"The Sum of Its Parts" |
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by David E. Sluss |
10 March 2001 |
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THE BOTTOM LINE: Pass the insulin. It wasn't my cup of tea, and I question the wisdom of introducing a poor man's Borg Collective into the Andromeda universe. CYNICS CORNER RATING: 7.0 (C-) GOOD THINGS OF THE WEEK: Well that was just sweet, wasn't it? "One thing we will always remember is what it means to be a friend" Eek! Still, production values are good, we had some continuity and some minor progress on the Trance front. Even Hunt's command style is improving: he now consults his crew and then ignores them, instead of just ignoring them. Some of the things that were discussed this week almost seemed designed to answer questions and nitpicks about the show; I'm talking about things like Beka wondering aloud why Andromeda's AI needs to look like a "walking heart attack," or Andromeda's aside that her crew complement was originally 70% human, which sort of addresses (though doesn't explain) my frequent gripe about the seeming over-population of humans both pre- and post-Fall. SHORTEST ACT OF THE WEEK: Probably of the season, that is, any episode of any series this season. And by season, I mean "since television was invented." The third act clocked in at 2 minutes, 47 seconds. Come on... ANDROMEDA CLICHES OF THE WEEK: I haven't checked lately, but I guess Andromeda must be batting about 0.750 in terms of episodes featuring one or more unauthorized boardings. Then we have the Unexplained Absence by Rev Bem, whose presence might have been appropriate in this story, contemplating whether Parts have souls and that kind of hoohah. Oh, well... LAUGH LINE OF THE WEEK: Harper: "But it's just a stupid speech!" If only he'd direct it at Hunt... MISSED LINE OF THE WEEK: Why wasn't Harper in the hangar to say "It looks like you came in pieces!" Oh, well, if he had said it, I'd gripe about the obviousness of the dialog... UNLIKELY LINE OF THE WEEK: Even given a Magical Mystery Database, I have my doubts that knowledge of "Ms. Pac-Man" will survive the next couple of millennia... GROPE OF THE WEEK: Again Andromeda faints so that the nearest male crew member can cop a feel as he catches her (see also "The Pearls That Were Its Eyes"). LOOSE ENDS OF THE WEEK: Despite the sickeningly happy ending, it wouldn't seem that this new consensus is out of the woods yet. VX was basically only a stooge, certainly not the last word in the Consensus; the rest of the Consensus just might want to come down on this abomination as well. Even so, we're apparently still assured of a happy ending based on the opening quote of the show, which seems to be from the "future" and quotes the 17th "Outcast Consensus." COMPUTER INSECURITY OF THE WEEK: During the download from H.G., Andromeda erects a firewall to limit H.G.'s data access to "a bare minimum." Under what definition would "bare minimum" include access to the Magical Mystery Database's entry on "wakes?" MOST TRIVIAL NITPICK OF THE WEEK: So what is the singular of
"Consensus?" Sometimes Hugh, excuse me, H.G., spoke of an individual member of
his race as a "consensus," other times as a "consensi." So which is
it? |
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© 2001 David E. Sluss |