Customer Reviews

Lexx: Season One

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is not a TV season, but the 4 movies before it became a TV series. Season 2 is the first TV show season.

For fans of the show, this is a must get. It goes over the origin of the Lexx and all it's crew. These 4 movies were not available in the US on DVD until now. They were on VHS here, and Canada has had them on DVD and it is region 1 so you could have found a way to get them.

Lexx is my favorite sci-fi series as it does not follow the formula of sci-fi shows before it (or since for that matter). You can easily get invested in these characters and their adventures.

The Four episodes/movies:

1. I Worship His Shadow Lexx Series One "1.0: I Worship His Shadow" - Things get started and you get a good idea of the characters and how things don't go the way you as a viewer expect them to go.

2. Supernova Lexx Series One (Episode 2.0 - "Super Nova") - They find a planet inhabited by Tim Curry, oddness ensues.

3. Eating Pattern Lexx Series One - Episode Three of Four - 3.0 : Eating Pattern - Did I mention this was an odd series? Rutger Hauer is in this installment where the Lexx has to land because it, the ship, is hungry.

4. Giga Shadow Lexx Series One - 4.0 : Giga Shadow - Malcolm McDowell is in this final movie/episode of season 1 where the fate of the two galaxies is in danger.

Again, this is a must for fans. If you want a different sort of sci-fi, then this series is worth giving an honest chance. The production and pace gets better in the TV seasons, but this is a good start for newbies so that they can get the background on these characters, even if it is not the best example of the series.

I give these four movies 5 stars, they are the beginning of one of my favorite TV shows.

I want to give you some insight into the difference between this release (Echo Bridge) and the original canadian release by Salter Street. The Salter Street releases were four separate movies in individual cases, while this release is packaged in a kind of "book" style. The disc's carrier slides out of the cardboard sleeve, which has some nice embossed features of the graphics. It carries, as someone already noticed the image of Xenia Seeberg (Xev), who replaced Eva Habermann (Zev) a few episodes into season two...

The carrier itself opens up and holds two discs on each side. Overall, the package is only slightly thicker than a single DVD case. To note is that the slider is sealed with some non-removable tape. It needs to be cut and can not be peeled off without damaging the box.

The 4 movies are "bare bones", none of the extra features of the canadian release are included here. These were an interview with creator Lex Gigeroff, a behind the scenes featurette, and some panels with information about the characters, for each of the four movies. Those are interesting for hard core fans, but not necessary to enjoy the show.

Also, the separation into chapers of each episode is different. The Salter Street release had 9 chapter marks per episode, while this Echo Bridge release has 10 each, at slightly different points in the story. The video quality of the episodes, as far as I can tell, is identical.

Other than the missing extras, this release is, in my view, recommended.

This set contains the uncensored US version of the Lexx movies which were the ones broadcast in the UK on the Sci-Fi channel and not Channel 5. Therefore, the movies are unfortunately edited down to suit US commercials (didn't someone tell them that DVDs don't have commercials?). The editing is most noticeable in I Worship his Shadow and Giga Shadow with the former missing Stanly's capture and the middle of the final battle between Kai and His Divine Shadow, and the later missing the middle of the conversation between Kai and Yottskry and the middle of the chase between the Lexx and the Giga Shadow. This editing must have meant that the music in Giga Shadow was out of sync, but rather then re-score it they have compressed it and then muted the sections that sound too atrocious. I Worship his Shadow also has substantial over dubbing of dialogue throughout the episode (the most annoying of which is the bug bomb sequence) that, in my view, distracts from the overall atmosphere. So content wise, this is definitely a d grade release.

From a video quality stand point the picture is about as good as you'd expect from 90s TV without any additional work so it won't look brilliant if you've got a 40" HDTV, but to be fair that is understandably. The audio is also acceptable with exception of the music on Giga Shadow, and is Dolby 2.0 at 192kbps.

As such, those that have seen the full length uncensored version of Lexx will only be disappointed from this set, but unfortunately this is likely the only set you'll probably be able to buy new.

("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."

I've been waiting and hoping for years that they'd put these movies out on DVD in the US. I'm ordering mine now, but it doesn't bode well for this edition that the face of Xev (Xenia Seeberg) graces the box instead of that of Zev (Eva Habermann), since Xev doesn't show up until she replaces Zev in Season 2, and thus she doesn't appear in any of these season 1 movies! Maybe it's so fans of season 2 onward won't be confused, but it just seems like an oversight. I hope it's the only glitch.

If top-notch acting, high production values and gravitas are intrinsic to your viewing experience, you will not get what you need from this series. If you need logic, reason or coherent storytelling, you will not get it here. If disturbingly Freudian imagery and gratuitous sexuality upsets you, you should also probably cover your eyes and flinch from the rest of this review. For everyone else? Party time!

Holy hell, this show is fantastic!!! Sex, violence and freakery of all kinds abounds in this haywire, out of control monstrosity. It goes to some extremely strange places, and then starts getting weird. I loved every minute. If that sounds good?

You must watch this show.

If you were a fan of Lexx, the this is the first buy of the series that you should make. I had to take one star away for the menu at the front, I would have thought they would have put more work into that. But still, I felt that the product itself comes nicely packaged and the video is crisp and clean. If you have never seen Lexx, start with this set! It's cheesy, goofy, bizarre, imaginative, weird, fantastic, and just a great romp! It has one shower scene where you see Zev in the buff (slightly - too bad it's so slightly) but other than that it's pretty much PG except for the over outrageous unbelievable violence. Like the older Doctor Who's, the cheesy special effects just add to the overall wonderful flavor! BUY IT, WATCH IT, HAVE SOME FUN!Lexx: Season One (4-DVD Pack)

The packaging is incredibly frustrating!

To my shock the item I just paid top dollar for arrived without shrink wrap and to make matters worse it contained two extremely tight transparent stickers attached around both sides of the slipcase which I presume were intended to keep the digipak from falling out (why was this necessary when shrink wrap would have held it in just fine?).

Once I manually moved the stickers from the foil slipcase I was irritated to discover the stickers left permanent residue and tore through the foil, I did my best to remove it using a cloth but by the time I finished I had a nice big white streak along the spine of the digipak.

Packaging issues aside the transfer is excellent and the content is uncensored unlike the R4 Australian release, so based on this fact alone the Echo Bridge Entertainment version is currently the best available edition in print.

I give the product four stars for the video quality and content but if you're purchasing this for collector's purposes beware the packaging is definitely not collector friendly.

Be warned - very explicit. Lots of Nudity. There is a reason it was never shown in america.

But it is a great sci-fi movie(s) anyway. You get the 4 movies that started it all. Explains a few of the questions Lexx fans have always had. But only a few-still leaves you guessing.

Yes this was real sci-fi, not some rehash of other works. Very different type of sci-fi. I watched these originals the first year they came out, on showtime I think. I really loved Eva Habermann and was so disappointed she left the show after the first 4 episodes. Overall though its a tough show to explain because its not at all like other sci-fi shows. Basically Xev is the beauty, Kai the muscle (along with Lexx ship which is alive) and Stanley is the brains, except he's an idiot. And Kai is dead most of the time - he uses a special blood to re-animate himself. Then there's this robot head that loves Xev and hates Stanley, and cracks jokes. Together they try to flee and then fight this powerful entity called the shadow. Has some silliness and some dark humor. But oh how I adored Eva Habermann.