Andromeda

To me, TV series' which are associated to Gene Roddenberry are either hit or miss. The myriad of Star Treks, Planet Earth (not to be mistaken for the documentary narrated by Oprah), Earth: Final Conflict and Andromeda.

I'm not really a Trek fan, so I won't go much into that. Original series I didn't care for. The Next Generation I liked. Voyager, never watched. Enterprise I watched a few...

Andromeda. First off it stars Kevin Sorbo, (Hercules and Kull the Conqueror) as Captain Dylan Hunt who is the captain of the Andromeda Ascension, a flagship of the Systems Commonwealth. The rest of the cast are a bunch of American/Canadian actors/actresses who are virtually unheard of:

Beka Valentine, played by Lisa Ryder. Captain of the Eureka Maru and First Officer on Andromeda.
Tyr Anasazi, played by Keith Hamilton Cobb. Weapons Officer.
Seamus Zelazny Harper, played by Gordon Michael Woolvett. Chief Engineer.
Trance Gemini, played by Laura Bertram. Doctor, Life Support Officer.
Rev Bem, played by Brent Stait. Science Officer.
Andromeda Ascendant, Rommie, played by Lexa Doig. Ship AI.

Who? exactly....


I'm only on episode 15 of season 1 (out of 5 running seasons) and it was torturous watching the first handful of episodes. The acting was bad. BAD! In example, when their ship was hit by missiles or torpedoes, there was the typical camera shake and the people would jerk from side to side making their hair swish to and fro. Another example was their stab at humor, they didn't have any but they thought that they did. It seemed that it was to forced. However, there was a turning point where the actors really started 'feeling' their characters and the acting improved; a little but I'd still like to see who the characters grow from season 2 on.... The first few episodes also had the run of the mill story lines which seemed to have been pulled out of a generic science fiction story plots book. Nothing seemed new or fresh.

The intro makes me want to break things. Kevin Sorbo has a small speaking part and the first thing I picked out is the rhyme. I can't unhear it and I hate him for it. The theme song(?), theme sound(?). Pure crap... *cringe*




I know for a fact that I have been basing sci-fi spacey tv on Farscape. I love that show, it's my favorite. But I won't talk about that here, this is about Andromeda. (But I will still put the Farscapre intro in for comparison reasons)





So it all boils down to this. It's not bad. It's not great. It's ok. I'm hoping that it gets better because I know that it only ran for 5 seasons and I would like to see how it ends.

I will start by saying I grew up with the movies and reruns of the original Star Trek cast, and enjoyed them a great deal, though now watching them is like an exercise in trying not to laugh, just because of the acting and special effects. I do enjoy many of the plots. I never got to see any Next Generation until it was nearing its end, but I did enjoy those also. I liked Deep Space Nine, but again, didn't get to see many of them... and Voyager just annoyed me. It's like by that point they were trying too damn hard to one-up the previous series... Oh, they had a klingon security commander? Let's have a holographic doctor! REALLY?! How does a hologram hold a frickin thermometer?! Ahem...

I watched a couple episodes of Enterprise, and was starting to get into that. The whole idea of starting over, when the science and tech was closer to our own. And Scott Bakula, though new to the Trek, already had many years of TV acting under his belt; the ability to act human, show emotion, yet step up in control if needs be. It all just clicked for me, but I forgot it was on and lost track. It's on my Netflix list for "one of these days..."

But Andromeda... I so wanted to get into that show, but again, I never remembered when it was on! The few times I caught snippets, it was Kevin Sorbo! I never watched a single episode of Hercules, but you couldn't have made it through the 90s without knowing who Kevin Sorbo is, and I like his style. Like, the stereotypical muscle-bound jackass, but humanly approachable, like a regular guy with cannons. What I mean is, using the "down the street" test, if you were walking down the street, and all of a sudden Dolph Lundgren is five feet away heading right for you, how do you react? OR...replace Dolph with Kevin Sorbo. IMO, Kevin seems much more approachable. I'm sure Dolph's a great guy...but what if...

Anyway, that's my limited experience. But I'm assuming, based on Lord Vader's mentioning going through many episodes, that Andromeda is on Netflix. If that's that case, thank you much!!! I will be checking it out when I get a chance!

I borrowed the series from a friend at work. To the best of my knowledge, Andromeda is not yet on Netflix...

The series is over, 5 long seasons and I have come here to give my final review. In my initial post I stated that "To me, TV series' which are associated to Gene Roddenberry are either hit or miss.". This series, through the seasons has become a direct hit!

I can't remember exactly what it was which caused me to dislike the casts acting because before I knew it, it was pretty good. I felt for the characters when they were going through rough times, I laughed at some of the situations they found themselves in and also I became anxious, wondering how they were going to get out of some things alive. Yes, there were a few times I even teared up a bit... Now that is good character development!

The special effects got better as the series continued. Now I'm not talking state-of-the-art multimillion dollar stuff, this is after all just a tv series. But they did improve. Thinking about the special effects.... In a sci-fi series, I'd rather have an awesome story over special effects; although both would be great. Almost like computer/console video games. Graphics sure are pretty and all, but if the story isn't there it's just a polished turd. I'm sure we all can relate in some way or another.... But I do want to stress that the effects became better.

There were a few times where I wondered where the story was headed. There were a few episodes that seemed out of place, but in all actuality, every episode drove the series to it's destination. It wasn't like the original Star Trek where the focus was on exploration. Those shows were here and there, just exploring. In this show, there was a goal which was trying to be reached and they were able to tie everything into that in one weird way or another.

I am finding myself thinking about some of the past episodes and I'm trying to find something that stands out as being bad, (besides the first seasons intro). One thing comes to mind but I wish not to give away a spoiler in case anyone here decides to watch it. And, thinking more upon this, I'd have to say that it wasn't really a bad thing, but just an unusual circumstance with an actors contract and priorities. Which was remedied nicely.

So. I wish to re-rate the science fiction series Andromeda.



Now, to explain. First off, I'd feel weird about giving something 10 full stars. Don't know why, it just doesn't seem right. Almost as in a 'nothing can be perfect' way. So I decided to find something that would drop the 10 star rating down a notch or two. Found something.


I do realize that some of the times, my recommendations fall silent. I don't read as much as the others here do so I can't quite toss out new things to read. I don't do much artsy stuff or other what nots, so contributions in those categories are far and few between... The things that you (all) have recommended that I have picked up has brought me hours/days/weeks/years of enjoyment! To name a few: King Diamond, The Dragonlance Chronicles, Magic the Gathering, Abney Park, Models/minis, Unity, and sooo many more... and I thank you for all of that!

So I recommend Andromeda. I really do. I hope that you all watch this series. I wish that I didn't go through it so fast, that I was only maybe halfway through it. But it's over, (and I'm starting it all over again tomorrow!). I'm not saying that it's the best series that you will ever watch, but I'll bet that you all will enjoy it!

I know how you feel about the end... I just finished Lexx today. A while back, after it was mentioned somewhere in the forum, I decided to try episode 1 to refresh my memory as to why I found it interesting back when it was on. The piss poor BBC-style effects and iffy acting made me want to stop it about 10 minutes in, but I told myself 10 minutes does not a true decision make. I "fought" for about a half hour, and by then I was stuck. Once I gave a rat's ass about even one of the characters, I had to know, and despite the BBC-style effects, it was a damn good run.

And it ended... and I was left saying "WTF?! You could have done so much more! There was a whole universe to explore!" (only one cuz the other one got destroyed in season 2 ). Sad. And through all of the boob shots and sexual innuendos, my favorite character was the 6,000 year dead Divine Assassin.

I know this an Andromeda thread, but I have nothing to add about Andromeda until Netflix gets it, and I'm not starting a Lexx thread until Sooth gets farther along. So real quick I will add the thing that kept me going through all the crap that was Lexx... the story! It was REALLY well written and thought out! The "twist" that was all of season 3 blew me away once I figured out what the hell was happening! And the poor cheap effects and acting was forgivable once I looked up the show. It was like a collaboration between companies in Germany, Norway (Scandinavia?), Australia, and Nova Scotia. Most of the work was done in Nova Scotia. Yeah. Map it... I'll wait. When has Nova Scotia ever done ANYTHING?! It must have been the first video camera in the country (province? Are they part of Canada? ). Kudos to a multi-cultural collaboration centered in *cough cough* Nova Scotia!

And now I'm debating between Earth2 or Hercules... Or I could finally watch more than 2 episodes of Enterprise, but I have issues getting wrapped up in Star Trek, just cuz it seems like they copy episode ideas between the different series...