With U.S. viewers still struggling to form an opinion of the Sci Fi Channel's decision to scramble the Lexx storyline, fans in the United Kingdom are already eagerly awaiting new episodes.
The British affiliate of the international cable channel will air the third series of 13 Lexx episodes starting Sunday, February 8, just five weeks after second-series episodes
spend the entire 13 episodes on two planets -- 'Fire' and 'Water' -- that share the same atmosphere and have been at war with each other forever."
The shift in style returns the show's science-fantasy elements to center stage, while retaining the comic and bawdy touches that have made Lexx so controversial in the United States.
"What seems like a small local struggle is of course much more," the Halifax, Nova Scotia-based company said. "Our heroes naturally cause far more problems than they solve, both for themselves [and] the two planets."
The new series also promises more time for the characters to develop separately. Zombie assassin Kai, in particular, spends several episodes alone wandering the floating cities of planet Water, while Xev gets yet another new look.
Certain old friends and enemies thought irrevocably dead -- not as redundant as it might sound where this series is concerned -- also return.
Beyond Britain
Canada's Space Channel will air the third-series episodes in April. Although no U.S. broadcast is likely before late 2000, Sci Fi Channel programmers remain enthusiastic about their relationship with the show.
"It's done very well for us," a spokeswoman told SPACE.com recently. "We're in it for the long term."
Still, many viewers -- both hardcore fans and those encountering Lexx for the first time -- remain perplexed by the U.S. channel's decision to weaken the show's already fragile internal continuity by airing second-series episodes out of order.
So far, the channel has run the
, who plays Xev after the third episode. Eva Habermann played the character -- then known as Zev -- in the first three episodes, as well as in the first series of four two-hour telefilms.
"While we understand that this is not keeping with the series original continuity, we do feel this is the right episode to air next," the channel said in a release alerting viewers to the shuffle. "Sci Fi received a terrific response to the debut of Lexx, and in particular to Xenia Seeberg, the actress who portrays Xev. As a result, we've elected to juggle upcoming episodes to air ones that focus on her character especially."
Since Seeberg remains firmly ensconced in the role in the third series, albeit sans red wig, the newest episodes are unlikely to be affected by this policy.
advertisement
