Immortals (Space: Space and Time)

Tyson talks about how the advent of writing allowed people to pass on knowledge to future generations, and about Princess Enheduanna , who was around 2280 BC. e. became one of the first to put his name under his own notes. Tyson also mentions King Gilgamesh , who collected various stories, including the story of Utnapishti , telling about the Great Flood almost identically to the myth of Noah's Ark . The story goes on to state that DNA can also record information to facilitate life, and a number of theories about how life could have originated on Earth from a small cluster of chemical compounds, or from a collision with a meteorite that came from another planet . In the latter case, according to Tyson, the theory was put forward after studying a meteorite that fell in 1911 near the village of Nakhla, during which it was discovered that it was almost identical to the soil samples of the planet Mars obtained by the Viking apparatus. This allowed us to put forward the hypothesis that life could have come in transit from Mars, as well as to explore the possibility of some microbes surviving a long journey through outer space. With the movement of many solar systems through the galaxy over billions of years, planets could similarly exchange life forms.

Tyson continues the story, raising the theme of the existence of life on other planets. He explains that a 1940s project called “ Diana "Showed that radio waves can freely pass through the atmosphere, rushing into outer space, and that all broadcasting signals sent by mankind continue to come from our planet. After that, Tyson notes that as a result of this discovery, many projects were launched to search for signals from extraterrestrial civilizations. Calculations of the speed of development and the duration of the existence of civilization allow us to judge the reality of these projects. Nevertheless, there is a possibility that civilizations could disappear as a result of supernova explosions, natural disasters (such as the possible eruption of the Tob super volcano ), and also destroy themselves during the war or in another way - all this reduces the likelihood of detecting signals from them. Tyson also describes elliptical galaxies , which have the oldest red dwarfs in the universe, which may offer more chances to detect extraterrestrial civilizations. The episode concludes with the assertion that a properly organized exploration of other worlds will allow humanity to leave the Earth before the Sun begins to turn into a red giant .

Animated inserts show Princess Enheduanna, whose image and voice was provided by CNN International correspondent Christian Amanpur .

3.24 million viewers watched the premiere of the live episode on Fox . At the same time, the rating of the episode in the age category 18-49 was 1.1 / 3. As a result, the episode took third and last place among the episodes of its time block, giving way to the episode of the television series “The Good Wife ” and a special episode of the Saturday Night Live show , and ninth place among fourteen premieres of the same night ^[4] .

Jennifer Oulet wrote in the Los Angeles Times that “after wonderful narratives and fascinating biographies of the characters, this episode went on to worsen, took a serious step back, back to the aimless wanderings visible in the early episodes. The episode “Immortals” tells a lot about the power of history, but it’s bad not to take your own opinion about it ” ^[5] .

• The Immortals on the Internet Movie Database
• cosmosontv.com - the official website of the Immortals
• " The Immortals " on the National Geographic Channel