This document is created from an original document that you'll find at Burntime's Xev-page (http://www.btinternet.com/~burntime/scifi_universe.htm). Pay him a visit for more Xev-stuff! (Thanx a lot for letting me use this, Burntime! )

Original source: Science-Fiction World, ?

HELL AND HIGH WATER

As the third season of Lexx draws to a close on the Sci-Fi Channel, fans will soon have the opportunity to enjoy the complete adventures of'StarTrek's evil twin all over again. There can't be many who haven't now heard of the Lexx - a spaceship in the form of a giant sentient dragonfly that can destroy planets - and its crew of misfits whose knack of running into trouble requires the use of said power practically every episode. Starting from the 5th of June, the Sci-Fi Channel will be screening all three series back to back from the beginning, Monday through Thursday, introducing newbies to Stanley Tweedle, ineffectual former security guard and captain of the Lexx, the beautiful love slave/Cluster Lizard hybrid Xev (or Zev as she was known in the first series) who is lusted after by a disembodied robot head called 790, while she harbours her own desires for Kai, a 2,000 year old assassin who also happens to be dead and cannot return her affections. Sexy, darkly humorous and innovative, Lexx is an international cult hit that continually pushes the envelope with new formats and ideas, expanding from the four telemovies of the first season to a 20 episode series that includes a slasher movie parody and even a musical in its run.

Series three was no exception, expanding the format even further and featuring location filming in Canada, Germany and Namibia to create some truly exotic locales. For this season, the writers concentrated on a single 13 episode story arc set around the war between twin worlds rather than travelling to somewhere different every week. The crew awake from 4,000 years in cryo-stasis to discover that the Lexx is trapped within the orbit of two planets and cannot leave until it has eaten to replenish its energy. One planet, Fire is an and desert populated by some very unpleasant individuals, while Water is a complete ocean with beautiful floating cities; the two have been at war for years as Fire attacks Water from, huge Jules Verne-esque gondolas attached to balloons. It isn't long before Stan, Xev and Kai are caught up in the machinations of Fire's charismatic ruler Prince, played by Nigel Bennett, who uses various wiles to persuade them to destroy Water for him. But all is not as it seems as they encounter various people that they recognise from 4,000 years ago and gradually discover the true nature of the conflict between Fire and Water.

This change in format was most welcome for Xenia Seeberg, the Dusseldorf-born actress who has played Xev in Series 2 and 3. 'It was nice that we had more of an ongoing storyline this time as opposed to all the single separate episodes, where you always have to build the story up for twenty minutes and then bring it to an end after forty. That only works for so many episodes and after a while you think it would be more interesting to have something that went on a little bit longer: you really have rush through the plot in such a short time that you're forced to over-act a little. This time we had a lot more freedom and I thought it was pretty interesting that no one really knows where we'll be leading. We enjoyed everything we did in Series 2, but all of us, the producers as well as the writers, thought it would be nice to make a major change.

"I think it still has the elements of humour and fun, but in general its much more serious at times: there's even a religious theme to it with Biblical parallels. I thought it was really clever, though some people may not even notice it - they can just watch the show for the fun aspect of it and not look any deeper. But I liked it a lot because that's the big question that has remained in people's head for thousands of years: Will there be an afterlife or not? So far humankind hasn't figured that out. I certainly have my own beliefs: I believe that there is something after we die.

"Also, I think the characters will appear to be more three-dimensional now than they were in Series 2.They were more like plastic characters and now they're a little more like real human beings.'

The character of Xev herself has also undergone some significant changes in Series 3, the most obvious being a new, but no less sexy look. The lizard skin dress has now been adapted into a crop-top and skirt, showing off a tattoo around her navel and the bright red wig that Seeberg wore for Series 2 has been discarded altogether in favour of her own long blonde hair. In addition to that, Xev has also matured from a naive, unworldly girl eager for new experiences into the moral voice of the crew, resisting the temptations Prince offers in return for destroying the planet Water. 'This time it was more about solving problems rather than exploring or finding out about things,'Seeberg agrees.'It's a whole new world - or rather two new worlds - that they're all trying to figure out, and not so much about selfish interests any more.'

Xev's relationships with her crewmates have also evolved, as she begins to accept that a relationship with Kai is impossible, whilst coping with 790 switching his affections from her to Kai, after having his programming damaged by Prince. After a series of bickering and sexual tension, Stan and Xev have also grown closer, even though she still won't be persuaded to sleep with him.'Their relationship have grown much deeper, which makes sense after such a long time,'Seeberg says.'Plus you can only have this teasing thing going on for so long. It's rather like a brother/sister relationship where, after so many years, they get to the point where they either split up and drift into different parts of the world, or they somehow try to get along. Since [the characters] have gone through so many terrible things together, I thought it would make more sense to have them act more like a grown family.'...

There are no shortage of stunning visuals in Series 3, which were just as memorable for the actors as Xenia recalls.'When we were still working in the studio was pretty extraordinary, working on the Gondola. It was such a huge ship; our set builders did such an incredible job building this. Not only was it really big, it was so heavy that we had huge cranes in the studio that this thing was hanging from and for the first few days we were filming on it, everybody was seasick! It was pretty bad but very funny, because we felt really insecure and it was almost like really drifting in an unknown spaceship that didn't feel that safe! After a while we just got used to the ship but then it was so weird walking on the ground again, because even if you're walking for an hour after you left the gondola or ship, it still felt like walking on uneven ground.That was pretty funny when we did that in the studio.Then Namibia of course was very extraordinary; those huge dunes were just wonderful.'