Let's face it, a lot of the titles for Aeon Flux episodes (apart from the shorts) are cryptic and hard to understand. After much brain racking, I have come to an absolute loss.

I KNOW THIS IS ASKING FOR A LOT!! BUT!! I don't understand any of the episode names. Could someone please please PLEASE explain them all? I will worship their blessed ground.

You know the names: "Isthmus Crypticus", "End Sinister" etc. etc.

Much appreciated,

Mustapha Laverty

-- Marlboro Lights Jnr. (protein38@hotmail.com), October 12, 1998

Answers

I've done some real dictionary work with some of the titles - here are some of the things I've gleaned from the O.E.D.

FON FLUX - Many people have assumed this means something like "eras in change." The change part is accurate, however, an interesting definition of an fon relates to Gnostic mythology - an fon is a semi-deity, a stage between man and God - like an angel or a demigod. This fits our star very well - Aeon is superhumanly skilled, but still very mortal.

THE DEMIURGE - As long as we're on the subject of Gnostics... The Demiurge is a component of the Gnostic divine being. Specifically, the Demiurge is a sub-god responsible for the initial creation of the universe and the ongoing creative impulses of men.

UTOPIA OR DEUTERONOPIA - Deuteronopia is not a real word - yet - but here's my take: I believe the prefix Deuter- implies justice, law, or duty. My guideline in this is its use in the Bible - The Book of Deuteronomy is the earliest collection of Hebrew law. This would make a Deuteronopia a sort of police state, devoted to the upholding of its laws and customs.

RERAIZURE - from an archaic English word raisure meaning elevation. Thus, re-elevation.

ISTMUS CRYPTICUS - This is a heavily bastardized version of the Latin words for 'secret island' - an appropriate name for the place where Trevor keeps the Seraph-Trev.

THANATOPHOBIA - Fear of death - fairly obvious...

A LAST TIME FOR EVERYTHING - probably referring to the one-shot love affair Aeon and Trevor get in this episode.

CHRONOPHASIA - I'm not sure about this one ... looks like 'time shock.'

END SINISTER - Fairly obvious from the show's place in the series and its events - this is the final Aeon Flux episode.

THE PURGE - Once again, pretty obvious from the episode itself. The Purging is the act of removing Trevor's Custodian.

ETHER DRIFT THEORY - This is one I'm pretty sure was just intended to sound cool. You could speculate that it has something to do with the Paralytic fluid around the habitat.

That's all the third season shows. The original season was eponymous and I think the second season titles are very obvious. Enjoy!

-- Charles Martin (cmmartin@princeton.edu), October 15, 1998.

Aeon Flux basically means The flow or movement of time. It origionally had nothing to do with Aeon herself, but they never thought up a name for her and the title just kinda stuck. I'm not sure how this refers to the first season(except for the end when Aeon gets her feet licked for all eternity) so maybe it's just supposed to sound cool.

Chronophasia:Chrono means time. Phasia means disturbance or to function improperly.

-- Frostbite (foo@bar.com), October 19, 1998.

Aeon Flux can also mean Eternal Change, signifying that things are forever changing and nothing stays the same, which i guess IS a good title for the first season, when you think about it.

-- Frostbite (foo@bar.com), October 19, 1998.

I never bought the theory that Aeon was originally unnamed and later took her name from the show's title. I think this was just an assumption made in many articles because her name is never spoken. But her name was certainly decided on before the shows ever ran - The character model sheets for the first season label the main character as Aeon Flux. Even greater evidence is the fact that the model sheets use possessives. (i.e., Aeon's Gun...) Also I'm sure that the scripts (and yes, you do need scripts, even if your characters don't talk) refer to her as Aeon. Someone out there in cyberspace had the original scripts at some point - that's how we first found names for Trevor Goodchild, Mourad ben-Jaffar, Varsh Lockley, Romeo Svengali, and Donna Matrix. I'm sure Aeon was named as well.

-- Charles Martin (cmmartin@princeton.edu), October 19, 1998.

An interesting (if somewhat tangential) note regarding the Gnostic definition of "Aeon" as a stage between man and God--Alesiter Crowley's tarot deck names the twentieth card of the major arcana as "Aeon." Most decks typically depict this trump as "Judgement."

-- Erin Edwards (eeedwards@msn.com), October 20, 1998.

Peter Chung said himself in an article that Aeon was named after the show, not the other way around. You're probably right about the scripts but I'm sure things went something like this: Petey's sittin there, having written down the basic story and given the show a title. He thinks to himself: "Lets's see. The blonde guy is called Trevor Goodchild, the politician-guy is called Maurad-Ben Jaffar, now what am I gonna call the main character?...........Eh, I'll just call her Aeon.

Or something to that effect.

-- Frostbite (foo@bar.com), November 01, 1998.

From what I understand, the character names were spread to the net by way of Ed Stastny, who had a long-ago interview with Chung and also had probably the first Aeon site on the net. His character profile section came complete with the names, which I assume he got from Chung directly. Also in that interview, Chung says that during the writing phase, he first named the show alone "Aeon Flux", then placed it on the lead female as well. Since Chung doesn't draw a thing until the story is done (or so he says), This would explain why the character model sheets mention Aeon's name. Hope I cleared that up..

-- Mat Rebholz (matrebholz@yahoo.com), November 27, 1998.

Right out of the World Book itself: "Ether, in physics, was once believed to be a substance that filled all space." This brings the title "Ether Drift Theory" into the light.

-- Owen Black (Ob200bpm@aol.com), December 02, 1998.

Deutero means imperfect (as in deuteromycota, the phylum for a type of fungi known as imperfect fungi) so deuternopia is an imperfect paradise and therefore no paradise at all. -phasia implies a speech disorder.

-- The Fuzzed One (Fuzz18500@aol.com), April 18, 1999.

raizure derives from rasure, which means to erase or obliterate, thus describing how Rordy took the bliss pellet again ERASing his memories.

-- sporkus (linus6669@aol.com), April 19, 1999.

I looked and it turns out that deutero- can also mean second.

-- The Fuzzed One (Fuzz18500@aol.com), April 20, 1999.

the word dueternopia can also be linked to the term deuteranope which is a person who has deuteranopia which is a defective color vison in the red-yellow-green part of the spectrum (And i found this in the dictionary!) this could be relevent to the the belts that made the wearor fuzzy (for lack of mor scientific description)which made the wearor able to enter Clavius who was also fuzzy. the room inside clavius was Trevors paradise for him and aeon--thus "utopia" in deuternopia. also note: a dueteragonist is the character second in importance to the protagonist (derived from the deus ex machina, a diety brout in by stage machinery to intervine in an action #1--#2 any unconvincing charater brought into the plot of the story to settle an involved situation--#3 anyone who unexpectedly intervenes to change th course of events) any of those definitions could be appropriate to the episode. If aeon is the one who is sent to intervene in bregna's affairs, the artificial means being a monican objective. or a play on aeon and trevors roles --which one is secondary aeon or trevor? or it could be to draw the focus to whats- his-face--you know who I mean--and his role and action in this scenario--or how the revival of clavius made whats-his face chage his mind about the ex leader.

-- christina (aquaG@aol.com), June 22, 1999.