Dave talks to Gideon Bradshaw and Andrew Cohen, the BBC filmmakers behind the new NOVA series The Planets on PBS. Part of the "Summer of Space" on PBS, the series features state of the art science combined with cinematic effects featured on major Hollywood films from the special effects artists who created The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Captain America: The First Avenger -- LOLAVFX.
Narrated by Zachary Quinto (Spock in the reboot of Star Trek) the series is a family history of the planets and their equally fascinating retinue of moons, based on the scientific harvest from the golden age of robotic space exploration from Viking and the Voyagers to Cassini and New Horizons.
Interviews with a diverse array of scientists directly involved in the exploration of the planetary system help in telling one of the greatest stories ever told -- how our singular home in a galaxy of hundreds of billions of suns became the place that we call home, surrounded by a family of worlds that have literally made life on ours possible.