WASHINGTON (AP) —
Seth MacFarlane once included a gag on his animated TV comedy "Family
Guy" about an "edited for rednecks" version of Carl Sagan's "Cosmos,"
featuring an animated Sagan dubbed over to say that the earth is
"hundreds and hundreds" of years old.
Jokes aside, his admiration for Sagan runs deep.
The
Library of Congress announced Wednesday that, thanks to MacFarlane's
generosity, it has acquired the personal papers of the late scientist
and astronomer, who spoke to mass audiences about the mysteries of the
universe and the origins of life. While MacFarlane never owned Sagan's
papers, he covered the undisclosed costs of donating them to the
library.
"All I did was write a check, but it's something that
was, to me, worth every penny," MacFarlane told The Associated Press by
phone from Los Angeles. "He's a man whose life's work should be
accessible to everybody."
MacFarlane — creator of "Family Guy,"
''American Dad!" and "The Cleveland Show" — met Sagan's widow and
collaborator, Ann Druyan, at an event a few years ago that brought
together Hollywood screenwriters and directors with scientists. They
agreed to collaborate on a follow-up to "Cosmos," Sagan's acclaimed 1980
miniseries, with MacFarlane serving as producer. Astrophysicst Neil
deGrasse Tyson will host the series, which is scheduled to begin
production this fall.
MacFarlane said he watched "Cosmos" as a child and devoured all of Sagan's books.
"He
was an enormous and profound influence in my life," MacFarlane said.
"He played an essential role — some would say the only role at the time —
in bridging the gap between the academic community and the general
public."
A planetary astronomer and passionate advocate for
science, Sagan contributed to a variety of NASA projects and conducted
research on the possibilities of extraterrestrial life. He also studied
climate change and the "nuclear winter" that could result from a nuclear
war. He died in 1996 at age 62.
The papers — contained in more
than 800 filing-cabinet drawers — include correspondence with other
scientists, drafts of Sagan's academic articles and screenplay drafts
for the movie "Contact," which was based on Sagan's novel. Also part of
the collection: his grade-school report cards and a drawing he made as a
child about the future of space exploration.
Druyan said Sagan would have been thrilled to see his life's work made available to the public.
"He
was a citizen scientist," Druyan said by phone from her Ithaca, N.Y.,
home. "He really believed that science belonged to everyone, all of us.
He was a 'small-d' democrat in the truest sense of the word."
The
donation is part of a busy week for MacFarlane, whose first live-action
film, "Ted," hits theaters Friday. While he's known more for crude humor
than his interest in science, he hopes to push for a renewed commitment
to space exploration. Although he's a liberal Democrat, he was
impressed by Newt Gingrich's recent comments about establishing a colony
on the moon.
"In the late '60s, they just assumed that would be a
given, that things would continue to progress and that the space
program would continue to evolve, and it was a no-brainer that we would
have a presence on the moon by 2000," MacFarlane said. "We're so far
away from that, and it should be embarrassing."
___
Follow Ben Nuckols on Twitter at http://twitter.com/APBenNuckols.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.