Andromeda season 5 question

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by Solarbaby, May 23, 2015.

  1. Solarbaby

    Solarbaby Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I never got into this show the first time round. However it's on tv now and I have appreciated it more. I loved the Magog threat arc and the reveal of Trance as an avatar of a star
    Season 4 ended with an epic finale that ended that storyline (I think!?)

    I am now 7 episodes into season 5 and I'm majorly confused. Why is the series set on a crappy planet? Its so different from the rest of the series. Each ep feels like its trying to cut down costs by keeping the show confined to 1 system.
    I don't understand when the crew arrived in the Seefra system relative to when they destroyed the Magog worldship. They all seem to have arrived at different times. Harper having been there for 3 years beforw Dylan arrived.

    Why did they get a mew actress to play Rommie? It makes no sense since they still have Lexa Doig playing Andromeda

    Are there any fans who can set me straight please
     
  2. Morpheus 02

    Morpheus 02 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Andromeda is like Earth Final Conflict...both Tribune-sponsored syndicated series that had major corporate interference that hurt it in the middle. Season 5 helps the series get to a "magical" 100 episodes that ensures it can be re-broadcast in syndication for years to come. (at least back in those days)

    Earth Final Conflict similarly had a season 5 SOOO disconected to seasons 1-4, and ALSO seemed sooooo cheap.

    Most fans of both ignore season 5.

    As for Rommie-- Lexa Doig was pregnant, so that's why she was off.

    By the way, where/how do you watch Andromeda now?
     
  3. Solarbaby

    Solarbaby Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Thanks for the info.

    What a shame for season 5. Its like watching a bad fan film of the series.

    I watch it on tv in the uk. On Pick channel. But all the episodes are free to watch on youtubr but theyre not in HD.
     
  4. Triskelion

    Triskelion Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Re: Andromeda season 5 questionwith

    Solarbaby, you are not alone! I enjoyed the Saturday sci fi matinee provided by Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda, and others like Xena Warrior Princess, Hercules, Bruce Campbell's Jack of All Trades and Cleopatra 2525. Just fun Sci Fi, (especially C2525 featuring Gina Torres, Victoria Pratt, and Jennifer Sky). :drool:

    Andromeda's Executive Producer/Head Writer Robert Hewitt Wolfe left the show in the 4th season, because his clever writing wasn't connecting with the (lowest common denominator?) audience. According to his Wikipedia page:
    In the British Cult Times Magazine, Sorbo's quote goes on to say:
    Wolfe said in Airlock Alpha:
    Trek Today said:
    This was further compounded by the departures of Brent Stait (Rev Bem) - perhaps due to the heavy latex? - and Keith Hamilton Cobb (Tyr Anasazi), who was dissatisfied with his 3rd season character development. Or rather, the US fans were dissatisfied, and he was aware of it and left it to the producers.

    Said Cobb:
    You can read Robert Hewitt Wolfe's one-act play:

    Coda: Andromeda's Intended Five-Year Arc.

    It delineates the story where he wanted to take it, and if you're a fan, can give you some sense of closure. A decent supplement to what remained on the screen. Looks like it would have been epic!


    There is more discussion of this and other troubled series in the thread When Good Shows Go Bad.

    :techman:
     
    Last edited: May 24, 2015
  5. Solarbaby

    Solarbaby Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Thanks for the info.
     
  6. publiusr

    publiusr Admiral Admiral

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    I would have loved to see Cobb lead the show.
     
  7. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Yup. In both cases, it was a purely corporate decision, the fifth seasons commissioned for the exclusive reason of getting to 100 episodes so the syndication package would be more valuable. All of Tribune's shows were subject to constant meddling and retooling and firing of showrunners, so they kept changing direction and deteriorating in quality throughout their runs. It was all done in the name of saving money -- producers and cast members were fired and replaced with cheaper ones, storytelling was scaled down, budgets slashed. The execs just didn't understand the value of investing money in a quality product for a long-term payoff in audience loyalty; they just wanted to save money in the short term and be as cheap as possible.



    Actually he was fired midway through the second season. Saying he "left" implies it was his choice, but he was kicked out. The last episode that was completed with Wolfe in charge was "Ouroboros," though most of the remaining second-season episodes were at least partially made or developed under his watch. Actually, I think RHW lasted longer than any of the original showrunners of Tribune's other shows. Steve Feke of BeastMaster: The Series was replaced after one season, and Richard C. Okie, who worked closely with Majel Roddenberry to develop Earth: Final Conflict into a sophisticated, thoughtful science fiction drama, was fired after half a season and replaced with a showrunner who started the long process of dumbing it down to suit Tribune's desire for a lowbrow, unchallenging action show. (Roddenberry made a terrible mistake selling these two shows to Tribune, as it turned out. She wanted intelligent science fiction, they wanted cheap, mindless action. Unfortunately, they won.)

    The remainder of season 2 was show-run by staffers Matt Kiene and Joe Reinkemeyer, who I feel didn't do a very good job; they did some terrific work under RHW's supervision, but left to their own devices, they did pretty poorly. But from season 3 onward, the showrunner was Bob Engels, who didn't know what he was doing and turned the show into something completely idiotic and incoherent. His own scripts were practically word salad, with dialogue unconnected to how human beings actually use language and convey meaning.

    Season 3 was essentially two or three different shows, depending on who was writing it that week. The best episodes were the ones by Zack Stentz and Ashley Edward Miller, who'd been with the show since its development phase and continued writing the show that it was meant to be, insofar as they were able to under the imposed changes -- a smart hard-SF show set in a plausible universe and advancing the themes and storylines of the original version of the series. But the episodes by the other writers were generally mindless action set in a fantasy universe that didn't follow any coherent rules.


    That's definite. Stait (not Strait) developed an allergy to the heavy makeup and had to leave the show. They brought him back occasionally and eventually contrived some ludicrous excuse to transform him into a more human form, although it seemed to me that the smaller appliances were still pretty extensive and couldn't have made that much difference.
     
  8. publiusr

    publiusr Admiral Admiral

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    It seemed to work for Delenn's character in Babylon 5. Oh well.
     
  9. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    ^You mean the makeup change? Her revised makeup was far less extensive than Stait's, so there's no comparison there. Here's Rev before the transformation, and here he is after. The original design pretty much covers his whole head and hands, but the revised makeup still covers pretty much everything from the forehead to the chin. As for Delenn, the "before" makeup is basically a skullcap with bony thing, eyebrow/nose piece, and fake ears, while the "after" makeup is just a smaller wraparound bony thing attached at the temples, plus a thin appliance to hide the eyebrows, apparently, unless she just shaved them off.

    (By the way, I never understood how "human" Delenn's bony thing was supposed to work. How did her hair go under it? Was it not attached to her head in back? That's certainly the way it looked, but that's quite odd from an anatomical standpoint.)
     
  10. smp4life

    smp4life Ensign Newbie

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    I heard that another reason for the change in the Magog appearance was due to Tribune's opinion that Rev Bem was too scary and unpleasant-looking to be a title character on the show. Thus the alternate/evolved form of the Magog in the 4th season.

    I'm watching Season 5 now and it is a joke. I feel the show runners just used the same set over and over to save money on scenes/costumes/fx. The continuity is ridiculous. About the 5th episode in all of a sudden Harper is running the bar. No explanation given. LOL
     
  11. Commander Richard

    Commander Richard Yo! Man! Premium Member

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    I liked season 5 at first, with Dylan trying to find the Andromeda and get the crew back together but grew impatient when I realized that they weren't leaving the planet.

    Looked like her hair was under it and growing out if it a bit. It does look good as a hairpiece though, odd as it is.