Horizon - BBC2 10/1/11 9pm
Discussion
TV guide said:
Comedian Ben Miller used to be a physicist. So if you want to know all about novel quantum effects in low temperature misoscopic quasi zero dimensional electron systems (the title of his PhD), he's your man. But the simple scientific question "what is temperature?" has floored him and in an accessible, entertaining way he tries to define just what is one degree. Channelling his inner boffin, he starts by making a thermometer that uses not fahrenheit or centigrade but "the Miller scale".
There was more than a little cotton wool in that programme, and it would have benefitted from a damn good editing. I did see at the end that it was scripted by <somebody> and they were clearly using Ben in a Top Gear style. I am damn sure he knew exactly what temperature is, they just spend 40 minutes going around the houses, messing around with melted butter and explaining what a thermometer was. A shame really, we need more science qualified people on TV.
Disappointing start to the series (esp after last series had such good episodes).
Elementary GCSE Physics, presented in a simplistic way. He was more concerned in showing off his Citroen
The superfluids bit was cool - should have concentrated on the crazy stuff that happens down at Absolute Zero, not the *shock horror* conclusion that temperature=energy (which he would have known from O Level).
Hope episode 2 is better.
Elementary GCSE Physics, presented in a simplistic way. He was more concerned in showing off his Citroen
The superfluids bit was cool - should have concentrated on the crazy stuff that happens down at Absolute Zero, not the *shock horror* conclusion that temperature=energy (which he would have known from O Level).
Hope episode 2 is better.
g3org3y said:
Disappointing start to the series (esp after last series had such good episodes).
Elementary GCSE Physics, presented in a simplistic way. He was more concerned in showing off his Citroen
The superfluids bit was cool - should have concentrated on the crazy stuff that happens down at Absolute Zero, not the *shock horror* conclusion that temperature=energy (which he would have known from O Level).
Hope episode 2 is better.
I think it's still the same series as IIRC it said "Episode 8". Elementary GCSE Physics, presented in a simplistic way. He was more concerned in showing off his Citroen
The superfluids bit was cool - should have concentrated on the crazy stuff that happens down at Absolute Zero, not the *shock horror* conclusion that temperature=energy (which he would have known from O Level).
Hope episode 2 is better.
I'm hoping they change producers next series to someone who isn't afraid to show some real science.
I fell asleep twice watching this one, but I was tired and in bed.
From what I saw I wasn't all that impressed. I don't believe that a guy with a PhD (Even 20 years out of practice) wouldn't remember what temperature is.
Frankeh said:
g3org3y said:
Disappointing start to the series (esp after last series had such good episodes).
Elementary GCSE Physics, presented in a simplistic way. He was more concerned in showing off his Citroen
The superfluids bit was cool - should have concentrated on the crazy stuff that happens down at Absolute Zero, not the *shock horror* conclusion that temperature=energy (which he would have known from O Level).
Hope episode 2 is better.
I think it's still the same series as IIRC it said "Episode 8". Elementary GCSE Physics, presented in a simplistic way. He was more concerned in showing off his Citroen
The superfluids bit was cool - should have concentrated on the crazy stuff that happens down at Absolute Zero, not the *shock horror* conclusion that temperature=energy (which he would have known from O Level).
Hope episode 2 is better.
I'm hoping they change producers next series to someone who isn't afraid to show some real science.
I fell asleep twice watching this one, but I was tired and in bed.
From what I saw I wasn't all that impressed. I don't believe that a guy with a PhD (Even 20 years out of practice) wouldn't remember what temperature is.
No, it wasn't impressive at all.
Shame there is such variability betweeen episodes. Seemed to me it'd put off the unwashed masses with his talk of "I've got a degree from Cambridge" whilst also putting off the intelligentsia with faux ignorance of what temperature is.
With his home made thermometer, he randomly ignored boiling water (as the origins of the Celsius scale), chose butter, decided it wasn't very good as a reference point and then moved to triple points. If you're using a super-accurate triple point as one point on your scale, what do you use as the other?
That seemed fairly representative of the whole show - feigned ignorance, a little bit of genuinely interesting science then on to the next thing before you've got into any detail.
I still quite enjoyed it, and he was a good and enthusiastic presenter, but there was just an underlying feeling that they could do better with the raw material.
My mate'll be kicking himself though - he put the brass plaque on Reality Checkpoint years ago, but some vandals nicked it.
With his home made thermometer, he randomly ignored boiling water (as the origins of the Celsius scale), chose butter, decided it wasn't very good as a reference point and then moved to triple points. If you're using a super-accurate triple point as one point on your scale, what do you use as the other?
That seemed fairly representative of the whole show - feigned ignorance, a little bit of genuinely interesting science then on to the next thing before you've got into any detail.
I still quite enjoyed it, and he was a good and enthusiastic presenter, but there was just an underlying feeling that they could do better with the raw material.
My mate'll be kicking himself though - he put the brass plaque on Reality Checkpoint years ago, but some vandals nicked it.
The reviews on this were pretty good, and I caught a preview of it and some clips on BBC Breakfast of all things, and it looked like it was going to be good, and maybe Horizon were easing off on the dumbing down? 40 minutes in and I was losing the will to live. Surely we all knew that temperature was how excited the molecules in things were?
With the exception of the really cool bit (sorry) with liquid helium at near 3K leaking through the glass container, it was garbage. Who or what is Horizon for these days? It's too stupid for anyone who knows a bit about stuff, yet still to clever for people who think man & dinosaurs co-existed.
I remember when Horizon used to be good
Yellow DS was great though eh?
With the exception of the really cool bit (sorry) with liquid helium at near 3K leaking through the glass container, it was garbage. Who or what is Horizon for these days? It's too stupid for anyone who knows a bit about stuff, yet still to clever for people who think man & dinosaurs co-existed.
I remember when Horizon used to be good
Yellow DS was great though eh?
Edited by Balmoral Green on Tuesday 11th January 16:36
Written & directed by Dan Clifton - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2091307/
Producer of some good programmes, but perhaps not up to the writing & directing part.
Producer of some good programmes, but perhaps not up to the writing & directing part.
I thought the whole programme was pretty badly conceived. The idea of a former pHD physics student struggling with the concept of a degree is fairly unconvincing. It sounded like a person with a non-science background had come up with the idea of the theme and then chosen someone to present it. If they wanted to do the discovery style programme, then it would have been far better to have someone non-scientific presenting and learning as they went.
Balmoral Green said:
With the exception of the really cool bit (sorry) with liquid helium at near 3K leaking through the glass container, it was garbage. Who or what is Horizon for these days? It's too stupid for anyone who knows a bit about stuff, yet still to clever for people who think man & dinosaurs co-existed.
I remember when Horizon used to be good
+1 The really old episodes +10 years were very geeky and a little bit on the dry side. In the last few years they have got a decent balance between scientific content, cinematography and entertainment.I remember when Horizon used to be good
The episode yesterday (as mentioned apart from the absolute zero part), quite boring, not interesting and worthy of a year 9 science lesson.
Balmoral Green said:
Yellow DS was great though eh?
He was very keen about it I noticed, had at least 3 upshifts in the programme!Edited by Balmoral Green on Tuesday 11th January 16:36
Edited by g3org3y on Tuesday 11th January 17:12
A great series of old videos about superfluids here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3O-5KTYq6o&fea...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3O-5KTYq6o&fea...
The thing that I found most disappointing is that he clearly understand the needs for accurate measurements and accurate data collection but [seemingly] chooses to ignore the fact that the data used by the MMGW brigade is anything but. It could have been a very interesting programme (if a bit dumbed down) but had far too much much of a preachy undertone.
Shame.
Shame.
Gassing Station | TV, Film, Video Streaming & Radio | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff