The intelligent starship we'll be seeing in Andromeda came directly from Gene Roddenberry's notes, but the physics is up to date with contemporary string theory and there aren't any subspace communicators. Co-creator Robert Hewitt Wolfe shares a sneak peek at the "unique" technology of his upcoming show.

Robert Hewitt Wolfe: Gene [Roddenberry] did leave a lot of notes on the current stuff he wanted to do, so I had access to those notes. Gene was calling for a sentient mechanical ship. One that was basically fully human in every way, emotionally. I thought that was really cool.

Some of the other stuff I wanted to do was thinking about what was the logical next step. Obviously Star Trek was envisioned in the sixties, most of Gene's notes [for Andromeda] were from the seventies. What I tried to do is correct some of the things Star Trek got wrong.

SC: Like what?

RHW: Star Trek thought we were going to go further in certain directions like matter control but didn't realize how far we were going to go in areas like genetic engineering and nanotechnology. They are starting to build the basic underlay of what molecular machines will be someday. Now. Today. We're much further ahead. Our computers in some ways are better than the computers on the Enterprise in a lot of weird ways.

We also wanted to differentiate ourselves from basic Trek tech. So I started think if Trek does X, we need to do Y. We don't need transporters, we'll do a lot of things differently, which is what I think Gene was playing with too. To do things differently from what he'd already done. That was part of the motivation for doing such detailed background.

We just needed to create a completely new universe, one that was different from everyone else out there. One that would be unique, so that when people looked at it they would know they weren't watching Star Trek, Star Wars or any thing that's come before.

It will be a fun universe to play in, with different alien races, different technology and there are things that our ships are better at than any other ships out there. There are things our ships don't do as wells as other people's ships.

SC: Such as?

RHW: For example, we have a very limited way of traveling faster than light. It's very specific. We do NOT have faster than light communications. But our ship is better, more maneuverable, smarter and more able to avoid many of the weapons we see in science fiction. Our ship actually pays attention to relativity.

SC: That's the next thing I wanted to discuss. If you look at Star Wars, the hyperdrive gets you into hyperspace. What is hyperspace? It just allows you to go real fast. In Star Trek, you warp space so you can go really fast. But they aren't too clear on how. But you have created faster than light travel within the confines of relativity.

RHW: Yes, sort of.

SC: As far as I know you're the first science fiction show to make use of string theory.

RHW: Well part of that is that is because most of these other shows were envisioned before string theory was popular. String theory is a very recent development in physics. We had the advantage of being able to play with that, which other shows couldn't do because the theory wasn't there.

SC: Do you think that fans need that level of detail?

RHW: It's different. It's fun. It's another way of doing things. We're not going to sit there and explain this stuff to death. One of my theories about showing science is that less is more. You explain all that you need for the story and that's it. If we make our rules different from everyone else's rules, our show will feel different.

SC: One of the things I found interesting is that a human must choose the ship's path.

RHW: This is your basic Heisenberg type stuff. When it comes to subatomic physics, without an observer, both conditions are true. Before the choice is made, both paths are right and both paths are wrong. When you make the decision the probability wave collapses and that determines whether you've chosen the right path. As we know on a quantum level, the act of observing influences the result. In this particular slipstreamy space, the act of choosing by a sentient, organic observer actually makes the choice right, most of the time. If that makes any sense at all. It works for me.

More About Andromeda From Robert Hewitt Wolfe

About the look and feel of the show - a little more toward the ER school of filmmaking.

About collaborating with the late Gene Roddenberry - it was interesting how well our ideas did mesh.

RHW: I wouldn't say the Force is involved at all really. The Force, as I understand it, a mystical unity with everything. But this isn't the Force. It is more like Zen archery. You become one with the bow and the target. There is no difference between you, the bow and the target. Because you're the same thing, when you release, you hit what you want. It is a philosophical construct rather than a metaphysical one.