The Ties That Blind
From The New Systems Commonwealth Wiki
Is sleeping difficult?
Is waking?
Serentity Vikram Singh Khalsa
Collected Works,
301 AFC
The Ties That Blind is an episode from the first season of Andromeda.
Contents |
[edit] Production Information
| Production Number: | 107 |
| Aired: | November 13, 2000 |
| Written By: | |
| Directed By: | |
| INSERT EPISODE SCREENHOT HERE | |
| Created By: | Gene Roddenberry |
| Developed By: | Robert Hewitt Wolfe |
| Executive Producers: | Allan Eastman Majel Roddenberry Robert Hewitt Wolfe Josanne B. Lovick Jay Firestone Adam Haight |
| Producer | Sherry Gorval |
| Production Designer | Ken Rabehl |
| Intro | The long night has come. The Systems Commonwealth the greatest civilisation in history has fallen. Now, one ship, one crew have vowed to drive back the night and rekindle the light of civilisation. On the starship Andromeda hope lives again |
[edit] Starring
[edit] Regular Cast
| Actor |
|
|---|---|
| Kevin Sorbo | |
| Lisa Ryder | |
| Keith Hamilton Cobb | |
| Gordon Michael Woolvett | |
| Brent Stait | |
| Laura Bertram | |
| Lexa Doig |
[edit] Guest Stars
[edit] Summary
Tyr is teaching Trance some martial arts, while Harper is off the ship at a large surfing competition.
Andromeda receives a distress call from a Wayist courier ship. Rev identifies the person sending the call as Serenity Khalsa, a well-known and respected Wayist leader. Andromeda moves to rescue them, and finds Serenity Khalsa in need of medical attention, and accompanied by Rafe Valentine, Beka's brother.
Rafe appears to have become a Wayist, but Beka does not believe him – he has a history as a successful con artist. Rafe claims he has changed, but Beka says she's heard it before.
In medical, Serenity refuses Trance's treatments – he has chosen the "mountain path" – a Wayist philosophy of acceptance.
Rafe tells Dylan that they were attacked by an unknown assailant on their way to mediate peace talks between the Restorians (an eco-terrorist organization that believes that if you cannot travel to other planets, then at least you can only mess up your own), and the Free Trade Alliance. Dylan decides that these peace talks are in his best interest, so he will take Serenity and Rafe there.
Tyr confronts Rev with the fact that the Wayists called for the Andromeda by name. He accuses Rev of letting the Wayists know about the Andromeda's plans, without telling Dylan he had done so.
Andromeda analyzes the damage to the Wayist ship, and identifies the radiation patterns as similar to those left by the mysterious ship they fought recently.
Beka finds Rafe looking through her music collection. She thinks she has caught him stealing again, but he is returning a disc that he stole earlier. Beka finally starts believing that maybe Rafe has changed, when he leaves in the Maru. Beka follows in a slipfighter, tracking him to a Wayist monastery.
Rev asks Serenity Khalsa about Rafe. Khalsa says that he understands the Restors' motivation, since he has seen destroyed worlds.
Tyr seems impressed by Rafe's theft of the Maru – he says it's the first self-motivated act he's seen on the ship. He suggests dropping Khalsa at the first opportunity and getting out of the line of fire. He laughs at Dylan's quest to restore the Commonwealth. Trance takes exception to this, and tells him to take it back or she will hit him. She actually starts for him, but Dylan intervenes. He says he understands Tyr's objections – there are a lot of losing battles, but the wins are big. Trance looks smug.
Andromeda analyzes the path of the ship that Khalsa and Rafe arrived in. She finds some inconsistencies, and finds nothing wrong with their slipstream drive.
Rafe is in confession at the monastery. We discover that he is, in fact, not a Wayist, but this is the cover for a Restor plot. He is asked to blow up the Andromeda, but he protests that this was not part of the original plan. He does not want to do it, and attempts to back out, but is threatened if he does.
Rafe and Beka leave the monastery on the Maru, discussing their old lives. Rafe suggests taking off and returning to their old life, but Beka says that she is proud of Rafe's conversion to Wayism, and encourages him to "see it through".
While researching Rafe's background, Rev finds a video record of Rafe at a Restor rally. He shares this information with Beka and Dylan. Beka confronts Rafe with it, but he says he was just there with a girl, and doing a bit of gun-running. When she pressures him, he admits that he is, in fact, an FTA spy, working undercover in the Restor organization, and that Khalsa is an imposter, working for the Restors – the real Singh Khalsa is dead.
Dylan asks Tyr to escort Khalsa to V-deck, but on the way, he collapses in a cloud of nanobots, which overwhelm Andromeda's systems, taking Rommie and the computer down. Rev tries to jump to slipstream, but cannot, and the Restors move to attack.
Dylan grabs Rafe and is about to shoot him when Beka intervenes, explaining that he is an FTA spy. Rafe says there is no "FTA cavalry over the hill", but Dylan has a plan.
Tyr and Trance head for the engine room, where they can initiate a manual override of Andromeda's systems, but the internal defenses are firing at them, so they have to dodge and run.
As the Restors voice defiance over the communications channel, Rafe leaves in the ship he arrived in. Beka hails him, and Rev warns her that the Restor channel is still open. Dylan says that he has just determined that Rafe has stolen their command codes, and Beka chases him in the Maru. Rafe tells her that he has saved the two of them by getting them out of the Andromeda. Beka fires kinetic missiles at the ship, but before it is destroyed, Rafe transmits the command codes. The Restors use these command codes to target the Andromeda, but their missiles reverse course and destroy the Restor ships. Rafe returns with Beka on the Maru – it was all a set-up, Dylan's plan.
Dylan chastises Rev for not telling him that he had informed the Wayists about the Andromeda. Dylan then invites Rafe to stay on-board, but Rafe declines, saying he plans to return to the Wayists.
After Rafe leaves, Beka finds her entire music collection stolen, replaced by a message from Rafe, saying that he can't believe she bought his story, and he's returning to "business as usual".
[edit] Memorable quotes
Trance: Patching him up is easy as cake. Dylan: "Easy as pie." Trance: Are you sure about that? I think that making pie is a lot harder than cake. Dylan: Just fix him, Trance. Trance: Oh, he'll be fine. Compared to baking, brain surgery is a snap.
Dylan: Talking to yourself is the first sign of mental collapse. Rommie (avatar and hologram): Only for wetware.
Dylan: Any of your prayers been answered, Rev? Rev: Many, just not today.
[edit] DVD Release
The Ties That Blind was released on DVD in a vareity of formats. For more information see:
