Andromeda – Nostalgia Central

2 0 0 0 – 2 0 0 5 (USA)
110 x 60 minute episodes

In a universe where humans and aliens coexist in the Systems Commonwealth (a massive, utopian interstellar civilisation spanning three galaxies), Captain Dylan Hunt (Kevin Sorbo, best known as TV’s Hercules) discovers a plot by power-hungry Nietzscheans (a genetically engineered subspecies of humans) to overthrow the Commonwealth with a sneak attack.

Dylan tries to warn the Commonwealth, but his ship, the Andromeda Ascendant – a Commonwealth High Guard warship – becomes trapped and frozen in the gravity well of a black hole’s event horizon. 300 years later, the Eureka Maru, a salvage vessel commanded by feisty blond-haired mercenary Beka Valentine (Lisa Ryder), finds Dylan’s ship and breaks it out of its frozen cocoon.

Beka demands Dylan’s ship. He refuses, and after some scuffling, Beka agrees to join Dylan as his first officer aboard the Andromeda Ascendant, along with her ragtag salvage crew: Seamus Harper (Gordon Michael Woolvett), a wisecracking engineer from Earth;  Trance Gemini (Laura Bertram), a purple-skinned medic with precognitive abilities and a tail); Rev. Bem (Brent Stait), a devout follower of the Wayist religion who has eschewed the savagery of his Magog brethren and resembles a cross between a bat-faced demon and hell hound; and Tyr Anasazi (Keith Hamilton Cobb), a ruthless Nietzschean mercenary and weapons guy.

There’s also the Andromeda Ascendant‘s resident artificial intelligence system, nicknamed Rommie. A sentient ally of Dylan’s who appears in three forms – as a hologram, an on-screen display and, most fetchingly, a beautiful android.

During the 300 years Dylan was locked in the black hole’s gravity well, the Systems Commonwealth has been fractured by intergalactic civil war, an invasion by the Magog (a savage, predatory species who feed on their victims and use them as hosts for the eggs of their parasitic young), and rivalries and genocidal wars among factions of the genetically superior Nietzscheans.

Despite its age, the Andromeda Ascendant remains a formidable warship, equipped with Nova bombs powerful enough to destroy planets.

Dylan and his new crew set out to reunite the 50 planets of the Commonwealth, fighting the bad guys along the way.

The 5th and final season found the crew stranded in the Seefra System (an isolated pocket of space with a dying sun) trying to solve a complex cosmic puzzle tied to Trance Gemini’s origins and a looming dark entity known as the Abyss.

Despite numerous cast and story changes, Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda remained one of American television’s most resilient shows.

Filmed in Vancouver, the series ran for five years, confounding some critics, who slammed it as “campy space chaos”. It triumphed as the top-rated drama in syndication for most of its run.

Captain Dylan Hunt
Kevin Sorbo
Beka Valentine
Lisa Ryder
Seamus Harper
Gordon Michael Woolvett
Trance Gemini
Laura Bertram
Andromeda (“Rommie”)
Lexa Doig
Tyr Anasazi
Keith Hamilton Cobb
Telemachus Rhade/Gaheris Rhade
Steve Bacic
Rev Bem
Brent Stait
Doyle
Brandy Ledford