Æon Flux
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| Æon Flux | |
|---|---|
 Cover of Æon Flux DVD box set (2005) |
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| Genre | Animated Science fiction |
| Creator(s) | Peter Chung |
| Starring | Denise Poirier John Rafter Lee Julia Fletcher |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of episodes | 16 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Japhet Asher Abby Terkuhle |
| Running time | Seasons 1 and 2: >5 minutes (1 pilot, 6 episodes) Season 3: 30 min (10 Episodes) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | MTV (Locomotion in Latin America) |
| Original run | 1991 – 10 October 1995 |
| Links | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Æon Flux is an avant garde American science fiction animated television series that aired on MTV. It premiered in 1991 on MTV's Liquid Television experimental animation show as a six-part serial of short films, followed in 1992 by five individual short episodes. In 1995 a season of ten half-hour episodes aired as a stand-alone series.
Æon Flux was created by Korean American animator Peter Chung (also the man behind Phantom 2040, which used the same animation style as Æon Flux). A live action motion picture loosely based upon the series and starring Charlize Theron was released in late 2005.
To avoid the "Æ" ligature, the title is often spelled Aeon Flux.
Contents |
[edit] Background
Æon Flux is set in a bizarre, dystopian, future world of mutant creatures, clones, and robots. The title character is a tall, scantily-clad secret agent from Monica, skilled in assassination and acrobatics. Her mission is to infiltrate the strongholds of the neighboring country of Bregna, which is led by her sometimes-enemy and sometimes-ally Trevor Goodchild. Monica represents a dynamic anarchist society, while Bregna embodies a centralized, scientifically planned state. The names of their respective characters reflect this: Flux as the self-directed agent from Monica and Goodchild as the technocratic leader of Bregna.
The visual style of Æon Flux was deeply influenced by the figurative paintings and drawings of the Austrian artist Egon Schiele. Other key influences on Æon Flux can be found in Japanese anime (especially grittier fare like Akira), and European comic works such as the work of Moebius (particularly in lineforms, color palettes, and figure characterizations). Æon Flux is often erroneously classified as an anime series. Graphic violence and sexuality, including fetishism and domination, are frequently depicted. In the featurette Investigation: The History of Æon Flux (included on the 2005 DVD release), Peter Chung says the visual style also was influenced by the limitations of the animated series, Rugrats, which he worked on prior to Æon Flux and found highly frustrating in the limitations of what the characters could do.
With the exceptions of the exclamation "No!" in the pilot and the single spoken word "Plop" in the episode "Leisure", all of the short episodes are completely devoid of (intelligible) dialogue and consist primarily of sound effects and non-morphemic utterences (laughter, grunts, sighs, etc). Unintelligible dialogue was voiced by the series music composer Drew Neumann.
One peculiarity of the early shorts is the violent death of Æon Flux, which occurs in each of the installments (by contrast, she only "dies" once in the half-hour series). Often her death is caused by fate, while other times she dies due to her own incompetence. One of the half-hour episodes, "A Last Time For Everything", ends with the original Æon being killed and replaced by an identical clone.
Although continuity is virtually non-existent in the series — and Chung made some adjustments for the DVD release to improve this — the primary unchanging elements in the episodes are the two main characters of Trevor and Æon. There is intentionally no continuity between the second season shorts. Peter Chung has said that this plot ambiguity and disregard for continuity are meant as a satire of mainstream action films, and his stories often emphasize the futility of violence and the ambiguity of personal morality.
A fourth season of half-hour episodes was considered, but never materialized. In late 2005, around the time of the DVD release, Chung announced plans to work on another Æon Flux project. In an online interview conducted after the release of the film, Chung indicated that it is to be a made-for-DVD animated feature.[1]
[edit] The world of Æon Flux
The worlds of Æon Flux vary between the original MTV series and the film adaptation.
[edit] Television series
Television versions of Æon Flux depict the two separate countries of Bregna and Monica, adjacent to each other and separated by a wall (although very small). Citizens of Bregna are not permitted to cross through the wall, which is protected by a range of cruel traps. Trevor Goodchild is not the original ruler of Bregna, instead taking control in "Utopia or Deuteranopia". According to The Herodotus File graphic novel, Bregna and Monica were originally a single nation called Berognica. When the separation occurred, memories of Berognica were erased among the Breen citizens. However, the graphic novel suggests, Monican citizens launched the Relical, an airship containing artifacts proving the existence of Berognica. It should be noted the TV series makes no reference to any of this, and it is not known if The Herodotus File is considered canon.
[edit] Hollywood adaptation
In the Æon Flux film, Monica is not a separate country. Instead, Monicans are a group of political rebels who live in secret among the citizens of Bregna. Whereas the television series saw Trevor Goodchild seize command of Bregna from a previous ruler, the Bregna of the Hollywood film is established by the Goodchild family, after they cured a world-devastating industrial virus. In the animation, "Bregna" is pronounced BREN-ya, and its citizens are called "Breens," in the film, the country is called "BREGG-na" and the people are Bregnans ("BREGG-nans").
Instead of a barren, desolate landscape (although some vegetation is featured in the TV series) Bregna is constricted by an aggressive, regenerating jungle. The walls of Bregna frequently spray a chemical acid to keep the jungle from moving in and destroying the city. Additionally, the Relical is also featured, however it was created by the rulers of Bregna and for an entirely different purpose. Several homages to the animated series that were in the film include:
- Æon's signature fly-catching with her eyelashes
- A harness worn on the torso with a button on the chest which transports the wearer to a different dimension in the same physical space (Utopia or Deuteranopia?)
- Passing of secret messages through a french kiss (Gravity)
- A plot concerning cloning, as well as Æon and Sithandra (Scafandra) crossing a weaponized no man's land together (A Last Time for Everything)
- Various characters share names from the series, though they are otherwise unrelated to their animated counterparts (Una from Isthmus Crypticus, Clavius from Utopia)
[edit] VHS and DVD release
The entire series was issued as three VHS tapes between 1996 and 1998 (volumes dubbed Æon Flux, Mission Infinite and Operative Terminus) and later collected in a box set, while some of the shorts also appeared on a Best of Liquid Television compilation around the same time. The first VHS volume (which contained four of the half hour shows, and all of the shorts sans "Night") was later released in 1997 on a now out-of-print DVD.
With the 2005 release of the live-action movie, the complete series (shorts and half-hour episodes) was compiled into a DVD box set which was released on November 22, 2005. Dubbed a "director's edition", the set features altered versions of several episodes, with improved special effects, and in a few cases, new scenes were written by Peter Chung and recorded by the original voice actors in order to improve character continuity between episodes (according to a note by Chung included with the DVD set). Among the numerous changes to the dialogue in the DVD release the voice of the character "Clavius" in the episode "Utopia or Deuteranopia", originally recorded by voice actor Joseph Drelich, was re-recorded by series executive producer Japhet Asher for the 2005 release.
The first disc of the DVD set opens with a CGI short created to promote the movie tie-in video game, with Flux taking on the likeness of Charlize Theron's rendition. The short, which runs about the same length as one of the Liquid Television shorts, sees Flux conducting an ambiguous mission, killing many Breen soldiers while pursuing some small, insect-like robots. In a throwback to the ongoing theme of the original shorts, the character is ultimately killed due to human error.
The music for the original television series was composed by Drew Neumann and later compiled on an album titled "Eye Spy, Ears Only Confidential". The initials AF were used on song titles and in the credits to replace the words 'Æon Flux' due to the lack of licensing permissions from MTV. The album includes two discs worth of material from the series and also from the defunct original (1995) PC and PlayStation videogame project. A more recent soundtrack is available for the 2005 live-action film, composed by Graeme Revell.
[edit] Series cast
- Denise Poirier: Æon Flux (voice)
- John Rafter Lee: Trevor Goodchild (voice)
[edit] Series episodes
[edit] Broadcasters
MTV was the exclusive broadcaster of the series in the United States. In Canada, the shorts aired on MuchMusic and the third season aired a year or so later on the youth-oriented network YTV in a late-night timeslot during a period when the network was trying to appeal to an older audience.
In Australia, during the early-to-mid–1990s the Liquid TV shorts and the first series were shown on the program Eat Carpet on SBS television.
In South East Asia the third season was broadcast in 1996 via the MTV South East Asia channel (originating from Singapore), which at the time was free to anyone with a satellite dish.
In the UK, MTV first showed the shorts and the 30-minute episodes but, in the mid-1990s, the BBC showed the Liquid Television shorts which included all of the Æon Flux shorts.
[edit] Recent broadcasts
In the lead-up to the 2006 international release of Æon Flux on DVD and the live-action movie, MTV UK replayed the third season of Æon Flux from October to November in 2005. The episodes were played at 2am on weeknights.
MTV Australia followed with replays of the third season beginning in December 2005, scheduled at 1am on weeknights. The episodes were titled Æon Flux Animation and were not played in the original order from 1995.
Locomotion played the third season repeatedly, between 1998–99 and 2002–03, in Spanish and Portuguese for Latin America.
The series was also aired on Norwegian channel NRK2, a sister channel to state channel NRK, alongside The Maxx, Phantom 2040 and The Head in the late nineties.
[edit] Æon Flux in other media
[edit] Film
An Æon Flux Hollywood adaptation, which was released in the United States on December 2, 2005, provoked controversy among Æon Flux fans over initial reports that the film adaptation seemed to bear little resemblance to the original full-length animated series or the Liquid TV shorts, as no one involved with the original television series had a role in the making of the film. While it does take a number of major liberties with the character and concept of the series, the film nonetheless incorporates numerous characters, themes, and even gadgets featured in the TV version. By and large, the movie was considered both a critical and box office disappointment.
The creator of Æon Flux, Peter Chung, recently gave an interview to the "Monican Spies" community on LiveJournal [2]. He was asked many questions about Æon Flux and her universe, including how he really felt about the movie: "[seeing it] made me feel helpless, humiliated and sad", Peter Chung said.
[edit] Books
A "graphic novel" called Æon Flux: the Herodotus File - actually consisting of an assortment of false documents from the world of Æon Flux and a short story-board style sequence described as "security camera footage" rather than a comicstrip story - was published in 1995, which vaguely explained some of the show's setting and backstory, including how Trevor and Æon met. One tidbit suggested in the series and confirmed in the graphic novel is the character's foot fetish modeling; it is suggested she augments her income posing for magazines devoted to the fetish. The graphic novel fell out of print in the years following the show's conclusion, but was reissued in 2005 to tie-in with the movie.
Also released in 2005 to tie-in with the movie was a Dark Horse Comics-published four-issue miniseries based upon the film versions of the characters. Although the characters and situations were based on the newer movie versions, the penciling technique deliberately emulated Peter Chung's unique style from the TV series.
[edit] Pepsi commercial
Though not directly connected to the series, a live-action/animated Pepsi commercial titled "Something Wrong?" was directed by Peter Chung and starred Malcolm McDowell as a Trevor Goodchild-like character and Cindy Crawford as an Æon Flux-like character. It was made for Super Bowl XXX in 1996, but was pulled and later aired for broadcast exclusive to MTV.
[edit] Video games
A PlayStation game by Cryo Interactive based upon the series was advertised in the mid-1990s, but never released. It was later adapted into the title Pax Corpus after being stripped of all copyrighted association with Æon Flux. However the resulting game does retain many obvious similarities to the original show. Specifically in plot to "The Demiurge" (which it had been intended to be based on) and also in many design details that bear striking resemblance to examples found in the show. For instance, the female protagonist of the game wears a purple and black themed outfit that resembles Æon's.
An unused opening sequence by Peter Chung for the original game can be viewed today in the complete series DVD box set, while the VHS version of the self titled release contained a rough animated trailer (not by Chung) geared towards the PC version of the game.
There was a second failed attempt to develop a game from the property a few years later by GT Interactive and The Collective.
Finally, to coincide with the release of the 2005 movie, Majesco Games and developer Terminal Reality have released a videogame adaptation on Xbox and PlayStation 2 including elements from both the movie and the television series. Charlize Theron provides the voice and likeness of Æon Flux.
[edit] References
- Æon Flux: The Complete Animated Collection DVD (2005) - Behind-the-scenes featurettes and commentary tracks on all episodes by the show's creators.
- Mars, Mark and Singer, Eric (1995). Æon Flux: The Herodotus File. MTV Books. ISBN 0671545248
[edit] External links
- Official movie website
- Æon Flux at the Internet Movie Database
- Æon Flux at TV.com
- The SadGeezers Guide to Æon Flux
- GirlsWithGuns.org: Æon Flux
- Interview with Peter Chung, Creator of Aeon Flux
Categories: 1990s American television series | Æon Flux | Animated characters | Animated television series | MTV television series | YTV shows | Science fiction television series | Television spin-offs | Fictional secret agents and spies | Anime-influenced animation | 1991 television program debuts | Fictional dominatrices | Fictional women in war
