How Hollywood Destroyed Gene Roddenberry’s Other Sci-Fi Series, Better Than Star Trek – Moviepur
Written by Jonathan Klotz | Published
The late 1990s and early 2000s saw an explosion in sci-fi shows thanks to the continuing success of Star Trek, and although it’s best remembered for… Farscape, Babylon 5and Stargate SG-1gave us this time period as well Lexis, Earth: Final Conflictand Andromeda.
Created by Gene Roddenberry of Star Trek, Andromeda I could top them all. The series was the final show developed from the deceased sci-fi icon’s notes. For two seasons Andromeda Featuring deep world building, character development, and a stunning military sci-fi story about “reclaiming the light of civilization.” Unfortunately, it aired for five seasons.
Complex sci-fi world building at its best
Andromeda It begins with a startling premise: The Commonwealth is engaged in a long-running war with the Magogs, savages from beyond the edge of known space. So they give up a key world as part of the peace talks, which is the home of the Nietzscheans (genetically modified humans who follow the works of Friedrich Nietzsche as their religion).
Naturally, this leads to an uprising against the Commonwealth, beginning a period of time known as “The Long Night.” This period is a science fiction retelling of the fall of the Roman Empire with one crucial difference.
Captain Dylan Hunt, played by Hercules himself, Kevin Sorbo, has been trapped on the edge of a black hole inside his ship, the Andromeda, for 300 years. Finally freed by a group of scavengers, Hunt sets out to reclaim the Commonwealth and put an end to The Long Night. It’s a setting brimming with story potential, and for the first two seasons, it was a brilliant attempt at long-form storytelling set against the backdrop of a crumbling Galactic Empire.
The crew of the junk ship is convinced, rather easily, to become the new crew of the Andromeda, including Becca Valentine (Lisa Ryder) as the new first officer, thanks to the promise of free room and board, and the Nietzschean assassin Tear (Keith Hamilton Cobb) taking over as the new weapons officer. Among the scattered crew members drawn together by being in the wrong place at the wrong time are the science officer, Reverend Pym (Brent Stitt), or originally “Red Plague,” a kind and understanding Magog who follows the path, and Seamus Harper (Gordon Michael Wolfit), a gifted engineer who can hack into computers using his cybernetic data port and whose frozen limbs remind viewers that this was set in the year 2000. Finally, the ship also contains an advanced artificial intelligence, played by Lexa Doig, who remains fiercely loyal to her crew, especially Captain Hunt.
Andromeda The setting, a well-developed main cast, and a first season of long-running serialized plots involving the restoration of the Commonwealth blend well with the silly dialogue, hokey special effects, and a tone that walks a tightrope between hyper-serious cartoon and Saturday morning cartoon. Showrunner Robert Hewitt Wolfe, working closely with Roddenberry’s widow Majel Barrett, had a clear vision for the world of the series.
By the end of Season 2, it was the beginning of the amazing process of nation building and establishing the galactic government day by day. That’s also when disaster strikes, and Wolfe, the architect of this unique televised sci-fi take, loses a power struggle against him. Andromeda The producers were fired.
The power struggle behind the scenes in Andromeda
Right when Andromeda It found a loyal fan base and was on the verge of breaking through, and Wolfe was replaced by Robert Engels, David Lynch’s long-time creative partner. Or that’s what happened on paper.
In fact, the series has been redesigned from a sci-fi ensemble with long-running storytelling and wonderfully quirky characters, to “Hercules “In space.” Sex appeal, explosions and storytelling replaced the nation-building plot, while Sorbo’s Dylan Hunt became the ideal hero, a Gary Stu, with more of the spotlight on him. Keith Hamilton Cobb, frustrated with Tyr’s treatment, left during the third season and took the show’s best character with him.
In pursuit of mass market appeal, Andromeda She lost everything that made her great in the first place. By the time Season 5 began airing, the cast remained the same, but the characters looked like their Season 1 counterparts. However, everything else around them had changed. Gene Roddenberry’s grand tale of restoring the Commonwealth was no longer a guiding light for Captain Hunt, but rather a nuisance.
When you watch Andromeda Today for free on Toby, Pluto TVor Amazon Prime Videoit’s impossible to miss the moment when the power struggle behind the scenes overtakes the sci-fi story. Instead of developing a permanent fan base e.g Farscapethe series alienated die-hard sci-fi fans, and Kevin Sorbo was unable to bring even a fraction of his work Hercules The public makes up the difference.
Science fiction is a niche genre that will always attract a smaller audience than four-quarter widescreen shows, but if you treat fans right and don’t insult their intelligence, you’ll be rewarded with a lifetime of relevance. If you don’t respect the sci-fi audience, you’ll be remembered as one AndromedaAs one of the biggest missed opportunities in the history of science fiction.
