SPACE
In this exclusive SPACE.com
interview, Andromeda co-creator Robert Hewitt Wolfe says the new
show will lean "more toward the ER school of filmmaking," with a
fast pace, character-driven stories and -- interestingly enough -- no predetermined
story arc.
More
about the technology of Andromeda
More
about collaborating with the late Gene Roddenberry
SPACE.com: If you
were going to pitch Andromeda to a network, what's your 25-word
pitch?
Robert Hewitt Wolfe:
Andromeda's about one man's quest to forward the cause of civilization
over the cause of anarchy.
SC: (Laughing) That's
good.
RHW: Civilization:
good. Anarchy: bad.
SC: Majel [Roddenberry]
has said that Andromeda will be "a departure ... fast, rapid with
everything going at once."
RHW: What we're trying
to do -- and we haven't shot a frame of footage yet, but the intention
is to give things a faster pace, have overlapping dialogue, use a lot of
Steadicam and handheld camera to give it (for lack of a better term) a
more "modern" feel, a different feel. Star Trek and Star Wars
work quite well. I'm not saying ours is better but we need to differentiate.
SC: Would it be sci-fi
verité?
RHW: A little more
of that. A little more toward the ER school of filmmaking than the
Star Trek school. This is what we're going to attempt. I don't want
to say we're going to achieve it because I don't know yet.
SC: In addition to
the pace of the series, what other "un-Star Trek" elements are you
going to add to the show?
RHW: I want the show
to be fast paced. I want to emphasize the characters and the story over
the science, and use science as a backdrop. I feel like we're in a situation
where it is natural to compare us to other shows that have come before
us. I really want to create a unique show that stands on its own. I'm hoping
that most of the reaction will be based on what this show is, not based
on what it's being compared to.
SC: Unfortunately
my next question is a comparison. Babylon 5 had a five-year story
arc. Does Andromeda have a series arc?
RHW: I think that
whether a show has an arc has become a glib buzzword in science fiction.
I think that our show will tell a story from the time it starts until the
time it ends. I don't really know how it is going to end right now. I don't
want to know. I know that it will have a beginning, middle and an end.
I know enough about television to know that you need to have a certain
amount of flexibility. Just for myself, I'm not comfortable absolutely
locking myself in and telling you today that I know every beat of the story.
SC: Is there any news?
New casting? New art?
RHW: We are cast.
But since it's Tribune's, they get to have the fun of announcing these
kinds of things, and I don't want to steal their thunder. So it'll be according
to Tribune's schedule about when they want to do this and announce things
like the cast and stuff. I can talk about the backstory and technology,
all that kind of stuff. But they get all the fun of doing the cast.
SC: And I assume there's
no art or production, or since you've just been cast you don't have any
art of all of them in costumes or props or ships....
RHW: The props don't
exist yet, the ship is in development. The props are being built, the set
is being built. No one has put on a costume.
SC: O.K.
RHW: The people who
are going to wear prosthetics, have not yet put on the prosthetics. We're
a ways away from all of that.
SC: Do you have a
basic design for the ships?
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