Lexx 1: I Worship His Shadow, part one

Originally posted 9-13-12. The navigation links will take you back to the original blog.

This is part 1.
Go on to part 2. (Continue to part 2 on this blog.)
Return to The Lexx.
Go to main blog.

“I am Kai, last of the Brunnen G.   Millenia 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 in the League of 20,000 Planets.  Someday, that will happen.  But not today, because today is my day of death- the day our story begins.”

There is no way I can cover the whole first movie with the screen shots I want to highlight, so I’m breaking “I Worship His Shadow” down into several posts.

Images in this post click back to original sources.  Some images are thumbnailed for loading convenience, they will click back to original source or to full size if it’s mine.  I still want to add a little more detail (in some shots the characters might be blurry, but the Insect tech will be more sharp, etc), so I am doing what any fan on the planet can do, I am using my Nikon Coolpix 10X wide FullHD camera to take pix of my Vizio 1080P FullHD TV screen and clipping them down so we can see some really cool stuff (so yeah, you’ll see the pause button in some of them).  I’m also running my dvd through the blu-ray.  My only frustration is the room lighting and screen reflections, but overall, I’m pretty satisfied with what I’m doing.  I have equipment, but I like to play.  As fans or as film students, The Lexx series is well worth the extra study because it’s so different, fresh, and timeless.  It’s incredible what you see frame advancing on pause, because this show sometimes goes so fast, and they don’t slow down and explain anything.

Ok, sorry, back to I Worship His Shadow.

We open with a battle scene as a few warriors leave Brunnis 2 to take on His Shadow’s planet killer, the Foreshadow.  We get more details later in season two’s episode “Brigadoom”.

The Brunnen G have Insect technology, but it’s never disclosed throughout the series where they got it from or how long they’ve had it.  All we know in the beginning is that they are an ancient race of romantic dreamers.

   

   

Kai is in command of the tiny squadron, and is the only one to evade annihilation and make his way to the Foreshadow’s control pod, while Brunnis 2 burns in death throes behind him.

In a last ditch move, Kai ducks through the power grid and follows one of the Foreshadow’s main arms to the central command deck.  This is a very quick but very detailed scene, well worth the frame advance so you can catch his strategy and all the detail along that arm.

You can see the command center (the control pod Kai is talking about) is at the heart of the Foreshadow and facing toward the planet it is destroying.

The collision is horrific, and the control pod is, indeed, smashed open to space, the Insect gunner that Kai is piloting shears into pieces and lands upside down, skidding through shards and fire, and Kai is violently thrown out at His Shadow’s feet while the control pod shields automatically close to seal off the venting atmosphere and stabilizes the command center.

   

Although Kai’s body is broken and he can’t move, he remains defiant with his last ragged breaths.

Kai: His Shadow.
HS: His Divine Shadow, yes.
Kai: The Brunnen G will defeat you.
HS: I don’t think so.  The power of Order has destroyed your planet.  The power of Order will destroy you, and you were the last of the Brunnen G left alive.
Kai: The Time Prophet has seen your Order destroyed by the Brunnen G.
HS: The Time Prophet’s vision appears to be flawed.

His Shadow draws a curved dagger and slips it into Kai’s body.

 

Then His Shadow takes Kai’s memories.

“This last specimen of the now extinct culture of romantic dreamers merits punishment beyond death.  Transport it to the bioscholars.”  This Cluster symbol is a big deal, and you find out what it represents in the fourth movie.

And then His Shadow finds it curious that Kai’s shattered ship was an Insect.

What does it all mean?  Where can it go from here?  The hero is already dead!  The bad guy won only 6 minutes into the movie!

This is part 1.
Go on to part 2. (Continue to part 2 on this blog.)
Return to The Lexx.
Go to main blog.