" through Percival Lowell's mapping of its "canals" to the 1976 landings of the Viking spacecraft. Host Carl Sagan reviews the Viking's attempt to discover life and conjectures about future life on the planet.
Episode 6
Travellers Tales
Sun, Nov 2, 1980 60 mins
A comparison of early and modern explorers begins in 17th-century Holland and continues at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Carl Sagan is the host.
Episode 7
Backbone Of Night
Sun, Nov 9, 1980 60 mins
Host Carl Sagan traces the history of attempts to understand stars, beginning with the ancients who thought them campfires in the sky.
Episode 8
Journeys In Space And Time
Sun, Nov 16, 1980 60 mins
"Journeys in Space and Time" reveal the consequences of relativistic space flight, notably the slowing of time near the speed of light that theoretically could permit people to navigate the universe in a lifetime.
Episode 9
Lives Of The Stars
Sun, Nov 23, 1980 60 mins
Host Carl Sagan traces "The Lives of the Stars." Also: a discussion of supernovas; and theories about black holes, which may be "wormholes" to other universes.
Episode 10
The Edge Of Forever
Sun, Nov 30, 1980 60 mins
Examined: the origins and possible fate of the universe. Host: astronomer Carl Sagan.
Episode 11
Persistence Of Memory
Sun, Dec 7, 1980 60 mins
A journey within the human brain highlights "The Persistence of Memory," a program about repositories of information.
Episode 12
Encyclopedia Galactica
Sun, Dec 14, 1980 60 mins
Carl Sagan scrutinizes the search for intelligent extraterrestrials and computes the odds of finding technologically advanced civilizations on other planets.
Episode 13
Who Speaks For Earth?
Sun, Dec 21, 1980 60 mins
Carl Sagan ends his "personal voyage" with a look at an endangered species: Homo sapiens, which historically and technologically shows potential for self-destruction.