Our ongoing series covering web-based productions in the Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror genres. If you have a recommendation for a web original that we should look at, contact us at mail@axiomsedge-scifi.com.
By John J. Joex
Rating: 3 ½ out of 5 Stars
The LXD (aka The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers) is a web series created and directed by John Chu that will probably interest some Science Fiction and Fantasy fans even though its arguably not a sci fi series. The general concept of the series centers around two groups of dancers who discover that they have superpowers (we will come to find out this is called the “ra”). It gives us a “Justice League of Dancers” or sorts with the good dancers known as The LXD and the evil dancers known as The Alliance of Dark. Season 1 of this web series (which is the extent I have watched thus far) consists of ten episodes that chronicle the recruitment of new members to The LXD in preparation for the “uprising” that is to come (we receive minimal details on what this actually is). So consider this season (the episodes of which range from four to twelve minutes) the expository origin of sorts that sets up the bigger story (the second season, which is available now, elaborates on this and the third season releases soon).
As I said above, the series has genre elements to it (drawing from comic book and sci fi stories), but those mostly act as a device to provide a framework that highlights the true goal of this series: to showcase the talents of its dancers. John Chu found his inspiration for the series from musical videos by Michael Jackson such as “Thriller”, “Smooth Criminal”, and “Bad” (and you can see a lot of the latter video in The LXD). Chu had previously directed the dance movie Step Up 2: The Streets and drew upon the talent that he had in that movie for this series. And you can’t argue about the level of talent that the dancers display in The LXD. The characters in the series have superpowers that allow them to move the way they do, but the actual dance moves are done with no wires, green screens, or special effects of any kind. And that’s amazing because the dancing and choreography is absolutely spectacular in this series. But you should know that this is what The LXD is about, spotlighting that talent. Each webisode consists primarily of the dance routine by the character or characters highlighted in that installment with very little in the way of story. It’s sort of like a Vegas production that showcases the talents of its dancers and throws in some sci fi trappings to give it some semblance of a story.
For this reason, sci fi fans may enjoy it or they may divest from it quickly if the dance floor pyrotechnics do not interest you. And that’s what I based the 3 ½ star rating on, how it would appeal to genre fans. If I based it on production quality (which is outstanding for a web series) or pure entertainment value, I could see raising it to a 4 ½ star rating. But I’m thinking some sci fi fans will lose interest quickly because this only flirts with genre elements. Still, I enjoyed it and I recommend checking it out. The dancing and music is quite good and as I mentioned the production is first rate, and I definitely plan on continuing into the second season to see how the story progresses. You can watch Season 1 and 2 of The LXD at Hulu.com.
