Andromeda Roll Call: Part Two

Lisa Ryder is "Beka Valentine," streetwise captain of the good ship Eureka Maru.

Laura Bertram (here seen in slightly younger days) is "Trance Gemini," who identifies simply as "purple."

David Gordon Woolvett is "Harper," an engineer with "a lot of attitude" and a poor immune system.

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Don Lipper speaks with Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda co-executive producer and head writer Robert Hewitt Wolfe about Greeks, geeks, and purple cheeks.

SPACE.com: Tell me about the psychological dynamics of the people on the bridge of the Andromeda.

Robert Hewitt Wolfe: It’s quite a dynamic group as we’ve discovered from shooting "D Minus Zero", which put them into a very ship-based, action-based environment. They just have a different dynamic.

Very few of the regular characters are trained military officers and they have a lot of attitude. They are not very disciplined. They don’t always follow the orders given to them. They never say "sir." They rarely say "captain." They never salute. They’re never in uniform. It’s just a different feel. They’re definitely a bunch of scurvy dogs. They all have their own agendas, which really gives a nice charge to scenes where they may discuss different options to solve a problem.

In a typical show where all the officers are military and belong to the same organization, it tends to be "how do we do this?" But everyone has the same basic goal, to follow whatever the captain’s decision is, is the approach to the solution. That’s not a given here, that the other characters want to do what Dylan does. It’s never a given and rarely even true.

They are seven very different people. They all come from different places. Physically they all look very, very different. Psychologically they are all very, very different. Some of them are calm, some of them are quite hyper. We have serene. We have tough. It’s very nice. And we have Kevin at the center and he has a lot of dynamism in his performance too. It’s a nice mix.

SC: Now Trek seemed to have a formula with "The Magnificent Seven" cast members that repeated itself in each of the series. Is there something magic about seven as far as TV drama goes?

RHW: There is something magical about seven as far as drama is concerned. There’s a long history of instances where you need a certain number of people to invade the city, overthrow the government or save the princess. For some reason seven is a magical number for that kind of thing and it has been since Seven Against Thebes. I’m not sure when that was written but I’m pretty sure we’re going onto 2,500 years.

SC: What is Seven Against Thebes?

RHW: It is a Greek legend that is the basis for the Seven Samurai, which is the basis for The Magnificent Seven. It is one of the sequels to Oedipus Rex.

SC: Who in the remaining Andromeda crew is High Guard?

RHW: Dylan, Andromeda.

SC: That’s it?

RHW: Those two at least.

SC: You’re playing it that close?

RHW: Yeah we’ve got two months before the show is on the air. You know?

SC: What can you tell me about Harper (played by Gordon Michael Wolvett)?

RHW: Harper was born on Earth. He is an engineer with a lot of ‘tude. He has a plug on the side of his head that lets him plug in various a sundry programs. So he can do things like speak French or cook soufflés or plug directly into a computer and manipulate it. He is prone to diseases. He has a poor immune system because he grew up in a bad environment. He tends to catch everything.

He is played by Gordon Michael Wolvett [Bride of Chucky, Sliders, F/X The Series] who is a very funny and cool younger actor. And he’s as far from Kevin [Sorbo] and Keith Hamilton Cobb as you would likely meet.

SC: It says on the web site that Andromeda is his dream girl.

RHW: Basically, yeah. She’s a hot chick who also happens to be an incredibly cool piece of machinery. [LAUGHS] What more could you ask for?

SC: Who is Beka Valentine [played by Lisa Ryder, who appeared in the TV shows Total Recall, Psi Factor and City of Dark]?

RHW: Beka Valentine is the captain of the Eureka Maru, which is the freighter which helps rescue the Andromeda.

SC: What’s her character like?

RHW: She’s a survivor more than anything else. She’s someone who’s had a very rough life. She was basically born and raised on the Maru and has been scrambling her entire life. She continues to scramble to a certain extent throughout the course of the show.

SC: She’s human?

RHW: Yes.

SC: Who is Trance Gemini [played by Laura Bertram from Dear America and Seasons of Love]? She’s a Perseid?

RHW: No, she’s purple. If you asked her what race she was, she says she’s purple. No more information will be forthcoming from me and no more information will be coming from Trance anytime soon. You’ll just have to wait for it. You’ll probably find out where she’s from somewhere in season five. She ain’t telling.

SC: So this is a "don’t ask, don’t tell" situation.

RHW: You can ask. She has no problem with people asking. She just won’t tell. It’s all water under the bridge, where she came from, what her real name is. The past is the past. Let’s go have fun.

SC: And Rev Bem [played by Brent Stait of Mystery Alaska, Titanic and the TV shows X-Files, Due South and Outer Limits]? Could one guess that he would be a Than?

RHW: One could guess that, but one would be wrong. I’ll give you a clue, he’s not human and he’s not a Nietzschean. We were looking for someone with their head in a completely different position but we had to cast a human instead. He may be one of the races previously listed but I’m not saying he is. You will see a Nightsider in the first episode and you’ll see a Than but that’s all I’m going to say.

SC: You know if Andromeda doesn’t work out, you could have a career in the State Department.

RHW: [LAUGHS] I really can’t comment on that.