An impressive collection of this groundbreaking show., November 29, 2005

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Cubist (United States) –

  

MTV wanted to branch out in the 1990s and get away from music programming. In particular, they wanted to produce late night programming for a young adult audience. The result was a collection of animated shows collectively known as Liquid Television. Aeon Flux originally got its start as a series of animated short films on Liquid T.V. in 1992. It was a clever mix of dialogue-less wall-to-wall action and an intriguing science fiction premise that was popular enough to spawn a ten-episode series in 1995.

Chung has digitally remastered all of the episodes and they have never looked or sounded better. The colours are much more vibrant and the animation style more clearly defined with shadows fleshed out creating an even more cinematic vibe. What is so striking about Aeon Flux is that it refuses to appeal to the lowest common denominator. It features very intricately plotted and complex stories and sneaks in all sorts of fantastical creations (including spider-like robots and deadly genetically engineered assassins with four arms), suggestive sexual references and the level of violence that you wouldn’t find on regular television. Along with The Maxx and The Head, Aeon Flux was adventurous programming for the alternative nation. It was produced at a time when alternative culture was making serious inroads into the mainstream and it is doubtful that we will see its likes again from MTV.

The first two discs feature several audio commentaries with creator Peter Chung and key creative crew members (including the voice of Aeon Flux herself, Denise Poirier). However, most of them are tedious as Chung is not the most eloquent or interesting speaker. He dominates most of the tracks so that everyone else has to fight to get a word in edge-wise. While it is clear that he is trying to articulate his intentions on these tracks they are punctuated with so many “Ums” and “Ahs” that it becomes very annoying to listen past the halfway mark.

The real extras come into play on the third disc which features the brilliant pilot episode with optional commentary by Chung and music and sound designer Drew Neumann. We are presented with a world that is plagued with a deadly virus as Aeon fights her way to an antidote.

“Aeon Flux Shorts” (again with optional commentary by Chung and Neumann) features Aeon on various missions all of which she dies. In some episodes she lasts to the end in others, she is killed off at the beginning and this keeps the viewer constantly on edge anticipating how she is going to be killed.

“Investigation: The History of Aeon Flux” takes a look at how this innovative series originated. Chung had been working on Rugrats and was approached by Liquid T.V. to do a Spy vs. Spy type animated show. He had already been working on the pilot in a rough form.

“The Deviant Devices of Aeon Flux” examines the various weapons and gadgets that she uses in the show with narration provided by her.

“Production Art” is a collection of sketches, model sheets, storyboards and pencil tests of character designs, props, backgrounds and so on.

“Other Works by Peter Chung” features a promo he did for MTV Loaded, an ad for an Aeon Flux CD ROM and a cool commercial for the Honda Coupe Mission.

Finally, there is a collection of “Liquid Television Shorts” that appeared on this show in the `90s.

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dialogue changes restore Peter Chung’s original intentions, November 27, 2005

For those upset about the re-recorded dialogue, here’s an explanation from Aeon Flux creator Peter Chung:

‘There are places where we recorded new dialogue; I brought back the writers who worked on the original show and we wnet over the scripts and tweaked the dialogue again, and in some cases brought it back to what it originally was supposed to be because MTV had asked us to change it and the version that was on the air was actually something that did not reflect our original intentions anyway. So I know that people who consider themselves purists will say “why did you tamper with it? We want the original version.” Well, the version that was on the show was not the original version, you know – that’s the version that MTV tampered with. So what you’re getting on the DVD is something that’s closer to what [we originally intended].’

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