November 13th 98

Windlily:
       I just wanted to say that your analysis of the Dark Zone Series was a delightful and most excellent bit of work! I found myself laughing out loud quite a few times. Kai, a daddy? [*giggle*] But, as I thought on it, I think you may have hit that nail square on the head there. I must say that I am a very new, but rabid fan of the Lexx and his crew and would love to chat about the series (old and forthcoming) if you had the time and/or inclination. Please drop me a note if you so wish.

November 14th 98, onwards......... and ongoing!

Flare:
       Many thanks for your email - I'm glad Lexxplorations/Analyses raised a few chuckles! They were meant, originally, to be a half serious, half tongue-in-cheek exploration of Lexx's wild and wacky ideas.......
       I would very much like to share perceptions (and jokes!) about the series! I'm always delighted to "chat", and I always answer emails - I just ask you to be patient, as sometimes it may take me a few days to reply!

Windlily:
       Well, I don't really have much exploration to share yet. I am still a budding fan. I have managed to see all the movies except the first one...[*wail*]..., but I've got it on order and should have my eager little fingers on it next week. Right now I'm thrashing around in my kitchen making pissed-off Cluster Lizard noises over the fact that my Canadian neighbors are going to get to see the new series and we here in the States are not! [*huge pout*] Showtime is airing the movies on four of the various stations they own (of course, IWHS is on the one that we can't get in our area) and I hope that the fans here realize that the exec's are gauging the response to the movies to see if it would be worth their money/ratings to purchase the series.......
       Okay, I do have a question. When does His Shadow infect Kai? I don't remember that...is it in the first movie?

Flare:
       I believe so. In IWHS His Shadow boards the Lexx before it escapes to the DZ and battles Kai: it's likely that the infection happened then. Although, of course, since Kai has been in His Shadow's "employ" for the last 2000 years, it could have happened at any time......

Windlily:
       And I agree totally with you that the characterizations in Eating Habits was...way off. I mean, come on! I don't think that Kai, with all the critters he has running around in his head at the moment, would willing invite a satellite worm to join the throng. Please...[*sigh*]...
       Though I do think that Wist's character was rather chilling and shows a rare understanding of human males (and even females...what mom wouldn't take poor, little, lost soul, Wist in?) by the Queen. Wist IS so sweet, and lost looking, that she would be totally disarming and able to get close enough to a human to do what needed to be done. One of the folk in your Lexx site called the Klaagyans vampires with a food processor. I think I'd call the garbage people hi-tech ghouls, rather than vampires myself, though it was a very amusing image...humm...one other thought...perhaps Stan grew up on a garbage planet?

Flare:
       Great!! So far we have the Klaagyans as vampires, zombies (another fan's idea - not yet posted) and now ghouls! I love it!! (at least no-one can accuse them of being werewolves - or can they...? [grins]) I like the idea of Stan's growing up on a garbage planet - it would be highly appropriate.

Windlily:
       Just what was that unspoken word Kai said to Zev when he quote, died, unquote at the end of Giga Shadow? Was it..."my love"...or "my friend"? ...or...something else? Would be quite a defining moment in their relationship if we knew what it was...[*grumble*]...dontcha' just hate it when the powers that be do that to one?

Flare:
       Sorry - can't help you there. The Beans left it open so they weren't restricted when it came to the series! (Or so I assume, anyway.....)

Windlily:
       And I find it interesting that at the end of Giga Shadow, when Zev fell from the protoblood column, it was the first time we see Kai touch her for no 'real' reason other than concern. Just finished reading the interview with Michael for the new series and find myself a bit...perplexed...by his 'take' on Kai's character. Sounds like they are either going to ignore or seriously downplay the hints of Kai's awaking feelings for Zev. I hope they don't. That, to me, is one of the major charms of this character, his rediscovering himself and the realization that 'life' is as much a state of mind as body.

       Okay...well, I now have Super Nova on tape...[*delighted giggle*]... I think that this is my favorite, so far! Definitely pushes all my 'romantic' buttons! It has some just wonderful bits and pieces. That forshadowing with Stan about Feepo & Smoor and was delightful and something I totally missed the first time through. And the whole thing with Brunnis Prime and Blue Star is still just too cool. I just loved the shot where Kai and Zev's shadows were merged. And was that temper Kai showed? And over what? His total lack of control over his own destiny? He certainly has one mean pout, whatever the cause! And that human touch of playing with the ends of his forelock (or whatever one wishes to call that loose bit of hair...) was a wonderful little glimpse into his character.
       Now, I've been thinking....would you check my logic here?
       Okay...we know from Super Nova that both the Brunnen-G and the Insect Race originated in the Dark Zone, right? And that the Insect Wars were fought in the Dark Zone. Then sometime after that, Brunnis Primary could no longer support life on Brunnis so the Brunnen-G moved to a planet in the Light Universe. Okay, how did His Shadow get into the Light Universe? Did he just follow the Brunnen-G through the fractal core, or did he tag along in some Brunnen-G's mind? If so, that means that the first Divine Predecessor was a Brunnen-G? What an icky thought. Is it reasonable, though?

Flare:
       As I understand the films, the Brunnen-G left Brunnis "when the planet could no longer support life". It was after they entered the Light Universe that they "led humanity to victory in the Insect Wars". There's not actually anything to say that the Insect Civilisation originated in the DZ - I think it was already there, in control, in the LU before the Brunnen-G arrived. But I could be wrong...... I think we'll find out a lot more about both the Brunnen-G and the Insect Civilisation once the series starts: I have heard that Kai's memories (of the other people His Shadow killed, as well as his own) will resurface on occasion and be explored.

Windlily:
       Hmmmm.........okay...I'm in timeline crisis here...in Super Nova when Stan's staggering around in the memory archive place on Brunnis, the first disk he touches is of someone receiving an ultimate honor award for a victory in one of the battles against the Insect race. The next one is someone writing about the sun begining to fail, then he bangs into the one with the Time Prophet. And that one was from 5,000 years ago. It seems to me that the archive runs from the least recent entries toward the door Stan entered through, to the most recent toward the back (the eyes of the head building of the Memory Catacombs...right?) No matter, I still have this problem with a Brunnen-G warrior getting an award for fighting with the Bugs before the Brunnen-G left for the Light Universe. You see my dilemma?

Flare:
       I surely do! However........
       If you look behind the Brunnen-G officer awarding Krato (if that's how you spell it!) his "Award of Ultimate Honour" - shee! No-one could ever accuse the Brunnen-G of modesty!!! - I am SURE that that is the Cobalt Stadium in the background! (You know - the one on the Cluster where Thodin nearly got his.) The Cluster is in the Light Universe, so this ceremony must have taken place in the LU.......
[Flare slows up and frowns.....]

       But in that case, how did that recording get back to Brunnis......?

       EEP! You think you're in crisis!? This doesn't make sense!

       ............Actually, yes it does, according to your scenario...... I think you may have taken this a couple of steps beyond how I percieved it! Let me think about this - and also watch the films yet again, see if that helps at all.

Windlily:
       Okay, okay, okay!...let's try this...
       Now, are we ever told where the Insect Wars occurred? (as in Light or Dark Universe...)? Or just that the Brunnen-G lead humanity to victory in them? Bear with me here...have the fen just assumed that the War occurred in the Light Universe? A thought here to back that up...Stan and Zev keep saying that there are no humans in the Dark Zone. Well, there are, right? We've run into the Klaagyans...and they had at least three other planets full of humans before they blew themselves into smithereens. Also, the Brunnen-G CAME from the Dark Zone, so there were humans there (perhaps a lot of them) a long time ago. Maybe after the Insect Wars there was a mass exodus by various planets to the Light Universe and the Brunnen-G decided to hang out in the Dark Zone for a bit longer?
       Huum...okay, continuing on with that train of thought...humanity has defeated the Bugs and for some reason a bunch of them decide to go to the Light Universe. Off they go, with the essence of HDS hanging out inside one of them, thinking that he'd be away and free of the Brunnen-G and run amok. Which he does for a thousand years or so, then Brunnis Prime starts running out of gas and the Brunnen-G finally make the crossing. In that thousand years the Brunnen-G have assimilated the Insect technology and bring it with them. Wouldn't that explain DP-14's surprise at finding Insect tech among the Brunnen-G when he kills Kai?

Flare:
       OK - I've re-watched IWHS and I think you could be right about the Insect Civilisation originating in the DZ. I'll need to watch Super Nova (at least) to try and get the chronology right, but it's seeming more and more likely - I think the clincher is Krato's "slice of life": unless he went back to Brunnis to die (which seems unlikely! Poet Man did seem to imply that once everyone left they never came back. Then again, we don't know how long he waited before setting up his "trap" - and what happened afterwards!? Did he die of old age? Or decide he couldn't bear the loneliness and committed suicide? Sorry, getting tangled in my own web here!).
       So, as you say:-
       how did His Shadow get into the Light Universe? Did he just follow the Brunnen-G through the fractal core, or did he tag along in some Brunnen-G's mind? If so, that means that the first Divine Predecessor was a Brunnen-G? What an icky thought. Is it reasonable, though?
       Sure is! In which case, having a Brunnen-G destroy the Divine Order in the LU is a neat balance. But the Divine Order was actually developed by survivor(s) of the Insect Civilisation - so did an egg (like the GigaShadow eggs) come through the fractal core in one of the Brunnen-G ships, rather than in one of their minds? Or was the IC already present in both Universes? Actually, I'd say not: surely the Brunnen-G would have battled the IC immediately, if they found it in the LU? Here's a slight variant on your idea - see if this scenario makes sense.....
       The Brunnen-G defeat the IC in the DZ, and all goes quiet. Some time later, Brunnis breaks down and they leave for the LU - carrying IC survivors with them. In the process, their ships lose some of their recorded data (it happened to the Lexx, and the ships all use the same - Insect - technology: you're right, the Brunnen-G did take it over after the IC was defeated). The Brunnen-G colonise New Brunnis; everything trundles along peacefully; they resume their roles as poets, romantics and scholars, and lose most of their acquired arts of war - so when the IC (in the shape of the Divine Order) resurfaces, they no longer have the weapons to fight it. The Divine Order grows more powerful, and destroys New Brunnis - and redevelops insect technology using pieces of Kai's ship.......and 2000 years later it has practically taken over the universe. (Well, OK - galaxy, at any rate!)

       This raises questions of course, but one more significant than others - WHY is the DZ "inaccessible" to His Shadow? (We know it is, since the shadow essence left the Lexx at a fair rate of knots as it entered the core.....) Is it some sort of "matter cancelling out anti-matter" idea? Any insights?

       On the subject of balance - see if this makes sense.....
       I've been trying to decide what exactly "His Shadow" is. To have a shadow, you have to have something to cast it. So is the human "His Shadow" the shadow of the shadow essence (the little bit of Insect Civilisation survivor "donated" to the human hosts down through the ages)? (Just re-read that - hope you understand what I mean!) The shadow essence appears to have 2 forms - the purple/black mist that's breathed in, and that black, swirly mass (that looks like a cloud of insects) that forms His Shadow's cloak (like an insect's exoskeleton?).
       NOW!! - have you noticed that when we first meet the Time Prophet, she has exactly the same sort of swirly mass over her head - EXCEPT that it's white! Does this make the Time Prophet the power of Good? Is that why she seems to be immortal, while His Shadows come and go? She certainly wields an enormous amount of power, in her own way......... I'm sure this idea could be taken further...... What relationship does the Time Prophet have to His Shadow - and if they are linked, would that explain why she can't see past the GigaShadow's emergence? Any ideas?

       Otherwise:
       I like the idea of the "timewise" recording - but if that's the way it works, how come our Kai's "slice of life" [Flare winces at the pun!!] is all mixed up with the other ones?.......

Windlily:
       Huum...well, it isn't. His template hadn't been 'filed' yet, neh? It went zipping up into the light of Blue Star when Stan tried to ride the rope down to Zev. And if you look, that area was very close to the back (or would you call that the front?) wall. You could see it from the stone cover.

Flare:
       Hmm.... but how come there was a place ready for him, anyway? (Unless, of course, he was supposed to have died while he was still in the DZ - no, that doesn't make sense. The Brunnen-G left the DZ some considerable time before Kai was born - in Super Nova he talks about learning about his ancestral planet while in school. So does that mean that the Time Prophet was a much more powerful entity than we think?.......)I suppose, since the burst of life process is automated, it would simply have filed the next person(s) who got caught in it. (That the Time Prophet knew it would be Kai is simply another proof of her omniscience.) But is his the last in the sequence? Are there more complete "slices" after his allotted space?

Windlily:
       Ooosh...I have a whole 'nother set of ponderings over the subject of the Time Prophet. Like, is she one really, really, really old person? I mean, it seems to be the same Time Prophet talking to whoever it was that Stan almost passed out under five thousand years ago, and the same person who is speaking to DP 14. That's a time span of at least 3,000 years. Is she still around, by the by? Or did she get toasted...oops...I digress...or is it an inherited position, like the Oracles of Delphi?

Flare:
       I kind of got the impression she exists almost outside of time - or at least in some sort of separate continuum (the landscape surrounding her looks very strange.....) which seekers can contact or enter in order to ask their questions, but which keeps her in a sort of stasis.

Windlily:
       Huum...now that is an interesting thought...I hadn't considered that possibility...

Flare:
       Maybe I'm just being fanciful - I've found nothing to support that idea - but then again, it's the sort of thing the Beans would do. And just why couldn't she see past the emergence of the GigaShadow? Have the Lexx and its motley crew managed to completely wreck the fabric of the known universes and change the unchanging "cycles of time"?

Windlily:
Hmmm........
       And another question...where did Blue Star come from? Why wasn't she recorded in the taken along knowledge of Brunnis?

Flare:
       She wasn't there then! Kai says he learnt the Brunnis sky in school, but "That star? I did not learn about that star...." As to where she came from - perhaps we'll find out in the series?

Windlily:
       That would be nice...but I doubt it. Seems like the whole bit with the prophesy is over and done with...

Flare [grinning]:
       I wouldn't be so sure!

Windlily:
       When HDS is taking Kai's memories, is the last one that swirls out a child? Perhaps little Kai?

Flare:
       I ran this through frame by frame twice, and there's a lot more in it than first appeared. Little Kai's face does appear, near the end (I assume its his - he's the one whose memory is being stolen!): he looks about two or three in those frames! Just prior to the Time Prophet's image, there is a very fast sequence (only one frame each) of 3-4 faint faces, two of which look female, but not anyone we've yet encountered. There may have been more of interest, but I was looking for faces rather than anything else - dammit, I wish I had video capture!

Windlily:
       Proto-blood.... Now here is an interesting substance. Wonder if perhaps it is a primitive hive mind...each cell aware of the others? How else would it be able to communicate to the host body where all the bits and pieces were, and make them move and function even when not attached to the host body. And it would explain how they could rejoin the unattached bits back so nicely and neatly.

Flare:
       Nice idea! Lots of symbiotic/parasitic imagery there.

Windlily:
       Also, it would appear that the host body doesn't feel any pain. Kai gets sliced and diced regularly without so much as a wince. And poor Yottskry. That expression when he impales himself on his sword and nothing happened was hysterical!

Flare:
       If the host body can't feel pain, can it feel pleasure? Can it feel anything? (If not, this might be another 'difficulty' in Kai and Zev's relationship - at the very least, it would make the whole thing a bit of a non-event for poor Kai!)

Windlily:
       I've been wondering about that also...though 'touch' is an integral part of any sentient species, primitive or no...hurts...get away from it...perhaps it just an, 'incoming! Everybody get out of the way!'...slice...no pain, since all the critters are moved...or perhaps...a few of the 'colony' lost is not registered...huum...I'll have to think more on that... But regarding Kai and Zev - the needs of the body and the soul are two very separate things? Providing pleasure for a loved one, even if the providee can't 'participate?' can be a rewarding thing...perhaps?

Flare:
       Hmmmm........I'm not convinced it could ever be that sort of relationship - not with Zev's rampant libido! But I'll be happy to be proved wrong......

       Do you have any suggestions on what Thodin's comment - "He's been de-carbonised" - might mean? Humans are carbon-based, so what happens if you take away the carbon? I suppose it would have to be replaced with something else, but what? And obviously de-carbonisation isn't a necessary requisite to being reanimated by protoblood - the clerics were simply dead when the goo landed on them (no-one around to tinker with their corpses). Unless, of course, its the protoblood itself that de-carbonises? But then why bother with the bio-scholars.......? Any insights?

Windlily:
       Huum...maybe the bit with the bio-scholars is that the Giga Shadow was still in a larval stage and it's proto-blood not b enough to totally resurrect by itself yet? Or perhaps for long-term preservation, (since the stuff has a definite expiration date) a way was needed for continuous replenishment, thus the chest gear...

       I still haven't figured out any viable solution for that de-carbonized statement. I'm leaning towards something provided by the protoblood but I suspect it is a rabbit hat to try to cover a plot 'oopsie'. My thinking on that is...these hand weapons seem to, in the first show at least (in Giga Shadow they seem able to stun or kill without evaporating large portions of the victim), go through anything...well, at least thick walls and people. So, they got an armed Thodin and crew on the gantry walkway and along comes Kai. Thodin and crew are very skilled warriors and armed warriors at the moment...of course they are going to shoot at him...and hit. Oopsie! Can't have one of our main characters toasted...so...how do we get out of this? Quick...throw some vague but good sounding term in there to explain why Kai doesn't fizzle.....

Flare:
       I hope it's something a bit more interesting than that! I suppose we'll have to wait for the series.......

Windlily:
       Do you have any idea about the Cantos? - I've been wondering about them......

       Did the Giga Shadow have eggs?
       Where is His Shadow's essence?

       This is sheer meanness...we can't know...until they choose to tell us...[*grumble*]...though the assumption is that HS essence is in Kai, right? Is the bug in Mantrid from one of the Giga Shadows eggs?

Flare:
       I'm sure the GigaShadow did have eggs, and pretty sure they weren't all destroyed when the beastie itself met its end. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the "stinger" with which it pierced the Lexx towards the end of GS was some sort of ovipositor: Lexx itself may be carrying eggs. No-one would know until they hatched and grew - the Lexx is so huge there're plenty of places to hide.......
       I think we're supposed to assume that Kai is the carrier of HS's essence. In a way I hope that proves not to be the case, as it's just a bit too predictable.........

Windlily:

       Can Kai really become the one?

       "The one" what? [*grrrr*] Zev's one and only? The one to become the new host for HDS? It sounds...from the next two lines...very ominous and a plot line that will run through the new series. What do you think? I have the horrid suspicion that the Powers that Be have a bloody and violent end in mind for their anti-heroes...or at least one that is very bitter-sweet and unsatisfying for those of us addicted to happy endings......

Flare:
       I've always assumed that "the one" is as in Thodin's words: i.e. the Brunnen-G prophesied as the destroyer of His Shadow's Order.

Windlily:
       Also, why does one have to fly/guide the moth crafts? They seem capable of independent thought and action since the moth Giggerota stole left her on top of that stabilizer and flew off laughing...so, couldn't you just tell one where to go, like with the Lexx?

Flare:
       Now there's an interesting thought!! That hadn't occurred to me. Perhaps you have to control them manually because if you didn't, they'd just fly off and do their own thing...? So, did Giggerota "leave the engine running", as it were?

(With apologies to R A MacAvoy for the title. Tea with the Black Dragon is one of my favourite books.......)