A 90s sci-fi thriller on Paramount+ decades ahead of its time

Pa Jonathan Klotz
| Published 18 seconds ago

Back in 1991, when MTV was still known for music videos, not endless reruns Absurdityit was a haven for experimental, weird and boundary-breaking series Liquid television. The 30-minute screening featured short animated films of various genres and animation styles, ranging from Beavis and Butthead to a history-making sci-fi series Aeon Flux. One of the most creative animated works of the ’90s, the offbeat series has won countless awards, influenced decades of future sci-fi, and appeared on the air thanks to Paramount+.

The cartoon that changed everything

Aeon Flux unlike any other animated film of 1991, which for perspective also included Nickelodeon’s debut Doug and Ahulki, Dark-winged duckand Pirates of the dark waterbut for the short two-minute episodes, it left a lasting impression. Shorts for Liquid television were created by Peter Chung and featured what became his signature style of missing small details and often background art to enhance the visual clarity of each character. They often included tall, thin figures who moved like marionettes. Believing that six two-minute episodes would be the end of the series, Chang killed Eon, but it proved popular that the shorts were brought back for a second season, this time expanded to five minutes.

More screen time to realize the futuristic science fiction dystopia Aeon Fluxinstead, Chang stuck with tradition and had Eon, a talented assassin working for the city-state of Monica, die in a wide variety of ways, from gruesome and random to comical, in each five-minute sequence. Aon’s relationship with Trevor Goodchild, a gifted scientist who leads the nation of Brainy, was a love-hate relationship that alternated between trying to kill each other and doomed love, and was the focus of much of Season 2. Aeon keeps dying and each episode that takes place in a separate continuity sounds like a gag from Rick and Mortybut in 1991 it was particularly surprising, as no cartoon had done anything like it before, but it was just one of the ways the series stood out.

Aeon Flux Season 3

During seasons 1 and 2 Aeon Fluxno one spoke. Each short film was devoid of dialogue and mostly silent, but Chang’s animation managed to tell complete stories in each episode, which was greatly aided by the expressive faces of his characters. That all changed with season 3, when instead of short films, the cartoon got a full season of 30-minute episodes, which are now available to stream First priority+. Finally, Aeon stopped dying every episode, and with the addition of dialogue, the characters were fleshed out even more, with Trevor in particular standing out as an awesome villain you’ll love to hate.

Although not as beloved as the first silent shorts, Aeon Flux Season 3 maintains the high quality of the animation while also telling a dark story that makes you question who is right, Eon or Trevor. You won’t have an answer by the end of episode 10, but you’ll have something to think about and argue with the rest of the fans going on 30 years later. Cartoons aimed at adults that explore dark and mature themes are quite common today, especially thanks to greater accessibility animebut in 1995 it was stunning.

The influence of a Aeon Flux about American animation cannot be understated because the series inspired a generation of animators to experiment with bold, cheeky designs and to use animation as a different type of storytelling than just Saturday mornings. Unfortunately, most of today’s audience first thinks of the 2005 film starring Charlize Theronwhich has very little to do with the groundbreaking cartoon and would go on to become one of the biggest box office disasters of the year. If you’ve seen the movie, know that the original animation is much better.

Aeon Flux Season 3, the only one with “normal” length episodes and dialogue, is now streaming on Paramount+.