Cosmos: A Personal Voyage

Cosmos (1980) is a popular science book by astronomer and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Carl Sagan. Its 13 illustrated chapters, corresponding to the 13 episodes of the Cosmos TV series on which the book was based, explore the mutual development of science and civilization. Spurred in part by the popularity of the TV series, Cosmos spent 50 weeks on the Publishers Weekly best-sellers list and 70 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list to become the best-selling science book ever published at the time. In 1981, it received the Hugo Award for Best Non-Fiction Book. The book's unprecedented success ushered in a dramatic increase in visibility for science-themed literature. The success of the book also jumpstarted Sagan's literary career. The sequel to Cosmos is Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space (1994). One of Sagan's main purposes for this book (and the television series) was to have a chance to explain complex scientific ideas to anyone interested in learning. He wished to distance himself more from hard science, as he sometimes "didn't have the patience" for it. Sagan also believed the television was one of the greatest teaching tools ever invented, so he wished to capitalize on his chance to educate the world.

After attending a redneck comedy show, Peter purchases a pickup truck and decides to become a redneck. Peter begins behaving as if he were a redneck, eventually painting over the entire rear window of his pickup, which results in him reversing the car into his neighbor Quagmire's car. After destroying the car, Peter drives Quagmire to the airport, as he is due to fly an airplane. While at the airport, Peter steals the fuel used for Quagmire's airplane, naively believing it will make his pickup fly, resulting in Quagmire's plane crashing safely shortly after, due to a lack of fuel. As a result, Quagmire loses his job and is forced to live with the Griffins until he can find another place to work. Peter claims he is no longer going to be a redneck, although this fails to comfort Quagmire over his loss. The group then sets out to get Quagmire his job back by incapacitating the pilots of another plane, causing it to need to be rescued by Quagmire, making him a town hero. The plan backfires, however, as Quagmire does not get on the plane in time. Quagmire eventually contacts Peter, Cleveland and Joe via air traffic control and instructs Peter on landing the plane safely.

Frank is in line for some settlement money but there's a catch: he needs a woman named "Monica" to sign the paperwork, and there may be more to Monica than meets the eye. Debbie discovers a secret about Steve, and extorts him to keep it a secret. Ian has an eventful day at work, and Lip does some work for Steve to buy concert tickets for Karen.

Will's father Lonnie assures Joyce that her experiences are hallucinations. The boys conclude that Will is trapped in an alternative dimension which El calls the Upside-Down. After Will's funeral, the boys ask Mr. Clarke about dimensions, who he tells them that a spacetime tear could create a passage between dimensions. The deputies inform Hopper that Barb's car was found by the state; Hopper finds the state's involvement suspicious. Positing that an tear in spacetime would disrupt the electromagnetic field, the boys follow their compasses to find the source of the disruption. El remembers being placed in a sensory-deprivation tank to telekinetically intercept information from a Russian spy; while listening to the spy, she came across the creature. Scared of finding the gate, El directs the compasses away from the laboratory. Lucas notices the distortion and confronts her. Mike defends her, and he and Lucas fight. El telekinetically flings Lucas off Mike; Lucas recovers and runs away. In the woods, Nancy and Jonathan find a wounded deer, which the creature drags away. Following the blood trail, Nancy crawls through a passage to the Upside-Down world and discovers the creature feasting upon the deer.

Famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson shares the birth of Renaissance Italian Giordano Bruno's vision of the universe as a limitless expanse of space and time. Then takes an exploration into the Cosmic Calendar, which dates back to the dawn of the Big Bang. The episode ends with deGrasse Tyson narrating how he met his mentor Carl Sagan, who hosted the first Cosmos series.

Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey is an upcoming American documentary television series. It is a follow-up to Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which was presented by Carl Sagan. The new series' presenter will be Neil deGrasse Tyson.