Andromeda: Any Good?

[Christopher]

It would definitely be a mistake to characterize Andromeda as merely a Star Trek clone. It was nowhere near that limited in its conception. If it was in conversation with Star Trek at all, it was with the goal of going it one better, updating its concepts for the 21st century, and doing things ST hadn't done -- taking a much more hard-SF approach (they had actual JPL propulsion engineer Paul Woodmansee on board as science consultant and actually listened to him, at least while Wolfe was in charge), building a much vaster and far-ranging civilization (founded by aliens 7000 years ago with humans as a relatively junior member, rather than Earth and America being at the center of it all), embracing modern SF ideas like transhumanism, and most of all exploring a post-Trek kind of setting where the Federation-like civilization had fallen. So there was an element of Asimov's Foundation series and Poul Anderson's Terran Empire in the mix as well, and one could also draw comparisons with Iain M. Banks's Culture, another case of a Federation-like civilization that's much, much more alien and vast and ambitiously imagined than the Federation ever was.

 

[Jedman67]

To answer the question in the thread title: no - there are much better SF series available on which one can spend one's money and be entertained.

Stop sticking your gorram opinions where they dont belong!

 

[MacLeod]

It's been a number of years but from memory I started to lose interest by mid S2 and by early S3 I had given up on it.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Stop sticking your gorram opinions where they dont belong!

Lol.

 

[Morpheus 02]

I never understood the appeal of that theme. It was touted as some innovative thing that did some complicated electronic layering of an electric guitar to make it sound like a thousand guitars at once or something, and it ended up just sounding like a routine Scottish military marching band sort of thing. I liked the later theme music much better.

The first season theme sounded futuristic and alien, inline with what Andromeda was trying to do. There was some sense of meolody so you could remmeber the theme. i appreciated its uniqueness like nuBSG's theme

The later theme song was so Western European and generic sounding... like a vanilla ripoff of 70s sci-fi shows, but very forgettable and un-inspirational (as opposed to the original BSG theme).



And in regards to Andromeda... Definitely ignore the 5th season...not as bad as Earth Final COnflict's 5th season...but the cheapness is apparent. I thought, though, that season 4 felt like it was going back to what they were striving for in the beginning, and i was really looking forward to that next season.

A lot of great concepts, such as the ship names... phrases rather than Euro-American last names. Also, i thouhgt the actors were great interacting with each other.

Depending on how cheap..might be worth buying... then selling when you get around to it.

 

[Tuskin38]

I liked most of the series (yes even the final season)

 

[Caretaker]

One of the shows I would love to see a reboot, with a proper budget and keeping the vision for the show in place.

 

[The Wormhole]

Season 1 and 2 aren't so bad but you'll pull your hair out when you get to season 5 and realize this show outlived 'Enterprise'.

"Outlived Enterprise" is an interesting term to use, given Andromeda's finale aired the same day as TATV. Actually, though Andromeda did get a fifth season, it only managed twelve more episodes than Enterprise.

 

[YLu]

Warren Ellis described the series as 'trying very hard to be good without being good,' or something along those lines. I always thought that encapsulated it well. Lots of ambition, lots of very creative world-building, all let down by the actual execution.

 

[Christopher]

Warren Ellis described the series as 'trying very hard to be good without being good,' or something along those lines. I always thought that encapsulated it well. Lots of ambition, lots of very creative world-building, all let down by the actual execution.

Indeed. The writers were disappointed with the execution of a number of the alien makeups, especially the Vedrans. They were supposed to be this impressive species of centaur-like aliens, the ancient founders of the Commonwealth, but we didn't see them for quite a while because the production team couldn't figure out how to do the VFX, and once they finally did show a Vedran onscreen, it was achingly bad and disappointing.

 

[OCD Geek]

"Outlived Enterprise" is an interesting term to use, given Andromeda's finale aired the same day as TATV. Actually, though Andromeda did get a fifth season, it only managed twelve more episodes than Enterprise.

After Berman & Braga's work on Season 3: Year of Hell as a Season-Long Arc Like They Originally Intended Before Executive Meddling and Coto's work on Season 4: Let's Finally Get Our Prequel On, Enterprise was far more deserving of those twelve episodes.

Hell, cut to ten years later and the cool thing to do for critically well-received series that no one watches is the budget-saving 13 episode victory lap (Fringe, Person of Interest, Parenthood, Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.).

 

[SolarisOne]

I watched it. ALL of it. Every single episode. I can honestly say I agree with most of the assessments here: seasons 1 and 2 are good--some of my favorite televised science fiction, in fact. Season 3 is okay, but seasons 4 and 5 are not even in the same genre. They went that completely off the rails.

 

[Mysterion]

I've noticed Andromeda is currently showing on the (Freeview) Horror Channel in the UK, it's partway through Season 2 at the moment.

In the US it is currently airing on Comet TV which broadcasts over the air in many cities. Andromeda is being shown twice a day during the week at 2pm and 10pm (in the Pacific timezone).

 

[Valenti]

I remember being so disappointed by it's premiere that I actually got mad. I was looking forward to it, looking forward to it, then there it was, it looked like a kid's show with phony sfx and an ugly and empty ship with one man who was going to rebuild the commonwealth all by himself. The Nitchian anti-hero was the best part of the show but they canned him right away and offed him into oblivion. The rest of the cast was very good though, very good and I kinda liked what they did with them except when that mousy alien showed up, I just gave up. It was more like a parody. They should have done more with the Nitchians and never killed off that character. He worked well with Sorbo. He was like a Klingon in a way or what they should have been like. The premise should have been tightened more and more unified
to include the aliens in a more concrete way. We should have seen more of them and their plans, motives, and intentions, etc..

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Nitchian

Nietzschean.

 

[EmoBorg]

I liked the first season. A Systems Commonwealth Ship Captain trying to restore the fallen Commonwealth. I liked the plot.

 

[Christopher]

I remember being so disappointed by it's premiere that I actually got mad. I was looking forward to it, looking forward to it, then there it was, it looked like a kid's show with phony sfx and an ugly and empty ship with one man who was going to rebuild the commonwealth all by himself.

"All by himself?" No, Sorbo's ego didn't take over to that level until the later seasons. It was always clear that he needed others to help him, hence his uneasy alliance with Tyr and his recruitment of Beka's crew.

The Nitchian anti-hero was the best part of the show but they canned him right away and offed him into oblivion.

No, Tyr was a regular for 3 of the 5 seasons, and made 3 further appearances in the first half of season 4.

The rest of the cast was very good though, very good and I kinda liked what they did with them except when that mousy alien showed up, I just gave up.

It took me a moment, but I'm guessing you mean Trance Gemini. She was much, much more than she appeared.

They should have done more with the Nitchians and never killed off that character. He worked well with Sorbo.

I'll agree with that. The show was designed to be as much a star vehicle for Keith Hamilton Cobb as it was for Sorbo, with the role of Tyr being specifically developed for Cobb. He was meant to be an integral part of the entire saga. But no series arc plan ever survived an encounter with Tribune Entertainment's bean counters.

However, they did continue to feature the Nietzscheans by adding the character of Telemachus Rhade as a regular.

The premise should have been tightened more and more unifiedto include the aliens in a more concrete way.

As I said, the plans for that never came to fruition due to the budget limitations and the inexperience of the makeup department. Basically, Majel Roddenberry made a mistake selling Gene's series concepts to Tribune. She wanted to make smart, sophisticated, well-made science fiction, but she partnered with a studio that was only interested in cheap, lowbrow schlock. I often wished we could've seen the results if Roddenberry had partnered with the Henson Studios, who worked on Farscape.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Were the Nietzscheans as depicted consistent with Nietzsche's philosophy? Invocations of Ayn Rand, social Darwinism etc, Nietzsche might have considered as perversions of his thought perhaps. By banding together, I would have thought the Nietzscheans would lose their authenticity as individuals to strive to be supermen as they would have to fit into a command hierarchy. Was it just a label to make them seem like they might be violent, amoral badasses like the Nazis - the will to power, rejection of Christian values, and all that? Perhaps eternal recurrence was mentioned but I couldn't stand the series enough to stick with it and find out. Damn it, now I've got myself intrigued and it probably isn't worth it.

ETA: The next question is perhaps whether Andromeda is better or worse than Lexx.

 

[Mysterion]

I often wished we could've seen the results if Roddenberry had partnered with the Henson Studios, who worked on Farscape.

If anyone finds the alternate/parallel universe where this happened, I want directions on how to get there.

Farscape is kind of hit-and-miss for me, but the creativity and imagination of Henson Studios is undeniable.

 

[Christopher]

Were the Nietzscheans as depicted consistent with Nietzsche's philosophy?

As with any philosophy, different individuals who professed to adhere to it interpreted it in their own different, often self-serving ways. Indeed, the clashes between different Nietzscheans' interpretations of their cultural values drove a number of storylines.

However, the Nietzscheans' name wasn't meant to be taken strictly literally. Their philosophy was based on the belief system of their founder Drago Museveni, which was partly Nietzsche, partly other philosophical influences.

Was it just a label to make them seem like they might be violent, amoral badasses like the Nazis - the will to power, rejection of Christian values, and all that?

No, it was definitely more complicated than that. Rather, it was just an alternate cultural worldview that led some characters to make choices that often conflicted with the goals and values of other characters, which made for interesting character interactions and moral dilemmas.

ETA: The next question is perhaps whether Andromeda is better or worse than Lexx.

I never remotely liked what I saw of LEXX. I did like Andromeda's first season and a half, and portions of the next season and a half. Though the Bob Engels-scripted episodes were probably worse than LEXX.

That's the thing about Andromeda. It's not one show. It's several different shows sharing a common premise and character names, sometimes alternately within the same season.