Seamus Zelazny Harper

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Seamus Harper

Statistics
Race	Human
Gender	Male
Affiliation	New Systems Commonwealth Andromeda Ascendant Eureka Maru
Seasons	1,2,3,4,5

Seamus Harper is a fictional character in the television series Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda. He is played by Canadian actor Gordon Michael Woolvett.

Harper is a member of the Andromeda Ascendant crew and is the engineer and fix-it man. Harper is the only member of the Andromeda's crew born and raised on post-Commonwealth Earth, specifically in Boston. After the Fall, it was conquered by a Nietzschean pride called the Drago-Kazov, who treated unengineered humans poorly, and its inhabitants were frequently attacked by the Magog. The human denizens of Earth lived in poverty and conflict, which prompted Harper to run away. He was hired by Bobby Jensen for a one-time-gig, which placed him on the Eureka Maru and in contact with Captain Beka Valentine. After learning that Bobby had lied to her, Beka broke up with Bobby and hired Harper as the new engineer of the Maru. Harper joined the Andromeda crew in 303 AFC (After the Fall of the Commonwealth)(also CY 10087) along with Beka and the rest of the Maru crew: Trance Gemini, and Rev Bem.

Harper's tumultuous upbringing has left him with somewhat deficient social skills, and he prefers to spend his time in the company of machines, constantly fixing and upgrading Andromeda and her various systems. He is quirky, sarcastic, funny, a bit ego-centric, but undoubtedly a genius. He also constructed the humanoid avatar for the Andromeda, called Rommie by the crew. Harper has a neural interface (also called a Cerebral Port, or Data Port) at the base of his skull, which he uses to jack into computers, sentient ships, and programs.

Harper's middle name, "Zelazny", was probably given to the character by the writers as a tribute to the late, beloved science-fiction and fantasy author, Roger Zelazny. On a side note, "zelazny" means "made of iron" in some slavonic languages.

[edit] Harpercentric Episodes

There are a number of episodes of Andromeda which focus on Harper or have him in a prominent role. In chronological order, the main ones are:

"Harper 2.0" (Season 1, episode 1x14)
"Fear and Loathing in the Milky Way" (Season 1, episode 1x17)
"Into the Labyrinth" (Season 2, episode 2x09)
"Bunker Hill" (Season 2, episode 2x11)
"Ouroboros" (Season 2, episode 2x12)
"The Shards of Rimni" (Season 3, episode 3x02)
"Harper/Delete" (Season 4, episode 4x05)
"The Warmth of an Invisible Light" (Season 4, 4x13)
"Abridging the Devil's Divide" (Season 4, 4x17)
"Through a Glass, Darkly" (Season 5, episode 5x04)

There are other episodes which feature Harper significantly. They are:

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

"To Loose the Fateful Lightning" (Season 1, 1x03 - containing a short but extremely angsty monologue about the death of Harper's cousins, delivered to a shocked Beka, also, Harper builds Rommie)
"D Minus Zero" (Season 1, 1x04 - Harper collapses from radiation poisoning. First symptom is coughing up blood, then collapsing and slight delirium)
"It Makes a Lovely Light" (Season 1 - high on Flash, Beka threatens to drop Harper back on Earth if he tells anyone that she is using the drug. Later when Beka is holed up in the Slipstream Core, Harper breaks in and opens the door at great personal risk inorder for Dylan to come in and stop Beka)
"It's Hour Come 'Round At Last" (Season 1 - Harper and Tyr stand back to back and face the Magog, Harper's worst fear. Harper is torn up and bloodied, then carried off to the Worldship in a spectacular cliffhanger)
"The Widening Gyre" (Season 2 - Harper discovers he is infested with Magog eggs)
"Exit Strategies" (Season 2 - Harper has difficulty dealing with his condition and attempts suicide, fortunately Rommie convinces him that she needs him (her engineer))
"Into the Labyrinth" (Season 2 - Harper is tempted by the beautiful Satrina to join the Abyss, but chooses his friends instead)
"Bunker Hill" (Season 2 - Harper revisits Earth and tries to start a rebellion with Dylan's promise of help. Dylan does not show up, Harper leaves his cousin Brendan behind to almost certain death)
"Ouroboros" (Season 2 - Harper's Magog eggs are removed, at the cost of his friend Hohne's life)
"The Dark Backward" (Season 3 - Harper dies, but not really, just in Trance's head)
"Double or Nothingness" (Season 4 - Harper dies, but not really, just in Dylan's head)
"The Warmth of an Invisible Light" (Season 4 - the infamous evil Harper episode (who is shot by evil Rhade)
"Abridging the Devil's Divide" (Season 4 - Harper brings evolved Magog from the future into the picture, and on top of having to deal with the guilt is yelled at and lied to by Dylan)

[edit] External links

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