Andromeda-1.10 (2000)

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General		Extras
Category	Science Fiction	Main Menu Introduction Menu Animation & Audio
Rating
Year Of Production	2000
Running Time	82:22
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Brad Turner David Warry-Smith
Studio Distributor	Beyond Home Entertainment	Starring	Kevin Sorbo Lisa Ryder Keith Hamilton Cobb Laura Bertram Brent Stait Gordon Michael Woolvett Lexa Doig
Case	C-Button-Version 2-Opaque
RPI	$29.95	Music	Alex Lifeson Matthew McCauley

    In the second episode on this disc Michael Shanks (Daniel Jackson in Stargate: SG1) is one of the guest stars. He plays an android that specialises in ancient languages (I wonder where they got the idea for that from?). The first episode on the disc is not too bad but the second one is very good. While the story line is a little mushy in places the acting of Lexa Doig makes it incredibly compelling viewing.

119: The Honey Offering

    A political marriage has been arranged between two rival Nietzchean Prides in the hope that they can combine forces and take on their mutual enemy, the Drago-Hazov Pride. The Drago-Hazov know of this impending marriage and are out to prevent it. In exchange for a couple of star systems Dylan offers the Andromeda as a wedding vehicle, putting them right in the line of fire. Thankfully there is more to the story than just a fight and run episode and it is down to Dylan to come up with a plan. See if you can spot the Roddenberry trade mark "captain's privilege" in this episode.

120: Star-crossed

    Arriving at the scene of a terrorist attack on a passenger ship the Andromeda rescues the only survivor, an android named Gabriel. In a universe where AIs are no longer accepted as they were in the old Commonwealth, Rommie and Gabriel are suddenly confronted by someone the same as they are. Sparks begin to fly between the two and we discover that AIs are capable of love. Unfortunately the terrorists and their leader appear on the scene and what is discovered leads to a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions.

Video

    The transfers are basically identical to the previous discs with the same good points and same bad.

    Presented at 1.33:1 and not 16x9 enhanced.

    Sharpness of the live footage is excellent and the computer generated material appears to be on the improve just about matching the live footage. Depth of field remains good in these episodes. Shadow detail is also good and there is no low level noise.

    Colours are excellent in the live footage and pretty good for the computer generated.

    There are no MPEG artefacts present or film-to-video artefacts. The problem with the shimmering on horizontal lines can be seen on a couple of the exterior shots of the Andromeda but only on a big screen and when you are looking closely. The tradition of excellent film masters continues with only a couple of spots present.

    There are no subtitles.

    This is a single layer disc.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Unfortunately the audio continues to bump along the bottom with little surround or bass activity.

    There is a single Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack that appears to be surround encoded despite not being flagged as such.

    Dialogue quality is very good as is the audio sync.

    The music supports the script well and has a reasonable sound stage, though not great.

    The surrounds were quite disappointing

    The subwoofer barely registered.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

    The animated menus are basically the same as the last disc, with the new navigation remaining. Before there were two selections at the top of the screen, one to start each of the two episodes on the disc. On this disc the top left selection is still there to start the first episode but the box on the right is no longer a selection but simply contains scrolling text. This means that you cannot directly select the second episode but must go through the chapter selection menu. Thank goodness you can skip the long intro section with the chapter next button.

    The first 5 episodes have finally been released in R1 allowing us to do a full comparison, and a very sad one it is. The next set of episodes have not yet been released in R1, I am going to still include the information for the first five episodes as they probably give a good indication of what will be coming, but be aware that the specifics here only apply to the first five episodes, not the episodes on this disc.

    The region 1 version is two discs with five episodes and...

    The region 4 version of this disc misses out on:

• Commentary on Under The Night
• Character Profile: Dylan Hunt
• Alternate Takes
• Image Gallery: Creation of Andromeda
• All Systems University 101 - Fighting Ships of the High Guard
• Glossary of the High Guard A-D
• Four TV Teasers
• Three TV Promos
• ADV Previews
• DVD Credits

    and that's just on the first disc, we continue with:

• Behind the Scenes - The Andromeda Idea
• Character Profile: Andromeda
• Alternate Takes
• Bloopers
• Timeline of the Commonwealth: The Imperial Era
• Prop & Set Concepts
• Production Biography: Robert Hewitt Wolfe
• TV Promos
• ADV Previews

    and to really top off the list:

• 1.78:1 and 16x9 enhancement.

    The region 1 version of this disc misses out on:

• nothing

    Even without the extras, the wide screen formatting makes the region 1 version the hands down winner. Even though we can't directly compare what extras will be included with the particular episodes reviewed here, R1 still wins on the wide screen formatting.

    The interplay between Rommie and Gabriel in Star-Crossed is really a notch above what we normally see in a TV series. I continue to be amazed at the number, and in many cases the quality of, science fiction series that we are treated to at the moment. With the ability to own these series on a wonderful format like DVD is a double bonus. The only fly in the ointment is that the R4 version of this series misses out on wide screen formatting and a good sound track.

    Video remains solid.

    Audio is a barely acceptable surround encoded effort.

    Still no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall