Kai, Xev and Stanley. Lexx is a strange, dark, nasty, sexy and funny sci fi show. It ran for four seasons, though is little known in this part of the world. I have all four seasons on DVD, and have often inflicted them on unsuspecting friends. I say inflicted, as most people I have shown the program to haven’t liked it. This is understandable, as it certainly isn't for everyone. A few though, like me, who have persevered, have loved it. It is in fact my favourite science fiction program. I place Lexx above all else, including Star Trek and its many spin-offs. Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of Star Trek. The trouble is that most of the sci fi programs that have come after it, have inhabited essentially the same clean and tidy universe. This is all well and good, but does get a tad boring after a few decades.
The universe(s) Lexx inhabits could certainly never be accused of being clean and tidy. In fact, it is everything that Star Trek is not. Times ten.
Synopsis:
"I am Kai, last of the Brunnen-G.
Millennia ago, the Brunnen-G led humanity to victory in the war against the insect civilization. The Time-prophet predicted that I would be the one to destroy the divine order in the league of the 20.000 planets. Someday that will happen, but not today. Because' today is my day of death. The day our story begins."
The Lexx is a living spacecraft, a sort of bio-engineered insect. It is the most powerful weapon in the two universes and is capable of destroying entire planets. The Lexx was built by his divine shadow, head of the divine order, to be used as a weapon to subjugate/destroy enemies of the league.
By luck rather than by design, the Lexx is captured from the divine order my a bunch of misfits and renegades.
The crew of the Lexx consist of Stanley Tweedle, Zev Bellringer, Kai and the robot head 790.
Stanley is a sexually frustrated and cowardly former security guard for the divine order. He is basically a decent guy who just wants an easy life. He is also the ships captain.
Zev/Xev is a love slave, who due to a few problems in the love slave transformation process also has a healthy dose of cluster lizard DNA. She is very beautiful, though due to the aberrant DNA, can be rather bad tempered at times. She has the hot's for Kai, but not alas, for Stanley.
Kai is the last of the Brunnen-G. His planet along with all its people was destroyed by his divine shadow. Kai was captured and killed personally by his divine shadow, who also took his memory. His dead body was preserved and re-animated when required using “protoblood”. In this way Kai was used as an assassin by his divine shadow and predecessors. Kai eventually recovers his memory and fulfils his destiny by destroying the divine order. Being “technically” dead Kai doesn’t care about anything very much, though this doesn’t stop him getting out and about and invariably saving his crew mates Xev and Stanley from certain death.
790 is a disembodied robot head who is madly in love with Xev. 790’s only interest in life is Xev and he hates anyone else who get in the way of his love for her. He particularly despises Stanley Tweedle, for whom he reserves his most spiteful insults. 790, despite his faults, is a valuable source of information, and as such a very useful member of the crew.
Lexx charts the adventures of the crew as they journey through the two universes in their search for somewhere to call home.
As might be imagined, there are a numerous other characters and plot lines spanning the four seasons of Lexx. I have no intention of describing them; that is up to you the reader, should you care to, to find out for yourself.
I would strongly suggest you start of with the very first episode, “I Worship his Shadow” as it provides the essential back-story, without which the characters motivations, and indeed how they come into possession of the Lexx, will be difficult to understand.
