Andromeda?

So, I have a handle on how most of the people on the Board feel about Trek, in all it's varieties, but what about that OTHER GR show out there, Andromeda (which is now on Sci-Fi)?

I watched the first couple of seasons religiously, but I missed a bunch, and now I can't make heads or tails of it!
Some eps., it lookd like the Commonwealth was reformed, and the ship is crewed and well outfitted, others it back to the main cast making do with the stuff on hand.
And they got rid of Worf...I mean Tyr. Yeah Tyr.
And replaced him with the guy who is the decendant of Dylan's best friend.

Tricky's trivia: Another Roddenberry Show, Called Earth II , i think had a main character named Dylan Hunt!
He was frozen for along time (sound familiar?), and tried to restore earth's civillization using his knowledge of 70's technology!:D

I loved Andromeda up until the point where Exec Producer Sorbo fired head writer Robert Hewlitt Wolfe; After the Wolfe written episodes and story arcs were completed, the show pretty much went downhill. . . especially after Keith Hamilton Cobb (Tyr) left. (Although I do like the actor that replaced him, Steve Bacic.)

Right now, I'm of the opinion that the best SF show on TV is Stargate SG-1.

This message has been removed on request by the
poster

It is probably the only smart move they made in the post-Wolfe Andromeda series: to fill the departing Nietchzean Tyr Anasazi (out of Victoria by Barbarossa) with a Nietchzean Telemachus Rhade, descendent of Genghis Rhade, Dylan Hunt's first officer, friend, and betrayer (although a side story episode depicted him differently).

But yeah, it's more misses than hits.

Whoah, wait a minute. Rhade is back? That almost makes me want to tune in again.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Tricky
Tricky's trivia: Another Roddenberry Show, Called Earth II , i think had a main character named Dylan Hunt!
He was frozen for along time (sound familiar?), and tried to restore earth's civillization using his knowledge of 70's technology!:D

---

There were two pilots: Genesis II - which had Mariette Hartley in - and Planet Earth. John Saxon played Dylan Hunt in the second, Alex Cord was DH in the first.

:cool:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Capt Daniel Hunter

Whoah, wait a minute. Rhade is back? That almost makes me want to tune in again.

---

Former admiral Rhade is now a lieutenant commander, and is a fugitive of the Commonwealth. He also sports a Worf-like goatee, but instead of a ridgehead, he has his boneblades. And Dylan Hunt is harboring him.

http://home.att.net/~Paxteam21/G2/g2.html

http://home.att.net/~paxteam21/PE/pe.html

http://home.att.net/~PAXTEAM21/SNW/snw.html

Those links are for all three failed GR shows, two of which had a leader named Dylan Hunt (and some other names you might recognize) :)

For my money Andromeda was at its best with Oroborus. Losing Wolfe was a crippling blow to that show IMHO. Now it truely is Hercules In Space.

Also I groove on the Nietchzeans (love the culture and idea behind them, reminds me of Khan) but what is with those bone blades? Does anyone else find them cheesy?

Cheesy? Nah.

I thought those blades were a species weapon. I'm sure I remember seeing another Niet with them before.

Small nit-pick: I believe Dylan's XO was Gaharis Rhade. Could be wrong though.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Phantom

Small nit-pick: I believe Dylan's XO was Gaharis Rhade. Could be wrong though.

---

Nope, you are right. It was Gaheris.

This message has been removed on request by the
poster

Let's be honest, friends: Andromeda has never been a good show. What it was from the start was a show with tremendous promise: intriguing and very different characters, a compelling futuristic premise, and a rich and complex new galaxy with a long history to be revealed. The show got off to a pretty rocky beginning -- the early episodes were full of corny hard-to-swallow dialogue and some debatable acting (especially by the guest stars). However, under R.H. Wolfe the series showed steady, gradual improvement up through the end of the 2nd season. Perhaps Wolfe's single greatest accomplishment was to avoid what most of us feared when we heard Kevin Sorbo was the star: he avoided making Hercules in space. By the end of the 2nd season, Andromeda still wasn't a "good" sci-fi show (remember the ridiculous Season 2 cliffhanger with Tyr and Harper captured in the Magog world ship?) compared to, say, ST:TNG or DS9, but it was at least on the right track.

The turning point came when Sorbo and his faction drove out R.H. Wolfe, so that they could turn the show in a more episodic, less arc-driven, action-oriented direction: in other words, Hercules in space. Since that time, the show has been on an uninterrupted decline. The show still has great characters, and the addition of Radhe into the crew to replace Tyr hasn't ruined anything. The weakest character by far is Dylan Hunt, who has declined from being a fairly complicated protagonist under Wolfe to being the cosmic nice-guy lady's man that Sorbo has made him. But, the biggest problem is with the jerky scripts that never make any sense, building into a jerky universe that no longer makes any sense. The Commonwealth is overthrown and re-established with such frequent regularity that I no longer pay any attention. The promise of Andromeda has been squandered, and its world no longer feels authentic or worth even keeping track of.

I concur with some other opinions given here: the best sci-fi series currently on the air is Stargate SG-1. It doesn't take itself all that seriously, which is both cute and sometimes disappointing. The plots often contain a few head-scratching elements, and the acting quality of the "extras" is often quite feeble, but overall the series consistantly puts out strong, interesting episodes that, without technically using an arc, feel cumulative in building an authentic world.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Liz Not Beth
Ok, Purple or Gold Trance? :D

---

Strangely enough, a friend and me got into this debate: Gold Trace has an edge to her, kinda dangerous.
But Purple Trance was sweet, sorta innocent and yet seemingly a cosmic entity. Oh, yeah. The Tail.
so my money is on purple Trance.

Oh, about the Bone Blades: How do those make a Neit. superior?
I know they are genetically better than us, strength, endurance, dexterity, all the other D&D Attributes.
But how do having spines on your wrist make you a better survivor?
I always thought that each Pride/Clan of Neit. should have their own adaptation: Boneblades on one, maybe a hardened carpace or extra lung on another.

Okay, I gotta know. . .what was Roddenberry's deal with the name Dylan Hunt that he kept using it over and over again?

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Liz Not Beth

Ok, Purple or Gold Trance? :D

---

Can't I have both? ;)

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Tricky

Oh, about the Bone Blades: How do those make a Neit. superior?
I know they are genetically better than us, strength, endurance, dexterity, all the other D&D Attributes.
But how do having spines on your wrist make you a better survivor?
I always thought that each Pride/Clan of Neit. should have their own adaptation: Boneblades on one, maybe a hardened carpace or extra lung on another.

---

You'll have to ask the creator of the Nietschzeans, Drago Museveni.

My theory is the bone blades are the Nietschzean's natural weapon. Considering they are genetically superior, they can probably endure the unarmed fighting among themselves, unless they have something lethal. Then again, they're a distinct mark of a Nietschzean, much like a lion's mane or a peacock's feathers.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by AslanC
Also I groove on the Nietchzeans (love the culture and idea behind them, reminds me of Khan) but what is with those bone blades? Does anyone else find them cheesy?

---

So are bumpy forheads. I like the show. It has lost direction. I missed this season as I have been working on school.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Tricky
Snip

Oh, about the Bone Blades: How do those make a Neit. superior?
I know they are genetically better than us, strength, endurance, dexterity, all the other D&D Attributes.
But how do having spines on your wrist make you a better survivor?
I always thought that each Pride/Clan of Neit. should have their own adaptation: Boneblades on one, maybe a hardened carpace or extra lung on another.

---

IIRC The bone blades also can secrete a Venom. I think i remember that being mentioned in an episode and they we have seen Neit's using them in combat

Quote:

---

Originally posted by redwood973
Okay, I gotta know. . .what was Roddenberry's deal with the name Dylan Hunt that he kept using it over and over again?

---

It's a writer thing I guess. . . Rockne S. O'Bannon has a fondness for naming characters "Crais." (There was a Crais in the Alien Nation theatrical film as well as Farscape )

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Tricky

Oh, about the Bone Blades: How do those make a Neit. superior?
I know they are genetically better than us, strength, endurance, dexterity, all the other D&D Attributes.
But how do having spines on your wrist make you a better survivor?
I always thought that each Pride/Clan of Neit. should have their own adaptation: Boneblades on one, maybe a hardened carpace or extra lung on another.

---

It doesn't. As you stated it is the enhance attributes that make them superior to the standard human. That and how the sibko sticks together.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Scottomir

Let's be honest, friends: Andromeda has never been a good show. What it was from the start was a show with tremendous promise: intriguing and very different characters, a compelling futuristic premise, and a rich and complex new galaxy with a long history to be revealed. The show got off to a pretty rocky beginning -- the early episodes were full of corny hard-to-swallow dialogue and some debatable acting (especially by the guest stars). However, under R.H. Wolfe the series showed steady, gradual improvement up through the end of the 2nd season. Perhaps Wolfe's single greatest accomplishment was to avoid what most of us feared when we heard Kevin Sorbo was the star: he avoided making Hercules in space. By the end of the 2nd season, Andromeda still wasn't a "good" sci-fi show (remember the ridiculous Season 2 cliffhanger with Tyr and Harper captured in the Magog world ship?) compared to, say, ST:TNG or DS9, but it was at least on the right track.

---

Just a footnote. RHW left in the middle of second season, with the "Ouroboros" episode being his last.

I'm not disputing you. It was a great premise in the beginning, but the story direction ain't so hot after the middle of second season.

Still, it would be a decent setting for RPG.

Back in the good ol' days of season 1 and early season 2, Andromeda had some excellent episodes. Angel Dark Demon Bright, Mathematics of Tears, Star-crossed, Double Helix, those were really good shows. Even the lame duck episodes usually had one or two moments or lines that made me feel that I hadn't wasted an hour watching TV.

I hadn't realized Rhade was a regular. (Haven't seen much of this season; they don't seem to show it in Qatar.) He'll never be as cool as Tyr, but at least there will be a Nietzchean presence on board.

Purple or gold? Purple, hands down. Gold warrior princess Trance adds nothing different to the crew. Rommie and Beka are there as kick ass hot chicks, so the crew interaction was more interesting with a sweet innocent girl added to the mix.

As for the downward trend of the show, I don't know if even RHW could save it now. Personally, I'd love to see him given creative carte blanche and a blank check to do whatever he can for Andromeda. As far as I care, he could even say the last two seasons never happened and pick up the story where he left off. That would change me back to a hard-core fan. Don't think it'll ever happen, but that's what I'd like to see.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Ezri's Toy
It's a writer thing I guess. . . Rockne S. O'Bannon has a fondness for naming characters "Crais." (There was a Crais in the Alien Nation theatrical film as well as Farscape )

---

And the Creator of Babylon 5, JMS, used Babylon % in several of the things he worked on before they made the show.
Tank, from Captain Power, claimed to be from the "Babylon 5 colony" or something like that.

Sorry Andromeda isn't in Quatar Sarge (I had a friend go ballistic on me when he got back from Afganastan and found out Firefly was cancelled).

So, now that Sci-Fi has the rights to the show, will it get any better?
I'd like to say yes, seeing how they managed to make Stargate cooler than it was, but then I remember Tremors: the Series.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Sarge

I hadn't realized Rhade was a regular. (Haven't seen much of this season; they don't seem to show it in Qatar.) He'll never be as cool as Tyr, but at least there will be a Nietzchean presence on board.

---

Perhaps, but it's not the same now that Keith Hamilton Cobb cut his trademark dreads. Even worse, he's now a regular on The Young and the Restless, for all you male soap fans in the military.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Tricky

So, now that Sci-Fi has the rights to the show, will it get any better?
I'd like to say yes, seeing how they managed to make Stargate cooler than it was, but then I remember Tremors: the Series.

---

I dunno. From the look of it, SCI-FI didn't mess with SG-1. They probably learned their lesson after the B5 franchise series debacle.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by REG
Just a footnote. RHW left in the middle of second season, with the "Ouroboros" episode being his last.

I'm not disputing you. It was a great premise in the beginning, but the story direction ain't so hot after the middle of second season.

Still, it would be a decent setting for RPG.

---

REG, do you know if RHW had any eps in the pipeline after he was ousted? It always seemed to me that the latter part of the second season still felt like it had some of his touch (giving me hope that the series might flourish even after him). But the Season 2 cliffhanger was pretty bad, and Season 3 and 4 have by-and-large been for the dogs.

As for the RPG setting, that was one of the first things that attracted me to Andromeda. I am a long-time fan of ALTERNITY, and in Season 1 & 2 it looked like it would make a great ALT campaign. Beka = Free Agent, Harper = Tech Op, Trance = Mind Walker, Tyr = Combat Spec, Dylan = Diplomat-Combat Spec. But based on Season 3 & 4 I wouldn't waste the effort...

Well, we'd like to think that he already had several more scripts written, but once he left, it's up to the current production staff to approve for shooting.

As for RPG, I was thinking of going with either d20 Future (a d20 Modern science fiction sourcebook) or SG-1/Spycraft engine.

Are you guys saying that Andromeda has been picked up by SciFi? I'm so far out of the loop that I can't even see it from here...

Yes, it has been picked up by SCI-FI for its fifth and final season. It will air that and I believe they are now airing reruns of past episodes.

To me, that spells end of syndication, and no late saturday night viewing (at least there is the one-season-behind syndicated SG-1).

Actually, no Reg. The deal is supposed to be that Sci-Fi runs new episodes 11 Days before they run in Syndication.


Side Question, Just watched the episode where Tyr comes back and the crew is looking for the Route of Ages and this question came to mind.

Was this the 1st mention of the Collectors and if not where were they 1st mentioned? Also, What is their function in the Commonwealth supposed to be?

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Karg

Side Question, Just watched the episode where Tyr comes back and the crew is looking for the Route of Ages and this question came to mind.

Was this the 1st mention of the Collectors and if not where were they 1st mentioned? Also, What is their function in the Commonwealth supposed to be?

---

I think it was the first episode in this fourth season did they mentioned the Collectors.

The Collectors are a secretive group whose function is to collect and preserve information and knowledge that might have been otherwise lost during the Fall of the Commonwealth 300 years ago.

Any BT fan out there can't help but associate this group with that of ComStar ... sans the ritualistic mumbo-jumbo.

I keep watching this show on the outside hope that they'll explain the twists and turns the plot has taken. And always I am blasted in the face by more and more unneccesary complication. Trance an Avatar of the sun? Gimme a frigging break. It's like after Sorbo started exec producing, they just decided to secretly start filming an entirely different show with characters who had the same names. The show at one point in time had potential to grow into something good. Now it's little more than crap. I'm done with it.


Strictly Speaking

They confirmed that Trance is an avatar of a star? Interesting. There have been hints and foreshadowing of that since season 1.

The Trance revelation was a bit out from left field.
Yes, we all know there was more to her than met the eye but...

Actually, I can't complain. I liked that Andromeda tossed a little 'cosmic-fantasy' into their sci-fi. The Abyss, his minons, and that kick-@$$ Magog Worldship (Galactus would be proud!) brought something new to the traditional "the only thing to fear is: alien races, technology failing, intergalactic disasters, and crews going rogue." therory of sci-fi.

Like my old argument about how the Fed. would handle Galactus (which has sorta been answered by the whole Borg thing.)

Man...I don't mind trance being more than she appears to be. Avatar of the sun is just a bit over the top. It's like, "hey, chick with the sun-powers...do us a favor and eliminate that enemy fleet wouldja?"

"I'm sorry, Dylan, but I can't seem to find a perfect future in which the use of my powers would make sense without ruining the plot."

"That's okay, trance. Just spout off some more uselessly cryptic bonsai metaphors and I'll have Beka distract them in the Maru."


Strictly Speaking

You never seem to find a direct answer when it comes to a god-like avatar, real or imagined.

:D

Quote:

---

Originally posted by REG
I think it was the first episode in this fourth season did they mentioned the Collectors.

The Collectors are a secretive group whose function is to collect and preserve information and knowledge that might have been otherwise lost during the Fall of the Commonwealth 300 years ago.

Any BT fan out there can't help but associate this group with that of ComStar ... sans the ritualistic mumbo-jumbo.

---

Thanks, Never thought about that before but yeah, they sound a lot like ComStar

Quote:

---

Originally posted by REG
You never seem to find a direct answer when it comes to a god-like avatar, real or imagined.

:D

---

True.

But at least with the real ones, you can always just smack the bastich.


Strictly Speaking