AEON FLUX
'Aeon Flux' is the heroine in the sexy and futuristic cartoon.
Aeon Flux is an American avant-garde science fiction adventure animated television series that aired on MTV from November 30, 1991, until October 10, 1995, with film, comic book, and video game adaptations following thereafter. It premiered 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. Aeon Flux was created by American animator Peter Chung. Each Episode plots have elements of social science fiction, biopunk, allegory, dystopian fiction, spy fiction, psychological drama, postmodern visual, psychedelic imagery and Gnostic symbolism.
To be clear, this shrine is for the animated series that aired on MTV. That said, here is a great Tumblr that is relatively active - active enough with important news, anyhow - about the namesake on the whole.
While the plot, on paper at least, between the animated series and the full length film read enough alike, everyone who has seen both understands how different they are. For fans of the original animated series, the feature length movie was a huge flop. For a lot of reasons. The biggest, of course, being how much of the animated series didn't even get addressed and how what from the aimated series did get addressed in the film was so wrong or lackluster in comparison. Aeon Flux is like that though. There are so many scenes and ideas and concepts that just could never be replicated in a live action scenario and come off successfully. The scene where they kiss through opened windows in passing train & plane and drop some intel in a hatch inside a tooth? And she sees the military vehicle? Animated, it is one of the greatest cell sequences ever. There would be zero way to pull this off as successfully in a live action scenario. And that's just one of countless. Peter Chung, the lead animator from the original series, was (is) a visionary and there's no way for any live action or CGI to accomplish the same thing he did.
Speaking of animation. There has been no animated series before or since to touchdown with such a related and relative artistic style to other anime and animation of the time that was simultaneously so completely different and fresh and experimental. From the character design to the the cinematography and camera angles, it was just so far ahead of its time and why, I think, it was the diamond in the rough that it was - and still seems to be in some circles. The costume design, even, is something remarkable to talk about. Just a visually stunning collection of work.
Ultimately, I feel like the original animated series addresses a lot of what are considered "hot button" or so-called "taboo" topics. Probably without a lot of viewers even realizing it. Certainly in ways that don't immediately trigger people like so many things today. And possibly in a more abstract fashion than I might be explaining or imagining. Ultimately it's like a weird post-apocalyptic sci-fi mystery thriller. But it's also a testament to the disparity between the uber rich and the ultra poor. It addresses faith and religion in a different light than normal. Blind allegiance based on any one viewpoint or belief runs a thread through the whole thing. Power struggles based on sex and status are huge topics. And there's just straight up mindfuck sci-fi moments.
I caught it originally on MTV when it aired for the first time. I missed only 1 or 2 episodes airing in real time. It was mind-blowing then and it's still amazing now.
