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Lexx S3 V3
Acorn Media // PG-13 // July 30, 2002
List Price: $24.95 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
What do you get when you combine a gigantic semi-organic starship, a clueless technician-turned-starship-captain, a half-lizard ex-love-slave, a robot head (no, not a headless robot, a robot head), and a walking dead man? Why, Lexx, of course: probably the oddest science fiction show that's crossed my path.
Lexx Season 3 Volume 3 contains only three episodes, "The Key," "Garden," and "Battle"; all three are the original uncut versions. Volume 3 picks up in the middle of the Season 3 story arc, such as it is. The Lexx is stuck between the planets of Fire and Water, too weak with hunger to fly away. How to feed the gigantic ship without destroying one or more of the planets in the process is a major issue, but not surprisingly, the characters get caught up in various adventures on the planets' surface as well. Also not surprisingly, considering the previous track record of the crew, these adventures tend to be of an amorous nature.
Season 3 is for all intents and purposes independent of Season 2; 4,000 years have passed with the crew in cryogenic sleep, and they've awoken to find themselves in a new muddle. A few references are made to events in the previous season, but there's nothing that viewers need to know in order to watch Season 3's episodes. The various quirks of the characters, or more accurately, their various obsessions, become apparent very early on even if you haven't seen them in action before.
Lexx manages to have reasonably good special effects, and with Season 3's shift to using partially on-location shooting (as opposed to strictly on sets), the overall look of the film is more expansive. Computer graphics technology enables the series to present shots like the Lexx in orbit around the twin planets, the "moth" vehicles in flight, and some spectacular cities, which add to the overall ambiance of the show as set in a science-fictional universe.
Enjoying these episodes pretty much depends on liking the characters. If you get a kick out of the sexual innuendoes and repartee between Xev (Xenia Seeberg), Stan (Brian Downey), and 790 (Jeffrey Hirschfield) , these episodes will be enjoyable. 790, previously fixated on Xev in Season 2, has transferred its obsessive attentions on Kai (Michael McManus), now insisting that it is a woman trapped in a robot head. This is no improvement, as 790 is as gratingly obnoxious as ever. The presence of the undeniably cute Kai (if cute is an appropriate word to describe a 6,000-year-old dead assassin) goes a certain way toward making the show fun to watch, and in fact he even begins to "warm up" a bit as a character, showing some emotion and more complex reactions to his fellow crewmembers. Even so, Lexx is very much an odd duck. There's the ghost of a potentially interesting plot in the story arc, and a hint of genuinely interesting characters beneath the caricatures, but it's all taken too much toward the absurd for my tastes.
Viewers who enjoyed Lexx Season 2 will find Season 3 equally enjoyable. Those viewers who are looking for a starting point with Lexx would, obviously, be advised to start with Volumes 1 and 2 of Season 3 before picking up Volume 3.
Video
Lexx is presented in its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio. It looks reasonably good for a television show (and one that was probably not filmed with a lavish budget, either), and I'd put it at slightly above average for its transfer. The good contrast is helpful in scenes taking place in the interior of the Lexx, which tends to be rather dim and gloomy, and while Stanley has a cheerful red uniform, Kai on the other hand skulks about in dead-man black. As much of the action in Season 3 takes place on the planets' surface, there are more well-lit scenes and a more lavish use of color, which livens the image up considerably. Overall, the picture is fairly bright and clear. The main drawback of the transfer is the presence of some graininess and noise; nothing really terrible, but enough to make the image a bit blurry.
Audio
Lexx's Dolby 2.0 soundtrack is, like the image, about average for its category. I occasionally noted that the dialogue was less than sharp, and there overall sound is somewhat flat, but on the whole it's reasonably OK.
Extras
The menu design appears to have been tightened up for Season 3, and it's quite easy to navigate, with an interesting but not overdone animation.
There's a reasonably generous helping of special features in proportion to the small number of episodes on the disc. The main special feature is a featurette "The Making of Season 3, Part III"; parts I and II being on volumes 1 and 2 of Season 3, respectively. There's also an interview with Peter Gaskin, the director of "videomatics," which are intermediate-production sequences used in the creation of Lexx's special effects shots. Lastly, the disc includes production sketches, storyboards, and trivia questions.
Final thoughts
Lexx is strange stuff, but it has a certain peculiar charm that may make it worth viewing for some science-fiction fans... on a "try before you buy" basis, however. Anyone who has been following the series on a regular basis and has Season 3 Volumes 1 and 2 will want to add Volume 3 their set, while new viewers are advised to enter the universe through Volume 1 of Season 3.
Lexx Season 3 Volume 3 contains only three episodes, "The Key," "Garden," and "Battle"; all three are the original uncut versions. Volume 3 picks up in the middle of the Season 3 story arc, such as it is. The Lexx is stuck between the planets of Fire and Water, too weak with hunger to fly away. How to feed the gigantic ship without destroying one or more of the planets in the process is a major issue, but not surprisingly, the characters get caught up in various adventures on the planets' surface as well. Also not surprisingly, considering the previous track record of the crew, these adventures tend to be of an amorous nature.
Season 3 is for all intents and purposes independent of Season 2; 4,000 years have passed with the crew in cryogenic sleep, and they've awoken to find themselves in a new muddle. A few references are made to events in the previous season, but there's nothing that viewers need to know in order to watch Season 3's episodes. The various quirks of the characters, or more accurately, their various obsessions, become apparent very early on even if you haven't seen them in action before.
Lexx manages to have reasonably good special effects, and with Season 3's shift to using partially on-location shooting (as opposed to strictly on sets), the overall look of the film is more expansive. Computer graphics technology enables the series to present shots like the Lexx in orbit around the twin planets, the "moth" vehicles in flight, and some spectacular cities, which add to the overall ambiance of the show as set in a science-fictional universe.
Enjoying these episodes pretty much depends on liking the characters. If you get a kick out of the sexual innuendoes and repartee between Xev (Xenia Seeberg), Stan (Brian Downey), and 790 (Jeffrey Hirschfield) , these episodes will be enjoyable. 790, previously fixated on Xev in Season 2, has transferred its obsessive attentions on Kai (Michael McManus), now insisting that it is a woman trapped in a robot head. This is no improvement, as 790 is as gratingly obnoxious as ever. The presence of the undeniably cute Kai (if cute is an appropriate word to describe a 6,000-year-old dead assassin) goes a certain way toward making the show fun to watch, and in fact he even begins to "warm up" a bit as a character, showing some emotion and more complex reactions to his fellow crewmembers. Even so, Lexx is very much an odd duck. There's the ghost of a potentially interesting plot in the story arc, and a hint of genuinely interesting characters beneath the caricatures, but it's all taken too much toward the absurd for my tastes.
Viewers who enjoyed Lexx Season 2 will find Season 3 equally enjoyable. Those viewers who are looking for a starting point with Lexx would, obviously, be advised to start with Volumes 1 and 2 of Season 3 before picking up Volume 3.
Video
Lexx is presented in its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio. It looks reasonably good for a television show (and one that was probably not filmed with a lavish budget, either), and I'd put it at slightly above average for its transfer. The good contrast is helpful in scenes taking place in the interior of the Lexx, which tends to be rather dim and gloomy, and while Stanley has a cheerful red uniform, Kai on the other hand skulks about in dead-man black. As much of the action in Season 3 takes place on the planets' surface, there are more well-lit scenes and a more lavish use of color, which livens the image up considerably. Overall, the picture is fairly bright and clear. The main drawback of the transfer is the presence of some graininess and noise; nothing really terrible, but enough to make the image a bit blurry.
Audio
Lexx's Dolby 2.0 soundtrack is, like the image, about average for its category. I occasionally noted that the dialogue was less than sharp, and there overall sound is somewhat flat, but on the whole it's reasonably OK.
Extras
The menu design appears to have been tightened up for Season 3, and it's quite easy to navigate, with an interesting but not overdone animation.
There's a reasonably generous helping of special features in proportion to the small number of episodes on the disc. The main special feature is a featurette "The Making of Season 3, Part III"; parts I and II being on volumes 1 and 2 of Season 3, respectively. There's also an interview with Peter Gaskin, the director of "videomatics," which are intermediate-production sequences used in the creation of Lexx's special effects shots. Lastly, the disc includes production sketches, storyboards, and trivia questions.
Final thoughts
Lexx is strange stuff, but it has a certain peculiar charm that may make it worth viewing for some science-fiction fans... on a "try before you buy" basis, however. Anyone who has been following the series on a regular basis and has Season 3 Volumes 1 and 2 will want to add Volume 3 their set, while new viewers are advised to enter the universe through Volume 1 of Season 3.
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