In dispensing [Cosmos's] heady intellectual mixture on TV, Sagan displays a virtuoso command of audio-visual techniques. During his comparatively straight exposition of scientific, historical, or philosophical topics, he exploits the full gamut of histrionics of the popular TV lecturer…. (p. 65)

Not all these techniques are successful. For his tours of remote regions of the universe, for example, Sagan takes viewers aboard his "spaceship of the imagination." This is a spare construction, windowed and arched like a cathedral designed by a Bauhaus architect, bare except for a chair and a futuristic control console over which he waves his hands mysteriously. It is an apparently pointless gimmick since for lengthy periods of time all we are treated to are reaction shots of Sagan staring appreciatively out of the window.

Another major disappointment in the visual aspect of the presentation comes from the costumed and silent mini-dramatizations of various historical...