Permission granted to translate and reprint this article. Please link back to this original source, thanks. Screen grabs used in this article have been adapted from The Pic Bug and link back to their sources. This article contains spoilers. The Lexx series is now distributed internationally through U.S. based Echo Bridge Entertainment, which you can also follow on their distributor twitter and VOD twitter.

He's been discombobulated, desanguinated, decapitated, and disenfranchised like no other and remains the most feared divine assassin in the two universes. Nothing has ever stopped him until Prince intervened with the gift of life in the very last episode of the four seasons of Lexx. Kai is the most prolific and oldest recorded zombie in science fiction history.

It almost seems disrespectful to refer to Kai as a zombie. True he is animated after death, true he has no motivational will of his own after he regains his memories and even some of his conscience, true he even feels absolutely no remorse or regret for all the bad things he did in the name of His Shadow (here we can debate the conundrum of intellectually finding one's actions reprehensible without feeling any of the disgust or sadness), but it's also true that regaining his memories gave him back some of his dignity in a very sad, surreal kind of way that mocks the awareness of his continuing existence. Zombies generally don't get their memories back, much less have a self awareness of an individual identity.

Two crucial components come together in Kai to create his unique zombie experience, the most vital being protoblood, and the other is his having been exposed to the memories that the Insect essence kept alive in one of the Divine Predecessors. Protoblood, produced by Insects, animates all dead flesh that it touches. Protoblood is simply a mechanism without a program, most likely an evolutionary Insect survival tool for long dormant spells, especially in between planets. The essence or life force that the Insects also produce provide the motivational programming and previous memories that can be passed from Insect to Insect, probably their greatest talent for success in their millennia of wars with and control over humans, especially as this most likely retains group cohesion in a sort of hive mentality over the great expanses of time and space. This is not explained in the Lexx series as the Insects have all been wiped out (so we think) before the story begins. Later we find out how damaging even just one Insect can still be.

Kai is a different sort of zombie, though, created on purpose by bioviziers on the Cluster into the ultimate killing machine. Some parts of him are missing entirely and replaced with hardware apparently run by integrated software that isn't necessarily all dependent on a central hard drive location, such as his brain. Before Kai gets his memories back, he is a complex automaton programmed to assess pertinent events and execute immediate judgement. After he gets his memories back he seems able to block or override this internal programming, but when his personal memories become once again blocked by outside mechanism (as per Brizon, Mantrid, or essence) or cryopod sequence fail or even just breaking down, programming once again takes over and he becomes lethal to all around him.

One could argue that this makes Kai a synthetic, a bio-robot like the other hybrid robots on the Cluster, but the key to Divine Assassins is that they are already dead. Their flesh is in no way living by normal standards, even with protoblood activating them. Kai does not need sleep or food. He doesn't need time off to regenerate like the Borg. He doesn't even run on a battery like 790. He horrifically exists in a state of corporeal nonbeing, aware because of the memories he regained, but unable to care. Even knowing right from wrong, even remembering that he once had strong opinions and desires, he can no longer act on those of his own volition. He is a spiritual and intellectual zombie, numbed and estranged from the world going on around him. Kai was created to be a useful tool accomplishing actions that he once found reprehensible and died fighting against. He never articulates how he feels about this, often stating that he cannot feel at all in a way that comes across as though he would like to feel disgust if he could, but the dead do not have likes, preferences, desires, and quite a long list often quoted by fans.

With other zombie shows, the deepest fans can feel for the poor zombies is shocked sadness at former loved ones having to be gruesomely stopped from killing people. We are able to journey with Kai into the black abyss of corrupted flesh, from which there is no return. The Lexx series aggressively demonstrates a world of human genocide and perversion, and the dark depths society will descend into just to survive. According to the Lexx series, zombies, vampires, and much more in the way of genetic experimentation (possibly including Gigerotta the Wicked) all originated in the League of 20,000 Planets under the reign of His Divine Shadow. After His Shadow had Kai's body repurposed into an assassin, Kai became legendary among the Ostral-B heretics. Even though they had never known who the Brunnen-G people were, two thousand years after the last Brunnen-G was killed Thodin recognized Kai. Thodin and his army had likely seen other Divine Assassins in action and knew very well what they were capable of- this one was different. This one fit the description of the lost Brunnen-G race.

Zev (and Xev, and many Lexx fans) want to see Kai brought back to life. We learn as the story progresses that even if he could be brought back to life somehow, his poor body has been so scraped out to make room for hardware that becoming alive again would necessarily be a miserable prospect. I like to venture further into the exploration that perhaps an alive body would feel even more like a trap than a zombie body, if it brought with it pain from everything Kai has been through. Just because protoblood automatically takes over at the molecular or cellular level and forces the tissues to bind back together once severed doesn't mean living cells wouldn't go through quite a shock if they could start operating again. Kai's body no longer heals or mends after it is broken or torn, but binds back into a cohesive machine. Without being able to study Insect physiology from our very narrow point of view, we must guess that protoblood basically made the Insects somewhat immortal until the Brunnen-G ancestors found a way to defeat them. Given that Kai can withstand very high power disruptions, perhaps protoblood has something to do with creating an electromagnetic barrier around conductive tissues. At any rate, if Kai could be drained of protoblood and reintegrate his former senses, he would probably feel very weak.

As Lexx begins with Kai being the one to fulfill the prophecy, so it ends with Kai once again crashing his craft into the heart of danger in order to stop it. Kai's very end is poignant and ironic; after winning a game of chess against the Prince of death himself, he is granted life only to lose it again. After being a zombie assassin for six millennia, after having killed tens of thousands and more, after outlasting his people, both his ancestral planets, and even a universe, he finally finds rest.

Kai is played by Michael McManus. If you would like to know more, the most complete site I know of for information is at michael-mcmanus.com. Here are quick links to interviews from 2006 (apologies, that podcast link is inaccessible without premium subscrition to scifitalk.com) 2007 and 2009, and there is an updated (2010) Kai biography at sadgeezer. Links within my article above go to articles at Lexx Wiki.

Netflix says it's not too late to give Lexx for Christmas. 

http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Lexx/70157361

Years ago I used to be able to find Lexx ecards, and wondered ifanyone out there still hosted this service.  Here we go.

Hi Janika!
Janika (janikabanks@aol.com) has sent you an eCard:

hello

This eCard was sent to you through SciFiUpdates.com the home of all things Sci-Fi.

If you'd like to check out sending Lexx ecards for Christmas, go to Media and Download Sections to the Lexx Gallery, choose the image you want, then in the upper left menus (they are tiny) choose 'item actions', and 3rd up from the bottom is 'send as ecard'.  Easy peasy.  My Hanukkah-Christmas-Kwanzaa-whatever holiday, birthday, or non-holiday present to you. It's all good on the Lexx.

You're welcome.

This is part 8.
Go back to part 7.
Go on to part 9.
Return to The Lexx.
Go to main blog.

Images from photobucket.com/lexxpix. Thumbnails click to original size.

While Stanley Tweedle is going through a nasty Cluster parody of Theatre of the Absurd, his female counterpart in this story is about to be, well, let's find out. We rejoin her in the judicial chamber, where she's just witnessed Argon Protopi being gutted and brained for useful components and the protein bank. Argon's screams are barely over when her slab moves forward into position and her hologram advocate begins. "My client- (inserted voice here) Zev Bellringer of B3K- is innocent of the charge of- (pause for glitch)- failing to perform her wifely duties and humiliating her husband in the temple, and throws herself on the mercy of this court, secure in the knowledge that His Shadow's wisdom will prevail upon these proceedings."

I can't keep from wondering how many hours now she's been bolted to this slab. I try to imagine having to stand like that on those tiny footholds and never getting to put your arms down or go to the bathroom, and how terribly hungry you'd get. But we also don't know other stuff, like the smells around her- old metal and electronics, stale air perhaps, lots and lots of death... I can imagine this part of the building smelling like a slaughter house. I encourage Lexx fans to visit slaughter houses to really get that sensation of how awful being a prisoner is on the Cluster, and to realize that these experiences are at the heart of any kind of meaning behind the rest of the movies and series. For fans who don't 'get' the different seasons, you have to remember THIS is what shapes the minds and actions of our core four. What is the meaning of existence, where do you find it, and how do you know?

Like Argon before her, an assembly clamps to Zev's head while a robot activates the automated memory software. "Memory search commencing." You may notice this is 790's voice now if you've seen any of the Lexx movies or series before.

I don't know about you guys, but the idea of having my head clamped into place just sux, and I bet having the holojudge staring at her like this sucked for Zev, too.

Imagine this thing jabbing into your head for a memory search.

Like Argon, it looks like it about made her sick, but it starts working instantly, and the screen shows the search flitting through several memories. There were more, but dang hard to get on screen grabs.

Kinda curious about those bars... We find out what that's all about in season 2.

The screen settles on a memory, focuses a little, we see a boy and people in the background, and apparently Zev is the one saying, "You are my every dream come true" in a pretty, cultured voice.

This is part 6.
Go back to part 5.
Go on to part 7.
Return to The Lexx.
Go to main blog.

Images from photobucket.com/lexxpix. Thumbnails click to original size.

I suppose I should put a caution up- you're about to see a really graphic bloody scene from a tv movie called Lexx: I Worship His Shadow. There is a 'basic guidance' age rating up on this post, but unless you're really into stuff like Walking Dead, maybe you should close your eyes until you get to the end.

Stanley's day has been sucking since we left him. Seriously, having to turn yourself in to a detention center for punishment on the Cluster is NOT something you can console yourself over a bottle of beer later, and Stan is locked up in a sickening dread bordering on a headache and sour stomach. No more silly pot shots to pass the time, how to make time stop now is the big question.

Notice the robot is now facing the disembarking prisoners. Well, I say that like they can actually step out, but they're still bolted to those heavy slabs and being moved along on a rail like an assembly line.

I wonder what these robots actually do. Poor Stan....

Can you imagine being moved around like that? No telling how long those prisoners have been bolted to those slabs, and I bet they haven't had a drink or bite or been to the restroom in many hours. One old guy recognizes Stanley. "You! I know you! Stanley Tweedle!", and starts calling out, "It's him! Stanley Tweedle!" Stanley starts sinking down in his chair, one of those weird omg nighmare moments on top of an already very bad day.

But while the old prisoner is still calling out Stanley's name, a bolt breaks loose and his slab tips off and heavily bumps the other slabs around it (that would suck, you think someone kicking a seat behind you is bad) before it slams down to the floor and squashes him like a *bug*. (Ironic....) I would love to take a guess in a contest over how much those slabs must weigh to make that kind of splat, and I can't help thinking that even just mentioning the name Stanley Tweedle must be synonymous with cosmic bad luck. I wonder who that old guy was calling out to. Would the other prisoners know or care at this point who Stanley Tweedle is? Apparently someone does and yells out "Traitor!" while Stanley hides behind his desk. Seems they're taking Stanley kind of personally for some reason.

That scene intrigues me. Stan isn't happy at all that someone recognizes him and knows who he is after years of being a prisoner stuck on the Cluster. These prisoners are being carted away to unknown fates, why would Stanley be mortified enough to actually get down and hide? He must have done something ~really~ bad. We find out later he's pretty famous.

This is part 1.
Go on to part 2.
Return to The Lexx.
Go to main blog.

"I am Kai, last of the Brunnen G.   Millenia ago, the Brunnen G led humanity to victory in the war against the Insect Civilization.  The Time Prophet predicted that I would be the one to destroy the Divine Order in the League of 20,000 Planets.  Someday, that will happen.  But not today, because today is my day of death- the day our story begins."

There is no way I can cover the whole first movie with the screen shots I want to highlight, so I'm breaking "I Worship His Shadow" down into several posts.

Images in this post click back to original sources.  Some images are thumbnailed for loading convenience, they will click back to original source or to full size if it's mine.  I still want to add a little more detail (in some shots the characters might be blurry, but the Insect tech will be more sharp, etc), so I am doing what any fan on the planet can do, I am using my Nikon Coolpix 10X wide FullHD camera to take pix of my Vizio 1080P FullHD TV screen and clipping them down so we can see some really cool stuff (so yeah, you'll see the pause button in some of them).  I'm also running my dvd through the blu-ray.  My only frustration is the room lighting and screen reflections, but overall, I'm pretty satisfied with what I'm doing.  I have equipment, but I like to play.  As fans or as film students, The Lexx series is well worth the extra study because it's so different, fresh, and timeless.  It's incredible what you see frame advancing on pause, because this show sometimes goes so fast, and they don't slow down and explain anything.

Ok, sorry, back to I Worship His Shadow.

We open with a battle scene as a few warriors leave Brunnis 2 to take on His Shadow's planet killer, the Foreshadow.  We get more details later in season two's episode "Brigadoon".

The Brunnen G have Insect technology, but it's never disclosed throughout the series where they got it from or how long they've had it.  All we know in the beginning is that they are an ancient race of romantic dreamers.

Kai is in command of the tiny squadron, and is the only one to evade annihilation and make his way to the Foreshadow's control pod, while Brunnis 2 burns in death throes behind him.

In a last ditch move, Kai ducks through the power grid and follows one of the Foreshadow's main arms to the central command deck.  This is a very quick but very detailed scene, well worth the frame advance so you can catch his strategy and all the detail along that arm.

You can see the command center (the control pod Kai is talking about) is at the heart of the Foreshadow and facing toward the planet it is destroying.

The collision is horrific, and the control pod is, indeed, smashed open to space, the Insect gunner that Kai is piloting shears into pieces and lands upside down, skidding through shards and fire, and Kai is violently thrown out at His Shadow's feet while the control pod shields automatically close to seal off the venting atmosphere and stabilizes the command center.

You are on the Lexx Index Page.  Images in this post click back to original sources. Scroll down for the Lexx marathon index, Lexx fun stuff, and links to other Lexx sites. This index gets updated regularly.

If you could fly away on the most powerful weapon of destruction in the two universes, would you do it?

One day you're sitting there stuffing your face with tons of fresh meat and growing at a phenomenal rate, like you always do,

and next thing you know you're being hijacked by a group of rebels and then stolen by escaped prisoners and flown over a stadium full of screaming people. #veryexciting

Lexx is a very big bug, designed by bioviziers on the Cluster for His Divine Shadow.

The Lexx is the most powerful weapon of destruction in the two universes. He likes to blow up planets.

Lexx can be commanded only by the person who holds the key.

His Shadow wants the Lexx back, even if he has to defy ancient prophecy to make it happen.

Welcome to my Lexx episode and character review navigation page. I'll link more Lexx review posts below as I marathon through the four seasons of Lexx this year, so ignore the date up there, this page will get updated a lot. I don't think I've watched any Lexx since 2007, so this will be a trip down memory lane. I have an age rated caution on this blog so I hopefully don't have to moderate comments.

Lexx Online Marathon

Lexx Movies, Season 1
Lexx 1: I Worship His Shadow, part one 9-13-12
I Worship His Shadow- part 2- The Cluster 9-29-12
I Worship His Shadow- part 3- Stanley Tweedle 10-12-12
I Worship His Shadow- part 4- His Divine Shadow 10-22-12
I Worship His Shadow- part 5- The Time Prophet 10-30-12
I Worship His Shadow- part 6- The Big Bug 11-7-12
I Worship His Shadow- part 7- Termination  11-25-12
I Worship His Shadow- part 8- Zev Bellringer  12-1-12
I Worship His Shadow- part 9- Thodin 1-10-13
I Worship His Shadow- part 10- the bug bomb 3-13-14

Lexx TV Series, seasons 2,3,4
(coming soon, because we can't wait to see Xev, Lyekka, Mantrid, the Milk Fed Boys, Prince, Bunny, Priest, and more!)
Lexx- Season Two 8-26-13

My Own Lexx Reviews and Character Articles
Why Lexx Is Important  12-7-12 (Season and character philosophical breakdown summary.)
You Can't Handle Watching LEXX 12-30-12
the sounds of LEXX- info, downloads, soundtracks 1-25-13
Lexx Review at NerdMovie 2-15-13
How big is the Lexx? 2-26-13
Why Lexx Is Personal 3-23-13 :edit: 4-2-13
The Dark Zone and the Cycles of Time 1-17-14
Last of the Brunnen-G: Sci-fi's Favorite Zombie 2-3-14
Heresy in the First Degree- Thodin of the Ostral-B Pair 3-29-15

Shout Outs
Janika Banks gets Xanga Bombed 11-2-12
The Lexx Revival Project 3-19-13 :edit: 4-2-13
The Dead Do Not Snark 4-9-13
the coolest LEXX t-shirt in the world 5-14-13
Ellen Dubin interview with Wormhole Riders 5-26-13 (this page has been removed due to conflict of interest 3-28-16)
So, Lexx... 9-5-13
Stats for Lexx fans, and waving to the U.S. AirForce 9-30-13
Little Lexx 10-7-13
Where can I watch Lexx?- 4-15-14 Echo Bridge Entertainment followed me
Lexx on twitter 5-15-14
Whatever happened to the Line Major? 6-18-14

Lexx Fun Stuff
why am I taking so long posting more Lexx?!?! >=(  10-11-12
prisoner transports over a stadium...  10-11-12
Lexx- opening sequence  11-13-12
Any particular reason why Florida?  11-18-12
"Dare" Lexx Sex Survey 11-18-12
Lexx and psychological health, perhaps  11-20-12
Lexx on Droid 11-25-12
Da Lexx- Rapdicted  11-27-12
What, NO Lexx???  11-28-12 (Syfy didn't blip Lexx once on their anniversary special.)
Lexx ecards  12-4-12
Lexx traffic  12-12-12
Holiday Lexx  12-14-12
End of the World  12-21-12
Lexx on Netflix 12-23-12
Kai on the River Kwai 12-23-12
Lexx- wallpapers, icons, pix 12-27-12 (updated 4-9-13)
glitchy guestbook 1-9-13
Stanley Tweedle (video) 2-2-13
3-13-13 3-13-13
Lexx Twitter Challenge 3-18-13
the making of Lexx 3-24-13 :edit: 4-2-13
Lexx actors on twitter and facebook 3-28-13
Lost Lexx Art 4-12-13
Print Your Own LEXX Magazine 6-17-13
But the dark zone is full of depravity and evilness and darkness 11-6-13
Valentine Lexx 2-4-14

Finding Lexx
Watch Lexx Online - TV.com
Watch Lexx on Hulu
Watch Lexx Online | Netflix
Echo Bridge Entertainment - Lexx
iTunes - TV Shows - Lexx, Season 1
Amazon.com: lexx: Movies & TV

Lexxtraneous Stuff
Group LEXX watch twitter party (#LexxWatch2013 Jan. 19 on twitter pending playoff scheduling) 1-5-13
LEXX WATCH PARTY 6-15-13
Lexx fans video chat 12-13-13

Links to More Lexx (and more to come!)

 Angelbacchae's screen captures > Lexx

 Brian Downey on Facebook

Debbie Emerson Art Doll Galleries

 Echo Bridge Entertainment - Lexx

Emerson Art

Flamegrape's Xev Picture Archive

Kai, Last of the Brunnen G

IMDb- Lexx (TV Series 1997–2002)

 Lexx Domain

Lexx Fan Club

 Lexx | Get Glue

Lexx- Light Zone (Russian)

 LEXX Light | 790 (originally written by Janika Banks)

LEXX MUSEUM

Lexx Net (Russian fan club)

 LEXX Revival Project

 Lexx Soundboard - Android Apps on Google Play

 Lexx t-shirts by blackdalek | Redbubble

 Lexx wiki dotorg

 Lexxicon wiki dotcom

 Lexxplorations

 Lexxverse

 LexxZone

LexxZone on Tumblr

Lisa Hynes - IMDb

 Little Lexx Bored

Nerd Movie- Lexx

Nora Jean's Lexx Index

Sadgeezer- Lexx

 Sci-Fi Talk interviews with Brian Downey and Michael McManus

 Sci-Fi Updates Lexx TV Series Wallpapers and Desktops

 Sci-Fi Updates Lexx Gallery

 SF Series and Movies Lexx

 SF Series and Movies Lexx Characters

 SF Series and Movies Lexx Episode Guide

SR Series and Movies Lexx Gallery

 SF Series and Movies Lexx Info

 ~~* The PIC Bug *~~ Your online source for Lexx screen captures

 Vel's Homepage- Lexx Video Game

 Watch Lexx on Hulu

 Watch Lexx Online | Netflix

 Watch Lexx Online - TV.com

I no longer archive or follow current events, so I'm not recreating a fansite. This is still just one of my personal blogs. However, after being blown away by 800+ views in only a week when I brought Lexx out of the closet last month, I thought hmm, a lot of people really like Lexx and want more, might be fun to have a little Lexx fling here and there, just for kicks when I get a day off. And if anyone would like to take advantage of my site traffic and pile on, you're welcome to email your Lexx linx and site names to me so other people can get to you while they're here, and I will arrange them alphabetically. I will not link obvious porn or spam, but I will link your art and writing pages if you want. I know, I deleted it all before, why wouldn't I do it again, right? Well, lemme pose you this one- what if an EMP shut down your national grid and you didn't have any technology to see it with for months anyway? Or what if, heaven forbid, 790 showed up and told the Lexx to blow us up? See, I actually had the nerve to do that... But yeah, I don't think it's going away any more.

:edit: 10-28-12 I'll also be adding links I've used in Lexx posts, and links that have faithfully sent regular traffic to me all these years, even when this site closed and my Lexx stuff disappeared.

2-5-13 Ok, I give up, it's gotten out of hand, I'm just adding links I run into regardless. There is a LOT of Lexx out there.

DISCLAIMER- No one is paying me to list here. This site is a personal blog and part time fansite, it's not here to make money. I have never made any money through anything Lexx, and the only money I ever got for a raffle from MegaCon '07 in which I donated all the items involved went 100% to charity. I am happy to list everyone who is a Lexx fan or involved with Lexx in any way.

3-13-2014: I took about a year off updating my marathon film review posts. Time to come back and work some more on what looks like may turn out to be the biggest Lexx film review in the two universes.