Editing Cosmos: A Personal Voyage (section)

==Overview==
[[File:Sagan planetary orbits2.jpg|left|thumb|Sagan on the set of ''Cosmos'']]

''Cosmos'' was produced in 1978 and 1979 by Los Angeles [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]] member station [[KCET]] on a roughly $6.3 million budget, with over $2 million additionally allocated to promotion. The program's format is similar to earlier BBC documentaries such as [[Kenneth Clark]]'s ''[[Civilisation (television series)|Civilisation]]'', [[Jacob Bronowski]]'s ''[[The Ascent of Man]]'', and [[David Attenborough]]'s ''[[Life on Earth (TV series)|Life on Earth]]''. However, unlike those series, which were shot entirely on film, ''Cosmos'' used videotape for interior scenes and special effects, with film being used for exteriors and location shooting (this film-video hybrid format was common in British scripted television at the time, but less so in documentary productions). The BBC—a co-producer of ''Cosmos''—later screened the series, but the episodes were cut to fit 50-minute slots.

[[File:CosmosSagan5.jpg|left|thumb|Sagan in the series' episode "Blues for a Red Planet"]]

The series is notable for its groundbreaking use of special effects, which allow Sagan to seemingly walk through environments that are actually models rather than full-sized sets. The soundtrack includes pieces of music provided by Greek composer [[Vangelis]], such as ''Alpha'', ''Pulstar'', and ''[[Heaven and Hell (Vangelis album)|Heaven and Hell Part 1]]'' (the last movement serves as the signature theme music for the show, and is directly referenced by the title of the fourth episode). Throughout the 13 hours of the series, many tracks from several 1970s albums are used, such as ''[[Albedo 0.39]]'', ''[[Meddle]]'', ''[[Spiral (Vangelis album)|Spiral]]'', ''Ignacio'', ''[[Beaubourg (album)|Beaubourg]]'', and ''[[China (Vangelis album)|China]]''. The worldwide success of the documentary series put Vangelis' music in the homes of many, and brought it to the attention of a global audience.

[[Turner Home Entertainment]] purchased ''Cosmos'' from series producer KCET in 1989. In making the move to commercial television, the hour-long episodes were edited to shorter lengths, and Sagan shot new epilogues for several episodes, in which he discussed new discoveries—and alternative viewpoints—that had arisen since the original broadcast. A 14th episode, consisting of an interview between Sagan and [[Ted Turner]], was also produced. This new version of the series was eventually released as a VHS box set. This same re-edited version was also released on 12" [[LaserDisc]]. Two episodes were released per disc, one episode on each side. The LaserDiscs for the various episodes were sold separately, not in a boxed set (as was done for VHS).

''Cosmos'' was unavailable for many years after its initial release because of copyright issues with the soundtrack music, but when it was released in 2000 on [[DVD region code|worldwide]] [[NTSC]] DVD, subtitles in seven languages<ref>English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, [[Standard Mandarin|Mandarin]] and Japanese</ref> and remastered [[5.1]] sound were included, as well as an alternative music and sound effects track. In 2005, [[The Science Channel]] rebroadcast the series for its 25th anniversary, with updated [[computer graphics]] and film footage, [[digital sound]], and information about relevant scientific discoveries in the intervening 25 years. Despite being shown again on the Science Channel, the total amount of time for the original 13 episodes (780 minutes) was reduced 25% to 585 minutes (45 minutes per episode) in order to make room for commercials.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.habitablezone.com/space/messages/496458.html|title=Some of the missing scenes from Cosmos episode 2|date=June 17, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080617221439/http://www.habitablezone.com/space/messages/496458.html|archive-date=June 17, 2008}}</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20051001060701/http://science.discovery.com/convergence/cosmos/cosmos.html 25th Anniversary Rebroadcast of ''Cosmos''] on [[The Science Channel]]</ref><ref>[https://www.popmatters.com/tv/reviews/c/cosmos-051020.shtml ''Cosmos'' clips 25th Anniversary Edition] PopMatters Television Review, Bill Gibron, PopMatters, October 20, 2005</ref>

In a 2009 UK release, [[FremantleMedia|Fremantle Media]] Enterprises digitally restored and remastered the original series as a five-disc DVD set which included bonus science updates. 
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