Author: Echo Ishii

I never felt that Andromeda was obscure, but in the spirit of fairness, since I covered Earth: Final Conflict I decided that Andromeda deserved a trip down memory lane. It’s another Roddenberry offshoot with some of the Trek-ish feel. It may not be the deepest or most ground breaking SF show, but Andromeda had a decent run. It had some likeable characters and was lively, spacefaring fun.

For those not in the know, the basic premise is this: Captain Dylan Hunt (Kevin Sorbo) is a captain of the AI ship Andromeda a flagship of the High Guard which defends the Systems Commonwealth. I guess it’s like a Federation of Planets but with of guys running around and being more alpha male than geeky.  And they have slipstream drive to travel among the three Systems Commonwealth Galaxies. And they have a force lance – which works as both a gun and a huge stick to beat the crap out of people with.

There are a few human offshoots, most notably, the Nietzcheans. After a mutiny by his first officer- a Nietzchean- Captain Hunt & his ship get trapped outside a black hole and are awakened 300 years later to a changed universe. (Buck Rogers did that too!) They are awakened 300 years later by a salvage ship called the Maru. With the help of Captain Beka Valetine; the mysterious alien, Trance Gemini; a super-genius engineer from Earth Seamus Harper; a pacifist alien priest, Rev Beam; and a Nietzchean mercenary, Tyr Anasazi; they are off to rebuild the systems commonwealth.

While fighting rival Nietzcheans and vicious Magog aliens an all sorts of alien worlds with grievances a plenty. Almost every diplomatic mission ends up in a firefight.

During its five season run, characters change around as some actors leave the show and new ones are added. Trance even changes colors. Tyr Anasazi, (Keith Hamilton Cobb) one of my favorites, was there for the first three seasons. (a few episodes of season 4) His cold, ruthless worldview springing from the unforgiving culture of survival- of -the -fittest among the Nietzcheans was always a lively counterpoint to Captain Hunt’s optimism. Beka Valentine (Lisa Ryder) was another one of my favorites. A ship’s captain of a scrappy little vessel that she manages to keep in one piece her character is tough, funny, and smart. Her steadily developing relationship with Tyr Anasazi, which hints at romance at the end, was intriguing.

And then, of course, the Andromeda itself. The AI avatar of Rommie (Lexa Doig)

So, Smart Girl readers, anyone a fan of Andromeda? Have another space ship crew you enjoyed hanging out with on the small screen?