Unknown: Cosmic Time Machine is a short Netflix documentary about the recently launched (and deployed) James Webb Space Telescope.

If I was rating this doc on emotional manipulation alone, it’d get a higher score. But I have to back away and be more rational. Tugging at my heartstrings isn’t enough… and it’s not really fair to the science and the scientists. Judged as a deep dive into hard science, it’s only ok. I mean, it opens explaining that light from the sun takes eight minutes to reach Earth and that’s a pretty low bar for a science documentary.

On the other hand, I recently had a conversation with someone who was suspicious of the telescope’s images. Not because they are false color images that convert infrared light into something our eyes can see. No, she just couldn’t see how they could get this spaceship all the way out there in the galaxy so it could broadcast the images all the back to us. I explained that it’s actually close by and receiving light that’s been travelling to us for years. She hadn’t realized which is emblematic of why a documentary like this is useful.

Not that I’m some kind of astrophysics expert but I followed the development of the JWST off and on for years and knew when it was launching and when it was deploying, etc. And I learned a few things from the documentary but not as much as I’d have liked. But someone with no familiarity will learn a lot.

The first half of the doc covers the construction and testing of the satellite’s deployment system on Earth. And then the launch and delivery to its orbital home. The rest of the doc focuses on the images it’s captured so far and how the scientists, engineers, and astronomers feel about them. Seeing how excited and teary-eyed they get is pretty moving… even if its not the best science a science doc can deliver.

I’m giving this one a decent review for the combination of emotional and general scientific delivery. I’d give it a lower score as hard science, but that’s not really its goal.

Score: 78