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STUDIO: Paramount / MTV
MSRP: $72.99
RATED: Not Rated
RUNNING TIME: 66 minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES:
• Nothing for the standalone films
The Pitch
Daria gets a television movie for her last hurrah.
The Humans
Tracy Grandstaff, Wendy Hoopes, Julián Rebolledo, Russell Hankin and Nora Laudani
The Nutshell
Daria and Jane are finally coming back together in their final days of being High Schoolers. Lawndale is getting ready to send our favorite kids off to college and some pals aren’t willing to say goodbye yet. Quinn is discovering new friends outside of the Fashion Club, while Tom keeps hanging around in the periphery. College is beckoning and everyone has to figure out where they’re going next year. Will Jane and Daria venture off together or end their friendship on Graduation Day? All of these questions and more will be answered in Is It College Yet.
You see that little fuck on the right. The real voice actor for this fucking kid is married to Christina Hendricks. That’s right, America! Upchuck is married to TITS MCGEE herself. How long did he have to drain Satan’s barbed cock to land that sort of deal?
The Lowdown
Daria – Is it College Yet serves
as the official last word for the Daria franchise. Series Creator Glenn Eichler felt that there was no more story left to tell and MTV wanted the space to run more crappy reality shows. Daria and Jane are slowly growing back together as friends, while Tom is pushed away. Quinn is starting to realize that she doesn’t need the Fashion Club, while embracing the fact that you don’t have to be dumb to be a popular girl. Hell, Jake and Helen Morgendorffer are starting to realize that they haven’t been paying enough attention to the girls. The sad thing about all of this is that when you hit that point of realization for all of these characters, it’s time to leave. Everyone on the show was secondary to Daria, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t get to grow either. It’s just that MTV isn’t going to keep a show about Jane Lane on the air.
The purpose of the movie is to finish Daria’s emotional journey. Following the first movie, then Season 5 and now the second movie; we see that Daria has finally become well-rounded. Cynicism only gets you so far, but you’ve got to realize that being an adult requires a degree of warmth. By allowing herself to open up, Daria has discovered that she can have room for others in her life with keeping her traditional attitude. When Daria doesn’t get chosen as Valedictorian, you almost feel that like she was cheated. But, there’s a special moment towards the end of the movie that has a much-earned sense of heart.
When you look at Daria, Jane and Quinn; you see three young women who have grown up before your eyes. That’s not to say that they’re going to head to college as better people. They’ve just been shaped into realistic women with different sets of goals and dreams. While Beavis and Butthead will never escape the white trash ghetto, these girls have a future that’s more than a little bright. Ideals while compromised, still fair stronger than expected in the face of reality. I think it speaks a great deal about MTV that I care more about animated characters than anyone who has appeared on their channel in the last decade.
In the end, Daria left MTV before it all went to shit. Five years and a shred of dignity is more than most people get in the Entertainment world and Daria remains unscathed in our hearts. I eagerly await new fans discovering the characters for the first time, as I’m not sure how the last ten years have changed tastes. Does individuality still matter in such a conformist age? Will we always be locked in an Us vs. Them attitude or can we ever escape it? As an adolescent, adversity helps to define who we are as people. Hopefully, we’ve grown up since then. It’s time for a new generation to endure the struggle.
Oh the places you will go. Such moist, dark and frightening places.
The Package
The final disc in the set doesn’t really come with any extra special features for the Daria movies. However, it’s worth noting that the cut presented here is the edited rebroadcast version. There was a little under ten minutes of material cut after the initial broadcast. Most of that is what was deemed excessive dialogue from Quinn at the Restaurant and the later Lawndale High bridge sequences. It’s not the worst thing, but you’re left wondering why the original cut couldn’t have been presented. Someone should ask Glenn Eichler about it.