Posted by Jonathan Klotz | Published
Back in 1991, when MTV was still known for music videos and not endless reruns Sarcasmit was the site of an experimental, eccentric, and frontier series Liquid Television. The 30-minute show featured animated shorts of various genres and animation styles, from Beavis and Butt-Head in the history-making sci-fi series Flux. One of the most creative pieces of animation to come out of the 90s, the off-kilter series won multiple awards, influenced decades of sci-fi to come, and was thankfully distributed on Paramount+.
The Cartoon That Changed Everything
Flux it doesn't look like any other piece of animation since 1991, which in its opinion, included Nickeldeon's debut. Doug again The Rugrats, Black Swanagain Dark Water Piratesbut during the short, two-minute episodes, they left a lasting impression. Shorts for Liquid Television they were created by Peter Chung and featured what would become his signature style, which reduced the fine details and background art that often enhanced the visual expression of each character. They often included tall, slender figures that moved like marionettes. Thinking that six, two-minute sequences would be the end of the series, Chung killed off Æon, but it proved so popular that the shorts were brought back for a second season, and this time, extended to five minutes.
By showing more time to finish the futuristic sci-fi dystopia of Fluxinstead Chung kept to tradition and had Æon, a talented assassin working for the city of Monica, die in a variety of ways from the terrifying and the wrong to the comical, in each five-minute episode. Æon's relationship with Trevor Goodchild, the gifted scientist who leads the Bregna tribe, has been portrayed as love-hate, alternating between trying to kill each other with their perfect love, and was at the center of much of Season 2. A running joke. of Æon always dying and each episode taking place in a different continuity feels like a running gag Rick and Mortybut in 1991, it was particularly strange, as no cartoon had ever done anything like this before, but that was one of the ways the series stood out.
Flux Season 3
During Seasons 1 and 2 of Fluxno one is talking. All of the shorts had no dialogue and were very quiet, yet Chung's animations managed to tell complete stories in each episode, aided greatly by the expressive faces of his characters. That changed with Season 3, when instead of shorts, the cartoon gained a full season of 30-minute episodes, and these are now available to stream on Paramount+. Eventually, Æon stopped dying in every episode, and with the addition of dialogue, the characters disappeared again, with Trevor, in particular, standing out as an awesome character you'll love to hate.
Although not as popular as the original silent shorts, Flux Season 3 maintains the high quality of animation while telling a dark story that makes you question who is right, Æon or Trevor. At the end of episode 10, you won't have an answer, but you will have a lot to think about and debate with the entire fandom, which persists 30 years later. Adult animation that explores dark and mature themes is more common today, mostly due to the increased accessibility of anime, but in 1995, this was impressive.
The effect of Flux American animation will not be underestimated because this series inspired a generation of animators to experiment with bold, strong designs and use animation as a different way to tell stories, going beyond Saturday Morning Cartoons. Sadly, most of the public today first think of the 2005 live-action film starring Charlize Theron, which has little to do with the burgeoning cartoon and would become one of the biggest disasters of the year. If you've seen the movie, know that the original animation is top notch.
Flux Season 3, the only one with “normal” length episodes and dialogue, is currently streaming on Paramount+.
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