I did watch the program and enjoyed it. I also think some of the “points” Campbell makes are strained. My guess is that most people know there is no sound in space, but adding sound to add interest to the animation doesn’t bother me. I also know that most of the pictures I’m looking at during show are not real, but should I call the producers to task because they are not “real” pictures? I also don’t mind speculation, as long as it is stated as such and, contrary to the writer’s statement, the discussion of the Multiverse was stated as speculation. At some point in the past someone “speculated” that the earth was round, not flat, and that the earth was not at the center of the universe. Speculation can cause us to think and, unlike Campbell, I don’t find that a bad thing. He should try it.
My biggest complaint was the “dumbed down” graphics, particularly of the asteroid belt and the Oort Cloud, and also Saturn’s rings. They’ve got a lot of nerve talking about “hard science” in the face of this kind of childish imagery.
I actually quit watching at that point, but then with all the buzz, I wanted to see the Bruno sequence. Fortunately it’s available ON DEMAND from Comcast, so I watched it last night.
I was wondering about the “dream sequence” because I had never heard of search a thing, but today I found what I think must be the basis for it. There is a “sonnet” at the beginning of Bruno’s “Infinite Universe” dialogue, and it ends:
Wherefore I give my steady wings to Sky,
Fearing no crystal barrier or glass;
But, splitting heavens, to the Infinite I pass;
And from my globe to others rising high
Through empyrean fields, further I wind:
What others see from far, I leave behind
... so I think they were within artistic license. The “dart and wall” imagery was from Lucretius.
In the end, this was about the best thing in the show, as the other stuff seemed rather pedestrian to me.