Reviews of the first two seasons of Andromeda were written from 2000-2002 during the original run of the series. I stopped reviewing after the second season for reasons described here. Note: All reviews contain spoilers.
Content Listing
Season 1 (2000-2001)
10/2/2000. Under the Night — The starship Andromeda Ascendant is lured into a battle trap at the outset of a deadly war. After evacuating his ship's survivors, Captain Dylan Hunt attempts an escape maneuver that inadvertently freezes him and his ship in time for over 300 years, at which time a salvage crew intends to harvest the Andromeda and its components for profit.
10/9/2000. An Affirming Flame — Alliance schisms form when the fragmented crew of a salvage operation plans to take the Andromeda by force while Captain Hunt and the ship's sentient computer make preparations to stop them.
10/16/2000. To Loose the Fateful Lightning — The Andromeda crew discovers a colony of children descended from a Commonwealth military unit, who know nothing but fear and hate and hope to unleash a long-contained wrath upon their enemies.
10/23/2000. D Minus Zero — When the Andromeda is attacked by unknown hostile forces, Dylan finds himself in conflict with Beka and Tyr, who believe his battle engagement strategies are dangerously obsolete.
10/30/2000. Double Helix — Dylan sends Tyr on a mission to persuade a group of Nietzschean pirates to accept a cease-fire with their Than enemies, upon which Tyr finds his loyalties put to the test.
11/6/2000. Angel Dark, Demon Bright — Andromeda is thrown back in time nearly 300 years, where the crew finds itself in a position to change the outcome of a battle between the Commonwealth High Guard and the Nietzscheans, and thus alter the course of history.
11/13/2000. The Ties That Blind — Beka is reunited with her troublesome brother, who maintains suspicious ties amid conflicting philosophical groups.
11/20/2000. The Banks of the Lethe — Dylan receives a transmission through time from his fiancee 300 years in the past, leading to him to attempt traveling through time in the name of love.
11/27/2000. A Rose in the Ashes — Dylan and Rommie are incarcerated in a prison colony overseen by an oppressive warden and controlled by violent inmates.
1/15/2001. All Great Neptune's Ocean — The murder of the Castalian president during diplomatic negotiations initially implicates Tyr, leading the Andromeda crew to launch a full investigation.
1/22/2001. The Pearls That Were His Eyes — Beka tracks down her late father's business partner and learns that he has become the wealthy owner of a corporation that employs ethically questionable practices.
1/29/2001. The Mathematics of Tears — The crew discovers the Andromeda's sister ship, whose crew holds a mysterious secret.
2/5/2001. Music of a Distant Drum — Having crashed on a planet with no memory of who he is, Tyr is drawn into the plight of humans enslaved by Nietzschean oppressors who might have ties to Tyr's past.
2/12/2001. Harper 2.0 — A dying fugitive uploads a massive library of information into Harper's brain ... and the fugitive's pursuers intend to collect it.
2/19/2001. Forced Perspective — Dylan is held captive on a world whose leader wants to hold him accountable for the societal results of a Commonwealth mission he carried out 300 years earlier.
2/26/2001. The Sum of Its Parts — An artificial intelligence that forms itself from many smaller computerized entities makes contact with the Andromeda but finds that it does not want to dismantle itself once it has experienced being alive.
4/9/2001. Fear and Loathing in the Milky Way — Harper and Trance are forced to work with their shady former business partner Gerentex to find a valuable artifact and escape Gerentex's creditors.
4/16/2001. The Devil Take the Hindmost — Dylan and Rev find themselves caught in a struggle of ideologies when they are asked to help protect a pacifist Wayist colony from a group of profiteers trying to enslave them.
4/23/2001. The Honey Offering — Dylan agrees to deliver a Nietzschean woman to the husband-to-be of her arranged marriage, but learns that she is actually an assassin on a mission to start a war.
4/30/2001. Star-Crossed — Andromeda finds herself falling in love with an android whose intentions are unclear and thus might not be trustworthy.
5/7/2001. It Makes a Lovely Light — Beka's attempts to pilot the Andromeda to the lost Commonwealth homeworld of Taran Vedra are complicated by a dangerous addiction.
5/14/2001. Its Hour Come 'Round At Last — The crew is helpless when an old, mysterious Andromeda backup program takes control of the ship and tries to carry out a classified mission that steers the ship deep into Magog-infested territory.
First Season Recap — A capsule review of each episode, character and theme discussion, and an analysis of the entire season overall.
Season 2 (2001-2002)
10/1/2001. The Widening Gyre — The crew of the Andromeda must face a powerful enemy and an army of Magog to rescue their missing crew members inside a massive star-powered ship that must be destroyed at all costs.
10/8/2001. Exit Strategies — The Maru crashes on a desolate ice world while fleeing a group of Nietzschean slavers who have a score to settle with Tyr.
10/15/2001. A Heart for Falsehood Framed — When the Andromeda crew goes on a covert operation to steal a valuable artifact that may prevent a violent confrontation, Beka finds herself questioning her emerging feelings for a rival thief.
10/22/2001. Pitiless as the Sun — Representatives from a war-devastated world plea with Dylan to help them stop an unknown enemy from attacking their cargo ships. Meanwhile, Trance is interrogated by an alien government that wants insights into her people's true nature.
10/29/2001. Last Call at the Broken Hammer — While searching for a former alliance leader on a devastated world, the crew of the Maru comes under attack by anti-government pack hunters called Kalderans.
11/5/2001. All Too Human — Rommie finds herself facing a society's prejudices toward artificial lifeforms when she goes undercover to investigate a devious operation on their world.
11/12/2001. Una Salus Victus — The Andromeda crew engages the Nietzschean Drago-Kazov pride on a multi-tiered mission to safely escort a medical convoy to a planet besieged by a deadly plague.
11/19/2001. Home Fires — The crew of the Andromeda learns of a lone world where the Commonwealth still survives, and in trying to embrace this world Dylan finds himself reliving a crucial conflict.
11/26/2001. Into the Labyrinth — A woman with questionable motives gives Harper a compelling incentive to track down the All Systems Library, a comprehensive historical archive with potentially dangerous information.
1/14/2002. The Prince — Dylan and Tyr rescue the only remaining heir to the throne of a troubled world, which suddenly makes them major players in a game of strong-armed politics.
1/21/2002. Bunker Hill — Dylan's Sabra-Jaguar allies call upon him for help in a new war against the Drago-Kazov, prompting Harper to organize a revolt against the Drago-Kazov slavers on his home planet, Earth.
1/28/2002. Ouroboros — In a desperate attempt to remove the Magog larvae from his body with experimental technology, Harper inadvertently rips space and time in a way that causes the past, present, and future to collide.
2/4/2002. Lava and Rockets — Dylan hijacks a tour ship to escape mercenaries trying to kill him, and finds himself allied with a feisty female pilot.
2/11/2002. Be All My Sins Remembered — Beka must face her past when a former lover takes her and the crew of the Maru hostage and demands the Andromeda help his cause.
2/18/2002. Dance of the Mayflies — The Andromeda crew must contend with an unstoppable force of immortal beings who inhabit the bodies of the dead.
2/25/2002. In Heaven Now Are Three — Beka, Dylan, and Trance journey to a distant world in search of a legendary artifact.
4/8/2002. The Things We Cannot Change — Unconscious and floating in space, Dylan dreams of an alternate life where he is married with a son.
4/15/2002. The Fair Unknown — A violent incident involving the Kalderans uncovers a Vedran woman, one of a legendary race unseen since the fall of the Commonwealth.
4/22/2002. Belly of the Beast — The crew must improvise an escape when the Andromeda is eaten by a giant space creature.
4/29/2002. The Knight, Death, and the Devil — The crew attempts the rescue of a fleet of High Guard starships and AIs from a prisoner of war camp.
5/6/2002. Immaculate Perception — After receiving a transmission from his wife Freya, Tyr embarks on a risky mission to save her.
5/13/2002. Tunnel at the End of the Light — On the eve of the signing of the new Commonwealth charter, aliens from another universe emerge from a rift in space and attack the Andromeda.
Second Season Recap — A capsule review of each episode, character and theme discussion, and an analysis of the entire season overall.
— The starship Andromeda Ascendant is lured into a battle trap at the outset of a deadly war. After evacuating his ship's survivors, Captain Dylan Hunt attempts an escape maneuver that inadvertently freezes him and his ship in time for over 300 years, at which time a salvage crew intends to harvest the Andromeda and its components for profit.