A night of science (and fiction)

Sunday night is a bit of a TV treat for me. We had the marvelous Wonders of the Universe first up, presented by the effortlessly cool Brian Cox. He is just such a dude. He also has the amazing capacity to make infinitely complex science ideas easy to understand. Accompanied by ultra-cool CGI visuals and a rather bizarre metaphor comparing an old prison building to a star, Cox led us on a whistle-stop tour through the elements and how they are made.

This kind of show really does just blow your mind wide open. The theories and ideas on offer and as spellbinding as they are majestically large and expansive to grasp. Major kudos to the BBC for giving such faith to a series like this and putting it in a prime-time slot, much like they did with Cox's recent Stargazing Live series. This is space, for the Facebook generation - pure scientific poetry... and all delivered in Cox's charming Northern accent.

As a big science fiction fan, anything to do with space has always fascinated me (especially when there's cool special effects). A particular favourite moment of mine from this episode was when Cox's old prison/star metaphor came to a dramatic end - the prison exploding while Cox himself walked away in slow motion as if that kind of thing happens every day. He's like the James Bond of Astronomy.

And if that wasn't enough, the night of space-based thrills continued in the form of the Outcasts series finale. Anyone's who's read my other blog posts about the show will know how much praise I have for it, and it was with a heavy heart and many emotions that I came to this last episode. And the show most definitely went out with a bang.

Fleur was absolutely amazing this episode. Her and Cass have been the beating heart of this series, but tonight Fleur was every inch the star. With the revelation she is in fact a special breed of AC, we saw her joining Rudi; leaving behind her past life in Forthaven.

Rushing through a hotbed of political drama between Tate, Julius and Jack as well as a deadly outbreak of infection, there was one moment this episode was all building too... the space-ship touching down on the surface of Carpathia. Again, this is the stuff sci-fi is designed for and My God was it amazing. Put simply, the best cliffhanger I have seen in a long, long time.

The BBC NEEDS to make another series of Outcasts. They just can't leave it there. There's so much more to explore on Carpathia...