By Caillan at the slipstream
The departures of head writer Robert Hewitt Wolfe and Brent Stait (Rev Bem) during Andromeda's second season left actress Lexa Doig (Andromeda) a little uncertain about what the next year might hold for the series.
"We have no idea what's going to greet us," Doig told Xposé's Nick Joy. "We had a lot of changes in the second season, and now Robert Wolfe, who wrote the series bible, has left the show. We've got a new head writer [Robert Engels] but we've pretty much got the same writing staff. I know that there are changes about the direction of the show, and I'm really fascinated about what the third season holds. A lot of ideas about where the show was going came from Robert Wolfe's plan. Now that he's gone, all bets are off. So, while I'm looking forward to it, at the same time I'm a little afraid."
Doig acknowledged that casual viewers often found it difficult to keep up with extended plotlines. "I would show episodes to friends of mine and they would say 'Who's this? What's that? We don't understand what's going on,'" she said. "I think it's great that Robert didn't try to appeal to the lowest common denominator, but you had to follow every episode to know what was going on. You really do need standalone episodes where you don't need to have seen the last three shows to know who the people are, and what their mission is."
There were other modifications, including a new costume and hairstyle for Doig's character, which the actress admits she wasn't initially happy about. "A lot of the visual changes happened because 'The Powers That Be' at Fireworks and Tribune said, 'We're not happy with the look of the show, you have to change it.' So, the poor writers had to go away and find ways to explain the changes. But some of them weren't explained at all, and I disagree with that.
"I've always thought that Rommie should stay in uniform, but she's not any more. And there have been a couple of costumes where I've looked at them and gone, 'You've got to be kidding me!' But our costume designer is good at splitting the difference and compromising a little bit. The visual changes on the show have for the most part settled down now, but next year I'm hoping that they'll at least explain them in the story."
Andromeda also lost Rev Bem when actor Brent Stait left due to problems with the extensive prosthetics and makeup required for the role. Doig is uncertain whether there will be a new alien character to replace him.
"I think they're torn insofar as they'd like another alien on the show, but they have to wrap their heads around what kind of alien it would be," she said. "They also have to think about the make-up problems that Brent had. And at the same time they don't want to spread themselves too thin over a cast of seven characters. They had a lot on their plates with seven characters last year. When it got down to six, certain relationships congealed a little bit more, and I'm not sure that they even know what they're going to do."
At the moment, Doig is adopting a wait-and-see attitude to the changes. "We've been picked up for a fourth season, so we'll go to a further 44. I'm currently in contract negotiations to go on past the third. I don't know how that will go, but the third year will be very telling because of all the changes."
The departures of head writer Robert Hewitt Wolfe and Brent Stait (Rev Bem) during Andromeda's second season left actress Lexa Doig (Andromeda) a little uncertain about what the next year might hold for the series.
"We have no idea what's going to greet us," Doig told Xposé's Nick Joy. "We had a lot of changes in the second season, and now Robert Wolfe, who wrote the series bible, has left the show. We've got a new head writer [Robert Engels] but we've pretty much got the same writing staff. I know that there are changes about the direction of the show, and I'm really fascinated about what the third season holds. A lot of ideas about where the show was going came from Robert Wolfe's plan. Now that he's gone, all bets are off. So, while I'm looking forward to it, at the same time I'm a little afraid."
Doig acknowledged that casual viewers often found it difficult to keep up with extended plotlines. "I would show episodes to friends of mine and they would say 'Who's this? What's that? We don't understand what's going on,'" she said. "I think it's great that Robert didn't try to appeal to the lowest common denominator, but you had to follow every episode to know what was going on. You really do need standalone episodes where you don't need to have seen the last three shows to know who the people are, and what their mission is."
There were other modifications, including a new costume and hairstyle for Doig's character, which the actress admits she wasn't initially happy about. "A lot of the visual changes happened because 'The Powers That Be' at Fireworks and Tribune said, 'We're not happy with the look of the show, you have to change it.' So, the poor writers had to go away and find ways to explain the changes. But some of them weren't explained at all, and I disagree with that.
"I've always thought that Rommie should stay in uniform, but she's not any more. And there have been a couple of costumes where I've looked at them and gone, 'You've got to be kidding me!' But our costume designer is good at splitting the difference and compromising a little bit. The visual changes on the show have for the most part settled down now, but next year I'm hoping that they'll at least explain them in the story."
Andromeda also lost Rev Bem when actor Brent Stait left due to problems with the extensive prosthetics and makeup required for the role. Doig is uncertain whether there will be a new alien character to replace him.
"I think they're torn insofar as they'd like another alien on the show, but they have to wrap their heads around what kind of alien it would be," she said. "They also have to think about the make-up problems that Brent had. And at the same time they don't want to spread themselves too thin over a cast of seven characters. They had a lot on their plates with seven characters last year. When it got down to six, certain relationships congealed a little bit more, and I'm not sure that they even know what they're going to do."
At the moment, Doig is adopting a wait-and-see attitude to the changes. "We've been picked up for a fourth season, so we'll go to a further 44. I'm currently in contract negotiations to go on past the third. I don't know how that will go, but the third year will be very telling because of all the changes."