By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
There are two things that every sci-fi fan has grown to expect: One, every list of “Sci-fi shows cancelled after only one season” will include Firefly at the top of the list, and two, Lexx will forever be considered the raunchiest sci-fi series of all time. The low-budget Canadian show goes further than any of its 90 contemporaries, and nothing sums that up better than the robot crew member, 790. Every sci-fi show had to have an alien, robot, cyborg, an android, or some combination of all of them; only Lexx would decide an obsessive lovebot should be a regular part of the crew.
Lexx’s Weirdest Crewmember
790 starts the series running the Lusticon designed to turn Zev into a loveslave before succumbing to the brainwashing himself after a cluster lizard eats his body. Zev is the first person he sees, so he falls madly in love with her. That by itself would be enough of a problem, but it also means that he hates everyone else.
For the first two seasons of Lexx, 790 hates Stanley. Stanley stands in the way of getting Xev, so while the robot uses his vast intellect for good (or uh, however good the crew of the galaxy’s most powerful weapon would be at that moment), he doesn’t like talking to anyone but Xev. Jeffrey Hirschfield, as the voice of 790, was able to get away with some truly unhinged dialogue including “If I only had an arm, I’d be more than just a head. If I only had an arm, I would strangle Tweedle dead!” and the delightful prose, “On a branch there is a fruit / Plump and ripe for sucking / In a bed there is a Xev /hot and right for…”
790 Never Changes Only The Target Does
Over the course of Lexx, 790 shows absolutely zero personal growth and development. The only change comes in Season 3, when he’s killed and rebuilt, falling in love with Kai instead of Xev, transferring his love and hatred, respectively. The obsession with Kai goes so far that 790 enters his villain arc, leading him to start working with Prince to undermine the crew of the Lexx. This also lets Hirschfield deliver the line, “29 hours of necrophilia-filled fun!” which no other sci-fi series would ever include. Not even on the writer’s room whiteboard.
790 is a large part of the reason why Lexx has a devoted cult following even today, decades after it came to an end. This is the type of unhinged, psychotic, insane, downright weird character that would never be a regular part of any Star Trek or Stargate. Only Farscape could possibly handle a character like 790.
Zev/Xev, as the sexualized, hot chick on a spaceship, is such a classic trope that Galaxy Quest made fun of it, yet what 790 does is far more subversive: he talks about it. Constantly. 790 doesn’t know the concept of personal space, doesn’t care about being respectful, and talks like the comments under any social media thirst trap. You’re not supposed to do that, yet Lexx shines a spotlight on the degenerate behavior and never actually lets 790 win, or even get away with any of his schemes.
Lexx is a strange show filled with sex, innuendos, and horrible characters, but it’s aware that the characters are horrible people. If that’s your type of humor, it’s well worth streaming the show on Tubi.
