Expérience interdite

I first saw this movie before I changed careers to become a high school science teacher. Hadn't thought of it in years...till I was wrapping up my Genetics unit with Designer Babies from Discovery, and Gattaca as preludes to some ethical discussions with my students. After remembering this show, I thought...boy how ahead of its time. Designer Babies talks about the possibilities of testing "designer" chromosomes out in chimps to make sure they are safe and talks about the possibility of mistakenly creating animals with human characteristics or even intelligence! How scary and thought provoking! And in 88 it was truly sci-fi...but now????

Saw this mini-series on BBC1 when it was first released in the 1980s. Was reminded of it only yesterday when discussing vivisection. Don't remember much about the details of this drama but the one resounding message I still remember is the underlying theme that scientists do what they do because they CAN but seldom stop to consider whether they SHOULD. A very powerful drama highlighting the disastrous possibilities that can occur when scientists play God with nature. If only scientists listened to and abided by the message given in this excellent production. Sure cloning may be the next stage to ease suffering and/or cure disease but what about the ethical implications? As usual the ethical question of SHOULD they will no doubt take second place to the practical consideration that they CAN.

That says it all I think. I was old enough to watch it and I felt fine. Then afterwards I went to see my parents in another room and wow, was just overcome with emotion. Was a bit sad that not many people spoke about it the next day at School.

This was pretty disturbing/sad stuff and pretty tense. A great BBC drama of the 80s. ITV brought out Chimera a couple of years later which was in a similar vein.

Anyway, I haven't seen it in 35 years so don't expect me to add anything further here because I can't remember! I've got the DVD but haven't brought myself to watch it again yet!

If you want another recommendation for the era, go and watch Maelstrom (1985).

The acting in this series was superb! The subject matter is probably more pertinent today than it was when the show was released--definitely ahead of its time. Considering the incredible advances made in gene manipulation since then, I believe this is a series that should be seen by everyone.

For those of you who wish to view the Series "First Born", it is is available on DVD from Play.com It has Dolby Digital sound (2.0) stereo version, is in full screen 4.3 ratio, and playable on region 2 (European Region 2) or multi region DVD players. Running time of the film is 155 Minutes.

I would thoroughly recommend this film as well worth viewing. As many of the previous have stated, the film was ahead of its time in dealing with some of the genetically engineering problems. The acting is excellent, with convincing work particularly by Charles Dance.

Whilst some people might have said that the basis of the story was far fetched (when it was originally filmed) it is now plain to see that this is not the case. "Dolly" the sheep and other hybrid experiments show that we have now reached the possibility of human hybrids.