Connections with James Burke

[luvmysuper]

I watched, and was (and still am) a huge fan of the TV Series "Connections" with James Burke.
I was so enamored of this show that I watched it religiously, soaking in every brilliant quip and nuance from Mr. Burke.

I was aware that a subsequent followup series Connections2 was made, but life had me otherwise occupied at the time, and I have never seen it. I just became aware that there was also a Connections3 series.

Has anyone seen all three series?

I had heard that Connections2 was not as good as the Original, and I've heard nothing of Connections3.
I'd like to hear the input from someone who really liked the original, and what they thought about 2 and 3 before I expend the effort to track them down to watch.

Connections - 1978
Connections2 - 1994
Connections3 - 1997

 

[captp]

Long time since I saw the original. I saw most of the episodes and loved it. Watched the 2nd one and didn't think it was anywhere near as good. Still fairly good, but not quite up to snuff. Never heard of the 3rd one so can't say.

 

[Alacrity59]

All worth watching but 1 was by far the best. There is also a series, not by Burke, my wife and I are watching on Netflix "How we got to now" which covers much of the same ground but is still better than much of the drivel available. There was also a series by Burke called "The day the universe changed" . . . I'd say this had more value than 3 to me.

 

[luvmysuper]

Long time since I saw the original. I saw most of the episodes and loved it. Watched the 2nd one and didn't think it was anywhere near as good. Still fairly good, but not quite up to snuff. Never heard of the 3rd one so can't say.

Thanks, that kind of aligns with what I had heard from some others, though the guys I heard it from didn't absolutely "love" the original. They thought the original was ok, and that the second wasn't as good.

 

[luvmysuper]

All worth watching but 1 was by far the best. There is also a series, not by Burke, my wife and I are watching on Netflix "How we got to now" which covers much of the same ground but is still better than much of the drivel available. There was also a series by Burke called "The day the universe changed" . . . I'd say this had more value than 3 to me.

I had not heard of the other series with Burke, but I appreciate the heads up on these and will look into them.

 

[jamesspo]

I've watched all three, and I prefer the first and third. Connections 2 moves to a half hour per episode format, and pretty much like all more recent shows about science/history was dumbed down somewhat :/. Connections 3 moves back to the one hour format and closer to Connections 1 overall (but again, a tad more dumbed down). It's still pretty good though. I got mine from Netflix DVD, so didn't have to expend much to try it out. If you can get them for cheap somewhere, probably worth getting at least Connections 3.

Another series I'd recommend that is of a similar ilk is Ascent of Man, with J Bronowski. It's a bit less focused on science, and more on society.

 

[luvmysuper]

That's great info.
I believe I've heard of "The Ascent of Man", but can't remember where.

 

[BSAGuy]

Totally cool and outstanding show. Very mentally stimulating.

 

[Doc4]

I love that show. I haven't seen it in ages, but it was great to watch back in the day. I remember seeing some of the follow-ups ("2" or "3" ... dunno which) and not liking them nearly so much ... for me, the biggest problem was that the "connections" he was trying to make were pretty trivial compared to the original show.

 

[luvmysuper]

It truly is a fascinating series. A brief synopsis of Episode 8;

The Swiss opposed the army of Burgundy and invented a new military formation (with soldiers using pikes) called the pike square. The pike square, along with events following the French Revolution, set in motion the growth in the size of armies and in the use of ill-trained peasant soldiers.
Feeding these large armies became a problem for Napoleon, which caused the innovation of bottled food. The bottled food was first put in champagne bottles then in tin cans. Canned food was used for armies and for navies. In one of the bottles, the canned food went bad, and people blamed the spoiled food on "bad air", also known as swamp air.
Investigations around "bad air" and malaria led to the innovation of air conditioning and refrigeration. In 1892, Sir James Dewar invented a container that could keep liquids hot or cold (the thermos) which led three men – Tsiolkovsky, Robert Goddard, and Hermann Oberth – to construct a large thermal flask for either liquid hydrogen and oxygen or for solid fuel combustion for use in rocket propulsion, applying the thermal flask principle to keep rocket fuel cold and successfully using it for the V-2 rocket and the Saturn V rocket that put man on the moon.

 

[ouch]

The original series was great.

 

[grim]

I'd like to hear the input from someone who really liked the original, and what they thought about 2 and 3 before I expend the effort to track them down to watch.

Connections - 1978
Connections2 - 1994
Connections3 - 1997

I remember the original Connections and it was excellent. After that, it went downhill. I didn't think anywhere near as good. Sorry

 

[luvmysuper]

All of this is not necessarily bad news. I loved the original so much that if 3 is better than 2, and 2 is only half as good as the original, then I'll probably still enjoy them.

 

[Porgy Tirebiter]

Much like "How It's Made", if you miss the opening to a "Connections" episode you'd be hard pressed to figure out where Burke was heading, leading to a guessing game. Burke did give recaps throughout each episode (of the original series), but it was fun back in the day to tune in halfway through and try to figure out what the end result was going to be.
"Here's how the first goat milking by ancient Phoenicians led to the Wright brothers first flight at Kitty Hawk"
Okay, Mr. Smarty Pants, prove it. And he did.
Connections isn't available as far as I can tell, except on some sloppy, subtitled and incomplete YouTube channels. Great series, though.

 

[luvmysuper]

Much like "How It's Made", if you miss the opening to a "Connections" episode you'd be hard pressed to figure out where Burke was heading, leading to a guessing game. Burke did give recaps throughout each episode (of the original series), but it was fun back in the day to tune in halfway through and try to figure out what the end result was going to be.
"Here's how the first goat milking by ancient Phoenicians led to the Wright brothers first flight at Kitty Hawk"
Okay, Mr. Smarty Pants, prove it. And he did.
Connections isn't available as far as I can tell, except on some sloppy, subtitled and incomplete YouTube channels. Great series, though.

http://www.amazon.com/Connections-1-5-Disc-Set/dp/B000NJVY3U

2 and 3 seem to be available, off and on from Barnes & Noble.

 

[StillShaving]

Some short series done in similar vein that you are likely to enjoy (I certainly did):

• The Mystery of Matter - Search for the Elements. It highlighted the connections between discoveries and how they all feed off each other. Entertaining and educational.
• The Bomb & Uranium – Twisting the Dragon's Tail. Especially the show about the nuclear bombs development, I never appreciated how fast it was done.