You're fed up with Sci-Fi shows that keep you guessing whether or not the lead characters are going to give each other so much as a chaste kiss. You’re sick to death of spaceships traipsing off to new planets which so resemble the old ones as to be indistinguishable. You want something a bit darker than your usual light relief offered by the genre… If that’s you, then you have, no doubt, been glued to LEXX ever since the series made its UK début on Channel 5 in 1997.

Spawned from the mind of one time physics student turned writer/producer/ director/lunatic Paul Donovan, LEXX is the complete antithesis of the usual television Sci-Fi fodder complete with ridiculous plots, lashings of sex, ‘unusual’ characters and an irreverent approach to the entire proceedings. However, Donovan is adamant that no specific person or idea inspired him to write or continue the series.

Actually he’s not sure where his ideas come from but says: “When I was a teenager, I spent a lot of time watching TV. Then I spent a lot of time observing human beings going about their lives. And then I came to the profound conclusion that we are a flawed species. So the certain knowledge that we are a flawed species fused with endless Monty Python and Star Trek episodes and everything else I watched, resulted in LEXX… I think.”

The poor soul’s not even sure that the “off-the-wall” nature of the show accurately reflects his own personality and outlook of life, insisting: “My own nature is optimistic and pure and effervescent… so the dark, twisted vision that seems to permeate LEXX makes no sense at all. Maybe it comes from that other guy who I can never see who is always talking to me when I walk down the street.” Er… yes…

Talking specifically about Season Three, due to start on the Sci-Fi Channel in January 2000, he says: “We have a lot more daylight in the series this year and many of our settings now look ‘outside photo real’ even though they are shot in the studio. The story arc this Season demands some good desert locations, and since both Canada and Germany (the series' usual shooting locations) are weak in that department, we are going to Namibia where they have great sand dunes. The outside footage shot there should blend seamlessly with our new improved, artificial outdoors look.”

Confused? Just take it that what you’re looking at is meant to be real but isn’t because it’s being generated by someone operating a computer but it’s put on top of some real stuff to make it look out of this world. OK?

Buy Cult Times #50 for the full interview!

Images © Salter Street Films
Feature © Visual Imagination Ltd 1999. Not for reproduction.