Rommie

Andromeda Character


name=Rommie
gender=Female
race=Android
Warship Avatar
affiliation=New Systems Commonwealth
Andromeda Ascendant
portrayed=Lexa Doig
seasons=1-5

Rommie is the name of a fictional character on the television series "Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda" played by actress Lexa Doig. In the show Rommie (short for Andromeda) is the humanoid avatar of the Andromeda Ascendant, a starship in the TV series. She was built and given material form as a gynoid by the engineer, Seamus Harper, who also seems to be infatuated with his work.

As a ship's avatar, Rommie is a unique aspect of the Andromeda's AI, which also manifests itself as a hologram and an on-screen image. Early on in the series, it is stated that avatars were created to allow the crew to relate to their ship on a more human level, and vice versa. Her personality, though, is largely defined by her function: "I am a warship, and I don't like walking away from a fight." is a commonly recurring line for her. She is very loyal to her crew, especially to her captain, Dylan Hunt, and incredibly protective of those in her charge. She is confident, direct, and often displays a sense of pride in her status as a warship capable of destroying entire populations.

Since her creation, Rommie is shown to have evolved differently from the ship's AI. Rommie maintains a certain amount of individuality, and is distinct from the core AI to a large but unspecified degree; they are often seen chatting, disagreeing, and even arguing. Disagreements are often because Rommie exhibits human emotions much more deeply and strongly than the logic-oriented core AI. This can be seen to great effect in the Season One episode "Star Crossed", in which Rommie falls in love with another ship avatar, Gabriel. Rommie's individuality also protects her from some of the 'ailments' that afflict Andromeda's AI, as prominently shown in the episode "... Its Hour Come Round at Last", in which Harper accidentally activated a version of the ship AI that had been deleted (apparently) after a failed mission; the ship's AI was reprogrammed, but the android was unaffected. At other times, as the ship itself is damaged or infected, Rommie is shut down.

Rommie's nature as an artificial construct provides her abilities that would be considered superpowers by humans, such as super strength and speed, resistance to injury, and heightened senses. Using the sensors in her hands and eyes, she can detect the physiological signs associated with lying , as well as diagnose internal injury. Rommie also exhibits nearly complete awareness of, and control over, the workings of the ship itself. For example, she is able to change the level of artificial gravity in a given locale, or turn lights on or off merely by thinking it. She is also capable of instantaneously changing the length, cut, and color of her hair.

There are some inconsistencies with Rommie's capabilities throughout the series, like the aforementioned independence from/susceptibility to technological attacks to her AI. Inexplicably, she often stays behind on the ship, though her core AI is entirely capable of running the ship without her and her physical abilities would make her the best choice to accompany Dylan on most of his dangerous adventures. Her power levels also seem to fluctuate; in one episode she displays the ability to transfer power from her body's system to power a small craft like the Eureka Maru, while in another she is in danger of powering down after being separated from the Andromeda Ascendant for only a few days (however it may be possible that Rommie requires more energy to function than the Maru, or that she almost entirely depleted her energy supply knowing that she'd be able to recharge in short order. There is also the possibility that the power supply was upgraded after that incident, which takes place rather early in the series).

In the Season Four finale, Rommie's body is destroyed while protecting Harper from Magog in a scene that loosely mirrors a scene from the Season One finale. All that was left was her partially-damaged head and her core AI. Harper was unable to rebuild her due to the lack of sophisticated technology in the Seefra system. His attempts to virtually connect with her AI failed, as she became hostile. Dylan was later able to convince her to shut herself down. Rommie was eventually put into a new gynoid body built by Doyle with golden streaks in her hair. At first she almost killed the entire crew, due in part to Doyle's use of Vedran technology in building her new body. However, she was able to be repaired, and after working out some competitive issues between herself and Doyle, returned to her usual place in the crew.

Trivia

* The actor who plays Gabriel, Rommie's love interest, is Michael Shanks, with whom Lexa Doig fell in love while they were working together. They are now married.

* Due to Lexa Doig's pregnancy during the filming of the fifth season of "Andromeda", writers re-wrote part of the season finale so her character could be excluded from the first two thirds of Season 5. The character Doyle was written to replace her during this time. Rommie's 'new' body is thicker and bustier than her old body, due to the physiological changes that occur in a woman during pregnancy and child birth, and upon being asked by Dylan how she felt, Rommie answered "Sturdy."

* Before coming to Andromeda, Lexa Doig starred in the film Jason X with Andromeda co-star Lisa Ryder; however, in Jason X Lexa played a human and Lisa, who plays a human character in Andromeda, played an android.