A Rose in the Ashes

Easy ten stars just because of the opener. I really thought I had seen all jokes. The opener is SO funny. I'm not gonna spoil it. But it's SO clever, SO anti-commonealth, and SO well acted. Not one muscle moves in Dylan's face. The rest of the episode is very cool, set on an alien prison, from which Dylan runs. The show is going to shine with stellar guest cast in later episodes throughout the five seasons. And I loved all the quirky side characters and aliens in those episodes. But none of the them come even close to the humour of the opener of this episide. And 20 years ago when the show premiered the joke escaped my mind. But then again, in my twenties I didn't even notice that the movie Starship Troopers was meant to be ironic. Anyway, brace for the best opener of any TV show ever.

When Dylan and Rommie visit a planet to petition then to join a reformed Commonwealth they didn't expected to be arrested; blamed for things that happened after the first commonwealth fell. Without a proper trial they find themselves transferred to a prison planet. They soon learn that there is no chance of parole. Nobody leaves the planet; even people born there are considered prisoners for life. Dylan is determined to leave though; not just because he doesn't want to be there... if he doesn't find a way to recharge Rommie she will die in a matter of days. Back aboard Andromeda the rest of the crew determine to mount a rescue mission; unfortunately they don't know which, out of hundreds of prison planets, they were sent to... neither do they know the planet has a deadly defence system.

This was a pretty solid episode; there was some decent action and the fact that Rommie's batteries were running down added to the sense of urgency. The prison itself was pretty menacing with Dylan being forced to fight a Magog to keep the disc that would give him access to food... one day a sci-fi series will send protagonists to a more enlightened prison! I liked the red tint to all outdoor scenes on this planet; it gave a good Martian feel even though this planet obviously had a breathable atmosphere and some vegetation. The way Dylan looks for allies worked well with Kimberley Warnat and Claudette Mink doing solid jobs as 'good girl' Jessa and queen-bee Kae-Lee respectively. Away from the prison things were interesting too; once again Trance is intriguing... does she know things that others don't or does she just have amazing luck? Overall a good episode; I enjoyed it more than the previous one.