Man, the action poses and the original roughs are just great to see but when the conversation turned to the fact that the series was intellectually engaging and the directions you were intending I was locked to the screen. There just never has been a show that explores 'thinking' on that level. A total trip.
I am not going to rush watching it, I'm going to take it slow and savor it. I've already watched the interviews twice.
Oh, one more thing, the covers to the individual cd's are great but MAN I love Disc 2's cover of Trevor. The colors, the drawing, so intense. Dynamic.
Thank god for clumsy little Rugrats, without whom this slingshot reaction would not have happened.
― Barb e (Barb e), Tuesday, 27 December 2005 04:52 (eighteen years ago) link
.. I know I was.
― skye, Wednesday, 28 December 2005 00:54 (eighteen years ago) link
http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=21888
I can’t speak for the new Charlize Theron movie, but I have more than a little to say about the hilarious and otherwise breathtaking Aeon Flux: The Complete Animated Collection, which contains every cartoon adventure of Peter Chung’s future-dwelling half-naked Monican secret agent. Collectively, it’s a masterpiece. Dense with pervy sexuality and deadpan wit, it revels in speed and invention, saturated to its literal gills in Chung’s seemingly boundless engineer’s imagination. Every installment turns out to be even better than I remembered (and I remembered them all with enormous affection). And they actually probably are better than I remembered, as demonstrated by this note included in the DVD packaging: Production note from Peter Chung:
This special edition DVD of Aeon Flux contains the entire collection of animated episodes produced from MTV. The original camera negatives were retrieved from the vaults and, in some cases, from my personal archive of materials. The negatives were cleaned and digitally remastered. The original 4x3 aspect ratio was carefully preserved, improving the cropping of the earlier transfer to minimize loss of visual information at the edges of the frame. Viewers will notice a marked improvement in line detail and color fidelity over the previous video release. Each scene was then color-corrected with my supervision. In every episode, enhancements such as highlights, shadows, blurs or glows were added to achieve a range of moods and atmospheres not seen in the earlier editions. Trevor’s vibrating harness, the Demiurge’s blue light, and Aeon’s gun bursts are among the effects that have been digitally enhanced using tools not available at the time of the original production. Animation and timing errors were corrected, where possible. In a few cases, alternate takes were found and included. The picture has been edited to match the video masters at their original running times, which, in most cases, are longer than the broadcast versions.
Four of the full-length episodes – “Utopia or Deuteranopia?” “The Demiurge,” “Reraizure” and “End Sinister” – have had selected dialogue rewritten to bring characterization into better continuity with the series as a whole. Denise Poirier and John Lee returned to the studio to record Aeon and Trevor’s new lines, while the character of Clavius, the ex-leader of Bregna, has been recast and re-recorded (by a special guest performer). The original audio elements have been remixed for 5.1 surround sound.
Some rarely seen animation clips, such as the “Loaded” MTV promo, the 15-second Aeon Flux CD-Rom commercial produced at Madhouse studios, and pencil test reels of two Liquid TV shorts, “War” and “Mirror,” have also been remastered and are included in this definitive collector’s edition.
The first disc contains all five half-hour episodes directed by “Aeon” creator Peter Chung, a “Rugrats” vet who would go on to direct straight-to-video projects like “The Animatrix” and “The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury.” The second disc contains all five half-hour episodes directed by Howard Baker, a veteran of “Rugrats” and “Ren & Stimpy.” Chung appears on commentaries for seven of the 10 half-hours. Producer/writer Japhet Asher appears on six of those. Baker appears on three. Story editor/writer Peter Gaffney on three. A thoroughly obnoxious (and possibly drunk) writer named Mark Mars, who apparently never learned to use his “indoor voice,” appears on three. Voice director Jack Fletcher offers commentary on one. Actress Denise Poirier, who provides Aeon’s voice, offers commentary on one. The third disc contains: * The 12-minute 1991 “Aeon Flux” pilot (which MTV chopped up into six two-minute shorts for MTV’s “Liquid Television”). Drew Newman, a chatty fellow who provided music and sound for all the early dialogue-free shorts, offers commentary alongside Chung.* The five longer post-pilot “Liquid Television” shorts, all of which feature a klutzier Aeon dying in the best Kenny McCormick tradition. Chung and Newman offer commentaries on all of these as well. Discover that in “War” (5:26), Aeon is actually a minor character who dies in the episode’s first seconds. “Gravity” (3:16) depicts a very disappointed Aeon falling from an airplane and plummeting for three minutes to what she assumes will be her death. “Leisure” (3:04) finds Aeon tussling with sentient extraterrestrials who apparently lay very tasty eggs. “Mirror” (4:11) sees the heroine distracted from her mission by a faulty VCR and spilt coffee. “Tide” (4:23) sees Aeon betrayed by a fellow agent as she tries to deal with a massive drain-stopper. * “Investigation: The History of Aeon Flux” (17:37) is a featurette on the character’s evolution. It’s explained that MTV was seeking out an identity beyond music videos about the time Chung was growing frustrated as an animator on Nickelodeon’s much more visually static “Rugrats” series. Asher, it turns out, approached Chung about doing something modeled on Mad Magazine’s Spy Vs. Spy series. (We’re reminded that MTV was also airing animated series like “The Maxx” and “The Head” during this era.) It even touches on Chung’s 2005 restoration and enhancement of the original material. * “The Deviant Devices of Aeon Flux” (6:07) appears to be a new animated short (repurposing loads of existing footage), narrated by Aeon herself. At breakneck pace, she discusses the attributes of her various tools, weapons, vehicles, implements of torture and chastity belt. She also speculates on the materials employed by her enemies. * “Production Art” includes sketches, model sheets, storyboards, color stills, and two sets of pencil tests integrated with final footage, for “War” (5:18) and “Mirror” (4:03). * “Other Works By Peter Chung” include a non-“Flux” (yet indisputably “Flux”-y) MTV “Loaded” promo (:33), an “Aeon Flux” CD-ROM commercial (:21), and a Spanish commercial for the Honda Coupe EX (:32).
― Barb e (Barb e), Thursday, 9 March 2006 04:25 (eighteen years ago) link
http://www.atnzone.com/moviezone/video/guides/reviews.php?id=708
http://www.audaud.com/article.php?ArticleID=920
http://www.avclub.com/content/node/43573
http://www.avclub.com/content/node/44045
http://www.calgarymovies.com/DVD/reviews/AeonFlux.asp
http://www.creativescreenwriting.com/csdaily/dvds/12_23_05_AeonFlux.html
http://www.dvdinmypants.com/reviews/A-G/aeon.php
http://www.dvdsnapshot.com/2005/11/snapshot-review-aeon-flux-complete.html
http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=59813
http://www.entertainmenttodayonline.com/film.html#Anchor-Aeo-35880
http://www.etigazette.com/Top-News-Searches-2005-Abs-to-Aer/aeon_flux.php
http://www.filmfocus.co.uk/review.asp?ReviewID=20621
http://www.herorealm.com/Movies/DVD/Nov05/DVDreviewNov21.htm
http://indieworkshop.com/film/125/
http://www.411mania.com/movies/film_reviews/8029#
http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/movies/mmx-0501201-movies-review-flux,0,4626801.story?coll=mmx-movies_top_heds
http://www.moviefreak.com/artman/publish/printer_dvd_aeonfluxanim.shtml
http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2005-11-24/movie_videodvd.php
http://www.popmatters.com/film/reviews/a/aeon-flux-2005.shtml
http://www.playmagazine.com/index.php?fuseaction=SiteMain.showMediaPage&Media_ID=50&page=1
http://www.sci-fi-london.com/cutenews/dvds.php?subaction=showfull&id=1138463203&archive=&start_from=&ucat=3&
http://www.smart-popcorn.com/reviews/1129/
http://www.tailslate.net/tvtalk/reviews.asp?ID=306
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/reviews3/spinsheet022706.html#aeo
http://www.thesnapper.com/media/paper142/news/2005/12/08/Entertainment/The-Vault-1123630.shtml?norewrite&sourcedomain=www.thesnapper.com
http://www.tv.com/feature/bestof2005/best-dvd/dvd-animation.html
http://www.weeklydig.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/Article.view/issueID/75a9611b-9ffd-4c38-a4c5-4297787a9746/articleID/d93220cd-7e74-4867-94ad-4bd80f1e5041/nodeID/c73f7601-ba43-4a94-b026-9f85e0c9dbc3
In French, but with lots of screencaps (12 pages):
http://www.dvdrama.net//fiche.php?5996&ouzesuis=mode=inter
http://www.bahcecikdevekusu.com/movies/2005/aeonflux.htm
― Peter Chung, Saturday, 11 March 2006 05:04 (eighteen years ago) link
― Drew Neumann, Wednesday, 22 March 2006 04:11 (eighteen years ago) link
― skye, Wednesday, 22 March 2006 04:52 (eighteen years ago) link
― Barb e (Barb e), Thursday, 23 March 2006 15:38 (eighteen years ago) link
― numerologyno1fan, Tuesday, 28 March 2006 02:48 (eighteen years ago) link
― Barb e (Barb e), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 19:59 (eighteen years ago) link
― Matt Rebholz (Matt Rebholz), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 06:37 (eighteen years ago) link
but wait... i see in the pilot, on the TV news segment re:bug virus the bug displayed in front of a grid --the characters over the top appear to have changed;previously was unambiguously korean ga-na-da-ra-ma-ba-sa-ja-cha,now are arrayed in some hybrid code -- kknrn lorlm ccrccl, could beroman characters almost. Is ccrccl actually ddrddl or "dredel"?a spinning cipher?
on the end segment with the foot fetish comic, the title iskorean but arrayed in roman format: t i k u/e l (tickle?)corroborated by english subtitle (tickle fetish specialists)did these titles also change (i have never seen the original airing)
also, in amok time, episode 34, stardate 3372.7 ...
― numerologyno1fan, Friday, 31 March 2006 05:23 (eighteen years ago) link
I've just gotten through the first disc. I'm really enjoying the commentary.
― Sam Grayson (Sam Grayson), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 04:10 (seventeen years ago) link