From Jonathan Klotz
| Published
In 1991, when MTV was still known for music videos and not endless reruns Ridiculousnessit was a haven for the experimental, strange and boundary-pushing series Smooth television. The 30-minute show featured animated short films of various genres and animation styles, from Beavis and Butt Head to the historical science fiction series Æon Flux. One of the most creative works of animation of the ’90s, the unusual series won countless awards, influenced decades of future science fiction, and has emerged on streaming thanks to Paramount+.
The cartoon that changed everything
Æon Flux doesn’t look like any other animated film from 1991, which, for perspective, also featured the debut of Nickeldeon Doug And Rugrats, Darkwing duckAnd The Pirates of Dark Waterbut over the course of the short, two-minute episodes, it left a lasting impression. The shorts for Smooth television were created by Peter Chung and featured his signature style, omitting fine details and often background graphics to enhance each character’s visual expression. Among them were often tall, lanky figures who moved like puppets. Assuming that the six two-minute sequences would mark the end of the series, Chung killed Æon, but it proved popular that the shorts were brought back for a second season and this time expanded to five minutes.
With more screen time to flesh out the futuristic Science fiction Dystopia of Æon FluxInstead, Chung stuck to tradition and had Æon, a talented assassin working for the city-state of Monica, die in every five-minute episode in ways that ranged from horrifying and random to comical. Æon’s relationship with Trevor Goodchild, the gifted scientist who led the nation of Bregna, was demonstrably one of love and hate, with attempts to kill each other alternating with their doomed love, and was the focus of most of the story second season. The running gag of Æon constantly dying and taking place in a different continuity every episode sounds like a gag from Rick and Mortybut in 1991 it was particularly strange as no cartoon had ever done anything like this before, but that was just one of the reasons the series stood out.
Æon Flux Season 3
During seasons 1 and 2 of Æon Fluxnobody talked. Each short contained no dialogue and was mostly silent, but Chung’s animation managed to tell complete stories in each episode, helped significantly by the expressive faces of his characters. That changed with Season 3, when the animated film received a full season of 30-minute episodes instead of shorts, and those are now available to stream Of utmost importance+. Eventually, Æon stopped dying in each episode, and the addition of dialogue made the characters even more fleshed out, with Trevor in particular standing out as an amazing villain you’ll love to hate.
Even if they are not as popular as the first silent short films, Æon Flux Season 3 maintains the high quality of animation while telling a dark story that makes you wonder who is right: Æon or Trevor. You won’t have an answer by the end of Episode 10, but you’ll have a lot to think about and debate with the rest of the fandom that continues even 30 years later. Cartoons aimed at adults and dealing with dark and adult themes are common these days, especially thanks to the increased accessibility of Animebut in 1995 it was overwhelming.
The effects of Æon Flux about American animation cannot be underestimated, as this series inspired a generation of animators to experiment with bold, brazen designs and use animation as a different type of storytelling medium that goes beyond “Saturday Morning Cartoons.” Unfortunately, most viewers today first think of the 2005 live-action film with the lead role Charlize Theronwhich has little to do with the groundbreaking animated film and would become one of the biggest box office disasters of the year. If you’ve seen the film, you know that the original animation is far better.
Æon Flux Season 3, the only one with “normal” length episodes and dialogue, is currently streaming on Paramount+.
