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*** According to the [[AllThereInTheManual All Systems Library website]], the Commonwealth was ruled by the Triumvirs, the three appointed heads of the Commonwealth, with the Empress being little more than a symbolic position.
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* BrainInAJar: Referenced when the crew have to fight the Consensus of Parts, a robotic civilisation. They're sure the Consensus can't follow them into slipstream because you need an organic mind to pilot a slipstream drive, but it turns out they use these to achieve it.
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* MugglePower: The Knights of Genetic Purity ([=GenKnights=] for short) who oppose and hunt down human genetic variants such as Nietzscheans.
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* PlanetSpaceship: The Magog come from worlds (yes, that's plural) locked together in some kind of structure. The whole thing is mobile, and even contains an artificial sun!
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After the first season (and a half), Rev Bem leaves the ship (around the same time as the series developer was "released"). This is when things [[JumpTheShark start to get a little zany]]. After the third season, Tyr Anasazi is replaced by Telemachus Rhade, the IdenticalGrandson of Hunt's original first officer. This is when things get [[strike:a little]] ''more'' zany.
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After the first season (and a half), Rev Bem leaves the ship (around the same time as the series developer was "released")."released" actually the actor left the show because he developed an allergy towards the makeup they where using). This is when things [[JumpTheShark start to get a little zany]]. After the third season, Tyr Anasazi is replaced by Telemachus Rhade, the IdenticalGrandson of Hunt's original first officer. This is when things get [[strike:a little]] ''more'' zany.
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* DataPad: "Flexis" that resemble overhead transparencies.
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* IAmXSonOfY: The Nietzcheans will give their given name, family name, name of pride, and name of both parents when introducing themselves formally. For example: "I am Tyr Anasazi of Kodiak Pride, out of Victoria by Barbarosa." Considering the importance of genetic purity to the Nietzscheans, this makes sense.
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*** It's never really gone into if the Vedran Empress is actually the head of state for the whole commonwealth or just those parts that were part of the empire or just for the Vedrans. Whichever is true, people talk about her a lot.
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** Sometimes subverted, sometimes not. Crewmen seemed to appear whenever expendable redshirts were needed, and vanish afterwards.
** Also lampshaded, at least in the early seasons, with it often being mentioned that the Andromeda would be much tougher in a fight if she had a full crew.
** Also lampshaded, at least in the early seasons, with it often being mentioned that the Andromeda would be much tougher in a fight if she had a full crew.
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** The thing is that technically, the ship doesn't NEED a crew at all. Andromeda has full control of all of the ships systems, as well as her android avatar and a wide variety of other less sexy robots, from giant shooty war machines to nano-bots. She can run herself just fine. However, the Commonwealth was kind of not cool with AIs running everything, so its in her nature to take orders and respect the chain of command. Also, AIs can't navigate slipstream, so in a sense the absolute minimum crew size is literally one.
*** Sometimes subverted, sometimes not. Crewmen seemed to appear whenever expendable redshirts were needed, and vanish afterwards.
** *** Also lampshaded, at least in the early seasons, with it often being mentioned that the Andromeda would be much tougher in a fight if she had a full crew.crew. It's less because she can't totally run herself (she can) it's that the crew provide a lot of man-power to fly slipfighters (which are seriously powerful)and perform repairs. Also, a lot of the original crew weren't really crew, they were Lancers. Having a few thousand heavily armed men on board turns out to be pretty useful too.
*** Sometimes subverted, sometimes not. Crewmen seemed to appear whenever expendable redshirts were needed, and vanish afterwards.
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** Not even when she pretends to be. Maybe especially not when she pretends to be.
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** Also averted in that it's not humans in particular: it's ALL biological sentient beings, supposedly due to "something having to do with collapsing quantum wave fronts." It is, however, noted that an AI can navigate the slipstream if they have biological intuition... even if that intuition comes from harvested brains in a jar attached to the computer system.
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** Also lampshaded, with it often being mentioned that the Andromeda would be much tougher in a fight if she had a full crew.
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** Also lampshaded, at least in the early seasons, with it often being mentioned that the Andromeda would be much tougher in a fight if she had a full crew.
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** Also lampshaded, with it often being mentioned that the Andromeda would be much tougher in a fight if she had a full crew.
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* InfiniteSupplies: Even though the Andromeda repeatedly runs out of missiles in battle, she seems to always get new ones by the next episode. However they did once mention mining asteroids so Rommie's workshops could make new ones, so I guess it's [[JustifiedTrope justified.]]
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* InfiniteSupplies: Even though the Andromeda repeatedly runs out of missiles in battle, she seems to always get new ones by the next episode. However they did once mention mining asteroids so Rommie's workshops could make new ones, so I guess it's [[JustifiedTrope justified.]]ones.
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All this happens while the Andromeda Ascendant is dangerously close to a black hole. Captain Dylan Hunt just has time to evacuate his crew before his Nietzschean first officer, Gaheris Rhade, turns on him and tries to kill him. Hunt manages the unlikely feat of besting Rhade, and seconds later, the Andromeda crosses the black hole's event horizon, freezing ship and captain in time.
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* Captain Hunt -- TheHero, a human from the now-lost Commonwealth capitol on Tarn Vedra (He eventually turns out to be not-quite-human after all: he's a [[HalfHumanHybrid Human-Vedran hybrid]], or rather Human-Paradine: Vedrans who have [[GoalOrientedEvolution become something more]]), and his human half comes from a genetically-enhanced {{Heavyworlder}})
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* Captain Hunt -- TheHero, a human from the now-lost Commonwealth capitol capital on Tarn Vedra (He eventually turns out to be not-quite-human after all: he's a [[HalfHumanHybrid Human-Vedran hybrid]], or rather Human-Paradine: Vedrans who have [[GoalOrientedEvolution become something more]]), and his human half comes from a genetically-enhanced {{Heavyworlder}})
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For most of the series, an approaching Magog worldship serves as an impending [[TheDragon Dragon]], guided by TheManBehindTheMan, a shadow-cloaked avatar for "The Abyss", a powerful chaotic force. When this comes to a head in the fourth season finale, Dylan is forced to escape through a NegativeSpaceWedgie to the timeless, isolated Seefra system, really the massively transformed Tarn Vedra system.
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For most of the series, an approaching Magog worldship serves as an impending [[TheDragon Dragon]], guided by TheManBehindTheMan, a shadow-cloaked avatar for known as "The Spirit of the Abyss", a powerful chaotic force. When this comes to a head in the fourth season finale, Dylan is forced to escape through a NegativeSpaceWedgie to the timeless, isolated Seefra system, really the massively transformed Tarn Vedra system.
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->''The universe is a dangerous place. But in our future, my crew and I fight to make it safe. I am Dylan Hunt, captain of the Andromeda Ascendant, and these are our adventures.''
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->''The universe is a dangerous place. long night has come. The systems commonwealth - the greatest civilization in History - has fallen. But in our future, my now, one ship, one crew has vowed to drive back the night and I fight to make it safe. I am Dylan Hunt, captain of rekindle the Andromeda Ascendant, and these are our adventures.light. On the starship Andromeda, '''hope lives again'''.''
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* MadeofExplodium: That command bridge is a fireworks display and a jarring violation of all worker safety protocols, for crying out loud!
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living ship was present in LEXX before
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The show has its origins in a combination of two separate Roddenberry story ideas from the 1970s, one about a sentient starship and a second about a man from the past trying to piece the remnants of civilization back together after it has crumbled. The former never made it to the air prior to ''Andromeda,'' but Roddenberry (who died in 1991) used the latter concept in no fewer than three separate unsuccessful pilots -- two of which actually included a main character named "Dylan Hunt" -- before giving up on it. Undoubtedly these ideas were [[strike:scrounged from the trash can]] further developed by the ''Andromeda'' creative team.
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The show has its origins in a combination of two separate Roddenberry story ideas from the 1970s, one about a [[LivingShip sentient starship starship]] and a second about a man from the past trying to piece the remnants of civilization back together after it has crumbled. The former never made it to the air prior to ''Andromeda,'' ''Andromeda'' (except a sci-fi parody, ''{{LEXX}},'' that aired only a little earlier in the US) but Roddenberry (who died in 1991) used the latter concept in no fewer than three separate unsuccessful pilots -- two of which actually included a main character named "Dylan Hunt" -- before giving up on it. Undoubtedly these ideas were [[strike:scrounged from the trash can]] further developed by the ''Andromeda'' creative team.
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* TheBlackDudeDiesFirst: Thompson, first on-screen death, inaugural episode.
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* FasterThanLightTravel: Slipstream, not the best way to travel faster than light, just the only way. Organic pilot required.
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'''The initial core crew is, approximately, a FiveManBand (Subverted in that they [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits generally don't get along]]):'''
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'''The initial core crew is, approximately, a FiveManBand (Subverted in that they [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits generally don't get along]]):'''FiveManBand:'''
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namespace
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** Also, Seamus '''[[RogerZelazny Zelazny]]''' Harper.
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** Also, Seamus '''[[RogerZelazny '''[[Creator/RogerZelazny Zelazny]]''' Harper.
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* TheSocialDarwinist: All Nietzscheans, even the "good" ones.
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* TimeTravel
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* TimeTravelTimeTravel: Frequently.
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* [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/TooDumbToLive/LiveActionTV Too Dumb To Live]]: In [[http://andromeda.wikia.com/wiki/Immaculate_Perception "Immaculate Perception"]] Tyr says sending the DNA of Tamerlane Anasazi for comparision with Drago Museveni's could not be kept a secret. He says that he is leaving with his son and wife while the rest of the pride can perish from it's stupidity.
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* [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/TooDumbToLive/LiveActionTV Too Dumb To Live]]: TooDumbToLive: In [[http://andromeda.wikia.com/wiki/Immaculate_Perception "Immaculate Perception"]] Tyr says sending the DNA of Tamerlane Anasazi for comparision with Drago Museveni's could not be kept a secret. He says that he is leaving with his son and wife while the rest of the pride can perish from it's stupidity.
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** Sometimes subverted, sometimes not. Crewmen seemed to appear whenever expendable redshirts were needed, and vanish afterwards.
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** And, later, he turns out to be [[spoiler: only half-human (and a gene-enhanced heavy-worlder Human at that), with the other half being a highly-evolved version of a highly-evolved race of aliens that founded galactic civilisation. It's the sci-fi equivalent of a demi-god.]]
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In the universe of ''Andromeda'', every celestial body has an "avatar", a humanoid counterpart of vast power. Such beings crop up from time, including the moon of Tarn Vedra, the black hole (who turns out to be the universe's greatest [[ClingyJealousGirl clingy ex-girlfriend]]), and, most importantly, Trance, who, it is eventually revealed, [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld despite her youthful appearance and character]], is the [[IncrediblyLamePun wayward sun]] of Tarn Vedra, the oldest star in the universe. Halfway through the second season, Trance is replaced by an [[DarkerAndEdgier older and moodier]] version of herself (not an [[TheOtherDarren other Darren;]] it's the same actress in different makeup).
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In the universe of ''Andromeda'', every celestial body has an "avatar", a humanoid counterpart of vast power. Such beings crop up from time, including the moon of Tarn Vedra, the black hole (who turns out to be the universe's greatest [[ClingyJealousGirl clingy ex-girlfriend]]), and, most importantly, Trance, who, it is eventually revealed, [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld despite her youthful appearance and character]], is the [[IncrediblyLamePun wayward sun]] of Tarn Vedra, the oldest star in the universe. Halfway through the second season, Trance is replaced by an [[DarkerAndEdgier older and moodier]] version of herself (not an [[TheOtherDarren [[TheOtherDarrin other Darren;]] Darrin;]] it's the same actress in different makeup).
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In the universe of ''Andromeda'', every celestial body has an "avatar", a humanoid counterpart of vast power. Such beings crop up from time, including the moon of Tarn Vedra, the black hole (who turns out to be the universe's greatest [[ClingyJealousGirl clingy ex-girlfriend]]), and, most importantly, Trance, who, it is eventually revealed, [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld despite her youthful appearance and character]], is the [[IncrediblyLamePun wayward sun]] of Tarn Vedra, the oldest star in the universe. Halfway through the second season, Trance is replaced by an [[DarkerAndEdgier older and moodier]] version of herself (not a SisterBecky; it's the same actress in different makeup).
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In the universe of ''Andromeda'', every celestial body has an "avatar", a humanoid counterpart of vast power. Such beings crop up from time, including the moon of Tarn Vedra, the black hole (who turns out to be the universe's greatest [[ClingyJealousGirl clingy ex-girlfriend]]), and, most importantly, Trance, who, it is eventually revealed, [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld despite her youthful appearance and character]], is the [[IncrediblyLamePun wayward sun]] of Tarn Vedra, the oldest star in the universe. Halfway through the second season, Trance is replaced by an [[DarkerAndEdgier older and moodier]] version of herself (not a SisterBecky; an [[TheOtherDarren other Darren;]] it's the same actress in different makeup).
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Things do not go well for the Systems Commonwealth. Though their technology was vast and their captains were noble and compassionate, they ran into a bunch of problems all at once. Most importantly, a race of man-eating apelike creatures called the Magog were invading in ridiculous numbers. They could, perhaps, have dealt with this, but at the same time, one of their member races, the misnamed [[NietzscheWannabe Nietzscheans]] (enhanced humans obsessed with eugenics and claiming to follow the philosophy of Creator/FriedrichNietzsche), angry that the Commonwealth made peace with the Magog, turned on the Commonwealth.
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Things do not go well for the Systems Commonwealth. Though their technology was vast and their captains were noble and compassionate, they ran into a bunch of problems all at once. Most importantly, a race of man-eating apelike creatures called the Magog were invading in ridiculous numbers. They could, perhaps, have dealt finally deal with this, but at making peace with the same time, Magog, just in time for one of their member races, the misnamed [[NietzscheWannabe Nietzscheans]] (enhanced humans obsessed with eugenics and claiming to follow the philosophy of Creator/FriedrichNietzsche), angry that the Commonwealth made peace with the Magog, turned on the Commonwealth.
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[[quoteright:330:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/AndromedaHome2.png]]
->''The universe is a dangerous place. But in our future, my crew and I fight to make it safe. I am Dylan Hunt, captain of the Andromeda Ascendant, and these are our adventures.''
There are some people who view the [[{{Skiffy}} sci-fi]] show ''Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda'' as, essentially, an unbranded ''Franchise/StarTrek'' spin-off. At times, it seemed like this was indeed the case, but in the final analysis, ''Andromeda'' had a heavy spiritual bent radically unlike anything you'd ever see in Trek (except later seasons of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''). The show lasted from October, 2000 to May, 2005.
The story opens aboard the titular starship, the "Andromeda Ascendant", a warship of the line in the Systems Commonwealth, which is the same thing as ''Franchise/StarTrek'''s Federation, except that it was founded by a race of {{Sufficiently Advanced Alien}}s called the Vedrans, and spans the local group of galaxies.
Things do not go well for the Systems Commonwealth. Though their technology was vast and their captains were noble and compassionate, they ran into a bunch of problems all at once. Most importantly, a race of man-eating apelike creatures called the Magog were invading in ridiculous numbers. They could, perhaps, have dealt with this, but at the same time, one of their member races, the misnamed [[NietzscheWannabe Nietzscheans]] (enhanced humans obsessed with eugenics and claiming to follow the philosophy of Creator/FriedrichNietzsche), angry that the Commonwealth made peace with the Magog, turned on the Commonwealth.
All this happens while the Andromeda Ascendant is dangerously close to a black hole. Captain Dylan Hunt just has time to evacuate his crew before his Nietzschean first officer, Gaheris Rhade, turns on him and tries to kill him. Hunt manages the unlikely feat of besting Rhade, and seconds later, the Andromeda crosses the black hole's event horizon, freezing ship and captain in time.
Three hundred years later, the Commonwealth is a distant memory, a dark age has fallen over the known worlds, and things are generally not going well for just about anyone. The Eureka Maru, a salvage ship crewed by a rag-tag team of minor-league criminals, happens upon the Andromeda Ascendant and tows it to safety, thinking this will be the score of a lifetime.
Mostly through his own strength of character, the revived Captain Hunt convinces the crew of the Maru to join him and try to re-establish the Systems Commonwealth (or, at least, be of marginal assistance to his quest as they mooch off the Andromeda's resources).
The show has its origins in a combination of two separate Roddenberry story ideas from the 1970s, one about a sentient starship and a second about a man from the past trying to piece the remnants of civilization back together after it has crumbled. The former never made it to the air prior to ''Andromeda,'' but Roddenberry (who died in 1991) used the latter concept in no fewer than three separate unsuccessful pilots -- two of which actually included a main character named "Dylan Hunt" -- before giving up on it. Undoubtedly these ideas were [[strike:scrounged from the trash can]] further developed by the ''Andromeda'' creative team.
'''The initial core crew is, approximately, a FiveManBand (Subverted in that they [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits generally don't get along]]):'''
* Captain Hunt -- TheHero, a human from the now-lost Commonwealth capitol on Tarn Vedra (He eventually turns out to be not-quite-human after all: he's a [[HalfHumanHybrid Human-Vedran hybrid]], or rather Human-Paradine: Vedrans who have [[GoalOrientedEvolution become something more]]), and his human half comes from a genetically-enhanced {{Heavyworlder}})
* Beka Valentine -- TheLancer, hotshot pilot, recovering drug addict, and captain of the Eureka Maru. Secretly the genetic matriarch of the entire Nietzschean race via TimeTravel.
* Tyr Anasazi -- TheBigGuy, ProudWarriorRaceGuy, and TokenEvilTeammate, [[LastOfHisKind last survivor]] of a vanquished Nietzschean clan (and at times, straddles the line between a NietzscheWannabe and an {{Ubermensch}})
* Trance Gemini -- TheChick, cute and naive WaifProphet and medical officer, who later gets DarkerAndEdgier via TimeTravel
* Seamus Zelazny Harper -- TheSmartGuy, TheLabRat, MrFixit, a bit of a CasanovaWannabe, and more often a FatalAttractor, the only member of the crew actually from the ghetto planet Earth, technician and hyper-active genius engineer who (re-)builds Rommie's body.
'''With three additional regular characters:'''
* Rommie -- The ship's [[RobotGirl female-shaped android avatar]] ("Andromeda" refers specifically to the ship's holographic AI, and also to the three individual entities of the ship (Andromeda Ascendant), the AI ([[SpaceshipGirl Andromeda]]), and the android (Rommie))
* Rev Bem -- aka. Behemial Fartraveller aka. Red Plague. A [[TheAtoner reformed Magog]], scientist, sociologist and pacifist priest
* Late in the show when Rommie is believed destroyed Harper builds a new RobotGirl named Doyle as a ReplacementGoldfish, who has identity issues and who thinks ''she'' is the rightful avatar of the Andromeda Ascendant. HilarityEnsues (not).
After the first season (and a half), Rev Bem leaves the ship (around the same time as the series developer was "released"). This is when things [[JumpTheShark start to get a little zany]]. After the third season, Tyr Anasazi is replaced by Telemachus Rhade, the IdenticalGrandson of Hunt's original first officer. This is when things get [[strike:a little]] ''more'' zany.
In the universe of ''Andromeda'', every celestial body has an "avatar", a humanoid counterpart of vast power. Such beings crop up from time, including the moon of Tarn Vedra, the black hole (who turns out to be the universe's greatest [[ClingyJealousGirl clingy ex-girlfriend]]), and, most importantly, Trance, who, it is eventually revealed, [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld despite her youthful appearance and character]], is the [[IncrediblyLamePun wayward sun]] of Tarn Vedra, the oldest star in the universe. Halfway through the second season, Trance is replaced by an [[DarkerAndEdgier older and moodier]] version of herself (not a SisterBecky; it's the same actress in different makeup).
Subverting the FailureIsTheOnlyOption trope, Dylan and his crew actually ''do'' restore the Systems Commonwealth, though internal politics promptly gets Dylan and his crew kicked out of it.
For most of the series, an approaching Magog worldship serves as an impending [[TheDragon Dragon]], guided by TheManBehindTheMan, a shadow-cloaked avatar for "The Abyss", a powerful chaotic force. When this comes to a head in the fourth season finale, Dylan is forced to escape through a NegativeSpaceWedgie to the timeless, isolated Seefra system, really the massively transformed Tarn Vedra system.
''Andromeda'' was inordinately fond of the NegativeSpaceWedgie, depicting a universe rife with temporal anomalies -- in fact, the Andromeda Ascendant itself incorporated dimensional anomalies into its very construction. For a starship crew the cast also spent a great deal of time underground, presumably because somebody in the first season [[ShootTheMoney invested money in a tunnel set]] that had to be re-used over and over again.
In addition to the obvious ''Franchise/StarTrek'' parallels, ''Andromeda'' clearly owes a lot to ''Series/BlakesSeven''.
Technically set approximately 3 millennia into the future (Figure from ep. Harper^2), though effectively ALongTimeAgoInAGalaxyFarFarAway: Earth exists, but is hardly ever mentioned, except to say that it's not a very nice place to hang out these days.
Sometimes described as "Herc meets Kirk", because Kevin Sorbo, best known for his role as Hercules in ''HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'', is playing the role of a kind, wise and mysteriously super-strong character in the role that Captain Kirk filled in the original series of Star Trek, which this show so closely resembles.
----
!!This series provides examples of:
* ActorAllusion: After his first run-in with Dylan, Harper refers to him as "like [[HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys a Greek god]]."
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Assumed of the Nietzscheans and the Magog by most people in-universe, but subverted in both cases.
* ApocalypseHow: Many different ways, starting with High Guard ships of the line, such as the Andromeda, that are said to be capable of de-civilizing an Earth-like planet in six minutes with their conventional weapons, and moving on to the planet crackers that are talked about and occasionally seen or the target-dependent Nova Bombs that the Andromeda carried 40 of as part of her class's standard load out (they destroy planets and stars by nullifying the gravitational pull of the target). Then there are the Magog whose designed goal of ridding the universe of pain and suffering by [[BodyHorror horribly killing]] everything that can feel pain and suffering lends them from disasters from "mere" genocide to the destruction of entire solar systems. And the mount point singularity projectors, which fire ''miniature black holes'' at their opponents that can tear through ships and planets like they weren't there, and whose sole defense is to open a slip point in the way (which if done too close to a planet can cause major geological instabilities).
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Hawkins reads off Harper's rap sheet:
--> '''Hawkins''': Seamus Harper...Grand Theft Spacecraft, and Interstellar Flight to Avoid Prosecution, and Public Lewdness.
* ATeamFiring
** Justified and lampshaded in an episode where it is revealed that most small arms ammunition are smart bullets whose guidance system is jammed by man portable jammers, causing them to miss.
* TheAtoner: Rev Bem, although he personally hadn't done anything to feel sorry about except eating through his human mother, which he couldn't help but do at that age.
* BadassArmy: Nietzscheans think they are but they're really not.
* TheBattlestar: Most High Guard ships, including the Andromeda Ascendant.
* BitterAlmonds: The cyanide [[DeadlyGas gas trap]] in ''In Heaven Now Are Three''.
* BoardingParty: The Magog use Swarm Ships to punch holes in the attacked ship and swarm in.
* BoomerangBigot: There was a radical group bent on destroying space travel in order to preserve planetary ecologies. It was founded by a warship's AI.
* BrainComputerInterface: Harper has a jack on his neck.
* CargoCult: The child descendants of High Guard personnel from ''To Loose the Fateful Lightning''.
* ChestBurster: The Magog reproduction method.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: [[PlanetOfHats Congenital]] in the Nietzscheans. Tyr has a particularly bad case which Dylan takes advantage of several times
* ComingInHot: The Eureka Maru, or other visiting ships, occasionally crash-land in the Andromeda's launch bay.
* CoolStarship
* CrewOfOne: The Andromeda Ascendant originally had a crew of over 4000, apparently she can make do with six or fewer.
* CyborgHelmsman
* DeadlyGas: The cyanide gas trap in ''In Heaven Now Are Three''.
* DerelictGraveyard
* EleventhHourSuperPower: Hunt, from his half-Paradine heritage.
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: Tarn Vedra as Seefra-1, then literally with the destruction of Earth.
* EvilIsVisceral: Aspects of the Magog that are not already covered by the subtropes: they spit on people, and have exposed noses.
* ExecutiveMeddling: Robert Wolfe was the original head writer of the series, based on Gene Roddenberry's notes. He resigned after season two because of differences with the executive. He has since, however, written a one-act play, ''[[http://www.cyberspace5.net/agentrichard07/coda.htm Coda]]'', which is a compressed form of his original plan for Andromeda.
** Actually, the way Robert Wolfe explains it, he was fired for not bowing to executive demands to make the show more episodic and [[ThePrimaDonna Kevin Sorbo's]] demand that all episodes be based around him.
* {{Expy}}: Dylan Hunt is an expy of Dylan Hunt from ''Genesis II''.
** Bartolome Naz in And Your Heart Will Fly Away is an expy of DrStrangelove.
* FaceFullOfAlienWingWong: The [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Magog]].
* FantasticRacism: Not just for/against aliens, either; the Knights of Genetic Purity hunt down all modified human-offshoots.
** As Dylan points out, only 12% or so of the humans in the ''entire known universe'' fall under their definition of "pure".
* {{Flanderization}}: Oh, so very much.
* FlatCharacter: After Season 2, all of them. Robert Hewitt Wolfe planned major CharacterDevelopment for the ''Andromeda'' crew. After he was fired, StatusQuoIsGod took effect in regards to their emotional growth.
* [[FridgeHorror Fridge]] {{Squick}}:
** If post-Ouroboros Trance is adult Trance, then does that make pre-Ouroboros underaged Trance? [[LessDisturbingInContext Much less squicky]] once it's established that she's [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld several billion years old]] [[GeniusLoci star]] using an [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith artificial humanoid body]] as a sockpuppet.
* [[GaiasVengeance Gaia's avengers]]: The Restorians, lead by the Balance of Judgment, a KnightTemplar [[SapientShip warship AI]].
* GainaxEnding: The final episode of season 4.
* GambitRoulette: The events of season 5 are essentially the last phases of a plan the Vedrans came up with centuries previously [[spoiler: to use their own sun to destroy the Abyss]].
* GenericanEmpire: The Systems Commonwealth.
* GiveMeASword: Tyr and Seamus just before their LastStand against the Magog.
* GoodBadTranslation: A certain DVD release suffers from this. The entirety of Season 2 and some episodes of season 3 are the worst offenders by far. So what if the subtitles don't remember proper punctuation in season 1? And there are no capital letters, except the first in every line, even when not supposed to be there. The subtitles in season 2 are way worse than that, by being translated... from an Asian translation. And they're not even correct most of the time.
** One very horrible offender is in a scene, where Dylan says "Tyr, try not to destroy the warship." The subtitles say "Tyr. Get rid of the warship."
* GoodIsNotDumb: Trance Gemini.
* HumansAreSpecial: AIs are horrible at guessing, which makes humans and other organic life forms are far better at slipstream navigation. Also, ship AIs seem to make poor commanders, are more effective in combat when working with a crew.
** Averted partly when the AI Ryan is given command of... well, himself, aka the Wrath of Achilles.
* HyperspaceLanes: Several star systems are strategically important because you need to travel through them on your way from one slipstream to another. Just the place to lay in ambush, or place a {{BFG}} InSpace.
** In one episode, they're trying to get to Tarn Vedra (the lost capital planet of the old Commonwealth) by following a ridiculously complicated sequence of slipstram routes. Several of the steps are jumps between ''different galaxies!''
*** In defence of the pilots, the guy who planned the route was insane.
*** In further defense of them, the Vedrans ''deliberately'' messed with the slipstream to make their system near-impossible to get to by any sane slipstream route, to hide from the Nietzscheans after the Commonwealth collapsed.
**** It also seems to have been a critical aspect of their plan to destroy the Spirit of the Abyss.
* IWantYouToMeetAnOldFriendOfMine: In "The Knight, Death, and the Devil", Michael Hurst (previously [[HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys Iolaus]]) plays Ryan the AI.
* IdenticalGrandson: "Genetic reincarnation" is a proven phenomenon for Nietzscheans due to their low genetic diversity. Telemachus is played by the same actor as Gaheris and Tyr's son was apparently the reincarnation of the first Nietzschean (and therefore their Messiah).
** Beka Valentine once encountered a female Nietzschean who looked as close to exactly like her as a Nietzschean could look, which doesn't make sense until Season 5 reveals she's the genetic mother of the first Nietzschean.
* InformedAbility: Despite being lauded as a tactical genius, Drago-Kazov Fleet Marshall Cuchulian Nez Perce sure gets his ass handed to him by Dylan and company. Twice.
* InfiniteSupplies: Even though the Andromeda repeatedly runs out of missiles in battle, she seems to always get new ones by the next episode. However they did once mention mining asteroids so Rommie's workshops could make new ones, so I guess it's [[JustifiedTrope justified.]]
* InsistentTerminology: The Commonwealth is ''not'' an empire, damn it! The fact it was led by the Vedran Empress and was an evolution of the Vedran Empire is irrelevant!
** Arguably true. The British Commonwealth is composed of large numbers of ex-Empire countries. In some the reigning British monarch remains Head of State but plays no part in day-to-day political matters, in others a President is Head of State. All-Systems University did state that the Empress remained Head of State to salve Vedran pride, not to actually govern.
* InstrumentalThemeTune
* InterfaithSmoothie: Wayism is a religion that seeks to blend all the good bits of the religions that came before it. Rev Bem is a cleric of Wayism, and the religion was founded by another redeemed Magog.
* KaleidoscopeHair: Beka has nanomachines that can change her hair to any color she wants.
* LadyOfWar: Rommey. Being an avatar of a battleship counts doesn't it?
** Ahemm!!! She's a heavy cruiser thank you very much. ''Glorious Heritage''-class.
* LargeHam: Tyr, and, to a lesser extent, Dylan and Harper.
** As for guest characters, there's Bartolome Naz.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Tyr Anasazi in an episode in Season One.
* LastNameBasis: Harper.
* TheManBehindTheMan
* MatrixRainingCode
* MentalFusion
* MostWritersAreHuman: While the Commonwealth consisted of many, many species, humans are apparently the most populous of them. The background information specifically notes humans as among the most prolific breeders and colonizers, as well as the source of most androids and genetically-engineered spin-offs like nietzscheans.
** Humans seem to have been the most widespread because they were easy to engineer (or no-one cared enough to stop them) and pretty much anywhere that life could exist, there is an engineered form of humanity to plunder it. From high gravity worlds to under the sea, humanity is all up in nature's face eating her resources.
* MrFanservice: Tyr Anasazi.
* MundaneUtility: Beka Valentine's use of nanomachines for [[HairColors instant hair dye]].
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Nietzscheans tend to give themselves names that are [[BadassBoast Badass Boasts]], like ethnic groups with a warlike reputation(Sabra), military leaders(Guderian) or even [[WarGod War Gods]](Tyr). Two Magog names we've heard are [[PinkMist Blood Mist]] and Red Plague.
* NegativeSpaceWedgie
* NietzscheWannabe: Tyr and the rest of the Nietzscheans.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Purple Trance often uses a "Naive Girl" routine to fool antagonists.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Rev Bem.
* PeopleInRubberSuits: Than-Thre-Kull, Magog, Ogami.
* PhlebotinumBreakdown
* PlanetOfTheApesEnding
* PsychoSerum
* RapeAsDrama: Harper gets a FaceFullOfAlienWingWong from the Magog, getting the young'uns out without killing their host requires a PolarityReversal.
* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Due to Brent Stait's makeup allergies, his character, Rev Bem, got a less prominent role, and was finally PutOnABus. Lexa Doig's pregnancy was one of the reasons for Rommie's absence in early season 5.
* RecapEpisode
** Especially during the fourth season. Christ.
* RecycledInSpace: The basic premise is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genesis_II_%28film%29 Genesis II]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_Earth_(TV_pilot) Planet Earth]] in space.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath
* RevisedEnding: sort of. The original series developer, Robert Hewitt Wolfe, wrote a non-canon (technical FanFic) one-act-play of an outline, entitled [[http://www.roberthwolfe.com/Coda/Andromeda___Coda.pdf Coda]] (warning, PDF) for how he envisioned the series to play out past the point of his departure.
* ARiddleWrappedInAMysteryInsideAnEnigma: Seamus calls Trance "an enigma wrapped in a riddle with a tail in the middle."
* RidiculouslyHumanRobots
** Rommie is {{squick}}ed to discover that Harper engineered her humanoid body with "certain parts" which, strictly speaking, aren't necessary for her normal operations, and asks to be assured that he used gloves while handling said parts.
** Doyle was designed to pass as human and programmed to believe she was human, when one of her hands is damaged in ''Decay of the Angel'', she sees the white superconductor fluid as red blood.
** Carter of All Too Human managed to get a job in the security forces of the android-hating world of Machen Alpha.
* RisingEmpire: The new Systems Commonwealth.
* RobotBuddy
* RobotsEnslavingRobots: The Consensus of Parts. Also, the Balance of Judgment controlled his rebellious android avatar Gabriel, who he tried to [[GrandTheftMe take over with a virus]] when his ship-self was destroyed in battle.
* RubberForeheadAliens: Perseids, technically rubber chin.
* SapientShip: ''Andromeda'' and the other Commonwealth vessels, while not biological, are capable of emotion and treated by their captains and crews as living persons.
* ShoutOut: At least OnceAnEpisode.
** In the very first episode, Harper compares Dylan Hunt to [[HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys a Greek god]].
** The Knights of Genetic Purity were lifted directly out of the classic role-playing game ''TabletopGame/GammaWorld.''
** Also, Seamus '''[[RogerZelazny Zelazny]]''' Harper.
** The crew of the Bellerophon had [[Franchise/StarTrek red, blue, and gold uniforms]]
** [[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Johann Fletcher and Flux]].
** An improbable number of episodes were named after lines from W. B. Yeats' poem "The Second Coming". Some examples: "The Widening Gyre"; "Pitiless as the Sun"; "Its Hour Come 'Round at Last".
** In general episode titles were influenced by literature, such as "The Pearls That Were His Eyes" (Shakespeare) and "Fear and Loathing in the Milky Way" (Hunter S. Thompson).
* SoundEffectBleep
* SpaceshipGirl: All of the larger Commonwealth warships have AIs and many of them have robotic avatars. Many cultures prefer female avatars for their ships (though avatars are not exclusively female).
* SpotTheImposter
* StealthPun: The Resident Magog Priest is the {{Rev}}erend Bug Eyed Monster.
* SufficientlyAdvancedAlien: Vedrans.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Rhade for Tyr.
** Doyle for Rommie. And odd example in that Lexa Doig, the actress who played Rommie, remained with the show as Andromeda's AI.
* TempleOfDoom: The temple in ''In Heaven Now Are Three''.
* TheMainCharactersDoEverything: Justified. Compared to the original crew complement of ''4500'' people on board, as it stands, the current skeleton crew operating Andromeda is (usually) just ''6''.
* ThemeNaming: Commonwealth ships often have names like ''Salient Debate'' or ''Continuation of Politics''.
** Which in itself is a ShoutOut to TheCulture novels.
* TimeTravel
* TimeForPlanB
* TomatoInTheMirror: Doyle. She's fine once she gets over the initial shock.
* [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/TooDumbToLive/LiveActionTV Too Dumb To Live]]: In [[http://andromeda.wikia.com/wiki/Immaculate_Perception "Immaculate Perception"]] Tyr says sending the DNA of Tamerlane Anasazi for comparision with Drago Museveni's could not be kept a secret. He says that he is leaving with his son and wife while the rest of the pride can perish from it's stupidity.
* TroubledButCute
* VehicleTitle
* WaifProphet
* WeaponOfMassDestruction: Nova bombs.
* WhatTheHellHero: When the New Commonwealth kicked Captain Hunt out they listed several from over the course of the show. It was played like a biased kangaroo court, but most of them were genuine atrocities he had committed that the show had earlier glossed over.
** Dyan returning to Andromeda to mope that he had accidentally given children access to 80 Nova Bombs in ''To Loose a Fateful Lightning'' instead of ordering them to stand down and surrender control over the weapons to Andromeda. Keep in mind, at this point Dylan knows they revere him as [[TheMessiah "The High Guard"]] and would likely ''easily'' have done so. Instead, his inaction causes one heavily populated neighbouring system to be destroyed and only narrowly averts them doing similar kamikaze runs with the rest of the arsenal.
* WillTheyOrWontThey: Beka and Tyr -- never a relationship, though they did do each other. Twice.
** In an alternate timeline [[MindScrew which may have been the original timeline]], she did enter into a relationship with a Nietzchean... namely, ''Gaheris'' Rhade.
* XanatosSpeedChess: Dylan is a master of this.
** Tyr was able to play at almost the same level in the first season and a half, very nearly defeating Dylan a few times before switching sides at the last minute. This peaked in the episode ''The Prince'' where both reached heights they never had before and never would again by working together on such a project. After the original creator "left", Tyr suffered a horrible case of BadassDecay and quickly became a more straight-forward villain type.
----
->''The universe is a dangerous place. But in our future, my crew and I fight to make it safe. I am Dylan Hunt, captain of the Andromeda Ascendant, and these are our adventures.''
There are some people who view the [[{{Skiffy}} sci-fi]] show ''Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda'' as, essentially, an unbranded ''Franchise/StarTrek'' spin-off. At times, it seemed like this was indeed the case, but in the final analysis, ''Andromeda'' had a heavy spiritual bent radically unlike anything you'd ever see in Trek (except later seasons of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''). The show lasted from October, 2000 to May, 2005.
The story opens aboard the titular starship, the "Andromeda Ascendant", a warship of the line in the Systems Commonwealth, which is the same thing as ''Franchise/StarTrek'''s Federation, except that it was founded by a race of {{Sufficiently Advanced Alien}}s called the Vedrans, and spans the local group of galaxies.
Things do not go well for the Systems Commonwealth. Though their technology was vast and their captains were noble and compassionate, they ran into a bunch of problems all at once. Most importantly, a race of man-eating apelike creatures called the Magog were invading in ridiculous numbers. They could, perhaps, have dealt with this, but at the same time, one of their member races, the misnamed [[NietzscheWannabe Nietzscheans]] (enhanced humans obsessed with eugenics and claiming to follow the philosophy of Creator/FriedrichNietzsche), angry that the Commonwealth made peace with the Magog, turned on the Commonwealth.
All this happens while the Andromeda Ascendant is dangerously close to a black hole. Captain Dylan Hunt just has time to evacuate his crew before his Nietzschean first officer, Gaheris Rhade, turns on him and tries to kill him. Hunt manages the unlikely feat of besting Rhade, and seconds later, the Andromeda crosses the black hole's event horizon, freezing ship and captain in time.
Three hundred years later, the Commonwealth is a distant memory, a dark age has fallen over the known worlds, and things are generally not going well for just about anyone. The Eureka Maru, a salvage ship crewed by a rag-tag team of minor-league criminals, happens upon the Andromeda Ascendant and tows it to safety, thinking this will be the score of a lifetime.
Mostly through his own strength of character, the revived Captain Hunt convinces the crew of the Maru to join him and try to re-establish the Systems Commonwealth (or, at least, be of marginal assistance to his quest as they mooch off the Andromeda's resources).
The show has its origins in a combination of two separate Roddenberry story ideas from the 1970s, one about a sentient starship and a second about a man from the past trying to piece the remnants of civilization back together after it has crumbled. The former never made it to the air prior to ''Andromeda,'' but Roddenberry (who died in 1991) used the latter concept in no fewer than three separate unsuccessful pilots -- two of which actually included a main character named "Dylan Hunt" -- before giving up on it. Undoubtedly these ideas were [[strike:scrounged from the trash can]] further developed by the ''Andromeda'' creative team.
'''The initial core crew is, approximately, a FiveManBand (Subverted in that they [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits generally don't get along]]):'''
* Captain Hunt -- TheHero, a human from the now-lost Commonwealth capitol on Tarn Vedra (He eventually turns out to be not-quite-human after all: he's a [[HalfHumanHybrid Human-Vedran hybrid]], or rather Human-Paradine: Vedrans who have [[GoalOrientedEvolution become something more]]), and his human half comes from a genetically-enhanced {{Heavyworlder}})
* Beka Valentine -- TheLancer, hotshot pilot, recovering drug addict, and captain of the Eureka Maru. Secretly the genetic matriarch of the entire Nietzschean race via TimeTravel.
* Tyr Anasazi -- TheBigGuy, ProudWarriorRaceGuy, and TokenEvilTeammate, [[LastOfHisKind last survivor]] of a vanquished Nietzschean clan (and at times, straddles the line between a NietzscheWannabe and an {{Ubermensch}})
* Trance Gemini -- TheChick, cute and naive WaifProphet and medical officer, who later gets DarkerAndEdgier via TimeTravel
* Seamus Zelazny Harper -- TheSmartGuy, TheLabRat, MrFixit, a bit of a CasanovaWannabe, and more often a FatalAttractor, the only member of the crew actually from the ghetto planet Earth, technician and hyper-active genius engineer who (re-)builds Rommie's body.
'''With three additional regular characters:'''
* Rommie -- The ship's [[RobotGirl female-shaped android avatar]] ("Andromeda" refers specifically to the ship's holographic AI, and also to the three individual entities of the ship (Andromeda Ascendant), the AI ([[SpaceshipGirl Andromeda]]), and the android (Rommie))
* Rev Bem -- aka. Behemial Fartraveller aka. Red Plague. A [[TheAtoner reformed Magog]], scientist, sociologist and pacifist priest
* Late in the show when Rommie is believed destroyed Harper builds a new RobotGirl named Doyle as a ReplacementGoldfish, who has identity issues and who thinks ''she'' is the rightful avatar of the Andromeda Ascendant. HilarityEnsues (not).
After the first season (and a half), Rev Bem leaves the ship (around the same time as the series developer was "released"). This is when things [[JumpTheShark start to get a little zany]]. After the third season, Tyr Anasazi is replaced by Telemachus Rhade, the IdenticalGrandson of Hunt's original first officer. This is when things get [[strike:a little]] ''more'' zany.
In the universe of ''Andromeda'', every celestial body has an "avatar", a humanoid counterpart of vast power. Such beings crop up from time, including the moon of Tarn Vedra, the black hole (who turns out to be the universe's greatest [[ClingyJealousGirl clingy ex-girlfriend]]), and, most importantly, Trance, who, it is eventually revealed, [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld despite her youthful appearance and character]], is the [[IncrediblyLamePun wayward sun]] of Tarn Vedra, the oldest star in the universe. Halfway through the second season, Trance is replaced by an [[DarkerAndEdgier older and moodier]] version of herself (not a SisterBecky; it's the same actress in different makeup).
Subverting the FailureIsTheOnlyOption trope, Dylan and his crew actually ''do'' restore the Systems Commonwealth, though internal politics promptly gets Dylan and his crew kicked out of it.
For most of the series, an approaching Magog worldship serves as an impending [[TheDragon Dragon]], guided by TheManBehindTheMan, a shadow-cloaked avatar for "The Abyss", a powerful chaotic force. When this comes to a head in the fourth season finale, Dylan is forced to escape through a NegativeSpaceWedgie to the timeless, isolated Seefra system, really the massively transformed Tarn Vedra system.
''Andromeda'' was inordinately fond of the NegativeSpaceWedgie, depicting a universe rife with temporal anomalies -- in fact, the Andromeda Ascendant itself incorporated dimensional anomalies into its very construction. For a starship crew the cast also spent a great deal of time underground, presumably because somebody in the first season [[ShootTheMoney invested money in a tunnel set]] that had to be re-used over and over again.
In addition to the obvious ''Franchise/StarTrek'' parallels, ''Andromeda'' clearly owes a lot to ''Series/BlakesSeven''.
Technically set approximately 3 millennia into the future (Figure from ep. Harper^2), though effectively ALongTimeAgoInAGalaxyFarFarAway: Earth exists, but is hardly ever mentioned, except to say that it's not a very nice place to hang out these days.
Sometimes described as "Herc meets Kirk", because Kevin Sorbo, best known for his role as Hercules in ''HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'', is playing the role of a kind, wise and mysteriously super-strong character in the role that Captain Kirk filled in the original series of Star Trek, which this show so closely resembles.
----
!!This series provides examples of:
* ActorAllusion: After his first run-in with Dylan, Harper refers to him as "like [[HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys a Greek god]]."
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Assumed of the Nietzscheans and the Magog by most people in-universe, but subverted in both cases.
* ApocalypseHow: Many different ways, starting with High Guard ships of the line, such as the Andromeda, that are said to be capable of de-civilizing an Earth-like planet in six minutes with their conventional weapons, and moving on to the planet crackers that are talked about and occasionally seen or the target-dependent Nova Bombs that the Andromeda carried 40 of as part of her class's standard load out (they destroy planets and stars by nullifying the gravitational pull of the target). Then there are the Magog whose designed goal of ridding the universe of pain and suffering by [[BodyHorror horribly killing]] everything that can feel pain and suffering lends them from disasters from "mere" genocide to the destruction of entire solar systems. And the mount point singularity projectors, which fire ''miniature black holes'' at their opponents that can tear through ships and planets like they weren't there, and whose sole defense is to open a slip point in the way (which if done too close to a planet can cause major geological instabilities).
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Hawkins reads off Harper's rap sheet:
--> '''Hawkins''': Seamus Harper...Grand Theft Spacecraft, and Interstellar Flight to Avoid Prosecution, and Public Lewdness.
* ATeamFiring
** Justified and lampshaded in an episode where it is revealed that most small arms ammunition are smart bullets whose guidance system is jammed by man portable jammers, causing them to miss.
* TheAtoner: Rev Bem, although he personally hadn't done anything to feel sorry about except eating through his human mother, which he couldn't help but do at that age.
* BadassArmy: Nietzscheans think they are but they're really not.
* TheBattlestar: Most High Guard ships, including the Andromeda Ascendant.
* BitterAlmonds: The cyanide [[DeadlyGas gas trap]] in ''In Heaven Now Are Three''.
* BoardingParty: The Magog use Swarm Ships to punch holes in the attacked ship and swarm in.
* BoomerangBigot: There was a radical group bent on destroying space travel in order to preserve planetary ecologies. It was founded by a warship's AI.
* BrainComputerInterface: Harper has a jack on his neck.
* CargoCult: The child descendants of High Guard personnel from ''To Loose the Fateful Lightning''.
* ChestBurster: The Magog reproduction method.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: [[PlanetOfHats Congenital]] in the Nietzscheans. Tyr has a particularly bad case which Dylan takes advantage of several times
* ComingInHot: The Eureka Maru, or other visiting ships, occasionally crash-land in the Andromeda's launch bay.
* CoolStarship
* CrewOfOne: The Andromeda Ascendant originally had a crew of over 4000, apparently she can make do with six or fewer.
* CyborgHelmsman
* DeadlyGas: The cyanide gas trap in ''In Heaven Now Are Three''.
* DerelictGraveyard
* EleventhHourSuperPower: Hunt, from his half-Paradine heritage.
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: Tarn Vedra as Seefra-1, then literally with the destruction of Earth.
* EvilIsVisceral: Aspects of the Magog that are not already covered by the subtropes: they spit on people, and have exposed noses.
* ExecutiveMeddling: Robert Wolfe was the original head writer of the series, based on Gene Roddenberry's notes. He resigned after season two because of differences with the executive. He has since, however, written a one-act play, ''[[http://www.cyberspace5.net/agentrichard07/coda.htm Coda]]'', which is a compressed form of his original plan for Andromeda.
** Actually, the way Robert Wolfe explains it, he was fired for not bowing to executive demands to make the show more episodic and [[ThePrimaDonna Kevin Sorbo's]] demand that all episodes be based around him.
* {{Expy}}: Dylan Hunt is an expy of Dylan Hunt from ''Genesis II''.
** Bartolome Naz in And Your Heart Will Fly Away is an expy of DrStrangelove.
* FaceFullOfAlienWingWong: The [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Magog]].
* FantasticRacism: Not just for/against aliens, either; the Knights of Genetic Purity hunt down all modified human-offshoots.
** As Dylan points out, only 12% or so of the humans in the ''entire known universe'' fall under their definition of "pure".
* {{Flanderization}}: Oh, so very much.
* FlatCharacter: After Season 2, all of them. Robert Hewitt Wolfe planned major CharacterDevelopment for the ''Andromeda'' crew. After he was fired, StatusQuoIsGod took effect in regards to their emotional growth.
* [[FridgeHorror Fridge]] {{Squick}}:
** If post-Ouroboros Trance is adult Trance, then does that make pre-Ouroboros underaged Trance? [[LessDisturbingInContext Much less squicky]] once it's established that she's [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld several billion years old]] [[GeniusLoci star]] using an [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith artificial humanoid body]] as a sockpuppet.
* [[GaiasVengeance Gaia's avengers]]: The Restorians, lead by the Balance of Judgment, a KnightTemplar [[SapientShip warship AI]].
* GainaxEnding: The final episode of season 4.
* GambitRoulette: The events of season 5 are essentially the last phases of a plan the Vedrans came up with centuries previously [[spoiler: to use their own sun to destroy the Abyss]].
* GenericanEmpire: The Systems Commonwealth.
* GiveMeASword: Tyr and Seamus just before their LastStand against the Magog.
* GoodBadTranslation: A certain DVD release suffers from this. The entirety of Season 2 and some episodes of season 3 are the worst offenders by far. So what if the subtitles don't remember proper punctuation in season 1? And there are no capital letters, except the first in every line, even when not supposed to be there. The subtitles in season 2 are way worse than that, by being translated... from an Asian translation. And they're not even correct most of the time.
** One very horrible offender is in a scene, where Dylan says "Tyr, try not to destroy the warship." The subtitles say "Tyr. Get rid of the warship."
* GoodIsNotDumb: Trance Gemini.
* HumansAreSpecial: AIs are horrible at guessing, which makes humans and other organic life forms are far better at slipstream navigation. Also, ship AIs seem to make poor commanders, are more effective in combat when working with a crew.
** Averted partly when the AI Ryan is given command of... well, himself, aka the Wrath of Achilles.
* HyperspaceLanes: Several star systems are strategically important because you need to travel through them on your way from one slipstream to another. Just the place to lay in ambush, or place a {{BFG}} InSpace.
** In one episode, they're trying to get to Tarn Vedra (the lost capital planet of the old Commonwealth) by following a ridiculously complicated sequence of slipstram routes. Several of the steps are jumps between ''different galaxies!''
*** In defence of the pilots, the guy who planned the route was insane.
*** In further defense of them, the Vedrans ''deliberately'' messed with the slipstream to make their system near-impossible to get to by any sane slipstream route, to hide from the Nietzscheans after the Commonwealth collapsed.
**** It also seems to have been a critical aspect of their plan to destroy the Spirit of the Abyss.
* IWantYouToMeetAnOldFriendOfMine: In "The Knight, Death, and the Devil", Michael Hurst (previously [[HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys Iolaus]]) plays Ryan the AI.
* IdenticalGrandson: "Genetic reincarnation" is a proven phenomenon for Nietzscheans due to their low genetic diversity. Telemachus is played by the same actor as Gaheris and Tyr's son was apparently the reincarnation of the first Nietzschean (and therefore their Messiah).
** Beka Valentine once encountered a female Nietzschean who looked as close to exactly like her as a Nietzschean could look, which doesn't make sense until Season 5 reveals she's the genetic mother of the first Nietzschean.
* InformedAbility: Despite being lauded as a tactical genius, Drago-Kazov Fleet Marshall Cuchulian Nez Perce sure gets his ass handed to him by Dylan and company. Twice.
* InfiniteSupplies: Even though the Andromeda repeatedly runs out of missiles in battle, she seems to always get new ones by the next episode. However they did once mention mining asteroids so Rommie's workshops could make new ones, so I guess it's [[JustifiedTrope justified.]]
* InsistentTerminology: The Commonwealth is ''not'' an empire, damn it! The fact it was led by the Vedran Empress and was an evolution of the Vedran Empire is irrelevant!
** Arguably true. The British Commonwealth is composed of large numbers of ex-Empire countries. In some the reigning British monarch remains Head of State but plays no part in day-to-day political matters, in others a President is Head of State. All-Systems University did state that the Empress remained Head of State to salve Vedran pride, not to actually govern.
* InstrumentalThemeTune
* InterfaithSmoothie: Wayism is a religion that seeks to blend all the good bits of the religions that came before it. Rev Bem is a cleric of Wayism, and the religion was founded by another redeemed Magog.
* KaleidoscopeHair: Beka has nanomachines that can change her hair to any color she wants.
* LadyOfWar: Rommey. Being an avatar of a battleship counts doesn't it?
** Ahemm!!! She's a heavy cruiser thank you very much. ''Glorious Heritage''-class.
* LargeHam: Tyr, and, to a lesser extent, Dylan and Harper.
** As for guest characters, there's Bartolome Naz.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Tyr Anasazi in an episode in Season One.
* LastNameBasis: Harper.
* TheManBehindTheMan
* MatrixRainingCode
* MentalFusion
* MostWritersAreHuman: While the Commonwealth consisted of many, many species, humans are apparently the most populous of them. The background information specifically notes humans as among the most prolific breeders and colonizers, as well as the source of most androids and genetically-engineered spin-offs like nietzscheans.
** Humans seem to have been the most widespread because they were easy to engineer (or no-one cared enough to stop them) and pretty much anywhere that life could exist, there is an engineered form of humanity to plunder it. From high gravity worlds to under the sea, humanity is all up in nature's face eating her resources.
* MrFanservice: Tyr Anasazi.
* MundaneUtility: Beka Valentine's use of nanomachines for [[HairColors instant hair dye]].
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Nietzscheans tend to give themselves names that are [[BadassBoast Badass Boasts]], like ethnic groups with a warlike reputation(Sabra), military leaders(Guderian) or even [[WarGod War Gods]](Tyr). Two Magog names we've heard are [[PinkMist Blood Mist]] and Red Plague.
* NegativeSpaceWedgie
* NietzscheWannabe: Tyr and the rest of the Nietzscheans.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Purple Trance often uses a "Naive Girl" routine to fool antagonists.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Rev Bem.
* PeopleInRubberSuits: Than-Thre-Kull, Magog, Ogami.
* PhlebotinumBreakdown
* PlanetOfTheApesEnding
* PsychoSerum
* RapeAsDrama: Harper gets a FaceFullOfAlienWingWong from the Magog, getting the young'uns out without killing their host requires a PolarityReversal.
* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Due to Brent Stait's makeup allergies, his character, Rev Bem, got a less prominent role, and was finally PutOnABus. Lexa Doig's pregnancy was one of the reasons for Rommie's absence in early season 5.
* RecapEpisode
** Especially during the fourth season. Christ.
* RecycledInSpace: The basic premise is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genesis_II_%28film%29 Genesis II]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_Earth_(TV_pilot) Planet Earth]] in space.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath
* RevisedEnding: sort of. The original series developer, Robert Hewitt Wolfe, wrote a non-canon (technical FanFic) one-act-play of an outline, entitled [[http://www.roberthwolfe.com/Coda/Andromeda___Coda.pdf Coda]] (warning, PDF) for how he envisioned the series to play out past the point of his departure.
* ARiddleWrappedInAMysteryInsideAnEnigma: Seamus calls Trance "an enigma wrapped in a riddle with a tail in the middle."
* RidiculouslyHumanRobots
** Rommie is {{squick}}ed to discover that Harper engineered her humanoid body with "certain parts" which, strictly speaking, aren't necessary for her normal operations, and asks to be assured that he used gloves while handling said parts.
** Doyle was designed to pass as human and programmed to believe she was human, when one of her hands is damaged in ''Decay of the Angel'', she sees the white superconductor fluid as red blood.
** Carter of All Too Human managed to get a job in the security forces of the android-hating world of Machen Alpha.
* RisingEmpire: The new Systems Commonwealth.
* RobotBuddy
* RobotsEnslavingRobots: The Consensus of Parts. Also, the Balance of Judgment controlled his rebellious android avatar Gabriel, who he tried to [[GrandTheftMe take over with a virus]] when his ship-self was destroyed in battle.
* RubberForeheadAliens: Perseids, technically rubber chin.
* SapientShip: ''Andromeda'' and the other Commonwealth vessels, while not biological, are capable of emotion and treated by their captains and crews as living persons.
* ShoutOut: At least OnceAnEpisode.
** In the very first episode, Harper compares Dylan Hunt to [[HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys a Greek god]].
** The Knights of Genetic Purity were lifted directly out of the classic role-playing game ''TabletopGame/GammaWorld.''
** Also, Seamus '''[[RogerZelazny Zelazny]]''' Harper.
** The crew of the Bellerophon had [[Franchise/StarTrek red, blue, and gold uniforms]]
** [[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Johann Fletcher and Flux]].
** An improbable number of episodes were named after lines from W. B. Yeats' poem "The Second Coming". Some examples: "The Widening Gyre"; "Pitiless as the Sun"; "Its Hour Come 'Round at Last".
** In general episode titles were influenced by literature, such as "The Pearls That Were His Eyes" (Shakespeare) and "Fear and Loathing in the Milky Way" (Hunter S. Thompson).
* SoundEffectBleep
* SpaceshipGirl: All of the larger Commonwealth warships have AIs and many of them have robotic avatars. Many cultures prefer female avatars for their ships (though avatars are not exclusively female).
* SpotTheImposter
* StealthPun: The Resident Magog Priest is the {{Rev}}erend Bug Eyed Monster.
* SufficientlyAdvancedAlien: Vedrans.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Rhade for Tyr.
** Doyle for Rommie. And odd example in that Lexa Doig, the actress who played Rommie, remained with the show as Andromeda's AI.
* TempleOfDoom: The temple in ''In Heaven Now Are Three''.
* TheMainCharactersDoEverything: Justified. Compared to the original crew complement of ''4500'' people on board, as it stands, the current skeleton crew operating Andromeda is (usually) just ''6''.
* ThemeNaming: Commonwealth ships often have names like ''Salient Debate'' or ''Continuation of Politics''.
** Which in itself is a ShoutOut to TheCulture novels.
* TimeTravel
* TimeForPlanB
* TomatoInTheMirror: Doyle. She's fine once she gets over the initial shock.
* [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/TooDumbToLive/LiveActionTV Too Dumb To Live]]: In [[http://andromeda.wikia.com/wiki/Immaculate_Perception "Immaculate Perception"]] Tyr says sending the DNA of Tamerlane Anasazi for comparision with Drago Museveni's could not be kept a secret. He says that he is leaving with his son and wife while the rest of the pride can perish from it's stupidity.
* TroubledButCute
* VehicleTitle
* WaifProphet
* WeaponOfMassDestruction: Nova bombs.
* WhatTheHellHero: When the New Commonwealth kicked Captain Hunt out they listed several from over the course of the show. It was played like a biased kangaroo court, but most of them were genuine atrocities he had committed that the show had earlier glossed over.
** Dyan returning to Andromeda to mope that he had accidentally given children access to 80 Nova Bombs in ''To Loose a Fateful Lightning'' instead of ordering them to stand down and surrender control over the weapons to Andromeda. Keep in mind, at this point Dylan knows they revere him as [[TheMessiah "The High Guard"]] and would likely ''easily'' have done so. Instead, his inaction causes one heavily populated neighbouring system to be destroyed and only narrowly averts them doing similar kamikaze runs with the rest of the arsenal.
* WillTheyOrWontThey: Beka and Tyr -- never a relationship, though they did do each other. Twice.
** In an alternate timeline [[MindScrew which may have been the original timeline]], she did enter into a relationship with a Nietzchean... namely, ''Gaheris'' Rhade.
* XanatosSpeedChess: Dylan is a master of this.
** Tyr was able to play at almost the same level in the first season and a half, very nearly defeating Dylan a few times before switching sides at the last minute. This peaked in the episode ''The Prince'' where both reached heights they never had before and never would again by working together on such a project. After the original creator "left", Tyr suffered a horrible case of BadassDecay and quickly became a more straight-forward villain type.
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