by Jonathan Klotz
| Published
Back in 1991, when MTV was still known for music videos and not endless reruns SarcasmIt was a haven for experimental, strange, and cross-border series Liquid TV. The 30-minute show featured short animated films of various genres and animation styles, ranging from Beavis and Butt-Head To the history-making sci-fi series Ion Flux. One of the most innovative pieces of animation to come out of the '90s, this unconventional series won countless awards, influenced decades of futuristic sci-fi, and came to streaming thanks to Paramount+.
The cartoon that changed everything
Ion Flux It doesn't look like any other piece of animation from 1991, which, for perspective, also featured the first appearance of a Nickeldeon movie Doug and Rugrats, Darkwing duckand Dark Water Piratesbut over the course of short, two-minute episodes, left a lasting impression. Shorts for Liquid TV They were created by Peter Chung and incorporated what would become his signature style, which often dropped subtle details and background art to enhance the visual expression of each character. They often included tall, slender figures who moved like marionettes. Assuming that the six two-minute sequences would be the end of the series, Chung Eun was killed off, but it proved popular to bring back the shorts for the second season, this time extending to five minutes.
With more screen time to flesh out the future Science fiction Dystopia Ion FluxInstead, Chung kept to tradition and ordered the killing of Ion, a talented assassin working in Monica City, in ways that range from the gruesome and episodic to the comedic, in each five-minute episode. Eon's relationship with Trevor Goodchild, the gifted scientist who leads the nation of Bregna, turns out to be a love-hate relationship, with both of them alternately trying to kill the other with their doomed love, and was the focus of most of the second season. Æon keeps dying and every episode taking place in a separate continuity feels like a running gag Rick and Mortybut in 1991, it was especially strange, as no anime had ever done anything like this before, but that was just one of the ways the series stood out.
Ion Flux Season 3
During seasons 1 and 2 of Ion FluxNo one spoke. Each short was devoid of dialogue and largely silent, yet Chung's animation managed to tell complete stories in each episode, aided greatly by his characters' expressive faces. That changed with Season 3. Instead of short films, the cartoon series got a full season of 30-minute episodes, and these are the episodes that are now available to stream on Paramount+. Finally, Eon stopped dying in every episode, and with the addition of dialogue, the characters were fleshed out more, with Trevor, in particular, emerging as an incredible villain that you'll love to hate.
Although not as beloved as the initial silent shorts, Ion Flux Season 3 maintains the high quality of the animation while also telling a dark story that will make you wonder who is right, Ione or Trevor. By the end of Episode 10, you won't have an answer, but you will have a lot to think about and discuss with the rest of the fanbase, something that continues 30 years later. Adult-targeted cartoons that explore dark and mature themes have become fairly popular today, especially thanks to increased accessibility. AnimeBut in 1995, this was amazing.
impact Ion Flux The importance of American animation cannot be understated as this series inspired a generation of animators to experiment with bold, sassy designs and to use animation as a different kind of storytelling medium, surpassing Saturday Morning Cartoons. It's unfortunate that most audiences today first think of the lead in the 2005 live-action film Charlize Theronwhich has nothing to do with groundbreaking animation and will remain one of the biggest box office disasters of the year. If you've seen the movie, you know that the original animation is much better.
Ion Flux The third season, the only one with “regular” length episodes and dialogue, is currently streaming on Paramount+.
