Andromeda

Through an "accident" the crew gets shot 300 years back in time. They find themselves at the battleground of a pivitol battle between the neitchiens and Commonwealth.



Aside from the normal question of fate this raises (and it raises a few) the really good part is the characterization.

Every character has their own agenda and point of view.



Trance - She seems to know much more than she let on. It's more than possible that she arranged the trip back in time.



Dylan - Sees his opprotunity to help save the Commonwealth, or at least a friend.



Rommie - as a warship wants to stand and fight.



Harper - Attempts to kill the neitchien fleet and make himself a historical hero.



Tyr - tries to convince Dylan to help the neitchiens, thereby letting the neitchiens rule eath rather than let it be devoured by the magog. He even threatens Trance in one very good scene.



This is one of the best time travel stories which are very hard to pull off (Voyager, anyone?) but RHW manages to do it well, making this a classic.

I haven\'t seen this episode in a while, but I do remember it well. I found the plot to be well-founded.



I remember when Dylan had already started fighting the enemy fleet, Tyr came in and spoke of the legend of the Battle of Witchhead , handed down from the survivors over the 300 years.



Tyr: My people have a legend about the Battle of Witchhead. They say the Nietzschean fleet arrived with overwhelming numbers. Their victory seemed assured. But then, at the critical hour, the angel of death appeared and summoned forth the fires of Hell. The Nietzschean fleet was struck down, crippled, their glorious victory turned to ashes.

Beka: You knew all along?

Tyr: I\'ve never seen an angel before.

Robert Hewitt Wolfe deals with the age-old question; what is fate, and can we change it? The answer here seems to be that, by trying to prevent the future, we end up creating it. In ancient Greek mythology, the Fates were more powerful than gods, and even they had to submit to their will. The repeating question of Greek tragedy is, "what choice do humans have in a preordained world"? The answer seems to be that a hero is he, who despite being fully aware of his future, still fights the fates and goes down fighting.



A similar vein seems to run through this episode, with the crew inadvertedly ensuring that what happens in a pivotal battle is exactly what should happen, for their future to be the way they know it. They already know how it turns out; and yet, they fight against it, and refuse to take it lying down.



The scene where Dylan quotes from Indian epic Bhagavadgita and Tyr's statement, "I had never seen an angel before" are among my absolute favourites, and the reason why I kept watching the show even after season 2.



Robert Hewitt Wolfe is particularly adept at positioning his characters in a place where they grow almost subliminally. An excellent example of this I find to be Trance, who sends the crew back 300 years in a highly improbably "accident"; even then I remember thinking, "I wonder how that could be an accident".