The Movies
I Worship His Shadow / Supernova

Distributed by
Contender

Cert:

Cat.no: KK 51001

Running time: 180 minutes

Year: 1995/1996

Pressing: 2001

Region(s): 2, PAL

Chapters: 16

Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Dolby Surround)

Languages: English

Subtitles: None

Fullscreen: 4:3

16:9-Enhanced: No

Macrovision: Yes

Disc Format: 2 * DVD 9

Price: £24.99

Extras: Two 'making of' documentaries, Kult TV trailer, Sci-Fi Users Guide, Cast Biographies, Stills Gallery, DVD-ROM content: Screen Saver, Weblinks

Director:

Paul Donovan (I Worship His Shadow) and Ron Oliver (Supernova)

Producers:

Paul Donovan and Wolfram Tichy

Screenplay:

Paul Donovan, Jeffrey Hirschfield and Lex Gigeroff

Music:

Marty Simon

Cast:

Stanley Tweedle: Brian Downey
Zev: Eva Habermann
Kai: Michael McManus
Thodin: Barry Bostwick
Giggerota: Ellen Dubin
Poetman: Tim Curry
790: Jeffrey Hirschfield
Voice of The Lexx: Tom Gallant

Eva Habermann as sex-slave Zev

I always thought Lexx was the name of the lead female character which shows my lack of knowledge for this series which began with four movies and continued as a series afterwards. This DVD release combines the first two movies with the rest of the Lexx output to follow periodically.

In a Freejack-style moment, when the first episode, I Worship His Shadow, begins the almighty Divine Shadow, ruler of 20,000 planets in The Cluster, is dying and his mind needs a new host, but there's a cock-up along the way which leaves him harbouring the mind of a killer who wants to destroy every planet.

Those stepping in to save the day are sex-starved class 4 Security Guard Stanley Tweedle (Brian Downey), fat-slob-sex-slave-turned-into-drop-dead-gorgeous-sex-slave Zev (Eva Habermann), Kai (Michael McManus), the Shadow's chief assassin and robot head 790 (Jeffrey Hirschfield) and with the help of rebel Thodin (Barry Bostwick) they can only attain their feat by stealing the Lexx, a giant, evolving, insect which is a bio-engineered spaceship and the most powerful destructive force known to man - and alien. Their trip takes them deep into the Dark Zone, where chaos, depravity and disorder rule, which sets the tone for future episodes.

What every man wants on his wall, in person.

In Supernova, the race is on to find Kai's home planet of Brunnis which is the only hope of keeping him alive - something that Zev wants in particular since she has the hots for him and Stanley doesn't understand how she can be in love with a "corpse".

On the way they'll be hampered by ugly cannibal Giggerota (Ellen Dubin) and once they get there they'll have to deal with Poetman (Tim Curry) who wants to dissect them to get the memory banks.

I've never seen Lexx before this DVD and found it fairly entertaining with some sick content that is worth the overall 15-certificate (12-cert for the first movie), including the sentence dealt out to prisoners early on in I Worship His Shadow where organs are involuntarily donated before their skin being fed to God knows what.

There are some very bizarre moments - which means it was written by three very warped minds and rarely makes a great deal of sense - but the cast works well together and you can see how it's developed a cult following.

Sliced up, Monday morning started badly for Kai.

The show was filmed in standard 4:3, AFAIK, although with the frequent use of special effects and deep space it cries out to be filmed in 16:9 given the extent of TV programmes using that ratio these days. Pixel-perfect and crystal-clear, I have no complaints whatsoever. The average bitrate is a high and steady 8.91Mb/s.

The sound is in Dolby Surround (Dolby Digital 2.0), but while it's never used to a great extent, the score and occasional sound SFX give a good atmosphere.

With a body like that,
Zev had every man at her command.

Over the two discs, the main extra are two 15-minute 'making of' which features chat from the three creators, Paul Donovan, Jeffrey Hirschfield and Lex Gigeroff, with work-in-progress shots and clips from the respective programmes interspersed.

A 20-second Kult TV trailer, a 3-minute Sci-Fi Users Guide, put together by the Sci-Fi channel, gives more information about the Lexx concept. Also included are brief Cast Biographies, a 12-picture Stills Gallery and DVD-ROM content in the form of a screen saver and weblinks.

Sadly there are no subtitles on the discs and the number of chapters is severely lacking with just 8 over the first 90-minute episode and 7 over the second, but the menus have a bit of sound with some clever 'squelchy' animation between them.

FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS
OVERALL

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2001.