Andromeda

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.

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!

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 series finale I have been left with completely mixed emotions and had to wait for a very long time to come to a complete summary of the series. What started as one of the best Sci-Fi series, having enormous potential ended as a trash series with nothing left of the grandeur it once possessed.

The idea itself is intriguing and uncovers vast possibilities of exploring the personal and interpersonal nuances of feelings, relationships etc. And in the first season as well as in the first half of second season the signs were set to "GO". However, after Robert Hewitt Wolfe left the show and Bob Engels took over the show almost immediately began to drift into crappy action Sci-Fi. Each episode had to show at least 20 dead enemies, had at least 5 fighting scenes, 10 big explosions and so on. The once almost invincible ship became more vulnerable than MS Windows and she "went down" at least once per episode.

Character development went not further but backwards, the writers forgot what has already been seen and said, denied some aspects which were already stated clearly.

Bottom line: if it would be possible, I'd rate seasons as follows:

1. season 10

2. season 8

3. season 6

4. season 4

5. season 0

However, overall note is 5.

This could have been such a great show.... :-(

The Over-all Plot of Andromeda is based on Gene-Roddenberry's Genesis II. In Both, Dylan Hunt is somehow brought into the future. In the future he finds that the world (galaxy) has turned barbaric. He, with a little help from his friends, try to restore order against the barbaric powers. Many similarities between Genesis II and its retooled, more futuristic update exist but either way both were and are still good watching