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Andromeda Season 1 Collection 1 (Episode 101-105)

Andromeda Season 1 Collection 1 (Episode 101-105)

List Price: $39.98
Your Price: $35.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Possibly A Better Release Than The Series Merits...
Review: "Andromeda" began in 2000 with one of the most promising plots for a science fiction series to date: in a style vaguely reminiscent of Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" series, a captain finds himself and his starship stranded three hundred years in his own future, where his galaxies-spanning empire has fallen and all that stands between his universe and eternal chaos is him, his ship and a small group of only partially-willing mercenary scavengers he's managed to sign aboard for his quest. Based on production notes and ideas sketched out by Gene Roddenberry before his death, the series has, unfortunately, failed to live up to much of his potential. You'd be hard-pressed to tell that, though, both from these first five episodes and the way in which ADV Films has released them.

With a set of extras that should make any "Star Trek" fan obscenely jealous, these first two discs contain commentary for the first episode from Kevin Sorbo (the star) and Allan Eastman (executive producer), character profiles of Kevin Sorbo's character and the ship's AI (both having oddly truncated, looping video for their interviews), alternate takes with both deleted scenes and unused takes for certain segments, image and concept galleries, an A-D glossary of the Commonwealth and the High Guard (the galaxies-spanning empire and their primary military force) - presumably E-Z will follow in increments with the remaining volumes, promos for each episode and teaser trailers for the series, a timeline of the early Commonwealth (covering the first three thousand or so years), an interview with Robert Hewitt Wolfe - the then-co-executive producer and a former writer for the series, a behind-the-scenes promo for the series (mainly an introduction to the concept and the characters), specs on the Andromeda Ascendant (the titular starship) and a few other high guard ships, and a blooper reel (featuring, for some reason, Kevin Sorbo being very fascinated with the phrase, "Would you like to see my force lance?"). While the source of some of the data for the story's universe is not referenced and clearly some of the details were not consistent between them (there seems to be notable confusion over the crew complement of the Andromeda Ascendant and the number of galaxies the Commonwealth covers), the extras themselves are the finest I have yet seen in a TV series release on DVD.

Unfortunately, the show doesn't always live up to it's expectations, sometimes failing to dig into serious questions of morality or science fiction in favor of a good action sequence, but from listening to Kevin Sorbo, Allan Eastman and Robert Hewitt Wolfe (from whose departure the show would later suffer greatly), you get a very real sense of the love and attention given to the production of this show - much of which is probably done on a lean budget by today's standards.

Ultimately, I find it easy to forgive the show a lot of it's faults in lieu of it's B-movie charm and earnest effort to please. The DVD release of the show is certainly well worth getting for anyone even remotely interested in the show. Besides, these first five episodes showcase some of the show's stronger efforts - before constantly-changing scenery, costumes and behind-the-scenes personnel would threaten to turn it into "Hercules in Space".

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Buy!!
Review: An excelent product. A quality product worth the
price. The quality of the DVD is better than most motion pictures. I hope the coming episodes were produced with the same care and quality.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Is he spinning in his grave yet?
Review: Andromeda is just another mind-numbingly meaningless show from the posthumus Roddenberry Empire of mediocrity. I can't believe he would enjoy watching the shows that have been created in his name other than the various Star Trek series where all the money and writing talent go. I can't imagine anyone having endured Earth: Final Conflict all the way through.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Began as a great sci fi series concept, but...
Review: Andromeda spiraled out of control in later episodes. They started off with an unmistakeable Star Trek-like formula, yet with some very original characters and a strong backstory thrown in the mix. The first two seasons are well worth any space adventure fan's time, but the series loses cohesion and starts to get ridiculous in the third season. From this fan's perspective it looks like the "marketing focus group" mentality and gung ho political correctness has ruined a great show.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: "He's like some kind of Greek god!"
Review: Being a sci-fi fan always on the lookout for new shows to obsess over, I decided to check out Gene Roddenberry's "Andromeda". I wasn't expecting much, and in truth I didn't get all that much. Kevin "Hercules" Sorbo stars as noble Captain Dylan Hunt (i.e Kirk/Picard) who accidently gets himself frozen in time, via a black hole, for three hundred years. When he is inadvertenly rescued by a salvage ship he discovers that everything he knew has been destroyed and "The Commonwealth" (read: The Federation) is no more. He convinces the crew of the salvage ship to join him in an only slightly thought-out quest to rebuild the Commonwealth, thus restoring peace and truth and all that good stuff.

The bench mark for modern sci-fi, in my opinion, is the wonderful "Farscape", and "Andromeda" is, unfortunately, no "Farscape". Still, it isn't boring, and the sets and special effects are decently tight. The characters range from good (the classy Captain Valentine and the oh-so-sexy Tyr) to bad (the Magog, our ... villians) to the annoying (the whiny Harper). One nice touch is the living ship's computer, Andromeda,, or "Rommie". She gets a human body in episode three, but promptly warns the Captain that theirs must be a professional-only relationship. I don't know if they ended up keeping this arrangement, but I think I will rent the next couple episodes or so and find out.

You might want to rent "Andromeda" to see what you think before buying, as it's not amazing or anything like that. There were a few laughs and a couple of good action scenes, and of course Kevin Sorbo frowning intently at the stars.

Bottom Line: Worth checking out for sci-fi fans. GRADE: B-

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very enjoyable!
Review: Great charracters, great set up & premise, fantastic acting and sets. This is a show that I think Gene would have been proud of. Great job to Majel and everyone else involved!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very enjoyable!
Review: Great charracters, great set up & premise, fantastic acting and sets. This is a show that I think Gene would have been proud of. Great job to Majel and everyone else involved!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great series but the interviews?
Review: I am really enjoying what I've seen so far. I now have the first two vols. and I'm really getting into it.

The only problem I'm having is that every interview I've tried to watch within the "extras" section appears to not work. It plays for 20-30 secs and the abruptly stops and repeats from the beginning over and over like records use to do sometimes when they'd skip. :( I purchased the first 2 vols. at one time and this occurs on all interviews on both vols. Any suggestions? hehe

The show? 5 stars
The DVD set? 4 stars due the the afor mentioned problem.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Andromeda Rules!
Review: I have to confess when I first saw Andromeda I thought it was really a bad show, so I stop watching it. But at the beginning of the summer I had the chance to watch it again and I found out what a great show it was. So when I heard that it was coming to DVD I knew that I had to get it. Whoever produce the DVD did an excellent job! Unlike other shows put to DVD, Andromeda has a lot extra features, great meanus, great sound, and picture quality. Can't wait for the next volume!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: It's worth the money
Review: I started watching Andromeda due to Kevin Sorbo, however I found that as Season 1 progressed, that the other performers were just as capable. The characters are truly likeable (or become likeable) as the season progresses. You can't help but getting wrapped up in the story. I can't wait until the next volumes are released. I had forgotten how the first shows grabbed my attention. I can't wait for the new season.


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