Æon Flux

Infobox Television
show_name = Æon Flux


caption = Cover of "Æon Flux" DVD box set (2005)
format = Animated Series
Science Fiction
camera =
runtime = Seasons 1 and 2: >5 minutes (1 pilot, 6 episodes)
Season 3: 30 min (10 Episodes)
creator = Peter Chung
executive_producer = Japhet Asher
Abby Terkuhle
starring = Denise Poirier
John Rafter Lee
Julia Fletcher
narrated =
country = USA KOR
network = MTV (Locomotion in Latin America)
first_aired = 1991
last_aired = October 10, 1995
num_episodes = 16
list_episodes = List of Æon Flux episodes
website =
imdb_id = 0111873
tv_com_id = 9717

"Æon Flux" (pronEng|ˌiːɒn ˈflʌks) 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".

Background

"Æon Flux" is set in a bizarre, dystopian future world. The title character is a tall, bondage gear-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-nemesis and sometimes-lover Trevor Goodchild. Monica apparently represents a dynamic anarchist society, while Bregna embodies a centralized, scientifically planned state - referred to on one occasion as a republic by Goodchild [mentioned in episode 'Ether Drift Theory' - "Ahhh, the Republic's taxdollars hard at work.."] . The names of their respective characters reflect this: "Flux" as the self-directed agent from Monica and "Goodchild" as the technocratic leader of Bregna. Although Bregna is shown to be repressive, in the first full-length episode: "Utopia or Deuteronopia?", Clavius, the president deposed by Goodchild, is described by a questioning journalist as having been democratically elected. In the same episode, an upper house of parliament is also mentioned by the character Gildemere.

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.Fact|date=October 2007 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. Instead, the sound track employs a variety of sound effects including sounds such as laughter, grunts and sighs. 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. (In the episode "Chronophasia", Æon is apparently killed repeatedly by a monstrous baby, but the reality of these events is ambiguous. In "Ether Drift Theory", Æon is suspended indefinitely in an inanimate state, but remains technically alive.)

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. [http://community.livejournal.com/monican_spies/44607.html monican_spies: The Peter Chung Interview!!!! ] ]

The world of Æon Flux

The worlds of Æon Flux vary between the original MTV series and the film adaptation.

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".

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 constantly 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 'copying' (distinct from cloning as a process which replicates the body AND thoughts with no growth phase), as well as Æon and Sithandra (Scafandra), with her "modifications" (feet replaced with hands), 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")
* According to a statement made by one of the film's script writers, certain elements of Æon's backstory in the film are inspired by the final scene from the episode Chronophasia. [ [http://community.livejournal.com/monican_spies/45470.html Phil Hay - Live Journal] ]

The video game makes an attempt at explaining some of the discrepancies between the TV & film versions and it claims to serve as something of a bridge between the two. However, as with virtually all things in the world of Æon Flux, it leaves much ambiguity, unanswered questions and uncertain canonicity.

Home video and DVD

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 Deuteronopia", 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 Playstation Portable (PSP) handheld system received a 2-Universal Media Disc set release of the complete animated series in January 2008. This set included all ten digitally remastered episodes and the original MTV Pilot and shorts.

Music

The music and sound design for the original television series was created by Drew Neumann. The music was 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 CD entitled "Æon Flux: Music From The Animated Series" was included as a bonus in certain editions of the 2005 series compilation DVD that included 11 songs from the show with dialogue snippets featuring Æon and Trevor in-between the songs as standalone tracks. A soundtrack is also available for the 2005 live-action film, composed by Graeme Revell.

Cast

*Denise Poirier: Æon Flux (voice)
*John Rafter Lee: Trevor Goodchild (voice)

Episodes

Broadcast history

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, 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 from 1992 but, in the mid-1990s, the BBC showed the Liquid Television shorts which included all of the "Æon Flux" shorts.

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.

In other media

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. 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.

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 hint 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 barefoot for magazines devoted to the fetish. The graphic novel fell out of print in the years following the show's conclusion, but was re-issued 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.

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.

Video games

A PlayStation game by Cryo Interactive based upon the series was advertised in the mid-1990s, but never released, pictures of which can be found on various sites. 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 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. Reviews of the game were relatively positive (scores for the Xbox version averaged 67.3% according to the press review compiling site [http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/927235.asp?q=aeon%20flux/ GameRankings.com] ), but its retail impact was minimal. Fact|date=August 2008.

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

External links

* [http://www.aeonflux.com/ Official movie website]
*imdb title|id=0111873|title=Æon Flux
*" [http://www.tv.com/aeon-flux/show/9717/summary.html Æon Flux] " at TV.com
* [http://www.sadgeezer.com/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=listarticles&secid=8 The SadGeezers Guide to "Æon Flux"]
* [http://users.skynet.be/peter.motte/de.tijdlijn/aeon%20flux%20interview%20Peter%20Chung.rtf Interview with Peter Chung, Creator of Æon Flux]
* [http://www.unseen64.org/2008/04/11/aeon-flux-psx-cancelled/ Information on the cancelled PlayStation game]