Daria: Adieu le lycée

I've mention earlier that I'm a huge "Daria" fan. When MTV finally aired the "Is It College Yet", I stayed tune for it and I did not budge until it was over. As I watched it, I began to realize how much the characters have developed over the past five years (well, actually two years in Lawndale time. It sure is sad to see them go.

All in all, I was really impressed with it, but I'm afraid to say anymore without giving away the story.

I totally loved this show. It's full of crazy characters (Daria's dad in particular) and hilarious stereotypes (who sadly reoccur with frightening frequency in real life). Plus it's the second show to be spun-off from Beavis and Butthead (King of the Hill being the first). It's weird to think of them all existing in the same world.

What separates Daria from other popular animation such as The Simpson's or Family Guy is the character interaction. In some places Daria almost feels like a drama, giving it a touch more integrity.

She's a tough girl to love. Daria basically has no faith in anything but her own judgment. It's makes a little bit hard to get close to her but she is a proud outsider in a mad world.

This DVD features the last (extended) episode of Daria making it to college and what happens once her High School life is over. There are two bonus episodes (Boxing Daria and Lucky Strike) included. The DVD is in 1.33:1 as drawn, the colors are bright and clear as is the Dolby 2.0 soundtrack.

There are very few original programmes on MTV that I can be encouraged to watch, and even fewer that actually reward the effort; to be precise, apart from "House of Style" - the Crawford Years, of course - the only one is "Daria." (Sorry fans of "The Osbournes," but reality TV is not my thing.)

Basically a feature-length final episode of the show, "Is It College Yet?" follows the ever-introspective Miss Morgendorffer and her friends and enemies as graduation and college near. Having not managed to see the show for a while thanks to MTV UK's idiotic scheduling (although bless Channel 5 for showing it terrestrially), it was a surprise to see that Daria had actually managed to get herself a boyfriend (and yet Quinn hadn't? Oh well).

In this opus things come to a head between her and Tom while she's pitching to go to Raft as opposed to the "better" Bramwell; Quinn gets a summer job at a restaurant and launches a drinking problem that plays a bit too much like a bad After School Special for comfort; Jane is unsure about going to college and pursuing her dreams as an artist; Jody doesn't want to go to a place where she'll be seen as the token black; and one of the characters (not Quinn) turns out to not be moving on from school, a subplot which really would have benefitted from a bit more depth... as opposed to the thread dealing with the lovelife of Mr. O'Neill, which would have benefitted from not being there at all.

The movie is a bit of a stretch in a 90-minute slot, and there are some elements (like Sandy losing her voice and the aforementioned O'Neill problem) that practically scream "padding," but Daria, Jane, Trent and the rest are as sparky as ever, and the movie does manage to wrap up the series in a fairly satisfactory fashion. "Is It College Yet?" isn't the show at its best, but it was always a gem in MTV's lineup, and the departure of "Daria" means more room for "Celebrity Deathmatch," "The Real World," "Videoclash," "Essential Insert-Name-Of-Rubbish-Pop-Star-Here"...

"Daria" 1997-2002. A "My So-Called Life" in a world of "Saved by the Bell"s.

When it was announced last year that 'Daria' was coming to an end, I have to admit I was disappointed. Then, when MTV aired the season five finale "Boxing Daria," I could only wonder how the 'Daria' crew could top it in the series finale. Unfortunately (?), they could not. However, the crew _did_ manage to put together a send-off that was very good, though not perfect.

The inevitable plot about graduation is the the main focus here, and remains interesting throughout. However, the secondary plots range from intriguing to not very good at all. I'm not going to go into great detail, but a few of my favorite situations were Quinn & Lindy's and Jane's. The most uninteresting (and one that could've been bettered with more exploration) were those with Brittany and Kevin. But even there we the viewers are thrown a few [small] redeeming bones. The best thing about these stories is that they weren't clearly wrapped up, leaving it up to the viewers to decide what happens. In a time where so many storylines are wrapped in neatly tied packages, this is quite a nice thing.

So, although this movie isn't as good as the best 'Daria,' it was still wholly entertaining through and through. It's sad that it's all over, but as creator Glenn Eichler said, they wanted to (and did) go out on a high note. Easy B+/8 material here, but it has the advantage of being a part of 'Daria'...9/10.

But unlike most sequels that doesn't make it bad. The series-ending TV Movie is still up to the standards that made Daria the great show that it was. You don't need Daria's I.Q. to realize no TV show lasts forever, but the fact that a sixth season couldn't come before the obviously rushed series finale is still disappointing enough. In any case I'm going to weight the pros and cons now.

The case against "Is It College Yet?"

1)The Fate of Daria and Tom: It was abrupt and disappointing, but fortunately not over-dramatic. Despite the fact that Tom and the Sloanes made every effort to help Daria join him at Bromwell, she ends up having to settle for Raft, and ends her relationship with Tom permanently. What's also disappointing is that she finds out after calling it quits with Tom that he looks up to her. And this after she made comments about feeling like she's too unworthy of the Sloanes and their inner circle. Boy, if she only knew this earlier.

2)Upchuck no longer went out with Stacy: Ever since the episode "Life in the Past Lane" we all were surprised that Stacy would be willing to spend any time with Upchuck. I know he'd have to have a reputation for being an annoying flirt that lasts beyond his magic show, but to still be looking for love after finding someone earlier? Frankly, I expected something better of him.

3)The Quinn-Lindy Subplot: A little too much like an ABC Afterschool Special for many.

4)Too many unanswered questions: The main reason Daria was such a great show was her snide remarks at the people around her. But with a lot of these people, there's more to them than meets the eye. Lots of fans, including myself were looking for more insight into what makes the supporting cast tick. Why is Stacy such an emotional cripple? Why don't we see Jodie's little Sister anywhere else but "The Daria Database?" Is Mack's father really as sports-crazy as Kevin's? And so on, and so forth.

The Case for "Is It College Yet?"

1)Daria and Jane graduate easily. Brittany and the rest of the cheerleaders do to, but I wouldn't let that worry me.

2)Andrew and Michele Landon are finally vindicated as good parents: I could see this already in the episode "Prize Fighters," when some web-fans were still debating the notion that the Landon parents might be abusive to their kids. They actually give in to Jodie's feelings and allow her to go to Turner College.

3)Kevin doesn't graduate: The only bad thing about it is that Mr. DeMartino is going to have to deal with him for at least another year. If he thinks seeing Mrs. Barch and Mr. O'Neill together gave him a good reason to bang his head on the goalposts, a few more senior years with Kevin Thompson will make him take a one-way trip to Chicago so he can jump off the Sears Tower.

4)Daria's graduation speech: Those of us who have been fans of Daria since the days of Beavis and Butt-head know very little could prevent Daria from graduating from High School, but the surprise chance for a speech at her graduation transcends beyond Daria fandom. It rings true for anybody who hated their life in high school. Years ago in my user comment on the regular series I said that the legacy of Daria should last even if the show doesn't, and that speech gives me some confidence that it will. Overall, we'll have no more or less reason to dread the future than we did before.

5)It's Daria -- How can anyone resist?

Glenn Eichler said in an interview that many fans have mistaken Daria for a super-girl, and as we've learned since Season Four, she's anything but perfect and this fact is emphasized here. Still, she says what many if not most fans want to say to their elders and superiors, and that's one of the reasons why we like her. It may not seem socially acceptable to think that a two-dimensional teenage girl could be an outlet for our frustration at the world, but none of us should forget that decades ago a Minnesota man named Charles Schulz proved it was possible with a little boy named Charlie Brown.

We'll miss you, Daria, and all your jabs at the stupidity around you...and around us. Hopefully we won't miss as many of the cast and crew that made your show as good as it was.