I didn't see the American version last night, but I heard that it was substantially the same as the British version with "mismatched" American narration in place of the original British. That's disappointing because I was hoping the more gory parts would be edited out. Like one of those real life ER shows, it's not something that kids can watch.
...just watched it. great show.
Brian, do you think the show conveyed the general potential of cryonics?
You know, it's funny. The general reaction I've heard from people not very familiar with cryonics is that they found the show fascinating. In contrast, the general reaction from people who know cryonics well seems to be disappointment. One Alcor official believes the show is actively damaging, and should not be promoted. In my own case, I think the documentary failed to communicate the central idea of cryonics, which is that declarations of death in contemporary medicine are essentially arbitrary, and that the objective of cryonics is to preserve *THIS* life, not buy a second life after death. I also found the quality of the scientific discussion of what cryonics proposes to do to be low (no discussion of ischemic injury, brain cryopreservation, diversity of proposed repair strategies, or information theoretic death). There was also the usual problem of woefully uninformed critics attacking strawmen. It was mostly a human interest story.
There are so many layers of theory involved in cryonics that it may be impossible to properly deal with the subject in a one hour show aimed at mass audiences. Maybe someday an extraordinary bright journalist unburdened by cultural prejudices will get the best spokespeople and some informed critics together and do it right.