Happy Birthday, Stephen Hawking! Today, the renowned physicist turns 76, and CuriosityStream is celebrating with the release of Stephen Hawking’s Favorite Places 2. This followup to the Emmy Award-winning series Stephen Hawking’s Favorite Places is half-documentary, half-science-fiction adventure, and one hundred percent fascinating.
I had the opportunity to preview this amazing space adventure, and it was a wild, interesting ride. Hawking begins his journey on Earth, as the commander of a futuristic space shuttle-like ship aptly named the S.S. Hawking. He quickly jets to Venus, where he skydives through our sister planet’s thick, unforgiving atmosphere, then rockets into the Sun to the sound of our star’s unique heartbeat.
Hawking’s journey also takes him outside the solar system, to the distant Eagle Nebula and the nearby Proxima Centauri system… where something unknown and strange is waiting for him.
Although the show ends on a science-fiction twist, it never leaves the realm of the truly possible. And its stunning graphics and solid grounding in science lift the veil on places that are hidden from sight, showing us what happens inside some of the most fascinating — yet commonplace — objects known to astronomers.
Hawking gives viewers a closer look at some familiar but alien places via the S.S. Hawking. // CuriosityStream
Throughout his adventure, Hawking narrates with the sharp wit and stunning turns of phrase that have garnered him so much popularity as an author and public speaker. He makes it clear that Earth could be another Venus waiting to happen, should climate change (which is real) tip the scales and cause a greenhouse effect so damaging that our home planet can never recover. He poignantly notes that for the elements from which life is derived to have formed, an entire generation of stars had to live and die — and that timescale means that life on Earth formed as soon as it possibly could, and not a moment later.
Stephen Hawking’s Favorite Places 2 is about Hawking’s unflinching quest to understand it all — and to do that, he says, we must first understand our place in the universe. From the planet and the solar system we call home to the conditions that made it possible for life to arise, all of these things are a part of the bigger whole, and the ultimate answer he seeks. You’ll gain insight not only into Hawking’s personal journey as a physicist and what drives him to learn more, but also maybe a little insight into yourself and where you fit into everything, as well.
All of this is set to a soundtrack I’d be first in line to buy and realistic visuals based on our best observations of the favorite places he shares in this 27-minute CuriosityStream exclusive. Are you ready to learn the answer to everything? Stephen Hawking’s Favorite Places 2 is now available in HD and Ultra HD 4K. If you don’t have a subscription, you can check it out for free with a 7-day trial. Don your spacesuit and click over to Curiositystream.com to learn more!