Thanks for the link, just watched the first episode. This show was completely unknown to me. A really intriguing concept, and the amount of effort put into it is staggering. Today you would create more bang with CGI, but actually going places all over the world is so much more authentic. And that at least this first episode is still as relevant and true today as it was in the 70s (maybe even more) is amazing.
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And I have the DVD’s, which I had to buy from a school supply company because they weren’t released in that format to the general public in the USA. Obviously someone underestimated how many people here watch PBS and like smart shows.
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The only time I’ve missed a flight was when my train to the airport was over an hour late…in Germany.
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you don’t have to understand French to make the (ahem) connection
(couldn’t find a subtitled version)
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ERMAHGERD! My favourite!
@tgarretteaton That’s a great point. Watching it as a kid, that went over my head (along with a lot of what James Burke said); but, yeah, it is a good thing to remember that even the giants were standing on the shoulders of giants.
@enkidoodler “Imagine if it had blown up…” That got a genuine “Wheeze Out Loud” from me; thank you. (That’s a great name by the way. The Sumerian God of Long and Boring Meetings?)
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Yes, of course it is. With regards to timing James Burke’s good fortune was to be making telly when cool stuff like this was there to film, and budgets were big enough that flying from London to Florida was OK, it wasn’t about nailing the countdown. That’s skill, experience and self-confidence. The subject matter and location contribute to making this good TV - a great performance on screen is wasted if the pictures are dull.
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Ooooh I love connections!!! Thank you.
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…and a number of other sciency/techie type things. He is still missed, after all these years.
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Undoubtedly.
The actual shot is only about 12 seconds long. Burke was enough of a polished professional to be able to get his lines into a few fewer or several extra seconds as he watched the timer. And you can bet he rehearsed.
Though the cynic might be tempted to ask how many times they shot it and after he said “…that”, the director said “cut - go again, we’ve still got 15 seconds to go”.
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Connections and Connections 2 were great. See also his show on paradigm shifts in human thought entitled “The Day the Universe Changed.” I think I liked this one even more than the others.
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I loved both Connections and Secret Life of Machines, an excellent afternoon when I was a kid, and still great today!
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I’m pretty sure he’s still around! He’s not super active, but he did not disappear in the 1990s either.
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I’ll have to try and track that down. I only became aware of Burke and Connections a few years ago so I missed that back when I was obsessed with Myst in the early 90s. If you’re into Myst-like’s though I’d highly recommend the Witness if you haven’t played it already. Easily one of the best games of the decade. It’s available on pretty much everything although unfortunately not the Switch yet.
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The article was asking if this is the greatest shot in broadcast journalism, not of sports or all time everything. I’m about to look up what a 30 foot jumper is though, that does sound cool.
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Lemme help you out…
My point was people “nail-it” all the time… Not sure journalism would be that different.
And if you have 8 minutes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRxMntqoUXc
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I never saw the Connections series, but I intend to sample the archive posted earlier. However, I fondly remember a Connections/James Burke based computer game. I still have the disk even though the game is incompatible with modern operating systems.
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Sorry - I realise what I wrote implied he was not. I meant he is much missed as a regular feature on our TVs. At one time he was almost as ubiquitous as Attenborough, who managed to stay around long term, and in my book Burke is as good a communicator in the field of science/technology history as Attenborough is in natural history.
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I’m surprised none of the resident BoingBoing pedants has yet observed that the audio was tweaked. He was standing at least a couple of miles from the launch site, so the sound of the rocket would take 10 seconds to reach him. (I’ll leave it to the upper division BB pedants to provide the correct distance.)
I’m not complaining, mind you. They were right to pull in the audio. It’s far better this way.
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LOL, thx, I appreciate that you appreciated it. I managed to stick my foot (along with boot) in my mouth in the post on paintings with women listening to men.
I am a huge fan of the Gilgamesh mythos. Enkidu was half God, half Man and half Beast
(wait… counts on fingers, uh oh). I like to draw, so… maths not so gooder.
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A delay wouldn’t have been a problem. The countdown would have stopped and they would have a chance for another take.
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