A creative, captivating 'Universe'

Is this a statement about how difficult it is to get good help in trendy bars? Nope. It's an attempt to illustrate the uncertain qualities of quantum mechanics, which posits a world in which orange sometimes turns out to be blue.

The bar scene at the Quantum Cafe is one example of the extraordinary effort made by "Nova: The Elegant Universe" to render a complex and esoteric scientific theory palatable and fun for a television audience.

In this case, the concept is "string theory," a relatively recent attempt to explain the workings of the universe in one majestic, unifying idea. String theory holds that the world we know -- and don't know -- is made up of vibrating strands of energy, or (as the show puts it) "an elegant universe composed entirely of the music of strings . . . a universe where reality meets science fiction."

That this three-hour miniseries can keep your attention -- even as it leaves you scratching your head or turning to the Old Testament for a more digestible theory of the world -- is a tribute to some remarkably creative and ambitious filmmaking. No one can accuse "Nova" of being an unindicted coconspirator in the dumbing down of America.

The star and host of "The Elegant Universe" is Brian Greene. A Harvard graduate, Rhodes scholar, Columbia University professor of physics and mathematics, and prize-winning author, Greene may be a scientific genius. But here, he comes across as an affable screen presence who'd look right at home hosting "Hollywood Squares."

Greene has lots of fun trying to explain string theory with all sorts of fascinating special effects and computer animation. At one point, in discussing whether the properties of the universe would allow for instantaneous space-and-time travel, he vanishes from contemporary Central Park in New York to become part of a scene in the Old West. In another striking sequence, the faces of scientists discussing string theory show up on slices of bread being cut to illustrate the concept of parallel universes. And the pulsing images of the subatomic strings themselves are hypnotic as they dance across the screen.

Whatever the packaging, the ideas being discussed here are mind-boggling. When one scientist ventures that "perhaps we live on a three-dimensional membrane that floats inside higher dimensional space," most Homo sapiens have little choice but to say: "Huh?"

What does it mean that, according to string theory, our universe may have six extra dimensions? Is it possible to tear a hole in the "fabric of space?" Can gravity "seep out of our part of the universe?"

The problem is, the people who seem capable of understanding these questions are those scientists we see in "The Elegant Universe" working on the kind of endless equations that only Matt Damon was able to figure out in "Good Will Hunting."

There is one point in the program, however, when the theoretical seems to become tangible. That's when it is suggested that according to string theory, we may be headed for another Big Bang -- a sudden cosmic clash of parallel universes. Some commentators had speculated that a 2003 World Series pitting the Chicago Cubs and the Boston Red Sox might result in a cataclysm of biblical proportions. But here is an idea grounded in science that actually raises the specter of the end of the world as we know it.

Fortunately, "The Elegant Universe" is quick to point out that, as is the case with much of string theory, none of this can be proved for now.