Lexx

Not to be confused with Lex (disambiguation).

Lexx
The opening credits to Lexx
Created by	Paul Donovan Lex Gigeroff Jeffrey Hirschfield
Starring	Brian Downey Eva Habermann (season 1–2) Michael McManus Xenia Seeberg (season 2–4) Jeffrey Hirschfield Tom Gallant
Country of origin	Canada United Kingdom Germany
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	61 (Including Season 1) (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	Season 1 (2 hrs. approx.) Season 2 – 4 (45 minutes approx.)
Production company(s)	Salter Street Films Chum Television Silverlight Ltd.
Release
Original network	Global Television Network Sci Fi Channel Five CHUM Television's Space
Original release	18 April 1997 – 26 April 2002
External links
archived 2002-02-28 Website

Lexx is a science fiction television series that follows the adventures of a group of mismatched individuals aboard the organic space craft Lexx. They travel through two universes and encounter planets including a parody of the Earth.

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 United States' audience in January 2000. 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), and Namibia.

Characters

The crew

The crew of the Lexx includes:

• Stanley H. Tweedle (Brian Downey) of planet Ostral-B, Security guard 4th class, the Arch Traitor, courier of a failed rebellion, and, by accident, captain of the Lexx.
• Zev/Xev Bellringer of planet B3K, part cluster lizard, and part renegade love slave. Played by Lisa Hynes (as Original Zev) before the transformation, then by Eva Habermann (as Zev) in the first season and the first two episodes of the second season, and Xenia Seeberg (as Xev) thereafter.
• Kai (Michael McManus), last of the Brunnen-G, an emotionless, undead Divine Assassin.
• 790/791/769 (voiced by Jeffrey Hirschfield), a robot head that received the love slave programming meant for Zev, in love first with Zev, then, starting in season 3, with Kai.
• The Lexx itself (voiced by Tom Gallant), with which Stanley regularly interacts.
• Lyekka (Louise Wischermann), a plant who can also release an apparent human woman form to feed on humans. She sleeps for long periods aboard the Lexx, and is an occasional Lexx crew member when she wakes up to release her human form to feed (10 episodes).

Villains

Mantrid before his transference into a computer, accompanied by two drone arms

• His Divine Shadow (Walter Borden), ruler of the Divine Order (first season)
• The Gigashadow, last of the Insect Civilization (first season)
• Mantrid (Dieter Laser), when he was alive, he had been the supreme "Bio-Vizier" of His Divine Shadow (second season) (5 episodes)
• Isambard Prince (Nigel Bennett), ruler of the planet Fire/head of the ATF (third and fourth season) (21 episodes)
• Giggerota (Ellen Dubin), cannibal/queen/real estate agent/Pope (5 episodes)

Minor characters

File:Thodin.jpg

Thodin and his fellow Heretics on the Cluster

• The Divine Predecessors, previous incarnations of His Divine Shadow living on as disembodied brains. They appear mostly in Season One, but are mentioned throughout the series.
• Thodin (Barry Bostwick), a leader of the Ostral-B Heretics, notable for being the first to steal the Lexx. He appears in Season One of Lexx.
• The Time-Prophet (Anna Cameron), a nameless human woman with the power to see through the cycles of time, which she uses to look at the past in order to predict the future. She appears briefly in all four seasons at pivotal moments.
• Squish, an infant Cluster Lizard that thinks Kai is its mother. He appears in Season One of Lexx.
• Reginald J. Priest (Rolf Kanies), Prince's right-hand man who began as his lackey on Fire only to be promoted to President of the United States once he reached Earth. He appears in Seasons Three and Four. (11 episodes)
• Bunny (Patricia Zentilli), resident of the planet Water. She is Reginald Priest's girlfriend on Earth. (11 episodes)
• Fifi (Jeff Pustil), a man frequently encountered through multiple reincarnations, all antagonistic to the crew of the Lexx. He appears in Seasons Two, Three and Four. (5 episodes)
• Vlad (Minna Aaltonen), Divine Executioner seen in Season Four. (3 episodes)
• Dr. Ernst Longbore (Walter Borden), resident of Earth and scientist villain seen in Season Four. (5 episodes)
• Tina (Tara Doyle), assistant of Dr Longbore as he plans to build a ship to escape Earth. (4 episodes)
• Moss (Stephen McHattie), originally encountered as a member of the space crew from planet Potatohoe in Season 2, and then as FBI agent Moss in Season 4. (3 episodes)
• Cedric (Ross O'Hennessy), originally encountered as a space marine in the xevivor game show competing for a chance to breed with Zev .

Plot summary

See also: List of Lexx episodes

The main characters of the series are the Lexx and its crew. The crew consists of the captain of the Lexx, Stanley H. Tweedle, the love slave Zev/Xev, the undead former assassin Kai, last of the Brunnen-G, and the love-crazed robot head 790. Together they are looking for a new home. The background conflict of the series is the war between Mankind and the Insect Civilization, in which each side seeks the annihilation of the other. It was foretold to Kai that one day he will destroy the last remnant of the Insect Civilization.

The plot unfolds across a time span of over 6,000 years. Kai's death (or undeath) occurs 2,008 years before the beginning of the events of the series. For the first two seasons, each episode is focused on space travel and usually one different planet. Each of the last two seasons has a single location for all episodes. At the beginning of Season 3 the crew spends about 4,000 years in cryostasis. In Season 4, the Lexx reaches our Earth in the present.

First season

Stan, Zev and Kai accidentally steal the Lexx, the most powerful destructive weapon in the two universes. After successfully fleeing from the Cluster, the main planet of the League of the 20,000 Planets, they are looking for a new home.

Kai needs protoblood to live outside of his cryochamber. Looking for protoblood, the Lexx returns to the Cluster to learn that a huge insect survived. This insect had controlled The Divine Order and His Divine Shadow in order to eat all human inhabitants of the 20,000 planets. The insect then begins a metamorphosis into the Gigashadow. Gigashadow produces protoblood. With the help of Zev, Kai manages to fill up his store of protoblood. Kai places the cluster lizard Squish in the brain of the insect and thus is able to destroy it.

Second season

The main conflict of the second season is the fight against Mantrid, the former Bio-Vizier of His Divine Shadow. The crew had inadvertently helped him transfer his mind into a machine in the first episode of the season while accidentally fusing it with a remnant of His Shadow. Mantrid's goal is to transform all matter in the Light Universe into Mantrid Drones.

In the meantime the crew keeps getting into difficult situations and is usually rescued by Kai. At the end of the season they destroy Mantrid. Unfortunately, the Light Universe is also destroyed. The crew flees into the Dark Zone.

Third season

The Lexx is running out of food and must fly slowly to conserve energy. 790 computes that it might take thousands of years to reach an inhabited planet. The crew enters cryostasis to survive the voyage. After 4,000 years in cryostasis, they reach 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 Universe, but these survivors cannot remember their past in the parallel universe, though their personalities are still the same. Fire is ruled by the charismatic Prince. Water doesn't seem to have a ruler. The inhabitants of both planets live in isolated towns. On Water they live on islands in a huge ocean and on Fire there are big towers divided by desert.

Prince wants to win the crew over to his side, especially Xev. The Prince tests their sense of morality through various temptations. The crew is frequently separated, 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. On Water, deep beneath its surface, Kai encounters his soul essence which awaits rebirth. Stanley dies and a trial is held over the destination of his soul. All his bad decisions are weighted against his good deeds and he is sentenced to eternal punishment on Fire.

At the end of the season both planets, Fire and Water, are destroyed, and Stan's soul is set free, and is able to return into his body, though he cannot remember what happened to him on Fire. The souls of all inhabitants of Fire and Water are also released, then travel to a planet that looks like Earth.

Fourth season

The Lexx travels to Earth looking for food. It is located in the very center of the Dark Universe and the crew assumes that it must be a very dangerous place. The crew again meet several people they knew from the Light Universe, and from Fire and Water. Only Prince and Priest are able to remember their lives on Fire (though presumably Priest can only do this because Prince allows him to).

Kai's soul is stuck because he is undead, and he decides to die to release his soul. To do this, he must regain his mortality. He plays chess with Prince to regain mortality and wins, but Kai remains undead.

The Earth is threatened by a being that resembles Lyekka. The crew finds out that the fake "Lyekka" destroyed all human life on her way through the Dark Zone. Kai decides to destroy the asteroid that is the source of the entity. Prince keeps his promise and restores Kai's mortality. Minutes later, Kai finally dies destroying the asteroid, saving all inhabitants of the Dark Zone. 790 destroys the Earth using the senile and dying Lexx; Prince, Priest, and Bunny escape on a rocket filled with Catholic schoolgirls, and Xev and Stan fly off together on the Lexx's offspring, "Little Lexx" to find a new home.

The Lexx

Lexx

First appearance	I Worship His Shadow
Launched	The Cluster
General characteristics
Auxiliary craft	Moths
Armaments	The 'Ocular Parabola': small collapsible satellite dish like devices that cover the majority of The LEXX's forward face resembling the eyes of a dragonfly. They generate energy particles that can be released as a wave or later as a focused ring. The device is powerful enough to be a planet killer.

The Lexx is a bio-engineered planet-destroying bioship in the shape of a giant wingless dragonfly. It was grown by ingesting organ collections from the protein bank on the Cluster, the seat of the Divine Order, for use by His Divine Shadow. The Lexx was originally intended as the ultimate deterrent: the threat of a weapon that could instantly obliterate any planet would keep the remaining "Heretic" worlds of the Light Universe in line, and those that refused to capitulate would be summarily destroyed to reinforce the point. This plan was foiled when the crew commandeered it to escape from the Cluster.

The most important function of the Lexx is its ability to destroy entire planets with a single, high-powered blast. Its only weapon is initiated by command from the captain only, followed by a highly dramatic sequence when the Ocular Parabola found on the surface of its eye tissue flips from a smooth surfaced dome into a complex array of satellite dish-like structures. Huge amounts of yellowish-orange particles are released en masse from the array and focused by Lexx's nervous system to a point just above its mouth. Once focused, the particles burst into a massive, forward-moving, planar wave which expands ahead of the Lexx exponentially until colliding with an object of sufficient mass to disperse it, usually a planet. The wave instantly vaporizes smaller ships without losing momentum. Though the Lexx is designed to destroy entire planets, it can fire less intense blasts to hit smaller targets; however, the smallest area it seems capable of destroying is roughly the size of an entire city

A special living energy being known as the "key" is required to control the Lexx, and it will usually only respond to its owner. However, if the ship is in a deficient mental state, it may respond to anyone. A special holographic hand-scanner on the bridge confirms that the captain of the ship possesses the key. The captain then controls the Lexx through voice commands.

The Lexx itself is sentient, but not very intelligent. The show's creators have compared it to a dog. The Lexx often takes orders literally, even when it's not being addressed directly (Stan accidentally orders the Lexx to destroy a planet when he explains its function to some astronauts). It acknowledges commands and comments with a droning, simple male voice; for example, "As you command, Stan." The Lexx has emotions (it actively enjoys destroying planets, for instance, and becomes rather petulant when denied the opportunity), and is, to a small extent, capable of acting of its own accord when in defense of itself. In the final episode of the show, as the Lexx is dying, it tells Stan that he was always its favorite captain, since they both enjoy destroying planets.

Being alive, the Lexx needs to eat. It can digest any form of organic matter, and will usually land on a planet's surface to scoop up suitable organic foodstuffs; however, it is content to simply blow up a planet and feast on the sizable chunks. When denied food, the Lexx can become rather cranky, but will always attempt to follow orders no matter what is happening. The moral dilemma of destroying inhabited worlds for Lexx's functioning and survival is a recurring plot theme, and occasionally Lexx will swallow passing ships without informing the crew. Another means of collecting energy is to "resorb" discarded items left on its floors.

The Lexx has various amenities for the crew, though unusual in their implementation. It has showers which use long, phallic, writhing shower-heads that are activated by squeezing a pair of nearby balls. Food suitable for the crew consists of an orange, green, or blue paste-like substance, which is squirted from phallic dispensers, much to Stan's disgust. Lexx has commodes that use large, waggling tongues for user sanitation. A cryo-chamber is also available, primarily used by Kai to preserve his protoblood supply.

The Lexx also hosts a contingent of smaller bio-engineered ornithopter-like craft called "moths", which the crew often use for short-range travel in space, in a planet's atmosphere, or even within the vast Lexx itself. The moths are insect-like ships (as befits their name), and twitter constantly as they travel. The moths fly themselves, with a joystick used by the occupants only to direct their movement. The moth only uses its wings when in an atmosphere, and has a "jet pack" of sorts on its underbelly when traveling through space. Stan usually sleeps in the husk of one of the dead moths. The Lexx has a crew of moth breeders, zombie-like human slaves re-engineered entirely for moth breeding, to produce these craft when necessary.

When the Lexx arrives on Earth, it becomes pregnant after an encounter with an Earth dragon fly, suggesting that the ship is in fact female even though it speaks in a male voice (in the English-language version; the version shown in Germany gave the ship a female voice). Conversely, when a sex-changing virus sweeps through the ship, the Lexx is affected and develops stereotypical feminine characteristics, suggesting that it is normally male.

The Lexx ages several thousand years during the run of the series, and in later seasons its advanced age and decrepitude following millennia of starvation and neglect lead to it becoming increasingly unstable. In the final episode of the series, Lexx dies, giving birth to a smaller, very Lexx-like ship, the result of a brief union with an insect from Earth. The new ship, dubbed "Little Lexx" by Stan and Xev, imprints upon Stan when he tells it that he is its captain. This causes Little Lexx's key, blue like the original Lexx key that His Divine Shadow had, instead of the yellow copy that the Ostral B heretics made, to bind with Stan's right hand.

The Lexx was named after show creator Lex Gigeroff.

The Light Universe and Dark Zone

In Lexx there are two universes: the Light Universe and the Dark Zone. Two of the Season 1 movies and the whole of Seasons 3 and 4 take place in the Dark Zone, while two of the Season 1 movies and nearly all of Season 2 takes place in the Light Universe.

The Light Universe was completely dominated by His Divine Shadow and the League of 20,000 Planets, while the Dark Zone is often referred to as the universe of evil, chaos, and depravity. The Brunnen-G originally lived in the Dark Zone on Brunnis, until their sun was no longer able to support life, after which they moved to Brunnis-2 in the Light Universe. Earth is located at the center of the Dark Zone, as are Fire and Water, planets that are similar to hell and heaven.

Most of the matter in the Light Universe was converted into biomechanical drones (Mantrid drones) by Mantrid, who then caused a Big Crunch by summoning all the Mantrid drones to a single spot in the universe to do battle with the Lexx. Little matter escaped into the Dark Zone, most of it being the Lexx itself.

The Dark Zone is the parallel universe that His Divine Shadow cannot enter. The Dark Zone is referred to as the universe of chaos and disorder. It is also where the crew finds, among other inhabited planets, Earth, where they spend the entirety of the fourth season. At the end of the first movie, "I Worship His Shadow", the Lexx enters the dark zone through a fractal core located using coordinates found inside one of Stanley Tweedle's teeth. The Lexx remains in the Dark Zone during the second and third movies, and parts of the fourth. The Lexx returns to the Light Zone in the first episode of the television series. Following the destruction of the Light Universe (or Light Zone) by Mantrid's drones (at the end the second season), the Lexx is shifted into the Dark Zone where they remain for the rest of the show.

Divine Order

The Divine Order is a fictional religion in Lexx, created by the last of the Insect Civilization as a means of controlling the human population of the Light Universe, and ultimately to use them to destroy themselves (since as stated by His Divine Shadow, being the last of the insects, he alone could not destroy all of humanity). It is ruled over by His Divine Shadow, who gets advised by the previous brains that were inhabited by the essence of the shadow, known as Divine Predecessors.

The Cluster

The Cluster is at the very center of the Divine Order and is also the planetoid from which Zev, Stan, and Kai escape in the beginning. His Divine Shadow, his Divine Predecessors, and religious leadership rule from The Cluster. The Cluster is the capital of the Divine Order, center of the bureaucracy, and place where all criminals/heretics are taken for punishment (provided they survive the trip). Criminal justice in the League of 20,000 Planets was centralized on the Cluster and was Draconian in the extreme. The sole purpose of the Cluster's legal system was to procure flesh from His Divine Shadow's unfortunate subjects, with death or forced organ donation being the primary means of punishment. This flesh would then be contributed to the 'Protein Bank', where it would be used to feed either the Lexx or the Gigashadow, or used in the creation of cyborgs. A few female prisoners were also turned into Love Slaves, such as Xev. The planet has become an over centralized, overcomplicated mess, with most decisions being automated by an impersonal computer system prone to devastating and/or deadly mistakes at the slightest technological malfunction.

Fire

Main article: Fire (Lexx)

Fire is an inhospitable planet, the entire surface of which is covered in desert and open seas of lava. Even when the sun beats down mercilessly on the desert sands, the ground below is hotter still than the sky above. Fire is said to have no water of its own, and people on the open sands during daylight quickly die. The inhabitants of Fire live in enormous towers, each of which contains a single city. These provide them shade from the sun and possibly keep them cooler by raising them away from the planet's warm surface.

Water

Main article: Water (Lexx)

The inhabitants of Water live in several large floating settlements, each of which seems to be centered around some particular pastime. During their stay on Water, the crew of the Lexx visit the settlements of Gametown, for those who like sports; Boomtown, for those who like sex; and Garden, for those who like gardening. Life on Water seems to have been meant to be full of unmarred beauty and contentment, but this is shattered by frequent war parties from Fire, which arrive via hot air balloons through the planets' shared atmosphere.

Earth

Earth is a life-bearing planet, half covered with water, in the same orbit as the Fire-Water binary system but on the opposite side of its sun. It is also a "type 13" planet, inhabited by a disorderly human civilization.

Essential minor elements

Places

• Brunnis-2 - Second home of the Brunnen-G, where Kai originates from but which was ultimately destroyed in the first few moments of "Lexx 1.0: I Worship His Shadow"

Hardware and technology elements

• The Key - a living entity, originally produced by the Divine Order, that allows whoever is hosting it to captain the Lexx. The key Stan uses throughout the series is actually a copy that the Ostral B heretics had made for them (at the cost of millions of lives) by bio-code experts. Originally carried by Thodin on a mission to steal the Lexx, Stan unknowingly obtains it when he stands near Thodin's lieutenant at the moment the lieutenant is eaten by a Cluster Lizard. The key can be passed to others only during moments of extreme emotion such as being brought to "the height of sexual ecstasy" or at the moment of the key holder's death. While it is passed to several other characters during the run of the show, Stan always manages to get it back.
• Protoblood - substance that gives the ability to resurrect the dead for a period of time.
• Moth - a semi-hollow bio-mechanical shuttle, in the shape of a moth (from which it is named), that the crew uses to travel great distances in and outside of the Lexx.
• Narcolounger - a machine that lets its users live in their dreams, once owned and operated by Gubby, and possibly the only one in existence.
• Bad Carrots - probes from an asteroid-like ship, sent down to Earth to find different types of food.
• Black Pack - A weapon from the light universe, specifically the Cluster, that fires brilliant sheets of green shrieking energy. It instantly disintegrates carbon-based structures, and can also be used as a stun weapon.
• Protein Regenerator - A device kept in the Lexx's Cryo chamber. It can heal wounds and cure infectious diseases.
• Squawker - Handheld communicator device.
• Lusticon - A Machine located in the Cluster and on a few outlying planets, that changes some females into love slaves.

Lifeforms

During the four Seasons we meet several sentient lifeforms: humanoids, insectoids and plants. Humans also created humanoid robots. They are cyborgs and are designed for specific tasks. All lifeforms in the two universes understand each other, so they seem to speak the same language. The Brunnen G song is the only hint of another language, it is sung in the ancient language of the Brunnen G.

Mankind

Humans inhabit the Light Universe as well as the Dark Zone. They have been fighting against the Insect Civilisation since ancient times. The goal of the insects is the extermination of mankind. Humans created several governments. Explicitly mentioned are:

• League of the 20,000 planets (Light Universe)
• The Reformed Planets (Light Universe)
• Brunnen G on Brunnis 2 (Light Universe), earlier on Brunnis in the Dark Zone
• Fire and Water (Dark Zone)
• Earth (Dark Zone)

Humanoid robots

• 790

790 is a humanoid robot. Originally it possessed a human body, a robot head and a small part of a human brain (when in love with Kai, 790 claims this brain-cube came from a woman, but the robot-head speaks in a male voice and was previously in love with Zev/Xev. Its body was eaten by a cluster lizard early in the first movie, but it can survive even without a body.

• Mothbreeders

Mothbreeders are also cyborgs. They were specially designed for mothbreeding and have very limited intellectual capabilities.

Insectoids

The insects are enormous in size. They can survive in space and fought mankind in the ancient Insect Wars. Their goal is the extermination of mankind.

• Gigashadow (Season 1)

A nameless surviving insect hides on Cluster, the main planet of the League of the 20,000 planets. It rules through the Divine Order and His Divine Shadow over the humans of the 20,000 planets. In the fourth movie of the first season it becomes the Gigashadow.

• His Divine Shadow (Season 1)

Physically a human, His Divine Shadow as representative of the Divine Order is controlled by the insect on Cluster. According to the prophecy His Divine Shadow will be killed by a Brunnen G after he leaves the Cluster.

• His Divine Predecessors (Season 1 and 2)

After the death of a Divine Shadow his brain is removed and transferred into a device that maintains his vital functions over hundreds of years. The brains of the Divine Predecessors are stored on large columns. They are able to communicate with each other and with His Divine Shadow. The bodies of the Divine Predecessors are sent to Ruuma. There they live a life similar to zombies.

Plants

• Lyekka (Season 2)

Lyekka becomes the fourth regular crewmember. She is a carnivorous plant and resembles an early love of Stan. Lyekka is hungry all the time, but she refrains from eating the crew because she likes them. She usually eats additional passengers on board of the Lexx . At the end of Season 2 her pod is attacked by Mantrid drones, and she is thereby doomed to die. She sacrifices herself for the crew and helps to defeat Mantrid.

• Lyekka (Season 4)

"Lyekka" in Season 4 is a colony of plants that made it to the Dark Zone. She pretends to be the Lyekka in order to win the confidence of the crew. She and her colony are the source of the killer carrots sent to Earth. On their tour through the Dark Zone, they devastated all planets they encountered, extinguishing all life on them. After destroying Tokyo, it comes to a showdown with the LEXX and crew.

Other Life forms

• Satellite worms

Hinted to be a biological weapon of some kind used in "the trader wars" a very vicious kind of weapon. The Queen can scan and make copies of other lifeforms to act as subservient carrier for the actual satellite worms. Often the Queen chooses to copy a life form capable of seducing others to make spreading the worms easier. Initial infection is done via the mouth. After an undetermined period of time the satellite worm drone bursts through the skin of the host at the side of the neck. Due to its biochemical activity and being bound to the brain the worm can stimulate pleasure in the brain along with some limited control over the mind itself such and suppressing memories of its host. The drone worms stimulate pleasure responses and induce a state that could be said to be intoxication when the worm gets organic matter (In the show it is seen as a green liquid), the matter itself coming from living organisms. The queen itself is able to produce further queens to take over as well as having a high level of control over its own form, able to project parts of itself out and grow to giant proportions. Each drone worm works to bring food to the Queen normally. If its host fails to find food for the worm then the worm will devour the hosts brain from the inside out then leave the body of its own accord. The relationship between the drones and the queen is said to be like the human red blood cell to the body

• Cluster Lizards

A highly vicious reptile found on the cluster worlds, they have the ability to curl up to move at high speeds along with vicious dinosaur like claws and teeth. Their tongues allow them to secrete toxins should they choose to help subdue prey. They also possess immense strength for their small size.

Music

The music of the series was written by Marty Simon.

Brunnen-G Song

The Brunnen-G song is sung by Cam Hawkins, Marty Simon and Stan Meisner. The Brunnen-G song is first sung in the first scene of the first episode ("I Worship His Shadow", 1.1) by the still living Kai and his companions trying to defend their homeplanet Brunnis-2. The Brunnen-G song is sung in the ancient language of the Brunnen-G and it is the only hint at a different language in the whole Lexx- Universe (other than on Earth, where French and German among others are used in passing). The Brunnen-G on Brunnis in The Dark Zone traditionally sang the song preparing for battles to assure themselves that it's all about the struggle and was sung only when expecting to battle to the end.

Kai sings the Brunnen-G song in some of the following Lexx- episodes especially in critical and hopeless situations. In the episode "The Rock" (4.6) Kai plays the Brunnen-G song in a pub on the piano and thus creates a jazzy version. At the end of the episode the whole pub sings the song in an Irish folk style. The last episode of the fourth and last season ("Yo Way Yo", 4.24) derives its name from the Brunnen-G song. Kai sings the Brunnen-G song when he kills the last remnants of the Plant Civilisation. From the third Season on the Brunnen-G song is the intro of the series.

Brigadoom

The episode "Brigadoom" (2.18) is a musical episode. It describes the destruction of Brunnis-2 and the death of Kai. All songs are performed by the actors themselves:

1. Brigadoom
2. Dull Dull Dull
3. Go Beyond
4. Beyond Reprise
5. Farewell
6. Time Prophet
7. His Shadow Is Coming
8. Guilty
9. Sentenced
10. Two Hearts
11. Sweet Relief
12. Brunnen G
13. A Good Way To Die
14. Jerhume Brunnen G
15. Final Stand

Episodes

Main article: List of Lexx episodes

There are four seasons of Lexx totaling 61 episodes. The first season, debuting in Canada on 18 April 1997, 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 don't list the two-hour movies as a series but list the subsequent seasons as the first through third.

The second season consisted of twenty 48-minute episodes, with an overall story arc concerning an evil scientist called Mantrid, who attempts to kill everyone by converting the entire mass of the universe into one-armed Mantrid drones.

The third season comprises 13 episodes in which the 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 is much like the Devil, though he actually identifies himself as death incarnate at the end of season four. The two planets orbit each other at an extremely close distance, and share a tunnel of atmosphere between them, allowing the inhabitants of Fire to carry out raids on Water to cause chaos. Fire is filmed between the dunes of Namibia and the Gothic architecture of Berlin. Prince reincarnates whenever it suits him. Water appears to have no opposing ruler, and contains a small population of hedonists on floating islands.

In the fourth and final season of 24 episodes, the Lexx arrives at Earth in the year 2000, only to find that Prince (now named Isambard Prince and head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, which more or less runs the United States) and several other old adversaries have also arrived there. Between them, Prince and the Lexx manage to demolish large chunks of the Earth — including Orlando, Florida; Ottawa (a Canadian metonymical in-joke);Tokyo, the Amazon Rainforest, and Holland, which the Lexx eats — before the climactic final episode, televised on 26 April 2002. The Lexx is responsible for the destruction of Fire, Water, Pluto, Mars, Venus, and lastly Earth. Also, Priest, the President of the United States, manages to destroy via thermonuclear bombs the following countries or territories: Cuba, Newfoundland, and Vietnam.

Releases

DVD

Region 1

Acorn Media released seasons 2-4 on DVD in single volume collections as well as complete season sets in 2002-2004. These releases have now been discontinued and are out of print.

Echo Bridge Home Entertainment has released all 4 seasons on DVD in the US only.

On September 3, 2013, Echo Bridge will release Lexx- The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1. 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 to three of Lexx were released on VHS and Region 2 DVD in the UK by Contender Limited, although the Season 3 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 4, which instead went to Momentum Pictures (a subsidiary of Alliance Atlantis). Momentum Pictures has not yet 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 Region 2 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 the first season 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

Netflix no longer offers streaming of Lexx in USA (As of Dec-2013). The versions available in the past were the editions edited for U.S. broadcast. Hulu no longer offers streaming of Lexx episodes due to rights lapsing.

Broadcast history and legacy

The show's seasons had very different tones. While the original TV movies and the second season were mostly science fiction drama with plenty of dark comedy, the "Fire and Water" season took a more serious tone, while the show's final season — set on Earth in the year 2000 — took many turns into pure farce and introduced magic (as in the episode A Midsummer's Nightmare) and other new elements.

Lexx was shown originally on CityTV in Canada, then later picked up by Space, Channel 5 in the UK 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 (with a misfit crew flying through space on a huge, living starship) was often noted by critics, despite Lexx having premiered two years prior to Farscape. Lexx did achieve some mainstream notice (with Xenia Seeberg as "Xev" appearing on the cover of TV Guide, for instance).

Lexx was voted 23rd in a poll by SciFiNow magazine in June 2009 in the '25 Greatest Sci-Fi TV Shows'

Different versions

There are two versions of Lexx, the European and the American one. One point of difference is in the beginning of the first film: in the American version, there is no scene where Stanley is fooled and captured by Feppo. In the European version, this scene is 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 the pirates was shown as a flashback in the fourth episode ("Gigashadow") 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.

External links

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