I still credit him with really sparking my interest in science, but he's taken a the lighthearted question of "could this work in the real world?" to extremely pedantic and unpleasant extremes. Who the fuck cares if "uhm actually the stars didn't look like that when the Titanic went down"?

I don't think he's a bad person, just a jerk and not someone I'd want to be stuck in an elevator with. Nowadays you have people like Randall Muroe, Adam Savage, Steve Mould, etc. who still dive into speculative physics while keeping it fun and fostering curiosity.