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September 1991 - November 1992, MTV
August
1995 - October 1995, MTV
Colossal Pictures, MTV Productions
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amed after its central character,
Aeon Flux, this bizarre and somewhat surreal series began as
six, 2-3 minute serial segments that aired as part of MTV's 1991
series, Liquid Television. Five, 3-5 minute individual stories
were created for the show's second season, which also aired on
Liquid TV.
Set in the future, the series
focused on the exploits of a scantily clad female agent named
Aeon Flux as she carried out her missions, the purpose of which
were largely or entirely unknown to the viewer, not that it
really mattered. Significantly, the characters never spoke and
the minimal story detail presented was conveyed through the
actions of the characters in conjunction with the title of the
episode. It was obvious that Aeon had incredibly honed shooting,
acrobatic, espionage and infiltration skills and that she was
highly motivated, but a lapse in judgment or some fluke mishap
led to her death by the end of every single story in the series'
first and second seasons.
The series was continued for a
third season in 1995, but with a few significant changes.
Episodes were expanded to a half-hour, the characters finally
spoke and Aeon didn't die in every episode, although her fate
was at times far from envious. More back story was revealed in
small driblets, but the series maintained its ambiguous tone and
there was no way to tell if the stories were meant to be tied
together as part of a continuous series or if they were largely
independent stories that simply involved the same characters.
Most likely it was a combination of both.
A few solid story elements could
be gleaned from, and seemed to be consistent throughout, the
series. A large metropolis was divided in two by a series of
continuous walls and defensive zones equipped with automated
weapons that made crossing from one side to the other extremely
hazardous. On one side was the nation of Monica, a free nation
with no heads of state, for which Aeon Flux was an agent. On the
other side of the barrier lay the nation of Bregna, an
authoritarian state headed by Trevor Goodchild, who considered
denial of personal freedom a fair exchange for the orderly life
of the Breens under his rule. Although he was marked as the
villain of the series, Trevor deemed himself a visionary who
ultimately had mankind's best interests at heart, and he spent a
good deal of effort in finding scientific means for evolving or
changing humanity to conform to his vision of a perfect society.
Aeon Flux spent a good deal of effort in preventing Trevor's
designs from reaching fruition.
It was clear that Aeon and Trevor
had a past in which they were familiar with one another. As much
as their ideological motivations were opposed, they had at one
time either been romantically or just carnally involved, and
they still had feelings for one another. They could be battling
one moment and making out the next, as long as their mission
wasn't at stake. Aeon was as impressively skilled and
strong-willed in the half-hour episodes as she had been in the
shorter stories of the first two seasons, but she likewise
remained prone to moments of inattention or unlucky happenstance
that could lead to unfortunate results.
Ten
episodes were created for the third and final season, ending the
series with little more background information than with which
it began. But if the viewer reads between the lines, one clear
and undeniable message is delivered by the time the series
reaches its conclusion. The fish. Huh? Exactly. |
