Mike's Delayed Reaction Review,202(2-15)- "The Daria Hunter"

Mike's Delayed Reaction Review- "The Daria Hunter"

MDRR 202(2-15)- I will conform, resistance is futile, my numbering system as it has been is obsolete and will be assimilated ;)

Paintball ?!?!- I would love to see the list of rejected field trip ideas from Lawndale High. While paintball can be fun, this trip is like a glorified day long gym class. I wonder what they passed on; a day of miniature golf, a day at the beach or maybe a trip down to the local train station to examine the effects of putting pennies on the tracks.

Odd Couples- It was funny to see who ended up stuck with each other in the rain storm. It was odd that Miss Li would even talk to Helen(because of the events of "Arts N' Crass") yet alone joke with her a little. Jake and Mr. DiMartino are like kindered military school spirits who have been trounced upon for their entire lives. The most unusual pairing was Miss Barch and Mr. O'Niell. He inadvertently broke through her bitter exterior and then she proceeded to drain his energy.

Great White- Well at least it was Daria and Jane's stupid thing to do. This was a case of heightened expectations more than anything(for Jane, at least). Jane thought that 'seeing great white' white would be more interesting but it was stupid. All they saw was a tooth but they did get a much needed nap.

Military Strategist- Now we know what Brittany is thinking about during cheerleading practice- how to command an effective attack and ambush. The big question is how she will use this newly discovered talent.

Daria summed up this episode better than I could ever- it was stupid. There was no reason for me to even care what happens. Nothing really adds up everyone is acting weird(which isn't a problem in itself)- it seemed as if paintball brought out the worst in the students of Lawndale. It wasn't the fact that this episode wasn't centered around Daria, it just was too confusing for me to get comfortable with it. D+

Daria as a Whole- Tiffany shows her true colors as a 'bandwagon jumper' for the first time in this episode. She is on the side of whomever is present at the time(Sandi or Quinn). I guess she wants to make sure she will always be on the 'winning' side.

On Sun, 06 Dec 1998 18:36:53 GMT, [email] wrote:

You will become one with the Darianites. Or whatever.

      ^

Grrrrrrr!!!

"Drain his energy" is something of an understatement, Mike. Or is that another Borg metaphor? :-)

Well, as we've seen, about the closest she's ever come since to using any kind of strategy is when she drove Kevin all over hell and back in "Fair Enough". count this as a Plot Twist That Went Nowhere.

That does seem to be the general consensus. There were a handful of bright spots, but the sum of its parts was definitely *NOT* greater than the whole in this case.

Maybe a requirement of being Fashion Club Coordinating Officer is that you have to be an incredibly talented kiss-up. :-)

Martin (to send e-mail, remove the "nospam" from my e-mail address) ---- "Don't worry. Today it's brains, tomorrow pierced tongues, then the next day, pierced brains." - Jane Lane ---- Outpost Daria: Your Online Database for All Things Daria! http://www.concentric.net/~systech/daria/

Kiss up? hmmmmmm, perhaps this is another Brit term, I believe the American version is "Suck-up." I've never heard "kiss up" before.

CrtoonDude wrote:

No....they say "suck-up" over here too.....I've never heard "kiss-up" either.

Alli

"Kiss-up" is what you used to say back in the days when the word "suck" was considered vulgar.

On 06 Dec 1998 13:19:47 PST, [email] (Martin J. Pollard) wrote:

Or in "Lab Brat" when she kidnapped the rat and replaced it with that toy bear.

This had me thinking about the two-faced nature of the fashion club and I couldn't remember the name of one of them, the one who wanted to dress like Quinn and dye her hair the same color (Stacey?) I guess it just shows that the desire to be popular and trying to achieve that popularity through sucking-up can only result in sucking to the point of non-existence.

- I once shot a man just to watch him die. Then I got distracted, and I missed it. -Dave Foley, the Kids In the Hall.

In article ,

You're the editor, you fix it :)

No, that 'resistance is futile' stuff was an afterthought. This was the original text.

The

She could still be 'thinking' about it, even if she doesn't ever use it(pure conjecture on my part).

Maybe it's a requirement for any kind of membership:)

http://www.concentric.net/~systech/daria/

[email] writes:

This was the most surprising turn of events I thought.

Interesting. It's actually one of my favourite episodes. People often act differently under the pressure of war. The whole thing was a homage to the genre of vietnam movies, and of course the title was from one of them, "The Deer Hunter". The angst and conflict had to be laden on to such a story, and the throwing together of opposites who gelled in adversity is a traditional device of war movies. I'm not really well versed in 'Nam movies so I can't name all the films and scenes that were pastiched but it was clear to me that many scenes were directly lifted from famous movies, including of course the ending as the helicopters fly away and the survivors turn their back on Sandy as she vainly stumbles after them, a classic show of pathos if ever there was one.

Similarly the standoff between Quinn and Sandy as they eye each other up, challenging each other for the leadership whilst pretending that this isn't what they're doing. A scene that would fit well into any western, and so by extension into many 'nam movies, which are often basically just westerns brought up to date.

The visit to the Great White was a bit of a cop out though, taking Daria and Jane out of the conflict. Their pointless trek was sort of amusing but it was at the expense of keeping them in the middle of the plot, as Mike noted in his review. I suppose though that we could interpret this as an expression of their "outsider" stance, they are not involved in the stupid and brutal machinations of society but instead opt out of it, like a pair of draft dodgers maybe. In the end it is this sort of action that makes most rational sense, if enough people had the common sense and the courage of their convictions and turned their backs on war and refused to participate, many futile conflicts would be avoided and lives saved, of which Vietnam of course is *the* classic example, given that this is an American production.

If anyone knows which movies specific scenes refer to I'd be interested to hear the details. I think Apocalypse Now was in there somewhere, and the bit where Quinn and Sandy were stalking each other reminded me of a film I saw a bit of recently (possibly the Deer Hunter?) I'm kicking myself for not being able to put a name to the end sequence, it is so familiar but I although the soundtrack is sort of there in my head I just can't think of the movie. Mind you it's easy to get mixed up with other types of movie like Predator and so on.

I'm not sure there were any actual messages about Daria & co's lives in this episode, it was basically a time-out from school life and all the normal stuff was on hold. This makes it kind of the reverse of "Gifted", where I didn't think much of the main storyline but which shed much light on the characters themselves.

Finally, there is perhaps an echo for UK viewers of the cult comedy series The Fast Show, which had a paintball battle in one episode, ending in one of those classic slow motion finishes where everyone gets killed, ie. a remake of the Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid ending (also Blackadder Goes Forth).

-Shez.

On Mon, 7 Dec 1998 00:56:16 +0000, Shez wrote:

It's from "Platoon", the scene where Willem Dafoe gets left behind (the image of Sandi raising her arms in despair is an homage to the same one with Defoe, seen in all the promotional material for the film). Even the music, "Adaigo for Strings", is right out of the film soundtrack.

Martin (to send e-mail, remove the "nospam" from my e-mail address) ---- "Don't worry. Today it's brains, tomorrow pierced tongues, then the next day, pierced brains." - Jane Lane ---- Outpost Daria: Your Online Database for All Things Daria! http://www.concentric.net/~systech/daria/

In article , [email] wrote:

Not exactly the best way to teach about the dislocation to society caused by warfare, but perhaps a look at how it affects the actual participants. Maybe.

Foreshadowing?

Possibly more foreshadowing.

Definitely foreshadowing! (See "Fair Enough")

Done much highway travel? There aren't as many roadside attractions as there once were but "Great White" is not something you wouldn't've seen then or now.

Brittany seems to be more a case of mental atrophy-"you don't use it you lose it"-more coming?

I don't know why so many people dislike this episode. It does more give insight on the other characters than concentrate on Daria & Jane but this is not neccesarily a bad thing for the show as a whole. I'll be waiting to see the review of "Fair Enough".

Still like your reviews, though.

Mad Hamish

In article , [email] wrote:

For now, let's just say that I wasn't pleased with that particular episode either but the review isn't half as harsh as this one was.(The second half of season 2, from 'Gifted' on, generally did well as a group in my reviews) This whole episode just left a bad taste in my mouth, I can't really pinpopint anything I haven't already said- I just didn't get this one.

In article , [email] wrote:

Dammit, looks like my constant lobbying for Fair Enough to be proclaimed "Best Daria Episode Ever" will have to intensify.

In article , [email] wrote:

Oh no, I feel another round of "it's my turn to say dammit" coming on ;)