Andromeda Episode 1: Under the Night

Andromeda was one of two series (the other being Earth: Final Conflict) developed from notes written by Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry after his death. Kevin Sorbo, fresh off Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, starred as Captain Dylan Hunt of the starship Andromeda Ascendant. The series lasted five seasons, from 2000 – 2005.

Episode Summary

We begin our episode (and the series) on the starship Andromeda as Captain Dylan Hunt orders his large, multi-species crew to perform a battle drill. The ship belongs to the Systems Commonwealth, an intergalactic alliance of planets not unlike Star Trek’s Federation. Among the races represented on board are the insectoid Than and genetically engineered humans known as Nietzscheans. The ship’s computer has an artificial intelligence represented by a holographic woman whom all refer to as Andromeda (or “Rommie”).

The Trap

A distress call summons Andromeda to a black hole, but instead of finding people in distress, the crew finds an enormous fleet of Nietzschean warships – a trap. The Nietzscheans are rebelling against the Commonwealth because they believe it has become weak.

Dylan orders his crew to evacuate, and he is left alone to fight Gaheris Rhade, his first officer, best friend, and Nietzschean conspirator. After an extremely long firefight, Dylan kills Rhade, but not before Andromeda gets too close to the black hole. Time seems to stop…

Centuries Later

Over three hundred years later, salvage ship Eureka Maru finds Andromeda, still frozen in time, at the black hole. The crew of the Maru consists of Captain Beka Valentine and Seamus Harper (humans), plus purple-alien-with-a-tail Trance Gemini, and Rev Bem – a Magog. Magogs are vicious bat-like aliens with a penchant for being violent and eating people; however, Rev Bem is unlike most Magogs in that he follows Wayism, a pacifist religion.

Along for the ride is the individual responsible for hiring the Maru and her crew: Gerentex, a Nightsider (rat-alien), and his band of mercenaries. Their goal is to sell Andromeda and make tons of cash.

Wake Up

The Eureka Maru pulls Andromeda out of the black hole and time returns to normal for Dylan and Holo-Andromeda, who soon realizes three hundred years have passed. Captain Valentine and the rest of the Maru’s occupants board Andromeda and try to mess with its systems. Dylan yells at them and tells them to get off his ship.

The episode ends on a cliffhanger with Gerentex calling in his team of mercenaries, led by Tyr Anasazi the Nietzschean.

Thoughts

For a first episode, this was really hard to get into. The first half of this episode was all action with characters I knew nothing about. I didn’t really care for any of what was going on and it was really boring. Then we meet a new group of characters as we jump ahead 300 years, and get another long sequence, with the Maru towing out Andromeda. By the time we, the audience, have gotten situated in this universe, the episode ends.

I wonder who was this show’s intended audience because all the stuff that was thrown at us in the beginning probably scared off all the casual viewers. Was this only made with science fiction, specifically Star Trek, fans in mind?