TV Zone: Issue #167 - September 2003

The Honourable Man
by Steven Eramo

[Excerpt from Interview with Kevin Sorbo of ANDROMEDA]

Events are always on the move in Andromeda. With more cast and crew changes, star Kevin Sorbo looks forward to the new season... 

Dylan Hunt is not having a good day. Forced to eject from his damaged slipfighter, the captain of the Andromeda Ascendant finds himself marooned on the surface of a strange planet. As he makes his way slowly through the dense fog, Dylan abruptly stops in his tracks and listens to the sound of approaching footsteps. Force-lance in hand, he drops down to a defensive crouch and waits. He watches as a figure emerges from the swirling shroud. Dylan is surprised to see that it's a woman, in fact, a very sexy alien Amazon clad in a black dominatrix-type of outfit. Her name is Narra-Saya.

 "Do you require assistance?" she asks.

 "Ah… no, thanks. Been sitting around too long, thought I'd take a walk," says Dylan.

 "The fog is thick, I'll guide you."

Narra-Saya moves seductively towards Dylan. Before he knows it, she wraps her long legs and arms around him and they kiss. Dylan pushes her back but she presses her lips over his once again. Suddenly, a Nietzschean whip appears in her hand. They separate and Narra-Saya prepares to strike. Clearly, Dylan's day is going from bad to worse.

"It's a tough job but someone has to do it," smiles Kevin Sorbo, aka Andromeda's handsome heroic leading man Dylan Hunt. The actor is referring to his character's embrace with the leather-clad temptress, played by Apollonia Vanova. "Thank God I married an understanding woman." The above scene is part of the fourth season Andromeda episode Double or Nothingness, the filming of which wraps on this May afternoon at the show's Vancouver studios.

"This story is very cool," enthuses the actor, walking back to his trailer for a break. "It deals with what's real and what's not, and the viewer won't be able to trust what he or she is seeing. I've already placed this episode in our top five. Actually, the first three stories this season are unbelievable. The writers have really gotten into a groove and it's been full steam ahead ever since.

"What's fun about this particular episode is that Dylan is confronted with a very different type of Nietzschean. We're sort of stepping back and taking a page out of the original series bible that Robert Hewitt Wolfe [Andromeda creator and former executive producer] wrote. Basically what that means is that this season the Nietzscheans will have much more to do with the show's overall story arc, as will the Magog and their worldship. The two main Nietzscheans that Dylan meets this time around – Lipp-Sett and Shig – are played by two wonderful actors, Andrew Jackson and Colin Cunningham [Stargate SG-1's Major Davis]. They did a great job and I'd like to get them back as recurring characters."