Stanley Tweedle
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 | This article describes a work or element of fiction in a primarily in-universe style. (October 2009) |
Stanley Tweedle is a character on the science fiction series Lexx.
Originally an "assistant deputy backup courier" for the Ostral-B Heretics against His Divine Shadow, an evil galactic patriarch, Stanley H. Tweedle (played by Brian Downey) was given a responsibility that he really didn't merit: smuggling the DNA of His Shadow's ultimate weapon to Heretic forces. Instead, Stanley allowed himself to be captured by Sub-Nebulae mercenaries and sold to the Divine Order, providing them with the codes to the defense system protecting the Reformed Planets; as such he was branded Arch-Traitor. His compatriots were slaughtered, and Stanley was captured. The smuggled DNA was extracted from him and used to grow The Lexx, a living, sentient ship able to destroy entire planets with a single devastating shot. His Shadow intended to use the Lexx to annihilate any planet in the universe where even a whisper of rebellion surfaced.
Luckily for Stanley, he was deemed so harmless and unimportant that he soon faded into the bureaucracy of The Cluster, His Shadow's central planet, eventually becoming a low-ranked security guard for the same government he'd once fought against.
After years of toiling in anonymity, one catastrophic day (and an incredible series of blunders) saw Stanley receive the "key" to the Lexx. With the Lexx now answering only to him, Stanley fled from His Shadow's influence with a motley crew in tow; Zev, an escaped love slave; 790, a disembodied robot head; and Kai, an undead assassin once in servitude to His Shadow. Together, they encounter a wide range of deviant people and creatures, most of a homicidal bent, as they look for a safe place to call home.
Unfortunately, Stanley is petulant, cowardly, short-sighted, quick-tempered, weak-willed, perverted and a perpetual under-achiever... exactly the absolutely wrong person to be in charge of the most powerful weapon in the two universes. His advances are rebuffed by Xev, and he must endure a constant stream of verbal abuse from 790, not all of it undeserved. Hunger, survival, and an overactive libido are Stanley's primary motivations in any given situation.
He does try, though. Stanley occasionally shows a surprising amount of nobility and backbone, particularly when there's nowhere else left to run. For all his capriciousness, Stanley has spared the lives of his enemies and gone on the attack against suicidal odds because it was the right thing to do. Stanley has been instrumental in destroying various galactic threats, including the ultimate defeat of His Divine Shadow.
Stanley's opinion of himself, however, might ultimately be his downfall. Though he outwardly denies any actual culpability, Stanley feels a great deal of guilt over his failure to keep Lexx's DNA out of His Shadow's hands, and the billions of deaths that resulted. This guilt has been used against him several times, including in a trial that convicted him of high treason and in a spiritual test that briefly consigned him to Hell.
From time to time, Stanley has lost the key to the Lexx - best described as a symbiotic, living energy wave that can only exist inside a living person. On these occasions, he has been desperate in his efforts to get the key back. Even if he doesn't always live up to the responsibility, Stanley Tweedle knows that commanding the Lexx is probably the most important thing he will ever do.
Though he has a middle initial, H, his middle name is never revealed.