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Meanwhile, deep in the Cluster, the Divine Clerics are freaking out, rushing a gross looking old guy to a weird inner sanctum.

I'm sure, in retrospect, the Ostral B heretics coming up later had no clue they'd be timing their incursion with His Shadow's direst setback in many decades. I know, I'm hashing up future past tense like crazy, but it works, so just go with it and notice that this inner sanctum is rife with symbolism. Please also note the upper ceiling stories above them and remember that when you see the fourth movie. Anything and everything that looks circular and segmented is important.

"Faster, we're losing him!"

Inside the sanctum, a prisoner is waiting. He's been made comfortable and the atmosphere is pleasant and jolly. Not! The guy is tied so thoroughly that you wonder what in the world could he possibly do or has done, and what is the tube in his mouth for??? Yeah, you can see he's wondering the same thing himself, his eyes are bugging like he's seeing ghosts, but what he sees are some tools you haven't seen yet. It's not helping his mood one bit that he's being prepped for a lobotomy. He struggles with all his might when he sees the Clerics rush in, to no avail. "The sedative!" "No time!"

You're having a *really* bad day when you get a lobotomy with no sedative. That looks like it hurts, and the prisoner thrashes so hard that one of his arms rips free and knocks a Cleric off balance, giving him a dose of his own electrocution. That Cleric is quickly replaced with another.

This time it works.

Time is of the essence, though, and just because the lobotomy works doesn't mean the Clerics properly finish.

Ok, what just happened?! And why??? We'll get to that in a minute. Right now I'm intrigued by these priest looking guys. The Divine Clerics all wear hooded robes of purple and netting on their faces to look shadowy, in keeping with the theme of His Divine Shadow. I've noticed the only vibrant red you ever see is on His Shadow's robe in the linings, so I wonder how far we can carry the symbolism, like fresh blood is red, old blood in a bruise is purple, the Clerics wear purple... Death overshadows the human race, basically. Note the Cluster symbols on their robes, you'll see those all over the place as the movie progresses. In all these scenes, especially if you are watching live, you notice a LOT of shadows lying across everything. There is no clear lighting source, and shadows move around from every direction almost like they're alive as light flickers or gets blocked. If YOU were tied up in there like that prisoner, you'd be terrified enough, but now it's time to see what that prisoner was able to see...

Ok, unpausing- This time it works, cool pix, yada yada, ah, here we are. Time is of the essence, though, and just because the lobotomy works doesn't mean the Clerics properly finish.

"He fought well." "A truly vicious human being." "He will prove to be a good host." Wo, wait a minute. Host? Human being? The Clerics say it as though they represent something apart from humans.

It's hard not to notice throughout I Worship His Shadow how much societal structure revolves around the constant moving around and processing of prisoners. It seems there is an endless supply of humans to make nearly pointless examples of or use in a variety of ways, and in the end, all wind up as useful additions to the protein bay. But how about the prisoner that His Shadow uses as a host body? We never find out who he is or was, what his story was about. We only see the horrible end for him, after obviously being mishandled and abused. Why was he chosen? Later on we see he's not even as tall as Kai, and he winds up being completely enrobed, so he wasn't chosen for any particular physical features that we can tell. I think he is chosen because he's fighting fit, and his body will be able to withstand a long occupation of whatever wear and tear His Shadow puts it through.  I would also add that he chose it for irony, but His Shadow doesn't appear to care about making the point of mocking, as some evil villains would (at least not very well), as much as simply just efficiently using.  His mindset is very different.

"The second vac!" "We do not have time, one will have to do." "But he may not be fully cleansed!" "We will have to risk it."

I think priests probably argue like that everywhere you find them, but in this case, they really don't have time (don't let the still fool you, they were constantly moving), and they do have to risk it. Risk what? Protocol is a hard rule with them, procedure was set up millennia ago to ensure the continuity of His Divine Shadow's societal rule over the League of 20,000 Planets. Surely they don't mean...

The prisoner's frame is tipped forward while the crusty old gross guy is moved underneath him. More like, their faces are kind of lined up, and now we see what that tube was all about.

"Divine Shadow, you must perform the Kiss. Divine Shadow, the Kiss."

This is part 3.
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Minding Gate 511 is a *boring* job. About the only thing ever going on is prisoner transports docking and unloading, and the only duty is pressing a single button to disable the 'lectro-lock after receiving a docking code.

Stanley H. Tweedle, Security Guard class 4, is spending another boring day on the job, but what else is there? This planetoid is in the very heart of the League of 20,000 Planets, His Shadow's home base which he never ever leaves nowadays. Incoming traffic is more prisoner transports than anything, and Stanley is sure glad he isn't on one of those!

You'd think with all that unencumbered free time Stanley would be a better shot by now.

I know! Awesome weird robot thing, and what's he doing, bouncing ball bearings off its butt? Too funny.  

Suddenly a screen pops up in front of him. "I worship His Shadow." Stanley responds "I worship His Shadow" and salutes.  A bored looking officer says "Prisoner transport fifty-eight-kay-six-zero-three requesting docking beam."  Honestly, I think she finds her job nearly as boring as Stanley finds his, but that is all about to change and leave everyone with something to talk about for a long time.  Stanley replies, "Security code" and prepares to press the 'lectro-lock release button.

She looks incredulous. "Code? No one asks for code anymore." Stan sets a look of grim adherence to the one duty he is supposed to perform, then gives her a look while he waits for the code. She looks back like she can't believe it, then goes through the motions of typing in a code.

Then the way she looks up is priceless, you know she typed in a bogus code and is waiting to see what he'll do.

Stan elaborates a pained grimace and goes through the motion of shutting the button box while he looks down and says "Wrong code", and she indignantly replies "I can't remember the code." Stan tells her "I suggest you try another gate then."

This is where we see the extent Stanley is willing to go to stubbornly defy authority when he can get away with it, because the transport flight path into the Cluster was guided remotely to his gate by a flight path director inside the Cluster. Stanley must know this, this is what he does all day long every day for we don't know how long. (We later find out he's been a prisoner on the Cluster years longer than many prisoners are allowed to live.) The Cluster is a finely tuned well oiled mechanistic society of pure form and function, you don't just shop around for a docking gate that will take you if you don't know the code. The whole interaction could have had this officer as terrified as anyone that she could wind up in deep trouble, given the harshness of the government that we are about to see unfold, and the code is probably in place to prevent saboteurs getting in. (This is very important when you ask later why the Ostral B heretics didn't just don Cluster garb and fly a transport in themselves.)

So she gets all up in Stanley's face asap to establish that if anyone here is going to get in trouble, it's going to be him. "What rank are you?" "Security Guard, Class 4." "Security Guard, Class 4 SIR. I'm a line major, and I'm ordering you to turn on your docking beam."

Stan clinched me as a Lexx fan with this scene. I saw Lexx air originally on Showtime, they had me at the big bug spaceship, but Stanley sealed my fate with Lexx. Who hasn't been stuck in a ludicrous job wrangling with any kind of management over breaking policy? And Stan is in the heart of darkness, stubbornly sticking up for the only thing he has left to stick up for in his awful life, and that's the one duty he has to perform on his job given to him by the Cluster, who is holding him prisoner. He could have caved and just pushed the button. Who knows whether he'd have gotten in trouble or not. We have no idea whether this kind of thing happened a lot or was something new. We do know that this particular prisoner transport had been diverted from its original destination gate while the officers on board were being awakened out of stasis just prior to entering the Cluster, and that it's very possible this line major was simply caught flat footed and responded inappropriately. At any rate, Stan isn't about to even pretend he cares whether she has any authority, and he certainly doesn't seem like he cares whether there will be consequences. I think it is more he has become so numb with just simply surviving that none of it matters any more to him.

So Stan closes his eyes, shakes his head, still doggedly determined to do his job. "I can't do that." "Why not?" "You've got the wrong code," he says simply while he reaches over for a ball bearing. "I am giving you a direct order, 4th class Security Guard!" She is livid. "I can't help you" Stan almost singsongs while he throws a ball bearing and actually banks this one off the robot's butt and into the restricted vent in the floor, setting off what sounds and looks like machinery damage that starts a fire.

Stan has time for a quick grin at the successful shot before his monitoring officer walks in. Stan quickly scrambles to hide his ball bearings just in the nick of time.

First off, just to get this out of the way, this kid takes his self importance so seriously that I can't help laughing when I see him. You know an evil despot has truly conquered when the younger ones will strut like a big boss in a ridiculous outfit, and, sadly, this young man has grown up so brainwashed in the League of 20,000 Planets that he believes he really does have a position of importance. It throws such a perfect shadow on the Orwellian darkness of this society.

Since I brought up the word shadow, and the show is all about the phrase "I Worship His Shadow", you can get so many metaphors going about it. Any kind of light to any kind of truth is completely blocked for this society by His Shadow, so you can imagine how difficult it would be to stand up for even the simplest truths we ourselves take for granted, like basic human rights and autonomy. As you watch this movie, be keenly aware that there is no choice in these people's lives. Or, there is only the choice to follow and obey, or not. Not always ends badly.

Stanley has a choice. He could do his job, and he does perform it, but with attitude, like Sisyphus, the absurd hero. Stanley is a survivor, he cows down when he has to, but he never loses that sense of injustice that goads his every step, never justifies it away and accepts it. Incidentally, we find out later that Stanley comes from outside the League.

Wow. Ok, sorry about that. So Stanley's young superior struts in and takes the situation in hand. He is obviously aware of everything going on between Stanley and the line major, so you get the impression that his job is to monitor Stanley. I have more to say on that in a minute.

This overseeing officer simply steps up and pushes the button to release the 'lectro-lock without any further questioning, as if Stanley doesn't even matter. "Docking beam is engaged, Sir, and Security Guard Class 4 Stanley Tweedle is presently being entered for correction and punishment himself." The line major seems relieved that it's all over.

The line major is most pleased and says, "I request that he be demoted." "Class 4 is already the lowest." It's hitting poor Stan this is about to get way more serious than getting caught throwing ball bearings. The line major is gloating now- "Then I trust his punishment will be severe." Poor Stan... "That will happen, Sir."

This is part 2.
Go back to part 1.
Go on to part 3.
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Images in this post click back to outside sources. Thumbnails will click to full size or back to source. :edit: I apologize, the server move broke the links on some of the pix, they're on my fixit list. Thanx for your patience.

With our hero dead only 6 minutes into the movie, which way do we go? That's right, we skip forward 2000 years.

The first thing we see is The Cluster filling the screen, the home planet to His Divine Shadow, and like it says, capital to the League of 20,000 Planets. Planet watchers may notice this particular planet is a chunk of rock, like an overgrown asteroid or moon, and the Cluster is carved into it and shielded with a ceiling built into the planet's surface. You're also going to notice several other things about The Cluster as the movie moves along- no green things growing anywhere, no open sky besides complete cloud or city cover, and no decor. The Cluster is pure form and function.

The Cluster as Capital City is a sealed and highly monitored compound. These groups of buildings house the Lexx and a complex judicial system. The outer accessways of these rows of big pyramid styled buildings is worker housing for what look like prisoners.

The first person we see sleeps in a tiny box, his only living quarters. He is awakened with propaganda and a computerized image sentences punishment for not reporting for work on time. Note that there is no volume knob or off switch, a scene very much like Big Brother on roids.

"Only a thin dimensional barrier separates us from the festering evil, malignant depravity, and alien chaos of the Dark Zone. The Dark Zone is not separate like two different planets. The Dark Zone coexists in the same space as our universe, in the same place at the same time. The Dark Zone has no rules, no sense, no order. We give thanks to His Divine Shadow for his ceaseless vigilance, protecting our universe of Light and Order from the horrors and disorder of the Dark Zone. We worship His Shadow. Long may he reign."

"Good morning. Security Guard Class 4, number 47632943, Department 511, Level 4. This is your third wake up call. If you are late, you will receive 7 demerits. You already have 991 demerits."

A lot of other people seem to be going through the same thing. A whole lot of people sleep in nothing more than tiny little boxes and literally own nothing but the uniforms on their backs.

Meanwhile, the same obnoxious computerized face, apparently used as an interface for all menial communications, kicks off a redirect alert in a prisoner transport bound for the Cluster. (By the way, nice visual pun, a face as an interface, not sure if that was intentional, but we later realize the weird macabre style doll face most certainly was an intentional slight against humans, once we see the extreme species prejudice in the fourth movie.)

"Due to a bulkhead malfunction, Prisoner Transport 58K603, you are being diverted from Gate 417 Punishment Level 2, to Gate 511." All the numbers are read off individually, like five-one-one.

It is never indicated or even hinted at, but I believe the audience is supposed to realize as the story unfolds that the bulkhead malfunction was a deliberately premanufactured plant by Heretics as part of a much bigger plot. Or it could just be that particular transport had such a famous guest on board that it was diverted directly over for entertainment purposes, but I don't think so, given the plan that was carried out. A lot of things happen in Lexx that are never explained, you either miss it or put the puzzle together on your own, which I feel is a compliment, the film makers assuming that we have brains and don't need to be spoon fed, like so many scifi shows feel the need to do.  Good editing does the work of explaining everything.  

These guards are being awakened out of stasis while the prisoner transport is remotely rerouted into a different flight path among a whole flock of other prisoner transports. All prisoners wind up on the Cluster.

(Incidentally, have you wondered yet why in the world it's called The Cluster? You can look up a definition for cluster and it all looks about right, or you can go a step further... hint- some insects cluster, and rows of egg follicles are called clusters. Season 2 will go into why this might be a better image.) (And if you are remembering that part 1 said the Brunnen G defeated the Insects in the Insect Wars, you get a star on your forehead.)

My first question upon seeing the inside of the prisoner transports is how costly must it be to run all those small vessels from other planets with only a few prisoners in each one. Wouldn't a larger cargo ship carry them all more efficiently?

Two things, slavery and psychology. Cost doesn't matter if you're running a spartan slave society, and keeping prisoners bolted to slabs and isolated into very small groups for processing kills hope and diminishes the success of subversive efforts for rescue.  At any rate, prisoner comfort and human rights aren't a consideration.

I was surprised this morning to accidentally run into this little article, mostly because I wasn't doing a search on anything Lexxy at all, but was even MORE surprised that NO ONE had commented and there were only 2 facebook likes.  I went ahead and pinned it, commented, and liked, but dang, Lexx fans, where are you?  We used to be so hard core, we used to fight tooth and nail to get this stuff out the fastest, and this is already 3 months old and it looks like not a soul cares.  While I have constant surveillance on this blog from diehard fans and webmasters all over the world, this guy got nothing, so what say we help him out, make it WORTH HIS WHILE to actually write about your fave cult scifi show ever, show some actual internet support (yeah, I know, this coming from the person who tore down one of the biggest fansites on the North American continent), and give crap back to the critics *outside* of your message board comfort zones.  Click to go, like the old days.  And if you need to comment here, I promise I won't delete, say whatever you want, I'm just staying out of it.

The cult sci-fi series LEXX comes home - Dallas TV | Examiner.com  

 The discussions are still alive in slo-mo, if you a determined enough lurker.  Waiting For the LEXX Spin-off

 For those without a clue- Lexx - The Full Wiki

 :edit: 8/20/12  Someone just asked me about the Lexx video game, is there one, etc.  I remember I used to have a link to this one.

Lexx Video Game

 :edit: 8/25/12  I honestly never expected this much traffic on a single post in only a week's time (817 views).  I can only imagine what would happen if I were to rebuild my old Lexx stuff.  Since sitemeter isn't catching this particular page-specific landing point, I'm the only one that can see my internal xanga tracker, so I just wanna give a shout out to Russia, Germany, Bulgaria, UK, Thailand, Malaysia, Ukraine, Indonesia, Philipines, Netherlands, Sweden, Egypt, Belarus, New Zealand, and what the heck, a couple of you in the U.S., and that's just in the last 24 hours.  In the last 48 we can add France, Austria, Columbia, and Brazil.  Earlier this week I saw Kuwait, Singapore, Lithuania, Hungary, Greece, Ontario, Puerto Rico, Vietnam, Switzerland, Italy, Bandladesh, Venezuala, Argentina, and Finland, all coming specifically to this Lexx titled post.  If there is any doubt in anyone's mind that Lexx is dead, you couldn't prove it by this response.  The U.S. NEVER airs it, but we still have our avid fans here, too.  So big wave to all of you, thanx for stopping by, might get screen snips of all those hits for posterity.  Love those fans!!!!

p.s. I'm wildly curious how some of you are getting into 'Events', since xanga dismantled that years ago and the only way I can get into it myself is through following your footprints, and once I'm there I can't edit or change a thing there.  I don't think it's supposed to show up at all.

I'm way out of the loop now, but I guess it's still alive at Hal-Con 2012, and thanx to sites like http://hellexx.narod.ru/transcript_interview_with_MM.html and http://www.lexxdomain.com/links.php, I'll keep seeing some of you drop by.  Keep Lexxing.

 :edit: 9-6-12 > *wow* this stirred memories, dug out my Lexx cds yesterday, and it looks now like I'll be doing a marathon of all 4 seasons as time permits over the coming year.  If you wanna follow along and/or put in your own two cents, click this little button to go to my Lexx navigation page.