In another SPACE.com exclusive, here’s the sci-fi shorthand for the new Gene Roddenberry series Andromeda: a Starfleet captain gets thrown into a ruined Federation-free future where Mad Max anarchy reigns.

But that’s not a description that pleases series co-executive producer (and head writer) Robert Hewitt Wolfe.

"I hate it. It kills me that you’re using 'Starfleet' or 'Federation' in any way associated with this show" he says -- in his universe, they’re called High Guard and Systems Commonwealth.

"Although they’re inevitable and I understand why, I don’t really like comparisons."

But the comparisons will start flying in the fall of 2000 as television audiences see Kevin (Hercules) Sorbo starring as Dylan Hunt, the "last starship captain of the Commonwealth."

Although "Dylan Hunt" was the name of the hero of two other Roddenberry pilots, Genesis II and Planet Earth, and all three series revolve around an Earthman who wakes up in an anarchistic future, the Andromeda character has no direct relationship to his predecessors.

According to the main web site of Tribune Entertainment, which is co-producing the show with Sorbo and Roddenberry Productions, Sorbo's Dylan Hunt is "a man of action, someone who is strong, determined and confident to once again restore the peace and order of the Commonwealth."

Every week for at least two seasons -- Tribune has already committed to 44 episodes -- Dylan will fight the forces of anarchy and try to bring back the glory days of the Commonwealth.

In Wolfe’s plan, while the series' story will progress, it won’t be a serial in the Babylon 5 sense.

"There will be continuity and consequences from episode to episode. However, my goal is that you should still be able to sit down and enjoy a single episode without Cliff Notes."

"There’s nothing! There’s chaos. It’s anarchy, it’s every man for himself. It’s Bosnia," Wolfe says.

The Andromeda is a big ship with 4,000 crewmembers. "That’s how many people are on the USS Nimitz," says Wolfe.

But don’t expect to see all 4,000 in the series. "There is a specific number of people who survive the time warp but it is definitely less than 4,000 and greater than zero," Wolfe hints darkly.

Things go south when the Andromeda hits the time-slowing event horizon of a black hole.

"Actually, technically it is the event horizon interacting with the artificial gravity generator of the ship which intensifies the normal time dilation effects of the event horizon," Wolfe admits.

"If it were just the event horizon by itself, the point at which time really does slow down sufficiently is about 2 feet away from the actual event horizon. At that point the gravity tides would tear you apart molecule by molecule long before a time dilation could take place. At least we know we cheated."

After Dylan finds himself in his own anarchic future, he has to reassemble a new crew for the Andromeda. But this new crew is light years from his old one.

"They are not professional military people, not loyal officers of the High Guard," Wolfe says. "They aren’t primarily interested in the common good for the greatest number of people. Well, some of them are, but not all. There are significantly less than 4,000 of them."

Keep watching SPACE.com for more details about Andromeda's alien universe, technology and rich science fiction timeline.