I recall long ago watching two shorts on Liquid Television (the too-short-lived MTV show) that made my hair stand on end–in addition to, of course, Aeon Flux and some early Beavis & Butthead. The trouble is, I don’t know their titles or creators, and so I can’t go look up more work by the same people. Now that I have disposable income, I’d like to get some of these treasures before they’re out of print and unavailable.
A man participates in a NASCAR-like league of extremely high-speed hovercraft racers. He happens to have latent telekinetic powers, and is able to cause mechanical failures in his opponents’ hovercrafts. The wreckage is spectacular, and his tinkering is untraceable–until a reporter enters his room for an interview and finds the driver having a nightmare, and all the furniture in his room levitating. Not sure what happens in the end, but the art and imagery were awesome. Anime, approx. 10 minutes, silent (?)
A snake chases an egg through a psychedelic Rube Goldberg-like maze of wires, tunnels, and windmills. Claymation or computer animated, under 5 min., accompanied by music.
What are these shorts called, who made them, and what else by these artists is available?
I wonder if #1 is the same short I’m convinced inspired Cake’s " The Distance." Does he die during a race or is the nightmare the end of it? Man, liquid Television deserves full series DVD release…
I -believe- the end is him riding the race endlessly with his vehicle on fire or somesuch. Whether it is real or the nightmare is left up to the viewer.
Okay, I just re-watched it and it seems the main character, Zack Hugh, just gives up and self-destructs. It looks like, after he wins the race, it appears he’s chasing ghosts (perhaps of other drivers he’s destroyed) and finally catches them at the cost of his own life. After that race, the whole “circus” is shutdown.
A short that I saw only once - a retelling of the old “Vanishing Hitchhiker” urban legend, but filmed in grainy black-and-white using Barbie Dolls…very creepy. I wasn’t able to find a description of it the last time I searched for Liquid Television tapes, but if someone could at least tell me that* they saw it too* I would be eternally grateful. I haven’t yet ruled out the possibility that the entire thing was an elaborate NyQuil hallucination.
I always loved Stick Figure Theater. And it was a long time before I realized that the backgrounds were different pieces of paper, like a waitress’ or yellow legal pad.
I loved the show, and I’m trying to remember what other shorts were on it. I know I liked Crazy Daisy Ed, and I know I hated Dog Boy.
Winter Steele appeared on Liquid T.V. Claymation - emotionally dysfunctional biker girl searches across America to find her one true love “Blue” (dysfunctional biker guy with drug/alcohol problem). Halarious.
Dog Boy was stupid, but amusing at the same time. I liked the plastic molded wigs.
There was a website at one point called Stick Figure Death Theather, using Flash. I don’t know where it would be, but one could google it, I suppose.
I always liked Winter Steele and Aeon Flux the best, even if the latter was confusing at times. I always thought it was cool when she would trap the bug in her eyelashes.
The first time I saw B&B on the show, I hated it-“Frog Baseball?” But then the show itself came on, and I became a huge fan. Hehehehehe…yeahaha…I said “came on…” ehehehehehe…
Was Liquid Television a show in itself or a time slot for bizarre animations? I remember Cartoon Sushi and I would do anything to get a copy of the skits played on it.
