Lexx-Season 3 (1998)

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General		Extras
Category	Science Fiction	Featurette-Making Of Interviews-Cast
Rating
Year Of Production	1998
Running Time	602:50
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (77:38) Multi Disc Set (4)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Version Select Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Christoph Schrewe Chris Bould William Fleming Paul Donovan
Studio Distributor	Beyond Home Entertainment	Starring	None Given
Case	Custom Packaging
RPI	?	Music	Marty Simon

    Joining the crew some 4000-odd years after the conclusion of the second series, Xev (the fiery half cluster-lizard, half human love slave), Stan (the meek, sex-starved captain), Kai (the undead assassin) and 790 (the hopelessly in love robot-head) haven't changed much. Having chewed up the remaining fuel in the Lexx at the conclusion of its second series, the crew have been in stasis for thousands of years waiting for the ship to drift near a world where they can find food for it (the Lexx being a rather dim living organism itself). Their drifting ends in orbit around the twin planets Water and Fire.

    Rather than the graceful awakening the crew had hoped for, they are awoken by Prince (Nigel Bennett), the mischievous ruler of the planet Fire. Prince, the recurring enemy for the season, wants to use the Lexx to end the age-old war between the two planets, and thus the main driver for the series is forged.

    The planets Fire and Water are a thinly veiled metaphor for Heaven and Hell. The planet Fire is a harsh desert planet filled with crazies, enslaved masses and general no-goodnicks. The planet water is entirely covered with water and features a handful of floating cities, populated by happy, friendly folk who like to enjoy themselves and never want for everything. The population of Water are seem oblivious and relatively indifferent to the constant attacks by the people of Fire. Lexx is a show that thrives on questioning morals and pushing the boundaries of what is socially acceptable. Working in this grey moral space in such a black and white setting gives the writers plenty to work with and they work it very well - the net effect being the best series of Lexx yet.

    The second series of Lexx (reviewed here) changed its formula considerably from the first (reviewed here). The third series shakes the formula again and it works out for the best. Each episode segues to the next forming a strong narrative flow throughout the episodes. The wider story arc has a stronger focus than in the previous season, which makes for a much more involving plot to each episode - if a particular episode story doesn't appeal, there is plenty of ongoing plot in each episode to keep viewers hooked in.

    The special effects in this series are a definite improvement over previous seasons. This season makes good use of location shooting around Germany, Tunisia and Canada, supplemented by a heavy slate of digital effects to achieve a unique look.

    The episodes in this series are as follows:

1. Fire And Water - After drifting for thousands of years, the Lexx reaches the twin planets Fire and Water but 790's attempts to awaken the living crew go awry and Stan and Xev each find themselves in very different predicaments at the hands of Prince on the planet Fire.
2. May - Kai awakes and searches for the lost crew. At the advice of a rebooted 790, who now lusts for the undead assassin, Kai heads to the planet Water where he encounters the sole survivor of a recent attack by Fire, May. The injured May falls for Stan, who will stop at nothing to keep her alive.
3. Gametown - Searching for food for the Lexx, Kai takes a small army of moths (short distance flying insects) to Gametown; a city on Water populated by young energetic folk who play games all day. Alas, the fun is cut short by a double-cross and an attack by Duke, Prince's rival to the throne of Fire.
4. Boomtown - At the suggestion of Bunny, a hyperactive lass the crew picked up on Gametown, the crew head to Boomtown; a city of lusty young folk who do little other than banquet and have sex all day. Unfortunately, their fun is cut short by another attack by Fire.
5. Gondola - The crew of the Lexx and some of the natives of Water are trapped a the hot air balloon over the planet Fire. Unfortunately for someone, the balloon is overloaded and will sink into river of lava below unless one person jumps.
6. K-Town - Stan and Xev wait for Kai in K-Town, the loony bin of the planet Fire.
7. Tunnels - Stan and Xev follow Prince into a series of tunnels that run below the planet Fire in order to escape K-Town.
8. The Key - After returning to the Lexx, Xev convinces Stan to let her captain the Lexx for a brief period.
9. Garden - Still searching for food for the Lexx, the crew head to Garden; the city that grows all the food for the planet Water. The gardeners offer to grow any plant Stan can think of and a thus a new version of his plant-lady friend Lyekka is grown.
10. Battle - Garden falls under attack from Fire. The crew take the fight to the skies between the two planets.
11. Girltown - Searching for Xev, who is lost on Fire, Stan is taken prisoner in the city of Girltown; A city where transvestite women force the transvestite men into slave labour sewing attack hot air balloons.
12. The Beach - After falling to the planet Water form a great height, Stan washes up on a strange beach where he is held to account for his actions in life.
13. Heaven & Hell - Kai delves into the core of the planet fire in an attempt to save Stan from an eternity of suffering on the planet Fire while Xev tries a more aggressive approach to rescuing her friend.

Video

    The film is presented in its original 1.29:1 aspect ratio and is not 16x9 enhanced (nor should it be).

    The video quality is the best of any of the seasons of Lexx that have been released in Region 4.

    The video is reasonably sharp. There is a mild degree of low level noise present, but it is never a distraction and will only really be noticeable on larger televisions. There is a decent amount of detail visible in shadows and darker areas.

    The colour palette used is quite distinct for each of the main settings used in the series. The planet Fire setting uses a lot of oranges and reds. The planet Water setting uses deep blues and greens. The colours are well presented in the transfer.

    The transfer is largely artefact-free, although there is a modest degree of pixelation visible in some of the digital backgrounds and heavily composited effects sequences. Mild posterization can be seen in a few dimly lit scenes, although the aesthetic of the scenes are such that this may have been a deliberate effect. A handful of film artefacts are visible in the transfer, but these are few and far between.

    There is one noticeable tape tracking glitch in the transfer at 34:30 of the second episode, where the video and audio hang for about half a second. Nothing is lost or skipped by this error, but it is a rather sloppy artefact to have come through to a final product.

    There are no subtitles on these discs.

    The show is spread across four RSDL discs. The layer break occurs between scenes during an episode on each disc, but none of the changes were noticeable on my equipment.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There is one English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192 Kbps) track present for each episode. It is of a reasonable standard in terms of quality.

    The dialogue is clear and well timed throughout.

    The music is very distinctive and conveys the sentiment of the show well. The music sounds reasonably clean in the mix.

    There is no noticeable surround usage. The subwoofer gets a small amount of use from the bottom end of the mix, though not a great deal.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Crew Interviews

    Three short interviews with members of the technical crew. Each discusses their role in the show, but there isn't much in the way of anecdotes (or much personality). The interviewees are: Stewart Dowds (Film Editor, 2:18), Peter Gaskin (Videomatics Director, 5:51) and Alex Busby (Visual Effects Designer, 5:04).

Making Of Featurette (6:51, 5:36, 10:08 and 5:00)

    A fairly routine "Making Of" featurette that has been chopped into four separate chunks, one per disc. There are some interesting bits about how this season did a considerable amount of location shooting in Germany and Tunisia as well as the effects work, but it is mostly just chaff about how fun it is to make the show.

    There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.

    The Region 1 and Region 4 versions are very similar. The Region 4 edition features one interview not contained on the Region 1 version, but misses out on Storyboards, Location photos, Trivia questions and Character and cast bios. None of the differences are really compelling and the Region 4 version is generally found a lot cheaper than its Region 1 counterpart.

    The best season of Lexx yet. An adult sci-fi comedy recommended for any sci-fi fans.

    The extras are modest. This video and audio are well presented.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall