Andromeda And Mutant X Cancelled

dmehus writes "Science fiction fans may be dismayed to learn that "Mutant X" and "Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda" have been cancelled, despite the fact "Andromeda" had been cleared for a final season beginning in the fall. That prospect seems highly unlikely as the show's producer, Fireworks Entertainment, is shutting its doors for good and owner CanWest Global Communications (which also owns canada.com, the National Post, Global Television, and a bunch of other media assets) announced it will take a $159 million writedown on Fireworks. The news means "Mutant X" has a series total of three seasons and 66 episodes, while "Andromeda" will have a series total of 88 episodes in four seasons. Slashdot has previously covered 'Andromeda'."

Comments

Re:One could say ...

[LostCluster]

Slashdot, the only place you can make a Futurama reference and then have it expounded upon.

Futurama lasted only 72 episodes, yet is still doing perfectly well in 5-a-week infinite reruns on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. It is possible to survive with less than 100 episodes... but the show has to be detail-filed and good in general.

As close to the horses mouth as I can find:

[Hungus]

This is pulled directly from the official andromeda bboards:

From: JeremyTII Apr-21 7:51 pm
To: Rayhana (27 of 56)
11360.27 in reply to 11360.26

While I cannot answer every question everyone has about the issues discussed in this thread, I believe I can offer some encouraging information.

From speaking with TPTB, I can tell you this: Mutant X and Andromeda have not been written off; Tribune very much wants to produce another season (meaning S4 and S5, respectively) of both shows.

Beyond that, I really don't know many details.  Bottom line: You, the viewers, want the shows to come back.  Tribune is trying very hard to make sure that happens, I assure you.

On another note, Marta is no longer with Tribune.  In the interest of preventing future rumor-mongering, I will say that she was not fired or laid off; she left voluntarily, and on good terms. She may log in here again sometime, but that's up to her.

Hang in there, folks; we're tryin' our hardest.
   Jeremy D. Horowitz
   Website Producer/Moderator
   Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda

Two things we should think about.

[Yo Grark]

1. Mutant X was not a cheesy ripoff of X-men, it was sanctioned by Marvel in a struggling time and helped keep Marvel going even in a small capacity. Besides it was filmed in Canada, most in Toronto, how much quality can you REALLY get? :P

2. Andromeda WAS good with good story arcs till Sorbo decided that his "fans" couldn't handle anything more than 1 story long and became "episode adventures" after he fired a true writing guru...

"Robert Hewitt Wolfe has parted company with the last bastion of scifi for people with half a brain - Andromeda. Wolfe said: "Basically, they want the show to be more action driven, more Dylan-centric, and more episodic. They also want more aliens, more space battles, and less internal conflict among the principal characters. Also, they want a lot less continuity so as not to confuse the casual or new viewer with too much backstory."

Well congrats Sorbo, your simple plan worked perfectly. Maybe they'll invite you back on a Young Hercules episode. Wait...that was cancelled too you say? HA!

Yo Grark

Re:88 and rough end is tough fate in TV biz...

[TheWanderingHermit]

No offence to those who like Andromeda, but I think it's about time people stopped cashing in on Gene Roddenberry's name just to get ratings.

Actually, Andromeda did have a basis in Roddenberry's work -- at least more so than Earth:Final Conflict did (unless I missed something). The original idea was a show called "Genesis II" about a man named Dylan Hunt who was put in some kind of suspension for an experiment, and found by a group called Pax something like 150 years later, after Earth had been through bad events and balkanized. He and the Pax teams would use subshuttles to get to all the different city-states that had grown up after a technological and civil collapse. The intent was to give the characters access to many different cultures, like the Enterprise had in Trek, and let us watch as Pax and Dylan rebuilt society. There was another pilot, very similar, called "Earth II" (I think), that, again, had Dylan Hunt sleep for a long time (this time on a space station), before returning to a balkanized Earth to help rebuild civilization.