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Without dumbing itself down, The Universe: The Complete Season Two is easily accessible to everyone and fascinating.

The History Channel’s The Universe: The Complete Season Two does a really good job of living up to its name.  Not bound by just the planets in the Solar System (or even the Milky Way), the series covers theories and facts about the nature of the entire universe – from its beginning to its end.  Each of the 18 episodes in the second season of The Universe is narrated by Erik Thompson, whose voice doesn’t distract at all from the amazing imagery and heavy knowledge.

Topics this season covers: the alien (SETI’s search for extraterrestrial life, the differences of planets, other moons in the Solar System); man’s future in space (space and time travel, colonization of planets and moons, terra-forming Mars); cosmic holes (black holes, white holes, worm holes); stellar phenomena (supernovas, cosmic collisions, nebulas); and mysteries (humans’ relationship with the moon, the existence of dark matter, what came before and what ignited the Big Bang).  And that list just scratches the surface of the subjects dealt with.

There was one episode that seemed out of place, titled “Wildest Weather in the Cosmos”.  Not only does it sound like a Fox reality show, it’s kind of presented as one.  Top three countdowns for things like Wildest Storm in the Galaxy while informative, feel like something that should have maybe been on the shows website or offered as a bonus feature on the DVD, not part of an episode.

Interspersed through each episode are scientists who help to ground all the theoretical concepts and amazing light shows by relating them to life on Earth.  But don’t assume that they’re all lab coat-wearing Poindexters.  The scientists themselves are as varied as the heavenly bodies that occupy the heavens.  From hip/cool ones to geeky/nerdy ones to those in-between, the experts who provide the series with a human face for the science can either be unsurprisingly teacher-like or shockingly gorgeous.

Two of the most common appearances might actually be familiar to a lot of viewers.  Radio show personality, physicist, and author Michio Kaku is the first.  Director of the American Museum Natural History’s Planetarium (and frequent guest on both The Daily Show and The Colbert Report) Neil deGrasse Tyson is the other.  Each man is personable in his own way.  Throughout the season, the scientists display their delight and amazement – which is nerdy but cute – in a way that infects the watcher and makes the knowledge-beast that lives in one’s head hungry for more.

Often, the theoretical will cross over into the fictional.  Interviews with sci-fi authors Gregory Benford – himself a physicist – and David Brin – described as a “scientist/futurist” – appear sporadically.  Even the late Carl Sagan and his novel Contact are brought up.  They are often (but not exclusively) used to demonstrate how theoretical science and science fiction work hand-in-hand as they each describe and define the universe’s mysterious phenomena.

After watching the episodes, I found myself discussing what I had learned with co-workers, friends, and family.  I’d ask, “Did you know that the Milky Way is currently colliding with two smaller galaxies; and that sometime in the future it will collide with the Andromeda galaxy, forming a super galaxy?” or, “Have you ever heard of Ophiuchus the missing 13th zodiac sign known as ‘the serpent bearer’?”  Mostly they would look at me like some sort of know-it-all show off until I explained where I’d gleaned my information.  Most often the response was, “Wow.  Can I borrow that when you’re done with it?”

The last disc out of the five that come in Season Two’s metal case deals with some big stuff.  Gravity and Sir Isaac Newton are discussed, as well as the biggest objects in space.  The last episode is called “Cosmic Apocalypse” and covers the end of our Universe.  Predictions of an icy end and an incendiary one seem at odds but just as likely – both are possible outcomes of what is referred to as the Big Crunch (the evil twin of the Big Bang).

The last disc also has the only bonus feature in the set: a featurette called “Backyard Astronomers”.  It’s basically a string of short segments (very webisodey) that jump around different subjects. Without going into super detail on things, they are still informative.  They coolest ones covered Earth’s night sky on a month-by-month case, mostly dealing with the constellations, stars, and nebulas that can be seen each month.

Thought they did a great job, I am a little confused as to why this series was produced by and for the History Channel as opposed to the Science Channel or even Discovery.  It just seems like those would have been more natural homes for it.  Maybe that’s just me.  I also found the series to appear very stoner-friendly because of all the amazing CGI shots and the possibility for “deep” discussions about the universe.  And honestly, the only thing I can think of that isn’t great about the show is the repetition of information from episode to episode.  It probably stood out to me because I watched them all back to back, so I would suggest watching this series a little at a time, giving the information time to digest in the belly of your brain’s knowledge-beast.

The Universe: The Complete Season Two would be just at home on the shelf of a school’s A-V room as it would in any living room.  You don’t have to be a MIT-bound student or physicist to enjoy it.  Just have a curious mind with the ability to be amazed by the heavenly events and bodies that make up our universe.

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