Liquid Television
Today when you hear the phrase “liquid television”, the first thing that comes to mind may be the liquid crystal display television or LCD TV. But back in the early 90s, before the flat panel televisions came around, there was a 30 minute animated show on MTV called Liquid Television. The show was originally shown on BBC-2 in December of 1990. Then MTV picked up the show in June of 1991, and it lasted three seasons.
Liquid Television was a ground-breaking show at the time. It combined computer animation, drawings, paper cut-outs, and even live action to make something entertaining for the viewers. Each commercial free episode was filled with 8-15 experimental animated shorts .
The show had its popular cartoons, some of which you may remember, including Aeon Flux, Beavis and Butt-head, Stick Figure Theater, Crazy Daisy Ed, and Dog-Boy. Only Aeon Flux and Beavis and Butt-head actually had spin-off shows after Liquid Television. I had my favorites like Honey Bunny; Nietzsche Pops; an Office Space short by Mike Judge; a great short by Bill Plympton; and “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” by They Might Be Giants .
You may also remember some artwork from John Dilworth, in the short called Smart Talk with Raisin. He’s more recently known for doing Courage the Cowardly Dog on the Cartoon Network. Raisin’s dog, Hamilton, looks pretty similar to Courage.
I loved watching this show even though it was on late in the evening. The short cartoons were long enough to be captivating, yet not too long to bore you. I always found myself wanting to see more of them. Liquid Television was a great showcase for many artists to show their talent and get discovered.
Aeon Flux stood out as one of the longer shorts per episode. It was avant-garde and adult in nature; containing worthy social and psychological themes. Very little talking was done so you had to keep up with the action of the scantily clad heroine, who bolted from one predicament to another and usually died each episode. Peter Chung, the writer and director of Aeon Flux, previously did work in the Transformers cartoon and The Animatrix, among other films.
The original Aeon Flux animation will be released on DVD Nov 22nd. Then on Dec 2nd Aeon Flux the movie will be released. It’s great that they’ve finally brought their fans a movie, but its going to be hard to surpass the original. It doesn’t seem right that everyone will be talking, which I hope won’t ruin the movie. Also, if you’re interested, you can find Aeon Flux comics, out already from Dark Horse.
Although only a few of the original shows survived from Liquid Television, it’s still great to reminisce and see where a lot of talented artists began their careers.
Update - Oct 7, 2006: YouTube has many of the episodes available to watch.
Update 2 - Sept 27, 2007: Added link for Honey Bunny.
December 2nd, 2005 at 2:55 pm
I’m looking for the show that used to be on Liquid Television. Somebody told me it was called “the maxx”..but Im not sure. All I can remember from the show is that there was a chick with long black curly hair and she wore glasses, but you couldnt see her eyes. And I think the beginning of the show had like a big eyeball or something. I’m dying to know what it’s called so that I can buy the LTV dvd or tape for a reason.
December 2nd, 2005 at 10:51 pm
Yup, that was The Maxx and it was actually on a similar show called MTV Oddities. The girl with the glasses and long, black curly hair was Sarah. The Maxx was also a great show.
I believe only the VHS of the 13 episode animated series is available, but it might be a bit hard to find for sale. The comic book version of it may be easier to find.
December 4th, 2005 at 7:43 pm
I’m looking for another show that came on in the Liquid Television era. The protagonist was a man/swamp type creature that suffered from a great deal of angst. I enjoyed his philosophical musings and tribulations. I would like to trace some of the shows if not the entire series.
December 5th, 2005 at 9:51 am
I recall the Swamp Thing, which was a low-budget USA Network show that ran from 1990-93. Reruns of its 72 episodes were on The Sci-Fi Channel. There was also a really short lived, 5 episode cartoon series in the early 90’s, but that’s very obscure. The Swamp Thing had a bit of angst that he carried around with him.
There is also the Man-Thing, but I don’t know if that made it to TV. I do know both of these creatures had comic books.
February 12th, 2006 at 5:47 pm
There was a cartoon on Liquid Television about two cats…one black and one gray…one got himself into trouble all the time, and the other just watched in amusement. I’ve been searching for the title of this short cartoon for over a decade, for I have forgotten it since I was a little girl. What is this?!!!!
February 25th, 2006 at 8:50 am
I’ve looked into this last comment about the two cats and can’t find a thing about it. My memory isn’t much help even though I’d watch Liquid TV all the time. Anyone else know?
April 24th, 2006 at 6:17 pm
HI-I was wondering-I saw a dvd on ebay like last week containing all three seasons of Liquid Tv. It is no longer there-does anyone know where to find it?
April 24th, 2006 at 7:06 pm
You’re lucky to have found it on eBay -especially as a DVD. I’d just keep an eye on eBay for it since they don’t really sell it anymore and usually you’ll find more VHS versions. Nowadays, all you can really find for sale, from places like Amazon.com, is the “Best of…” which excludes many quality parts from the original. Good luck!
September 19th, 2006 at 11:22 am
Yeah there was one “best of” Liquid Television dvd, but it went out of print quick. Anything else is a bootleg.
That’s one great thing about the Aeon Flux dvd set, they including some LTV shorts as an extra to get across the feel of the Aeon Flux origins. I think my favorite shorts were the postcards that were narrated by the guy with a vaguely Australian accent about big brother and other weird governmental schemes.
Did the Head (that cartoon about the dude with the huge head with the alien living inside) start out on LTV or was it Oddities?
September 19th, 2006 at 6:45 pm
The Head actually was on MTV Oddities. These two programs had such similar shows, it’s hard not to confuse which shows were on which program.
September 28th, 2006 at 11:57 am
Such great memories!! I was trying to find the “Honey Bunny” short and came across this entry. I wonder if the Aeon Flux extras include that short?
Did they ever put out a comprehensive Liquid Television and Oddities collection? *sigh* You can find Nick and Jessica, Wildboyz, and Jackass without a hitch…but try to find some of the most innovative stuff MTV has ever aired and you’re left empty-handed.
September 29th, 2006 at 6:34 am
I’ve been unable to find any other info on Honey Bunny, anywhere. I don’t believe it was included on the Aeon Flux extras, since it was done by another artist/group. We’ll just have to wait for MTV to come out with this or hope someone has it taped on an old VHS tape…
November 8th, 2006 at 6:05 pm
Someone was looking for that cat video from Liquid TV. I believe this is it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-z8ZDTI9Xs
December 13th, 2006 at 6:51 pm
hou about this one im only 23 years old so Mtv’s oddities and liquid telivision was my best friend of my child hood (that and remote control) then thay abandoned me ive then i had to play with rocks and sticks…
so does any rember a cartoon on one or the other about this broup of wacky dudes that like flushed them selves down toilets and wung out in some subteranian areas i rember one where thay wer terrorizing a supermarket can you help me figgure if this was real or did i hulcinat this in the midst of an acid frenzy years later reply to anthrax_tony@yahoo.com
December 18th, 2006 at 1:37 am
I’m trying to remember a cartoon on either oddities or liquid tv that was a couple of old men hurting each other with lawnmowers, yard tools, etc…any ideas?
December 27th, 2006 at 1:45 pm
Helena - The Honey Bunny short is on the Extras of the Aeon Flux DVD, there is about an episodes worth of other artist’s shorts included for reference.
March 26th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
Ok I know this thread is from last year but.. Does anyone remember a cartoon(I think it was on MTV).. There was a little girl who finds a dead bunny and brings it home. Her dad finds it and burries it in the backyard. Well later on the little girl hears a thumping under her bed and the bunny is there? I really want to find this cartoon. Any help?
March 27th, 2007 at 6:14 am
Brindy - Not to spoil anything but that was The Maxx. (That part is about 10 episodes into it.) I’d recommend watching it from the beginning or reading the comic. It’s a great series.
April 19th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
Anyone remember the animated skydiver short? He pulled the draw cord and a doll’s voice played instead of the parachute coming out? It’s on the Aeon Flux DVD disc 3 but I’m trying to find it online.
April 19th, 2007 at 7:05 pm
All I can recommend is looking around the interweb. Or you can even renting/buying the Aeon Flux DVD.