I thought putting Nye in there was genius – when he said “billions and billions of stars” I laughed aloud, because it’s a direct reference to Sagan’s catchphrase (even though he never actually said it in Cosmos).

I applaud the creator for trying to inject a little energy into his second effort – Sagan himself is so whoa-dude-spaced-out when he talks that you need someone enthusiastic to fit the drumline, which is a gimmie given Feynman’s bongos obsession. Both Tyson and Nye fit the bill here. Feynman himself, well, you can’t really get around his Queens accent, but he says so much great sciencey-philosophical stuff that you really can’t leave him out either.

Okay, fine, I’m a huge fangirl and consider the whole project to be genius; I might be a little biased. But: genius. Can’t wait for the next one.

Not as good as Glorious Dawn, but still worth watching.

Nye was ok, but the chorus in this one was so understated that it weakened the entirety of the song.

I love Nye, but putting him to this just sounds awkward. I’m kind of meh on the other two. Maybe this kind of thing just works better with fewer people, too.

This one’s not as good, but it’s not bad either, and it, too, reminds me of why I loved science as a kid – there’s this incredible wonder to it, this ridiculous joy in knowing we’re all star stuff and interconnected and able to do great things. Sagan’s parts more than the others.

On a semirelated note, in a recent class we had to bring in poems, and it turned out that we got extra credit for memorizing them, and I’d memorized Glorious Dawn, which was basically one of only two hopeful sense-of-wonder poems. The class got distracted from angst and so hung up on “if you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe”. It was funny.

Maybe Tyson, when he exclaims “That makes me want to grab people in the street / And say, have you heard this??” But Nye’s bits are all off-beat.

And Feynman should stick to drums.