Andromeda, a Show That Almost Made It

I saw a few early episodes of Andromeda recently, and wondered why it hadn't been a success. There are a number of purported reasons; some blame Kevin Sorbo, others the writers, but the fact is, Andromeda is a show that really ought have been as big as Star Trek.

Set in a 'dark' universe; we begin with a Rip Van Winkle; Captain Hunt, held in stasis by a Black Hole for three hundred years; while a 'dark ages' descended on the galaxy. His only companion is the computer; stepping up from a voice there is a holographic image.

The ship, Andromeda Ascendant, is to be captured for salvage by Becca and her crew, paid for by a freaky alien with his mercenaries.

Becca's crew is the Geek, Shamus, a freaky purple female of unknown nature, a really awful looking Magog who is a priest. Among the mercenaries is Tyr Anasazi, a genetically enhanced human, a Nietzschean

The personalties of the named characters are complex, more interesting than those on board the Enterprise. The flying around is more than exploration, it is Captain Hunt trying to reform the Commonwealth with a crew he doesn't really know, can't really trust, which has nothing in common with him.

The tension between himself and Becca, leads to many possible incidents, but the personality of Tyr was probably the most enticing. Many people who watched the show remember the Tyr character, and were intrigued by him, then disgusted when instead of making him the co-star he was more off camera than on.

Man from U.N.C.L.E was a hit show in the 1960s. It was supposed to star Robert Vaughn.
A Scottish chap, David McCallum was only to appear in a few episodes.

When McCallum was called the 'blonde Beatle' and was getting more fan mail than any other actor had ever done, he was moved to co-star and the show stayed on the air.

In the same era, and closer to home, the original Star Trek had a similar situation; Mr. Spock was to be a side character, but public approval moved him to co-star.

In the Next Generation in the 80s, the interest in Worf provoked more Klingon-centric scripts and more epis in which the character featured.

Later in the decade, Deep Space 9 realised that without Worf the audience wasn't there.

The character of Tyr was the show. Viewers were not all that interested in the others, they've seen them before in various incarnations. Tyr filled the screen, when he was on.

Yet, camera time remained limited, and epis about the other characters reduced him to third man on the left.

Andromeda failed. It could have been 'all that'. Capturing Star Trek viewers was a given, if what had been done with Worf had been done with Tyr, the show would have held interest.

Unfortunately, the Producers didn't seem to get it.