Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #52946 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-07-30
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 60 minutes

Amazon.com
Based on an idea by Gene Roddenberry, the syndicated series Andromeda confidently wears its debt to Star Trek on its sleeve, recalling the best sci-fi of Roddenberry's heyday. The two-part premiere "Under the Night" and "An Affirming Flame" makes for a terrific introduction to the lead character, Captain Dylan Hunt, played by Kevin (ex-Hercules) Sorbo. He's a sympathetically flawed idealist in command of the Andromeda Ascendant, a massive starship of the now-disbanded Systems Commonwealth. The fall of civilization has meant that although she ought to be a relic, she remains the zenith of technological advancement.

In the first of these five episodes, we see Captain Hunt in battle against 10,000 enemy ships, winning a bout of fisticuffs with a close friend turned enemy traitor, wrestling with the shock of being frozen in time for 300 years, and then diplomatically negotiating his way out of a salvage rights battle for his ship. The Andromeda Ascendant's emotionally driven, lifelike computer is desired by the Eureka Maru salvage vessel, and feisty Captain Beka Valentine can barely stop her engineer Harper from drooling about tinkering with her. The Maru's shipmates are similarly driven: Rev Bem (from another sworn enemy race) has a spiritual calling, while cutesy-pie Trance Gemini's motivations are part of her winning mysteriousness. One final addition is the show's muscle, Tyr, the enemy with a conscience, but Andromeda is Dylan's show all the way. --Paul Tonks

Customer Reviews

Surprisingly good
Since the main character is from "Hercules", I had my doubts. I picked it up anyway, because Gene Roddenberry's name is on it. I am glad I did.

The show does have some weakness- 1. Special effects are always interesting, but look fake sometimes 2. The premise seems to be a little bit shaky: why would those crew decided to join the idealist Captain? They are obviously not the noble type.

Despite those two flaws, it's still worth watching. The concept is original (in the sense that the variation of classical theme done well), the story is good (I think "double helix", the last episode of Vol 1. is the best so far), acting is adequate. In sum, the series has a promising start. It's certainly not Farscape or Star Trek, but you'll enjoy Andromeda if you like this type of sci-fi shows.

As for DVD itself:
Good-
Many special features (alternative takes were interesting).
Good picture quality
Bad-
No subtitles...

oh, come on
The dialogue in the first ten minutes "There are too many of them!" and "It's our only chance (hope?)" peg the script writer as a student at the George Lucas School of Scriptwriting (correspondence only). The starship (who is a machine, let us not forget)wants to look like a sexy babe with a lot of cleavage showing prominently. Would that 'look' really appeal to a machine - wouldn't it want to be metallic and oily? Besides, the 'living ship' idea is done so much better in Farscape. So I wonder if I have wasted my money.
However, Kevin Sorbo is a surprise - a better actor than our lad in Farscape (who only looks sober and/or confused most of the time). Sorbo's athleticism adds a reality to the fight scenes and he seems totally dedicated to his dream of reuniting millions of worlds (unrealistic as that seems in the face of our inability to unite even a portion of our planet).
Tyr is tremendously sexy, especially when given a chance. And the other characters are off-beat enough to be interesting. Except for the furball - they really should have gone to see Brian Henson on that one - the mask looks like a mask - it never moves. And the spraying is inconsistent with his Zen-like character (who seems more Catholic with his confession and absolution stuff - poor fellow). He won't kill anyone, but he will torture them? Come on.
Are we still going to be riding motorcycles with windscreens 12,000 years from now? Will people from another planet be quoting the Bible about "Reaping the whirlwind" - wouldn't they be quoting Neitzsce instead (sp?)? The anachronisms boggle.
So I bought the next set. So I'm hooked anyway. So sue me.

Roddenberry would have been proudest of this
I was skeptical when I saw yet another "Gene Roddenberry" apostropheed title and noticed mighty Hercules (Kevin Sorbo) as the lead character. "Oh, no, B-movie all the way," I thought. But just for fun I rented this DVD set and was astonished at the very high standard it has set. Andromeda is faster-paced and flashier than the most recent crop of Star Treks, and yet it is also superior in depth and breadth. Robert Hewitt Wolfe, Majel Barrett Roddenberry and the other creative honchos have created an instant universe that is more interesting than the canonized but increasingly stale one that Star Trek perpetuates. By starting at the end of an era (the fall of an empire) and setting out to pick up the pieces we are led through mysterious history like the fall of the Roman Empire or the disappearance of Atlantis. The dialog is quick-witted and the characters have a lot more to say than the usual stock "Shields at Maximum! We're losing power!" cliches. Andromeda mixes the "sexually charged negotiations" of this old empire's barbarians (the Nietzchian fanatics) with high minded nostalgic idealism and bug-eyed monsters without making us cringe. It is the best of scifi action-adventure and it isn't afraid to get cerebral -- the word all network executives hate. I'm going to buy all the DVDs as they come out.