Andromeda

Some strong episodes in the first three seasons - unfortunately they fired the show runner and it became a discombobulated mess.

When I first started watching Andromeda I was blown away. A great universe, with great ideas, both in technology and philosophy. Now, I was a little concerned with Hercules being the captain of the ship, but I said what the hell, Kevin Sorbo deserves a break.

Unfortunately, the only thing broken was the show. After the first season it all went up in smoke. The universe turned silly, the fights idiotic, the logic nonexistent. You can see how the first season had such a powerful effect on me because I spent the last two days watching the fifth season, even if it sucked immensely.

What started as a great saga, adventure, call it what you like, ended up in a silly fight against an impossible evil, moronic opponents and allies like avatars of stars, moons, hot chick androids that functioned differently in every episode. You might want to see suns that move from system to system while the heroes "evacuate" entire planets with two ships, or even black hole avatars converted into code uploaded to a solar sail energy deflector.

So, I gather Gene Roddenberry must be turning in his grave after his great ideas were perverted by money hungry TV producers with no technical expertise, no strategic thinking, no feel for the wishes of the audience or of the original creator of the series. The "Abyss" has won and it destroyed yet another great opportunity for a great sci-fi show.

This is NOT Gene Roddenberrys Andromeda, its someone else's.

After reading the reviews for the new fall season, I was expecting Andromeda to be another Star Trek clone, but I was pleasantly surprised to find this was not the case! Andromeda is an entertaining show with solid acting and a great mix of action, sci-fi and comedy. Kevin Sorbo slips into this role like it was made for him and the only obvious remnant of his days as Hercules is his wonderful ability to portray the noble hero without taking himself too seriously! The effects are decent, the cast is solid and you don't need to know the technical specs of the Enterprise to understand and enjoy the plot! This show is a treat for sci-fi and action fans alike and even stubborn Star Wars fans (myself among them!) will get a kick out of Rev's Yoda-esque witticisms! All in all, an enjoyable ride!

I feel the need to post a comment on this title because I've seen a few comments from people who are surprised at the positive user response for such an awful show.

What is truly tragic about Andromeda is that it is a show that never realized its full potential. This is due to the powers that be and their decision to remove Wolfe from his post as head writer of the show.

From Season 1 to the halfway point of Season 2, Wolfe was the head writer of Andromeda and the show was quality in every sense of the word. Wolfe took his experience from shows such as Star Trek: Deep Space Night and invested it in Andromeda, bringing life to intricate plot-lines and vibrant characters functioning in a realized Universe.

As Season 2 began to move along, the usual first season clumsiness that one expects from new TV shows had totally dissolved and an epic plot line was beginning to come to life.

This was tragically cut short when Wolfe was fired. After this unfortunate event, nearly all of his work was thrown out of the window as the series took an entirely different direction in favour of mainstream approval and a more episodic format. The most painful example of the latter is embodied in the decision to do away with the character of Trance in favour of a new incarnation of the character designed to be sexy.

The series began to spiral downwards even more, until it was finally too difficult to watch. Andromeda soon began to buy into nearly every science fiction cliché in the book, and when it ended was a pathetic worm of its former glory.

Four stars out of ten for 1.5 excellent seasons and 3.5 awful ones in a show that tragically never met its unimaginable potential.

This sci-fi series opens in a distant future where the vast System's Commonwealth brings peace and stability to three whole galaxies. Our protagonist is Dylan Hunt, captain of the ship Andromeda Ascendant and his world is about to be turned upside down. A group of genetically modified humans, known as the Nietzscheans, betray the Commonwealth; this includes Dylan's close friend and second-in-command. As the fight rages Andromeda is caught on the event horizon of a black hole. Here Dylan is locked in time till a salvage crew pulls the ship out. Three hundred years have passed and a lot has changed; the Commonwealth is long gone, the Nietzscheans are divided but still oppressing people and a species known as the Magog are literally preying on people.

After initial events Dylan takes the salvagers, pilot Beka Valentine; engineer Seamus Harper; Rev Bem, a Magog who has renounced violence; Tyr Anasazi, a Nietzschean with uncertain motives; and finally the enigmatic Trance Gemini, a purple alien of an unknown species. They are soon joined by 'Rommie' the ships android avatar, built by Harper. Over the course of the series they face various dilemmas as Dylan works to re-establish the System's Commonwealth. Some of these will be single episode problems others will be long running plot arcs. We also get some crew changes as the seasons progress.

This series, from an idea by Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, starts of really well as it introduces an interesting group of characters. Dylan is perhaps too much of a 'Captain Perfect' character at times but the others are more interesting; notably Tyr, thanks to his moral ambiguity, and the mysterious Trance. We get plenty of action in just about every episode; this can include space battles, shootouts and physical fights. There is also a good amount of humour. While I still enjoyed later seasons I don't think they were quite as good as the early ones; the plot gets a bit messy at times; the final season, where the crew are trapped in a single star system almost feels like a different series at times. The special effects are pretty good and the cast does a fine job bringing their characters to life. Overall I'd recommend this to fans of space-based sci-fi; it might not be a classic but it is fun enough.