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(I posted this in a thread on Lexx.Com. I thought it would make for an interesting thread here.)
I think there’s something that needs to be made clear and put into perspective. I believe the basic premise of this show is simple. Stan, Xev, and Kai are looking for a home even though they possess the Lexx. You see, possesing the Lexx is bad for them. People are always trying to kill them for possession of it. As long as the show is called Lexx, then it will always return to this theme. Since everyone is always trying to trick or even kill Stan and Xev, it’s very hard for them to fulfill the most basic human needs (food and happiness). If it wasn’t for Kai, their chances would be slim. If you’ll forgive the cliches, Kai is the “hero”, Xev is the “love interest”, and Stan is the “comic relief”. But they balance each other out because each one of them have equal capabilities of comedy and tragedy.
Kai’s story is the one most of the fans seem to pay attention to. There’s no need to restate it here. But I’ve noticed that many people seem to only focus on his conflicts with the bad guys. As a result, Xev and Stan’s stories are ignored and episodes focusing on them are branded as “filler”.
Xev’s story is tragic. She was an ugly duckling. And when she was turned into a beautiful swan, she was no better off. She is a woman that was engineered to drive men mad with desire. And because of that, men react to her in extreme ways. And her enhanced and unfocused libido is no help, either. She would have been programmed to love only one person, but that didn’t happen. This all adds up to endless unhappiness. P4X actually breaks my heart. You can see it in Tina’s eyes when she reacts to Xev’s story.
Stan’s story is of redemption. He failed to be a hero and because of that, millions died. But he is captain of the Lexx! However, stealing the Lexx and helping to defeat His Shadow and the Divine Order doesn’t make up much of his past mistakes. And he continues to make mistakes. He’s always struggling with whether or not to do the right thing. And that’s very hard to do when everone is always trying to trick or kill him.
The basic premise of the show and each one of the main character’s themes are explored in each and every episode of the fourth season. Sometimes just one, sometimes two, sometimes all three. These themes can also be viewed as story arcs. I’ve listed below all of the fourth season episodes and which of the major themes are covered.
LEXX = the basic premise of the show, control of the Lexx
KAI = Kai’s story
XEV = Xev’s story
STAN = Stan’s story4.01 Little Blue Planet…..LEXX
4.02 Texx Lexx…………..KAI, XEV
4.03 P4X………………..KAI, XEV
4.04 Stan Down…………..LEXX, STAN
4.05 Xevivor…………….XEV
4.06 The Rock……………LEXX, XEV, STAN
4.07 Walpurgis Night……..KAI, XEV, STAN
4.08 Vlad……………….LEXX, KAI, STAN
4.09 Fluffdaddy………….XEV, STAN
4.10 Magic Baby………….KAI, XEV, STAN
4.11 Midsummer’s Nightmare..XEV, STAN
4.12 Bad Carrot………….LEXX
4.13 769………………..LEXX, KAI, XEV, STAN
4.14 Prime Ridge…………XEV, STAN
4.15 Mort……………….LEXX, KAI, XEV
4.16 Moss……………….KAI, STAN
4.17 Dutch Treat…………LEXX
4.18 The Game……………KAI
4.19 Haley’s Comet……….LEXX, XEV, STAN
4.20 Apocalexx Now……….LEXX, STAN
4.21 Viva Lexx Vegas……..KAI, XEV, STAN
4.22 Trip……………….LEXX, KAI, XEV, STAN
4.23 Lyekka vs. Japan…….STAN?, XEV?
4.24 Yo Way Yo…………..LEXX?, KAI?, XEV?, STAN?There are many other major and minor themes of Lexx, especially in season four. I just mentioned probably the four biggest themes of them all. But even so, all of the episodes are covered. There are no “filler” episodes.
You may have noticed that I didn’t include the Insect Civilization’s story as one of the major themes of the fourth season. That’s because it isn’t there. That story was over at the end of season two. Some fans insist that this isn’t the case. But this, along with the focus on Kai’s story, only adds to their detraction from the other themes. Nothing has occured in season four to indicate that the end of this season will relate to the Insects at the beginning of season one. No cycle of time. If I’m wrong, I will be suprised.
It’s a subjective term. Filler isnt a negative term. Fillers can be good or bad and they exist in every episode. Getting from point A to point B is every arc, wether it be season, series, or episode. In between which is filler. Things to keep you entertained while going from point A to B.
Its also a matter of perspective. In Series 2 the Seasonal arc was the destruction of the Universe at the hands of Mantrid. A few episodes made no reference to this fact.
Some episodes like “Wake the Dead” had really nothing to do with finding a home, mantrid, or history of the chars. But it was a DAMN good episode. One of my favorites and of course it introduced us to Pat Z.
The Vlad arc could even be considered filler but it was dang good as well. I think its just a subjective term and if you perceive it in a negative way then you can argue “There are no Filler episodes” if you think filler is just things total out of context.
quote:
Flamegrape (I posted this in a thread on Lexx.Com. I thought it would make for an interesting thread here.)
I think there’s something that needs to be made clear and put into perspective. I believe the basic premise of this show is simple. Stan, Xev, and Kai are looking for a home even though they possess the Lexx. You see, possesing the Lexx is bad for them. People are always trying to kill them for possession of it. As long as the show is called Lexx, then it will always return to this theme. Since everyone is always trying to trick or even kill Stan and Xev, it’s very hard for them to fulfill the most basic human needs (food and happiness). If it wasn’t for Kai, their chances would be slim. If you’ll forgive the cliches, Kai is the “hero”, Xev is the “love interest”, and Stan is the “comic relief”. But they balance each other out because each one of them have equal capabilities of comedy and tragedy.Kai’s story is the one most of the fans seem to pay attention to. There’s no need to restate it here. But I’ve noticed that many people seem to only focus on his conflicts with the bad guys. As a result, Xev and Stan’s stories are ignored and episodes focusing on them are branded as “filler”.
Xev’s story is tragic. She was an ugly duckling. And when she was turned into a beautiful swan, she was no better off. She is a woman that was engineered to drive men mad with desire. And because of that, men react to her in extreme ways. And her enhanced and unfocused libido is no help, either. She would have been programmed to love only one person, but that didn’t happen. This all adds up to endless unhappiness. P4X actually breaks my heart. You can see it in Tina’s eyes when she reacts to Xev’s story.
Stan’s story is of redemption. He failed to be a hero and because of that, millions died. But he is captain of the Lexx! However, stealing the Lexx and helping to defeat His Shadow and the Divine Order doesn’t make up much of his past mistakes. And he continues to make mistakes. He’s always struggling with whether or not to do the right thing. And that’s very hard to do when everone is always trying to trick or kill him.
The basic premise of the show and each one of the main character’s themes are explored in each and every episode of the fourth season. Sometimes just one, sometimes two, sometimes all three. These themes can also be viewed as story arcs. I’ve listed below all of the fourth season episodes and which of the major themes are covered.
LEXX = the basic premise of the show, control of the Lexx
KAI = Kai’s story
XEV = Xev’s story
STAN = Stan’s story4.01 Little Blue Planet…..LEXX
4.02 Texx Lexx…………..KAI, XEV
4.03 P4X………………..KAI, XEV
4.04 Stan Down…………..LEXX, STAN
4.05 Xevivor…………….XEV
4.06 The Rock……………LEXX, XEV, STAN
4.07 Walpurgis Night……..KAI, XEV, STAN
4.08 Vlad……………….LEXX, KAI, STAN
4.09 Fluffdaddy………….XEV, STAN
4.10 Magic Baby………….KAI, XEV, STAN
4.11 Midsummer’s Nightmare..XEV, STAN
4.12 Bad Carrot………….LEXX
4.13 769………………..LEXX, KAI, XEV, STAN
4.14 Prime Ridge…………XEV, STAN
4.15 Mort……………….LEXX, KAI, XEV
4.16 Moss……………….KAI, STAN
4.17 Dutch Treat…………LEXX
4.18 The Game……………KAI
4.19 Haley’s Comet……….LEXX, XEV, STAN
4.20 Apocalexx Now……….LEXX, STAN
4.21 Viva Lexx Vegas……..KAI, XEV, STAN
4.22 Trip……………….LEXX, KAI, XEV, STAN
4.23 Lyekka vs. Japan…….STAN?, XEV?
4.24 Yo Way Yo…………..LEXX?, KAI?, XEV?, STAN?There are many other major and minor themes of Lexx, especially in season four. I just mentioned probably the four biggest themes of them all. But even so, all of the episodes are covered. There are no “filler” episodes.
You may have noticed that I didn’t include the Insect Civilization’s story as one of the major themes of the fourth season. That’s because it isn’t there. That story was over at the end of season two. Some fans insist that this isn’t the case. But this, along with the focus on Kai’s story, only adds to their detraction from the other themes. Nothing has occured in season four to indicate that the end of this season will relate to the Insects at the beginning of season one. No cycle of time. If I’m wrong, I will be suprised.
I actually think “filler” does tend to have an inherent negative connotation. Here’s how I’d describe it:
Each season in Lexx tends to have an over-arcing story, during which there are other self-contained stories, or subplots that span several episodes.
Season 4 is almost an exception to this, though. It has such an ecclectic and diverse number of themes and plots, it’s difficult to label one of them as the overall seasonal story-arc. For this season, I can’t be completely sure what the main story-arc is until the last episode airs.
I would define “filler” as an episode which:
A. Has little or nothing to do with the seasonal story-arc.
AND
B. By default, is really not all that good.
For example, if you were going to try and show the Lexx series as a whole to a friend of yours, using as few episodes as you possibly can (say, you have limited time), the episodes you leave out would tend to be “filler.”
Now, it IS possible to have GOOD “filler” episodes. But you generally have to make special mention of the fact that the episode is still good. The gut reaction when hearing that an episode is “filler,” is that it’s an episode not worth watching.
So, there are good filler episodes, but as a general rule, “filler” episodes are not that great.
An example of (bad) Filler:
Mort
An example of good Filler:
Wake the Dead
Alternatively, “key” episodes are episodes that do deal with the over-arcing seasonal story. These episodes are, by default, good. But at the same time, there are such things as BAD key episodes.
An example of a (good) key episode:
Norb
An example of a bad key episode:
White Trash
That’s my take.
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