Ćon Flux
1991-1995, Catherine Winder
Peter Chung's challenging animated series began as a collection of shorts for MTV, then morphed into a half-hour series; its popularity eventually gave rise to an ill-fated motion picture with Charlize Theron as Ćeon. Chung's extreme, adult style is unique and unmistakable, but likely suited to particular tastes. For me, the series was at its best in the earlier shorts, with Ćeon meeting her fate—often spectacularly—at the end of nearly every clip. Some fans (myself included) felt the half-hour series lost some of the edgy impact of the dialog-free shorts, which is not to say the series was a disappointment; it merely traded bloody gunplay for deep, complex philosophical introspection. But it was still strangely startling to hear Ćeon speak for the first time, and took some getting used to. I also felt the animation wasn't as good as before, although I imagine this was a consequence of having to crank out episodes to meet a tight production schedule. For students of animation, Chung's commentary tracks are quite insightful, especially regarding the constraints placed on him by MTV with respect to what could or couldn't be shown.
DKS 2/23/22
GRUMPY OLD FART-O-METER® Rating:
