The New Breed

This episode is about a man who begins to play God. He actually announces to his critics that he will improve on God's work. Well, we know from Mary Shelley that this is not a good idea. When one starts to get a little smug about his accomplishments, he is going to hit the wall at some point. Richard Thomas is an arrogant nano-scientist who doesn't think he should wait to do the ultimate testing on living creatures. But unlike many of his predecessors, he doesn't inject himself. Instead, the honor goes to his cancer-riddled future brother-in-law. He sneaks into the lab and helps himself to the priceless little buggers and injects them into his bloodstream. How could any lab of this import have so little security. As a matter of fact, as Thomas works in his lab to try to counteract the horrors that are happening to his friend, there never seems to be anyone else around. I know this is a bit nit-picky, but it bothered me from the get go. Anyway, at first the stuff does amazing things, curing and enhancing any defects in the man's body. It even builds gills so he can breathe under water, but when the defense systems begin to be enhanced, he becomes less human and more jellyfish. Thomas, who previously would have done anything to get his way with the scientific community, now is faced with dealing with scientific ethics and his own morality. This is a thought provoking episode on some levels, but there are too many hard-to-swallow events to make it a really good one.