Wolfe dumped from Andromeda
The developer of the show becomes the latest Tribune Entertainment victim
By MICHAEL HINMANSource: Slipstream
Feb-15-2002
Say good-bye to the latest victim of Tribune Entertainment's lack of stability.
Robert Hewitt Wolfe, who became popular for his writing work on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," has left "Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda," after developing the series from rough notes left by the late Star Trek creator.
"You're probably wondering what the hell happened," Wolfe wrote at the Slipstream bulletin boards. "Short answer: Television happened."
Wolfe said he left the show in late September during the production of the 12th episode, "Ouroboros." Wolfe called his departure something that happened as a result of "creative conflicts" over the direction the syndicated show was taking. Wolfe said he had always envisioned a complex arc-based storyline, but Tribune Entertainment, Fireworks and series star Kevin Sorbo (Dylan Hunt) had different ideas.
"Basically, they want the show to be more action driven, more Dylan-centric, and more episodic," Wolfe said. "They also want more aliens, more space battles, and less internal conflict among the continuity so as not to confuse the casual or new viewer with too much back story. And finally, they wanted to rework the visual signature of several of the characters, most especially Trance (Laura Bertram) and Rommie (Lexa Doig), but also Dylan" with less uniforms and more civilian clothes.
Sorbo, always the "smart" guy, made the first announcement in the British Cult Times Magazine.
"Robert is a genius, but was developing stories that were too complicated and too clever for the rest of us to understand," Sorbo said. "What we now have is a team of very talented people who write standalone stories that can, on occasion, blend together to form a story arc. That simple 'turn-up, tune-in' attitude was what was missing. Now we have that, I really feel we're on track toward making 'Andromeda' an outstanding show."
And anyone who frequents the door of SyFy Portal, and one of its former sites, SyFy World, will know -- this is nothing new for Tribune Entertainment.
Just think back to "Earth: Final Conflict," where one-episode guest stars had felt more stable in their positions than the core cast and crew. That show, now in its fifth season and also based on the work of Gene Roddenberry, has only one member of the original cast remaining -- Von Flores -- and has changed leads twice (Kevin Kilner was fired after Season 1, and Robert Leeshock was let go at the end of Season 4).
Wolfe said not to count him out of the genre quite yet, in the meantime.
"Right now, I'm in the running for a couple of feature films, and Sci-Fi channel is considering one of my series proposals," he said. "There are several other things in the works, but I probably won't have anything solid until early next year."
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