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Tony
do you think Salter Street have any indication that season 4 has been stinking up the two universes?
in your most review, you indicate that things going on behind the scenes might explain the higher than average lacklustre showing. i have another theory. they were commissioned to produce 20 plus episodes when they only had 6 left in them. somehow we must have all expected the ‘downward spiral’ when the writers were asking sad geezers like ourselves for ideas. season 2 was also wildly variable, but at least it remained tantalising. season 3 was more consistent, but less impressive at half the length. it was also 4 episodes too many, but nothing too much to complain about in retrospect. many seem to think that the problem with season 4 is that it ‘has fallen to earth’ and remained ‘earthbound’. again, i beg to differ. the problem is that the surefeit of imagination on display – and it looks cheap too. at least season 3 had an exotic setting impressively visualised. season 4 seems to be mostly indoors, and the exterior shots look like mattes that the cat dragged in. they seem to walking towards a blue screen even if they are on some street, etc. so, i don’t think season 4 has dipped in quality towards the middle. i think its starting to resemble a turd covered in flies from the outset. no doubt it will redeem itelf in the end, and we will look back on it as if most of crap didn’t happen. but god, we’ll be yanking each other’s chains if we acually regret its passing. i, for one, will be grateful . I now approach each episode with dread. Rip Lexx – whoever say’s the dead don’t poo obviously hasn’t been watching lexx recently.
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Originally posted by bonnee:
Tonydo you think Salter Street have any indication that season 4 has been stinking up the two universes?…. – whoever say’s the dead don’t poo obviously hasn’t been watching lexx recently.
I understand what you’re saying. I’m finding it difficult to review the latest shows because I don’t like commenting negatively on poor episodes of my fave Sci Fi show.However, LEXX does this to us a LOT! They have done it to us in every series (even the first series!). There have been things to remember (good and bad) in each of the seasons, and I think it’s just that this is not the exception.
I remember wondering if LEXX was worth a section on the SadGeezers Guide in Season one! (I didn’t particularly like episodes 1.02 or 1.03.
In Season 2, I thought that some of the shows were very bad, Norb was boring and all the references to rednecks became embarrassing in the end.
Season 3 I thought was boring for the most part and Season 4 is slow moving and could all have been squashed into an exciting 8 or 9 episodes.
However, if you look at the seasons as a whole they are each innovative and exciting. I loved them all and it’s hard sometimes to think that I could ever have doubted Salter Street – but only when I’d seen the end of the season.
I think that watching the season through to the end gives us a better perspective and the fact that LEXX is so bloody wacky, makes us impatient for the show to conclude (so that we can better appreciate the good bits).
I honestly believe that the shows will improve considerably as the season progresses and am confident that at the end I will probably think it one of the best seasons ever.
I appreciate that it all seems like a cop-out, but in all honesty, if Splarka (op in #lexx IRCchat)hadn’t talked me round after seeing episode 1.03, there wouldn’t now be a SadGeezers Guide to LEXX at all. (I’ll always be grateful to Splarka for that).
I agree with much of what you say in terms of the cheapness of the sets, but I can’t really comment on it too much. Salter Street Films is far smaller than some of the other production companies who tend to wastefully throw cash at complete drivel.
LEXX became a world leader in Computer Graphics in Sci Fi with the first season, but they only spent 12 million (that would be completely unheard of today). To keep up the pace they would have had to secure much more money from TV companies and if I had to choose between seeing a lower tech Season 4 or no Season 4 at all, I’d go for the former.
And so, while I understand how miffed you are, I’m pretty sure that you’ll feel different after a few more episodes. I guess I should watch this space.
[ 23-01-2002: Message edited by: SadGeezer ]
I read the episode review, since I haven’t seen the episode. From what I read of it, it sounds like this episode falls into the trap of too much explanation. Was it to fill time? Or because they over did it to establish characters? I don’t know but I hate it when the writers assume the viewer has no idea what is going on and need lengthy explanation throughout to keep up. I almost fell asleep reading the middle of the review and perked up at Sadgeezer’s personal comments. And there is always the “Star Trek” ending in a pinch, a quickie five minute explanation at the end if need be.
My opinion on this can change after I see the actual episode, but so far, that’s my impressions.The thing thats been bugging me about Lexx lately is the killing of Xev in Magic Baby. I’ve read Sad’s review of 4.11 but before that, it was pretty obvious they were gonna bring her back to life. Unless Xev’s death is gonna have some effect on her character and future S4 plot lines, I just can’t see the point of having it in the story.
[ 23-01-2002: Message edited by: Mercury ]
Well, I gotta agree with much that has been said….Lexx has always been a pretty mixed bag. But Sad’s right, when we look back at the end, we still love it, warts and all!
Brian did tell me at the convo the other day that they had experimented with having some other writers besides Lex and Jeff in S4…and that it was pretty definite from their end that the experiment was not a success. The other writers just didn’t have the background, or really get what makes Lexx the goofy, twisted show that it is. I think in the spin-off, they will stick with the team they know can do the job!
thanks for the response Tony – and I’m surprised more people didn’t take the bait
As for Lexx always doing that to us, I don’t recall it ever doing it to us so often, so consecutively. At least the dip in quality was not something that set the tone for an ENTIRE SEASON. I barely recall most of first half of season 4, and I can still vividly tell you about each and every episode in the other seasons. Experimenting with the new writers hasn’t been a ‘definite failure’, its been an outright disgrace. And um – Lex and Paul can’t so readilly pass the back when their name are attached to most of what i’ve seen. and although I haven’t seen Bad Carrot, apparently Jeff wrote what you claimed to be godawful crap. The problem is simply this – Greed, pure and simple. They needed to sell 20 plus episodes to secure an American season, and were willing to sell out their idea to people who didn’t get the show in order to put something on Show. And yes – I agree that we will love Lexx again in the long run, but no amount of resulting good will is going to compensate for such an underwhelming series of consecutive episodes. Like Kai, we will still have the memories of their precedesors.Exuse me, at the risk of ruffling some feathers: Bonnee, your making a pretty judgemental statement in saying that Salter was greedy. Unless your not who your claiming to be, I highly doubt you were there for the meetings and have the knowledge of what truly was behind business, creative, or writing decisions on LEXX. Only speculating and using my imagination here—> It could have been everything from writing deadlines to shooting schedule to actors availability to weather to censorship that make episodes lacking or not.
I can’t remember all of Season Two, but it’s my favorite season when it comes to tone, background and stories. Just because I don’t remember every single flipping detail doesn’t mean it was bad. Matter of fact, some of what I thought were the worst eps are the ones I remember too well. Ugh!
Season three, which isn’t my absolute favorite when it comes to tone (I reserve my judgement on Four until I can see it all) is a season where I recall what the episodes where about the clearest.
The stories aren’t over yet, maybe what you consider insignificant or lack luster now will come to be something major later. Like, why did Vlad show emotion or appear to have some sort of tick? Is this something that is affecting Kai too? Just examples.
So to sum up: using all encompassing words like ‘greedy’ isn’t fair to the process.
[ 25-01-2002: Message edited by: Praxilla ]
Im a big fan of Lexx too and Ive found each and every episode of Lexx to be both laughable and brilliant at the same time. Personally Im enjoying Season 4. Its got the odd dodgy episode and the odd moment of brilliance. So what!?! Thats Lexx isnt it. Season 4 has given us some of the best episodes of Lexx in any season. My personal choices being “Vlad”, “Walpurgis”,”Magic Baby”, “The Rock” and more. And some stinkers (I hate “Fluffdaddy”). At least I can sit down and watch and episode of Lexx 2 or 3 times which is more than I can say for other Sci-Fi stuff. At least Lexx tries (and sometimes fails) to be different and daring and therefore makes it intereting to watch and enjoy. If you dont like Season 4 Dont watch it.
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