Daria in 'Is It Fall Yet?'

"Daria," as I've said before, stood out like a rose in a cesspool among MTV's lineup. This TV movie from the fourth season takes a standard gambit in teen movies - the summer vacation - and turns it into a hilarious and sensitive tale that (unlike "Is It College Yet?," the feature-length series finale) has no padding whatsoever, and all the better for it.

"Is It Fall Yet?" has everyone's favourite introvert shanghaied into serving as a counsellor at Mr. O'Neill's It's OK To Cry Corral ("What about my feelings? What about my rights?... What about my bribe?"), while her sister Quinn spends the summer under tutorship to the horror of her Fashion Club friends; meanwhile, Kevin and Brittany are lifeguards (!), Mack is working off a debt to his father while Jody is doing pretty much everything under the sun, and Jane's going to an art colony where, among other things that bother her, she gets hit on by another woman. Not that Daria's own love life is too peaceful, with her relationship with Tom going through a rough patch...

"Daria: The Movie" (as it's also called) is the show at its best; not only is it as effective in showing us what it's like for the unpopular, non-mainstream kids as ever, but this time it actually gives Quinn some development - she and Daria are closer here than they've ever been. I've always liked Daria, but for the first time I actually found myself feeling for Quinn as well; just one of many pleasures from this TV movie. Ironic, well observed and with a merciful lack of the self-adoration that so often blights MTV, this is a treat for series fans... and even some others may find themselves agreeing with how Miss Morgendorffer concluded one episode - "You gotta admit, there are some pretty choice moments."

Nobody who has ever seen Beavis and Butt-head could've imagined that the universe of one of the supporting characters would turn out like this. The opening theme is a spoof of those beach blanket movies of the early-1960's, and the theme song can only be described as an anti-Beach Boys song.

Our beloved heroine Daria Morgendorffer(Tracy Grandstaff)spends the summer feeling guilty over how she ended up with Jane's ex-boyfriend Tom, who we find is the son of one of the co-owners of the investment firm Grace, Sloane & Paige. Jane, hoping to escape the turmoil of her relationships with Tom and Daria spends the summer at an artists' colony, which turns out to be populated with a bunch of pretentious snobs. When a tattooed girl named Alison(Alternative rocker Bif Naked)makes sarcastic remarks about a "mentor"(voiced by the Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl), Jane thinks she may've found a new partner-in-crime. Unfortunately, she turns out to want something from Jane that Daria never wanted... her BODY! Fans have often speculated Daria and Jane are closet lesbians, simply because they aren't girly-girls. This movie tries to raise the issue and put it to rest, yet both characters remain lesbian icons in some circles.

Speaking of girly-girls, Daria's normally happy-go-lucky sister Quinn fears her grades are keeping her from attending a party college, and ends up getting a tutor named David Sorenson(former TRL host Carson Daly), who's not as swayed by her good looks and charms as other boys. And though she tries to keep her tutoring a secret, fashion club rival Sandi uses it to try to humiliate her, but as usual this backfires and makes her more popular. When the other girls give him a try, Sorenson realizes that Quinn is the only member of the fashion four who takes his lessons seriously. But what he doesn't realize is that there's more to this than Quinn's desire to get a passing grade... she actually starts to fall in love with him. But does he feel the same? Meanwhile, Jodie Landon and M.J. "Mack" MacKenzie will end up spending another summer apart from each other. Lawndale itself does not realize the misery it'll face when Kevin Thompson and Brittany Taylor are hired as...LIFEGUARDS!!

Like Daria, Anthony DeMartino ends up spending the summer at Mr. O'Neill's summer camp program called the "It's Okay to Cry Corral," and if Daria doesn't have enough of a reason to cry already, she befriends a nerdy angst-filled kid named Link, who's more pessimistic than she is. When Mr. D takes his hatred of Kevin Thompson out on a camp bully with a painting of a football player, he actually becomes popular and respected for the first time since who knows when. And when Mr. D. gets fed up with the touchy-feeliness of the camp and takes the kids on a hike in the woods, his popularity with the kids is sealed.

The longest song ever performed by Mystik Spiral "Freakin' Friends" is a clear plea for Daria & Jane to maintain their friendship. And after seeing Daria secretly harbor(and deny) a crush on Trent in seasons one, two, and much of three, we get to find out how she handles having a boyfriend for real. The only people who would be disappointed with this movie are those who expect Tom to be evil and hope for a street-brawl between him and Trent. Every other Daira fan, will find something they like about it, even if they don't think it's the best Daria episode/movie ever.

Being perhaps one of the best teen animated series on television and the only program on MTV that deserves attention of anyone with a bit of intelligence is hard enough but Daria continues to impress its viewers with the release of the first original movie "Is It Fall Yet?" It stars... Daria, a teenage goddess of sarcasm and wit. Along with her sibling, parents, Bohemian friend and the rest of the regular Daria cast, the movie introduces some surprising new developments which I am not going to give away.

Although Daria has a wide audience, most likely, people who watch it are between the ages of 12 and 25. Younger audiences might simply not understand the dialogue (and some of the socio-cultural references) and older folks... well, especially the baby boom generation will find it tough to relate to it. Despite that, if you enjoy a healthy dosage of sarcasm and need to get away from the stupidity around you, I welcome anyone to watch the movie, whether you are new to the show or have been a dedicated fan since the start.

clever, as is anything daria-related. it was nice to finally see daria head out into the dating scene. i think this movie helped to show just why daria and jane are friends, and was hilarious in the process. it's always nice to see MTV do something SMART once and a while. i really didn't see ANY downside to this movie at all- it was even funnier than most episodes. and it gave the daria crew a chance to grow up a little more.

I have a confession. Even though I am an adult and parent of a teen, I watched all the Daria TV shows and movies when they first aired. Apparently, this show aimed at teens is something I could still enjoy--even though I am an old fuddy-duddy! Recently I bought copies of the two Daria movies. I would have bought the entire show, but so far they have not been released! How MTV could do that or allow the shows to have been rebroadcast a few years ago on Noggin (chopped up in many cases as well as only showing about half the episodes) is beyond me.

If you have never seen the DARIA television show or if a cartoon about teens isn't something that would interest you, then you might not particularly love IS IT FALL YET?. However, being a high school teacher and having two teens of my own, this insightful and funny movie is terrific.

At the onset, I need to point out that the quality of the animation for all the DARIA shows and movies is very poor--something typical of almost all the MTV cartoons. However, despite this, the writing is so good and so dead-on that I highly recommend this to anyone--especially those with an irreverent sense of humor.

First let's give a general overview of the main character, then let's discuss the film. Daria is a high schooler who is both very bright and very cognizant that many of her contemporaries are idiots. She and her best friend, Jane, are the definite odd-balls on campus as they have no interest in fitting in and they are just biding their time until they can graduate! Additionally, they spend most of their time together making commentaries about the idiocy of the students and faculty of Lawndale High School--commentaries that are extremely accurate.

This movie is about the summer before their senior year and Daria and Jane's relationship is very strained due to Daria's poor decision to date Jane's ex-boyfriend. Not unexpectedly, most of the summer is spent apart--Jane at an art camp and Daria working as a counselor at a touchy-feely camp run by Mr. O'Neill. The film not only follows their summer, but also that of several other Lawndale High's students as well.

The movie is quite angst-filled as well as very insightful and funny. Teens and parents alike should be able to see a bit of themselves and their classmates in the characters--though of course in an over-the-top manner. For example, while empty-headed jocks are something we all can relate to, finding one as dumb as Kevin is a tough assignment! The only reservations I have at all about the film are the quality of the animation (but I looked past this very quickly and it didn't in any way inhibit my ability to enjoy the movie) and a brief scene involving bisexuality. For teens, this isn't particularly a problem. As a school teacher, I know that teens talk about this a lot--probably too much. But for younger audiences, parents should be aware of this.