Making of ÆON FLUX
This is a big one for us. We grew up gobbling up all things MTV in the early 90s. Whether it be Headbangers Ball, Yo! MTV Raps, or 120 Minutes, we were locked in. Somewhere in between all of the music videos there was MTV's Liquid Television offering up some experimental animation and storytelling. ÆON FLUX was part of it, and we were hooked!
Originally airing from September 1991 through October 1995, ÆON FLUX is an avant-garde science fiction animated television series that inspired live action films, video games, and comic books. Premiering on MTV’s Liquid Television experimental animation show, it aired as a six-part serial of short films, accompanied in 1992 by five individual short episodes. A season of ten half-hour episodes followed as a standalone series in 1995. With such an extensive series, gathering all of the music and the artwork associated with the title has been a long journey, which we will talk about soon!
ÆON FLUX is a tall, sexy, dominatrix secret agent from the city of Monica that is skilled in espionage, assassination, and acrobatics. Her mission is to infiltrate and destroy the strongholds of the city of Bregna which is led by her sworn enemy, and sometimes lover, Trevor Goodchild. This unique and innovative production featured elements of science fiction, allegory, dystopian and spy fiction, psychological drama, and psychedelic imagery - set in a surreal futuristic universe. The setting embraces a bizarre dystopia populated by mutants, clones, and robots, placed within the separated border wall cities of Monica and Bregna.
Making of the Box Set
ÆON FLUX’s expansive release has been several years in the making (almost five years!). There’s been a lot of back and forth between Waxwork and the creator and composer, Peter Chung and Drew Neumann, to ensure that they were happy with the final product. A long duration of time has been spent trying to secure the rights to the music and working with the studio, building the box set, laying out the book (the book is incredible!), choosing vinyl colors, quality control, and so much more.
The entire development of the ÆON FLUX box set has led to an awesome release with a bangin’ soundtrack and awesome artwork by Peter Chung himself. During this evolution, Chung delved through his personal archives to find original art, sketches, storyboards, character design drawings, and even unfinished artwork for the series… and then even finished several original works for this release!
About the Creator, Peter Chung
Peter Chung is a Korean American writer and director of animated films. In addition to creating ÆON FLUX, Chung’s directing credits include The Animatrix, and the Cartoon Network feature Firebreather. He served as art director for the animated series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and as designer and director for the Nickelodeon series Rugrats. Chung has also directed commercials for Levi’s, Pepsi, Honda, Jaguar, Sony, and many others. He currently teaches a Master Class at the Division of Animation and Digital Arts at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.
About the Composer, Drew Neumann, and the Score
The music and sound design of ÆON FLUX was created by Drew Neumann. Neumann is an American composer and musician of film and television scores. He studied film, animation, and composition at the California Institute of Arts where he first met and began a longtime friendship with Peter Chung. He has composed music for Disney, E!, Nickelodeon, MTV, Mattel, Paramount Pictures, Cartoon Network, and trailers for feature films. In addition, he has contributed sound design and music composition for a variety of hardware synthesizers, sound libraries, and software and computer products. Neumann works closely with and consults for synthesizer companies such as 1010 Music LLC, Arturia, Studio Electronics, Ensoniq, Oberheim, Sequential, UDO, Waldorf, and Moog.
The complete ÆON FLUX Original Series Soundtrack box set by Drew Neumann is officially available for the very first time in any format. The soundtrack to the groundbreaking animated series is now available as a deluxe 6xLP box set and multi-disc CD set. In partnership with ÆON FLUX creator, artist, and director Peter Chung, composer Drew Neumann, and MTV, Waxwork Records assembled a comprehensive box set experience featuring the complete soundtrack music from all 21 ÆON FLUX episodes sourced from the composer’s original masters.
ÆON FLUX Original Series Soundtrack Box Set
Waxwork Records worked closely with both Drew Neumann and Peter Chung to create the comprehensive ÆON FLUX Original Series Soundtrack box set. All artwork elements were provided to Waxwork by Peter Chung from his own personal archive. The deluxe 6xLP set features:
- The complete series music by composer Neumann remastered from the original masters
- 6xLP set pressed to 180 gram colored vinyl
- Vinyl discs are each devised of a unique color variant correlating to the album’s art
- The full box set contains original artwork by Peter Chung
- A high-quality deluxe soft-touch coated “perfect-bound” book that includes:
- Exclusive liner notes by Peter Chung
- An extensive essay by Drew Neumann
- Chung’s original, never-seen-before storyboards and sketches, character design drawings,and much more
- Each jacket features film laminate gloss coating
- A turntable slip-mat with art by Chung
- Housed in a heavyweight slipcase with matte satin coating
To see the full set, check it out HERE!
Leave a comment