NEW GENRE DISCUSSION

Want to read a good piece about how Andromeda came together? Frank Garcia has the very thing over at fandom.com. Now that the show has been on for 6 weeks or so, the feeling is that it's getting better and the cast are feeling more natural in their roles. Having started watching the show from the beginning, I must agree.

****I must say that I agree. I have been watching since the beginning and was extremely wary of how the show would progress. I originally felt that it was an attempt at a cross between Star Trek, Star Wars, and B5. It is slowly growing on me. I can't remember this particular character's name, but the purple lady with the tail. It's funny, I like her because she is innocent and naive, but at the same time I find her rather annoying at times for that exact quality. Go figure.

In a number of the reviews I've read, fans have pointed to several critical elements of the series – one being Kevin Sorbo's inability to "move" them. If memory serves me, there were intially two series proposed -- one with Sorbo; the other with Bruce Boxleitner. Unfortunately, the second series never made it through the final stage. I can't help but think that perhaps, Bruce might have made a more convincing Dylan Hunt. Time will tell.

***Here again, I agree. I feel that Kevin Sorbo is going at this character as if Hunt is another Hercules, and I'm not sure that is a good thing. It keeps him from coming across as an effective leader. I would have liked to have seen Bruce Boxleitner in this role instead. I too think he would have been more convincing. He would have given the character a slightly rougher edge which would have made the character a little more interesting and believable to watch. Perhaps then the show would flow more slowly.

Oh well, what's done is done and cannot be changed. Looks like we'll just have to live with what we have.

Heya Sandy,

So far, so good. Nothing stunning me senseless, but those things that are good are as good as ever. Buffy and Angel continue to surprise and delight. A little too early to call X-Files, but I tend to be very charitable towards things that I love or have once loved, i.e., it takes me a long time to let go even when things go downhill. Not that X-Files has become all that bad, but the concentration on the mythology brought the last season down a bit, even with experimental delights like "X-COPS." I've been a fan of Robert Patrick since his wiggins-inducing T-1000 portrayal in "Terminator 2," and thus far he's doing a great job as the new non-believer. It'll be interesting to see how the new Scully-Doggett dynamic works out.

As far as the new stuff, I gave Dark Angel a pass after the *desperately* lackluster pilot. Coming from James Cameron and Charles Eglee (who was a major part of the late, lamented "Murder One"), I expected SO much more. I don't get the whole Jessica Alba thing at all. Sure she's cute, but I've seen shots from her prior feature film "Idle Hands," and she didn't look as hot there, so I think it's more Max Factor talking in the series than her actual looks. That and she can't act. I'll admit, I'm making the potentially fatal error of directly comparing her to Sarah Michelle Gellar, an Emmy winning actress, but the similarities between the Max and Buffy characters are too clear to avoid. All said and done, I don't think I'm missing much.

I'm surprised to hear you're warming to Andromeda, 'cause my interest has cooled to nil since the premiere. I was kind of surprised by all the inital negativity I saw in many reviews around the web, but I now pretty much agree with them. There are just a whole bunch of little things wrong with it, and they effectively sabotage a really interesting and potential-filled concept. First off, the role of Dylan Hunt *really* needs a better actor. I wrote off Kevin Sorbo after barely one episode of Hercules, but was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt in this new effort. There are some signs of life, but for this role Sorbo's ill-suited. Hunt needs to exude passion and determination to be an effective leader period, let alone to lead the rag-tag crew he's assembled. I can see Sorbo trying hard, but he misses the mark. Ironically, this is a role for which William Shatner would have been perfect had he been born thirty years later. Captain Hunt is very much in the mold of Captain Kirk, so there should be at minimum a Shatner-calibur actor portraying the role. [This isn't the slight that some may see it to be. You have to understand that, contrary to popular opinion even amoung Trekkies, I think Shatner's an *excellent* actor and no one else could have done Kirk as well has he has.]

I kinda like Rev Bem as well, but he seems like the G'Kar at the end of B5, depriving us of the wondrous transformation that G'Kar underwent throughout the run of that series. And the girls are very cute, especially the lady playing Trance Gemini, despite the odd purple makeup and tail. This Tyr guy has exactly one-note. He's not nearly as interesting as Hunt's former XO was and that character had a hell of a lot less screen time. The makeup is sub-par and oddly grubby-looking. Maybe that's what they were going for with the alien races, but it doesn't come close to the B5 or Farscape stuff. The special effects as well are adequate, but below the state of the art. The ships have a very plastic feel to them, looking as computer generated as they are instead of more closely mimicing reality (or at least as they MIGHT really look!).

But above and beyond all this, the writing is where it all falls down. It's most glaring in the dialogue, but the plots are awfully thin. The "Miri" knock-off. The "Space Seed" knock-off. I'm sure there've been a few other Original Star Trek episode re-treads since I stopped watching. But the true flaw isn't in doing stories that are similar to other shows, it's not doing them *well*. Farscape is a great example, where they've started episodes with hoary sci-fi plots and concepts, but then spin it around well enough that you don't know how the show's gonna end. Now THERE'S some writing, in some cases by former Next Gen/DS9 writers (Naren Shankar wrote the gripping ep shown last Thursday, detailing how the current Pilot arrived on Moya), which just shows to go ya how well shackled the modern Trek writers are.

A big "for instance" against Andromeda's writing is the sudden incarnation of the ship's AI. Okay, Lexa Doig is MIGHTY hot (she'd have to be, since I remembered her name!) and I'm sure she's glad to not be relegated to performing her part by herself on a green soundstage. But where's the in-show rationale for it? Just because the crazy, kookie techno-genius guy could do it? And how the hell DID he do it? Is Andromeda an android? Is she an engineered human? And where are the facilities on either Andromeda Ascendant (wow, what a ship name!) or the Whatsitsname Maru to knock out a replicant? Even then, how is the incarnate Andromeda controlling the ship? A mental implant? Does the AI still exist in the ship and just controls the body as yet another ship system? A most frustrating enigma. And just as a basic plot point, wouldn't it be *entirely* more interesting for Andromeda and Hunt to become romantically linked if she DIDN'T have a humaniform body? Talk about the apotheosis of the Kirk-Enterprise obsession!

Less vexing and almost as glaring is the miraculous revivification of Trance in the pilot. Have they yet explained how she came back from apparent death? And for all the tea in China, will they PLEASE write these characters as if they really exist in the *future*, not as if they were suddenly and violently extracted from late 20th century America? Basketball? And the worst of it is, this is an EXCELLENT concept for a science fiction show!!! THIS is what the next Trek show should be! *Properly executed*, this show has the potential to be the next B5, but they're (excuse my French) pissing it away with sloppy storylines, poor characterization, dubious acting and absolutely APPALING dialogue! Hmm, passionate much? >B-) Anyhow, that's why I no longer bother with Andromeda. I've been down this road before, after seven frightfully long years with Next Gen. Like the man said, fool me twice, shame on me.

Actually, the two brightest points in the SF TV firmament so far are re-runs. Without the delays inherent in the regular production cycle of a first-run program, B5 is truly displaying its richness. When I was watching the shows the first time through, I saw characters and wondered, "Who is that?" only to later find out that they were already either mentioned or showed up briefly the season before. Now I see them (like the guy Ironheart escaped with, who we saw briefly talking to Garibaldi in "Chrysalis") or hear references to past events (Londo mentioning a situation involving Minbari honor obliquely to Sheridan in "Where All The Honor Lies"), and I instantly pick up on it. It's the difference between reading a serialized novel week to week or month to month, and then finally sitting down to read it straight through after its completion, and it's *wonderful*!

And as I realized this last week, I've REALLY missed Farscape! An episode a day for five days was just fantastic. Not that I took it for granted before, but after being deprived for about a month and a half, I found it an enourmous relief to see the familar title sequence rolling before my eyes once more. This is just the best that's out there now in first-run and I'm pretty hacked that SCI FI still runs that lame-o Invisible Man show and even gives Lexx fans a weekly fix, but this is the first Farscape since September!!! [I think. It's been so long, I've lost track!] C'mon folks! Stuff this good only gets BETTER with repeat viewings, especially the socko three-parter with Crichton's forced marriage and the Naren Shankar episode I mentioned before. And now another frelling month and a half till we get new eps?! Them drenn-heads down there at SCI FI need to get with the program (Farscape, natch)!

Okay, bored yet? Oh well, doesn't matter if you never got through the above or didn't bother to read it at all. Sometimes you write just to get stuff off your chest, regardless of who sees it. But hey, if you did get all the way down here, first off, congrats! Second, thanks for all you do with the Zocalo Today and the weekly newsletter. The "Where To See B5/Crusade Cast Members" section gets a little long and repetitive (and some of those stations just don't exist in my neck o' the woods), but now that the Official B5 Fan Club lays in the ruins of Netter Digital's bankruptcy, what y'all are doing is even more vital than before. Thanks EVER so much and keep up the high quality work! Take care!

Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2000 2:07:01 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: CCB5Flamekeeper

Sandy,
Just want to add these comments to the genre discussion page:
I had been looking forward to Andromeda and although I had a few problems with the 2 part pilot, I like Kevin Sorbo's character Dylan Hunt, and most of the rest of them. I liked Lisa Ryder from her time on "Forever Knight", and her character is a good strong woman character. Rev Bems looks take a bit of adjusting to ( he is no G'Kar, and even a Pak Ma Ra is good looking next to him) but, in the last episode even he proved to be thoughtful, bringing some interesting thoughts into the show. I'd rather watch this than TNG or DS9 or Voyager. Tyr is a treat for the eyes, as well. But strong. It is no B5, but then what will ever be. But it is a servicable Sci-fi show, and has some possibilities.

That is just a few comments I wanted to add.
Thank you,
In Valen's name,
Connie

Date: 10/26/2000 7:36:29 PM EDT
From: tuckbros@crunet.com (Gary L. Tuck and Mike Tuck)

I hate to say it, but most of the new shows are disappointing to me. Andromeda is okay, but it is annoyingly preachy. Every week, Sorbo's character is preaching against the action/violence on the show that is what makes it fun in the first place. The Immortal is a bad rip-off of Highlander. Queen of Swords (while not sci-fi, I'll mention it anyway) is a rip-off of Zorro. Dark Angel is okay, but at times boring and brooding in it's atmosphere. Cute girl, though! I'm not sure if I like the changes in Roswell. On one hand, I like the more upfront sci fi storyline, but on the other hand, they are breaking up the couples on the show, which is NOT appreciated! It seemed to have more "magic" last season. We'll see how it goes. The changes in "The Lost World" (not really sci fi, but it is fantasy) are not appreciated by me either. The relationships/couples on the show are non-existent so far this season and they keep trying to put the characters together sexually/romantically with each week's guest stars. Much of last season's character development has been ignored, too. Buffy seems about the same to me. I really think it's best seasons were the first two. Freakylinks is the only one so far that I can say I like. Sometimes the shaky camera can get irritating, but, so far, it has some of the best spooky stories since The X-Files heyday. I don't watch Voyager or any of the Star Trek shows, so I can't comment on that. All I can say is: "I miss Babylon 5!!"

-Mike Tuck

I think Voyager has gotten better as it heads into the last season. THe same thing happened to The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. It seems they want to make the exit memorable!

I like "Roswell" better this season than last. However, I've heard it is not doing well in the ratings.