Was there any REAL connection to the original?

As far as I know, there is no real connection, this is just the same style of cartoon, no sequal at all.

tHe MuRdER CaPiTaL oF thE woRLd

"walk into this world with you head up high"

The glowing Crystal is really the only thing that makes this a heavy metal story. Because it's the same one from Heavy metal 1. It's been said by the creators themselves.

The only connection to the original is that Kevin Eastman, current owner and publisher of Heavy Metal and co-creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, was a huge fan of the magazine and movie, when he was younger. Since he made huge amounts of money from the toys, cartoons and movies based on TMNT, he bought his favorite magazine. He also scored marriage to Julie Strain, B-movie "actress" and fetish model. He turned a mediocre comic series Melting Pot, published by his own companies (Tundra and Kitchen Sink) into a vehicle for his talentless wife. The results speak for themselves. On top of it, Heavy Metal, the magazine, has been driven into the ground by Eastman. It has turned into soft-core porn, rather than a showcase for mature sci-fi, horror and erotica stories.

Yes, this sounds like a bitter old fan; but, Heavy Metal used to be a great magazine and the original movie is excellent, despite its flaws. The newer movie is juvenile beyond compare and the magazine is little more than spank material. A sad end for an improtant publication.

Yes. The connection is that the first movie is completely ripped off in FAKK 2. Almost every plot element and quite a few of the visuals in this steaming pile are present in the original Heavy Metal. The only real difference is that it's one long boring story rather than a more or less fast-paced loosely-connected anthology.

FAKK 2 (notice how I refuse to call it "Heavy Metal"?), as my56k pointed out, was made purely as a vehicle for Kevin Eastman's wife. The problem is Julie Strain CANNOT act. She never could. This becomes painfully evident in this cartoon where she has to use some talent other than her aging softcore pornstar body to sell the "film."