Andromeda 2000

[Beltran Mathews]

Andromedaformally titled Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda) is a space opera television series, based on unused material by Gene Roddenberry, developed by Robert Hewitt Wolfe, and produced by Roddenberry's widow, Majel Barrett.[2] The series follows Kevin Sorbo as Captain Dylan Hunt of the Systems Commonwealth, an intergalactic government that presided over an extended period of peace and prosperity until its destruction from a rebellion led by the warmongering Nietzcheans and parasitic Magog. The series premiered on October 2, 2000, and ended on May 13, 2005.

Andromeda was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and produced by Andromeda Productions, Tribune Entertainment, Fireworks Entertainment[1] and MBR Productions.[3] In Canada, the show aired on Global Television Network (Fireworks' parent company) and ran in first-run broadcast syndication in the United States.

Thousands of years in the future, the Systems Commonwealth is a constitutional monarchy spanning the Milky Way, Triangulum, and Andromeda galaxies, with the capital of Tarn-Vedra near its core. The Commonwealth is at war with the Magog, a parasitic humanoid species spreading across the galaxies. Peace talks led the Commonwealth to cede a key world to the Magog, that of the Nietzscheans; in response, the Nietzscheans secretly attempted to usurp control of the Commonwealth.

Dylan Hunt is the captain of the Commonwealth starship Andromeda Ascendant. Its computer is a powerful artificial intelligence which Dylan has nicknamed "Andromeda" or "Rommie". Caught in a surprise attack in the first engagement of the Nietzschean uprising, the Andromeda is crippled, prompting Dylan to order the crew to evacuate. During the attack, Dylan's Nietzschean first officer, Gaheris Rhade, betrays Dylan and attempts to kill him. Dylan kills Gaheris as Andromeda is caught at the edge of the event horizon of a black hole, freezing both in time.

303 years later, in CY 10087 (approx 5167 AD), the Andromeda is pulled from the event horizon by the crew of the salvage ship Eureka Maru, captained by con-artist and expert pilot Beka Valentine, super-genius engineer Seamus Zelazny Harper, doctor and alien of unknown origin Trance Gemini, and pacifist Magog Rev Bem (the salvage crew's beneficiary also secretly brings Nietzschean mercenary Tyr Anasazi). The Systems Commonwealth has fallen, and the era known as The Long Night has begun. Hunt recruits the crew to join him in restoring the Systems Commonwealth and to "rekindle the light of civilization".

Slipstream is the primary mode of travel for ships in the Andromeda universe, and the only known method of traveling faster than the speed of light. The Vedran discovery of the slipstream was instrumental in the formation of their interstellar empire, which became the precursor of the Systems Commonwealth.

Slipstream cannot be navigated by AIs (they only have a 50% chance of choosing the correct path). Only organic pilots can "sense" a way to their destination (they have a 99% chance of choosing the correct path), and although AIs are fitted on all large ships, they always require an organic pilot for interstellar travel. It is implied that the process of choosing a path is what makes it the correct one.

A function of slipstream is that apparent objective velocities are extremely variable, as it enables travel across millions of light years seemingly as swiftly as traveling between neighboring stars only tens of light years apart. Further, slipstream is a non-linear method of travel; the fastest or safest way to slipstream between two points, though they might be in the same galaxy, may involve slipstreaming to another galaxy entirely. The more frequently used routes are often easier, faster and more predictable. Locations relatively nearby in ordinary space may be difficult or impossible to access via slipstream.

The Systems Commonwealth was a huge utopian civilization, spanning three major galaxies of the Local Group. It was founded by the Vedrans, the first race to discover slipstream, who initially used it to conquer the Andromeda Galaxy. After a long and bitter war of attrition with the major powers of the Triangulum Galaxy, the Vedran Empire was reorganized as the democratic Systems Commonwealth. The Commonwealth served as a peaceful intergalactic government for almost 10,000 years until the Nietzschean revolt.

Majel Barrett and Tribune Entertainment began developing series from Gene Roddenberry's archive in 1997. Robert Hewitt Wolfe was brought in to develop the series. Fireworks Entertainment was brought in to co-finance and for international distribution. In early 1999, actor Kevin Sorbo was recruited to star in the series while he starred in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Eric Gold, and Barrett were also to be executive producers and Wolfe as co-executive producer.[5] Bette Chadwick was in charge of casting, while visual effects were initially handled by Lost Boys Studios and Northwest Imaging & FX.[1] By September 9, 1999, Tribune had stations committed for two years in 24 of the top 30 markets with 22 Tribune and 38 Sinclair stations for a 60% national clearance giving the series a green light. The show was offered barter terms with an eight national/six local advertising split.[5]

On January 14, 2004, the Sci-Fi Channel made a deal for the show and all its episodes plus fellow Tribune syndicated but discontinued show Beastmaster. In March, the cable channel would start showing season four episodes which would then be seen in syndication seven to ten days later. With the deal, the series was renewed for its fifth and final season.[10] The show began its run on Sci-Fi with a re-airing of the two-hour pilot episode.[11]

In discussion on his website's forums and various interviews, Wolfe has elaborated that he was released from the production staff after he refused to shift the show's focus more onto Kevin Sorbo's character, Dylan Hunt, by essentially making all of the show's episodes Hunt-centric.[19][20] The events of the episode "Ouroboros", the final episode written by Wolfe, introduced the last major changes that Wolfe was willing to make to the series.

By 2003, ADV Films had home video/DVD rights for the show in the USA.[21] The company released the entire series on DVD in region 1 between 2003 and 2006. In December 2003, ADV released Season 3, Collection 2.[22] On October 3, 2006, they released a complete series DVD box set known as Andromeda: The Slipstream Collection.

In Region 4, Beyond Home Entertainment has released all five seasons on DVD in Australia. In 2007/2008, they re-released all five seasons in new collector's editions that featured new packaging and all episodes were digitally re-mastered in widescreen format.[29]

The first season received mixed to negative reviews. Starburst described Andromeda as a "delightfully motley cast of characters, and the scripts by Wolfe and his writing team are brimming with witty interplay."[32] A mixed review from Variety says Andromeda "could offer a few campy laughs on a weekend afternoon".[33] In a retrospective, Digital Spy remarks "this show hasn't exactly aged that well... but if you remotely like sci-fi, we also bet you'll find yourself sucked into this nostalgia-fest in no time".[34]

Andromeda received negative reviews from the Los Angeles Times ("Don't expect much excitement... 'Andromeda' isn't intended to be taken too seriously, but that doesn't excuse its penchant for dopey dialogue"),[35] Entertainment Weekly ("After surviving a hilariously bad slow motion fight sequence.. Sorbo meets up with a band of misfit scavengers who may not be as bad as they seem, but make up for it by being twice as annoying"),[36] Common Sense Media ("this series lacks the spark that made Star Trek so much fun. The politics sometimes seem overly confusing, and some of the characters are thinly developed"),[37] SciFiNow ("It's a cliche but decent enough... but the problem is that Andromeda falls into Star Trek: Voyager territory by playing it safe and not doing enough to develop its characters")[38] and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ("it's kiddie-minded science-fiction with average special effects... and a set that was clearly built on a lower budget than the 'Star Trek' shows.").[39]

Andromeda was nominated for 39 awards at organizational events spanning the years 2001 to 2006. The nominations comprised six Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA awards, five Chicago International Film Festival awards, eight Gemini Awards, fifteen Leo Awards, and five WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival awards. The show won 18 of those awards.

"Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda", later simply "Andromeda", is a science fiction television series that aired from 2 October 2000 - 13 May 2005. The series combines elements of hard science fiction and drama, while dealing with social and political issues such as drug abuse, death, bribery, and intergalactic politics.

Andromeda is set thousands of years in the future, and centers on a fictional constitutional monarchy called the Systems Commonwealth, which is based in the governmental system of Tarn-Vedra. Humanity was discovered by the Systems Commonwealth, and soon became one of thousands of member species. The Systems Commonwealth has spread into three galaxies over the span of tens of thousands of years. The galaxies are: The Milky Way Galaxy, Triangulum Galaxy, and the Andromeda Galaxy. Large, sentient ships travel from one end of the Systems Commonwealth to the other via "Slipstream", riding the quantum strings that connect planets, solar systems and galaxies.

The Systems Commonwealth is defended by the High Guard, a military and diplomatic force which includes an armada of extremely powerful ships capable of destroying suns and depopulating entire planets in a matter of seconds. The protagonist of the series, Captain Dylan Hunt, is the captain of a capital Systems Commonwealth ship, the titular Andromeda Ascendant. The ship's computer, a powerful Artificial Intelligence, is another key character in the series.

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