Customer Reviews

Andromeda - Season 3 Collection

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

 

 

With each new season of Andromeda it just gets better and better the 1st one really didnt get me until the season finale and by this season I am totally hooked....As I have done in my other 2 reviews of this TV show I have added an episode list with plot I also again reitterate buying the complete season set instead of the individual 2 disk packs as the price is almost the same

01. If the Wheel is Fixed
Energy from a dimensional tunnel takes control of two crewmembers.


02. The Shards of Rimmi
Commonwealth Security considers Dylan the prime suspect in a murder investigation.


03. Mad to Be Saved
The Andromeda encounters problems after picking up a group of mentally imbalanced refugees.

04. Cui Bono
Andromeda transports Sid Barry, who is running for the top government office in the newly reformed Commonwealth.

05. The Lone and Level Sands
The Andromeda crew encounters a spacecraft from Earth, which set out to explore deep space hundreds of years ago.


06. Slipfighter the Dogs of War
The Andromeda crew stops the evil rulers of the planet Marduk from making weapons of mass destruction.


07. The Lepers Kiss
Dylan goes on a mission to seek out "The Leper" in order to prevent Marshall Man Ka-Lupe's assassination.


08. For Whom the Bell Tolls
Maggots infest the Andromeda, which is haunted by a crew member who died more than 300 years earlier.

09. And Your Heart Will Fly Away
Tyr encounters a long lost love and the man who had hired him to kill her.


10. The Unconquerable Man
Gaheris Rhade sets out to reshape the universe according to his will and restore order amid the chaos.


11. Delenda Est
The Andromeda crew must thwart an invasion from a mysterious enemy.


12. The Dark Backward
Trance runs through a series of possible outcomes in order to save the crew from a deadly intruder.


13. The Risk All Point
Dylan (Kevin Sorbo) and the crew rescue the passengers of a doomed High Guard ship.

14. The Right Horse
Beka puts her feelings for a past love ahead of the safety of her crew and endangers an entire planet.


15. What Happens to a Rev Deferred?
The crew receives a cry for help from the long lost Rev Bem.


16. Point of the Spear
The crew battles against the Pyrians in order to save the planet Samsarra and avoid a galactic war.


17. Vault of the Heavens
Dylan is beckoned to a far off planet by the voice of a mysterious woman.


18. Deep Midnight's Voice
Dylan and the crew search for a Nietzschean slip-scout carrying a probe that enables one to map every meter of the slipstream.


19. The Illusion of Majesty
Dylan and the crew take a wrong turn ending up in the Prolon System where they discover a princess who is not what she appears to be

20. Twilight of the Idols
Dylan (Kevin Sorbo) and the crew set out to find a colony that disappeared. Unbeknownst to them, they are not the only ones looking.

21. Day of Judgement, Day of Wrath
Rommie's (Lexa Doig) old lover takes over her mind and a new High Guard ship.

22. Shadows Cast by a Final Salute
Tyr's (Keith Hamilton Cobb) disloyalty spawns the destruction of the Commonwealth.

Series 3 started off really weird. It seems to have suddenly turned into a weird kind of comedy. In series 1 & 2 there was a definite kind of relationship between Dylan and the crew. He was a good captain, roll model, father figure, highest ideals etc. In series 3 Dylan and the crew continually slings casual witty remarks to one another as if nothing really matters. And if they believe nothing really matters then the audience wont take it seriously either. It breaks the illusion. In every "critical situation" we now see Dylan basically kind of saying "Whatever!". This casual approach waters down both his roll and shows strong personality. In series 1 & 2 Dylan was always very concerned with acting appropriately with visiting dignitaries. In series 3 he's over casual and dismissive when talking to even leaders of entire worlds. Oh and Dylan tends to make love to every visiting attractive woman he meets, and with no real relationship. Weird. Its just "wow she's hot lets make love". The character is now shallow and its hard to have any kind of respect for him.

I'm not sure what is going on here. In the past there was a good balanced of personalities. Now there are too many comedians. Series 1 & 2 worked because Dylan was basically the straight man and father figure. Comedy was left to the Harper character who is brilliant. Straight man and funny man - good balance.

Despite this real flatness in series 3 I'll persevere and hope that series 4 well be back up to scratch. In Australia we don't get the series so I haven't seen beyond series 3. Despite this poor review I want to say well done all involved with Andromeda. You have created some great SciFi.

10-Fev-2005: I've just finished watching the last disk in the series 3 boxset and it seems they have attempted to repaired many of the character flaws. Phew! Hopefully S4 will be back on track.

About midway through season 2, head writer, executive producer, and let's face it, creator of Andromeda Robert Hewitt Wolfe was jetissoned because Kevin Sorbo wanted to garner more casual viewers, and wanted more screen-time for himself.

Things were just beginning to gather steam with the first two seasons too. The characters were progressing nicely, in fits and starts (see Trance Gemini), and the threads that were to weave an epic story arc began to show. After Wolfe was fired, some peculiar things happen, and as a result season 3 is just what the star wanted, more episodic. But Mr. Sorbo didn't seem to realize the crux of sci-fi fandom-continuity.

After season 3 they seemed to realize their mistake, but it was too late. The trajectory the show was on had changed irrevocably, and I believe, for the worse.

Don't get me wrong, Andromeda is and always has been a great, fun show to watch. But I felt the strength was in the writing, not the action, in the ensemble cast, not in a single star, and in its grand scale. Keith Hamilton-Cobb (Tyr Anasazie) left after this season for precisely these reasons, and the show was greatly diminished in his absence.

The third season had some problems. There were a few episodes, especially the first one "If the Wheel is Fixed", which simply failed the basics of story telling and were just plain confusing messes. Also, the Tyr-Dylan conflict lessened (until the last few episodes), and without that constant threat Dylan became less of a strategist and more of a go-for-broke hero and Jesus-figure which was less interesting. The only character that improved this season was Trance, whose powers and ultimate goal became a lot clearer. And I certainly agree with the other reviewer that Dylan bedded way too many space women. It had a dampening effect on the previously tension-filled relationships between Dylan and Andromeda and Dylan and Beka.

However, that doesn't mean that there isn't a lot of entertainment in this box. "The Unconquerable Man", an alternate history where Rhade killed Dylan, is probably the best episode - both dramatic and moving. "Deep Midnight's Voice" is probably the only other episode that gets the Nietzschean philosophy right, and is the start of restoring Tyr to his 2nd season glory. "Point of the Spear" is probably the best representation of large-scale fleet strategy in any TV sci-fi show (something that Deep Space Nine, for all its great effects, really blew). "The Risk All Point" is a great Beka episode. There were also great moments of comedy, especially "The Illusion of Majesty".

The user interface of the disks is, again, streamlined and easy to use. Fewer bonuses than before, but still some interesting stuff. I don't know why episodes are only referred to by their numbers instead of their names. Front loaded with (skippable) ads for ADV anime.

Season 3 of Andromeda, like the previous 2 seasons, has some episodes that are worth watching more than once and some that are not. Unfortunately, the number of episodes that are not worth multiple viewings increased dramatically.

Among this season's strong points are episodes like "The Unconquerable Man", which gives a look at what might have been had Dylan Hunt's first officer Gaheris Rhade won their battle - like any decent Gaheris Rhade feature, it attempts to paint him as a man who wanted a good future, but whose actions created a bad one.

"Cui Bono", while not all around great, brings back Beka Valentine's "uncle" Sid - the strongest point about the episode is that the return of this one character brings depth to three characters: Sid, Beka, and Beka's dad. "The Lone and Level Sands" takes the characters to an old Earth ship that has been exploring deep space and manages to take a conflict among its crew and not paint any of the characters as bad people.

Among the bad are episodes like "Vault of the Heavens", where Dylan is drawn by a mysterious voice to a planet where glowing women want to have sex with him (because they must procreate to save their people, of course). "The Illusion of Majesty" features soft porn actress Krista Allen in an entertaining (mostly thanks to Tyr) but ultimately pointless episode.

One of the biggest saving graces in season 3 is Tyr Anasazi, who has always brought an interesting balance to the show with his self-interested but generally realistic viewpoints. Unfortunately for the show, this was the character's last season (as far as I'm concerned, his appearance in two episodes of season 4 should just be ignored, since it's such a bad send-off).

Arguably, this is the last good season of Andromeda, but it's also arguably the first horrible one. It just depends on what you like about the series. One of the season's biggest weaknesses is the lack of a driving purpose. The episodes are basically just a bunch of disconnected events that have no real relation to each other or any kind of overarching purpose.

Still, I maintain that you'd get more enjoyment out of this than you would out of most Star Trek.

I bought season 3 practically foaming at the mouth, Season2 had blown me away, the character conflict, the personal agendas and all the other little "character flaws" that made the crew so much more likable when they did the right thing despite themselves. on top of this, it was a really great looking story arc, the magog worldship on its way, dylan wrestling the commonwealth into readiness, season 3 looked set to be a blast. Now i dont know what happened, but Season 3 bombed...badly in my eyes at least, right from the start the commonwealth seems to be up and running with no real worries.(huh?) No one even mentions the damn worldship until mid series, and thats all it is...a mention. Crew conflict and personal agendas went right out the damn window! Tyr is suddenly Dylan's loyal little lapdog, Trance is just a ditz, Becca is just a pilot with no (apparent) flash issues, Harper is Harper, (but he always has been, so that was ok.) The series had very little to offer in the way of story Arc, the two best episodes were the return of Rev Bem, and the last episode. I'm going to buy series 4 on the strength of it, it seems (as mentioned before) that they realised something wrong and tried to fix it. Worth having for collectors but not really anyone else, just wait for it on TV

The show? 5 stars, I love it - the blend of humor, accurate portrayal of the military, silly schlock and deep philosophy is indescribable (but that won't stop me from trying!). I absolutely love the deadpan humor, calm decision making, and understated wit; I love the introspection and contemplation on the nature of reality, leadership, friendship, and honor; I love the growth of the characters and the really stupid puns.

This show does the military, specifically the decision making process of a good officer and the calm reactions of a good team, better than many shows advertised as serious and realistic military movies. I emphasize good because in the real world not all officers are calm under pressure, steely of gaze and noble of jaw. But the good ones think quickly and clearly and don't drop their morals at the first sign of an ethical conflict, so while the scenarios may be simplistic the judgement used is relatively accurate. My hat off to the writers, who possess brains of unusual size in their skulls.

One thing to note: the intro to the show? "The universe is a dangerous place..." etc? Flippin hysterical. It's just the right note of overblown drama and inspiring trumpet synth, it cracks me up every time. I irritate my husband because we hit "skip chapter" as soon as we can, but inevetably we hear that opening line as quoted above and inevetably I make up a following line - "...But that's ok, my jaw's big enough to handle it!" or something like that. It's completely irresistible...

But the DVD set I got was flawed; the DVDs are double sided (always a mistake) and on one of the sides of disk 4 the show got stuck. I tried the usual tricks to get it past the stuck point but ended up going to the menu to get to the next chapter, "rewinding" until I got stuck at the end of the bad spot, and playing from there - and missing a good chunk of that chapter. Then again in the second episode on that side.

It was just one side of one disk, affecting two episodes, but it was really irritating. I love this show! Having to muck around and then to miss a piece was very uncool.

ANDROMEDA in Season Three continues to embody many of the worst stereotypes of bad TV Sci-fi and shows why it is one of the least respected TV genres. As someone who loves both quality TV and Sci-fi. The show's vices are many: bumpy headed aliens, repeated use of almost magical scientific solutions to problems, simplistic good guys and bad guys, a complete lack of character development (except for Trance, one of the few truly interesting characters on the show), and the use of one TV cliche after another. Even after three seasons the show remains astonishingly superficial.

Nonetheless, while objectively one can say that ANDROMEDA is not a very good series, it is occasionally likable. Kevin Sorbo's tagline could be, "I'm not a hero, but I play one on TV." He isn't terribly convincing as a hero, but like in HERCULES, he is likable to the degree that he doesn't take himself seriously. As long as he keeps his tongue firmly inside his cheek, he isn't too bad. When he is supposed to be taken seriously, the result can be groanworthy, especially when he begins kissing some girl a couple of minutes after meeting them. One potentially good thing for the series is the departure at the end of Season Three of the worst character on the show, the unrelentingly macho and wooden Tyr. Because I am watching this series for the first time, I don't know yet whether or not this will improve matters on the show or not, but we can hope. The rest of the cast stayed pretty much the same. Easily the most intriguing character on the show is Trance, and during the season we got a bit more about what her deal is. We've not yet gotten to the bottom of things and if we don't by the end of Season Five, when the show comes to an end, I'll be quite disappointed.

Narratively, Season Three was approximately along the same quality as Season Two. The stories were sometimes decent enough, but weren't integrated into much of an overall narrative. The "commonwealth" story in the background never feels like more than window dressing rather than a story that the writers are truly committed to. The main reason for the improvement in Season Three was a dramatic increase in the quality of special effects. Most probably a new CGI software program became available. But even here the limited vision of the show's makers is apparent. The resulting CGI is vastly more detailed than what was seen in the first two seasons, but it is persistently unrealistic and super detailed. Why is the latter a problem? Contrast the CGI on FIREFLY and BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. Most probably the shows use the same software. But on FIREFLY, made at the same time as ANDROMEDA, the decision was to give the look of the software a realistic feel. The "camera" would sometimes be out of focus looking on a scene and would sometimes zoom in on the object of interest. Even after focusing, the image would be complicated by smoke or distorting heat exhaust or some such thing. The same is true on BSG. But on ANDROMEDA every CGI shot is in perfect focus with no visual obstacles to the viewer.

But the biggest problem on the show is the lack of character development. Take the romantic situations on the show. The characters are like the figures on Keats's "Ode to a Grecian Urn," forever chasing others but never catching them. Romy is attracted to Dylan. Harper is attracted to Romy. Beka and Dylan are attracted to one another. Beka and Tyr share some attraction. Does anything happen? No. Why? Partly because the characters are not, by the rules laid down by the writers, allowed to ever change. And perhaps because the writers realize that this is one of those Sci-fi series -- unlike FIREFLY, BSG, and FARSCAPE -- that appeals more to teens and young boys than it does to adults. I suspect they feared that allowing any interesting emotional involvements on the show might alienate their younger viewers. As a result, another reason for why the show never really becomes very interesting is added.

One last comment. Despite my not thinking that this is a very good show, it is odd that only parts are available new. I had to buy the first three seasons used, but was able to buy Seasons 4 and 5 new. It would be nice if the whole series were available somehow.

Product NOT exactly what I wanted BUT at least in ENGLISH. Must have been Canadian set. French on cover and in menus.The only reason I keep it was that the episodes WERE in ENGLISH!Packaging a lot cheaper made that held the disks in place and disks don't always stay in place. Otherwise it was OK. Picture of product shone here NOT one same as recieved,different PACKAGEING. If the same would have been PERFECT!

Awesome...like one review above said...Andromeda gets better every season. I never watched the series on TV because I was in Japan when it came out but I have watched every episode that has been released on DVD so far and it gets better and better.