Lisa Ryder Movies

Season two of Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda picks up where season one left off, as Andromeda crew members Tyr (Keith Hamilton Cobb) and Harper (Gordon Michael Woolvett) are captured during a battle with the fearsome Magog and injected with millions of Magog eggs. They are rescued by their comrade in arms Rev Bem (Brent Stait), himself a Magog who has pretended to betray the Andromeda on behalf of his own race. Once this matter is settled, Rev decides to leave the Andromeda to embark upon a long soul-searching mission in order to cleanse himself of his race's more bestial tendencies. This leaves Captain Dylan Hunt (Kevin Sorbo) with one fewer crew member to help him rebuild the Commonwealth for its final confrontation with the Magog, but Hunt's loyal aides Harper (Gordon Michael Woolvett), Beka (Lisa Ryder), Trance (Laura Bertram), and humanized artificial intelligence Rommie (Lexa Doig) seem more than capable of facing up to the challenge. As for Nietzchean crew member Tyr (Keith Hamilton Cobb), his true loyalties are still very much in question. In the course of preparing for the last battle with the Magog -- not to mention the inevitable head-to-head against a new enemy, the Abyss -- the enigmatic Trance exchanges places with her older, wiser future self, ostensibly to strengthen the Andromeda's battle force, though Dylan Hunt wonders if the new Trance can be trusted. Season two ends on the eve of the signing of a new Commonwealth charter, as the Andromeda gears up to safeguard its allies from thousands upon thousands of phase-shifting warships from another universe. It is at this point that the present Trance confronts her time-shifting former self -- but to what end? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Largely abandoning the self-contained episodes of the previous season and returning to the complex story arcs so beloved of the series' biggest fans, Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda launches its fourth season in syndication. Despite the idealistic efforts of Dylan Hunt (Kevin Sorbo), captain of the starship Andromeda Ascendant, the New Commonwealth is collapsing under the weight of corruption and being undermined by friends and enemies alike. Although Hunt's crew could, if they wished, remain safely on solid ground, they finally agree to help Hunt salvage what is left of the Commonwealth -- and to do this, the Andromeda must hopscotch through slipstreams to various alternate universes in order to enlist allies in the Great Cause. And they'd better hurry: there is an impending apocalypse hanging over the proceedings throughout the season.
The year's pivotal episode is "Soon the Nearing Vortex," in which former crew member Tyr (Keith Hamilton Cobb), now aligned with the enemies of the commonwealth, launches a campaign to unite and rule all Nietzchean prides and thereby control the universe. Tyr not only hopes to steal the Route of Ages, the guide to all existing slipstreams, but he intends to win Hunt's second-in-command Beka (Lisa Ryder) over to his side. The treacherous Tyr is foiled with the help of Telemachus Rhade (Steve Bacic), isolationist leader on the "Old Commonwealth" planet Terazed -- and the look-alike descendant of Generis Rhade, the selfsame scoundrel who during the series' first season betrayed Hunt and left him in a state of suspended animation for 300 years. Despite his inherent distrust of Telemachus, Hunt ultimately invites him to join the Andromeda crew. At the same time, the enigmatic Trance (Laura Bertram) reveals herself to be an avatar of the sun, with the ability to disintegrate her comrades in order to rescue them when danger threatens, then reintegrate them when the danger passes. The season ends with dissension in the ranks of the Andromeda, as the crew expresses disillusionment over the fact that Hunt's dreams of restoring the Commonwealth have not come to pass. The various crew members separate to pursue their own destinies, leaving Dylan and Trance alone to fight off a new Magog attack all by themselves -- but Dylan may be predestined to be the sole survivor! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Popular bogeymen Jason Voorhees terrorizes a group of nubile astronauts five centuries into the future in this sci-fi update of the Friday the 13th franchise. Early in the 21st century, Jason (actor/stunt man Kane Hoddar, filling the role for a fourth time) is experimented upon by army technocrats who hope to turn his supernatural invulnerability into a military application. Most of them meet a swift and bloody end -- except Rowan (Lexa Doig), a beautiful functionary, who traps the killer in a cryogenic stasis chamber. Unfortunately, she takes a machete blow in the process, gets frozen herself, and wakes up on a spaceship in the year 2455. The earth has long since been rendered uninhabitable, but the survivors include a group of archaeological students headed by Professor Lowe (Jonathan Potts), who hopes to make a quick buck by selling the corpse of the historical serial killer. The kids re-animate Rowan with the help of nanotechnology. Little do they know that a mere thaw job is enough to resuscitate Jason and reawaken his bloodthirst. Soon, the comely students and their space-marine protectors are being dispatched one by one. Help arrives in the form of a holographic chamber and an android named Kay-Em 14 (Lisa Ryder). Soon, though, Jason himself gets an upgrade -- just as the spaceship is getting ready to self-destruct. The tenth installment in the long-running horror series, Jason X was the first new entry to appear in almost a decade. In fact, the previous film, 1993's Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, was one of two installments whose titles erroneously contained the word "final." ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

The first trial season of the satirical Canadian comedy series The Newsroom consists of six episodes, firmly establishing Toronto TV news director George Findlay (Ken Finkleman) as the top fly on the broadcast dungheap--a man who will do literally anything to get high ratings. In the opener, George auditions several hopefuls to be his personal assistant, with a girl named Kris (Lisa Ryder) emerging as the winner--or at least that's what she thinks until she spends a little time with her new boss. In subsequent weeks, dunderheaded news anchor Jim Walcott (Peter Keleghan) becomes fiercely protective of his turf when George hires a co-anchor; after promising to defend his coworkers against network budget cuts, George characteristically stabs everyone in the back to save his own hide; a movie writer attempts suicide, whereupon George manages to convert the tragedy into a 5-part news special; and a not-so-harmless remark aimed at a female talk show guest threatens to cost George his job. In the last of the six episodes, George not only insults actress Cynthia Dale, but also turns the newsroom inside out in his obsessive quest for the perfect bran muffin. Also appearing on The Newsroom this season are Jeremy Hotz as news-segment producer Jeremy, David Huband as weatherman Bruce Moffatt, and Julie Kahner as Sydney Dernhoff, the first in a long line of nominal bosses who try but fail to keep George in line. And in addition to the aforementioned Cynthia Dale, several other prominent Canada-based media personalities show up in cameo roles, among them actor Daniel Richter, columnist Linda McQuaig and Conservative pundit Hugh Segal. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide