Customer Reviews

Andromeda Season 1 Collection 3 (Episode 111-114)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have a lot of friends into Scifi but for some reason they don't like Andromeda. I tell them give it a chance as even though its can be really campy at times, it can be real good television as well.

Andromeda 1.3 we start to see the crew really starting to work together on the screen. What makes this show work is how comfortable all the actors are with each other.

Each TV series has some shows that are not great. Seinfeld might be expection, but "Music Of a Distant Drum" the first show on the second disc was plain boring. Tyr character didn't get much development in this episode. The lady who takes him in is just plain awful, and her son is no better.

This disc does have 2 GREAT [5] star shows. One "The Mathmatics Of Tears" has simply one of the best action scenes of any Scifi TV show I have seen in awhile. What I love about series TV is the little hints here and there. We all know Becca Valentine has the hots for Dylan and when Dylan is being courted so to speak by a HOT Highguard from the past Becca gives those jealous looks.

Haper 2.0 is simply one termendous. Its was nice to see Harper get a chance to shine. The moment when he goes off on Rev Bem (My personal favorite character) is very emotional. Here they lay the foundation of a main heavy of sorts which the series needed. What Andromeda needs is one anti force that is always causing them trouble every other episode.

I highly recommend this series. The pilot is not great, but once you get passed that it really starts to come into its own as a series and you will start to truly care about these characters. I am already into the Trance-Harper love storyline. Hopefully a bone with be thrown in there later in the series.

I really like Andromeda and the series is great. The contents are good, but for 2 discs worth of material they only had 4 episodes on them. They need to put at least 6 episodes to a volume if they aren't going to put that much extra material on them. Either that or lower the price of the vol.

Finally, some of the best Andromeda episodes come out on DVD! "Pearls" features some great interactions between Beka and Trance, as well as the always-good John DeLancie as Uncle Sid. "Mathematics of Tears" has THE best fight scene in all of Season 1. No spoilers, but the entire thing is choreographed to an aria from "The Flying Dutchman" by Wagner. "Distant Drum" sets the stage for Tyr's big secret which will be crucial later. Not that great of an episode, but anything that features Tyr is all right by me. "Harper 2.0" is a romp, but shows us the serious side of the normally light-hearted engineer. Harper winds up gaining all of the knowledge of the universe, but someone is after it. Enjoy them all!

For those who haven't seen Andromeda, it's a great science fiction tv show. These episodes are some of the stronger ones in the first season. I won't comment on them too much since the manufacturer's synopsis is pretty accurate. However, these episodes are all heavily character driven with some focus on the crew members instead of Captain Hunt. The final episode in the set begins a subplot that will mature into an epic storyline. Unfortunately, later seasons would forego these types of complex plots.

This is a solid but unspectacular dvd set. Like the first two sets, these episodes are shown in widescreen format. The picture is free of any grain or image wash. For a tv show, the picure is absolutely crystal clear. The sound is full, although sometimes the background music overwhelms the dialogue. I've found that I have to turn the volume down when watching action sequences. The sound seems to be mastered for a theater presentation rather than a living room. This is not necessarily a negative, since the effects are full and resonate at all levels.

The disappointment in this set is that there are only four episodes. The first two sets had five episodes. Additionally, the extras are not as impressive as the first two sets. Unlike the first two sets, there is no commentary for any of the episodes. While there is a nice image gallery, the bloopers and outtakes only comprise a couple of minutes of footage. The intro to the bloopers ran longer than the actual bloopers and repeated itself twice.

The bottom line is that while the episodes are presented well, the extras and overall content of this set were disappointing. This is especially true when compared with the first two sets. Still a solid set and I would recommend it if you are a fan of the show.

If you are considering Volume 3 of this series, then chances are you already know this show and there's probably not too much I can tell you. If by some chance you are not familiar with "Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda" then please read on!

Andromeda is one of the last shows to be envisioned by the late, "Great Bird of the Galaxy", Gene Roddenberry. In the truest Roddenberry form, this show combines a good sense of drama with a sometimes off-beat sense of humor. The premise of the show is that the hero, Capt Dillon Hunt (played by Kevin Sorbo) and his ship, the Andromeda Ascendant with it's rather life-like...and rather voluptuous AI (played by Lexa Dolg) is trapped in time for 300 years at the event horizon of a black hole during a battle with a race called The Nietzschians, a race of genetically engineered people who are trying to bring about the fall of the system's Common Wealth. After being rescued by the crew of the Eureka Maru Capt Hunt recruits the crew of the Maru to become his new crew and his mission is to restore the Common Wealth.

Now I have to add here that this show can be a little cheezy at times. If you like "serious" Sci-Fi such as the new Battlestar Galactic or Star Gate then you may be a little disappointed with Andromeda. However if you can handle a little "tongue in cheek" humor from time to time, this show is definitely worth watching. I would also add that seasons 1, 2 and 3 were the strongest of the show...seasons 4 and 5 seemed to have some production and continuity problems.

If you've gotten to my review here, you've probably already read the reviews of the 4 individual episodes contained in this collection so I won't add any more spoilers. I would simply say that this was my favorite collection from season 1. By this point in the show they had laid a solid foundation for both the writing and the acting and in my opinion they did some pretty good story telling with these four episodes. Beyond that the only thing I would add is that if you haven't seen collections 1 and 2 yet, as with all things, it's usually best to start at the beginning.

Andromeda is some plain old fun Sci-Fi not to be taken -too- seriously. There are some long running themes that progress thru the show, but over all it's an episode by episode game (as apposed to the heavy story arcs that keep you hanging on the edge of your seat such as Galactica) and this collection has some of the most memorable episodes of the show.

This dvd collection is not only boring but also overpriced for just 4 episodes that could have fit on 1 dvd. This should be titled "space, the boring frontier". Buy these mediocre episodes at your own risk! Look for it in all dump bins across the galaxy!

I know that everybody complains about how there is only four episodes on this vol., but if you get the first season box set, you'll find that they had to do that because there are only 22 episodes in a season! If they put all of the episodes on three DVD's, they would need an extra one for the rest of the special features. And I agree, the episodes Harper 2.0 and The Mathimatics of Tears were great episodes.
PS. I am the proud owner of seasons 1 through 3, all box sets!

I love this show. I love the campy bits, I love the character conflicts, I love the obvious bits and the ocasional subtle humor. As a show it never takes itself seriously, but the actors are pros and do it right. It's got lots of sci-fi cliches, and it pokes constant fun at trek and hercules. The costumes are awful (motorcycle helmet anyone?) ... but the CGI is intense, the design is beautiful, and the whole thing is seamless. There are lots of extras on these DVD's (bloopers, etc) and the quality is terrific.

I wanna be an AI when I grow up.