From ‘Science Guy’ to science statesman
An inspiring figure to millions, Bill Nye is likely to gather more fans through the stirring documentary “Bill Nye: Science Guy.”
The 90-minute film, debuting Wednesday on PBS’ “POV,” charts how Nye gained TV fame and grew beyond it. Through 100 episodes of “Bill Nye the Science Guy” in the 1990s, he mesmerized young viewers with wacky verve. His love of science was evident when he tossed a watermelon off a roof or drove a car covered in grass. He was the science teacher we all wish we had, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson says.
These days in TV appearances, Nye has become a resolute warrior determined to fight antiscience forces. “The anti-science movement is more powerful than it’s ever been,” he says.
Nye states his case in a sciencevs.-creation debate, and he faults inaccuracies at Ken Ham’s Creation Museum in Kentucky. Dinosaurs and humans didn’t live at the same time, he stresses. Nye is no more impressed by Ham’s Ark Encounter theme park, also in Kentucky, finding “a weird, untenable world view” in the region.
The Science Guy says climatechange deniers, such as Sarah Palin, are leaving the world a worse place. He praises CNN meteorologist Chad Myers for changing his views on global warming and wishes others would, too. Nye travels to Greenland to witness climate change’s effects and finds them heartbreaking. He just keeps going, speaking before packed houses and posing for selfies with fans.
Nye credits his drive to his parents and notes that his mother was a Navy code breaker during World War II. In a poignant segment, he explains that his brother and sister have ataxia, a movement disorder. Nye, who does not have it, says, “I’m aware of how fortunate I am.”
Connections enrich the film. Nye is the CEO of the Planetary Society, founded by another beloved TV figure, Carl Sagan. Sagan was Nye’s professor at Cornell, and Nye oversees the society’s quest to launch a solar sailing satellite.
Ann Druyan, a co-writer of “Cosmos” and Sagan’s widow, says she’s proud of Nye. TV star Tyson hails Nye’s transition from “Science Guy” for kids to science statesman. He works with conviction for all, even those who discount him. Fans know you want the Science Guy on your side. Today, 8 p.m. Today 9 p.m. Today, 10 p.m.