Trance uses a bonsai tree in this episode to travel back in time. In Season One's "Angel Dark, Demon Bright", when Trance 'accidentally' took the crew back in time and defeated the Nietzscheans at the battle of Witchhead Nebula, the episode ended with her pruning one of her trees, then saying "That's better", giving a first hint that her ability to affect fate is connected to her hobby.
We see that the Andromeda is not fully crewed, but has a security team and a few others.
Trance's pruning of the bonsai tree was never supposed to be a literal manifestation of her ability to affect fate, but just metaphor for the way she has chosen to shape the future.
Beka: I can't get over the feeling that should be me on that table, not him. Trance: There's way that this won't happen to any of you.
Dylan: Tell me that this all works out okay, Trance. That it means--something in the end. Trance: I wish I could do that...but I can't.
Beka: All hands, abandon-- Trance: ..Hope!
Trance: That thing out there, wants to kill us. And nothing you can do will destroy it, believe me. Now I don't know what this creature is, or why it is doing this, but I do know that it can tesseract through space, and backwards through time, so that it knows our next move before we even make it. Now, all I can tell you is to get Harper out of there, get Beka to move away from that pilot's station, and to tell everyone on board to set their force lances to full plasma blast, because that is the only thing that will even begin to slow this thing down. That's all I know. Dylan: Thank you Trance. That was admirably straightforward.
Dylan: Harper, back off, security force is on its way. Let them handle the intruder.
Harper: All right. Make sure you tell them to use excessive force.
Trance: Why come here to kill Beka? Does it know that she's the one? Or is it just making calculations? Let's find out.
You might say reality is the result of complex negotiations between the observer and the observed. But that is simply a point of view. Michio Von Kerr, "The Apotheosis of Reason," CY 11542.
International Airdates: -This episode aired in Canada on February 5, 2003 on Global. -This episode aired in the UK on June 30, 2003 on Sky One. -This episode aired in the Australia on January 31, 2004 on Fox 8.
The episode was originally written as part of the show's overall story arc: The Scourge was sent by the Abyss to come to the Andromeda Ascendant and retrieve the pieces of the Engine of Creation. Tribune demanding less story arcs in the show forced the removal of the connection to The Spirit of The Abyss.
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