LEXX: "Supernova."

                           The Lexx, a Manhattan sized bug with the intellect of a dog and the
                           capability to destroy entire planets at a stroke was supposed to be the
                           ultimate weapon of His Divine Shadow, absolute ruler of 20,000
                           Planets. Unfortunately it ended up under the command of Stanley H
                           Tweedle [Former Astral-B Heretic, Assistant Deputy Backup Courier,
                           and Security Guard-Fourth Class], Zev Bellringer of B3K [Part Love
                           Slave, part Cluster Lizard], Kai [Former Divine Assassin, last of the
                           Brunnen-G, and dead], and 790 [A robot head imbued with the
                           love-slave aspect of Zev's programming].

Twenty-one reviews.

It's hard to believe that since April of this year, I have written over twenty pieces on cinema that caught my eye and influenced me enough to write about.  But, then again, reviews aren't a new thing.  Art is a medium which, in some part, relies on the opinions of others.  If not, then museums would be factories and Stephen King would just be a poor man who lives in a room that is one-half office, other half the combined pages of his overblown books, like "The Stand" and "It."   No, despite all the cries of artists saying 'art for art's sake,' Art itself lives to be noticed.

Twenty-one reviews.

And, oddly, the most comments I get from all the said reviews is about "I Worship His Shadow," the very first epic in the entire "Lexx" series.  Mostly, my editor and my Lexx friend from the WWYK boards graciously offering tips how to improve that particular review.  For you see, I rarely if ever view my experiments when I'm writing about them.  I feel that, while being wholly accurate, makes me second guess what I originally thought, loses that appeal that made me want to write about them in the first place.  So, a few times, I misstate some facts and skip over some subplots.  This isn't Jabootu, I don't delve too deeply into movies.  The goal of my project here is to make YOU watch these little forgotten pieces of cinema, the ones that hide from the overblown mainstream and fester there and gain much more respect than any Hollywood flotsam that is now stinking up the theaters.   And gets 'millions' of dollars from hype alone.  That isn't art, that is an investment.  Hence why I rarely spend eight dollars to go into a giant speaker masquerading as a theater and have my senses dulled before their time in some pathetic person's idea of having a retirement fund.  Star Trek didn't get it's following from that.  Doctor Who sure as hell didn't.  And neither did Lexx.

But, I admit, I did fail on one part of "I Worship His Shadow."  I purposely omitted Giggerota.

Giggerota is a barbarian woman the viewer meets for the first time in "Worship," as one of the heretics about to be judged by His Shadow before Barry Bostwick's troops stop the 'Judgment' process.  Said 'process' is like an assembly line from Hell:  heretics are tied to giant slabs of metal and placed on a line, moved to a holographic kangaroo court, and sentenced to a bunch of various demises that would make the Crypt-Keeper turn to drinking, right along side the Vault-Keeper and the Old Witch.  Giggerota, however, seems to be one of those few who would be better off dead, as a result of her being a murderer and a hunter of human beings.  Memory fails, but I also believe she also eats them.  No matter.  Anyway, Giggerota gets aboard the Lexx as soon as Stanley Tweedle and Zev do and gets lost inside the vast expanse of the Lexx.  And forgotten?  Not really.  It just set up the basic premise of "Supernova."

Chances are, if you go to a video store to pick this little gem up, you won't find it.  Why?  Well, thanks to another piece of American-Made Cinematic Flotsam known as "Supernova," (an awful CGI-posing-as-film film that is now thankfully forgotten)  the releasing company of all four 'Lexx' films (20th Century Fox, I believe) instead changed the name of "Supernova" to the bastardized "Tales from a Parallel Universe" title.  "TFAPU," it happens to be, a better name for "LEXX" in America, I guess.  I guess we dumb Americans can't get something that is so basic, that rhymes of sex, and brings to mind vague memories of Kryptonite and bald Earth men having advanced psychological penis envy for men in red capes.

And annoying reporters.  Can't forget that.

"Supernova" begins with what will be a recurring theme for the next two movies and the first episode of the second season, "Mantrid": Kai needs Protoblood.  You see, Kai is the last of his kind.  A kind whose name I can't spell, but no matter.  As punishment for being a heretic, His Shadow made Kai's dead body a zombie with the use of 'protoblood,' which keeps Kai moving but still unliving.  A perfect soldier.  Until he escapes, regains his memory, and the rest of the good stuff that is "I Worship His Shadow."  Anyway, this protoblood is a constant thing:  Kai needs more of it to keep functioning.  Not to keep alive, natch, but to fulfill his mission to help Stan and Zev find a world to live on.  Then he can die in peace, a sort of penance for killing some many people under the Shadow's influence for 2,008 years.  However, Zev is in love with Kai and her pursuit for protoblood is more personal.  Sure, she wants a planet and could even stand Stan and his futile attempts to bed her, but she wants Kai to live with her.    Hence, the crew decides to go back into the Light Universe to find Kai's homeworld to find some protoblood, even through Kai is doubtful they will find any.  Stan admits this is insanity and he is right:  the Lexx escaped the Light Universe after escaping the Cluster (Shadow's Homeworld) and going back is like going back to a bank you've robbed.  But Zev cons Stan into it and the Lexx is soon landing on the planet.  The 'landing' part is so classic, I won't spoil it for you.....except to say I'm glad that someone remembers rockets in some shape or form.

Kai's world is nothing but ruin, a 2,008-year burial ground for his culture.   But the real danger comes from it's sun:  the planet was an unstable one and uses a machine to keep the sun from going...SUPERNOVA (see? the title!).  But now the machine is growing weak and within hours it will fail and the sun will go...SUPERNOVA.  See?  The title fits.   So, the time limit set, our heroes go to search the main city in the vain search for protoblood to prolong Kai's life.

This would be made easy by the city's hologram/tour guide, who guides our heroes around the city until it changes into a badly dressed poet called "Poet Man" (Tim Curry.  No, I kid you not).  Poet Man, apparently, is the last survivor of Kai's race and he exists only as a lonely hologram, whose mission is to torture any living being left on the homeworld under the pretense of pretentious love and romance.   And he sends Zev, Kai, and Stan on their paces as Giggerota comes into the story.  She comes out of hiding, questions Zev's head-with-a-libido 790 about how to gain control of the Lexx for her own destructive means.   So she goes after Stan ("Her Man," in her own twisted eyes) and ends up turning off the machine (that is about to fail anyway) and cutting off Stan's hand to gain control to the Lexx.

Yes, his hand.  Kinda gruesome, but I'm skimming here.  You'll have to watch it for yourself to get the whole experience.

Anyway, our heroes turn the machine back on but the damage is done:  the sun is going supernova anyway.  And with the Lexx in space with Giggerota at the helm, things look kinda grim for them....but how to they escape?

Should I tell?

Should I ruin this for you?  Should I ruin a great cinematic experience just to calm your curiosity?

Well, no.  But I should tell you that Giggerota gets nuked, Kai finds no protoblood, and they escape to the third movie in the series, "Eating Pattern."  But I won't tell you HOW.  No, I gotta have some hold on you people.  Watch it yourself.  I won't deny you some entertainment.

But probably the best performances in this movie go to Tim Curry and Eva Habermann, who play "Poet Man" and "Zev" respectively.  Both take their characters and add an extra dimension to them, where an American-Made shitfest would have simply made them cyphers who play their roles and nothing more.  Watch it, you'll see what I mean.  It takes real acting to make you feel for the characters, "Zev" in particular.

RATING:  Great performances by everyone involved make this more an a CGI adventure.  Entertaining, disturbing, and quite wonderful.  Hard to believe this doesn't have a stronger following then it does, but who can really appreciate fine Sci-Fi?  Five stars out of four, just like it's predecessor.  Watch this film NOW.