Backgrounds 

Andromeda is a popular science fiction series that has been filmed from 2000 to 2005 in Vancouver, Canada. It can be considered the last vision of Gene Roddenberry before he died in 1991. The well known science fiction author famous for Star Trek was developing Andromeda as a new fiction, but was unable to finish it. His widow, Majel Roddenberry passed over his notes to Tribune Entertainment who initiated the TV series.
Tribune engaged the author Robert Hewitt Wolfe (Star Trek DS9, The 4400) to develop the series from Roddenberry's rare notes. He became executive producer and head of the writing staff for the first two seasons of Andromeda. He soon gained popularity among the fans for his unique style to build up complex storylines and plots. At that time, Andromeda was one of the most complex science fiction series that worked a lot with hidden motives and hints to reveal the entire storyline.

In the middle of the second season, right after the key episode Ouroboros (212), Robert Hewitt Wolfe was exchanged by Robert Engels who was known for his writer and director position in Twin Peaks. This step was taken by Tribune Entertainment since they feared that the complex continuity of the Robert Hewitt Wolfe storyline would result in a loss of audience.
As a result, season 3 of Andromeda aired with a stronger focus on action and with only a little continuity. Ironically, this step towards an action series resulted in a massive loss of viewers, so Tribune got back to the former, more complex and continuous style of the series. Starting from season 4, Andromeda gained back a lot of its former quality and ended with a highly dramatic season final.

Andromeda always had to suffer from its small budget, which was even below the production budget of Babylon 5. Hence, the series could never achieve the set quality of Stargate or Star Trek. After the end of season 4, the series could only continue due to the strong involvement of Kevin Sorbo and with a much smaller budget. As a result, the Seefra story arc was invented as the continuation of the events in season 4 finale. This allowed the producers to work with a very limited amount of sets. Season 5 however convinced with the most continuity in the entire series and lead to a highly suspenseful and mysterious ending, while even picking up motives from Robert Hewitt Wolfe's initial concept.

While the small production budget lead to many episodes taking place in caves, the CGI visualization of Andromeda was always very convincing and also developed in a positive way throughout the series. The ship design of the Andromeda Ascendant itself is considered to be a masterpiece of art among most science fiction fans. While the budget forced the producers to recycle many CGI sequences throughout the series, the scenes themselves had a high visual quality. In season 4, the Andromeda Ascendant was equipped with new textures and details and became even more stunning. The CGI crew started to work with matte paintings and also the fight scenes improved very much. As the series approached its final, the visual effects and choreography could compete with industry leader ILM.

The composing of the music for the series was the duty of Matthew McCauley, who accompanied all five seasons as composer. While the main theme for the first season was composed by the Canadian artist Alex Lifeson as an electronically distorted guitar theme, Matthew McCauley introduced a more epic orchestral theme in season 2. The Andromeda soundtrack was a rather unique mix of orchestral themes and spacy synthesized sounds. One of the master pieces most appreciated by the fans is the "Arcology Theme" which was first introduced in the season 4 final. Unfortunately, this track was never publicly released as a soundtrack.