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So that’s also built into her programming. So she might be wistful, but it even so much as an unrequited love, it’s a little bit like . . . as a child you might have a crush on your uncle? Just because he’s dashing and handsome and all this other stuff, but as an adult you would never have that, you would go, "oh, isn’t that funny." It’s that same sort of thing, and she does grow out of it actually a little bit.

In an episode were about to start shooting called "Star-Crossed", that’s sort of Andromeda’s episode. And I’m sure you can figure out by the title, she falls in love.

And it’s not that pretty. It’s not that ugly either, it’s actually really a fascinating episode, but a lot of that again is experiential, and that can only happen with Rommie the body as opposed to the ship itself.

SPACE.com: Harper has the hots for you? Not only as a female but also as a piece of machinery?

LD: Yes.

SPACE.com: So, what does she think of Harper?

LD: I think she’s flattered, but at the same time -- because he’s so forward about it and really doesn’t ever give up, and just when you think he is giving up, he comes out with something else -- it’s something that she bears willingly, and with a bit of affection, and at time, annoyance.

And she likes to string Harper along sometimes a little bit too, just to get him going. Not as far as, maybe a promise of . . . never that, but there’s this really funny conversation in "Double Helix" where she’s says, "Harper, you’ve built certain, shall we say, adjustments to my anatomy that aren’t, strictly speaking, necessary for my operation. Why did you do that?"

So, he’s sort of on the spot. Terrified. But she loves Harper. He keeps her running. In ways that probably her previous engineer didn’t because there are all sorts of Commonwealth Protocols, and this is how things are done, and that was very much how the Commonwealth was run, where as Harper is a fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants guy, and comes up with very creative solutions to problem on a ship that really, normally has a crew of 4,000, and now has a crew of five. Six, counting the captain.

SPACE.com: What about her relationship to the others?

LD: I think she trusts who Dylan trusts. To a large degree, she takes a cue through Dylan. I think probably the least trusted would be Tyr. But she does respect his ability as a warrior.

And not necessarily even as a necessity, but how having him on board is a good thing. She’s accustomed to dealing with Nietzscheans, they were members of the Commonwealth and there was a Nietzschean as a first officer.

[She’s always] sort of sizing up your enemy, so to speak. There’s also a little bit of that old adage of "keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer." But it’s beyond her, I think, in some ways: the possibility of double-crossing and beguiling and that sort of manipulation.

Sarcasm isn’t, those slightly lighter emotions that aren’t completely pure, but the concept of absolute deception within her crew, if told to do so by the captain, it’s not a problem. But for her to come up with it on her own, I don’t think she’d really bother.

Next page: why Rommie's a Trancer

~

SPACE.com: You would think that she and Trance, especially Rommie and Trance, would be sort of kindred spirits?

LD: A little bit. It’s slightly different because Rommie is also Andromeda. So, there’s a slight superiority complex that Andromeda has, but not in an arrogant way, she’s just the most powerful being "on" the ship, as far as she’s concerned.

But I think Rommie is much easier at confessing her feelings. Even Andromeda is a little bit [better] at confessing feelings about how strange things are to Trance, than she is to anybody else.

It’s sort of, "you’re the least likely to judge and you’re the least threatening." As far as Andromeda’s concerned, Trance is by far and away the least threatening of all the crewmembers.

She really likes Rev Bem, even though I think there’s an initial distrust simply because he’s Magog, but he’s proven himself time and again. Because even the quiet conversations -- and this is the thing that I’ve had to keep in mind, the quiet conversations, the private conversations that Rev would have with Dylan or with any of the other characters -- Andromeda sees it all.

So, even when they’re not thinking they’re in her presence, she sees how they all act and what they do in their spare time and how they interact with each other, and that is how she draws a lot of her conclusions, as far as who she likes and who she doesn’t like.

SPACE.com: It’s interesting that she has this arrogance, as you say. But she cozies up to and is most comfortable with the lowest status character on the ship?

LD: Yeah, it’s new to her, she’s also of a very protective nature as well. It’s built into her programming to care about whoever is on her ship, and to not want them to come to any harm. She would be upset if Tyr was hurt or trapped or something like that, and he has been. She does get quite upset about it, and it’s equally important to her to get back that member of her crew as it is to Dylan or to any of the other friends.

But I think she loves Trance, and I use the term "love" very loosely but she likes Trance a lot because you can’t not like her. She’s a very innocent -- not stupid, but a very innocent being.

And there is a certain, as you said, kindred kind of spirit thing going on between Rommie and Trance but unfortunately it’s not shown, that’s just sort of in my head how I see it.

Next page: disco pants, Martha Stewart and Michael Shanks

~

SPACE.com: Have there been any sequences that have been especially hard or fun for you to shoot?

LD: In "Rose In the Ashes" where I’m in a cage in a studded leather bikini top and disco pants. That one was not a particular favorite of mine.

SPACE.com: Why?

LD: Why? I’m in a studded leather bikini top and disco pants, man, why do you think? In a cage! It was kind of discombobulating.

But at the same time, as difficult as those scenes were they had their really fun times. Like, I really enjoyed doing dancing. It was difficult, it was hard work, but I really enjoyed doing it.

And I think, I really enjoyed doing "All Great Neptune’s Ocean", simply because Al Harmon, who’s one of our first A.D.s, directed it, and he’s a hoot and a half, and I really get along with him.

And there’s a bit of a comic thing going on with Rommie in that, a little bit. It got a bit heavy toward the end, but at the beginning -- because Rommie herself is hosting a state dinner for some dignitaries and, she turned into Martha Stewart on crack a little bit -- it was a lot of fun to play.

SPACE.com: So those are the things to look forward to?

LD: Probably "Star-Crossed". I don’t know if I’m allowed to say this, but . . . I’m sure I am, but I’m not sure, but we’ve got Michael Shanks from Stargateguest-starring in "Star-Crossed" as the person that Andromeda falls in love with for the first time. And it’s an interesting episode.

Actually the one that we just shot, which is sort of Rev Bem’s episode, "Devil Takes Hindmost", that Ashley Miller & Zack Stentz wrote is probably my favorite episode so far. The concepts are so fascinating.

Not to say that I didn’t like the other ones, because they’re really good, but this one, I read it and just went "wow." It deals a lot with esoteric concepts, because it’s largely about Wayism and putting it into practice and the solutions that they come up with for the problems that they have.

I haven’t read all of the scripts. I’ve read up to "The Sum of Its Parts", and then beyond that, I know which ones they’re working on. I know Ashley and Zack are working on "Fear and Loathing in the Milky Way", which is a comic episode.

I don’t think I’ve got much to do in that, but Ashley and Zack are excellent writers and they’ve got a very funny sense of humor, so it should be a very funny episode. They’re might be a resurgence of Gerentex the Nightsider [from the pilot], in that episode as kind of comic relief.

Next page: the dreaded Andromeda dance, at last

~

SPACE.com: I asked Robert if there was any question that I should be asking you? And he said that I should ask you about "The Andromeda Dance."

LD: Oh God. [LAUGHS] Okay, you’ve got to understand I get punchy when I spend hours on sets, and the only way to handle that is to get a little goofy. I get comments from people when they watch the dailies because I’m always making funny faces or I’m fighting with the clapper, the camera assistant who does the slate. I’ll grab the slate and take it back.

"The Andromeda Dance" is this really stupid little dance that I’ll do, just for no reason. As a complete non sequitor, "Okay, everybody do the Andromeda Dance!"

My whole idea was that at the end credits, that you have a little Andromeda Hologram in the bottom corner of the screen, just doing this stupid little dance for the credits. I was shot down. They didn’t go for that idea. But I’ve managed to get quite a few people doing it periodically.

SPACE.com: Would you be wearing, the studded tank top and the disco pants for this?

LD: I think some people would probably like me to, I’m sure. But it would be cool, like in that James Bond-y way to just have it in silhouette. But, yeah, the disco pants are a hoot and a half, I gotta say. The boots were the best part, because they were clear plastic, with shiny pink toes and heels. And the clear plastic had like little sparkly bits on it. Yeah, that was . . . yeah, probably my least favorite costume.

SPACE.com: You are lying. You are wearing them now, aren’t you?

LD: [LAUGHS] I just tooled around my apartment to show off my plastic boots. But shiny pants are fine, I’m a big Pinky and the Brain fan, so "narf!"

[For those not in the know, Pinky and the Brain has a running gag about shiny pants.]

I love Pinky and the Brain. I think it’s the funniest cartoon show. I’m trying to get Andromeda to sneak in a few Pinky catchphrases but, again, no one is going for it.