Lexx

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Lexx
Created by	Paul Donovan Lex Gigeroff Jeffrey Hirschfield
Starring	Brian Downey Eva Habermann Michael McManus Ellen Dubin Tim Curry Doreen Jacobi Rutger Hauer Michael Habeck Andy Jones Malcolm McDowell Xenia Seeberg
Voices of	Tom Gallant
Composer	Marty Simon
Country of origin	Canada Germany United Kingdom
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	61 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Paul Donovan Wolfram Tichy
Producers	Wolfram Tichy Norman Denver
Cinematography	Les Krizsan Ian Bibby David Albiston
Running time	Season 1: 93–94 minutes Season 2–4: 45–48 minutes
Production companies	Salter Street Films CHUM Television Silverlight Ltd.
Release
Original network	Global Television Network Sci Fi Channel Channel 5 CHUM Television's Space
Original release	April 18, 1997 (1997-04-18) – April 26, 2002 (2002-04-26)
External links
Website

Lexx is a Canadian–German science fiction television series created by Lex Gigeroff and brothers Paul and Michael Donovan. It originally aired on April 18, 1997, on Canada's Citytv as four made-for-TV movies each running 90 minutes long and alternatively titled Tales from a Parallel Universe. Beginning with Season Two, the format changed to a traditional TV series with each episode running about 45 minutes long. The series follows the adventures of a group of mismatched individuals aboard the organic spacecraft Lexx as they travel through two universes and encounter planets, including a parody of Earth. The narrative includes irony, parody, and sexuality, and explores ideas of fatalism, reincarnation, the afterlife, and the paradigm of good and evil.

The series is a Canadian and German co-production, with some additional funding from Britain's Channel 5. The Sci Fi Channel purchased the series from Salter Street Films and began airing versions of Season 2 episodes for the United States audience in January 2000.^[1] Lexx was co-produced by Salter Street Films, later absorbed by Alliance Atlantis. In Canada, Lexx aired on the Alliance Atlantis-owned Showcase network. The series was primarily filmed in Halifax (Nova Scotia, Canada) and Berlin (Germany), with additional filming on location in Iceland, Bangkok (Thailand), Namibia and London.

Plot[]

The main characters of the series are the Lexx and its crew, consisting of security guard (class four) Stanley H. Tweedle, the love slave Zev (later Xev) Bellringer, the undead former assassin and last of the Brunnen-G Kai, the love-crazed robot head 790, and the powerful but simple-minded Lexx.^[2] Centuries prior, mankind was nearly destroyed in a war with the Insect Civilization, where both sides sought the total annihilation of the other. Although the Brunnen-G led humanity to victory, they are later enslaved by the Divine Order: a religious cult centered around His Shadow, a mythical being that seeks to enslave the two universes. It was foretold to Kai by the Time Prophet that one day he will destroy His Shadow and the last remnants of the Insect Civilization.

The plot unfolds across a time span of over 6000 years. Kai's "death" occurs 2008 years before the beginning of the main events of the series. For Seasons One and Two, each episode is focused on space travel and usually one different planet. Seasons 3 and 4 have a single general location for all episodes. At the beginning of Season 3, the crew spends 4000 years in cryostasis before arriving at twin planets Fire and Water. In Season 4, the Lexx reaches Earth in the early 2000s.

Season 1 (Tales from a Parallel Universe)[]

Kai and a small group of other Brunnen-G warriors lead a suicidal attack against His Merciful Shadow as his planet, Brunnis-2, is destroyed. In a final act of defiance, Kai crashes his ship into the control pod of His Shadow's flagship, the Foreshadow. He is killed by His Shadow and his memories are taken from him, and he is forced to serve as an assassin in the Divine Order.

2008 years later, Stanley H. Tweedle is an assistant deputy backup courier for the Ostral-B heretics, a resistance group fighting against the Divine Order. After unknowingly leading His Divine Shadow to an Ostral-B outpost, resulting in its destruction, he is captured by the mercenary Feppo who extracts information from him on the locations of other Ostral-B planets and sells it to the Divine Order, resulting in the deaths of billions. He is later made a security guard (class four) on the Cluster, the capital planet of the Divine Order and League of 20,000 Planets. After being reprimanded for insubordination and failing to turn himself in, he becomes a fugitive on the Cluster.

Zev Bellringer arrives on the Cluster as a prisoner and is sentenced to be turned into a love-slave using a Lusticon after failing to perform her wifely duties and assaulting her fiancé. Other prisoners, including a group of Ostral-B heretics and their leader, Thodin, are sentenced to be publicly executed. Thodin attempts to use an explosive device to free himself, but the device malfunctions and instead releases giant Cluster Lizards from containment, wreaking havoc across the Cluster. Thodin is able to escape and free the other heretics as well as the cannibal Giggerota. During Zev's transformation into a love-slave, she is attacked by a Cluster Lizard, turning her into a love-slave/Cluster Lizard hybrid. Before the brainwashing portion of the transformation begins, Zev frees herself and places the 790 droid in charge of her transformation in her place, causing the robot head to be programmed into a love-slave. Upon seeing Zev, 790 immediately falls in love with her and pursues her as she escapes. His Shadow awakens Kai from cryostasis to safeguard the secret weapons laboratory.

Stanley and Zev meet up and make their way towards the secret weapons laboratory, where they find several Ostral-B heretics attempting to board a ship. They are pursued by Kai, who kills Thodin and chases the others into the ship. Although the heretics are hostile towards the "arch-traitor" Stanley, they are attacked and killed by a Cluster Lizard. Before his death, one of the heretics releases some form of energy into Stanley.

Stanley, Zev, 790, and Giggerota reach the ship's bridge, where it introduces itself as the Lexx, a machine-insect hybrid and "the most powerful weapon of destruction in the two universes", capable of destroying planets in a single blast. The energy Stanley absorbed is revealed to be the key to the Lexx, making Stanley its captain. As Stanley instructs the Lexx to fly off the Cluster, they are cornered by Kai and Giggerota is presumably killed. Before Kai can execute the others he instead heads to the ship's hold to protect the Divine Predecessors, which are being attacked by a Cluster Lizard. After saving them, Kai regains his previous memories from the brain of the Divine Predecessor that killed him, prompting him to turn against His Shadow. The Lexx is pursued and boarded by His Shadow, who almost destroys Kai for turning against him. Stanley and Zev distract His Shadow long enough for Kai to destroy him; his essence retreats from the ship as it travels through a portal into the Dark Zone. While traversing the portal, the Lexx's memory of His Shadow and its allegiance to him is wiped. The Lexx destroys the remains of His Shadow's fleet. The three begin searching the Dark Zone for a new home, away from His Shadow.

During their search, they encounter Kai's original homeworld, Brunnis, and explore it for insight into Kai's past. Finding the planet abandoned, they are pursued by Giggerota who attempts to destroy the planet by disabling a series of towers that were keeping a dying star from becoming a supernova. The trio becomes separated from each other and discover the Time Prophet's prophecy of Kai destroying the insect civilization. They are unable to stop Giggerota from disabling the towers but escape aboard the Lexx without her, causing her and the planet to be destroyed in the subsequent supernova.

After some time, the Lexx is running low on organic fuel and lands on the nearby planet of Klaagia to feed. The group discovers a group of psychotics obsessed with "pattern", a liquid made from organic material that parasites within their bodies feed on. Stan, Zev, and Kai inadvertently awaken the parasite queen, who attaches itself to the Lexx and pursues them off the planet. The Lexx fires on the planet and destroys it, using the meteors to kill the queen.

Meanwhile, Kai is running low on protoblood, which he needs to function in his undead state; protoblood can only be found on the Cluster. The group returns to the Cluster to find it abandoned, learning that the entire population of the League of 20,000 Planets had been killed to feed and awaken the Gigashadow, the last remaining insect. With help from a defecting priest of the Divine Order, they are able to stall the Gigashadow's awakening long enough for Kai to plant a baby Cluster Lizard inside of it. As the Lexx and its crew are almost destroyed, the Cluster Lizard reaches the Gigashadow's brain and consumes it, killing the Gigashadow. With a fresh supply of protoblood, the crew returns to the Dark Zone to search for a new home.

Season 2[]

Before the Gigashadow's destruction, the last remnant of His Shadow possessed Kai. Kai lies to the crew and states that he requires more protoblood to survive, leading them to the imprisoned supreme Bio-Vizier of the Divine Order, Mantrid and his servant. During their meeting, His Shadow transfers his essence into an insect carcass, resurrecting it and attempting to kill the crew of the Lexx. Mantrid is gravely wounded in the attack, and his servant transfers his consciousness to a spaceship he had created to save him. Kai kills the insect, resulting in His Shadow's essence becoming mixed with Mantrid's. Mantrid, now intertwined with His Shadow, swears revenge on humanity as the crew escapes.

The rest of the season involves the crew searching for a new home. During their adventures, they encounter Lyekka, a plant that can transform into a human appearance and feeds on living beings. During their adventures, Zev is killed but later reincarnated by Lyekka as Xev. The crew has various encounters with strange creatures and civilizations, such as a group of astronauts from a potato planet, a planet that creates sitcoms, a vapor that changes sex organs into their opposite, a crashed prisoner transport captained by a gay cyborg, a graveyard planet for priests of the Divine Order, a cult led by the Wozzard that seeks to turn all beautiful women into ugly ones, and an island of secluded, illiterate monks.

Eventually, the crew learns that Mantrid has been using drones to consume the universe and convert its matter into more drones, quickly bringing the Light Zone to an end. The crew, realizing they have no chance against him, attempt to flee by traveling to the center of the universe, where they hope that a portal to the Dark Zone exists. During their escape, they encounter an interdimensional theater crew that tells the full story of the Brunnen-G, including how they defeated the insect civilization and eventually became hopelessly depressed at their immortality, waiting for the forces of His Shadow to come and destroy them. Kai, refusing to surrender, led a small group of rebels against His Shadow in a final act of defiance. Reinvigorated by Kai's story, the crew decide to stop running and face Mantrid.

With the help of 790, the crew are able to convert some of Mantrid's drones to fight for them and outsmart Mantrid's drones. During their attack on his ship, Lyekka boards Mantrid's pod and is about to destroy him, but is killed before she is able to do so. The crew, about to be overwhelmed by Mantrid drones, employs a last-ditch strategy to destroy Mantrid. Kai taunts Mantrid into pursuing the Lexx towards the center of the universe. The resulting movement of mass creates a black hole, which Mantrid, the drones, the Lexx, and the rest of the Light Zone are pulled into and destroyed. However, the Lexx rematerializes in the Dark Zone through a portal as Mantrid is finally defeated. Without any other nearby planets and the Lexx running out of food, the crew place themselves into stasis and the Lexx goes dormant while 790 stays active to search for nearby planets.

Season 3[]

After 4000 years in cryostasis, the crew reaches the twin planets Fire and Water. The entire third season takes place on these two planets.

The crew meets people they knew from the Light and Dark Zones. These survivors cannot remember their past lives, though their personalities are the same. Fire is ruled by the charismatic Prince and his lackey Priest, while Water does not have a ruler. The inhabitants of both planets live in isolated towns. On Water, they live on islands in a huge ocean; on Fire, there are massive towers separated by long stretches of desert. Water is inhabited by good people, while Fire is inhabited by evil people.

During Prince's first encounter with the crew, 790 is damaged and falls in love with Kai rather than Xev, and gradually behaves much more erratically. Prince seeks to destroy Water and attempts to win the crew over to his side, especially Xev. Insisting that the Lexx is "the grain of sand that will tip the scales", he tests their sense of morality through various temptations, including taking the forms of other crew members to deceive them. The crew are frequently separated from each other, forcing them to act individually. After jumping from the Lexx to the surface of Water, Kai has trouble functioning normally without the other crew members. Deep beneath Water's surface, Kai encounters his soul essence awaiting rebirth.

During one of Prince's attacks on Water, Stanley is killed and Prince holds a trial over the destination of his soul. All his bad decisions are weighed against his good deeds and he is ultimately sentenced to eternal punishment on Fire. Enraged over Stanley's death, Xev orders the Lexx to destroy Fire, releasing all of its tortured souls. Consequently, Prince is able to possess the Lexx and use it to destroy Water. Stanley is released and returns to his body aboard the Lexx, while Prince and the other souls reincarnate on a nearby blue planet.

Season 4[]

The Lexx travels to Earth looking for food. 790 informs the crew that it is located in the very center of the Dark Zone and assumes that it must be a very dangerous place. The crew again meet people they knew from the Light and Dark Zones and from Fire and Water. Only Prince and Priest are able to remember their previous lives.

On Earth, the reincarnated souls cause chaos across the planet. Prince becomes the head of the ATF, Priest becomes the President and a puppet ruler for Prince, Giggerotta becomes a Florida real estate agent and is elected pope, and the Wozzard becomes Dr. Ernst Longbore, a paraplegic rocket scientist. The crew attempts to settle in and make Earth their home, but keep getting caught up in fights and other deadly situations with the locals. Although the crew keeps swearing not to return to the planet, they constantly find themselves back on Earth for one reason or another.

Kai's soul is trapped in limbo because he is undead, and he decides to regain his mortality. He makes a wager with Prince in a game of chess and wins, but Prince does not fulfill his promise.

At the end of the season, Earth is threatened by an insect resembling Lyekka. The crew discovers that the fake Lyekka destroyed all human life on her way through the Dark Zone, and was responsible for flooding the Earth with alien probes to sample the taste of its lifeforms. Furthermore, Dr. Longbore has created a rocket to escape Earth and, out of spite, leaves behind a particle accelerator to determine the mass of the Higgs-Boson particle, which will shrink the Earth to the size of a pea in the process. As Lyekka's asteroid attacks Earth, the crew flees Earth with the particle accelerator to return to the Lexx. As they leave Earth, Prince appears to Kai and fulfills his promise to him, restoring Kai's mortality. However, 790, now completely insane and still madly in love with Kai, takes advantage of the Lexx's senility and orders it to destroy Earth to kill any potential "competitors" for Kai. With Earth destroyed, the Lexx dying, and no other habitable planets nearby, the crew decide to sacrifice themselves to destroy Lyekka's asteroid. The crew travels inside the asteroid, but Kai becomes separated from the others as he is trapped inside with the particle accelerator. In a final sacrifice, Kai crashes into the center of the asteroid as the accelerator calculates the particle's mass, destroying the asteroid. The Lexx's senility becomes terminal as it disintegrates. Xev and Stanley discover that the Lexx had created another ship within it before it died, "Little Lexx". Little Lexx gives Stanley its key as they search for a new home.

Characters[]

The crew of the Lexx, from left to right: robot head 790, undead assassin Kai, love-slave Xev Bellringer, and security guard Stanley Tweedle.

Main characters[]

• Stanley H. Tweedle (Brian Downey) – An assistant deputy backup courier for the Osral-B heretics, before he was captured by the mercenary Feppo and tortured for information about Ostral-B planets. When this information was given to the Divine Order, the billions of lives lost as a result were blamed on him and he was branded the "arch-traitor" by the heretics. The Divine Order made him a class 4 security guard on the Cluster, where his laziness frequently lands him in trouble with his supervisors. He is sleazy, cowardly, and feigns bravery only to quickly fall back when met with any sign of resistance.
• Zev/Xev Bellringer (Eva Habermann in Seasons 1–2, Xenia Seeberg in Seasons 2–4, Lisa Hynes in her original form) – Placed into the wife bank at a young age, Zev became overweight and hopelessly ugly. When her to-be husband rejected her, she assaulted him and became a prisoner on the cluster, sentenced to become a brainwashed love-slave. However, the process was interrupted and while she became fit and beautiful, the brainwashing portion was incomplete, and she inadvertently had her DNA fused with that of a Cluster Lizard. Zev is strong and independent, and is obsessed with sex to the point where she is willing to sleep with almost any man, with the exception of Stanley whom she is repulsed by. She is also in love with Kai, but he cannot feel love because of his undead state. At the start of season 2, Zev is killed and later replaced by Xev, an exact clone with the same personality but different physical appearance.
• Kai (Michael McManus) – The last of the Brunnen-G, Kai led a suicidal attack to protect his home planet of Brunnis-2 against the forces of His Divine Shadow. He was killed, brainwashed, and left in an undead state to become an assassin in the Divine Order, killing whomever His Divine Shadow ordered him to. While protecting the Lexx from the Ostral-B heretics, he regained his previous memories and turned against His Shadow, escaping the Cluster with Stanley and Zev. Because of his undead state, Kai has no emotion and insists that the dead do not feel anything; because of this, he is unable to reciprocate the love Zev feels for him.
• 790 (voiced by Jeffrey Hirschfield) – A robot assigned to work the Lusticon, he was decapitated in the attack on the Cluster and brainwashed into becoming a love-slave. Upon seeing Zev, he immediately falls in love with her. He is hostile towards anyone that isn't Zev, berating and ridiculing them with insults. Zev is indifferent to his affection towards her, much to his frustration. He possesses a vast knowledge on several different topics, though he is unwilling to share it with anyone but Zev. At the beginning of Season 3, he becomes damaged and falls in love with Kai instead, while rapidly becoming deranged and hostile to the rest of the crew.
• The Lexx (voiced by Tom Gallant) – The Lexx is a machine/insect hybrid and "the most powerful weapon of destruction in the two universes", created by His Divine Shadow to destroy planets and hold an iron grip across the Dark Zone, until it is stolen by Stanley, Zev, and Kai in the series premiere. The Lexx is capable of destroying planets in a single shot, which it regards as its favorite pastime. Despite its strength, the Lexx is simple and does not possess much intelligence. Stanley is often at odds with the Lexx over what it wants it to do, having to explain simple subjects such as proper grammar.
• Giggerota (Ellen Dubin) – A cannibal woman convicted on the Cluster, she was able to escape on the Lexx with the rest of the crew without their knowledge. She later attempted to kill them on Brunnis-1 by making a dying star go supernova, though she was left behind and annihilated as the star went supernova, while crew escaped. She frequently appears in different forms throughout the show.
• Lyekka (Louise Wischermann) – A living plant capable of taking a human appearance, feeding on living organisms. She boards the Lexx early in Season 2 and agrees not to consume the crew if they provide her with a regular supply of food, which typically consists of any guests that board the Lexx.
• Isambard Prince (Nigel Bennett) – The ruler of Fire, Prince is an eccentric and mysterious individual, who does not know his origin but knows that he is "bad and must do bad things". He causes mischief throughout Season 3 and 4, at first trying to turn the crew to his side to destroy Water, then later causing chaos across Earth as the head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.

Mantrid (Dieter Laser) before his transference into a computer, accompanied by two drone arms

Recurring characters[]

• His Divine Shadow (Walter Borden) – The mystical ruler of the Divine Order and League of 20,000 Planets, His Shadow rules the Light Zone with an iron fist. Using his flagship the Foreshadow, he destroys any planet that does not submit to his rule. When the Lexx is stolen, he attempts to recover it, but Kai turns on him after recovering his memories and destroys his physical form.
• Time Prophet (Anna Cameron) – An oracle for the Brunnen-G, the time prophet foretells that Kai will destroy the last remnants of the Insect Civilization. She appears sporadically throughout the series and guides the crew into making the correct decisions to save their lives.
• Mantrid (Dieter Laser) – The supreme Bio-Vizier of the Divine Order, Mantrid was imprisoned by His Shadow on a remote planet. Trapped within a robotic body, he is killed and has his consciousness bonded with the remains of His Shadow, turning him into a homicidal megalomaniac that seeks to convert the entirety of the two universes into Mantrid drones.
• Dr. Ernst Longbore (Walter Borden) – A crippled rocket scientist, he understands that Earth will soon be destroyed and seeks to escape it. With the help of 790, he constructs a ship to escape Earth and support life on other planets. However, his intentions are found out to be entirely selfish, as his crew consists purely of him and a plethora of Catholic schoolgirls with no other men on board. He abandons the rest of his scientists and leaves behind a Higgs-Boson particle accelerator to destroy the Earth, but his ship is stolen and he is killed during takeoff.
• Reginald J. Priest (Rolf Kanies) – Prince's personal servant, he worships Prince and submits to his every will, even if it does not make sense or goes against all logic and reason. He is later reincarnated and elected as the President of the United States, but is still controlled by Prince and becomes his puppet ruler. He spends the majority of his time sleeping with Bunny, neglecting his Presidential duties, and launching nuclear attacks on countries that have wronged him or Bunny, including Cuba, Newfoundland, and Vietnam.
• Bunny (Patricia Zentilli) – Priest's wife, she is blindly devoted to him and will do anything to please him. She possesses markedly low intelligence and often pouts and complains when things don't go her way.
• Fifi (Jeff Pustil) – Originally the head of a pleasure cruise, he later reincarnates on Water and ultimately sides with Prince in causing chaos. Unlike the other citizens of Water, he does not possess the same carefree attitude and is frustrated at their laissez-faire attitude about their situation.
• Duke (Ralph Brown) – A military commander on Fire that challenged Prince for power.
• Vlad (Minna Aaltonen) – A vampire and hunter in the Divine Order, Vlad was sent to Earth several centuries prior and became the subject of local legend. She aims to destroy Kai for failing to perform his duties in the Divine Order.
• Tina (Tara Doyle) – One of Dr. Longbore's scientists. While trying to seduce Kai, she tells him of a Transylvanian legend that Kai believes is related to the Divine Order.

Thodin (Barry Bostwick) and his fellow Heretics on the Cluster

Guest characters[]

• Thodin (Barry Bostwick) – The leader of the Ostral-B heretics, Thodin leads an attack on the Cluster to steal the Lexx, but he is killed by Kai while stalling for time.
• Poet Man (Tim Curry) – A hologram left behind on Brunnis that guides the crew, but inadvertently ends up putting them in danger.
• Dr. Kazan (Simon Licht) – A mad doctor that attempts to steal the key to the Lexx from Zev.
• Moss (Stephen McHattie) – The commanding officer of three astronauts from Potatohoe. He is later reincarnated on Earth as E. J. Moss, the leader of an anti-government militia.
• Cedric (Ross O'Hennessy) – A competitor on Xevivor, a parody of Survivor.
• Bog (Rutger Hauer) – The leader of the cannibals on Klaagia.
• Wist (Doreen Jacobi) – A colonist that attempted to stop the parasites from infecting the people of Klaagia, but became infected herself.
• Yottskry (Malcolm McDowell) – A defecting priest in the Divine Order that attempted to stop the awakening of the Giga Shadow, then stalled its metamorphosis long enough for the crew to destroy it.
• Feppo (Michael Habeck) – A mercenary that sexually tortured Stanley to retrieve amino acid codes that held the locations of Ostral-B planets and outposts. At the end of Season 1, he is tracked down by Stanley who uses the Lexx to take revenge on him.
• Smoor (Andy Jones) – Feppo's accomplice in torturing Stanley.

Development[]

The Dark Zone[]

Salter Street Films' first sci-fi production, Def-Con 4, had been a moderate success and showed Paul Donovan that there was a potential market for similar material. Salter Street's next projects did not enjoy the same amount of success: George's Island, Buried on Sunday, and Paint Cans received praise but were not financially successful. Donovan then sought to create a World War I film using computer-generated imagery which had now become financially viable, but did not possess the estimated $35 million he needed to create it. To seek funding, Donovan created a four-minute short film with a large amount of CGI and demonstrated it to broadcasters across Canada. The VHS tape, titled The Dark Zone, featured security guard Stanley Tweedle refusing to let a ship dock because of an invalid security code, then being reprimanded by his superiors.^[3] This scene would be reworked slightly and included in the first episode of Lexx. Broadcast companies were impressed, prompting Donovan to build off the demo tape and abandon his original World War I idea.

Writing[]

Donovan had trouble finding writers for the show, as most resided in Hollywood and outside of his budget. He eventually came across Lex Gigeroff and Jeffrey Hirschfield, calling them "gems in the rough". Jeffrey had a background in theater and acting, but was unable to find work and on the verge of abandoning the industry entirely until he met Paul, while Lex was working odd acting jobs in Halifax.

Donovan described the thought process behind the show as "Dirty Dozen meets Alien or Beavis and Butt-Head". Donovan found that many science fiction films and shows at the time were too serious and wanted to create something more "fun" with a higher production value, sexual motifs, and aspects of dark humor, which Hirschfield says comes from the desensitization of violence in Halifax, citing clubbing harp seals for food as an example. Lex also considers the show to be a homage to Space Precinct.^[4]

Casting[]

Brian Downey had worked with Donovan previously on Norman's Awesome Experience and portrayed Stanley Tweedle in the original demo tape. Eva Habermann had recently graduated from high school and would later go on to other projects, leaving a gap in the show for her character after the end of season one; this was alleviated by having Zev die and later revived into Xev, now played by Xenia Seeberg.

Nigel Bennett had previously worked with Donovan on Paint Cans and was approached to play the role of Prince in seasons three and four. He liked the character "because he didn't say a word for 20 pages".^[5] As part of his character, Bennett had at least three different outfits and would have his hair and eyebrows bleached "about every ten to fourteen days".^[5]

Post-Production[]

Lexx has a substantial amount of computer-generated imagery per episode; up to 75% of each episode is affected by CGI, while the season two premiere has more VFX shots than Star Wars.^[6] Animations were done through three production houses, including C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures in Toronto and Berlin and pixelMotion in Halifax. Models and animations were created using SGI Indigo workstations, as well as Avid 1000 and 8000 series workstations. Modeling and animation software such as Prisms, Flint, and PowerAnimator were used to create digital imagery. A render farm that was 60 times faster than the industry norm was used for rendering animations.^[7]

Music[]

Two official Lexx soundtracks have been released. The first album, Tales from a Parallel Universe, consists of music from Season One. The second album, Lexx: The Series, consists of music from Seasons Two through Four.

"Brigadoom" (S02E18) is a musical episode describing the destruction of Brunnis-2 and the death of Kai in a theater format. Many of the themes from this episode are based on German nursery rhymes with new lyrics. The usage of existing musical themes as well as the addition of an outside choir has placed these tracks into a legal grey area; as a result, they have not been officially released.^[8]

Tales from a Parallel Universe
by Marty Simon
Released	August 12, 1997
Length	58:13
Label	Varèse Sarabande
Producer	Marty Simon

All tracks are written by Marty Simon.

Lexx: The Series
by Marty Simon
Released	January 2001
Length	1:07:56
Label	GNP Crescendo
Producer	Marty Simon

All tracks are written by Marty Simon.

Episodes[]

There are four seasons of Lexx, totaling 61 episodes. Season One debuted in Canada on April 18, 1997, and consisted of four two-hour TV movies (sometimes screened as eight one-hour episodes), alternatively titled Tales from a Parallel Universe. However, some episode guides do not list the two-hour movies as part of the series but list the subsequent seasons as the first through third.

Season One consists of four 90-minute movies, following the misadventures of Stanley Tweedle, Zev Bellringer, Kai, 790, and the Lexx as they escape from the Cluster and try to find a new home in the Dark Zone, an evil and unforgiving universe. The story arc ends with their return to the Cluster as they destroy the Gigashadow, the last remaining insect.

Season Two consists of twenty 48-minute episodes, with a story arc concerning the evil scientist Mantrid, who attempts to convert the entire mass of the two universes into Mantrid drones; flying, self-replicating robot arms. The crew tricks him into moving all the converted mass into a central point in the universe, creating a Big Crunch and destroying the Light Zone.

Season Three consists of thirteen episodes in which the exhausted Lexx is trapped in orbit around the warring planets Fire and Water, and the crew encounters Prince, the enigmatic and cheerful evil ruler of Fire, who identifies himself as Death at the end of season four. Fire is the afterlife for all evil souls, and the location for much of season three. It shares a tight mutual orbit and an atmosphere with Water, the afterlife for all good souls in the two universes. Both worlds are locked in a perpetual war.^[9] The souls on Water and Fire have no memory of how they arrived there; they simply "woke up". They are incapable of sexual reproduction and there are no children on either planet. When anyone dies on Fire or Water, they go to a spiritual holding cell in which time stands still, giving the illusion that no time has passed no matter how long they have been there. When space opens up they "wake up" again, whole and healthy on their respective home planet. Fire is destroyed by the Lexx under the command of Xev at the end of Season Three. With Fire gone, Prince possesses the Lexx and destroys Water. When Water and Fire are both destroyed, it is revealed that both planets were on the other side of the Sun and that all the souls contained on both worlds have reincarnated on Earth.^[10]

Season Four follows the Lexx as it arrives at Earth in the early 2000s, only to find that Prince (now Isambard Prince and head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, which runs the United States) and several other old adversaries have also arrived there. The crew's arrival coincides with a large asteroid-like vessel filled with robotic carrots bent on sampling the flavors of the various lifeforms on Earth. Between them, Prince, and the Lexx several large chunks of Earth are destroyed – including Orlando, Ottawa (a Canadian metonymical in-joke), Tokyo, the Amazon Rainforest, and Holland, which the Lexx eats – before the series finale, televised on April 26, 2002. Priest, the President of the United States, also destroys Cuba, Newfoundland, and Vietnam with thermonuclear bombs. The Lexx is also responsible for the destruction of Fire, Water, Pluto, Mars, Venus, and lastly Earth in its entirety.

Releases[]

VHS[]

Salter Street Films in conjunction with Koch Vision released the first season on four VHS as 'lost episodes' in 1996 (CA)

, a distribution division of Columbia-TriStar Home Video, released a promo tape for 'I Worship His Shadow' in 1997 (CA)

Paramount, in conjunction with Showtime, released the first season on four VHS in 1997(US).

Acorn Media released seasons 2 & 3 on VHS between 2001 & 2002(US)

, a subsidiary of , released season one on VHS as 'Lexx: Stories from the Dark Zone' in 1999. They also released season two on VHS, this time as 'Lexx: The Series' in 2000. (UK)

DVD[]

Region 1

Acorn Media released seasons 2–4 on DVD in single volume collections as well as complete season sets between 2002 & 2004. These releases have been discontinued and are out of print. Echo Bridge Home Entertainment has released all 4 seasons on DVD in the US only.^{[11][12][13][14]} On September 3, 2013, Echo Bridge released Lexx – The Complete Series as a DVD box set in Region 1.^[15] The 9-disc set features all 61 episodes of the series. In Canada, Alliance Home Entertainment has released all four seasons on DVD.

Region 2

Seasons One through Three were released on VHS and Region 2 DVD in the UK by Contender Limited, although the Season Three DVDs were initially exclusive to the MVC Entertainment chain of stores and all volumes have since been deleted. Contender failed to obtain the rights to Season Four, which instead went to Momentum Pictures (a subsidiary of Alliance Atlantis). Momentum Pictures has not released any DVDs.

MediumRare Entertainment released the complete run of Lexx in a 19-disc boxset in the UK in early 2011.

All four seasons were also released on DVD in Germany. Unlike the rest of the world (bar Australia), the German DVDs of Season 1 do still appear to be in print as of February 2007. However, the episodes of Season 1 of the German DVD release were cut to receive a 16 and up rating.

Region 4

Beyond Home Entertainment released all 4 seasons on DVD in Australia: Season 1 on July 11, 2007, Season 2 on September 12, 2007, Season 3 on October 17, 2007, and Season 4 on January 16, 2008. On May 13, 2009, Beyond Home Entertainment released Lexx – The Complete Series, a 19-disc boxset featuring all 61 episodes of the series in a special collectible tin. On December 1, 2010, Beyond Home Entertainment re-released the 19-disc set as a boxset rather than the collector's tin released the year previously.

Online[]

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Lexx is available through streaming television. Netflix provided versions of the show in the US as edited for US broadcast, though as of December 2013 it is no longer available. Similarly, Hulu had stopped streaming the show by November 2013 due to rights lapsing.^[16] In 2017, Lexx was available on Amazon Prime in the US, UK, and Australia by mid-2018. Although still included with Amazon Prime in the UK and Australia, the series was removed from Amazon Prime in the US during 2019, though episodes remained available for individual purchase and download.

As of and prior to January 2020, all four seasons were available to view in the US on Hoopla, and for free on Vudu. As of April 2020, all four seasons are available to view in the US and UK through The Roku Channel.

Reception and Legacy[]

Season One holds a 43% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on seven reviews.^[17] In a negative review, Linda Stasi of New York Daily News says she "can can only imagine that the great SciFi channel must have been captured by idiot monsters from outer space and Germany". Staff of The Independent called it "a wacky German-Canadian sci-fi import for people who find Babylon 5 too cerebral... it's extremely gory, not a little nasty and rather fun". Overall, the series holds a 92% audience rating based on over forty audience reviews.^[18]

TV Guide called Lexx "a siren of distinction for its black comedy, skewed take on the human condition and open sexuality..." while calling the visual effects "stunning".^[19]

Gavin Edwards of Spin gave praise to the visual effects, writing that "there was a time when a German-Canadian production like this would have had sets with wobbly walls and laughable special effects, but now computer costs are low enough that even when the story line flags — often — you will still be dazzled by state-of-the-art galactic vistas, exploding planets, and gargantuan phallic symbols streaking through the stars.^[2]"

In a retrospective, Chris Allcock of Den of Geek writes that Lexx's appeal comes from a combination of its antiheroes, overarching plots and themes, experimentation with new ideas, and its simplistic humor, concluding that Lexx is "not exactly high-concept sci-fi, but damned if we didn’t laugh anyway. For better or worse, Lexx really was one of a kind – and that’s why we loved it".^[20]

Lexx is notable for garnering a large online community and spreading primarily through word-of-mouth over the Internet. A large number of fan sites dedicated to the series include forums, chat rooms, and sharing arts and crafts with other members. The series was particularly popular in Europe, where it gained the reputation of "Star Trek's evil twin". Salter Street would also host an annual "UnCon" where fans were invited to tour the studio and sets and meet the cast and crew. Each of the three conventions had over thirty, sixty, and a hundred guests each year, respectively.^[21]

Lexx was voted 23rd in a poll by SciFiNow magazine in June 2009 in the "25 Greatest Sci-Fi TV Shows"^{[citation needed]}, and included it on their list of "Ten Overlooked Nineties Sci-Fi Shows".^[22] Lexx also achieved some mainstream notice with Xenia Seeberg as Xev appearing on a July 2000 cover of TV Guide^[23].

Broadcast history[]

The show's seasons had very different tones. While the original TV movies and the second season were mostly science fiction drama with dark comedy, Season 3 took a more serious tone, exploring themes of life, death, and reincarnation on Fire and Water. The show's final season – set on Earth in the year 2000 – took many turns into pure farce and introduced magic and other new elements.

Lexx was shown originally on Citytv in Canada and Showtime in the US. Then later picked up by Space, Channel 5 in the United Kingdom and then the Sci-Fi Channel in the United States. On Sci-Fi, it aired in the same Friday night lineup as Farscape, and the somewhat similar set-up for both shows (a misfit crew living on a huge, living starship) was often noted by critics, despite Lexx having premiered two years prior to Farscape.

On or prior to May 20, 2017, all seasons began to stream from Amazon.

Different versions[]

The European and American releases of Lexx differ slightly. In the beginning of the first film, the American version omits a scene in which Stanley is fooled and captured by Feppo. The European version places this scene between the death of Kai and the time when Stanley wakes up on the cluster 2008 years later.

Unlike the DVD edition, the German TV release was re-cut to include some flashback scenes at points where they mattered within the story, and not in the chronological order in which they happened. For example, Stanley's capture by Feppo was shown as a flashback in the fourth episode of the miniseries, whereas the DVD version includes it prior to the Cluster scenes early on in the first episode of the show, somewhat out of context.

See also[]

• Andromeda
• Cleopatra 2525
• Farscape
• Red Dwarf
• Space Precinct

References[]

External links[]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Lexx

• Lexx official site (Syfy). Archived from the original on March 5, 2005.
• Lexx at IMDb
• Lexx at Curlie
• Lexx at epguides.com