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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.
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 the society of 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 children's 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.* 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". 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. 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: VHS and DVD release
Series cast Series episodes 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. 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, along with several adult animated series like The Critic, South Park and some Japanese animated series. 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. 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 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. 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. 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
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