Rating: 
Summary: "Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda"
Review: I recently got hooked on "Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda" when Sci-Fi began airing the series; I was hooked from the first episode. I'm not sure about some of the science; for example, is it possible for a starship to edge close to the event-horizon of a black hole, yet not get sucked into it, since even light cannot escape a singularity? And why is there a starfield in front of the black hole, and the "Maru," as she's towing the "Andromeda" away from the event-horizon? Wouldn't the black hole swallow any star systems in the area-as well as both ships? Or does the "Andromeda Ascendant" have capabilities which allow her to safely maneuver that close to a collapsar? And why does the technically advanced "Andromeda" not have tractor beams for towing?Other than that, its a great show-so great in fact, that the occasional science inaccuracies don't seem so bad. The First Season DVD is a keeper. It has pretty good special features; the timeline of the Systems Commonwealth adds a nice bit of background history, as do the Argosy/High Guard ship specs. My only complaint is that the ship specs should feature blueprints of the ships along with the specs. Still, I s'pose that's a minor complaint. The print for the ship specs and actor/character bios are very small and difficult to read. But I can live with that. I like the commentaries and actor/producer interviews as well. The second season "Andromeda" DVD graphics and features are a bit slicker and more sophisticated than those of season one, still, though season one's very much worth owning if you're a fan. All-in-all, a worthy addition to the Roddenberry corpus of fine sci-fi shows. Its nice that Majel Roddenberry, "Star Trek" TOS's Nurse Chapel, and Roddenberry's widow, is executive producer. And series developer/producer Robert Hewitt Wolfe, of "Star Trek Deep Space Nine" does his usual great job on this series as well. This series has an epic scope that comes across real well-you can actually believe there was a vast Systems Commonwealth, which collapsed three hundred years in Dylan Hunt's past. If you're a fan, you'll need to order the season one boxed set.
Rating: 
Summary: This is a cross between Farscape and Star Trek Voyager.
Review: Kevin Sorbo, straight off the "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" series, plays the charasmatic captain of the Andromeda - an intelligent, sentient spaceship that can heal itself. That's good because with a crew of 6 (7 counting the ships's humanoid form), you can't get hull repairs done easily. Anyway, his original crew is evacuated from their super deluxe starship just before the captain is alone stuck on the edge of a black hole. He's rescued 300 years later by the crew of a salvage ship - in like the year 10,000 something. They eventually all form a ragtag group of beings, from wildly different backgrounds, trying to restart the "Commonwealth" - an alliance of over one million worlds (that broke down while the captain was in his 300 year 'sleep'). I LOVE the bigness of everything in this series. The ships are supposedly many times larger than ships in other series, close-range combat is like a 100,000,000 kilometers (or so many light seconds) and they have bombs that can explode the suns of solar systems and take out many planets at once. When they have battles, it's typical for billions to be killed and, when they face the home base of the dreaded Magog (in the ending cliffhanger), it's claimed that there are "trillions of them" waiting - to eat us. And there's LOTS of cool space battles without so many episodes where characters are overly "flushed out" (Star Trek: DS9 - ahem). I say go ahead and keep the characters mysterious until we're just dying to know their back stories (like what's the deal with the purple girl), and give us our action straight up - at least, at first - and save the sentimental stuff for later. This show has a lovely dark flavor that I'd like to see preserved.
Rating: 
Summary: Andromeda has a slow start
Review: The first season of andromeda is a bit of a disappointment. It doesnt have too many episodes that can really 'hook' an audience but if you bear with it just to see the character developments you won't be let down. It doesnt take until the end of season one where the lead characters really start to show who they are and give life to themselves. The Season finale was also a really great story I think out of the first season that was my favorite. The only thing I don't like about this show is how the production company releases the DVDs. I prefer a complete DVD collection of the whole series not the 'collection 1 of season 2' and so on. I guess the company does it this way so people can buy their favorite episodes instead of buying the whole series. I recommend waiting for the series collection to come out before buying if you are a die hard Sci fi fan as I am. Here is also a season one run down list of episodes with brief plot lines so you can better see if this is for you or not before spending the money.
episode 01. Under the Night 2000-10-02
Captain Dylan Hunt and his ship the Andromeda Ascendant are rescued by the Eureka Maru, an opportunistic salvage ship, after being trapped in the event horizon of a black hole for 300 years.
episode 02. An Affirming Flame 2000-10-09
Dylan and the crew of the Eureka Maru agree to join forces and become one team aboard the Andromeda Ascendant as they set forth on his mission to restore the Systems Commonwealth.
episode 03. To Loose the Fateful Lightning 2000-10-16
Dylan (Kevin Sorbo) inadvertently gives a group of child warriors power to destroy a solar system.
episode 04. D Minus Zero 2000-10-23
Beka (Lisa Ryder) and Tyr (Keith Hamilton Cobb) square off against Dylan (Kevin Sorbo) for leadership of Andromeda during a dangerous face-off with an unknown enemy.
05. Double Helix 2000-10-30
Captain Dylan Hunt (Kevin Sorbo) must save the Andromeda from the Nietzcheans, who are trying to persuade Tyr (Keith Hamilton Cobb) to help them destroy the ship and rebuild his Nietzchean life. His new life would include a wife to carry on his
lineage.
06. Angel Dark, Demon Bright 2000-11-06
Dylan (Kevin Sorbo) is faced with a difficult decision when Andromeda slipstreams back in time -- days before the climactic battle of the Nietzschean Revolution where the Commonwealth was defeated and the Nietzschean Alliance was destroyed.
07. The Ties That Blind 2000-11-13
Beka's (Lisa Ryder) con-artist brother unexpectedly shows up claiming to be a devout Wayist making the Andromeda a prime target for Restorian attack.
episode 08. The Banks of the Lethe 2000-11-20
Finally, after 300 years and a black hole keeping them apart, Captain Dylan Hunt (Kevin Sorbo) reunites with his true love, Sara (Sam Sorbo).
episode 09. A Rose in the Ashes 2000-11-27
With their communication with the crew of the Eureka Maru completely cut off, Dylan (Kevin Sorbo) and Rommie (Lexa Doig) are forced into exile on a prison planet and must befriend fellow inmates to attempt any escape.
episode 10. All Great Neptune's Ocean 2001-01-15
Tyr (Keith Hamilton Cobb) and Rommie (Lexa Doig) are framed for the assassination of the Castalian president (Allan Morgan).
episode 11. The Pearls That Were His Eyes 2001-01-22
Beka Valentine (Lisa Ryder) receives a distress call from her beloved Uncle Sid (John de Lancie), but to her disdain realizes that he has become Sam Profit, a big business tycoon.
episode 12. The Mathematics of Tears 2001-01-29
Andromeda (Lexa Doig) encounters her damaged sister ship, the Pax Magellanic, that leads the crew of the Andromeda Ascendant on an eerie mission.
episode 13. Music of a Distant Drum 2001-02-05
A crash landing on a strange planet leaves Tyr (Keith Hamilton Cobb) with a complete loss of memory and a mystery crate to protect from not-so-brotherly Nietzcheans.
episode 14. Harper 2.0 2001-02-12
Harper (Gordon Michael Woolvett) finds himself overloaded with information when a dying Perseid (Mike Desabrais) transfers data into his brain.
15. Forced Perspective 2001-02-19
Dylan (Kevin Sorbo) is taken captive and forced to admit that he killed the Mobius leader and overthrew the Mobius government more than 300 years ago.
16. The Sum Of Its Parts 2001-02-26
A humanoid robot (Matt Smith) visits the Andromeda crew, helps them fight off a culture of organized machines and learns what it means to be a living being.
episode 17. Fear & Loathing in the Milky Way 2001-04-09
Trance (Laura Bertram), Harper (Gordon Michael Woolvett) and their former employer Gerentex (John Tench) are unwilling partners on a wild ride to find a valuable artifact.
18. Devil Take the Hindmost 2001-04-16
Rev Bem (Brent Stait) gets a call from a Wayist friend (Mark Holden) in need of his help to save the Hajira and its settlement, Serendipity, from being taken over by slavers.
19. The Honey Offering 2001-04-23
An arranged marriage between two rival Nietzschean Prides puts the Andromeda Ascendant in danger when Captain Dylan Hunt (Kevin Sorbo) agrees to transport the bride (Kimberly Huie) to the wedding.
20. Star-Crossed 2001-04-30
Rommie (Lexa Doig) falls in love with a surviving android (Michael Shanks) of a destroyed ship, only to be betrayed as he turns out to be the ultimate enemy.
21. It Makes a Lovely Light 2001-05-07
Beka (Lisa Ryder) jeopardizes the crew when she takes a mind-altering drug while attempting an exhaustive piloting mission that could bring Dylan (Kevin Sorbo) to his long-lost home planet
22. Its Hour Come Round at Last 2001-05-14
Andromeda's (Lexa Doig) memory of her current crew is wiped out when an old core personality is accidently re-installed.
Rating:
Summary: Great product....bad timing!
Review: This is the way I wanted to buy Andromeda DVDs, not the other way. But I should have seen it coming, because the disks are individually numbered 1 through 10 for the season. Unfortunately, I already bought them, 2 disks at a time, at a much higher price for the 5 sets. I, like everybody else, get steamed when publishers do this. Consider yourselves warned.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant - waiting for more box set releases
Review: This really is brilliant SciFi. I thoroughly enjoyed series 1 box set. The best treat was I thought that Voyager was the end of an era. I'm so glad to find another series that matches or exceeds the StarTrek series. Studio: Please release some more full season box sets. Buying the 5 individual collection sets is way too expensive. I agree with the other reviewer -- just release series box sets. We don't need these 2 disk collections. One last comment. The packaging is ok. But why do these box sets need to be so big. Take a leaf out of Fireflies box set. They use super thin individual disk boxes. The other annoying thing is that with these big multi-DVD boxes the disks actually fall out of the clip during the long transit to Australia, resulting in scratches on the surface. The FireFly box on the other hand hold the disks in place super firmly. Congratulations on an outstanding series everyone involved in the production.
Rating:
Summary: I agree, great deal, bad timing.
Review: Well, first of all, Season 1 of Andromeda has been considered to be "brilliant" by fans of the series who also feel that later seasons are lousy. So if you held off on buying the five 2-disc volumes, this is your chance to own the complete first season for about half the price. I also purchased the 2nd season on individual volumes and enjoyed those as well. I wished ADV would have done this in the first place.
Rating:
Summary: I agree, great deal, bad timing.
Review: Well, first of all, Season 1 of Andromeda has been considered to be "brilliant" by fans of the series who also feel that later seasons are lousy. So if you held off on buying the five 2-disc volumes, this is your chance to own the complete first season for about half the price. I also purchased the 2nd season on individual volumes and enjoyed those as well. I wished ADV would have done this in the first place.
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