109-660: Dark Zone may refer to: Dark Zone, a universe in the Lexx television series Dark Zone, a concept in the Futari wa Pretty Cure anime series The Dark Zone, the Quake map (DM6) setting of the 1996 film Diary of a Camper Dark Zones, concepts in the video game Tom Clancy's The Division "Dark Zone", an episode of the History Channel show Shadow Force Dark Zone ,
218-402: A World War I film using computer-generated imagery which had now become financially viable, but did not possess the estimated $ 35 million he needed to create it. In 1993, Donovan created a four-minute short film with a large amount of CGI and demonstrated it to international broadcasters to seek funding. The tape, titled The Dark Zone , featured security guard Stanley Tweedle refusing to let
327-598: A global recession , beginning in the United States and affecting most of the industrialized world. The decade saw the rise of the Internet , which grew from covering 6.7% to 25.7% of the world population. This contributed to globalization during the decade, which allowed faster communication among people around the world; social networking sites arose as a new way for people to stay in touch from distant locations, as long as they had internet access . Myspace
436-726: A national emergency . Despite President Obama's concern, a Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind poll found in October 2009 that an overwhelming majority of New Jerseyans (74%) were not very worried or not at all worried about contracting the H1N1 flu virus. A study conducted in coordination with the University of Michigan Health Service is scheduled for publication in the December 2009 American Journal of Roentgenology warning that H1N1 flu can cause pulmonary embolism , surmised as
545-552: A 2011 novel by Yusuke Kishi In immunology, the proliferative compartment of the germinal center reaction Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Dark Zone . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dark_Zone&oldid=1210260739 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
654-535: A dying star from becoming a supernova . The trio become separated from each other and discover the Time Prophet's prophecy of Kai destroying the insect civilization. Giggerota disables the towers, but the crew escapes aboard the Lexx without her. She and the planet are destroyed in the supernova. After some time, the Lexx runs low on organic fuel and lands on the nearby planet of Klaagia to feed. The group discovers
763-538: A fugitive on the Cluster. Zev Bellringer arrives on the Cluster as a prisoner and is sentenced to be turned into a love-slave, after failing to perform her wifely duties and assaulting her fiancé. Other prisoners, including a group of Ostral-B heretics and their leader, Thodin, are sentenced to be publicly executed. Thodin attempts to use an explosive device to free himself, but the device malfunctions and releases giant Cluster Lizards from containment, wreaking havoc across
872-526: A global recession, beginning in the United States and affecting most of the industrialized world. The combined wealth of the "10 million dollar millionaires" grew to nearly $ 41 trillion in 2008. The period takes its name from Gordon Brown , the then UK Chancellor of the Exchequer (who later became Prime Minister ), who decided to sell approximately half of the UK's gold reserves in a series of auctions. At
981-461: A group of psychotics obsessed with "pattern", a liquid made from organic material that parasites within their bodies feed on. Stan, Zev, and Kai inadvertently awaken the parasite queen, who attaches itself to the Lexx and pursues them off the planet. The Lexx fires on the planet and destroys it, using the meteors to kill the queen. Meanwhile, Kai is running low on protoblood, which he needs to function in his undead state; protoblood can only be found on
1090-620: A leading cause of death in this current pandemic. The study authors suggest physician evaluation via contrast enhanced CT scans for the presence of pulmonary emboli when caring for patients diagnosed with respiratory complications from a "severe" case of the H1N1 flu. As of May 30, 2010, as stated by the World Health Organization, more than 214 countries and overseas territories or communities have reported laboratory confirmed cases of pandemic influenza H1N1 2009, including over 18,138 deaths. The most significant evolution of
1199-538: A loss of support for the American government, both in and outside the United States. The additional armed conflict occurred in the Middle East , including between Israel and Hezbollah , then with Israel and Hamas . The most significant loss of life due to natural disasters came from the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake , which caused a tsunami that killed around one quarter-million people and displaced well over
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#17327756379581308-484: A million others. The most prominent terrorist attacks committed against the civilian population during the decade include: The most prominent armed conflicts of the decade include: The most prominent coup d'état of the decade include: During the 2000s, the expectations and unspoken rules for acceptable conduct among American politicians affiliated with the Republican or Democratic Parties changed due to
1417-544: A mystical being who seeks to enslave the two universes . It was foretold to Kai by the Time Prophet that one day his people would destroy His Shadow and the last remnants of the Insect Civilization. The plot unfolds across a time span of over six thousand years. Kai's "death" occurs 2008 years before the beginning of the main events of the series. For Seasons One and Two, each episode is focused on space travel and usually one different planet. Seasons 3 and 4 have
1526-530: A potato planet, a planet that creates sitcoms , a vapour that changes sex organs into their opposite, a crashed prisoner transport captained by a gay cyborg, a graveyard planet for priests of the Divine Order, a cult led by the Wozzard who seeks to turn all beautiful women into ugly ones, and an island of secluded, illiterate monks . Eventually, the crew learns that Mantrid has been using drones to consume
1635-458: A sex slave. I like the part because she's not quite what she seems. She's tough, and people underestimate her because of her new appearance. And that's what makes it funny." After season one, Habermann would go on to other projects, leaving a gap in the show for her character after the end of season one; this was alleviated by having Zev die and later revived into Xev, now played by Xenia Seeberg . The character of Thodin (played by Barry Bostwick )
1744-504: A ship dock because of an invalid security code, then being reprimanded by his superiors. This scene would be reworked and included in the first episode of Lexx . Broadcast companies were impressed, prompting Donovan to build off the demo tape and abandon his original World War I idea. The first season was greenlit in Summer 1995 with a budget of $ 13 million, barely three months before filming began. Donovan had trouble finding writers for
1853-496: A single blast. The energy Stanley absorbed is revealed to be the key to the Lexx, making Stanley its captain. As Stanley instructs the Lexx to fly off the Cluster, they are cornered by Kai who throws Giggerota off the bridge. Before Kai can execute the others, he instead heads to the ship's hold to protect the Divine Predecessors who are being attacked by a Cluster Lizard. After saving them, Kai regains his memories from
1962-417: A single general location for all episodes. At the beginning of Season 3, the crew spends 4000 years in cryostasis before arriving at twin planets Fire and Water. In Season 4, the Lexx reaches Earth in the early 2000s. Kai and a small group of other Brunnen-G warriors mount a last stand against His Merciful Shadow as their planet, Brunnis-2, is destroyed. In a final act of defiance, Kai crashes his ship into
2071-449: A surgical implant or artificial limb, saying "it's functional, but it sure doesn't look good up close." According to set designer Nigel Scott, "Our world is chaotic. All the cars and buildings are designed by different people, so nothing really matches. And Lexx is exactly the same - it's just chaos." The insect wars and the biological designs of the ships were made a central part of the story after they had been designed, with writers using
2180-438: A theatre format. Many of the themes from this episode are based on German nursery rhymes with new lyrics. The usage of existing musical themes as well as the addition of an outside choir has placed these tracks into a legal grey area; as a result, they have not been officially released. All tracks are written by Marty Simon All tracks are written by Marty Simon 2000s The 2000s (pronounced "two-thousands"; shortened to
2289-428: A trial over the destination of his soul, revealing Fire and Water as the afterlife. All his bad decisions are weighed against his good deeds and he is ultimately sentenced to eternal punishment on Fire. Enraged over Stanley's death, Xev orders the Lexx to destroy Fire, releasing all of its tortured souls. Consequently, Prince possesses the Lexx and uses it to destroy Water. Stanley is released and returns to his body aboard
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#17327756379582398-471: A writer for "Super Nova", says "When I first got the script, it was all over the place because the writers had hit a wall with it. The main characters were these buffoons. That probably works on paper, but the audience needed something to hold on to. So that had to be tidied up a bit by adding some motivation for these characters." Scripts for season two were commissioned before season one premiered. Although our characters will try, in their own bumpy way, to do
2507-503: Is captured by the mercenaries Feppo and Smoor who extract information from him on the locations of other Ostral-B planets. They sell this information to the Divine Order, resulting in the deaths of billions. Stanley, subsequently captured by the Divine Order and after undergoing interrogation, is made a class-four security guard on the Cluster, the capital planet of the Divine Order and League of 20,000 Planets. After being reprimanded for insubordination and failing to turn himself in, he becomes
2616-468: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Lexx#The Light Universe and Dark Zone Lexx (also known as LEXX: The Dark Zone Stories and Tales from a Parallel Universe ) is a science fiction television series created by Lex Gigeroff and brothers Paul and Michael Donovan . It originally aired on April 18, 1997, on Canada's Citytv as four made-for-TV movies. Beginning with season two,
2725-426: Is inhabited by evil people. During Prince's first encounter with the crew, 790 is damaged and falls in love with Kai rather than Xev, and gradually behaves much more erratically. Prince seeks to destroy Water and attempts to win the crew over to his side, especially Xev. Believing that the Lexx is "the grain of sand that will tip the scales", he tests their sense of morality through various temptations, including taking
2834-715: Is not especially relevant to organisms which don't cause disease in humans). The outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom in 2001 caused a crisis in British agriculture and tourism. This epizootic saw 2,000 cases of the disease in farms across most of the British countryside. Over 6 million sheep and cattle were killed. Between November 2002 and July 2003, an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) occurred in Hong Kong, with 8,273 cases and 775 deaths worldwide (9.6% fatality) according to
2943-482: Is wiped. The Lexx destroys the remnants of His Shadow's fleet that followed them through the portal. The three then begin searching the Dark Zone for a new home, away from His Shadow. During their search, they encounter Kai's homeworld and explore it for insights into his past. Finding the planet abandoned, they are pursued by Giggerota who attempts to destroy the planet by disabling a series of towers that are keeping
3052-619: The ' 00s and known as the aughts or noughties ) was a decade that began on January 1, 2000, and ended on December 31, 2009. The early part of the decade saw the long-predicted breakthrough of economic giants in Asia, like India and China , which had double-digit growth during nearly the whole decade. It is also benefited from an economic boom, which saw the two most populous countries becoming an increasingly dominant economic force. The rapid catching-up of emerging economies with developed countries sparked some protectionist tensions during
3161-463: The Harry Potter book series, although she did not pen the best-selling individual book, being second to The Da Vinci Code . Eminem was named the music artist of the decade by Billboard . During this decade, the world population grew from 6.1 to 6.9 billion people. Approximately 1.35 billion people were born, and 550 million people died. Orthographically, the decade can be written as
3270-522: The 2008 Mumbai attacks related to al-Qaeda. The European Union expanded its sanctions amid Iran 's failure to comply with its transparency obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and United Nations resolutions . The war on terror generated extreme controversy around the world, with questions regarding the justification for certain U.S. actions leading to
3379-666: The Alliance Atlantis -owned Showcase network. Lexx was primarily filmed in Canada and Germany , with additional filming on location in Iceland , Thailand , Namibia , New Zealand , the United Kingdom , and the British Virgin Islands . Lexx had very different tones throughout its run. While the original TV movies and the second season were mostly science fiction drama with dark comedy, season three
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3488-538: The PlayStation 2 , Xbox , GameCube , Wii , PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 ; while portable video game consoles included the Game Boy Advance , Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable . Wii Sports was the decade's best-selling console video game, while New Super Mario Bros. was the decade's best-selling portable video game. J. K. Rowling was the best-selling author in the decade overall thanks to
3597-657: The September 11 attacks in 2001. The International Criminal Court was formed in 2002. In 2003 a United States-led coalition invaded Iraq , and the Iraq War led to the end of Saddam Hussein 's rule as Iraqi President and the Ba'ath Party in Iraq. Al-Qaeda and affiliated Islamist militant groups performed terrorist acts throughout the decade. These acts included the 2004 Madrid train bombings , 7/7 London bombings in 2005, and
3706-541: The World Championship of 1834 . In this show it's not a friendly marriage of man and dragonfly. I compare it to the old high school experiment where you make the dead frog's legs move with a small battery. Nigel Scott, stage designer Donovan rejected the sleek, futuristic look common in science fiction in favour of organic, fleshy materials. Many of the creatures and machines are a hybrid of organic material and technology. Producer Bill Fleming compares it to
3815-583: The World Health Organization (WHO). Within weeks, SARS spread from Hong Kong to infect individuals in 37 countries in early 2003. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus : the Office for National Statistics reported 1,629 MRSA -related deaths in England and Wales during 2005, indicating a MRSA-related mortality rate half the rate of that in the United States for 2005, even though
3924-720: The World Trade Organization did not succeed in finding agreements to stretch the extent of free trade . The Doha Round of negotiations, launched in 2001 by the WTO to promote development, failed to be completed because of growing tensions between regional areas. Nor did the Cancún Conference in 2003 find a consensus on services trade and agricultural subsidies . The comparative rise of China, India, and other developing countries also contributed to their growing clout in international forums . In 2009, it
4033-498: The mainland of the People's Republic of China (PRC) because of numerous alleged consumer safety issues. Events in the confidence crisis included recalls on consumer goods such as pet food , toys , toothpaste , lipstick , and a ban on certain types of seafood . Also included are reports on the poor crash safety of Chinese automobiles, slated to enter the American and European markets in 2008. This created adverse consequences for
4142-476: The "2000s" or the " '00s". In the English-speaking world, a name for the decade wasn't immediately accepted as it had been for other decades such as the 1980s and 1990s ('80s, '90s). The aughts ( American English ) or noughties ( British English ) arise from the words aught and nought respectively, both meaning zero . The noughties became a common name for the decade in
4251-485: The 2000s in the economic landscape was the long-time predicted breakthrough of economic giant China , whose GDP grew from 1.21 trillion to 5.1 trillion (in 2022 USD). To a lesser extent, India also benefited from an economic boom (growing from 438.39 billion to 1.34 trillion) which saw the two most populous countries becoming an increasingly dominant economic force. The rapid catching-up of emerging economies with developed countries sparked some protectionist tensions during
4360-568: The 2000s may have been the warmest decade since records began in 1850, with four of the five warmest years since 1850 having occurred in this decade. The WMO's findings were later echoed by the NASA and the NOAA . Major natural disasters included Cyclone Nargis in 2008 and earthquakes in Pakistan and China in 2005 and 2008, respectively. The deadliest natural disaster and most powerful earthquake of
4469-610: The 2000s. Prediction tools made significant progress during the decade, UN -sponsored organizations such as the IPCC gained influence, and studies such as the Stern Review influenced public support for paying the political and economic costs of countering climate change. The global temperature kept climbing during the decade. In December 2009, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced that
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4578-515: The 21st century occurred in 2004 when a 9.1–9.3 M w earthquake and its subsequent tsunami struck multiple nations in the Indian Ocean, killing 230,000 people. Usage of computer-generated imagery became more widespread in films produced during the 2000s, especially with the success of 2001's Shrek and 2003's Finding Nemo , the latter becoming the best-selling DVD of all time. Anime films gained more exposure outside Japan with
4687-529: The Cluster Lizard reaches the Giga Shadow's brain and consumes it, killing the Giga Shadow. With a fresh supply of protoblood, the crew returns to the Dark Zone to search for a new home. Before the Giga Shadow's destruction, the last remnant of His Shadow possessed Kai. Kai lies to the crew and states that he requires more protoblood to survive, leading them to the imprisoned supreme Bio- Vizier of
4796-476: The Cluster. The group returns to the Cluster to find it abandoned, learning that the entire population of the League of 20,000 Planets was culled to feed and awaken the immense Giga Shadow, the last remaining insect. With help from a defecting priest of the Divine Order, they stall the Giga Shadow's awakening long enough for Kai to plant a baby Cluster Lizard inside of it. As the Lexx and its crew are almost destroyed,
4905-401: The Cluster. Thodin escapes and frees the other heretics, and reluctantly rescues the cannibal Giggerota. During Zev's transformation into a love-slave, she is attacked by a Cluster Lizard, turning her into a love-slave/Cluster Lizard hybrid. Before the brainwashing portion of the transformation begins, Zev frees herself and places the 790 droid in charge of her transformation in her place, causing
5014-460: The Dark Zone through a portal as Xev and Kai destroy Mantrid and his final drone. Without any other nearby planets and the Lexx running out of food, the crew place themselves into stasis and the Lexx goes dormant while 790 reactivates annually to search for nearby planets. After four thousand years in cryostasis, the crew reaches the twin planets Fire and Water. All of season three takes place on these two planets. The crew meets people they knew from
5123-529: The Divine Order, Mantrid and his servant. During their meeting, His Shadow transfers his essence into an insect carcass, resurrecting it and attempting to kill the crew of the Lexx. Mantrid is gravely wounded in the attack, and his servant transfers his consciousness to a spaceship he had created to save him. Kai kills the insect, resulting in His Shadow's essence becoming mixed with Mantrid's. Mantrid, now intertwined with His Shadow, swears revenge on humanity as
5232-501: The Earth to the size of a pea in the process. As Lyekka's asteroid attacks Earth, the crew flees with the particle accelerator to destroy the asteroid. As they leave Earth, Prince appears to Kai and fulfills his promise to him, restoring Kai's mortality. 790, now completely insane and still madly in love with Kai, takes advantage of the Lexx's senility and has it destroy Earth to kill any potential "competitors" for Kai. With Earth destroyed,
5341-463: The Halifax film community about the sexual content, joking "God, you can't even show a woman as a sex object without someone thinking it's bad." The Lexx's name was formed by finding a word that would work well in all languages without translation, and it doubled as a pun on Lex Gigeroff's name. The scripts for "Super Nova" and "Feeding Pattern" were changed several times during shooting. Ron Oliver,
5450-484: The Lexx dying, and no other habitable planets nearby, the crew decide to sacrifice themselves to destroy Lyekka's asteroid. They travel inside the asteroid, but Kai becomes separated from the others as he is trapped inside with the particle accelerator. In a final sacrifice, Kai crashes into the centre of the asteroid as the accelerator calculates the particle's mass, destroying the asteroid. The Lexx's senility becomes terminal as it disintegrates. Xev and Stanley discover that
5559-527: The Lexx had created another ship within it before it died, "Little Lexx". Little Lexx gives Stanley its key as they search for a new home. Salter Street Films' first sci-fi production, Def-Con 4 , had been a moderate success and showed Paul Donovan that there was a potential market for similar material. Salter Street's next projects did not enjoy the same degree of success: George's Island , Buried on Sunday , and Paint Cans received praise but were not financially successful. Donovan then sought to create
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#17327756379585668-419: The Lexx was outfitted with easily removable "skin", allowing it to be shot from any angle. This skin would later be removed entirely after season one. The food that the Lexx produces for the crew was mashed yams in season one, and rice pudding for the rest of the series. The Season two episode "The Net" is largely made up of recycled footage from the previous episode "The Web". Director Chis Bould says this
5777-441: The Lexx's showerhead "is this luminous pink tube that's a little too interested in its work... It'll snake all over you if you're not paying attention. It's quite frisky." Sources have also pointed out the Lexx's seemingly phallic appearance. Writer Jeffrey Hirschfield only incorporated the bare minimum of "accurate" science when absolutely necessary. Lexx is a very complex build of elements to create final effects scenes. With
5886-469: The Lexx, while Prince and the other souls reincarnate on a nearby blue planet . The Lexx travels to Earth looking for food. 790 informs the crew that it is located in the very centre of the Dark Zone and assumes that it must be a very dangerous place. The crew again meet people they knew from the Light and Dark Zones and from Fire and Water. Only Prince and Priest can remember their previous lives. On Earth,
5995-427: The Light and Dark Zones who cannot remember their past lives, though their personalities are the same. Fire is ruled by the charismatic Prince and his lackey Priest, while Water does not have a ruler. The inhabitants of both planets live in isolated towns. On Water, they live on islands in a huge ocean; on Fire, they live on massive towers separated by long stretches of desert. Water is inhabited by good people, while Fire
6104-767: The United Kingdom and in New Zealand and Australia. Although use of the word aught to refer to zero is not widespread in the United States, the use of aughts to identify the decade became common there. Other spoken-word possibilities included "two-thousands", "twenty hundreds", "ohs", "oh ohs", "double ohs", "zeros", and "double zeros". The years of the decade can be referred to as '01, '02, etc., pronounced oh-one, oh-two, etc. (2017) (1973–2016) (2015) (2008) (2007) (projected) The war on terror and War in Afghanistan began after
6213-609: The United States and the United Kingdom have been or are potentially affected. While global trade rose in the decade (partially driven by China's entry into the WTO in 2001), there was little progress in the multilateral trading system. International trade continued to expand during the decade as emerging economies and developing countries, in particular China and South-Asian countries, benefited low wages costs and most often undervalued currencies. However, global negotiations to reduce tariffs did not make much progress, as member countries of
6322-519: The access to live action background plates, greenscreen and bluescreen foreground plates, motion control and model elements, as well as 3D and 2D computer animation, we have the thread with the AVID Illusion compositing package to put these pieces together. Brian Howald, VFX Supervisor Computer-generated imagery for season one was created by twenty animators over the course of fifteen months. For "Super Nova", matte paintings were used as
6431-497: The brain of the Divine Predecessor who killed him, prompting him to turn against His Shadow. The Lexx is pursued and boarded by His Shadow, who attacks Kai for turning against him. Stanley and Zev distract His Shadow long enough for Kai to destroy him; his essence retreats from the ship as it travels through a portal into the Dark Zone. While traversing the portal, the Lexx's memory of His Shadow and its allegiance to him
6540-504: The city's "great example", "an era that history will record as the beginning of a new Golden Age". Reactions of governments in all developed and developing countries against the economic slowdown were largely inspired by keynesian economics . The end of the decade was characterized by a Keynesian resurgence , while the influence and media popularity of left-wing economists Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman (Nobel Prize recipients in 2001 and 2008, respectively) did not stop growing during
6649-443: The concept art as a basis for the plot. Head art director Mark Laing says that the design of the Cluster was based around medieval cities, explaining how "the whole city is built on top of a ruin built on a ruin. Buildings are built on top of buildings, incorporating still standing structures into their own structures, which are also somewhat run down." The Lexx itself has sexual undertones as part of its design. Laing points out how
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#17327756379586758-466: The confidence in the safety and quality of mainland Chinese manufactured goods in the global economy. The decade was marked by two financial and economic crises. In 2001, the Dot-com bubble burst, causing turmoil in financial markets and a decline in economic activity in the developed economies, in particular in the United States. However, the impact of the crisis on the activity was limited thanks to
6867-561: The control pod of His Shadow's flagship, the Foreshadow. He is killed by His Shadow, his memories are taken from him, and he is forced to serve as an undead assassin in the Divine Order. 2008 years later, Stanley H. Tweedle is an assistant deputy backup courier for the Ostral-B heretics, a resistance group fighting against the Divine Order. After unknowingly leading His Divine Shadow to an Ostral-B outpost, resulting in its destruction, he
6976-458: The crew about to be overwhelmed by Mantrid drones, Kai employs a last-ditch strategy to destroy Mantrid. Kai taunts Mantrid into pursuing the Lexx towards the centre of the universe with all of his drones. The resulting movement of mass creates a big crunch , which Mantrid, the drones, the Lexx, and the rest of the Light Zone are pulled into and destroyed by. However, the Lexx rematerializes in
7085-402: The crew escapes. The rest of the season involves the crew searching for a new home. During their adventures, they encounter Lyekka, a plant that can transform into a human appearance and feeds on living beings. During their adventures, Zev is killed but later reincarnated by Lyekka as Xev. The crew has various encounters with strange creatures and civilizations, such as a group of astronauts from
7194-604: The crisis of sovereign debt became particularly acute, first in Iceland , though as events of the early 2010s would show, it was not an isolated European example. Economic activity was severely affected around the world in 2008 and 2009, with disastrous consequences for carmakers . In 2007, the UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown , delivered his final Mansion House speech as Chancellor before he moved into Number 10. Addressing financiers: "A new world order has been created", Everyone needed to follow
7303-428: The decade include: Prominent assassinations, targeted killings, and assassination attempts include: The 2000s experienced some of the worst and most destructive natural disasters in history. Antibiotic resistance is a serious and growing phenomenon in contemporary medicine and has emerged as one of the eminent public health concerns of the 21st century, particularly as it pertains to pathogenic organisms (the term
7412-417: The decade. The war on terror and War in Afghanistan began after the September 11 attacks in 2001. The International Criminal Court was formed in 2002. In 2003, a United States-led coalition invaded Iraq , and the Iraq War led to the end of Saddam Hussein 's rule as Iraqi President and the Ba'ath Party in Iraq. Al-Qaeda and affiliated Islamist militant groups performed terrorist acts throughout
7521-708: The decade. Several international summits were organized to find solutions against the economic crisis and to impose greater control on the financial markets. The G20 became in 2008 and 2009 a major organization, as leaders of the member countries held two major summits in Washington in November 2008 and in London in April 2009 to regulate the banking and financial sectors, and also succeeding in coordinating their economic action and in avoiding protectionist reactions. From
7630-1125: The decade. The Second Congo War , the deadliest conflict since World War II, ended in July 2003. Further wars that ended included the Algerian Civil War , the Angolan Civil War , the Sierra Leone Civil War , the Second Liberian Civil War , the Nepalese Civil War , and the Sri Lankan Civil War . Wars that began included the conflict in the Niger Delta , the Houthi insurgency , and the Mexican drug war . Climate change and global warming became common concerns in
7739-601: The decline of political bosses in the previous 4 decades and the momentous events in America that happened during the decade. Generally, American presidential candidates abided by and respected the established procedures of both major parties' presidential nomination process. During this decade, the peaceful transfer of power through elections first occurred in Mexico, Indonesia, Taiwan , Colombia, and several other countries. (See below.) The prominent political events of
7848-455: The desensitization of violence in Halifax, citing clubbing harp seals as an example. They rejected making the series scientifically accurate or logical, with writer Hirschfield explaining, "We only wanted enough science to get us through the stories. The Lexx has a particle accelerator , and that's all you need to know. We don't want to bother with dilithium crystals . The Lexx gets its fuel from eating. Simple enough." They openly acknowledged
7957-481: The figures from the British source were explained to be high because of "improved levels of reporting, possibly brought about by the continued high public profile of the disease" during the time of the 2005 United Kingdom General Election . MRSA is thought to have caused 1,652 deaths in 2006 in UK up from 51 in 1993. The 2009 H1N1 (swine flu) flu pandemic was also considered a natural disaster. On October 25, 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama officially declared H1N1
8066-730: The final shots contain CGI in some form. The scene where the Lexx destroys the customs station was a model that was blown up in the parking lot of the VFX studio. Animations were done through three production houses, including C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures in Toronto and Berlin and pixelMotion in Halifax. Models and animations were created using Silicon Graphics Indigo workstations, as well as Avid 1000 and 8000 series workstations. Modelling and animation software such as Prisms, Flint , and PowerAnimator were used to create digital imagery. A render farm that
8175-401: The format changed to a traditional TV series with each episode running 45 minutes long. The series follows a group of mismatched individuals aboard the organic spacecraft Lexx as they travel through two universes and encounter planets, including a parody of Earth . The narrative includes irony , parody , and sex comedy , and explores ideas of fatalism , reincarnation , the afterlife , and
8284-413: The forms of other crew members to deceive them. The crew are frequently separated from each other, forcing them to act individually. After jumping from the Lexx to the surface of Water, Kai has trouble functioning normally without the other crew members. Deep beneath Water's surface, Kai encounters his soul essence awaiting rebirth. During one of Prince's attacks on Water, Stanley is killed and Prince holds
8393-481: The growth of the world economy lead to a significant growth of offshore outsourcing during the decade as many multinational corporations significantly increased subcontracting of manufacturing (and increasingly, services ) across national boundaries in developing countries and particularly in China and India, due to many benefits and mainly because the two countries which are the two most populous countries in
8502-576: The insect civilization and eventually became hopelessly depressed at their immortality, waiting for the forces of His Shadow to come and destroy them. Kai, refusing to surrender, led a small group of rebels against His Shadow in a final act of defiance. Reinvigorated by Kai's story, the crew decide to stop running and face Mantrid. With the help of 790, the crew finds that they can convert some of Mantrid's drones to fight for them. During their attack on his ship, Lyekka boards Mantrid's pod and disables him, but Mantrid kills her before she can finish him off. With
8611-470: The intervention of the central banks, notably the U.S. Federal Reserve System. Indeed, Alan Greenspan , leader of the Federal Reserve until 2006, cut the interest rates several times to avoid a severe recession, allowing an economic revival in the U.S. As the Federal Reserve maintained low interest rates to favor economic growth, a housing bubble began to appear in the United States. In 2007,
8720-419: The large amount of sex and violence present within the script, with Gigeroff admitting that he "[wants] teenage boys to pull off to Zev's poster." When asked about Zev's appearance and the amount of sexual content, Gigeroff responded that "I think we have far too puritanical notions about sex. Sex is fun, sex is good, and I hope we can get a lot of it in the show." He also addressed the criticism he received from
8829-474: The locals and in Prince's continuous attempts to take control of the Lexx. Although the crew keeps swearing not to return to the planet, they constantly find themselves back on Earth for one reason or another. Kai's soul is trapped in limbo because he is undead, and he decides to regain his mortality. He makes a wager with Prince in a game of chess and wins, but Prince does not immediately fulfill his promise. In
8938-432: The most-visited e-commerce site in 2008. AOL significantly declined in popularity throughout the decade, falling from being the most popular website to no longer being within the top 10. Excite and Lycos fell outside the top 10, and MSN fell from the second to sixth most popular site, though it quadrupled its monthly visits. Yahoo! maintained relatively stable popularity, remaining the most popular website for most of
9047-403: The others into the ship. Inside, the heretics are attacked and killed by a Cluster Lizard. Before his death, one of the heretics releases a form of energy into Stanley. Stanley, Zev, 790, and Giggerota reach the ship's bridge. The ship introduces itself as the Lexx, a machine-insect hybrid and "the most powerful weapon of destruction in the two universes", capable of destroying an entire planet in
9156-527: The paradigm of good and evil . The series is a Canadian and German co-production with some additional funding from Channel 5 . Sci Fi Channel purchased the series from Salter Street Films and began airing episodes from seasons one and two (the former under the name Tales From a Parallel Universe ) for the United States audience in January 2000. Lexx was co-produced by Salter Street Films, later absorbed by Alliance Atlantis . In Canada, Lexx aired on
9265-434: The period and was partly responsible for an increase in energy and food prices at the end of the decade. The economic developments in the latter third of the decade were dominated by a worldwide economic downturn, which started with the crisis in housing and credit in the United States in late 2007 and led to the bankruptcy of major banks and other financial institutions. The outbreak of this global financial crisis sparked
9374-434: The period and was partly responsible for an increase in energy and food prices at the end of the decade. The economic developments in the latter third of the decade were dominated by a worldwide economic downturn, which started with the crisis in housing and credit in the United States in late 2007, and led to the bankruptcy of major banks and other financial institutions. The outbreak of this global financial crisis sparked
9483-524: The reincarnated souls cause chaos across the planet. Priest is elected President of the United States and acts as a puppet ruler for Prince, who is now the head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms . Giggerotta becomes a Florida real estate agent and is elected pope , and the Wozzard becomes Dr. Ernst Longbore, a paraplegic rocket scientist. The crew attempts to settle in and make Earth their home, but keep getting caught up in absurd situations with
9592-513: The release of Spirited Away . 2009's Avatar became the highest-grossing film . Documentary and mockumentary films, such as March of the Penguins , Super Size Me , Borat and Surf's Up , were popular in the 2000s. 2004's Fahrenheit 9/11 by Michael Moore was the highest grossing documentary of all time. Online films became popular, and conversion to digital cinema started. Video game consoles released in this decade included
9701-515: The right thing, basically they're just in it for themselves. If a planet deserves to be blown up, it's blown up. Paul Donovan, co-creator Brian Downey had worked with Donovan previously on Norman's Awesome Experience and portrayed Stanley Tweedle in the original demo tape. Downey describes his character as having "some heroic qualities, but it's always a surprise when he does something heroic." Eva Habermann portrayed Zev after her love-slave transformation, saying that "She doesn't see herself as
9810-417: The rise in interest rates and the collapse of the housing market caused a wave of loan payment failures in the U.S. The subsequent mortgage crisis caused a global financial crisis , because the subprime mortgages had been securitized and sold to international banks and investment funds. Despite the extensive intervention of central banks, including partial and total nationalization of major European banks,
9919-427: The robot head to be programmed to be a love-slave. Upon seeing Zev, 790 immediately falls in love with her and pursues her as she escapes. His Shadow awakens Kai from cryostasis to protect the secret weapons laboratory. Stanley and Zev meet up and make their way towards the secret weapons laboratory, where they find several Ostral-B heretics attempting to board a ship. They are pursued by Kai, who kills Thodin and chases
10028-492: The series finale, Earth is threatened by plants resembling Lyekka. The crew discovers that the fake Lyekka have destroyed other planets on their way through the Dark Zone and flooded the Earth with alien probes to sample the taste of its lifeforms. Furthermore, Dr. Longbore has created a rocket to escape Earth and, out of spite, leaves behind a particle accelerator to determine the mass of the Higgs boson particle , which will shrink
10137-599: The show as " Dirty Dozen meets Alien or Beavis and Butt-Head ". He also found inspiration in Fires on the Plain and Dark Star and considers the show to be a homage to Space Precinct . Many of the crew were also fans of Red Dwarf . Donovan found that many science fiction films and shows at the time were too serious and wanted to create something more "fun" with a higher production value, sexual motifs, and aspects of dark humour , which Hirschfield says comes from
10246-469: The show as most resided in Hollywood and outside of his budget. He eventually came across Lex Gigeroff and Jeffrey Hirschfield , calling them "gems in the rough". Jeffrey had a background in theatre and acting, but was unable to find work and on the verge of abandoning the industry entirely until he met Paul, while Lex was working odd acting jobs in Halifax. Donovan described the thought process behind
10355-405: The show was quickly going over budget for CGI work. Bob Munroe, president of C.O.R.E Digital Pictures , states that CGI shots get expensive very quickly. "So when the script said 'a brand new planet you've never seen before,' that's a lot of work, and it may translate into $ 200,000. It got to the point that it was easier to do matte paintings than five people building this whole world." Up to 70% of
10464-513: The time, the UK's gold reserves were worth about US$ 6.5 billion, accounting for about half of the UK's US$ 13 billion foreign currency net reserves. Between 1999 and 2009, according to the World Bank statistics for GDP: The removal of trade and investment barriers , the growth of domestic markets , artificially low currencies , the proliferation of education , the rapid development of high tech and information systems industries and
10573-473: The undead former assassin and last of the Brunnen-G, Kai; the love-crazed robot head 790; and the powerful but simple-minded Lexx. Centuries prior, mankind was nearly destroyed in a war with the Insect Civilization, where both sides sought the total annihilation of the other. Although the Brunnen-G led humanity to victory, they were later enslaved by the Divine Order, a religious cult centred around His Shadow,
10682-402: The universe and convert its matter into more drones, quickly bringing the Light Zone to an end. The crew attempt to flee by travelling to the centre of the universe , where the rules of causality are different, offering them a potential hideaway from Mantrid. During their escape, they encounter an interdimensional theatre crew that tells the full story of the Brunnen-G, including how they defeated
10791-524: The world provide huge pools from which to find talent and as because both countries are low cost sourcing countries. As a result of this growth, many of these developing countries accumulated capital and started investing abroad. Other countries, including the United Arab Emirates , Australia, Brazil and Russia, benefited from increased demand for their mineral and energy resources that global growth generated. The hollowing out of manufacturing
10900-416: Was 60 times faster than the industry norm was used for rendering animations. Two official Lexx soundtracks have been released. The first album, Tales from a Parallel Universe , consists of music from Season One. The second album, Lexx: The Series , consists of music from Seasons Two through Four. "Brigadoom" (S02E18) is a musical episode that tells of the destruction of Brunnis-2 and the death of Kai in
11009-408: Was also attracted to the part of Bog because of the script, saying "It takes a lot of liberties – but in a good sense. This goes farther than anything I've ever done." Tim Curry's character as Poet Man was filmed on the final day of shooting entirely in front of a green screen. He compared the series favourably to his time on The Rocky Horror Picture Show , saying "I'm grimly aware that Rocky Horror
11118-420: Was created to subvert the audience into believing he was the hero and main character of the series, only to have him be killed off by Kai in the premiere. Malcolm McDowell agreed to play the part of Yottskry after a previous film he was scheduled to star in fell through, saying that he was drawn to the script because of how "peculiar" and "weird" it was and that he had wanted to visit Nova Scotia. Rutger Hauer
11227-645: Was determined that the G20 , originally a forum of finance ministers and central bank governors, would replace the G8 as the main economic council. 2007 Chinese export recalls – in 2007, a series of product recalls and import bans were imposed by the product safety institutions of the United States , Canada , the European Union , Australia and New Zealand against products manufactured in and exported from
11336-463: Was done due to production constraints, as both episodes had to be shot in nine days as opposed to the regular schedule of one episode over eight days. In the Season Four episode "The Game", Kai plays a game of chess with Prince to win his soul back. Their game is a move-for-move recreation of the first casual match played between Louis Charles Mahe De La Bourdonnais and Alexander McDonnell in
11445-544: Was done on a non-existent budget over three weeks in a tiny theatre. Yet it was a good idea. Sometimes it's important to show up for guys with really good ideas." Nigel Bennett had previously worked with Donovan on Paint Cans and was approached to play the role of Prince in seasons three and four. He liked the character "because he didn't say a word for 20 pages". As part of his character, Bennett had at least three different outfits and would have his hair and eyebrows bleached "about every ten to fourteen days". Season one
11554-538: Was felt in Japan and parts of the United States and Europe which had not been able to develop successful innovative industries. Opponents point out that the practice of offshore outsourcing by countries with higher wages leads to the reduction of their own domestic employment and domestic investment. As a result, many customer service jobs as well as jobs in the information technology sectors ( data processing , computer programming , and technical support ) in countries such as
11663-422: Was more serious and explored themes of life, death, and reincarnation. The show's final season – set on Earth in the early 2000s – took many turns into pure farce and introduced magic and other new elements. The series has garnered a cult following . The main characters of the series are the Lexx and its crew, consisting of security guard (class four) Stanley H. Tweedle; the love slave Zev (later Xev) Bellringer;
11772-506: Was shot in Halifax, Nova Scotia , primarily at a repurposed Volvo plant on the waterfront. Additional scenes were shot at Babelsberg Studios in Berlin . The "protoblood" that Kai lives off of was a combination of honey and hand lotion. One hallway set for the Cluster was so long that it extended outside the studio, through a dressing room, and into another studio. The command "chair" for
11881-430: Was the most popular social networking website until June 2009, when Facebook overtook it in number of American users. Email continued to be popular throughout the decade and began to replace " snail mail " as the primary way of sending letters and other messages to people in distant locations. Google , YouTube , Ask.com and Misplaced Pages emerged to become among the top 10 most popular websites. Amazon overtook eBay as
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