The first listing of MTV's Sarcastathon shows has come out on tvguide.com - 21 different episodes in 15 hours (yes, repeats of the repeats).
Sat., Feb 17.....1:30 PM - Esteemsters; 2:00 PM - College Bored; 2:30 PM - Pinch Sitter; 3:00 PM - Road Worrier; 3:30 PM - The Teachings of Don Jake; 4:00 PM - The Misery Chick; 4:30 PM - Arts 'n' Crass ; 5:00 PM - I Don't ; 5:30 PM - Monster
Sun., Feb 18.....6:30 AM - Arts 'n' Crass; 7:00 AM - I Don't; 7:30 AM - Monster; 8:00 AM - Pierce Me; 8:30 AM - Daria Dance Party; 9:00 AM - It Happened One Nut; (an hour-and-a-half pause, then)11:00 AM - 'Daria!' the Musical; 11:30 AM - Speedtrapped; 12:00 PM - The Lawndale File; 12:30 PM - I Loathe a Parade; 1:00 PM - Of Human Bonding; 1:30 PM - Legends of the Mall; 2:00 PM - Groped by an Angel; 2:30 PM - Dye! Dye! My Darling
Mon., Feb. 19.....7:00 PM - The Lawndale File; 7:30 PM - I Loathe a Parade; 8:00 PM - Of Human Bonding; 8:30 PM - Legends of the Mall; 9:00 PM - Groped by an Angel; 9:30 PM - Dye! Dye! My Darling; 10:00 PM - NEW EPISODE #501
For the rest of that week, TVGuide has #501 scheduled to be on Tuesday at 5:00 PM, Thursday at 3:00 PM, Friday at 8:30 PM, Sunday at 12:00 PM and Monday at 3:00 PM.
Since this is MTV, all scheduled times can change, with or without warning. Check the Daria Anti-Teen site or the Paperpusher's site for the latest info.
Daria's Anti-Teens (http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/dariasantiteens) The Paperpusher (http://paperpusher.simplenet.com/TV_Listings/ tv_listings.html)
As I've seen most of the episodes that'll be shown on Sunday, and all those that'll be shown on Monday, BUT haven't seen any of the episodes that'll be shown on Saturday, looks like I'll be watching all of the episodes that'll be on Saturday. Which'll probably mean I won't have to watch those on Sunday (and I don't really have the desire to see "Pierce Me"). But I'll wait and see.
"Pierce Me" is worth a look - yes, even for non-shippers (of which I am one).
And there are four episodes on Saturday I've never seen - Road Worrier, Arts 'N Crass, Monster, and the Teachings of Don Jake.
So by Saturday night, there should be only five episodes I've never seen. (Hint to MTV - run ALL of seasons 1 & 2 once in a while! Or sell them on videotape)
With all the Sarcastathon discussion of great vs. lame episodes, and in honor of the debut of S5, I thought I'd reprint once more my own comprehensive list of every single Daria episode, from best to worst. As always, all and sundry are invited to respond with praise for my transcendent critical wisdom or, if you must, with your own petty and pointless attempts to disagree with this, the one true rating.
Think I'm crazy for liking those silly-assed fantasy episodes as much as I do? Wonder how I could fail too see how far superior Fair Enough is to Secrets of the Mall? Post and tell me so, I dare you!
One of the more interesting things about this group is seeing the contrasts in what various members view as the really great Darias vs. the sorta lame Darias.
Just to add fuel to this particular fire, I've taken all 54 eps. so far, and ranked them into five distinct groups in descending order of quality. The groups are:
Classic: For episodes that far exceed even the high standards of Daria. A Night to Remember: For episodes that deliver everything we expect from Daria. Really Cute: Solid episodes that are a credit to the series, despite maybe some rough spots. Cute: Episodes that weren't that great an idea to start with, or that never live up to their promise. Sorta Cute: Still good, because Daria never sux, but definitely below the standards we've come to expect.
Here's the list.
CLASSIC Esteemsters (As a pilot, some things are in an embryonic state, but the satire is sharp, the characters are well introduced, and classic one liners fall like rain.) Road Worrier (The first time Daria displays any emotional vulnerability. A completely charming episode.) The Misery Chick (The show reaches out into new territory, dealing with serious life issues without sacrificing any laughs.) Pierce Me (Another outstanding Daria/Trent episode.) Arts n' Crass (The moral delimma is believable, the satire is sharp, and wonderful character moments for Daria, Jane and Helen.) Write Where It Hurts (Some of the fantasy bits worked better than others, but still probably the show's high point up to that moment. The great thing about this one is the way it lets us directly into Daria's head.) Lane Miserables (Great comedy writing, and a believable and satisfying resolution to the Daria/Trent thing.) Is It Fall Yet? (Not just more, but better. The series' finest moment so far, in oh so many ways.) Dye! Dye! My Darling! (Daria's first kiss is everything we could hope it would be, if not everything she dreamed it would be.) I Loathe a Parade (Almost puts all the mediocre high-concept ensemble pieces of the past out of our head, plus that great ending that set up the whole Daria/Jane/Tom thing).
AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER This Year's Model (Lots of people seem to hate this episode, but I find it one of the sharpest satires from season one.) Pinch Sitter (Nothing spectacular here, just some really, really hilarious writing.) Quinn the Brain (For me, the role reversal thing between Daria and Quinn definitely worked. Showed how the girls are more alike than different.) I Don't (Aunt Amy hiked this one a full grade. Daria gets a role model.) Monster (Another great sisters episode. We see Quinn at her very worst, and also at her most honest. Characterization shines.) Depth Takes a Holiday (Inexplicably hated by many rabid fans . bottom line, it's funny. It plays like something Daria herself would write in a whimsical mood.) Speedtraped (Effective mix of Daria/Quinn and Jane/Trent/The Band . two of the show's strongest elements. Plus rednecks!) Jane's Addition (Great, funny character episode. Almost made top grade, but the Daria/Trent stuff seemed tacked on, and the whole thing just never quite jelled to perfection.) Psycho Therapy (For long-time fans like me, it's great fun to see so many of our guesses about the Morgendorfer family pathology confirmed.) Legends of the Mall (OK, so it's mostly an excuse for a whole episode of makeovers. Nothing wrong with that. The urban legend thing is fun.) Murder, She Snored (Not quite as sharp as Legends, season 4's other "fantasy" episode, but some fun stuff nonetheless.) Of Human Bonding (Just a very nice balance between characterization and comedy.) Fire! (Not as focused as the other Daria/Jane/Tom eps, but still an exemplary characterization episode.)
REALLY CUTE The Invitation (Competently plays on riffs that would quickly become familiar.) Caf� Disaffecto (Great ending, nice scene with the fat lady, but the whole thing's just a bit too over the top.) College Bored (Mixed bag. Daria and Quinn's bits are great - but too short, Jake and Helen's are annoying.) See Jane Run (A good characterization episode, but maybe just a bit too earnest.) Ill (Some nice moments of both humor and character, but never really comes together like the classics do.) That Was Then, This is Dumb (Very funny business with Jake & Helen, but why did Daria run away from the main action?) The New Kid (Seems to annoy lots of people, but I found it sweet. A bit too low-key to be a real stunner.) Daria! The Musical (For a lot of people this was a love it/hate it thing. My reaction was, "Hey, fun ... but don't do it again.") Through a Lens Darkly (It's good that the focus is so firmly on Daria, but nothing to make it a truly great episode.) Daria Dance Party (Daria stays in the background, but at least she's visible.) Jake of Hearts (Some nice family stuff, but rather disjointed - morning DJs? - and Jake is at his most pathetic.) The Lawndale File (Cast of thousands, nobody gets a real chance to shine. Raised a full grade due to Trent's "Happy Herb" jingle.) Groped by an Angel (Not quite as good as it could have been, but an interesting Quinn episode nonetheless.) Partner's Complaint (Second try at a Jody spotlight, after "Gifted," works better, but still not quite there.) A Tree Grows in Lawndale (Some good stuff with Kevin that actually gives him a bit of dimension, but tries to cram too much in.)
CUTE Malled (Malls = Dehumanization. This episode hits the target, which is roughly 10 times the size of a barn.) The Lab Brat (An excuse to recombine the characters a bit, more or less at random. Just a bit too random. Where's the payoff?) Too Cute (Quinn's "problem" is so ludicrous, you never really believe the interaction between her and Daria.) The Teachings of Don Jake (We expect more focused humor than this. Daria is pretty much wasted, while her family plays three stooges.) The Old and the Beautiful (Not without moments, but uncomfortably close to Caf� Disaffecto, and it lowers Daria's personality to the level of schtick.) It Happened One Nut. (Daria and Kevin working at the same fast food place . now that you know that, you could write this episode.) Just Add Water (Titanic parody . yawn. Plus very little Daria, but strong Quinn quotient & some nice faculty moments save it from the basement.) The F Word (The contrived high-concept holds everything back.) Mart of Darkness (Some nice Tom stuff and a good Andrea moment, but the rest of the episode is extremely familiar.) Antisocial Climbers (The best thing to be said about this one is that it's not as lame as Fair Enough or the Daria Hunter.)
SORTA CUTE The Big House (Daria is grounded. This ep never goes a single step past its high concept.) The Daria Hunter (Everybody runs around making fools of themselves. Daria wanders off. Isn't this supposed to be her show?) Fair Enough (At least The Daria Hunter had some clever satire. Pretty pointless, and almost no Daria. The show's low point so far.) Gifted (Supposed to finally be Jody's time in the spotlight, but we learn nothing meaningful about the character. The other shows in this category are what they are, but this one could have been so much more.) The Lost Girls (I wanted to rank this one higher, but major credibility problems held it back . plus Val is just SO annoying.)
Great! Another person who liked "Depth Takes a Holiday!". It may just be because I'm not a rabid fan yet -- but I found the episode funny, in a whimsical way.
And yes, Val IS annoying!
I like musicals, so I like "Daria: the Musical" quite a bit, but I don't think it's a classic episode.
And as somebody who likes the character of Tom, I'm glad that most of the episodes which had him in it were a credit to the series or even better. Seems like adding Tom may have been a good thing after all, if only because his presence often brings tension and thereby adds to the characterizations. Now maybe we can get to know Tom better in the 5th season. But that's just my hope.
You are definately going to like Arts 'N Crass' and 'The Teachings Of Don Jake'
You mentioned you're an non-shipper so 'Road Warrior' might not be your cup of tea.
And 'Monster'...I personally refer to it as the 'Depths Of Shallowness' episode.
It's alright...
I wish they would show 'Gifted' or 'The Big House' but, overall, they (MTV) seem to have assembled a good group of episodes for the Sarcastithon.
I know everybody has their own ideas of what episodes should have been shown, or not, including myself.
But I'll take whatever I can get... .
I am glad that they are showing episodes from Season 1, 2, and 3.
I was sick to death of the Season 4 episodes being rerun, exclusively, whenever MTV decided to air Daria.
The one thing that Daria fans outside of the US have over the US Daria fans is this:
We (US) might get to view the new episodes first. But when the last episode in a season is aired, at least the stations outside of the US start repeating the episodes chronologically-from Season One!
I'd like the episodes on tape or DVD too. However, I do request that they keep the soundtrack! Those little 5 to 10 seconds clips of popular (and not so popular) songs that are played throughout the show also play a very important role, overall, to the entire series.
Every teenager *has* to have a soundtrack. (I'm pretty sure it's a Natural Law...)
That was a problem with the Daria tapes MTV released a few years ago. All of the song clips were taken out!
I know the music was removed because of copyright issues but the absense of those songs did take away from the taped eps.
Those 'song clips' also exposed me to a lot of music that I would have never knew existed.
Imagine that? Daria is doing the job that MTV, radio, etc should have been doing all along.
Exposing us to GOOD music by artists we would have never heard of anywhere else.
<Didn't Radio/MTV *used* to do that before they started whoring themselves to whatever is the most marketable 'Demographic O' The Moment'?>
Whoever arranges the music for 'Daria' has, and is, doing one hell of a job!
I always like "Jake" episodes - even "Of Human Bonding", which so many folks here didn't like much.
your cup
I don't mind Daria-Trent episodes. I've just never wanted them to ultimately get together.
I've seen so much discussion of Road Warrior on this ng I just have to see it.
Shallowness'
(MTV)
Another two episodes I've never seen!
Yep. The F Word and A Tree Grows in Lawndale are not among my favorites - and I'm not going to watch them every couple weeks.
Daria fans
episode
Chronological order - what a concept! :-)
songs
<Jane>
Maybe I could get my brother to write one for me - if he ever stops snoring.
</Jane>
I have those tapes. It's the only way I've gotten to see most of season 1. I'm going to tape Esteemsters and College Bored from the Saracastathon to see what I've missed.
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All the creative people behind Daria have been doing a hell of a job. As for the suits at MTV ...
Even the "worst" episodes have their moments. I recently watched my whole videotape Daria collection (over several months). Even my least favorites - Depth Takes a Holiday, The F Word, The Lost Girls - were no big chore to watch.
tuckered
I liked the scene where he's talking about how he loves air travel, then cries "we're all going to die!"
And, although it wasn't Jake's line, I ROTFL every time I hear "I am not a hoppy thing!"
stealth
But it's not ALWAYS subtle. And that's good. Lotsa variety on Daria.
I especially love the way they throw in a totally offbeat episode, like "Daria!" or "Legends of the Mall", along with the mainline episodes.
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Well, if Tom and Jane can break up, so can Tom and Daria. I'm hoping not, but it sure would be a logical development.
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<O'Neill>
But it's good to air these feelings, get them out in the open!
'The Lost Girls' is unbearable to watch. The only thing that I can tolerate in that ep is the inevitable confrontation between Val and Daria in the Teacher's Lounge.
Watching Daria unload on Val was classic!. She was caustic, sharp, and inhumanly brutal when telling Val about herself.
During Daria's barrage I started to turn into Britany at that point.
<Shaking pompom's "Go, Daria, Go!">
It was a lovely scene...
Oh God! <giggling insanely> Why did you mention THAT line!
LOL!
Yeah I know but the show is still known for the snappy comeback.
<bowing solemnly>
To Our Lady of Dryer Wit.
I'll just burn a candle...
If Tom and Daria do break up, I still don't see Daria going back to mooning about Trent.
She's over that now.
<SNIP>
<DeMartino>
You don't SHARE this type of anger. UNLESS you HAPPEN to be on a HIGHWAY OVERPASS with a SNIPERS RIFLE during the rush hour.
Well, "Of Human Bonding" may not have been the greatest episode out there, but Daria and Jake's relationship made up in large part for the flaws. However, it might've been seen as a better episode than it was in fact seen if it didn't come after the episode "I Loathe a Parade". And it wasn't as bad as "A Tree Grows in Lawndale" or "The Daria Hunter", which make my list of Worst Daria Episodes.
As for the comedy on "Daria" being usually more subtle, that's true, but when you get the joke, you really lol, like I did when I first saw "Is It Fall Yet?". However, I suspect Jake is a character who's made for broader comedy than the more subtle kind that usually shows up on "Daria".
Well, the fire was almost permanently stamped out by the time of "Jane's Addition", but may have smoldered a bit in "Murder, She Snored". However, "I Loathe a Parade" was probably the episode which really dealt a death blow to the shipper world, and since that featured Tom, then yes, he stamped out the fire permanently.
I wonder if that's one reason why there are a number of people out there who bash Tom. I'm not one of them, as my fanfic "Inner Demons" will prove.
Let's see -- after this Sunday, I'll need to see seven episodes from the first season -- "The Invitation", "Cafe Disaffecto", "Malled", "This Year's Model", "The Lab Brat", "Too Cute", and "The Big House", and eight episodes from the second season -- "Quinn the Brain", "This Was Then, That is Dumb", "The New Kid", "Gifted", "Ill", "Fair Enough", "See Jane Run", and "Write Where It Hurts". Of those fifteen episodes, the ones which I might most regret seeing are "Write Where It Hurts", "Fair Enough" (I like the medieval fair concept), and "Gifted", but maybe I'll see them another time.
I definitely don't want to see "A Tree Grows in Lawndale" ever again, but I will take a couple of showings of "The F Word".
I think we can all agree that 'A Tree Grows In Lawndale' had to be the stinker episode in Season 4.
I haven't heard from anyone who liked it.
I pesonally liked the 'Daria Hunter' myself. But to each his own.
when
That's another thing I like about 'Daria' is that it's brand of comedy makes you think. Which makes the jokes, and the show, a lot funnier than what's out there right now.
I'm sure you're absolutely right.
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I'm going to admit that the new direction of the show had me 'concerned'.
I won't elaborate but I wasn't entirely happy with it, at first.
But after watching IIFY, I could accept a lot of the changes and hope the for the future.
Definitely not my favorite, but ATGIL was definitely not the stinker of the bunch, a lot of people give that honor to Murder, She Snored, I can't, the stinker of S4 to me was Legends of the Mall.
ATGIL only beat out MSN, in my mind, by a hair's breath!
I made my sentiments about MSN on a post a few weeks ago.
What were they thinking when they focused an entire episode on Kevin and Britany? Those two have problems trying to carry a single *scene* let alone an entire episode.
I didn't think LOTM was that bad. But I'm a sucker for 'urban legends'.
It was the only ep that I actually felt sorry for Sandy (the Platoon like ending), later episodes cured me of that sentiment real quick.
It's one of my all-time favorites. More for the nostalgia angle that the urban legends themselves. The Morgendorffers as a 1950s family are so g.d. priceless. :-)
I like The Daria Hunter too, it has a quasi-fantasy feel about it which works well, unlike the true fantasy episodes such as Depth Takes a Holiday which everyone loves to despise. Doing one show in the style of another show or film often adds something to both I think, it's like two for the price of one. Daria! (the musical) also worked for me, being another quasi-fantasy piece. Maybe the problem with Depth Takes a Holiday was that it wasn't a parody of anything, not was it a reworking of Daria in another genre.
All this brings to mind the series of Reboot where they did take offs of Transformers, X-Files, and so on. A great series but sadly in the UK ITV discontinued it right in the middle of a weird series where Enzo has grown up and is exploring the world outside Mainframe, looking for Bob. It was undoubtedly the best animation series ITV has ever shown, so naturally they had to cancel it as it exceeded the low standards they've set themselves. But I digress....
I've been wondering if Tom made more of an impression on Daria than it appeared on the surface in their little walk-and-talk in "Jane's Addition". He DID make her smile with the Trent-as-a-farmer joke. And she did drop her crush on Trent awfully fast - maybe Trent's failure to deliver on the multimedia project wasn't the only reason. (Daria's too realistic, even at her teenage-crushiest, to think that Trent was ever the paragon of reliability - remember her fantasy in Lane Miserables?)
Not that Daria would have admitted, even to herself, that she was going sweet on Tom at that point.
I would have to agree that Trent's unreliability wasn't the only thing that caused her to drop her crush on Trent awfully fast. I remember seeing her fantasy in "Lane Miserables", and I suspect there were other things that had happened before her fantasy which had caused her to unconsciously realize Trent just wasn't right on her.
You know, I never thought that Daria might've actually begun to go sweet on Tom during the end of the walk-and-talk in "Jane's Addition". I thought the process actually began in "I Loathe a Parade". But you might have a point in mentioning that he might've made more of an impression on Daria than it seemed, since he made her smile with his joke about Trent. And she wouldn't want to admit (even to herself) that she was beginning to LIKE him, even if she wasn't becoming attracted to him by that point.
Daria also gave him a big grin in the pizza shop when he used that joke as the basis for a later comment: "Tough day on the farm, Daria?" And Jane acted a little panicky at the fact that Tom and Daria had a private joke between them.
Of course, it's a lot more meaningful in retrospect (i.e., after Fire! and DDMD).
Was she panicky? I kind of thought she was going along with the joke since she and Daria were friends again. She, like most of us, didn't get the significance. Then.
I agree. The scene in "Fire!" where Jane comes in when Daria and Tom are in the middle of their conversation and she's clearly out of the loop was heartbreaking. It isn't just a joke between them she doesn't get anymore, isn't it?
Now of course the fences have been mended in IIFY? but I still think we'll see some tension here and there. Of course they'll all want to remain friends but with the subtle intellectual differences between them there could be some situations.
But neither Jane nor Trent heard the original joke (about Trent being a farmer paid by the government to not grow anything). They both looked puzzled and Tom (I think) explained that it was private joke between him and Daria. Jane then said "Hey! No private jokes!" She sounded serious to me! Though of course NO-ONE knew what was coming in Fire! or DDMD. But maybe Jane, perhaps subconciously, saw that Tom might actually be more compatible with Daria than with herself.
Maybe you're right. But I don't quite see how Jane could "go along" with a joke she couldn't understand, since she hadn't overheard the original joke.
I thought she was being funny. Look, she could have been relieved that Daria was starting to ease up on Tom a little. How could she have known what would transpire?
Naw, she came to that realization at the end of DDMD! when everything had hit the fan.
How could Jane have gotten on Tom's case for eating the Gummy Bears in Mart of Darkness when she'd never explained to him what they were for? And what set her off about him and Daria? Jane's an impulsive personality at times.
I'm not saying she knew what was going to happen down the road. She probably didn't conciously know why she had such a strong reaction to a private joke between Tom and Daria. But I think that at some level she didn't want her new boyfriend being quite SO friendly with another girl - especially Daria.
I don't think she would have reacted so strongly had Tom been joking around with, say, Brittany. Brittany's more conventionally attractive than Daria, but Brittany's way too dumb for Tom, and Jane would not see her as a threat.
I don't KNOW what Jane was thinking in this scene. But I did think her reaction "Hey! No private jokes!" sounded a bit panicky. Daria may have been convinced at that time that she was unattractive, but Jane knew better.
That's when she CONCIOUSLY realized it. She certainly strongly suspected it in "Fire!"
Well, she could've simply gone along with the joke, but then again, she might've been serious. I do agree that she didn't catch the full significance of the private joke.
I think the three will manage to remain cordial for the most part, but there will be times when there's some tension between them.
I would say Road Worrier is the definitive shipper episode. Wonderfully done.
Another great episode, provided a large dose of Quinn doesn't send you into autosleep.
C5 has taken to doing this anyhow, though this is when my Daria watching eases off a bit as I already have the episodes on tape. The only reason really I continue to watch C5 during rerun season is that it's less effort than digging out the tapes and putting them into the VCR!!
I got the first video but I will *not* buy any more unless they start using the original soundtracks. Until then, my off-air recordings are definitely superior to the retail versions (except where C5 have cut an episode to ribbons, natch), despite the C5 logo and the poor reception. (I did think of trying to dub the off-air soundtrack onto my purchased Daria tape, but I suspect the two wouldn't synchronise.)
I may finally have found a cure for the translucent C5 logo though, at least if I turn my tapes into mpegs: I've been experimenting with some logo filtering software and it looks like I can get rid of the logo by using a filter which was designed to *add* a logo to a video signal - I just have to create a negative version of the C5 logo and apply it as a translucent blend, thus cancelling out the original logo. My only problem at the moment is that I haven't yet managed to make a pixel-accurate copy of the logo, I'm currently getting a slight fringe around the edges from antialiasing.
There's also a snazzy plugin available called "logoaway" which removes logos by interpolating the surrounding detail over them. It works surprisingly well for live action material, but with animations the strong black outlines (a feature especially prevalent in Daria) get interpolated in a totally wild manner whenever they pass under the logo, and the result is sadly even more distracting than the original logo. It is refreshing to see a C5 show without a pallid white square in the corner of the screen though.