Any Daria fans on this board? I picked up the box set for my wife for her birthday and after seeing the entire run from start to finish I was very impressed by the quality of the series. It’s crazy to think the show was unavailable in any non-bootleg fashion for 8 years until this release, but better late than never.
It’s an unusual animated series in that the characters do actually develop and grow over time. Even the stereotypes aren’t entirely one-dimensional, and it’s very interesting to note the subtle ways that the main characters change as a result of their interactions over the years.
I’d always liked the show, but had only ever seen a few episodes here and there. Watching the entire thing in order gives me a new respect for what the creators and actors accomplished in making a series that takes a perspective on high school that’s not commonly seen on television.
How does the DVD release hold up with the new soundtrack? My understanding was that they had to remove or replace most of the music from the original run because they couldn’t re-license it.
Aside from a couple of episodes where they originally had a very fitting song with a meta-joke or two missing the punchline, it holds up surprisingly well. One example is when Daria, Jane, and Trent are on a roadtrip and Trent makes a comment about how everything is just like in that REM video, well that makes a hell of a lot more sense if they were playing the REM song from said video. However, out of 25 hours of show, we’re talking about maybe a minute of two where the lack is actually noticable.
It’s a shame in that it’s not as 100% perfect as it could be, but it is realistically as good as it’s probably going to get at this point. The replacement music isn’t bad and 99.9% of the time doesn’t detract from the brilliance of the show one bit.
Honestly, I never realized they had as many episodes as they did. 65 spread across 5 seasons plus two movies. The box set is well worth it. There were maybe only a couple iffy episodes and most are pure genius. I would say the show actually peaked in season 5 - no easy task - and it ends at its best rather than slowly burning out. I’d almost like to see a Daria - The College Years, but acknowledge that’s pretty much never going to happen. The box set has sold over 100k already so I think MTV may have underestimated how many people enjoyed Daria.
Only thing I’d note is that one of the movies takes place between S4 and S5 and the other is the series finale, however both are on the last disc. If you watch the series disc-by-disc you’ll want to stop at the end of S4 and put the last disc in to watch “Is it Fall Yet?” before starting S5 as otherwise the beginning of S5 will make less sense (yeah, they did some continuous story arcs for the final seasons which were quite good and added drama on top of the usual comedic satire).
My wife and I just watched the complete set over the course of a couple weeks, and it’s really very good. I never got the chance to watch it when it was on TV, so I can’t compare to the original soundtrack runs, but I don’t think it needs the original music to be appreciated as an encapsulation of teenage life in the '90s, an Americana for a cynical time.
Regarding character development, it’s true that many of the characters do evolve out of some of their base stereotypes by the end of the run. I kind of see the entire run of Daria as a Pinocchio story, where Daria slowly discovers how to be a real girl.
I didn’t realize that Daria ran until 2002. It’s hard to imagine it being made even today, given the combination of unglamorous protagonist, dry wit, and pacing. I imagine that the show reads slower without the original music cues to pep up the action and fill in some dead spots. I’d be very interested to hear people’s opinions on how much the show resonated with them, because I’m frankly amazed that the show managed to find an audience that kept it going for 5 seasons.
It also occurs to me that if they made the show today, everybody would assume Daria had Asperger’s / autism of some sort.
Incidentally, my wife discovered that full original music episodes are available on youtube by searching for “Dar1a”, if you’re interested in comparison.
Karen and I loved this show when it first ran–it’s probably the last thing we ever watched on MTV. I’ll definitely have to look into getting the boxed set.
Whenever I hear something crazy on the news, I still mentally add “…Coming up next, on Sick Sad World!”
This link has some of the sample lines. All were recorded by Tracy Grandstaff, the original voice actress. Pretty good stuff - shame I just use Google Navigation on my Android phone for my GPS needs.
With the release of Daria, the only thing remaining on my DVD wishlist is the third season of The Tick.
I wasn’t particularly bothered by the music replacement. I mean, there were a good songs in there, but there was also a lot of Offspring, Blink182, etc. I wasn’t watching Daria for the music, I was watching it for lines like:
Daria - Do you think, um, a familiar face might cheer you up?
Jane - What do you mean? Like floating in space over the bed, saying my name over and over again in a creepy voice?
Daria: I don’t have low self-esteem. I have low esteem for everyone else.
Jake: How’re you doing, kiddo?
Daria: Fine. I heard a new voice inside my head.
Helen: Daria, you’re just kidding about the voice, right?
Daria: Relax, we don’t have to answer that.
Daria: Stand firm for what you believe in, until and unless logic and experience prove you wrong. Remember, when the emperor looks naked, the emperor is naked. The truth and a lie are not “sorta the same thing.” And remember - there’s no aspect, no facet, no moment of life that can’t be improved with pizza.
Maxx was pretty good. The last thing I remember being better than MTV should be was this weird show about an entire high school of cloned famous historical figures, starring Abe Lincoln. It of course got cancelled fast.
