Daria

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Daria
Image:Dariatitle.jpg

Format Animated sitcom
Run time 22–23 Minutes
Creator Glenn Eichler
Starring Tracy Grandstaff
Wendy Hoopes
Julián Rebolledo
Amy Bennett
Country USA
Network MTV
Original run 1997 – 2001
No. of episodes 65

Daria is an animated television show created by Glenn Eichler and Susie Lewis Lynn and was a spin-off of Beavis and Butt-head. Both shows were produced by MTV's now-defunct animation department. Daria has been bought by broadcasters in more than twenty countries - see Daria International.

Daria's first incarnation was as an occasional character in Beavis and Butt-head, where she formed an intelligent foil to the two dunderheads. In her eponymous series, Daria became more angsty; to some, she's the poster child for 'teen misfit.' Voiced by Tracy Grandstaff, Daria is a bespectacled, plain, highly intelligent, unfashionably dressed, and seemingly cynical teenage girl who is portrayed as an icon of sanity in an insane household, with her vacuous, fashion-obsessed sister Quinn and career-obsessed parents Helen and Jake. While much of the show is a vehicle for Daria's droll deadpan monotone one-liners, a recurring plot element in early seasons is Daria standing up to misused authority, leading some fans to conclude that her apparent cynicism is only skin deep.

Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.

Contents

Other major characters

  • Helen Morgendorffer - (First Appearance: "Esteemsters") Daria's workaholic mother and the family's principal wage earner. She feels guilty about not being able to spend more time with her family, but as an attorney (apparently, a defense attorney), is unable to spend as much time with or attention towards her family as she'd like.
  • Jake Morgendorffer - (First Appearance: "Esteemsters") Daria's father. He had a strict military father, "Mad Dog" who is later revealed to have passed on, and tends to have mood swings and go off on rants about his childhood. His efforts to run a consulting business from home are not blessed with success. He is essentially clueless. Jake essentially blames everyone for his problems but himself, and usually becomes inordinately angry over minor life setbacks. Like Mr. O'Neill, he is caught in his own personal "black hole," utterly unable to see the world beyond the self imposed terms of his perpetual victimhood, ignorance and anxiety.
  • Jane Lane - (First Appearance: "Esteemsters") Daria's artistic best friend and fellow outcast.
  • Trent Lane - (First Appearance: "The Invitation") Jane's brother and the only other Lane still permanently residing in the Lane household. A laid-back slacker, he plays lead guitar in the band Mystik Spiral and, perhaps not surprisingly, bears a strong resemblance to Jakob Dylan of the Wallflowers. Also Daria's romantic interest for much of the series although he seemed unaware of it. His motto is "Be all that you can be. Or at least try and get up before noon"
  • Tom Sloane - (First Appearance: "Jane's Addition") First appeared as Jane's boyfriend and later became Daria's boyfriend. He belongs to one of Lawndale's richest families, but this isn't apparent from his appearance. Tom and Daria ended their relationship in the series finale (and the second Daria movie) Is it College Yet?
  • Andrea - (First Appearance: "Esteemsters") The Lawndale High Goth. Andrea's worldview could put Daria's to shame.
  • Brittany Taylor - (First Appearance: "Esteemsters") Lawndale High's head cheerleader. A bubble-brained blonde, she is popular but is often seen with Daria and Jane.
  • Kevin Thompson - (First Appearance: "Esteemsters") Lawndale High's football team's quarterback. Boyfriend to Brittany. To call him as dumb as a brick would be insulting--to the brick.
  • Jodie Landon - (First Appearance: "The Invitation") One of few black students at Lawndale High, Jodie is the quintessential overachiever, pushed by her ambitious parents.
  • Michael "Mack" Jordan MacKenzie - (First Appearance: "The Invitation") Jodie's boyfriend and also another of the few black students at Lawndale High. He is more or less of comparable intelligence to Jodie and is the Lawndale High's football team's captain. He is also the only good student on the football team. His father had his middle name legally changed from "James" to "Jordan" after seeing a Chicago Bulls playoff game when Mack was 12. Kevin calls him "Mack Daddy", which he hates more than anything.
  • Charles "Upchuck" Ruttheimer III - (First Appearance: "The Invitation") Is the world's least desirable male, with the world's worst taste in and largest arsenal of come-ons.
  • The Fashion Club:
    • Sandi Griffin - (First Appearance: "Esteemsters") The club president, or perhaps its monarch. She rules the fashion club with an iron fist. Sandi is a control freak who is intensely jealous of Quinn's popularity and ability to get what she wants.
    • Quinn Morgendorffer - (First Appearance: "Esteemsters") Daria's sister, a fashion victim? Not if she can help it! She's the club Vice-president and her main concerns are clothes, boys, and popularity. While she is intelligent, Quinn's mind is usually in the shallow end of the pool.
    • Stacy Rowe - (First Appearance: "Esteemsters") Pigtailed Stacy is the secretary of the club and appears to have no personality of her own. She is skittish, extremely insecure, and a born follower. She has developed a powerful following among Daria fans.
    • Tiffany Blum-Deckler - (First Appearance: "The Invitation") The "yes man" of the club. She'll always side with either Sandi or Quinn depending on who's winning. She is generally presented as the least intelligent of the group. An Asian girl, she speaks veeery sloooowly with a valley girl quality to her voice. She is also very self-centered (even more so than the other fashion club members.)
  • Lawndale High Teachers:
    • Ms. Janet Barch - (First Appearance: "The Lab Brat") Science teacher. She is psychotically aggressive towards all males due to a rather messy and bitter divorce, to the point of one-dimensionality. She and Mr. O'Neil have had numerous "flings" together throughout the series. She calls him "Skinny."
    • Mrs. Diane Bennett - (First Appearance: "Malled") Economics Teacher. For some obscure reason she is known primarily for her hatred of pennies. Her blackboard diagrams resemble football plays. She is usually seen executing a plan to undertake some vaguely, or barely, educational "field trip" in order to avoid actually having to teach her students anything.
    • Ms. Claire Defoe - (First Appearance: "The Invitation") Art Teacher. Most down-to-earth of the faculty and patient to a fault. Probable hippie past.
    • Mr. Anthony DeMartino - (First Appearance: "Esteemsters") History Teacher. DeMartino is stressed to the point of being put in a straitjacket. He has the habit of shouting every fifth word or so causing one of his eyes to bulge out. Dimwits like Kevin and Brittany really upset him. He seems to be an amalgam of Christopher Walken (appearance) and Kirk Douglas (speech pattern). He is chronically bitter over his low salary and disgust at the incompetence of several of his students, particularly Brittany and Kevin, who seem to be making absolutely no effort to succeed in his class, and, if their classroom performance is any indication of their abilities, may be educationally incompetent to the point of functional illiteracy and therefore thoroughly unteachable in a conventional classroom setting.
    • Ms. Angela Li - (First Appearance: "Esteemsters") Principal of Lawndale High. She is obsessed with fund raising and the school's image. Many fans assume that the interest in fund raising is because she uses the regular budget on security measures for the school, such as drug dogs, closed circuit cameras, and bulletproof skylights over the swimming pool. She will do anything to bring fame to Lawndale High. She has a slight inferiority complex, and often refuses to share any amount of control over a situation. It appears that rather than the school itself, she is mainly interested in projecting her own image and getting attention; she likely has aspirations in business or politics that go beyond being principal of Lawndale High. The obsession over security reflects her desire to control the school. Her self-aggrandizement frequently brings her into conflict with Daria and Jane, who rarely see eye to eye with either her goals, or methods of achieving them. She never says the name "Lawndale High" without affecting a tone of awe and reverence.
    • Mr. Timothy O'Neil - (First Appearance: "Esteemsters") English Teacher. Sensitive "new age guy" who is always talking about feelings but doesn't have a very good grip on his own emotions. Cries easily. Acidic Ms. Barch and this creampuff seem an odd match. He also tends to have a problem remembering students' names, or faces. More than any other aspect of his personality, Mr. O'Neill is apparently trapped in his own personal "black hole," unable to relate to anyone at the school, or in his personal life. He reflects everything he experiences through his own twisted lens of spinelessness and over-compensation for his desire to avoid even the appearence of conflict at all costs. This usually leads to his being either utterly misunderstood, effectively told to shut up, or simply ignored.
    • Mrs. Margaret Manson - (First Appearance: "Esteemsters") School psychologist. She only has one speaking role, in episode 101 "Esteemsters", in which she declares Daria has self-esteem issues. She seems underqualified for her job, and she spews psychological jargon and buzzwords that few can decipher.
  • Rita - (First Appearance: "I Don't") Helen's sister. Rita and Helen have an ongoing fight from childhood, and never get along. Helen is still bitter about the fact that Rita was the favorite child, and that she is always receiving financial assistance from their mother while Helen has had to work hard for everything she has.
  • Amy - (First Appearance: "I Don't") Helen's other sister. Daria sees her as the "cool one." She stays out of Helen and Rita's fights, for the most part. She is seen by many fans as a foreshadowing of what Daria may grow up to be. The physical resemblance between them (especially when Amy dons glasses) is noteworthy.

Trivia

  • When the show began in 1997, Daria and her family just moved from Highland to the affluent town of Lawndale.
  • The only television program Daria is shown to watch is Sick, Sad World (however, only the preview or commercial break of the show is shown before Daria turns it off in most cases) , the Daria team's spoof of sensationalist oddity programs. (Excepting the clip from Charlie's Angels shown in "Murder, She Snored" before the dream sequence begins.)
  • Production of each half-hour episode took ten months to a year, from concept to post-production.
  • European fansite The Irony Maiden ran a competition to find the Easter egg on the DVD release of Is It College Yet? (a Beavis and Butthead short accessible via the yellow line on Daria's graduation gown in the main menu). A fan calling himself John T won.
  • Tom Sloane's surname is possibly a reference to denote his family's old money status by alluding to their British counterparts, dubbed Sloane Rangers.

Episodes

Season 1

  1. "Esteemsters"
  2. "The Invitation"
  3. "College Bored"
  4. "Cafe Disaffecto"
  5. "Malled"
  6. "This Year's Model"
  7. "The Lab Brat"
  8. "Pinch Sitter"
  9. "Too Cute"
  10. "The Big House"
  11. "Road Worrier"
  12. "The Teachings of Don Jake"
  13. "The Misery Chick"

Season 2

  1. "Arts 'N Crass"
  2. "The Daria Hunter"
  3. "Quinn the Brain"
  4. "I Don't"
  5. "That Was Then, This Is Dumb"
  6. "Monster"
  7. "The New Kid"
  8. "Gifted"
  9. "Ill"
  10. "Fair Enough"
  11. "See Jane Run"
  12. "Pierce Me"
  13. "Write Where it Hurts"

Season 3

  1. "Daria!"
  2. "Through a Lens Darkly"
  3. "The Old and the Beautiful"
  4. "Depth Takes a Holiday"
  5. "Daria Dance Party"
  6. "The Lost Girls"
  7. "It Happened One Nut"
  8. "Lane Miserables"
  9. "Jake of Hearts"
  10. "Speedtrapped"
  11. "The Lawndale File"
  12. "Just Add Water"
  13. "Jane's Addition"

Season 4

  1. "Partner's Complaint"
  2. "Antisocial Climbers"
  3. "A Tree Grows in Lawndale"
  4. "Murder, She Snored"
  5. "The F Word"
  6. "I Loathe a Parade"
  7. "Of Human Bonding"
  8. "Psycho Therapy"
  9. "Mart of Darkness"
  10. "Legends of the Mall"
  11. "Groped by an Angel"
  12. "Fire!"
  13. "Dye! Dye! My Darling"

First movie

  • Is It Fall Yet?

Season 5

  1. "Fizz Ed"
  2. "Sappy Anniversary"
  3. "Fat Like Me"
  4. "Camp Fear"
  5. "The Story of D"
  6. "Lucky Strike"
  7. "Art Burn"
  8. "One J at a Time"
  9. "Life in the Past Lane"
  10. "Aunt Nauseam"
  11. "Prize Fighters"
  12. "My Night at Daria's"
  13. "Boxing Daria"

Second movie

  • Is It College Yet?

Airing information

Daria first aired on MTV in the USA, and is now showing there as reruns on The N, the young teens timeblock on children's educational network Noggin, at 3:00 US eastern time. These reruns have been criticised by American Daria fans for being edited for content, occasionally rendering remaining portions of the show almost unintelligible, or wiping out subplots and subtext.

The rights to show Daria have been bought by a number of broadcasters outside the USA: Daria International lists airing information for more than 25 countries.

MTV2 UK and TMF (The Music Factory UK) show Daria episodes in the UK. The ABC in Australia has also shown the program during its children's programming timeslots.

Censorship of Daria, and the lack of an uncensored DVD release of the show's run

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What is particularly unusual about the heavy censorhip of Daria on The N, as well as the absence of several episodes from circulation, is that several themes that are also controversial appear uncensored in the channel's live action programming, such as Degrassi: The Next Generation, which frequently deals with sex and drug use, and even has developed a catch phrase slogan in its advertising: "Degrassi: it goes there." This likely reflects an innate prejudice that merely because Daria is animated, it must be for children, and therefore must be heavily censored.

This attitude towards animation explains why shows like Daria aren't more common, since most cartoons in the United States are nowhere near as cynical as Daria, which portrays surburban high school as a shallow experience defined by the narcissistic, selfish and uninformed attitudes and desires of, not only the teens and children on the show, but also the adults and parents. It is easy to understand why such an unflattering view of American society didn't last long, and exists now only in a heavily censored version imprisoned in a 4am - 5am dead air timeslot.

Daria's cynicism and critical view of several aspects of business, educational, and social engineering practices and outcomes that were becoming prevalent in the United States during the show's run may also explain why an unexpurgated DVD release of the show's entire run has not yet come to fruition. For instance, the episode where a soda company invades the high school with its marketing portrays a very anti-business attitude, which may clash with the mercantile goals of the company that would have the ability to release Daria into widespread circulation on DVD. This conflict of interest may explain why the mainstream media is uncomfortable with a show such as Daria, which is savagely critical of its goals and method of achieving them.

Tapes and DVDs

A number of VHS tapes have been issued, mostly in PAL format. Two DVDs are available, ostensibly coded for Region One (North America) but found by fans to be region-free. More information on this page. Fans are campaigning for a DVD release of every episode, uncut. By May 2005, 2,210 people had voted for Daria at TV Shows on DVD, bringing the show to 18th in the list of most-wanted unreleased DVDs.

In July 2004, fan Michelle Klein-Hass reported that MTV was currently investigating options for a DVD release of more Daria episodes; she quoted Glenn Eichler as saying: "[T]here's no distributor and no release date but what there is is very strong interest from MTV in putting Daria out, and steady activity toward making that a reality."

Books

Games

  • Daria's Sick Sad Life Planner; Pearson Software 1999
  • Daria's Inferno; Pearson Software 2000


Fan community

Perhaps unsurprisingly for a show whose heroine shuns crowds, most of the interaction among fans tends to take place online. Discussions take place in Usenet group alt.tv.daria, on the IRC channel #Daria+, and in fansite message boards (listed below).

Fan conventions are small, informal gatherings and run on a not-for-profit basis by fans who often host them in their own homes. All the Dariacons listed at Dariacon Central have been gatherings of adults, and organisers have made no effort to attract younger fans; indeed, they've discouraged or prohibited the attendance of children.

Fans have made an attempt to continue the show in their own way. They do this by writing fan fiction and creating Fan Artwork. It has been estimated that there now exists well over 3,000 fan fiction works and hundreds of pieces of Fan Artwork. Some of the websites listed below report receiving hundreds of visitors each day.

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Websites

Message boards

IRC channel

Usenet newsgroup

Blogs and news sources

  • DVDaria works to gather support to have Daria released on DVD.
  • The Daria fandom blog keeps visitors up to date with the daily occurrences on the major Daria forums and websites as well as listing new fanfiction and fan artworks.
  • The Daria News Archive reports on Daria on TV, official tape and DVD releases, and Dariacons, with stories going back to October 2000.
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