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Andromeda: a hidden surprise
- Details
- Category: TV Talk
- Published on Friday, 13 January 2012 00:19
- Written by Brian Fahrlander
- Hits: 19
All my life I've been identified with Star Trek. In fact it's the difference between my brother and I: one prepared for change beneath his feet, the other happier on solid ground. I remember watching it when I was about four at my grandma's house in Minnesota; it was a treat from all the miles riding in the car.
But somewhere along the way Trek got off-track.
With few exceptions, did you ever notice all Star Trek "aliens" are humans wearing different hats? The plots, written but I can't believe proofed by Roddenberry, sucked many, many times. I can recall one TNG plot that was all about how B'ellana Torres felt because she was pregnant. Plots so THIN that watching them was painful.
That's where Andromeda, another Roddenberry work, is different. It has the requisite hero in Kevin Sorbo, but he shares the screen with a female lead played by Lisa Ryder. There's a fighter and a tech, and there's also a 'purple girl' who has something to do with probability and finding that needle in a haystack.
Later as production seemed to wax and wane, they took the series to a lockup: a part of the universe where only 10 planets and two suns existed. Hey- it was better than dying, and everyone but 'purple girl' was dying. That season was dryer and less fun, but no less varied in it's plotlines. It didn't get too bogged down and stay in one place.
The show has a start, and end, and makes sense through most of it without having to rely on an "evil twin" episode, though it gets close with a fake hero that the ship must identify and kill. It's a short part of one episode, not the story.
The ship is remarkable. Nothing like the pod-and-boom of Star Trek, but instead more organic in shapes I can't describe. It's breakable, and has three human-friendly means of communication with it. One is the ships main computer for huge computations and drawing correlation within huge data sets, another is more 'real' having a holographic image, but no real emotions, and the third or "ship made flesh" is Rommie, and android played by Lexa Doig.
I've grown to really appreciate her, after all the shows. My favorite from her is where the Captain says "But he could never be what you are to me." "What's that?" "The air that I breathe." and she says "Literally."
I wasn't fond of the characters so much...and that's why I passed on the show early-on. But when I got watching the plot lines, it became a much more valuable show. There's never any one-way to the show, other than the Captain fighting to re-create his CommonWealth, and talking with people who're shooting.
The show stands on it's own for it's diversity of plot. Star Trek from the repo is just monotonous. Andromeda is special. And I hope you'll try it in your own repo.