They had come at us like legends.
One hundred up and one hundred down."
Vedran Fable
"Amidst the Tribune and the Fireworks"
CY 512
"Pride Before the Fall" is episode 12 of Season 5.
Synopsis[]
Dylan Hunt is searching the hidden Vedran Portal Chambers for the counterpart to the energy cube given to him by the Paradine stranger from the future. Just as he finds it, the walls collapse, pinning him down. A holographic figure appears before him, demanding the Andromeda Ascendant once it has full power, along with his crew, then promptly disappears. Dylan tries to contact Seamus Harper for help but cannot get through and Beka Valentine, who is on the Eureka Maru with her new boyfriend Peter, ignores him. Doyle contacts Telemachus Rhade who is working in the tunnels nearby. He blasts through the wall and frees Dylan. Dylan returns to Andromeda with the device. Once there, he angrily raises Beka on the comm, who didn’t realize that while she slept, her new lover captured a sample of her DNA. She refuses to come to the Andromeda and instead, entertains Peter’s numerous questions about the crew.
Harper and Rhade are in the bar discussing Beka’s new flame when he strolls in. He rubs Harper the wrong way by joking about the Nietzschean invasion of Earth but warms up to Rhade, praising his focused anger and superiority. When he is alone, Peter calls Beka on the comm and says he has a test for her. He has left a bomb aboard the Maru. Any attempt to land the ship or to use the comm will set it off. He then finds Rhade asleep in his quarters. He wakes as Peter stands over him. He stands and quickly dodges one punch and then another from Peter before putting him on his back. Instead of being angry, Peter is delighted and draws a gun. Rhade knocks it out of his hands and puts him in a choke hold but Peter surrenders, laughing. He is convinced Rhade is exactly what he needs, but what that is remains to be seen.
Dylan and the crew are all aboard the Andromeda except Beka. He opens a channel and speaks to her but receives only silence. She can hear him but is frightened to respond as she searches her engine room, looking for any signs of sabotage. Dylan is angry but then realizes she may not be able to speak.
Peter contacts her, enjoying her situation and teasing her with praise. He then calls Dylan to claim Beka as his own. He boasts that he owns them all and demands the Andromeda be handed over to him, accusing Dylan of lacking the resolve to use the resources at his disposal: an amazing ship, powerful warriors, and the ability to travel through the Route of Ages. Peter has mastered the Route of Ages and seeks to command his own future with Dylan’s assets.
Harper contacts Beka. Not expecting any response, he simply speaks as though he is trying to comfort her, giving her the courage she needs. She grits her teeth and tries the comm system. She breathes a sigh of relief when she doesn’t blow up and contacts Andromeda. Dylan has her position and tells her they’re coming to pick her up but she suggests they track down Peter instead. Dylan has already clued in to his game and has an idea about who he actually is, but he hesitates to tell anyone before he is sure. He leaves command and goes to the hidden room containing the coffin of the Nietzschean Patriarch Drago Museveni. His suspicions are confirmed when he finds the bones missing. Just then, Peter calls to say he is waiting on Seefra-1 and Rhade has already left.
Doyle and Trance Gemini have analysed Beka’s DNA and it turns out there are matches in Andromeda’s records, all Nietzschean.
Rhade finds Peter in the bar and attempts to beat some answers out of him but his assault is met with Peter’s usual mild manner and he is shocked to see his own hand beginning to de-materialize. Peter leaps up and beats him into submission before walking outside, contacting Beka to see if she has caught on. He will use her as the mother of a new immortal race. With the combination of her strong DNA and his own bio-engineered immune system, the race will be near indestructible. Dylan interrupts the conversation.
He is standing at the other end of the town square. He tells Peter he knows his real name, just like he knows his future, having seen it first hand. Dylan tells Peter that he will lose and Peter charges him. They battle through the street and back into the bar. Peter is sure that Dylan won’t kill him. To do so would blur the borders of the two different time periods they have inhabited, eliminating everyone who travelled through it. He is so bold that he forbids Dylan to kill him, out of shear megalomania. It is the wrong thing to say. Dylan orders the Andromeda to pick up Beka and calls Peter’s bluff by pummeling him mercilessly. Rhade calls out to Dylan as he begins to fade faster, as does the Andromeda as it closes on the Maru. Still Dylan doesn’t quit, even as Peter pleads for him to stop. Everything around them disappears as they hang between two times and Peter finally concedes, begging Dylan to bring him back. Dylan pounds him one more time and Peter jerks awake on the floor of the bar with Dylan standing over him. He lays out Peter’s fate for him and the fate of his people. The Nietzscheans are finished; they are imperfect in their loss and forever losers. The Andromeda reels in the Maru and Rhade rises to his feet, all in one piece. Peter leaves the bar.
The crew is in the Command Center of Andromeda with everyone at their station, watching Peter’s ship escape through the Route of Ages. Dylan tells Beka that Peter was actually Drago Museveni and she is the blueprint for their race. If they ever get back to their universe and resume the old fight, she will never be attacked since she is the Alpha Matriarch. With the ship returned to full power and all its former glory, they probably can get back, but Dylan has left command. He is looking at Drago’s hidden coffin and finds the bones of his vanquished enemy resting where they should be.
Trivia[]
- The title is taken from the Bible, which, in the New International Version, declares in Proverbs Chapter 16 verse 18 that "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall." The imagery is also consonant with the fate of Lucifer/Satan, particularly as portrayed in Milton's "Paradise Lost".
- There is the literal meaning: the Nietzschean Pride before the fall.
- Dylan uses or calls a bluff.
- ”Chaos and the Stillness of It”
- ”Harper/Delete”
- ”Pride Before the Fall”
- ”The Banks of the Lethe”
- ”Una Salus Victus”
- ”Vault of the Heavens”
- ”Waking The Tyrant's Device”
- This episode was broadcast with a series of outtakes at its end, in honour of the 100th episode of the series.
Production Information[]
| |
| Production Number: | 512 |
| Aired: | January 21, 2005 |
| Writer By: | Bob Engels |
| Directed By: | David Winning |
| Created By: | Gene Roddenberry |
| Developed By: | Robert Hewitt Wolfe |
| Executive Producers: | Majel Roddenberry Josanne B. Lovick Adam Haight Kevin Sorbo Bob Engels |
| Producer | Sherry Gorval |
| Production Designer | Brian Kane |
| Intro | The Universe is a dangerous place. But in our future my crew and I fight to make it safe. I am Dylan Hunt, Captain of the Andromeda Ascendant, and these are our adventures. |
Starring[]
Regular Cast[]
- Kevin Sorbo as Dylan Hunt
- Lisa Ryder as Beka Valentine
- Steve Bacic as Telemachus Rhade
- Gordon Michael Woolvett as Seamus Harper
- Laura Bertram as Trance Gemini
- Lexa Doig as Rommie
- Brandy Ledford as Doyle
Guest Star[]
- Lochlyn Munro as Drago Museveni/Peter