Chronophasia

I think it's been covered that the "water" she wakes up in was originally supposed to be blood, but it got censored and they changed it to water or a similar non-offensive substance. I'm not sure if the fluid they changed it to has any significance of it's own, but I'm more in the habit of passively watching rather than dissecting this episode because, unlike the rest of the show, it confuses the fuck out of me. Especially when she has all those flashbacks to stuff that happened in other episodes -- I mean what the fuck, suddenly there's continuity?

Anyway, your theory about the four names refferring to four dimensions seems a bit of a stretch, but the thing you said about "infinite possible realities" sounds interesting, and like it'd fit with the episode.

And suburban America as the peak of human happiness? I doubt it. I really doubt it. That's the corniest thing I've ever heard. And calling suburbanites a virus is a terrible stretch too (unless you were being funny, which is hard to tell over the internet).

In summary, I'm not sure what Chronophasia's really about, and honestly I don't know who is -- whoever had the most involvement in the episode, maybe? For god's sake just TELL US, we'll NEVER figure it out! The aneurysms have to stop!

My closing note: I also find the huge baby a bit on the creepy side, but have you seen this baby?
http://www.metrocast.net/~stefburk/stupid/creepy baby (stephen gammel).gif

I'm pretty sure that line is "I am before names", not "four names".

The 'ordinary life' sequence is Aeon breaking character. Which doesn't in itself make her happy. It's because she is happy that she can break character.

I thought peter wasn't involved in writing this episode?

Well, I took the ending as a statement of roles. This mostly comes from the scene where she's walking and her clothes are changing at a rapid rate. (A beautiful scene by the way.) The reason she got dizzy while the wardrobe change was going on would be because she's having to switch between the different roles she's played in life, or could have played, at an inhuman pace. One we aren't meant to endure.
The ending then shows an extreme, it show's that any one inherent personality could become any number of different people due to an infinite variety of circumstances. In Aeon's universe, or in the future of our universe, Aeon is a top spy with the skills to kill an army of soldiers single-handedly. Perhaps if she was born in this time and place she would utilize the same genetically imposed attributes to be a great soccer mom.

I took the boy as how he was presented. And Syra's right, I'm pretty sure he says "before names." I believe he is, in fact, an entity that has, is, and will always exist. He will exist in tomorrow as he does today, and he clearly has some sort of power over time and space.

I know this is a popular analysis, but I don't think Aeon dying is any sort of symbol for rebirth. I think she just keeps screwing up. She keeps dying, and the boy keeps giving her chances so that she will eventually choose the "right" path. He not only keeps changing time for her, but keeps changing circumstance, and has been waiting for this opportunity Trevor created, and even using Trevor as a tool to prepare Aeon for his gift. I guess I should say "waiting."

When I first downloaded the episode my first year in college I thought that the role the virus played in the episode was to present the theory that insanity was a means to, or a form of, enlightenment. And I was all like, "yeah, craziness is the ultimate freedom, the true form," and all that crap, but when I watched the episode again after buying the DVD’s it seemed the exact opposite was being presented. I saw that Trevor hadn't gained any sort of enlightenment, but had only lost the reason to question whether what he had was enlightenment. HE WAS MANIC!!! While the boy, who truly was “enlightened“, was calm, accepting, and patient for even what he desires most, which is Aeon. And so you ultimately end up seeing the contrast between the result of Trevor's quest for some loose ideal, and the realized version of that ideal. This realization, I believe, is what he wanted to show Aeon before giving her his, or some of his, power.

Then, if I approach the ending again, I would have to say that after Aeon received this power, she choose the role of a soccer mom over a super cool futuristic spy. Which makes me sad. Or I suppose the ending seen could show one of many scenarios that these two god like beings are living out simultaneously. That’s a lot less sad. Kinda cool actually.

Listen you guys, there is just a greatest thread from the old Greenspun board about the meaning of Chronophasia and it goes on scrolling some. I know I've promised in the past to dig up files like this that I've said or suggested I have saved, etc., and no one hears from me again or some bullshit - so anyway I'll just tell you how it went: Some professor of English or philosophy or something finally says, "I think that the child represents Death...." I tell you I fucking died - YES OF COURSE and so with that I pipe right in there telling Peter Gaffney that I think that was jsut absolute genius of instinct on his own part to write the script in such an elliptical way as to render its point in the negative space of the narrative itself, all at the same time.

I mean, I didn't catch that one coming and I am still very impressed. And Peter, it was good to see you last summer at the studios when we all got together for the new sessions (and of course at subsequent affairs most-recently since). Good job.

Chronophasia is such a beautiful episode and yeah, Peter Gaffney is a genius for writing it.

In 'finding' it I found a couple of other columns, I thought I'd post those too, for perusal because some of the comments are just fabulous and also, because there are some hilarious 'Gaffney' comments threaded in amongst them that still crack me up.

See Chronophasia? The one with the ***'s for the one you're referring to Mark. Also, the DVD in the commentary section on Chronophasia has a dialog between Howard Baker, Peter Chung, Peter Gaffney and Japhet Asher that I found really interesting to listen too.

Thank you, Barb, for looking that up.

haha i've seen that baby... my favorite story out of those books was the Wendigo. you ever read that one?

Here's one for ya...

At the begining of each show there is a prewiew of an object... an IMPORTANT object that is the key to the episodes story (such as the dead skink from Ether drift, Trevor's cigarette box from Last time for everything). But, in Chronophasia we see something that resembles a pulled-out power cord, something like that.

What is the meaning of that?