That would work out well I agree as a potential one hour documentary on SpaceX. Perhaps airing Mars as 2 hour segments would change viewer's interest...
Quote from: Robotbeat on 01/16/2017 04:30 amTyson just seems more and more annoying to me. He's rarely 100% technically accurate. I used to be a fan, but I've grown to despise when he is the go-to science guy.Zubrin is great. He's the same old annoyingly-passionate guy, and he made the last couple episodes tolerable. You feel like he's pushing humanity to Mars, not by technical prowess (although he's pretty clever) or money (he's definitely no Bezos) or political connections (he's a definite outsider) but by the raw power of his will.I do see your point about Tyson. I think he is a great science popularizer. The problem is that he's adopted too much of the showman persona and is not concerned about accuracy. The pendulum has swung too far.As for Zubrin, I've seen a lot of Zubrin over the years. He can speak a lot of nonsense. I've seen him numerous times where he gets up on a stage and he says some ridiculous things. Sometimes he puts that in his writings. If you edit him judiciously, you can edit out the nonsense. But he still said it. And that's one of the things that limits his effectiveness as an operator, as opposed to a spokesperson, because the experts (some of whom he has said nasty things about) don't take him seriously. I also think it has limited his effectiveness as a spokesperson: if you get on a stage and call people Nazis and incompetent, you get invited on fewer stages after that.
Tyson just seems more and more annoying to me. He's rarely 100% technically accurate. I used to be a fan, but I've grown to despise when he is the go-to science guy.Zubrin is great. He's the same old annoyingly-passionate guy, and he made the last couple episodes tolerable. You feel like he's pushing humanity to Mars, not by technical prowess (although he's pretty clever) or money (he's definitely no Bezos) or political connections (he's a definite outsider) but by the raw power of his will.
I think there probably wouldn't be a SpaceX without Zubrin.
You kind of need a crazy passion to make things happen. No logical, hyper-pragmatic person decides to settle Mars. It takes a special sort of crazy to see an oasis where almost everyone else sees a death trap.
I don't think Zubrin's self-defeating comments are a necessary byproduct of his crazy passion, but the two tend to go together.
Quote from: Rocket Science on 01/17/2017 10:16 pmThat would work out well I agree as a potential one hour documentary on SpaceX. Perhaps airing Mars as 2 hour segments would change viewer's interest... There was enough viewer interest for NG to renew it. I think that the space enthusiast crowd has been more harsh than the general public.
Quote from: Robotbeat on 01/19/2017 04:18 amI think there probably wouldn't be a SpaceX without Zubrin.That's certainly supported by Vance's biography of Musk.
I can make lots of complaints about Zubrin but I really liked the "Mars Underground" documentary. It had a lot of the life and character that this series lacked, and a real sense of "wow, we can do this". People disagree with elements of his plan but it was at the very least excellent hard SF that did not use space as just a metaphor for coldness and isolation and our fears of a bleak future.
After long last, and after reading this thread, I managed to see all six episodes. I had braced myself and yes, the acting wasn't particularly great, but I have seen worse. The logical gaps and shortfalls, well, show me a film that is 100% accurate. I absolutely loved the Martian and that had momentary lapses of reason (the hole in the glove ?).So to my surprise I really liked this, and look forward to the second series. Maybe I'm just easy to please