Cancer Warrior (Nova)
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: D Episode: B-
One has to wonder if with all the technology around, all
the science, all the billions upon billions of dollars (and other currencies)
of research worldwide, why at least some cancers have not been cured. More often lately, more than a few people
have been willing to boldly suggest it is a situation purposely not being
solved for ugly reasons (population control, profit, carelessness, hatred) that
are increasingly believable as cutback, pension gutting and the like
continue. Cancer Warrior is a
2001 installment of Nova shows that undeniable progress is being made no
matter who would be trying to stop it.
The approach here is not to directly stop the cancer
cells, but to stop them from getting to the healthy cells and other elements
around that cancer feeds on. After some
interesting trial and error, experiments with the catastrophic drug Thalidomide
begin, which was given to mothers for morning sickness several decades
ago. The result was an insane number of
birth defects that had it pulled from the market. However, and however controversial, it was used to try and fight
cancer in patients who were in the deepest trouble. This led to the development of Endostatin, and that is the drug
that may be a groundbreaker. This is
still a very relevant piece and one you should catch.
The letterboxed 16 X 9/1.78 X 1 image is not bad, but a
bit soft and too bad this was not anamorphically enhanced. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has no true
surrounds, but the combination is just fine for all the compelling
material. There are no extras, except
the obligatory weblink. An update on
the four years since would have been nice, but it was not to be. Maybe they’re saving that up for the next
full episode.
- Nicholas Sheffo
