A few days ago, I set out on a quest to find the highest-quality version of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. After struggling to find a remastered version, I decided to remaster the first episode myself.
This wasn’t just about improving the visuals; it was about preserving the integrity of the original work while showcasing the incredible progress science has made over the past 45 years.
What I changed:
- No scenes with Carl Sagan have been altered.
- The pacing and narrative remain untouched.
- All computer-generated scenes have been replaced with real data and imagery from official sources like NASA, ESA, and ISRO.
- Additional visuals were created using the space simulation tool, SpaceEngine.
What I avoided:
- No AI-generated content.
- No stock footage.
Every replaced scene is credited with its source in the bottom-left corner, ensuring transparency and respect for the original material.
This project is my tribute to Carl Sagan’s legacy and a reflection of how far astronomy has come since Cosmos first aired. I hope this remaster can inspire the next generation of scientists, dreamers, and explorers—just as Cosmos inspired me.
I am not aware if I can share links in the post for the video, but I am willing to share the links in DM, before the Mod team approves.
Edit – 25/02/15: Guys, I am thankful for all the support and interest in the work, I am sharing the link in the post and will try to reply to it in the DMs as well to those who commented!
by Rishi943
17 Comments
I think this is wonderful. People need to know Carl and they need to know this show.
I’m a bit skeptical of changing anything, but I’d love to watch it
What did you do with the Milky Way image by Adolf Schaller? This was a drawing of the Milky Way as seen from a planet in one of the Magellanic Clouds, in both the series and the book. It was gorgeous, but low-res. I contacted Schaller about it once, and he didn’t even have access to provide a high-resolution version.
I’m rereading cosmos right now and the parts about Mars were amazing.
Oh man! I loved the original! I would definitely love to watch an upscale one.
Highly interested myself and also for my very autistic nephew whose only real big connection to the outside world we’ve seen so far is in space info. Please do share.
I’ve never seen the original. How does it fare today? Curious what information would be considered wrong/out of date today.
I would love to watch an upscaled version of the classic.
What did you use for your main source of the episode?
What about the music? Did you use the original?
Here is a link to OP’s work!
Cosmos S1-E1 | 4K – Remastered
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7UieUBPiGkw&t=7s
Did any of you know he was a cannabis enthusiast? Or his relationship with Dr. Greenspoon?
Watching it right now! Looks great so far. Thank you. “ … in which we float like a mote of dust in the morning sky.” 🤩
Edit for words 😅
2nd Edit: Wow that was amazing. Watched on my 4k TV. Carl Sagan is such a treasure. Loved the updated imagery you inserted while still preserving Carl 💜.
Would love to see it. I’m interested. Can you send a link?
I’ve not watched the whole thing, but there’s a section where Sagan’s talking about globular clusters (around 12m in) and the images are the Hubble “Pillars of Creation” images, which are nothing like globular clusters. The original showed nicely the way globular clusters relate to galaxies, and how they form is still “poorly understood” [wikipedia], so its a shame you’ve edited this out.
Awesome – great that individuals can do this these days – I wish you could reach out to the current right owners and get them to endorse it or collaborate on more
Thanks for sharing!
If you haven’t already, I highly recommend listening to the Sagan Series on Spotify