Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda

celeritas · Post by **celeritas** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 6:27 pm

has anybody seen andromeda?

after finishing watching babylon 5, i've been looking for a new sci-fi series to start watching and i happen to notice that andromeda has a new complete box set out. is the series worth watching? i heard it starts strong but kind of fizzles out by the last season...

Sionnach Glic · Post by **Sionnach Glic** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 6:37 pm

It started very good, but then, IIRC, they fired one of the writers.
To say it went downhill is an understatement. I don't know about the last few seasons though as I stopped watching it.

Sionnach Glic · Post by **Sionnach Glic** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 6:38 pm

It started very good, but then, IIRC, they fired one of the writers.
To say it went downhill is an understatement. I don't know about the last few seasons though as I stopped watching it.

Post by **Graham Kennedy** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 8:46 pm

They didn't just fire one of the writers... they fired Rob Wolfe, the guy who created the show and Exec Produced it.

And yeah, it went downhill fast. Reached rock bottom eventually. Then it began to dig.

Sionnach Glic · Post by **Sionnach Glic** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 8:57 pm

Ah, I didn't know too much of the details.

The Wormhole · Post by **The Wormhole** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 3:45 am

I lost interest in Andromeda half-way through the first season. Really, it was pretty bad then. And everyone goes on about how that was the good season and it went downhill after that. Jeez, just how bad did that show get?

I Am Spartacus · Post by **I Am Spartacus** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 5:12 am

I liked the actress that played the holographic representation of the ship, for reasons not suitable for a family friendly forum, but other than that I didn't bother watching much of it. Two of the main characters, that young white guy and the alien that looked like a walking badger, annoyed me to no end.

Martin · Post by **Martin** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 6:40 pm

Heh, I came to this section wondering whether to start an Andromeda thread but you just got in first!

Anyway, I would agree it was OK at the start but I don't think I've seen too many later ones, partly because of the times Channel 4 (I think it was) used to show them.

I seem to remember thinking the ship was often in an impossible situation but suddenly found some extra power from nowhere and everything was OK again. Obviously this kind of thing happens quite a bit in sci-fi but it just struck me that it happened noticeably in Andromeda and tended to dilute the dramatic effect of the plots. Or maybe that was just me...

celeritas · Post by **celeritas** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 2:49 am

Martin wrote:I seem to remember thinking the ship was often in an impossible situation but suddenly found some extra power from nowhere and everything was OK again. Obviously this kind of thing happens quite a bit in sci-fi but it just struck me that it happened noticeably in Andromeda and tended to dilute the dramatic effect of the plots. Or maybe that was just me...

lol i remember thinking the same thing when i would watch voyager and somebody would say "shields, down to 13%" and someone would reply, rather cryptically, "compensating..." and that would somehow solve the shields being at 13%.

Bryan Moore · Post by **Bryan Moore** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 1:32 am

It lacked any real memorable characters, and when you don't care about the characters, you're not hanging onto much.

Blackstar the Chakat · Fri Aug 03, 2007 5:11 pm

It started out strong but there was little character development and most of the characters were generic. The captain is your typical tough leader. His second in command is a ace pilot/mercenary with a chip on her shoulder, the tactical officer is a tough guy, the engineer is a young cocky genius. The only unusual characters are the mysterious Trance Gemini, and Andromeda herself. Yes, the Andromeda is a character in the show. I loved that the ship had a physical avatar(remote android) and that she had her own personality. I think the next Trek series should try that.

In the series itself the first few seasons are dedicated to rebuilding the commonwealth. Around the mid-third and fourth season it gets bad. Through the fourth season the ability and resources of the crew fluctuate. In one episode the second in command leads a squadron of fighters into battle, but the episode before that when they could have used a squadron like that they were no where to be found. Sometimes the crew is over 400 other times its just the main cast. It can also be hard to follow.

celeritas · Post by **celeritas** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 2:06 am

so against everybody's advice, i went ahead and watched all of andromeda because i couldn't resist buying the slipstream dvd set.

the show started out really great and i really liked the first two seasons, though some episodes were reminiscent of the typical bad sci-fi plots that i've gotten used to over the years.

the 3rd and 4th season were mediocre but watchable; fluctuating crew complement and slipfighter squadrons and all were a bit of an annoyance as many of you have mentioned before.

the fifth season...wow. talk about ending on a weak note! clearly, the writers were suffering from lack of new ideas and a coherent sense of direction despite having a big story arc.

all in all, the series had a lot of potential. i actually got to like some of the characters even though they rarely deviate from their stereotypes. also nice to see Q playing somebody else on tv, as well as a bunch of x-files semi-regulars.

clearly, they were strapped for cash and they did the best they could, which wasn't all that bad. i only wish they introduced more recurring characters, particularly villians, to drive the story (much like DS9 used recurring characters extensively). recurring characters would be able to help drive a story with stronger, better defined political factions, which would give the series a some concrete factions, with clearer interconnecting interests.

the show might have benefited from exploring whether or not making a new commonwealth is even a good idea; something that i think the writers were trying to touch upon later in the series (with the emphasis on corruption and difficulty unifying the nietzscheans)

would i like to see a sequel? sure, but i'd rather see more babylon 5 or firefly. how about a movie? now that's an idea! if they could somehow fix their ending and the story-telling damage they did to themselves in season 5, that would be something!

Post by **Mikey** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 3:28 pm

I thought the characters were archetypal - part of what we love about 'Trek is the development of and interplay between individuals. Andromeda didn't leave any room for that. Unfortunately, it's plots were not strong enought o carry the show past that fact.

However, I do love me some Lexa Doig!!!

celeritas · Post by **celeritas** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 8:15 pm

yes, lexa doig did help carry the show.

i agree, the characters would have a tiny little character development plot that gets resolved either within episode or over the next episode and never mentioned again (beka valentine's flash addiction is probably the clearest example). as a result, it feels like they set themselves up for so much potential and then decide not to run with it.

as for trek, i disagree with the development of the characters. some of the newer episodes i think did a good job with developing their characters and the interplay between then, especially DS9. however, even on TNG, i felt that the show didn't do much to develop the characters apart from picard and data and maybe riker. but for la forge, troi, and beverly crusher, i felt they got totally sidelined with only occasional, usually bad, episodes devoted to them. this i thought was particularly true regarding crusher, who, i feel, rarely gets to do anything (and, as a result, wins personal my award for least interesting trek doctor ever). the heavy focus on picard and data was also one of the reasons i didn't particularly like st:nemesis, which i felt did particularly little with anybody else. it wasn't a terribly bad movie in my opinion, but i felt it was not very satisifying considering all i got to see of picard and data from first contact; i would have liked to see the other characters do something (like crusher; she at least turned on the EMH in first contact, but i can't remember one thing she did in nemesis). of course, there are exceptions, particularly with worf, who got a massive amount of attention to his character, partly due to his long tenure in the trek story line.

Post by **Captain Seafort** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 8:28 pm

I see your point regarding the TNG films - to be fair the original films were somewhat similar, focussing on Kirk, Spock and McCoy to the exclusion of the others, but then that's what TOS was to a great extent.

And Crusher had a vast and central role to Nemesis - she did all the exposition on "thaleron radiation".