I read an interview with Peter Chung somewhere recently, and he was talking about Chronophasia... Strange, considering it's the one episode he didn't have any part in ... but anyway...

He was talking about those recurring scenes where Aeon wakes up on a slab surrounded by puddles of mysterious liquid. According to Pete, they originally wanted to make these pools blood, but BS&P didn't allow them to. Chung says this totally screwed up the whole story - any thoughts? What would it do to the show if those pools were blood? Would you interpret it any differently?

-- Charles Martin (cmmartin@princeton.edu), October 17, 1998

Answers

Well, it would almost certainly confirm that Aeon had actually died, nulling some speculation of time loops and dreams. At the very least, it would be a sinister indication that _someone_ was suffering.

The blood was removed not to change the story, but because it was considered too strong an image for TV (the same thing happened with Sybil's amputation in Thanatophobia). Obviously, this is ludicrously hypocritical.

-- Philip Mills (philip.mills@cableinet.co.uk), October 17, 1998.

The idea was that she is supposed to wake up and not know whose blood it is. Is it hers? Someone's she killed? She first suspects the baby killed the people, then the boy, then she faces the idea that maybe she killed them. Perhaps it's supposed to be the colonist's blood?

-- Frostbite (foo@bar.com), October 19, 1998.

Remember that Aeon herself, before she "reduces the variables," says "I've died twice..." We didn't need the blood to know she died. Whose blood it could be is a great question. The ooze I interpret as the baby's spittle--having dripped from its mouth as it screams into Aeon...

-- (rach@earthlink.net), October 23, 1998.

I, as well, interpretted the ooze as the Baby's saliva. And, ideed, if it were blood, it would be seen a bit differently.

-- Jenny (moon.unit@erols.com), December 14, 1998.