Lexx: Season 1

("Lexx" was also called "Tales From a Parallel Universe", depending on where and when one saw the original run.The Big Four are also referred to as Lexx 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0, The TV series are numbered as 2.x, 3,x and 4.x with each ep assigned a number (x) for that seasons' episode.)When it comes to "Lexx" you either love it, hate it or simply just can't comprehend it. But you should give it a try.The "Big Four" DVDs are sort of the "Holy Grail" for Lexx fans and me, being one of them, have been waiting for a reasonably priced set of the four original movies.1.0 "I Worship His Shadow" introduces us to Kai, Last of the Brunnen G and the cosmology for "Lexx."The "Light Universe" is ruled by an extremist, totalitarian theocracy called The Divine Order.Great opening battle scene and fantastic ships and weaponry wipe out all life on Brunnis II. We see how Zev gets transformed into a love slave, how 790 gets transformed and how Stanley fumbles his way into to becoming the Captain of the Lexx and how they all come together as the crew. We also get Barry Bostwick as Thodin, a rebel leader in the fight against "The Divine Order" and Ellen Dubin as "Giggerota." The crew escapes into a black hole with His Divine Shadow's flagship right behind them, trying to retrieve the Divine Predecessors that the Divine Shadow had stored there.2.0 "Super Nova" (my favorite of the "Big Four") takes us to Brunnis, the original home of the Brunnen G. The planet is still intact and the sun is too: the satellites that kept the Sun from going Nova still work. The planet is devoid of life as everyone leaves for Brunnis II because the sun is dying. Well, almost everyone. A single inhabitant, Poet Man, (Tim Curry) spent many years hacking Brunnis' technology as his revenge for being (intentionally?) left behind.3.0 "Eating Pattern" finds our crew starving when a radio beacon finds them and invites "fresh" people to visit the secondary resource (read junkyard) planet, Klaagya. Desperate, the crew make their way to the dump and find that they are what's for dinner..sort of. The creatures inhabit the bodies of the planet's former inhabitants and must eat "Pattern" which is processed from human bodies, but because of a sort of cannibalization, the pattern they now make is "less than premium."Bog, played by Rutger Hauer, is the "King of Pattern." We also meet "Wist" who is their leader.4.0 "Gigashadow" With His Divine Shadow and the Divine Predecessors feared destroyed, we find the The Cluster and Divine Order disintegrating. Remnants of the priesthood are trying to restore The Order and His Divine Shadow by creating the Gigashadow. But one of the high priests named Yottskry, played by Malcolm McDowell, has reservations. A junta by the rebel priests tries to take power and Yottskry dies during the struggle. He is later unintentionally revived by a protoblood leak and he gets incorporated into the Gigashadow as it's nexus. The crew of the Lexx go back to the cluster to get more protoblood for Kai and discover what is taking place.A bit about the TV series...I kind of take issue with Farscape fans who say that the idea of a living ship (The Lexx) was stolen from Farscape (FS), but the idea wasn't new. Lexx aired before the first ep of FS and Star Trek and Robert Heinlein had living ships in their stories.There is a bit of a history between Lexx and Farscape fans. Fans sometimes blamed each others show as being inferior or the respective shows of "stealing audience" and even of not bringing in enough viewers as a lead in or lead out to the next tv hour...and later FS fans blamed the lack of support from Lexx fans helped in the cancellation of FS. To me, the biggest difference between the two shows were budget, support by scifi (now called SyFy) and the objectives of the respective show's' crews. While FS flew around saving planets, alliances and galaxies, the Lexx crew were looking for food, a home and "fun."

Lexx was a weird TV show. And I loved it. The only show that even came close to the weirdness on display in Lexx was Farscape, also a four season sci-fi show. There is nudity in Lexx, but not in Farscape. The first actress playing the Zev character, Eva Habermann shows her breasts. The second actress playing the Zev character, Xenia Seeberg, from season two to four, doesn’t. Other women are shown nude, but not Seeberg. Her character teases the Stanley Tweedle character for three seasons, but never gives the poor guy any relief. Bad Zev.The best character is Kai, played by Michael McManus. Jeffrey Hirschfield and Tom Gallant also do outstanding work voicing the fourth and fifth characters, 790 and Lexx, respectively, and many other fine actors and actresses appear, including Rutger Hauer playing an absolute evil dweeb character.Most sci-fi shows don’t contain any nudity. Exceptions are, the pilot of Stargate SG1, Odyssey 5, some episodes of the second Outer Limits series from the nineties, Westworld, etc. There’s plenty of good stuff out there if you want to avoid nudity, but you’ll be missing out on some great sci-fi.When I’m not watching sci-fi and fantasy shows I’m reading sci-fi and fantasy. Authors I like include Douglas Adams, Taylor Anderson, Isaac Asimov, Paolo Bacigalupi, Jack Campbell, Orson Scott Card, Arthur C. Clarke, Earnest Cline, Suzanne Collins, Abe Evergreen, Terry Goodkind, Joe Haldeman, Robert A. Heinlein, Frank Herbert, Hugh Howey, Robert Jordan, George Martin, Larry Niven, Andre Norton, Patrick Rothfuss, Brandon Sanderson, John Scalzi, John Steakley, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Andy Weir.

If you watched Lexx on TV, you know what to expect. If you have never seen it before, you may not know what you are getting into. It's a joint Canadian/German Sci-Fi mix up, if that tells you anything. When I first started rewatching it, it felt a little dated, what with the campy acting and low budget special effects. I quickly got past that and started enjoying it just like I did when I watched it for the first time.Pros1) All four episodes are here in the uncensored US cut.2) Kai is the man! Albeit the dead man...3) It's a lot better than stuff you could be watching.4) They fly around space in a giant freakin' bug that destroys planets!5) Tim CurieCons:1) Campy dialogue and special effects. This will be a con for some. I don't personally view it that way, as it adds to the charm.2) The biggest con: all four episodes are on one disk. This is not multi-disk. The description lies! This is the reason I only gave it four stars.3) This is not the completely uncut version. It has nudity and such, but some scenes are edited or cut out. I believe this is the most full version available on DVD, however.

Really entertaining, although the special effects is a bit dated.

Even better than I remembered it on tv. Really nice collection. Definitely getting the rest of the series as soon as I can afford them.

I am really pleased with this CD and so is the rest of my family. My mother and I used to go and see Lex all the time. To tell you the truth he was like an uncle to me.June