Search - Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda: Slipstream Collection on DVD

SEASON 1 & 2 ROCK // 3 & 4 SO-SO // SEASON 5 = RUB

John Kane | 06/19/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I will start by saying my favorite Sci-Fi is classic Doctor Who. The ones from 1963-1989. I like to use that show to campare other sci-fi to. Problem is, those old Doctor Who episodes were usually 96-100 minutes long. Andromeda and most "modern" sci-fi Shows are limited to 45 minutes or so. Still there are 2 part Doctor Whos episodes that only ran 45 minutes. So whats my point in bringing all this up?



Well if you watched a 45 minute Doctor Who show and then Andromeda right afterwards, you would notice some very stark contrasts. Doctor Who was more of a true Sci- Fi show where the heroes relied on intellectual thought and improvisation to get out of 85% of the scrapes. The Andromeda Crew are much more apt to come down to fire all weapons or physical combat.



Is one of these tendancies better than the other? Not really. Its more of a personal preference. Why some people go to see the WWF and others go to see the Boston Pops. Obviously since I stated I like Doctor Who, I prefer the illtellectual sci-fi. This type of Sci-Fi relied more on building up suspense through some type of mystery that had to be gotten to the bottom of.



Moving on to strictly Andromeda. I like the first 2 seasons. By the way Harper is my favorite character, followed by Tier,(spelling?) Rev, Andromdea, Trance, Becka and the Captain is last. I like the tension between tier and Hunt. Rev was good to help balance the other characters. I preferred Purple Trance over the later version. Why you ask? Well you already had 2 alpha males. Tier and Hunt. PLus you had 2 alpha females in Becka and Andromeda as an android. So the writers decide to turn purple Trance into a 3rd alpha female.



Later, when Rev is gone, the only non alpha charactor is Harper. The drawback to me is that more and more the show becomes physical combat and ship combat. There is one episode in season 3 where the fight scene lasts almost 10 minutes. Think about that in a 45 minute show. The same episode then has part of the crew being chased by the Magog ships for another 10 minutes. Thats 20 minutes where the plot hasn't budged an inch. If your thing is fight scenes, then its great.



The charactors pretty much get boxed in during season three and none of them makes any personal growth. Sadly Harper, though more often then not, saves the crew with his genous, never gets much respect from anyone. In fact the crew keeps treating him like he is a teenager.



I think that the actor that plays Hunt was too big for the show and started to take over the writing to some degree. By season 5 he is even credited as a Producer. The same lines get worn out, like "It's never Easy", or "That can't be good". They were cute for one or 2 episodes but get worn out.



After 2 of my 3 favorite charactors got written out and Harper's role seemed to get diminished. I wasn't that sorry to see the series come to a sputtering end.



The 2 parts that ended season 4 are probably the best 2 episodes of the series, and would have been a good place to end it. In season 5 Harper is completely penned in and its mearly extended bar fights with not much imagination left.



Someone was wanting to know about the extras. They are excellent. Lots of interviews with the actors. Behind the scenes look at make up for Trance and Rev. Picture Galleries, Some explanation and clips of the CG effects. Insight from the producers and directors. Out takes. Pretty well loaded and for the amount of entertainment is a great value.



Like any series that runs 5 seasons, there are episodes so good you can watch them over and over. Then there are ones where you want to send the disc across the room. All in all theres more good than bad in this one."