Idiot Box

Fans of Peter Chung's short-lived MTV series Aeon Flux will recognize his hand when Alexander, an animated Japanese series, airs in the US later this year. Chung created the angular and highly sexualized look of the Mad House production, a retelling of the life of Alexander the Great. Because "scripts for Japanese animation are vague, it's up to the designers to tell the story," says Chung. Japanese animators, preferring low cel counts, forgo fine movement and expression, relying instead on the staging and framing of scenes and on stylized designs. As Chung says, "It's storytelling through film language."
—Army of One, Scott McKim, June 1999

Well, it took over three years, but Alexander, now retitled as Reign: The Conqueror, will finally grace the airwaves tonight, as Cartoon Network brings it aboard its Adult Swim schedule. Set in 4^th Century B.C. Macedonia, the series is based on the novel Alexander's War Chronicles by Hiroshi Aramata. It tells the story of Alexander's rising to the throne of Macedonia and his search for a mystical device called the Platohedron; if Alexander gains access to it, he will have the power to destroy the world.

No, I'm not making this stuff up: it's in the plot summary.

Anyway, I think you should check your local schedule, look up Reign: The Conqueror, and plan on taking a peek. Why? Well, I own the complete Aeon Flux series on video, and I'm just crazy about it. Peter Chung is some kind of mad genius, with a design style that has no parallel elsewhere and a somewhat twisted mind that delights in Dickian paranoia and wordplay (like an interrogation device that qualifies the subject's statements as either fact of fiction). Now, in this new series about Alexander the Great, Chung was only in charge of character design, so the storytelling will not have any of his touch. Still, we're getting half the fun, and one half is better than none.

Oh, yes! I'm writing all this to plug the show (which I haven't seen yet!) to you. And no, I don't get any money from doing this.

My role in [Reign] was simply as the character designer... obviously I was adapting characters who were actual historical figures. And also since I'm working with an animation staff that includes a director and producer, I have to satisfy their needs as well. ...it was the first time I had to do research into a historical character to create the character designs. But fortunately the staff at [Mad House] was interested in creating a completely fantastical look free from all of the usual references. I was pretty much left to do anything I wanted. However, well, you have to be respectful to the historical facts, so... I tended to hold myself back if I was going to far. ...I doubt if [Reign] will be able to make it on broadcast TV because of the violent content. If so, it'd have to be severly cut. [Do considerations about violent content put a damper on your work, or the potential audience?] Unfortunately in today's political climate... yes. Though I doubt that people watching [Reign] on TV are going to be influenced to follow it as a model for their own behaviour. ...I personally don't like to use the term "anime" because it seems like a bastardization of a japanese word which is a bastardization of an english word. The japanese themselves do not use the term "anime" to refer to only Japanese animation. ...[Reign] was my first Japanese animation project.
—Peter Chung during the 2000 NY Anime Film Festival