Television series

Our Universe

Name: Our Universe
Genre: Documentary, Nature, History
Released: 2022
Cast: Morgan Freeman

A six-part Netflix series that traces 13.8 billion years of cosmic history through stunning animation and wildlife footage, narrated by Morgan Freeman. It's visually gorgeous and emotionally scaled to make the universe feel connected to life on Earth. Perfect if you want to feel small and awestruck without needing a physics degree.

TVMaze rating

3.0

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy wildlife films that treat a beetle and a star as part of one story, and you don't mind the animation stitching the cosmos to the savanna.

Skip it if you want hard science delivered straight, since this is a gentle, broad tour with more wonder than depth, and the cartoon reconstructions can feel childish.

What it asks of you: Six episodes of roughly 44 minutes each, paced briskly and kept light in tone, so it asks for an easy evening rather than sustained concentration.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Cosmos1980

Carl Sagan's vision reimagined with modern visual effects and a similarly breathtaking scope. Neil deGrasse Tyson guides you through the same sense of cosmic wonder, hitting many of the same notes about our place in the universe.

But Thirteen episodes is a much heavier commitment than six, and it dives deeper into physics and history in ways that can feel academic if you're after pure spectacle.

Life2007

Attenborough's masterpiece about how life adapts across the planet. Hypnotic cinematography and a narrative that weaves evolutionary biology with pure visual poetry—the same marriage of scale and intimacy that Our Universe achieves.

But Focuses entirely on Earth's creatures rather than cosmic forces, so you lose the space component that gives Our Universe its sense of vast time.

Genius by Stephen Hawking2016

Explores the big questions about the universe—black holes, time, the Big Bang—with cutting-edge visualization and genuine curiosity. Hawking's brilliant mind shines through without getting bogged down in equations.

But More cerebral and less animal-focused than Our Universe; the physics can feel abstract if you preferred the concrete beauty of the wildlife sequences.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Our Universe

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Samsara2011

Both use overwhelming visual scale to show connection between cosmic and human scales, but Samsara does it through montage and repetition rather than explanation.

A nearly wordless visual journey through rituals, landscapes, and cycles across the world—birth, death, transformation, decay. Shot in 70mm across four years, it's a meditation on the same interconnected systems Our Universe maps but through human ritual and nature observed as pure visual poetry.

But No dialogue, no narration, no plot; it demands patience and openness to sit with images rather than be guided through them. Some find it slow or pretentious; others find it transcendent.

Planet Earth III2023

The latest iteration of the gold standard in nature documentaries, with even more extraordinary camera work and a timely focus on how climate shapes animal behavior. Sheer spectacle and emotional depth.

But Entirely present-day Earth; you lose the billions-of-years perspective and cosmic framing that makes Our Universe feel uniquely ambitious.

Particle Fever2013

Our Universe shows you what the universe looks like; Particle Fever shows you what physicists do to understand what it is. Same awe, different angle.

A documentary about physicists attempting to find the Higgs boson at CERN—it's a thriller about the search for fundamental truth. The emotion comes from watching humans grapple with the universe's deepest mysteries, and it's absolutely gripping.

But Dense physics concepts underpin the whole thing; even with excellent pedagogy, if you want to coast on visuals without thinking, you'll hit a wall. It demands active engagement.