The Day the Universe Changed

It's been years since I've been able to see this wonderful documentary. It is as beautiful and intelligent as it is elegant. The only unfortunate thing is that I can't find a copy for myself. This should be required viewing in high-schools across America. The ideas found within this program are profound and the day I watched "The Universe Changed" was the day I changed. It is also available as an excellent book which I have but it would be nice to find on DVD as this is one those things I'd love to pass on to future generations. If you ever notice it on coming on TV, do yourself a favor and watch it. BRILLIANT ! !

I gladly join this small cult of those shocked that this Citizen Kane of documentaries is not available readily on DVD. I had the rare opportunity to catch this series around 1987 or so, and have never seen anything so entertaining and enlightening since (including his Connections series). James Burke intricately plots out the grand scheme that reveals what's behind the world today. I remember being so thrilled with his way of showing how an accident, or leap of imagination, or curious side effect, spawned a major component of our modern world. I couldn't wait for next week's episode.

My star rating of 10 is rare for me to give anything. It should be required viewing.

Sadly, I feel that James Burke's personal view of the way that discovered knowledge, and inventions, has changed our view of the universe we live in, will never be made into a DVD set because, amongst other things, it challenges on too many levels. And the presentation, so important for any programme to become successful, has become dated. It isn't chock full of special effects. It isn't full of gee-whizz quick cutting and camera angles. In fact, it harks back to an earlier era of experts in their field, such as Dr Bronowski and Desmond Morris. It is entertainment, but nowadays only for a curious few. Those that are interested in the knowledge over and above the presentation. The BBC, to my uncertain memory, repeated it only once. JB's very good earlier Connections series got similar treatment.

And yet, it is a superb series. Hugely accessible if you're patient enough to watch and listen. And it stands as probably the last important science/philosophy popular media programme made by the BBC. Their trademark weekly technology magazine Tomorrow's World disappeared afterwards. The BBC have done other projects since, but only for much smaller audiences, and hence with nothing like the budget. That all initially disappeared to the BBC's excellent Natural World department, and latterly disappeared altogether. Even David Attenborough doesn't really get a look in nowadays. It's all responsible eco-travel, geography, geology and climate change now. No bad thing, you may think, but JB's series was showing the way back then. And the very latest trend of responsible consumerism and personal health was very much being examined in his programmes in 1985 as well. People haven't changed that much since then, and the series is still almost totally relevant. But in fact, the entire popular media aren't interested (in science/technology from a philosophical/historical perspective) anymore. Technology does its job, people don't understand it, and that's enough for 99.9% of them, or so it's perceived. JB predicted this in his series, as it was very much starting to happen at the time.

The bottom line is, not enough people care, for the media responsible to give the green light to produce a DVD set. Decades will go by, and some educated person will one day possibly look back and tell us how ground breaking the series was, and yet most people who could benefit from seeing it never will. To a certain extent, this is the clincher for me when ordinary people make these recordings available from private collections, either on sites like Youtube or download sites. If the public can't see these programmes, but would really love to, what are they to do..? Wait for never..? Thankfully, I recorded this series on VHS when it was first broadcast in 1985, and having looked after the tapes, have since transferred it to DVD, for my own use only, you understand. I did the same with JB's Connections series and I'm rather glad I did. But that's of little use to someone who would pay real money to watch these series but will never get the legal chance.

James Burke gives us a similar take on scientific discovery and technological breakthrough like he did in his excellent "Connections" series a few years before with "The Day the Universe Changed". This is a further examination of how science and technology have linear relations that spark change through society that, although they may feel like waves, are merely triggers or lynch pins that put other discoveries and events into motion. And, once you know that, how are you going to embrace the new society in the late 20th century and welcome the coming changes in the 21st century.

The whole gist of the series is that once you have this perspective, and know that the world is what you make of it, then, in Burke's opinion, you should shape your world to your needs. And the the reason you should do that is to avoid the pitfalls and mistakes of the past, because he shows you how science and engineering brought society forward, but also how it pushed it back when things went wrong.

And that's the real gem of the series. He doesn't show us outstanding successes by themselves, and then tout the virtues of science, logic/reason and applications of those methods, but also what drives men forward, and how some men are blinded by ego or desire.

That's about all the series is, though it also serves as a primer for the world about to be "radically changed". He of course speaks of the internet going public, and not just confined to labs and universities (as well as military installations), but given to the general public en large. He poses to us, the viewing audience, what if our community were boundless, and was not restrained by the old political boundaries that had held mankind back in previous ages?

From prehistoric man, to the classical era, to medieval times, to the renaissance, to the age of reason and beyond, Burke examines points in history and how that changed our ancestor's view, and how it shaped our present perspective. And he warns and asks us that, knowing this, what will we do with the future tomorrow.

It is a very welcome series shot on the usual UK 16mm format for TV of the 80s and before. Burke's esogination and presentation, as well as the theatrical vignettes, drive home his observations and educated us on passing facts that underline his lessons.

Definitely worth viewing for those of us who came of age before the 90s. Younger audiences may see this series as an anachronism, and who can blame them, because a lot of what Burke foretold has come about. Even so, give it a chance, if for no other reason than to see how us older folks viewed the world that eventually came into being.

Enjoy.

I must at the outset confess to a certain bias writing about James Burke. We were both late depression babies born in Northern Ireland, in and near Derry, he a year earlier than myself. We both share a network vision of history as the cause/effect of the interplay of individuals responding to existing conditions and circumstances, sometime with absolutely ironic results. To me, it was always significantly ironic that Karl Marx's inspirator for his social evolutionary model of the Social Man was based on the writings of Lewis Henry Morgan who was the great financier and archcapitalist, J. Pierrepont Morgan's uncle. In his work, Connections, Burke has gone on to explore literally dozens of these baffling circumstances to demonstrate the rather capricious nature of history. And, he has always done it in a witty, entertaining but educating fashion. The series reviewed here, The Day the Universe Changed, was based in large part on work from his earlier Connections but always had a solid political economic basis to it, e.g., his discussion of the role of English Peasant markets and fairs and the rise of early capitalism in pre-reconnaissance England. His presentations were fun to see and wonderful in their solid basis of social and ecological facts. Alas, while we are presently confronted with people spending their time and energy gaw-gawing over who will be the next American Idol, it's nice to look back and refresh our memories that there was a time when we were give substance and wit as entertainment instead of some mindless worship of some feckless celebrity cavorting in a way that will be ultimately boring to the next generation of viewers.