Trevor Goodchild
Encyclopedia
Trevor Goodchild is a fictional character featured in the 1990s animated television series, Æon Flux
and the 2005 Æon Flux
live action film. He is played by voice actor John Rafter Lee
in the half-hour series (the Liquid Television
series of shorts had no dialogue). In the 2005 film, he is portrayed by Marton Csokas
.
of the series, although creator Peter Chung
has occasionally said in interviews that the character is meant to be morally ambiguous.
He is the self-appointed leader of the nation of Bregna; it is suggested he rose to power in a coup
over his insane
predecessor. Though his title is Chairman, it is not clear what exactly this means. His predecessor was referred to as the President, and in one episode an upper house of parliament is mentioned. In another episode, he refers to the government as a republic.
He is usually depicted as a cold and calculating scientist
or as an opposite to "terrorist
" Æon Flux of the free-spirited Monican people. Goodchild's motives are left ambiguous; on many occasions he seems genuinely interested in improving the human condition, but at others he is only concerned with retaining or increasing his power.
His own people seem to have dramatically changing opinions of him. In the first episode, he is referred to as "Our most beloved public official," and the people cheer at seeing him defeat an assassin. Others however, seem completely disgusted by him and attempt to kill him or escape from his control. In general, the Breen soldiers he commands seem loyal, if often very confused by him.
As is typical of the Æon Flux series' style of storytelling, there is much ambiguity and inconsistency as to the nature of his position. While he is usually depicted as a complete autocrat
, the episode "Thanatophobia" suggests that there are other individuals in the Breen government that Trevor must answer to, or at least give the impression of being accountable to. Though his official title seems to be Chairman, Goodchild often takes a much more hands-on approach to his work than a typical administrator. He is shown at the forefront of armed operations on at least two occasions, as well as conducting other tasks such as performing medical checkups on patients wounded by his own fiendish security systems (a house call, no less). However, he is far from brave, as he has an array of escape devices to get him out of danger. The most likely explanation for his curious penchant for field work is his desire to get close to Æon Flux.
Trevor also has a tendency to delve into deep, Orwellian rants, which often serve as narration for the episodes. These musings appear to be in the form of soliloquies, but in the episode "The Purge," they are shown to be out loud. His musings tend to be confusing, often running the full length without actually saying anything, and lend to the series' own ambiguous nature.
, in which he consistently tries to protect her despite violently thwarting most of her operations. This relationship is less developed in the original Liquid Television shorts, in which he occasionally attempts to kill her. Trevor is often frustrated by Æon's apparent lack of understanding of his own occasionally nebulous motives; he will be invariably heard to say "You just don't get it, do you?" Aeon is generally not impressed with his grand plans, going so far as to call him a deranged individual in one episode.
In one of the Liquid Television shorts, Æon actually appears to be working for or with Trevor. In the episode "Thanatophobia," Trevor mentions that he lets Aeon sneak across the border and bomb a factory, thus allowing him to implant ever stricter security measures. This implies that, though Aeon may not work directly for him, it seems as though he uses her actions to his advantage. The pair's relationship reaches its apex in the series finale, "End Sinister", in which Æon pursues Trevor on a one-way trip 1,000 years into the future. It could be said that Trevor and Æon are attracted to each other but are separated by their goals, as evidenced in "The Demiurge", where they fight over the Demiurge's fate but have a brief but intimate encounter in the midst of a conflict.
. There is intentionally no continuity between the episodes (which all include the death of the Æon Flux character). Beginning with "Utopia or Deutoronopia" episodes are a half-hour in length and maintain a loose continuity. The episodes are fully covered in List of Æon Flux episodes.
is spreading a fatal disease
. After Æon fails to stop him, Trevor cures the disease. Thereafter, Trevor's visage appears on the country's currency
(which is when his name is revealed for the first time).
ing Æon, Trevor uses his tongue
in order to insert a tiny picture into a hidden compartment in one of Æon's teeth. The picture, of a man and a briefcase
, is apparently Æon's 'target.'
target's mansion
one minute before Æon does. Trevor completes the assassination, and then shoots Æon in the neck
. Before she dies, Æon sees on the security camera
that it was Trevor. This is the only time Trevor himself intentionally kills Æon (this would not happen in the half-hour series given their relationship's development).
that is on the 7th floor, Trevor presses buttons 1-6. He also throws a key for a door that is on level 2 behind some pipes. Æon handcuffs
him in the elevator while she attempts to find the door. (She checks on every floor.) On the 2nd floor, after another woman has killed Æon, a guard enters and shoots Trevor. Only the guard escapes as the facility sinks. While it is common for Æon to be killed in each installment of these early episodes, this is the only time Trevor himself is killed.
of citizen surveillance claiming that "only an open society
can be a just
society." Gildemere, a Breen soldier, tries to expose Trevor's treasonous acts but ends up murdering Clavius in the process, easing Trevor's ascent to autocracy.
of girls done up to look like her in his home. Following Aeon's death, Trevor is seen to fall to his knees with tears streaming down his face, implying that there is more to him than the cold, calculating politician.
from the planet, ridding Earth of its influence. He fails, but the Demiurge impregnates a Monican male with its child. Trevor captures the Monican and takes him to his Tower, where he gives birth to a being similar (if not identical) to the original Demiurge, re-introducing the Demiurge's influence on humanity. This being later saves the Monican's lover from certain death, although it is unclear whether or not the Demiurge survives. It should be noted that perception was a major theme of this episode. At the beginning of the episode, Trevor is heard speaking of perception and significance, and when the lover of the Monican implanted with the Demiurge's offspring tries to crush a box with a glowing, three-eyed cat inside fails to do so and walks away from it, it is shown to the audience that it stopped glowing when no one was looking at it. The Demiurge's true power may only be the ability to alter perception and emotion.
that causes human happiness
. At points, he attempts to capture and/or help Æon as she undergoes a series of bizarre experiences/visions.
in the shape of a giant cube suspended in a sea of paralytic fluid. The city is populated by various engineered creatures, many of which resemble humans. Æon enters the cube with the girlfriend of the chief scientist working under Goodchild only to accidentally start a chain chemical reaction that eventually destroys the entire complex. At first, Trevor is fully dedicated to protecting the project and what it represents at all costs. However, he quickly seems to become bored with it and gives up on the project entirely.
-related plotline, it is revealed that Trevor is a seventh-generation clone created from DNA
from the original Trevor Goodchild of the early 21st century, who had been married to a pre-clone version of Æon Flux. Unlike the TV series, which casts him in a morally ambiguous role (as it does all its characters), the film version makes Goodchild to be a heroic figure, whose sole motive seems to be to save the human race from extinction.
Æon Flux
Æon Flux was originally an avant-garde science fiction animated television series that aired on MTV in various forms throughout the 1990s, with film, comic book, and video game adaptations following thereafter. It premiered in 1991 on MTV's Liquid Television experimental animation show as a...
and the 2005 Æon Flux
Æon Flux (film)
New Zealander Graeme Revell composed the score for Æon Flux; the soundtrack is available via Varèse Sarabande as advertised on the film's official website -Comic book prequel:...
live action film. He is played by voice actor John Rafter Lee
John Rafter Lee
John Rafter Lee is a British actor, voice actor, professional narrator, and playwright who is best known for his portrayal of the mysterious Trevor Goodchild in Peter Chung's Æon Flux...
in the half-hour series (the Liquid Television
Liquid Television
Liquid Television is an Emmy Award–winning 1990s animation showcase that appeared on MTV. The first season of Liquid Television also aired on BBC Two in co-production with MTV. Ultimately, MTV commissioned three seasons of the show, which was produced by Colossal Pictures...
series of shorts had no dialogue). In the 2005 film, he is portrayed by Marton Csokas
Marton Csokas
-Early life:Csokas was born in Invercargill, New Zealand. His mother, a nurse, is of Irish and Danish descent; his Hungarian-born father, also named Márton Csókás, worked as a mechanical engineer...
.
Character overview
Chairman Trevor Goodchild is usually seen as the villainVillain
A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...
of the series, although creator Peter Chung
Peter Chung
Peter Kunshik Chung Peter Kunshik Chung Peter Kunshik Chung (born April 19, 1961 in Seoul, South Korea, as 정건식 (Chung Geun-sik, or alternative spelling Jeong Geun-Sik) is a Korean American animator...
has occasionally said in interviews that the character is meant to be morally ambiguous.
He is the self-appointed leader of the nation of Bregna; it is suggested he rose to power in a coup
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
over his insane
Insanity
Insanity, craziness or madness is a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity may manifest as violations of societal norms, including becoming a danger to themselves and others, though not all such acts are considered insanity...
predecessor. Though his title is Chairman, it is not clear what exactly this means. His predecessor was referred to as the President, and in one episode an upper house of parliament is mentioned. In another episode, he refers to the government as a republic.
He is usually depicted as a cold and calculating scientist
Scientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
or as an opposite to "terrorist
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
" Æon Flux of the free-spirited Monican people. Goodchild's motives are left ambiguous; on many occasions he seems genuinely interested in improving the human condition, but at others he is only concerned with retaining or increasing his power.
His own people seem to have dramatically changing opinions of him. In the first episode, he is referred to as "Our most beloved public official," and the people cheer at seeing him defeat an assassin. Others however, seem completely disgusted by him and attempt to kill him or escape from his control. In general, the Breen soldiers he commands seem loyal, if often very confused by him.
As is typical of the Æon Flux series' style of storytelling, there is much ambiguity and inconsistency as to the nature of his position. While he is usually depicted as a complete autocrat
Autocracy
An autocracy is a form of government in which one person is the supreme power within the state. It is derived from the Greek : and , and may be translated as "one who rules by himself". It is distinct from oligarchy and democracy...
, the episode "Thanatophobia" suggests that there are other individuals in the Breen government that Trevor must answer to, or at least give the impression of being accountable to. Though his official title seems to be Chairman, Goodchild often takes a much more hands-on approach to his work than a typical administrator. He is shown at the forefront of armed operations on at least two occasions, as well as conducting other tasks such as performing medical checkups on patients wounded by his own fiendish security systems (a house call, no less). However, he is far from brave, as he has an array of escape devices to get him out of danger. The most likely explanation for his curious penchant for field work is his desire to get close to Æon Flux.
Trevor also has a tendency to delve into deep, Orwellian rants, which often serve as narration for the episodes. These musings appear to be in the form of soliloquies, but in the episode "The Purge," they are shown to be out loud. His musings tend to be confusing, often running the full length without actually saying anything, and lend to the series' own ambiguous nature.
Relationship with Æon Flux
Æon and Trevor have a love-hate relationshipLove-hate relationship
A love–hate relationship is an interpersonal relationship involving simultaneous or alternating emotions of love and hate. This relationship does not have to be of a romantic nature, and may be instead of a sibling one...
, in which he consistently tries to protect her despite violently thwarting most of her operations. This relationship is less developed in the original Liquid Television shorts, in which he occasionally attempts to kill her. Trevor is often frustrated by Æon's apparent lack of understanding of his own occasionally nebulous motives; he will be invariably heard to say "You just don't get it, do you?" Aeon is generally not impressed with his grand plans, going so far as to call him a deranged individual in one episode.
In one of the Liquid Television shorts, Æon actually appears to be working for or with Trevor. In the episode "Thanatophobia," Trevor mentions that he lets Aeon sneak across the border and bomb a factory, thus allowing him to implant ever stricter security measures. This implies that, though Aeon may not work directly for him, it seems as though he uses her actions to his advantage. The pair's relationship reaches its apex in the series finale, "End Sinister", in which Æon pursues Trevor on a one-way trip 1,000 years into the future. It could be said that Trevor and Æon are attracted to each other but are separated by their goals, as evidenced in "The Demiurge", where they fight over the Demiurge's fate but have a brief but intimate encounter in the midst of a conflict.
Episode appearances
The episodes "Pilot" through "War" are standalone episodes broadcast as short films on the series Liquid TelevisionLiquid Television
Liquid Television is an Emmy Award–winning 1990s animation showcase that appeared on MTV. The first season of Liquid Television also aired on BBC Two in co-production with MTV. Ultimately, MTV commissioned three seasons of the show, which was produced by Colossal Pictures...
. There is intentionally no continuity between the episodes (which all include the death of the Æon Flux character). Beginning with "Utopia or Deutoronopia" episodes are a half-hour in length and maintain a loose continuity. The episodes are fully covered in List of Æon Flux episodes.
Pilot
An insectInsect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
is spreading a fatal disease
Disease
A disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It is often construed to be a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune...
. After Æon fails to stop him, Trevor cures the disease. Thereafter, Trevor's visage appears on the country's currency
Currency
In economics, currency refers to a generally accepted medium of exchange. These are usually the coins and banknotes of a particular government, which comprise the physical aspects of a nation's money supply...
(which is when his name is revealed for the first time).
Gravity
While French kissFrench kiss
A French kiss is a kiss in which one participant's tongue touches the partner's lips or tongue and usually enters his or her mouth. A French kiss is a slow passionate kiss which is usually considered intimate, romantic, erotic or sexual...
ing Æon, Trevor uses his tongue
Tongue
The tongue is a muscular hydrostat on the floors of the mouths of most vertebrates which manipulates food for mastication. It is the primary organ of taste , as much of the upper surface of the tongue is covered in papillae and taste buds. It is sensitive and kept moist by saliva, and is richly...
in order to insert a tiny picture into a hidden compartment in one of Æon's teeth. The picture, of a man and a briefcase
Briefcase
A briefcase is a narrow box-shaped bag or case used mainly for carrying papers and other documents and equipped with a handle. Lawyers commonly use briefcases to carry briefs to present to a court, hence the name...
, is apparently Æon's 'target.'
Night / Mirror
Trevor enters an assassinationAssassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
target's mansion
Mansion
A mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. real estate brokers define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...
one minute before Æon does. Trevor completes the assassination, and then shoots Æon in the neck
Neck
The neck is the part of the body, on many terrestrial or secondarily aquatic vertebrates, that distinguishes the head from the torso or trunk. The adjective signifying "of the neck" is cervical .-Boner anatomy: The cervical spine:The cervical portion of the human spine comprises seven boney...
. Before she dies, Æon sees on the security camera
Closed-circuit television
Closed-circuit television is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors....
that it was Trevor. This is the only time Trevor himself intentionally kills Æon (this would not happen in the half-hour series given their relationship's development).
Leisure
What appears to be Trevor is seen chained in Æon's cupboard ravenously eating the eggs of an alien creature.Tide
From an elevatorElevator
An elevator is a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building, vessel or other structures...
that is on the 7th floor, Trevor presses buttons 1-6. He also throws a key for a door that is on level 2 behind some pipes. Æon handcuffs
Handcuffs
Handcuffs are restraint devices designed to secure an individual's wrists close together. They comprise two parts, linked together by a chain, a hinge, or rigid bar. Each half has a rotating arm which engages with a ratchet that prevents it from being opened once closed around a person's wrist...
him in the elevator while she attempts to find the door. (She checks on every floor.) On the 2nd floor, after another woman has killed Æon, a guard enters and shoots Trevor. Only the guard escapes as the facility sinks. While it is common for Æon to be killed in each installment of these early episodes, this is the only time Trevor himself is killed.
War
Trevor is not seen in this episode, though a Breen soldier who removes his helmet resembles him, albeit with a different hair style...Utopia or Deuteranopia
Trevor rises to power by kidnapping Clavius, the elected president of Bregna. Trevor also constructs an extradimensional space inside Clavius' body for himself and Æon, introducing his obsession with her. He institutes a panopticonPanopticon
The Panopticon is a type of building designed by English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in the late eighteenth century. The concept of the design is to allow an observer to observe all inmates of an institution without them being able to tell whether or not they are being watched...
of citizen surveillance claiming that "only an open society
Open society
The open society is a concept originally developed by philosopher Henri Bergson and then by Austrian and British philosopher Karl Popper. In open societies, government is purported to be responsive and tolerant, and political mechanisms are said to be transparent and flexible...
can be a just
Justice
Justice is a concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, religion, or equity, along with the punishment of the breach of said ethics; justice is the act of being just and/or fair.-Concept of justice:...
society." Gildemere, a Breen soldier, tries to expose Trevor's treasonous acts but ends up murdering Clavius in the process, easing Trevor's ascent to autocracy.
Isthmus Crypticus
Trevor captures a pair of seraf-trevs—beautiful, winged creatures whose ability to give humans sexual ecstasy is legendary. His love affair with the female seraf-trev is cut short when Ilbren, a jealous Breen, tries to liberate her and kills her in the process.Thanatophobia
In this episode, Trevor appears repeatedly to treat the spinal injuries of Sybil, who was shot during an attempted border crossing (her lover, Onan, succeeded.) Trevor provides Sybil with a box of ampoules (which are inserted into the gap in her spine, allowing her to function normally,). Trevor also repeatedly sexually stimulates Sybil by manipulating the nerves in her spinal column at the location of the aforementioned gap. At one point, Trevor mentions that he lets Aeon bomb a factory, implying that he uses her terrorist actions as justification for cracking down even harder on the populace.A Last Time For Everything
Trevor has developed a method for creating exact human duplicates. Æon tricks him into making a copy of her in a plan to manipulate his emotions towards her. In the end Æon decides (with difficulty) to remain loyal to herself (ie. her copy) and not Trevor, allowing herself to be killed by the gun turrets of the Breen border containment system. While this episode is mainly focused on Æon's personality, it also gives some great insights into Trevor's character. For instance, we see that his obsession with Æon is such that he keeps an entire haremHarem
Harem refers to the sphere of women in what is usually a polygynous household and their enclosed quarters which are forbidden to men...
of girls done up to look like her in his home. Following Aeon's death, Trevor is seen to fall to his knees with tears streaming down his face, implying that there is more to him than the cold, calculating politician.
The Demiurge
Trevor tries to prevent the Monicans from launching a god-like being known as the DemiurgeDemiurge
The demiurge is a concept from the Platonic, Neopythagorean, Middle Platonic, and Neoplatonic schools of philosophy for an artisan-like figure responsible for the fashioning and maintenance of the physical universe. The term was subsequently adopted by the Gnostics...
from the planet, ridding Earth of its influence. He fails, but the Demiurge impregnates a Monican male with its child. Trevor captures the Monican and takes him to his Tower, where he gives birth to a being similar (if not identical) to the original Demiurge, re-introducing the Demiurge's influence on humanity. This being later saves the Monican's lover from certain death, although it is unclear whether or not the Demiurge survives. It should be noted that perception was a major theme of this episode. At the beginning of the episode, Trevor is heard speaking of perception and significance, and when the lover of the Monican implanted with the Demiurge's offspring tries to crush a box with a glowing, three-eyed cat inside fails to do so and walks away from it, it is shown to the audience that it stopped glowing when no one was looking at it. The Demiurge's true power may only be the ability to alter perception and emotion.
Reraizure
Trevor is attempting to collect the entire world's population of the cannibalistic, immortal frog-like creatures known as Nargyles for his experiments. He enlists the help of a woman whose lover, Rordy, is collecting the Nargyles in a plot to exterminate them by shooting them into the sun in revenge for losing his memories as a side-effect of Bliss, the potent narcotic the Nargyles produce. Things get complicated however, when Æon Flux inadvertently kills Rordy's lover and takes her place, unaware of her involvement in Trevor's scheme.Chronophasia
Trevor and his cohorts explore an underground laboratory complex, attempting to uncover experimentation involving a virusVirus
A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea...
that causes human happiness
Happiness
Happiness is a mental state of well-being characterized by positive emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. A variety of biological, psychological, religious, and philosophical approaches have striven to define happiness and identify its sources....
. At points, he attempts to capture and/or help Æon as she undergoes a series of bizarre experiences/visions.
Ether Drift Theory
Trevor Goodchild creates an isolated ecosystemEcosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
in the shape of a giant cube suspended in a sea of paralytic fluid. The city is populated by various engineered creatures, many of which resemble humans. Æon enters the cube with the girlfriend of the chief scientist working under Goodchild only to accidentally start a chain chemical reaction that eventually destroys the entire complex. At first, Trevor is fully dedicated to protecting the project and what it represents at all costs. However, he quickly seems to become bored with it and gives up on the project entirely.
The Purge
Trevor is implementing a system of "artificial conscience" for citizens of Bregna who appear to lack one of their own, by implanting a robotic entity called a "Custodian". Æon joins a secretive group which opposes this, and eventually confronts Trevor. The effectivness of Trevor's intelligence network is displayed, as he seems to know everything about the secret group, and ambushes and captures each of its members, including Aeon. Whether or not Æon is herself implanted with a Custodian in the interim is left somewhat ambiguous.End Sinister
Trevor, in this episode, has in his possession a device which would fire a ray at the Earth, killing much of humanity but furthering the progress of evolution. Before he can accomplish this, an alien-like being is found near Trevor's compound, which he becomes obsessed with, and which agrees to take Trevor to their homeworld. Æon, after sealing herself away for centuries in suspended animation, finds that Bregna is now populated by these beings and that Trevor is still alive, attempting (in a rather ascetic manner) to emulate them. Æon, not realizing that the creatures were actually humanity's further-evolved state, uses the aforementioned ray to destroy them, leaving only herself, Trevor, and a very few "alien" survivors. The episode (and series) ends with the both of them in the same suspended-animation chamber Æon used.Film appearance
In the 2005 film adaptation of the series, numerous changes have been made to Trevor's character. He is still chairman of Bregna, and still an idealistic scientist whose methods are sometimes suspect. Among the major changes is that he is shown to be in a power struggle with his brother (a character not featured in the TV series), and as part of the film's cloningCloning
Cloning in biology is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments , cells , or...
-related plotline, it is revealed that Trevor is a seventh-generation clone created from DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
from the original Trevor Goodchild of the early 21st century, who had been married to a pre-clone version of Æon Flux. Unlike the TV series, which casts him in a morally ambiguous role (as it does all its characters), the film version makes Goodchild to be a heroic figure, whose sole motive seems to be to save the human race from extinction.