Well, well. After my distinctly unhappy encounter with Andromeda: Season 4 Collection 1, I wouldn't have thought it possible that I could find anything good to say about the subsequent volume. But in fact, while the four episodes here are lamentably weak when considered in the larger context of sci-fi television, there's a distinct improvement over the sorry opening of the season. Viewers who have enjoyed the development of the various story arcs in Andromeda – and who have had the patience to continue watching this far -- will want to watch this set.

"Soon the Nearing Vortex" brings the Andromeda face to face with their former crewmate-turned-enemy, Tyr Anasazi... now the self-styled King of the Nietzscheans. It seems he's after an artifact known as the Route of Ages, and if we can get past the way that the show pulls out mysterious, ancient alien artifacts at the drop of a hat, it's a halfway entertaining episode.

"The World Turns All Around Her" follows close on the heels of the previous episode, as the Andromeda crew try to solve the puzzle of the Route of Ages while triple-crossing Tyr. As far as plots go, it's not the most exciting in the world, but at the end we do get an interesting revelation about Trance's true nature.

"Conduit to Destiny" is a filler episode, nothing more: Dylan ends up on a planet where he gets involved with the fulfillment of a three-hundred-year-old prophecy. It's passable but that's about it.

Lastly, "Machinery of the Mind" uses the plot element of the Magog invasion and the existence of the Abyss once more. Harper is the keynote speaker at a convention of scientists charged with coming up with anti-Magog ideas, but an assassin is among them and causing plenty of trouble. While it doesn't exactly advance the plot, it does start to give a bit more substance to this season's theme of "trouble within the Commonwealth."

This set of episodes is also notable for its introduction of a new crew member. After all, by the seemingly immutable TV Law of Conservation of Characters, the absence of Tyr on board Andromeda created a Nietzschean-shaped vacuum that needed to be filled. And filled it is, with one Telemachus Rhode (Steve Bacic), the direct descendant of the Nietzschean first officer who betrayed Dylan back in the twilight hours of the first Commonwealth. He's a new kind of Nietzschean, who doesn't buy Tyr's claims of leadership, and he's out to prove himself to Dylan. Will he be an interesting character? Time will tell.

The DVD

Four episodes of Andromeda's fourth season are packaged here, on two discs in a double-wide plastic keepcase: we get episodes 406-409.

Video

As always, Andromeda looks great in its DVD transfer. The widescreen anamorphic image (1.85:1) is crisp and clean, with beautiful detail and only the faintest hint of edge enhancement in some challenging scenes. Noise and print flaws are nowhere to be seen, colors look great, and contrast is also handled well.

Audio

The Dolby 2.0 soundtrack does a good job of presenting Andromeda, though as I've commented before, this is a series that really cries out for a good 5.1 track to handle the action sequences. In any case, the 2.0 sound is clean and clear.

Extras

The most interesting special features are a pair of featurettes: "Meet the Cast: Steve Bacic (Telemachus Rhode)" on Disc 1, running 19 minutes, and "Behind the Scenes: Executive Producer/Head Writer Bob Engels" on Disc 2, running 12 minutes. Both are substantial, fluff-free pieces, offering some interesting insights into Bacic's acting background and Engels' role on the show.

For minor special features, Disc 1 also has four minutes of deleted scenes; Disc 2 has a text biography of Bob Engels, a five-minute so-so clip of "Lisa Ryder's Bloopers and Gags," and a brief deleted scene. Each disc also has promotional trailers for the episodes on that disc, and a set of ADV previews.

Final thoughts

If you aren't already a fan of Andromeda, don't bother; but if you've enjoyed at least some of the show, and have had the patience to put up with the many low points in Season 3 and the beginning of Season 4, then the episodes included in Season 4 Collection 2 are probably worth checking out. While they're still fluffy pieces that put too much emphasis on gung-ho action and not enough on decent scripts, there's some mild fun to be had in the continuing development of the Magog storyline. Rent it.