Okay, for all you folks who kindly compiled your Lettermanesque Top Ten Lists, WHY did you set whatever show you did at #1? "Because Aeon was almost totally fu**in' nude" is not an acceptable response. (After all, that could be any of 'em!)

-- Charlie Princeton (cmmartin@princeton.edu), January 23, 1999

Answers

The Purge is my personal favorite because of the wicked animation, great use of both dialogue and classic visual storytelling, and of course, the ending scene! It's too hard to say why I like each episode in the order that I do (in fact, that order changes regularly), since very little about the series dissatisfies me, with the exception of censored scenes, awkward cut-outs and occasionally poor animation.

BTW: you forgot to include the explanation for your top 10!

-- Spofforth (Spofforth@hotmail.com), January 25, 1999.

I was getting to that...

I have a powerful love for Thanataphobia. I think because it encapsulates almost all the most important parts of the series. You get to see Aeon in action, Trevor being manipulative, minor characters trying to get by in the harsh Breen-Monican system, an intense look at the border wall, tons of sex, and, of course, an amputation. Also the animation in Thanataphobia is outstanding, and something is different and wonderful about Aeon's character design in this episode. She seems even more skeletal and insect-like than usual. My favorite cut of the entire series - Aeon watching Onan walk away from the wall - is in this episode. Plus, of course, you get all those beautiful shots of Aeon's cruiser.

I read in an interview with Chung that Thanatophobia is along the lines of what he wanted to do with the second season - a psychosexual tale of a police state. The symbolism of piercings and penetrations runs deep throughout the show - from the hole in the wall Sybil and Onan communicate and fuck through, to Sybil's perverse medical aperture that Trevor stimulates, to the hole Aeon has blown in the factory, to the portal left in the Wall outside Sybill's apartment, and even to Aeon's window...

Also interesting are the frame scenes with the playing Breen children and the numerous instances that show Trevor bowing to a higher power, wether to the judge in the beginning of the episode or simply to 'circumstances' as he tells Sybil.

I could go on for hours... damn, how I love this episode.

-- Charlie Princeton (cmmartin@princeton.edu), January 25, 1999.

I never really liked Thanataphobia. It felt very contrived....

it drifted from classic aeon to commercial "wierd for the sake of being wierd with no coherent meaning" aeon.

Peter Chung ranked Thanataphobia as his least favorite episode because he had virtually no influence writing it.

I think the Purge and End Sinister capture the real spirit of aeon.

-- divinity (divinity@dk.com), January 26, 1999.

No, no, you're thinking of Chronophasia.

-- Charlie Princeton (cmmartin@princeton.edu), January 26, 1999.

My choice was The Demiurge. Some of the reasons are that we see quite a bit of Monican society and military. We see how Breen and Monican ideology differ. As an athiest/artist I am fasinated by the Demiurge. I also LOVE the music. The music really does convey the feeling of true beauty, saddness, and eternity....something as a scientist/artist I find wonderful.

-- Plutar Circavus (karl.wolf@unisys.com), February 03, 1999.