Just like a Nova bomb trying to destroy a Magog worldship, it seems that "Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda" is a hit or miss. But when it comes to the second season premiere, we see the very first change in the series -- an almost-hit, almost-miss. "The Widening Gyre" has brought back Dylan Hunt (Kevin Sorbo) and his Andromeda Ascendant crew to fight the ugliest, most poorly costumed villain the former Commonwealth has ever faced. No, it's not Oprah Winfrey. It's the Magog. A year ago, I reviewed the series premiere of "Andromeda" on our site before the merger, SyFy World. In that review, I made it quite clear that the opening theme song (and I still use that term loosely) was the worst noise I have ever heard. I called then for a new theme, and I'm glad that other fans joined me in doing so. When the new opening theme played, although I had heard it on an audio MP3, I have to admit, the opening sequence played so much better, and I actually felt I was watching a serious show instead of some science fiction program that a couple of geeks made in their garage. In "The Widening Gyre," we did get to see a tremendous improvement on the writing, apparently executive producer Robert Hewitt Wolfe finally getting away from some of the sophomoric writing and forced situations we find our characters in. And at the same time, this opening episode strengthened the overall premise of the show. Instead of some old guy's quest to rebuild something that has been dead for many years, we now have a reason to build a new Commonwealth, what Wolfe described in interviews over the summer as a "ticking timebomb." When he first said that, I was worried what strange situation they would create ... but I like the idea of the Abyss creature and his seemingly inpenetrable worldship are on their way ... and it's going to take way more than just one ship to stop it. The story this time around was a bit hard to follow ... it might be because I am simply out of practice when it comes to watching "Andromeda." But with Rev going back and forth between his people and the Andromeda crew, I was getting confused into exactly what I was supposed to be following. But infecting Harper (Gordon Michael Woolvett) with Magog eggs, and keeping this as an arc, at least through the first part of the second season, will hopefully give us something else to fight time with on the home front while Dylan tries to quickly develop the Commonwealth. Some of the special effects have improved, but not by much. I did not like the big robots at all. I think it was hokey to have them (and not use them) before, and when we did see them, it was like I was playing the old Super Mario Brothers games on my first Ninetendo as a kid. Hell, I think my Starship Creator program can create better special effects than what we saw there. And the Andromeda Ascendant avoiding the volley of weapons clip was recycled about three times in this single episode, and each time, it looked like a flash back from an old Hanna-Barbera science fiction cartoon. It looked highly unrealistic, and too cartoonish. While they're at it ... fire the costuming department, too. The Magog outfits looked like leftover fur from "Planet of the Apes." You can tell they were outer coverings, almost like going to a baseball game and watching the mascot. Also, in one scene, we could easily see the zipper on the back (I do not lie). Sorbo showed better acting, and I actually wasn't disgusted by Lisa Ryder's (Beka Valentine) acting as I was all of last season either. I think most of her problems in this episode was actually due to poor writing than poor acting (why the hell would she care about looking into Rommie's past when she is in the middle of defending the ship from waves of Magog fighters?) And how many more times are we going to end an episode of "Andromeda" looking into the eyes of the fire creature, and hearing the heart thumping? Come on ... I'm not in the television business, and even I can tell you that redoing the same thing over and over again is going to lose its effect, and bad. Overall, I did enjoy the story much more than I have most Andromeda episodes, and I hope this was just the first step into an overall improvement attempt on the series as a whole. Michael Hinman is the news editor and co-owner of SyFy Portal. He lives in Tampa, Fla. ----------------- What's your thoughts on the episode? Tell us here!