Andromeda
"All Great Neptune's Ocean"

Airdate: January 15, 2001

The crew of the Andromeda Ascendant are to play host to the Castalian President and his party for a state banquet, followed by the ratification of that group's entry into the Commonwealth. This doesn't go down well with Beka and Harper, however, who have to dress up for the occasion, though Rommie seems to be loving every minute. Poor Tyr, on the other hand, hasn't even been invited to the festivities. Of course, he manages to gate-crash the party and spoil everything -- well, everything except the music. That couldn't be any worse.

Do you really think this man would assassinate anyone... if he wasn't getting paid to do it?

Anyway, some calming words later and things are just about smoothed out. All that needs to happen for the signing to take place is an apology from Tyr. (I know what you're thinking -- like that's going to happen this side of Dylan going to sleep for another 300 years! Oh ye of little faith). It seems Dylan is a better motivational speaker than we bargained for and Tyr duly turns up to eat humble(ish) pie.

President Lee requests that he and Tyr be given some privacy, so everyone else clears the area. Which, of course, is the cue for the assassination. Upon rushing back into the room, Dylan and the President's bodyguard find the great man dead, and Tyr lying on his back having convulsions.

So, now Dylan has a problem on his hands (again!) Did Tyr assassinate President Lee, or as it later appears, was it Rommie? Whoever it was, he cannot allow it to seem that the crew of the Andromeda are above the law -- one of his crew may have to face death to keep the dream of the Commonwealth alive.

Despite being a fairly standard whodunnit type of episode, "All Great Neptune's Ocean" was nicely carried off. Of course, having Tyr as the pseudo-bad guy is starting to wear a little thin -- after all, the man surely cannot be responsible for everything that goes wrong in the universe (can he?) and that was the first thought that occurred to me after the assassination.

The story moved along at a nice pace, and there are definite signs that the crew are a lot more relaxed with each other now, with some nice interplay between the characters -- notably Beka and Dylan, and Harper and Rommie. Those of you paying more attention to the background than I was (shame on you!! I hear you cry) probably worked out whodunnit earlier than I did, but hey -- I never claimed to be Trance Gemini.

My last thought on the episode is this. How did one of the extras from early 70's British SF show UFO manage to get as far as Castalia, and how did she disguise her sparkly blue hair?

-- Muriel 'Mogs' Moore

Andromeda airs at 8pm GMT Mondays on Sky One in the UK and is syndicated in North America so check your local listings for show times.

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