New worlds with Liquid TV

There were only two channels when Liquid Television showed up late on Thursday nights, sometime in the early 90s, so it wasn't like there was a lot of choice. But it sounded interesting when I saw it listed in the TV Guide, and I knew absolutely nothing about it other than it was animation for grown-ups, so I tuned in and it rocked my fucking socks off.

I was 17, which might be the most susceptible age ever, but this was like a transmission from another dimension, where anything could happen, and probably won't make a lot of sense. There were the easy laughs of Stick Figure Theater and Miss Lidia's Makeover To The Stars - and later on my first introduction to the immortal joys of Beavis and Butthead - but there was also clips that bent my brain into new shapes.

The only thing I could really compare it to in recent years is the episodes of Rick and Morty that show what interdimensional TV looks like. It's strange, and doesn't make sense, but also completely familiar in the most unexpected ways.

Some of the short pieces produced for Liquid TV were pure abstraction, not worrying about things like story or character, but in the first batch of cartoons, Aeon Flux was an obvious favourite, right from the start. It was sexy and sleek and incredibly violent, but also extremely experimental in its storytelling - showing a chapter from the perspective of some poor henchman that had been mowed down during Aeon's rampage, or having the main character herself die in a really dumb, clumsy way at the climax.

And the show was my first connection to a whole generation of slightly underground cartoonists, the first time I got to experience the world view of Richard Sala, Drew Friedman and Charles Burns.

It all added up to something new and vibrant for this 17-year-old, sitting in the cold living room on the arse end of the world, feeling my mind expand as much as I was entertained, taking me to new places that were scary and discomforting, but places that I still desperately wanted to go.

There were only 22 episodes, I videoed them and watched them on repeat because we didn't have the internet yet, so there wasn't much else to do, and I watched them until the tape broke. I never tried any of the 2014 revival, because how could it possibly match the impact of the original? 

I'm sure the creators and animators of the later version were just as talented and driven, but I'm not the same person I was when I was in 1992, getting through a Thursday night in the cold winter by expanding my mind with adult cartoons.