Andromeda
Production Issues: With Gene's wife producing the show, Andromeda began development. Fireworks Entertainment helped finance the show and they hired Herculus: The Legendary Journey Kevin Sorbo to be the main captain. The problem is the show really, and I mean really, had some issues going in the background. There was this turning point in Season 2 Episode 12 "Ouroboros". It was the last episode Robert Hewitt Wolfe wrote before being dropped as head writer and Brent Stait (who played Rev Bem) left due to exhaustion from the make-up and the suit made of a combination of Yak hair and synthetic. Tribune Entertainment then modified the "complex" storyline into a more business-savy serial where each episode was pretty much stand-alone - "Hercules in Space" some called it.
SciFi Channel picked up the slack for Seasons 4 & 5. Things only got worse from there when the show hired a new string of writers. Tyr Anasazi, played by Keith Hamilton Cobb, wanted out of the show and was given one of the worst exits I have ever seen. Michael Shankes, from SG-1, married Lexi Doig in 2003 and was pregnant in 2004 and 2006. This explains why they hired replacements and cleverly (I use the word loosely) kept Rommie behind-the-scenes. Though you can still see her motherly figure all throughout Season 5. I still can't believe some of the things they made her do during the show.
Steady Tropes: What do you think about when someone says Science Fiction? Do you think about an interesting futuristic story where people travel around the universe being introduced to new aliens and cultures? Or do you think about giant ship battles, explosions, and sexy women? Congratulations, you just realized exactly what the company thought their general audience wanted. When boiling down the problems of the show, you will realize that the continuity and creativity in the first two seasons devolve into mindless action and drama in seasons three and four. Season Five is a whole other beast that doesn't really fit the general theme of the show but still counts as a general conclusion to the mess they made.
Each season goes through a weird cycle: Introduce new problem, add some new technological change, resolve problem half-way through, have some episodes that show footage from previous episodes ("Clip Shows" as they are called), have some horrible filler episodes to preserve the budget, have someone come in and guest star near the end of the season, and finally wrap things up in an unexplained fashion. You'll notice they struggle to balance the sheer logistics of some of the issues simply to generate more unnecessary drama. Sometimes it goes way beyond the realm of reason. Let's explore them, shall we?
Season 1 "Creative": In the 6th episode, I fail to believe that 1,000 ships chased down and died by the hand of one ship. I adored the costume designs for the Magog and Trance in a silly yet charming kind of way. Farscape got so much heat for having "muppets in space." In the 11th episode, the Q-persona lives on when a businessman successfully gets away with attempted-murder several times. If only it was more chaotic neutral than chaotic evil I might have just enjoyed the episode more. The episode also shows Valentine can change her hair color on a whim. So why doesn't she? You see it once in this specific episode and never again. You at least get some backstory to how she was a red-head on occasion though. The "big bad dude" shows up in Episode 14 very briefly. Episode 17 Gerentex returns with a slightly different costume. Episode 18 ending is just as disgusting as Episode 3. It reminds me of some terrible episodes in the first season of Babylon 5.
The first season also dives into the idea of an AI Android combination for a warship. Episode 12 answers the question of how an AI acts if it falls in love with its captain. Or if it was possible for androids to love other androids in Episode 20. Still pretty amusing how they managed to pull an actor from Stargate SG-1 over in that episode.
Season 2 "Emo": Buckle up because there is a lot going on here. Technically Season Episode 22 pairs with the season premiere but the two episodes change in tone so drastically that I'm included it here. The entire crew "dies" at the end of the season finale so obviously there is a lot of things to unpack. And this is the first time we the season try to get away from the "silly" costume choices for the creatures. Let me explain.
It seems like the second season tried to be subtle with its so-bad-its-cool, or "bad boy" phase. I noticed Trance's hair decorations were missing around the 4th episode. The very next episode she loses her tail because obviously that has to go. It isn't until the 12th episode they decide to replace her with herself. So now we have a semi-golden Trance that is a bit more hardcore since she "matured". She no longer is lucky and mysterious but now she knows the future. I guess that was a better costume change in the long run.
That isn't the only differences. Season 2 becomes less character driven and more story driven. The problem is that some characters barely make a presence anymore. The Commonwealth plan sort of gets thrown away as more episodes become action-driven. We have people doing giant flips in the air that obviously would never occur in real life. Every episode seems to be filled with fire-fights. Every episode also seems to have some sort of love interest. The first season had a lot in it too but it just got worse as time went on.
The 4th episode the set undergoes a set change. People no longer sit down to use slipstream. A giant dentist chair light comes down over their heads. The rest of the bridge changes more-or-less. Episode 6 they gain a Magog ship only to be used as a plot device for Rev to be removed from the show in Episode 12. In fact Episode 12 is probably the last time you ever see a Magog (at least in that form), other than the "clip show" in Season 3 Episode 15.
Episode 6 is probably the epitome of the season. The android gains a new haircut for some reason with blue streaks in her head and... is that a bull cut? It explores the concept AI and human compassion, but it is riddled with problems. The number of problems go way beyond that of any episode. Harper's unhackable hack gets hacked, their ship gets struck and goes down in the water, the ship's power goes out, Harper panics and uses his device way too much which puts him in a coma, and the eva suit that would help him was never repaired. All so we can have an emotional scene with Tyr as he puts his life on the line for another being, something a Nietzschean would never do?
Episode 7 introduces a new concept of Slipstream where it can be used as a weapon. In this case it can blind the enemy sensors. I believe it's also used to attract heat-sinking missiles. In various episodes afterwards it is stated that opening one close to a planet can destroy it. Did I mention that it seems really easy to destroy planets, like some Dragonball Z logic? I'm surprised they don't do it more often.
The number of love-romances starts increasing as you get introduced to Molly in Episode 13 who our main protagonist instantly falls in love with. You see her again in Season 4 Episode 3, ironically with a practically whole new persona. At least they toned down the kissing this time. Valentine's Old Love interest in episode 14. Episode 15 is your Zombie episode.
Season 2 Episode 17 turns into a clip show with a very minimalist set paired with a love-interest. This is only the beginning of the train-wreck. In Episode 20 (the exact episode from the previous season), they get someone to come guest star from Stargate-SG1. Ironic that he too heirs a warship. Season 2 Episode 21 turns Tyr on its head as you discover he has a son and somehow fulfills some ancient prophecy. I forget which episode now, but it seems the "status quo" between Tyr and Hunt comes to a stalemate when decides to do something out-of-character and lock away something Tyr holds dear... why? I guess because of reasons.
Season 3 "Techno": Like before, Season 2 Episode 22 comes out of nowhere introducing a new threat that was never shown before. By the time season 3 starts, it seems like the loom threat of the "race we no longer speak about" is about gone. You have a sudden emergence of an enemy no one has seen or heard about with a solution that suddenly appears out of nowhere.
Take for example Season 3 Episode 3 where the concept of a madman disguising himself as a lunatic with a bunch of other lunatics hide important coordinates into specific regions of all the members. The concept is rather genius in itself. Now to design the episode, we fool the crew with thiking our madness is tied to a lack of oxygen just so we can roam around the ship doing all sorts of things free-range, with no restrictions. Oh and they take the crew and the ship inches away from destruction. There seems to be way too many mistakes here... somewhere along the way. At least the android reversed that awful blue color in season 3 episode 1. They start experimenting with holograms in Episode 2 and Episode 7.
Season 3 Episode 4 we get good o' Q back doing something that benefits him in the long run. "Chaotic Neutral" I say. From the getgo, Season 3 has the Commonwealth (government) that the hero wanted but it is being ran by politicians and high-ranking officers that order the to do things they really don't want to do. In episode 5 we get a guest star Tony Todd, which you might recognize from Babylon 5: Call to Arms. You may have also noticed the amount of flying acrobats and explosions may have doubled. You can't seem to get by an episode without having some old clips shown, various slow-motion shots, or a romantic interest from some hunky guy or hot girl. That doesn't mean its all bad. Episode 10 actually explores the possibility that the reason why he won the battle in the first episode is because his opponent used a tesseract to purposely go back and die since "his future" turned awful. Or how Episode 12 explores the way Trance "sees" possible futures.
Season 3 Episode 6 introduces how slipfighters can actually be manned. The whole episode practically revolves around them. Sadly "the unstoppable" Tyr is actually afraid of something. You'll notice more of these ships later in the episodes. In fact it is amusing when Episode 9 blatantly adds more crew members to the ship and has yet another one-shot love interest of the crew member. This is the first time you will see random background people performing duties in the background. Things aren't consistent for some of the episodes when sometimes you will only see the main cast while others you will see people roaming the hallways. They are just more "red shirts" that die for emotional baggage. Like in episode 16 when pilots get into slipfighters. One of them ends up dying, I mean theoretically that should happen more often, but it turns into some sort of "emotional scene" for Beka. Episode 12 I was surprised when they actually asked for a "security team".
Season 3 Episode 14 Beka is wearing an oufit that shows mid-drift. Season 3 Episode 16 there is a huge outright war that tears apart the Commonwealth armada. Sure, whatever. We already somehow hate the Commonwealth so why not destroy what's left. Season 3 Episode 17 I'm pretty sure I saw a stunt double! A really bad one! Oh and we have to have sex to save our race. Such a terrible plot. Tyr's blades are also removed without a real reason.
Granted, the quality of episodes improves around episode 20. Season 3 Episode 21, and here I thought we were on a roll, shows both guys from SG-1 popping in and duking it out. Episode 22 Tyr is made out to be the bad guy, sadly. He leaves the show, temporarily, only to pop up again in Season 4 Episodes 6 & 7 without his hair, a mustache, and a goatee like some sort of bad cartoon villain, and then dies in an episode where... actually, I give up. The concept was so convoluted that I lost interest half-way through.
Season 4 "Mysticism": Season 4 starts doing a lot of weird things that make you question the writers of the show. I guess they try pumping up the music, remove the crew, and they get the same old "evil" villain that no one really knows anything about. This only lasts about four episodes before they return to normal ordinary music again. I believe Beka cut her hair for whatever reason and put on a neck-choker in around the 6th and 7th episodes. I also noticed a few more details on the Andromeda ship with its outside shots in space. The CGI team must have gotten a raise or something. There are still flashbacks but at least they aren't "clips" from previous episodes.
About this time my notes started to get slim as the general story strayed too far from the original conception. Without Tyr, they introduce a new character in Episode 9 and... more cleavage, of course. Episode 11 is a clip show. Rev somehow pops up again in Episode 15. Episode 16 is another clip show. They introduce the concept that force lances can explode like grenades. Episode 17 shows a more evolved form of Magog that isn't really expounded on any further. Beka's hair changed again. She's got "exotic" look with odd braids in her hair and spiky flair.
I do like the fact that they have to send out "carriers" to transport messages. I'd also like to point out that there are no tractor beams that can pull ships around so they use extension cables like any normal freight ship would do.
Episodes 21 & 22 essentially makes Dylon some sort of god by stating he is a "paradine" with the ability to travel through time and space. This gets explored in the 5th Season where he travels between parallel timelines, switches between the future and the past, and somehow doesn't die!
Season 5 "Reboot": You guys are still here? Well alright then. No more exploring. You are stuck in a single weird solar system where there are nine identical planets. Everyone you know is different because they lived in this area for months or even years. You got Harper running the local bar, Beka transporting goods for money, Dylon trying to figure out his powers, and Rhade drunk. Trance can't help because her memory has been wiped. Andromeda is out of commission and there's a new android in town. Whatever you know about the show, forget it. Nothing about this season reflects the previous episodes. Half the season is about getting the ship back online.
Though I guess I did get a laugh out of "There are 3 kinds of people in the world. Those who can count and those who can't." Episode 5 has the general from SG-1 guest star. Beka's hair changes again. The new android's outfit is horrible. Episodes 10 and 11 appear to be clip shows. The 12th episode is their 100th Episode Special. Episode 17 actually had a Powerpoint Presentation Swipe Transition. I could try and explain the rest of the season but I don't have a clue what it all meant. Something about the destruction of the universe?
Review: With its constant writer changes and costume changes, there is a chance a person might get lost keeping up with the crazy story or be annoyed when the company tries to work in things from a business perspective. With its creative genius packing up after the 34th episode, the plot devolves into a generic mess of action, lack of continuity, and flashy nonsense without considering the logistics. Bankruptcy destroys what dignity it has within the last 24 episodes of the series. I honestly do not recommend anyone to watch this show beyond what they can bare.
3-16-2020