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Grand Theft Auto vs COSMOS: Carl Sagan’s narration over GTA scenes is actually pretty amazing
06.29.2016
09:38 am
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An Irish YouTube user by the name of Duggy uses the Editor function in Grand Theft Auto V to create his own short video works, or as he puts it, “I attempt to put scenes from my head onto GTA’s world.” His most successful pieces are three shorts, created over the course of the last year, that drop GTA scenes under Carl Sagan’s narration from the original 1980 mini-series Cosmos.

These work surprisingly well, and probably not in the way you might be thinking—rather than relying on a collision of Sagan’s optimistic, wonder-filled exposition against the game’s notorious violence to achieve a cheap, ironic laugh, Duggy plays these straight, and the results are actually quite poignant! So yes, some of their effectiveness derives from a holy-shit-this-is-from-GTA frisson, there’s a bit more more going on than that.

I’d love to see some of these with voice-overs from the 2014 series hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson.
 

 
More after the jump…

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Posted by Ron Kretsch
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06.29.2016
09:38 am
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‘Family Guy’ creator Seth MacFarlane donates Carl Sagan papers to US Library of Congress

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Seth MacFarlane, creator of “Family Guy,” has donated funds to the Library of Congress so it can acquire the personal papers of astronomer Carl Sagan, library officials announced today. Via Art Beat:

Mr. MacFarlane never owned Sagan’s papers, but he covered the undisclosed costs of donating them to the library. The papers filled more than 800 filing-cabinet drawers and include correspondence with other scientists, drafts of Mr. Sagan’s academic articles, as well as screenplay drafts for the movie “Contact,” which was based on Mr. Sagan’s novel. His grade-school report cards and a drawing he made as a child about the future of space exploration were also included. “All I did was write a check, but it’s something that was, to me, worth every penny,” MacFarlane told The Associated Press by phone from Los Angeles. “He’s a man whose life’s work should be accessible to everybody.”

Mr. MacFarlane said he watched “Cosmos” as a child and read all of Mr. Sagan’s books. “He was an enormous and profound influence in my life,” Mr. MacFarlane said. “He played an essential role — some would say the only role at the time — in bridging the gap between the academic community and the general public.”

MacFarlane is forgetting about Jonathan Miller and Joseph Campbell, but point taken.

Mr. MacFarlane met Mr. Sagan’s widow and collaborator, Ann Druyan, at an event a few years ago that brought together Hollywood screenwriters and directors with scientists. They agreed to collaborate on a follow-up to “Cosmos,” with Mr. MacFarlane serving as producer. Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson will host the series, which is scheduled to begin production this fall.

Neil deGrasse Tyson taking up Carl Sagan’s mantle for a reboot of Cosmos produced by Seth MacFarlane? I’d watch that.

Someone alert reddit!

Speaking of Seth MacFarlane, his feature film debut, Ted, comes out later this week.

Below, an “edited for rednecks” version of Carl Sagan’s classic Cosmos TV miniseries from Family Guy.
 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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06.27.2012
06:19 pm
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