The Drums, Eyes and Tears of Andromeda
Bruce Von Stiers
Volume 1.3 of the Andromeda collection was released a while back by ADV Films. This collection is for the television series Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda. So far, all that has been released is episodes from the first season. This volume contains four episodes from that first season.
Volume 1.3 has two DVD discs. These discs have various extra items on them. Disc 1 has a profile of the show’s character Tyr Anasazi and some cast shots in an image gallery. The second disc had a behind the scenes video segment that deals with the visual effects of the show. Both discs have the TV teasers for the episodes on them and trailers of other ADV Films titles.
The first episode on Disc One is The Pearls That Were His Eyes. Becka gets a message from his father’s best friend and partner. This message is three years old and indicates the Uncle Sid is in deep trouble.
Becka takes Trance with her and goes to seek out what happened to Sid. They go to the planet Diphda Five, a place where there are a lot of people addicted to a drug called Flash. This planet is also the headquarters for a conglomerate that is choking off all the shipping routes for independent operators.
Becka ends up finding out that Sid is alive and well. In fact, he is the head of the conglomerate. A real change from the scammer and freighter that Sid had once been. And he thinks that Becka has something that could be of great importance.
John deLancie plays Sid. He is a very talented actor, and apparently a favorite of Majel Roddenberry, (Gene’s widow and driving force behind their production empire). He was Q in the Star Trek:TNG and appeared in a few Deep Space Nine and Voyager episodes as well.
The second episode on the disc is The Mathematics of Tears. In this episode, the Andromeda encounters her sister ship in an asteroid belt. This ship has more than its share of secrets.
Dylan is talked into trying to find other ships that may have been suspended in time the Andromeda had been. They find the Pax Magellanic, the sister ship to Andromeda. The crew of the Pax seem to have also been suspended in time. Dylan interacts with the remaining officer, Lieutenant Jill Pierce.
Rommie, Andromeda’s android exoskeleton, tries to help with repairs on
the Pax. She encounters resistance and realizes that there is more to the tale
of the Pax than Pierce has let on. Why is the ship’s artificial intelligence
fighting so hard to keep Rommie out? What are they hiding?
The second disc also has two episodes. The first is Music of A Distant Drum. This episode finds Tyr on a strange planet with amnesia. He is aided by a woman and her step son. Together they must protect a crate that Tyr has somehow secured.
Tyr is nursed back to health by Yvaine after he crashes onto her planet, Midden. Her stepson Breyon wants to help but is wants to fight the Dragans. These are a faction of the Nietzchean race. They rule the planet by tyranny. Breyon’s father was killed by the Dragans. He would like nothing more than to avenge his father’s death but he is but a teenaged boy.
There is also a faction of people on Midden who collaborate with the Dragans. They end up helping the Dragans trap Tyr. These Neitzhcheans want something that Tyr has stolen from them.
Dylan and Becka end up having to come to the rescue of Tyr, Yvaine and Breyon.
The second episode on the disc is Harper 2.0. Seamus Harper is the whiz kid scientific officer of the Andromeda. In this episode, something happens to Harper and he goes into overdrive. This causes quite a bit of problems for the ship and her crew.
The Andromeda receives a deflating ball when Beka and Harper are returning from a supplies gathering trip. They collide with some kind of ball and it ends up in the airlock. Opening up the ball reveals a dying being, a Perseid. This being ends up biting Harper, causing some kind of energy transfer.
Al of a sudden Harper turns into some kind of supercharged genius. He is assembling and designing things at a record pace. And he is not sleeping. Harper is also having flashbacks that seem to be part of the memories that Perseid had stored in his subconscious.
While all of this is going on, there is a bounty hunter named Jager who is after the Perseid. While everything seems to be aboveboard with his fugitive warrant, something just doesn’t ring true about this pursuit.
It ends up that Harper has suppressed memories that come from the databanks that the Persied had access to as some kind of librarian.
The gang has to get the bounty hunter off their backs and Harper back to normal.
If you are into Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda, then this volume is a must to add to your collection. And for those of you who might be new to the series, this is a good place to start. Then you might want to go back and get the other volumes in the collection.
Further episode information can be found at www.andromedatv.com. You can also get information about the Andromeda collection, and other ADV Films tiles at www.advfilms.com.
© 2003 Bruce E Von Stiers