I was watching ‘Enterprise‘ the other day – it was the episode where Dr. Phlox (sp?) is trying to find a cure for this species that is slowly going extinct, and I had the thought that in the numerous medical-emergency episodes that I’ve seend on the various series throughout the ages, the research for the cure doesn’t seem terribly rigourous and the testing is non-existent. Sure, they may discover how to reverse ageing, or cure some incurable disease, or what have you (only to forget shortly thereafter, but that’s another rant). But what use is this if the cure causes some other horrible side affect that they haven’t accounted for?
I suppose the premise is that they know so much about biology that they have completely eliminated the chances of this. Human biology, perhaps. But then they readily apply this cure to various other physiologies, even those that they claim to not fully understand.
Throughout contemporary history, virtually all medication that hasn’t been fully tested in it’s intended use has proven to have horrible side effects (please note I say this without any research, only anecdotal evidence, and could be totally wrong). Perhaps some effort should be made to show the doctors doing testing? At least some nifty computer-model tests (which would have the added benefit of gratuitous cgi).
Alternately, I’d love to see an episode of Enterprise, a show which is all for showing the folly of human arrogance, wherein they create some miraculous cure for something, only for the cure to have some horrible side effect that they then must get around (perhaps the solution could come from those future humans they’ve already met).
Looking for a place to happen