thunder-24017
Someing fighting ernestly to recreate the mythical Federation works so much better than showing us this "wonderful" future that ends up looking bland and just like the everyday.
Andromeda provides HOPE in a way none of the more mainstream ST ever do.And, yes, it changes after a few seasons because it _has_ to, because if he actually shows us the the thing complete it becomes as dull and lifeless as the other rocks. To keep the potential hope of the Federation it _needed_ to just stay an ideal that they didn't show us because they cannot possible show anything that would connect as a good possible future to fight for. They can show us the hope, but they can't show us the endgame itself and i'ts really good that they realised that and didn't do it, moved on to other stories, because by then, after we got the original point, it became about the characters that we'd gotten to know.So, yeah, it changes, but it's still great, you just change what you are looking for in it along the way.(And why are you looking for the same story 5 seasons in? That's ridiculous. If you just want comfort food watch Original Flavour ST instead.)
robinspat
I enjoyed this show very much.I am so saddened to discover, in the age of the internet, that the actor Kevin Sorbo is such a right wing nut dickhead.He's an extreme USA Repulican in his freely vomited beliefs.Fortunately his reach is niche and a broadcast that is mostly never seen.Thankfully, Mr Sorbo is only an actor, so speaks other people's words and ideas on his filming gig and emotes that which is written and directed, thankfully not his own spewed content.That saving grace proving, in my opinion, Kevin Sorbo is a 'good enough' TV actor, when contained in the action science fiction genre.
Rob_Taylor
I've wanted to watch this show for some time, it being the sole scifi series that I haven't seen from the last thirty years! Yet, now that I am approaching the end, I'm beginning to suspect my subconscious avoidance of the show for so long was a built-in safety mechanism of mine.It isn't that Andromeda is overall bad. There are some very good episodes in the show's run. But when the episodes are bad, they are pretty awful and, unfortunately, as the seasons go on, there are more bad than good episodes.Season one and two are pretty decent. They show Dylan Hunt (a character name that Roddenberry used often in his shows) struggling to rebuild the Commonwealth. At the end of the second season, a terrible threat emerges to threaten all that he has achieved. Things look good for season three! Then, Oh My! The third season loses its way quite substantially. There are episodes about the Abyss, the enemy behind the coming Magog invasion, but they aren't always interesting. In the end, season three plays out like a long preamble to the actual invasion, which we knew was coming from the end of season two.Season four is more of the same, with increasingly bizarre and pointless episodes that do little to further the plot. By the end of this season, the invasion is just starting and, as if they realised that something was stinking in the woodpile, it was clear the final two-part episode was meant as a reboot for the show. Think the original Dallas' shower scene, or the ending to Blake's Seven, and you'll have an idea of what to expect. Oddly enough, though, these two episodes were among the more entertaining of the season's fare.As for season five, well... let's just say the fast forward button is a friend you'll never grow tired of here.For me, the biggest indicator of the show's lack of direction, or a decent writer team, came with the ever increasing number of filler episodes. All shows have these, of course, but Andromeda has them in spades. The sort of episode which is most noticeable here are the flashback episodes. Episodes which have little or no story of their own and rely on reused footage from earlier episodes.It is little exaggeration to say that at some points, almost every other episode is like this in season three and four. I will say in their defence, however, that they are done better than in most other shows I've watched, but there are just SO many of them! Too many, really. When you watch episode after episode where half the running time is old footage, you know something is not going well.Also questionable is the choice to alter so many characters from their original concept. Tyr, for instance, had well meaning thug who would find redemption written all over him at the show's start. Yet they have him turn to the dark side, as it were, and betray everyone.Likewise, Rev Bem. A Magog who had found religion. It was inevitable that they'd have him question his faith, but the apparent "evolution" of his character into a more advanced form of Magog was decidedly ropey and unnecessary.Again, Trance Gemini swaps places with her alter-ego from another future and gets a colour palette swap out too, going from blue to green and a host of ninja skills as well.It's like they realised some of the characters weren't that interesting and tried to spice them up, but realised the new ones were just as poor. Exit Tyr and Rev Bem.All in all, Andromeda comes across as a bit of a mess. A lot of promise early on that was squandered on needless character changes, poorly thought-out plots, padding episodes and a loss of focus.I was so perplexed by this Jekyll and Hyde nature that I did a little digging. Turns out the lead writer departed (or was fired) mid-way through season 2 and a number of other writers took up the mantle. I couldn't locate reasons for this change, but it usually means the writer and the suits in charge of the show had different views of what the show was about. Irreconcilable differences, in this case, I would wager.Interestingly, the original writer maintains a blog site and I found a nice little script that explains more about Trance and the Abyss and what he had in mind for the show. The link for this is http://www.roberthwolfe.com/Insider%20Info.htm and you want to look at the Andromeda Coda at the bottom. Very interesting, and a little disappointing that he didn't get to take show down the suggested route.As for the show as it is, well... there are a good number of very nice episodes, but you will have to wade through some utter dross to get to them, so be prepared.SUMMARY: Good start but goes a bit pants as time goes on. Becomes more and more of a chore to watch, rather than a delight. Worth watching the first two seasons, but after that, your mileage will vary considerably.
Bumbeard
The series starts out good but lost its way because the seasons are very uneven in quality. I thought that the best seasons where season 1,2,4. I didn't like season 3 or 5 at all. I thought that the series forgot the story they where trying to tell.. The acting isn't that great.So if you're gonna watch some sci-fi there are a lot of better choices out there.Personally i like many other sci-fi series better, like Firefly,Farscape,Startrek series, and many, many others.I cant really recommend this series, since there are a lot of better series to see.
