Cosmos
At the back of the room you will find the ship of the Imagination’. In the first episode of COSMOS, we board this ship with Sagan to set off on an amazing journey from the outer reaches of the universe to our very own galaxy.
On the display panels to your left you can see some of the characteristic illustrations from COSMOS, such as the iconic close-up of our galaxy or the works called “The Backbone of the Night”, “Infinite Regression” and “The Great Chain of Being”.2
The last images are from NUCLEUS, the sequel that could have been, but which was never ultimately produced. The documentary, which Sagan and Lomberg were already working on, discussed atomic physics, nuclear energy and the Cold War. It delivered a strongly pacifist message in the midst the socio-political atmosphere of the arms race. The ABC television channel had bought the rights to broadcast it to the masses, but the political tensions it triggered saw the project being blocked. Carl Sagan was a persona non-grata to the Reagan administration due to his pacifist, anti-nationalist discourse, his determination to work with Soviet scientists, and his criticism of the ‘Star Wars’ programme’ promoted by President Ronald Reagan. In this political climate, the NUCLEUS project ended up being cancelled and viewers around the world were left without ever finding out what Sagan’s second major work would have been like.
Display case exhibited in this display case are various documents of great historical importance. A copy
of the page from the book can be seen in which Carl Sagan dedicates this to Lomberg: ‘To Jon, with admiration, delight in our friendship and love”. Beside this is a page from the transcript of a production meeting in which the initials of the 3 participants appear: Carl Sagan (CS), Adrian Malone (AM) and Jon Lomberg (JL). They were discussing the introduction to the first episode. You can also see a page from the script about a scene featuring the golden record from the Voyager probes. The storyboard is the original sketch created by Lomberg for the animation of the approach to the galaxy in episode 1.
Displayed to the right are the celluloid sheets used to create the camera effect that produced a 3D sensation in this scene.
The COSMOS book was just as popular as the series, hence in the display case you can also see an example of the first edition personally signed by Carl Sagan and Jon Lomberg. On the display panel, the covers of different editions of the famous book in several languages are also reproduced.
