Cheap Nova: Anastasia Dead Or Alive (Video) Price

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Customer Reviews of Nova: Anastasia Dead Or Alive

Anna Anderson WAS Anastasia
As fun as the video was to watch, some of the info is outdated. DNA did not prove Anna was Franziska Schanzkowska. And Greg King has cast doubts on the continued validity of the DNA tests. I continue to believe that Anna Anderson and Grand Duchess Anastasia were one and the same. <
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>Ten years later, Greg King (author of The Last Empress: The Life and Times of Alexandra Feodorovna, Tsarina of Russia and co-author with Penny Wilson of The Fate of the Romanovs) adds for the record: "One needn't believe in conspiracies or ascribe incompetence to those who conducted the testing to have doubts about their continued validity. Two distinct methods of DNA testing were used to show support for the hypotheses that Anastasia Manahan or Anna Anderson 1) Could not have been a child of Nicholas and Alexandra; 2) Did not match the mtDNA Hessian profile derived by Gill and used to match four of the female Ekaterinburg remains to the profile derived from HRH The Duke of Edinburgh; and 3) Matched the mtDNA profile of Karl Maucher, lending support to the hypothesis that she was Schanzkowska. <
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>"Both nuclear and mitochondrial (mtDNA) testing was done. Nuclear testing is preferred as it renders better results and is considered more accurate, while mtDNA is less discriminating. Nuclear DNA tests showed that AA could not possibly have been a daughter of N and A, yet changes in the science make the 1994 verdict obsolete. Gill used a 6-point Short Tandem Repeat (STR) analysis of the nuclear DNA to arrive at these results. Within four years of these tests, 10 point STR testing was being done, and when results of 10 point STR testing were compared with 6 point STR tests, the 6 point analysis was shown conclusively to give both false positive and negative results-in other words, conclusions based on 6 point STR tests were proved faulty. In 1999, the testing had gone from the 6 point STR tests of 1993-94 and the 10 point STR tests of 1998 to 12 point STR tests, the accuracy of which further undermined 6 point STR test results. Gill admitted this in a statement released in 2000, adding that FSS had changed from the old 6 point STR method to the 10 point STR method in 1999. In 2000, the STR tests were up to a 14 point system; in 2001, it was 16 points, and by 2002, the industry standard worldwide in STR testing was 20 point STR tests. Scientific studies have repeatedly shown that 6 point STR tests are unreliable and result in false matches and exclusions. The 6 point STR nuclear DNA tests that showed Anastasia Manahan could not have been a daughter of N and A, therefore, are now meaningless. <
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>"The mtDNA match to the Maucher profile is also now known to be less reliable than everyone believed. In 1994, mtDNA matches were believed to prove identity, and to be unique to related individuals. Last year, an extensive UK study showed that out of a random 100 persons, four completely unrelated subjects shared exactly the same mtDNA profiles; extrapolate that here, on a board with 400 members: of the 400 of us posting here, 40 of us-unrelated to each other-would have identical mtDNA profiles, thus "proving" that we're related. The odds of a random mtDNA match between the Manahan sample and the Maucher profile are indeed considerable given the size of the world's population and the numbers involved. I suspect, based on the continuing evolution of the science, that future studies will show mtDNA profiles to be even more common than this. <
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>"My reservations about regarding the 1994 DNA tests as absolutely conclusive in the matter of Anastasia Manahan, therefore, rest on the advances of science. Two of the three planks in the DNA case against her have now been shown to be either unreliable or less than compelling in a mere ten years. Her exclusion from the Hessian mtDNA profile remains, and while the methods used to obtain the exclusion remain in practice, given the above changes I hesitate to presume that they, too, won't be challenged as the science evolves; already in the last 2 years there have been two substantial challenges to the DNA testing done on the Ekaterinburg remains, and I suppose there will be more in the future that may or may not be valid. This makes it theoretically possible -- given the facts above about the first two DNA planks in the case -- that ultimately in another generation none of the DNA identifications/exclusions in the Anderson case will matter-and the case will fall back to where it always rested before the DNA -- to examination of physical traits, memories, recognitions, etc. <
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>"It seems to me, whether one wishes to believe in Anna Anderson or not (and I don't wish either way, incidentally), it's best to keep an open mind and at least examine the facts as known now in the DNA case against Anastasia Manahan -- as three separate issues -- rather than repeatedly refer to ten year old tests that, taken as a whole, have lost two-thirds of their validity." <
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>King continues, on a "Romanov" chat-line ("The Alexander Palace Discussion Board" - http://hydrogen.pallasweb.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi): "The DNA does not prove anything in this case. It [did not] confirm the identities of Nicholas and Alexandra and the three children, but merely showed that Hessian and Romanov DNA was present in those remains. Thus saying that `DNA proves this is Nicholas, Alexandra, etc.,' isn't really correct -- what it shows is support for the hypothesis that the remains were theirs, and were related to their families. It does not show or confirm actual identity. ... Where DNA is concerned, it is important to stress not only that in this case it did not identify anyone, but also that the very tests conducted in 1992-94 are now so out of date they are no longer used. For example -- using a 6 point STR DNA test, Anna Anderson was shown not to have been a child of Nicholas and Alexandra. By 1999, 10 point STR testing had shown that 6 point tests were not only inaccurate but also gave false positive and negative results; they were replaced with 12, then 16, and now 20 point STR tests. So the 6 point STR test which shows Anna Anderson wasn't a Romanov cannot be considered valid any longer, and is, indeed, subject to proved false results. The same can be said of mtDNA testing as well -- methodology has vastly changed, and we now know that the same mtDNA patterns are shared by perhaps 18-20% of the population -- it is not the discriminating factor it was described as seven or eight years ago. It is so inaccurate and so common that it is no longer used in court cases for identity and paternity tests -- they use nuclear DNA rather than mtDNA, which is subject to too many variables. <
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>"Nothing bothered me more for so many years as the resemblance between AA and FS, though obviously as Peter says they wouldn't have introduced a candidate who bore no resemblance to AA in an attempt to say that it was she. Since we have only the one doctored photo, though, I'm far more interested in things which don't get mentioned or explored-and ultimately that's what makes the case convincing to me. Not only issues like shoe size but that we have pretty complete month by month documentation now for FS's movements between 1912-1920, including her medical reports, which incidentally make it quite clear there were no scars involved in the munitions accident. These reports indicate that FS was never pregnant during this period, which is a crucial fact-up to a few weeks before AA appeared, FS is well accounted for, and just wasn't pregnant, whereas medical examinations of AA showed that she had given birth at some point (and I've confirmed this with the last doctor who actually examined her on the issue in the 1950s). So how does one reconcile two complete discrepancies-if FS wasn't pregnant, she could not be AA, who gave birth-no two ways about it. Then there are other issues, like AA's blood-in 1951 I think Professor Stefan Sandkueler (I'm probably spelling that wrongly but it's off the top of my head) took blood samples of AA. These samples when tested in 1993-4 did NOT match either the Schanzkowski DNA OR the putative AA Charlottesville tissue DNA profile-and yet these samples are the ONE thing we're certain about-contrary to what Massie wrote in his book they were carefully preserved as the professor told me himself, and not contaminated, and rendered workable and accurate results-and they remained in his possession alone, under lock and key, not subject to interference or contamination by others or by other agents like injection of preservatives as was the tissue in VA. <
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>"There are a number of these kinds of things which are quite important and which to me help prove that AA could not have been FS. They certainly don't prove she was Anastasia, but taken with the doubts about the mtDNA matches with Maucher, it leaves the DNA evidence-the supposed and presumed "end of the story" verdict-in the dust-and takes things back to square one-determination based on other factors. It amazes me that when the DNA results came out, almost every person came off with the same line-"she must have been a great actress"-and made absolutely no attempt to address the outstanding questions of people recognizing her, physical similarities, memories, human experience, etc.-all of it was simply swept aside without any mention to embrace the DNA as the final solution. No one yet has made any systematic attempt to address the outstanding contradictions in AA's case-how did a Polish peasant manage to fool numerous royals-who, given the class distinctions of the period-would certainly have immediately spotted someone who wasn't "one of them." The Duke of Leuchtenberg commented that it was clear, whoever she was, that she was a member of the highest social circles-how does this fit in with FS? It doesn't, yet no one has attempted to explain it. It's all of these things which convince me that she was Anastasia." <
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>For the latest news on the DNA question, click here and here (PDF file, requires Adobe Acrobat Reader) <
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Revealing more than just history - but human nature
I watched this amazing Nova documentary in awe. In part because 'yes' it finally puts to rest the controversy/legend of Princess Anastasia somehow surviving her execution along with the rest of the Romanov royal family. But awe because viewers are given an insight to the fanatical belief systems of people who are so heavily invested in a myth that, even when given irrefutable proof, they *choose* their myth instead. Shades and premonitions of OJ's jury abound. <
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>It goes beyond stunning when you compare the video interviews of the proponents at the start of the documentary stating that if the DNA proves that Anna Anderson is not Anastasia - they would relent with no more argument. They're seem like solid, logical, even-tempered citizens. Then, when the results are finally revealed, their "true" face is revealed - that of the zealot. <
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>They REFUSE to believe the results! Like some bizzare cult they all start to recite their collected evidence like a mantra to push away the demons of reality. Scary and funny at the same time.

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Interesting.
Interesting--a nice little thing about how Grand Duchess Anastsasia Nikolaevna did NOT survive and Anna Anderson was indeed Franciska Shanzkovska.