Lexx: A nightmare fueled vision of AI future

3 days ago(edited)

I have been watching lots of movies on TubiTV over the past year, and making efforts to post about them here on Hive for others to discover. Westerns like The Dollars Trilogy, Hang Em High, Days of Wrath, One Eyed Jacks, & Dirty Fifteen but also others like The Shape Of Things To Come and John Wick and Wise Guy. I haven't written about EVERY film or show i've seen this past year, but I will continue blogging about the good ones.

I used to think the sexual undertones were the reason this show was on late, but last night when I found Lexx, I was both captivated and horrified by what I discovered in the Pilot episode.

https://tubitv.com/series/4083/lexx

The story begins with a space battle, an attempt to stop a space station from destroying a planet, our familiar face Kai narrates some ESSENTIAL exposition,

which provided context that I had never understood before, since I only saw Lexx episodes randomly late at night on the space channel. What is even happening in this show?

"I am Kai, the last of the Brunnen G. Millennia 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 and The League of 20,000 Planets."

Ok, right there I am on the edge of my chair. The WHAT?? TIME PROPHETS? Insect Civilization?? League of 20,000 planets?? I had no clue any of this was a thing.

Why they never aired the Pilot, well you will discover with me, it is quite horrific. And at 1 hour 33 minutes, it's more of a made for TV movie than a show. Definitely not made for kids.

The opening sequence show's Kai losing the battle,

the entire Planet getting bombarded,

and they die while performing a kamikaze attack in a last attempt to destroy the station.

A futile attempt, as the Shadow implies there are some fates worse than death.

https://tubitv.com/tv-shows/479295/s01-e01-i-worship-his-shadow

I don't want to spoil it,

but what follows is a techno-imperialist nightmare,

something out of the scientific dictatorship, that makes 1984, Repo The Genetic Opera, and Hellraiser, look kind.

his show reveals a truly nightmareish universe where minor rule breakers are put on slabs and sentenced by AI holograms to have their organs and flesh donated, while they remain transformed into inorganic servants of "The Shadow", an ruthless empire ruled by fear.

I was really glad to have watched it, learning the origins of the characters that I knew about. Stanley Tweedle, who becomes the Pilot of the Lexx ship.