Firefly a ripoff of Andromeda?

POSTED BY: Swatter
UPDATED: Wednesday, July 9, 2025 04:13
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NOVAGRASS

Sunday, June 9, 2002 12:28 AM

So... I just watched my first episode of Andromeda ever... and I hated it. Sorry all you Andro fans, but I *hated* it. I tuned in to watch James Marsters, but nope... even he couldn't save it for me.

I now know that Firefly better not be anything like Andromeda... or I will kill someone.

I doubt it will be anything like Firefly, though... Joss is a good writer, and, well... Andromeda's writer for this episode was god-awful. (sorry if you liked it... that's not to reflect anything more than my own opinion!)

--Dylan Palmer, aka NoVaGrAsS--

... I guess it's a Joss thing...

ZICSOFT

Sunday, June 9, 2002 12:33 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Novagrass:
So... I just watched my first episode of Andromeda ever... and I hated it. Sorry all you Andro fans, but I *hated* it. I tuned in to watch James Marsters, but nope... even he couldn't save it for me.

I've only caught a few episodes. Could never get into it, mainly because of the acting. But I'm told the stories were a lot better when they started out. Fell victim to the usual push for More Action.

PANDORA

Sunday, June 9, 2002 4:17 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Novagrass:
So... I just watched my first episode of Andromeda ever... and I hated it. Sorry all you Andro fans, but I *hated* it. I tuned in to watch James Marsters, but nope... even he couldn't save it for me.

I now know that Firefly better not be anything like Andromeda... or I will kill someone.

I doubt it will be anything like Firefly, though... Joss is a good writer, and, well... Andromeda's writer for this episode was god-awful. (sorry if you liked it... that's not to reflect anything more than my own opinion!)

Oh, Nova, Nova, Nova...

Now you went and done did it.

You did done gone and opened a big ol' can o' worms.

Let's see if I can break it down into the short version.

Gene Roddenberry, Father of All Things Trek(tm), had a few liner notes and stuff written on napkins (practically) referring to a space drama about a scientist who gets frozen in time for 300 years and wakes up to try and make the wrong things right. He also has something written on another napkin about a ship made flesh who's also a hot chick. There's also some other stuff about a show where people are trying to reform a space alliance.

From this, Robert Hewitt Wolfe, a man I consider to be a very talented sci fi television writer, created Andromeda.

The Andromeda universe started as an extensive one, incorporating a lot of interesting ideas about philosophy, spirituality, politics and the like. It maintained the Roddenberry optimism, but took on a darker filter for it.

Wolfe was fond of story arcs and in depth characterization. The characters were, for the most part, multilayered, and some were freakin' fascinating. Unfortunately, the nimrod cast as the lead in this series (Kevin Sorbo), could not keep up with the complex plots and layered characters (yes, there were some protagonists in the ensemble who were manipulative and *gasp* weren't necessarily what they appeared to be). Just before the second season, El Nimrodo Grande became Executive Producer (although he may not have yet been credited) and he, in conjunction with the network (who couldn't seem to wait to screw with a good thing) almost immediately begain putting pressure on Wolfe, who was the Head Writer, to basically dumb the show down.

Reflections of this can begin to be seen toward the middle of the second season; where this might have been where Andromeda really started to pick up steam and get really good (as happened to Buffy, for example). About halfway (perhaps a little before) through the season Wolfe was fired, and the story arcs began to be tied up. Characters were changed to be more simple and straightforward (read: cartoonish), and the show quickly devolved into the Kevin Sorbo Action Hour.

I was a really big fan of Andromeda. I saw a great deal of potential in it. It's unfortunate that that potential will never be realized, and that Kevin Sorbo gets to make any decisions that don't involve what he'll be eating for breakfast each morning.

As far as what happened to Andromeda happening to Firefly, or Firefly even resembling Andromeda, it's highly unlikely. Joss is the star in this scenario, not some buffed up dillweed with the IQ of a pencil sharpener. That being the case, Firefly should be more than fine.

Pandora
apologies to any Sorbo fans out there. Kind of.

"Logic is a wonderful thing, but it doesn't beat actual thought." -Terry Pratchett, the Last Continent

NOVAGRASS

Sunday, June 9, 2002 4:35 AM

ok... I understand where you're coming from, but that does not effect the fact that the episode I watched was utter crap.

If the show had matured naturally with the original writer/story designer, I imagine it would have been a decent, if not great, show. That still doesn't effect the fact that what the networks now call Andromeda (being a bastard retardation of its original concept) is a terrible show at this point in its development. It is currently poorly acted, poorly directed, atrociously written, and has a hillariously shallow budget (I do like the way the actual Andromeda looks, though).

Maybe I'd be singing a different song if I had seen a season one episode or half of season two's episodes... but as it is, I really hate the show.

And I totally agree with your assessment of Kevin Sorbo... god... if there were a more moronic actor on the planet, you'd be hard pressed to find one.

So, Pandora... I may have liked it originally, had I seen it the way it was intended, but now it is a shoot-em-up sci-fi show for 10 year olds.

I feel for your disappointment... a very similar thing happened to Roswell, which was *very* good seasons 1 and 2, but degraded into a terrible shell of itself after that. It sounds like I would have liked it had it not been for the insipid mass of a "man" called Kevin Sorbo.

--Dylan Palmer, aka NoVaGrAsS--

... I guess it's a Joss thing...

JONWES

Sunday, June 9, 2002 5:21 AM

Yeah, Andro started out somewhat interesting. They kind of had me at the end of season 1/beginning of 2. But they've basically removed every interesting aspect of the show.

It's pretty painful to watch, and yes the episode Marsters was in was pretty awful. It really is sad. Sort of like what happened with Earth Final Conflict. The first season was great. But then it just totally devolved in the second season on till by the end of the show there was really only one original cast member left. I didn't even watch this final season. Most people didn't even realize it had it's season finale. I planned to watch it but it passed me by.

With Roswell, I really liked the first season. The second season was OKAY, but not the best and the third season wasn't so much bad as meandering and boring.

Even if Firefly isn't a Buffy size hit, I hope it's a Felicity size one (That's was a damn good show) and runs for a good 4-5 years.

MOJOECA

Sunday, June 9, 2002 5:39 AM

Quote:
Even if Firefly isn't a Buffy size hit, I hope it's a Felicity size one (That's was a damn good show) and runs for a good 4-5 years.

Yeah...I think Firefly is virtually guaranteed much of the loyal ME fanbase, plus network viewers. I think it'll draw as many, if not more, viewers than DA.

--- Joe

SHAMUS

Sunday, June 9, 2002 6:19 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by mojoeca:
I think it'll draw as many, if not more, viewers than DA.

A little research on the web reveals that DA's ratings on Fridays averaged 4.0/7 (about 4 million viewers, 7% of homes).

Fox knows, historically, that time slot can pull a 9/10 (xfiles).

So, now we know how to compare. Not that I give a rusty hoot about ratings. More often that not, they just prove that the majority of people who watch TV are brain-dead.

MOJOECA

Sunday, June 9, 2002 6:22 AM

Quote:
Not that I give a rusty hoot about ratings. More often that not, they just prove that the majority of people who watch TV are brain-dead.

Totally agree.

--- Joe

ANNE

Sunday, June 9, 2002 2:49 PM

Andromeda started decently and really seemed to be going somewhere. There were a couple of episodes in the first season that were excellent, almost brilliant, good omens for the future as the writers and directors learned what they could do with this new concept.

But that feeling is pretty much gone. I wasn't that crazy about most of the S2 eps and in fact had quit watching the show toward the end of S2.

A decision made by TPTB created the change in the show's direction. I think it's absurd to believe that one person, Kevin Sorbo, has so much power that he could dictate major changes without the input or cooperation of the rest of the management staff. Television just doesn't work that way.

Having said that, let me add that I'm far from a fan of Sorbo's, but that has more to do with what I perceive as his lack of actual acting talent than anything else.

Let's just hope Firefly is allow to develop naturally.

PANDORA

Sunday, June 9, 2002 3:08 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by mojoeca:

Yeah...I think Firefly is virtually guaranteed much of the loyal ME fanbase, plus network viewers. I think it'll draw as many, if not more, viewers than DA.

--- Joe

I wholeheartedly agree.

I gave DA a fair shot, and watched a number of episodes when it first started airing, and it just *lacked* something. The concept was interesting, and they had quite a budget, but overall, there was something missing- and I think many people felt similarly.

Firefly, on the other hand (and granted, these are assumptions based on impressions, sight unseen), is being written by someone who's already proven that he's capable of reaching across genre lines with quality writing to make a show a success.

Nonetheless, I wish those idiots at Fox would invest even a fraction of good faith (i.e., a better time slot) in Firefly as they do in say, Bachelorettes in Alaska.

Buttheads.

Pandora

"Logic is a wonderful thing, but it doesn't beat actual thought." -Terry Pratchett, the Last Continent

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