Stanley is the holder of the key that runs the LEXX. He is a loser that was a security guard (third class no less) who screwed up and is marked for execution. Xev is a hot young love slave who was destined to be mated to the emperor but through a series of mishaps ends up not being properly conditioned (mentally programmed) and runs away. With her is a robot head, 790, (without a body) that gets her programming that makes him passionate for the first being he sees, initially Xev and then later Kai. The last main character is a zombie named Kai who the emperor keeps as an assassin. His loyalties switch to the crew who go on a series of misadventures, generally destroying planets and the like as they live life on the lam.

The show went through a number of changes, including Xev's actress, but it kept to a general formula where the cast encounter some enemy or another, deal with it as best they can (given their quirks) and leave the area, often blowing up the offender or offender's planet as a parting gift. In LEXX, Season 4, Part 2, the crew find themselves stranded on Earth after dealing with the hostile characters of the twin planets, Fire and Ice. The Lexx is nearly out of fuel, not having eaten a full meal in thousands of years, and the crew decides to make a go of it down on Earth, while being chased down by a maniacal ATF Director (Prince, played by Nigel Bennett). Earth is dangerously close to destroying itself and an alien threat of another kind is probing it for invasion. Here are the episodes of the final twelve shows:

4.13: 769
4.14: Prime Ridge
4.15: Mort
4.16: Moss
4.17: Dutch Treat
4.18: The Game
4.19: Haley's Comet
4.20: Apocalexx Now
4.21: Viva LEXX Vegas
4.22: Trip
4.23: Lyekka Vs. Japan
4.24: Yo Way Yo

The series ended on a high note, continuing its satirical, dark humor to the end. From the jabs at American militias to the send up of Japanese monster movies and everything in between, the show lived up to its former glory of the second and third season. Most of the topics skewered in the last half of the fourth season were related to the United States and the pop culture aspects the show frequently used in its not-so-subtle commentary. The death of most of the cast at the end was handled well (keeping in mind that death was always common on the show) and the boxed set had a whole lot of replay value, not just for slavering fanatics of the show either.

I'm going to rate this one as Highly Recommended since it had all the elements of a great production: technical expertise, solid content, high replay value, interesting themes, and a cast that fit their roles far better than has been reported elsewhere. The stoic Kai, the sexy Xev, bumbling Stanley, and plotting 790, all provided a fun alternative to other long running series of a sanitized Universe run by generic corporate types where the majority of decisions were made by impossibly perfect characters (lets face it, few of us can relate to perfect people and those who can are in denial). It's not for everyone but those of you who are willing to enjoy themselves, will likely appreciate the complexities of LEXX.

Picture: The picture was presented in 1.33:1 full frame ratio as it was filmed. The fleshtones were very accurate and the show looked fairly clear. The biggest problem I noticed was in a few of the CGI shots, the clarity showed the limitations of the budget and that there was more than average amount of grain in some of the scenes. I did notice that there was some video noise in a few dark scenes too.

Sound: The sound was presented with a choice of English language tracks of either Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound or 2.0 stereo. There were no subtitles or closed captions. The sound was actually a set or two up from previous releases of the show I had watched and a vast improvement over it's original airing on cable (for me at least).

Extras: CGI galleries, production sketches, behind-the-scenes photos, storyboards, trivia questions, paper inserts with chapter listings, behind the scenes footage, and a message from the series creator, Paul Donovan. In all, the extras were nothing Earth shattering but they complimented the uncut, unedited episodes nicely.

Final Thoughts: I really enjoyed the series since it had so much to offer fans of science fiction (not to mention fans of biting social commentary). The set had a lot of episodes for a decent price and the fact that they were unedited (a bit of nudity from time to time) and looked vastly superior to when they were aired on the Sci-Fi Channel was just a bonus.