I didn't know it had started. I was going to watch it, now hmmm, not so sure

I knew it would be drama heavy but expected a better show than this. Especially with Jeffry Rush starring and Ron Howard directing. It has that empty, forced feeling that you often see in religious films. You know, the ones where they are trying to indoctrinate you? An odd thing for a show with a core of heavy science.

I quit after the 2nd episode.

I watched the first episode, started the second, and then just turned it off. Dodgy accents and overall boredom prevailed!

@ausfem said:

I didn't know it had started. I was going to watch it, now hmmm, not so sure

I record it w/a DVR, so I can FF through the slow or annoying parts. I'll probably finish it if there's enough science to watch. Otherwise I'll give up shortly.

The soap opera aspects make this virtually unwatchable. It had such potential if they'd just focus more on the science, but being a NatGeo production it's not surprising considering the parent company.

Apparently you guys never had to produce a subject as challenging as theoretical physics and make it interesting for a mass audience, which the medium requires. If it ropes in viewers and introduces them to science, I'm fine with it. And I do like the visual FX they employ to explain concepts that would just fly over most heads, including mine.

@SkyPowers said:

Apparently you guys never had to produce a subject as challenging as theoretical physics and make it interesting for a mass audience, which the medium requires. If it ropes in viewers and introduces them to science, I'm fine with it. And I do like the visual FX they employ to explain concepts that would just fly over most heads, including mine.

Sky, how much are they really doing to introduce his scientific concepts? From what I've read, the critics are afraid to bash it, but say as much as the complaints. That there is little attempt to explain his concepts and it's his life as a soap opera. I was gonna purchase it, but held off.

The concept of the show had potential, but the show decided to cater to the less intelligent, and turned a biography about (arguably) the greatest mind of the 20th century into a soap opera about his family/personal life. I understand some people are ok with how the show is being presented, and are enjoying it. I'm just disappointed that such an opportunity was wasted. I won't be wasting any more time on this show or its board.

@SkyPowers said:

Apparently you guys never had to produce a subject as challenging as theoretical physics and make it interesting for a mass audience, which the medium requires. If it ropes in viewers and introduces them to science, I'm fine with it. And I do like the visual FX they employ to explain concepts that would just fly over most heads, including mine.

If one has an interest in the science, one could do better by watching some of the half-hour episodes of "The Mechanical Universe and Beyond" from the mid-1980s. One can usually just ignore the more complex math and watch the visual/animated explanations. Here are videos of the four key episodes in chronological order:

The Law of Falling Bodies

That episode explains the remarkable fact that, in a vacuum, all objects fall at the same rate of acceleration, no matter what their mass.

From Kepler to Einstein

That episode shows the development of thinking about the law of falling bodies. It took Einstein to explain that the Law of Falling Bodies, and the finding that inertial mass is exactly offset by gravitational mass, is not just an incredible coincidence, but rather an indication of a more profound truth.

The final Two episodes on the list get more into the development of Relativity Theory, and why the speed of light is the same for all observers, whether "moving" or "stationary" (I put them in quotes because it's all relative):

The Michelson-Morley Experiment

The Lorenz Transformation

In case you're interested by any of those episodes, here's a fifth episode that recaps things from other episodes in a half hour:

Beyond the Mechanical Universe

@ZurichGnome said:

If one has an interest in the science, one could do better by watching some of the half-hour episodes of "The Mechanical Universe and Beyond" from the mid-1980s. One can usually just ignore the more complex math and watch the visual/animated explanations.

If anyone is interested in the science aspects of Zurich Gnome's info, you might also want to check out a couple of threads I started at the forum for "The Mechanical Universe" TV series:

The first one covers Maxwell's equations, and his remarkable discovery about the relationship among electricity, magnetism and light.

To watch the actual TV episode, go here.

The second one briefly discusses the key result from the "From Kepler to Einstein" episode, the video for which Zurich Gnome has already furnished a link.

@pt100 said:

@ZurichGnome said:

If one has an interest in the science, one could do better by watching some of the half-hour episodes of "The Mechanical Universe and Beyond" from the mid-1980s. One can usually just ignore the more complex math and watch the visual/animated explanations.

If anyone is interested in the science aspects of Zurich Gnome's info, you might also want to check out a couple of threads I started at the forum for "The Mechanical Universe" TV series:

The first one covers Maxwell's equations, and his remarkable discovery about the relationship among electricity, magnetism and light.

To watch the actual TV episode, go here.

The second one briefly discusses the key result from the "From Kepler to Einstein" episode, the video for which Zurich Gnome has already furnished a link.

Thanks for Mechanical Universe! It's useful for understanding the mechanics of the macro-world, though a bit dated. All the episodes are listed on Youtube and I'll have to give it more of a look. I think the complaint for this show is that it doesn't give enough of an idea of what he looked like/felt like when Einstein conceived his ideas of relativity and the fabric of space-time. It was a leap of genius that steered him away from the hallowed Newtonian mechanics invoking gravity as its own force toward something more profound and mystifying. This is the drama that we wanted to imagine, we wanted to see played out a bit more. He went against the grain with the most fantastic of speculations, even before he was able to write the equations, many of which weren't proved until later (hey, just recently, gravity waves!) I'm not interested in him throwing someone over a desk for a good time if equal time is not given to his pondering his equations for my entertainment, lol. Yeah, we know already from Walter Isaacson's book that he was a flesh and blood male.

@Thebridge said:

Thanks for Mechanical Universe! It's useful for understanding the mechanics of the macro-world, though a bit dated.

Actually, 99% of it is still accurate and up to date. They even have a couple of episodes dealing with quantum theory and quarks (27: Beyond the Mechanical Universe; and 52: The Quantum Mechanical Universe).

The key theories and findings of science are all there, including Einstein's 1905 papers that changed the course of physics. (His 1920 Nobel Prize was awarded for his explanation of the photoelectric effect and his discovery of the quantum nature of light, not for his theories of special and general relativity.)

The animations they use to explain concepts such as relativity theory may seem a bit crude by today's standards, but I like their simplicity. They are direct and to the point, without a lot of unnecessary glitz and glitter.

@SomethingClever said:

The concept of the show had potential, but the show decided to cater to the less intelligent, and turned a biography about (arguably) the greatest mind of the 20th century into a soap opera about his family/personal life. I understand some people are ok with how the show is being presented, and are enjoying it. I'm just disappointed that such an opportunity was wasted. I won't be wasting any more time on this show or its board.

It was the soap opera aspects and dodgy accents that put me off.

Dodgy accents, lol.

Standard m.o. for English speaking audiences to hear German accents while speaking English. Wondering how this plays in Germany? Subtitles? LOL. Again I have to reiterate this is intended for a mass audience, not scientists or students studying theoretical physics. Albert certainly was no genius when it came to human interaction with women. I never knew about what a selfish imbecile he was.