Title: LEXX: Series 2: Video Set 1
Episodes: "Mantrid",
"Terminal", "Lyekka", "Luvliner"
Region: One
Genre: Sci-Fi TV Series
Stars: Michael McManus, Xenia Seeberg,
Brian Downey, Jeffrey Hirschfield, and Eva Habermann
Writers: Paul Doonavan, Les Krizsan,
and Jeffrey Hirschfield
Directors: Christoph Schrewe, Scrinivas
Wagner, and Stephan Ronowicz
Feature length: 192 minutes
Extras: Behind-The-Scenes "Making
Of" Segment, Exclusive Interview With Michael McManus (Kai), "Rated
LEXX" Segment: His Divine Shadow, Character And Cast Bios, Trivia
Languages: English and French Dolby
Surround 2.0
Subtitles: N/A
Packaging: Alpha Keep Case
Chapter Stops: 20
Sound: Dolby Stereo Surround Sound
Year of DVD Release: 2001
Home Video Distributor: Acorn Media
Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera
After four feature length television
films that aired on the Showtime Cable Network during the summer of 1997, the
Sci-Fi Channel acquired the domestic television rights in the US to the
television series that followed the original four films where it has become a
cult hit as a part Sci-Fi Prime. The series is similar to another successful
show on Sci-Fi Prime, "Farscape", which has recently been made
available on DVD and VHS from ADV Films. The LEXX is a biomechanical ship the
size of the city of Manhattan and can destroy a planet effortlessly. It is made
from the remnants of a race of giant insects whose species were wiped out long
ago in a great war. Now the humanoid species that seem to occupy the majority of
the two universes that "LEXX" takes place in use many left over husks
from the insect beasts as a means of starship travel design, thus the reason for
the LEXX being built from essentially a giant bug, although the LEXX does have a
life force of it's own that can act independently when the ship needs to.
Picking up very quickly from where the
four television films had left off, "LEXX: Series Two: Video Set 1"
introduces viewers to the four misfit crewmembers of the starship who are
Stanley Tweedle, (Brian Downey) a former fourth class security guard who
accidentally became the ship's Captain and trustee, Zev (Eva Habermann), a half
humanoid and half cluster lizard love slave, who happens to still be a virgin
and is in love with Kai (Michael McManus) a re-animated assassin, and the
disembodied head of 790 (Jeffrey Hirschfield), an android that is obsessed with
Zev. Later in the second season, Eva Habermann was replaced by the sultry Xenia
Seeberg as a new and improved Xev in a storyline that is included on the first
volume of the series.
The DVD includes the first four
episodes of the second season of "LEXX", which are "Mantrid",
where the crew seek out a scientist who may be able to lengthen Kai's
post-mortem existence, "Terminal" a doctor who saves Stanley's life
attempts to wrestle control of the LEXX from her crewmembers. "Lyekka"
introduces Xenia Seeberg to the series when the crew encounters two very
different extraterrestrial life forms, and in "Luvliner" the crew gets
more than the bargain for at a space bordello.
The episodes are unedited featuring
footage never before seen on American Television. The episodes are presented in
their American Television Broadcast Aspect Ratio of (1.33:1) with a choice of
English or French Dolby Stereo Surround Sound. There are no captions, closed
captions, or subtitles encoded on to the DVD. The sound is full with a great
surround feel and the picture quality is clearer than any broadcast of the
series I have ever seen.
Acorn Media is releasing "LEXX"
day and date to DVD with extras not included on the VHS counterparts. The DVD
Edition features a behind-the-scenes segment that seems to be promotional from
the Sci-Fi Channel, cast and character biographies along with trivia game based
on the four episodes included in this first DVD volume. The first DVD also
includes an interview with Actor Michael McManus and part one of a "Rated
LEXX" segment on the character of "His Divine Shadow." A second
volume of "LEXX" will also be made available on VHS and DVD the same
day and more episodes are going to be released in the States from Acorn Media in
the future.
"LEXX: Series 2, Video Set 1"
and "Video Set 2" will debut on DVD and VHS on Tuesday, May 29, 2001.
© Copyright 2001 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.