Interesteg What makes it different from others?

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Tayloriona Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

David Roggenkamp The series stars Daria as an anti-social teenager that is stuck sarcastic mongering in a see of idiotic classmates and teenage peers. Most of the time she is there to watch from the sidelines and make snide comments about the stupidity of others; that is when not interacting directly - which she often is stuck doing regardless. This is a teenager that would rather be left alone to her own devices. You see, she is actually 'a brain' (as the series puts it) and would rather focus on more introverted activities, as opposed to say going to parties unless it means being able to mock things like creepy guys that want to get a date, the idiocentric quirks of the school QB, or the quirky mannerisms of the reoccurring cheerleader, (etc). Daria is often accompanied by her friend Jane in these escapades; Jane is a bit more to the point and a bit more down to Earth; she is almost normal save for the fact she prefers to be alone and focus on her art; she has the same introverted nature as Daria and the two often mock the teenagers and their stupidity around them. Where as these two characters might normally watch from the sidelines, they are in fact the main stars of the show.The show does actually have a large supporting cast, many of whom get cameos in each episode; but at points they do get entire episodes they participate in or get devoted to just themselves with Daria and Jane taking second stage, but with their mannerisms in full swing. What this series also covers is the homelife of Daria - her father is anxiety driven and swears (only mildly) in frustration, but frequently. Her sister is not exactly a ditz, but she is an air head that not only cares about fashion, but also is the most popular girl in school and a member of the fashion club. Lastly, her mother is the crushing force in the show - she is very bossy, intimidating, and regularly pushes her viewpoint to others - she is also a lawyer, which makes for a saving grace when too much trouble arises and she must step in. The show does go into episodes about the teachers, but rarely does it cover their personal lives - only when they are caught up with an out and about plot that the other characters are already involved in. For that matter, the show never moves in the direction of Daria's neighbors; they never actually make an appearance.There is only one point where the series hits a snag. During the latter seasons, rather than focusing on a serialized format, the series actually has some character and plot development. Jane gets a boyfriend, teenage drama ensues between Jane and Daria, and at one point Daria actually swears as the two fight for a few episodes. This quickly dies down, with the aftermath leaving some new plot developments in the works. The series still keeps the mannerisms of the characters as thing develop and other characters take the limelight; but I can't help but feel it takes away from the show's namesake as her character is eventually needlessly ripped on or thrown into situations that not only leave her NOT viewing from the sidelines as per series tradition, but often caught up in the works at a disadvantage while making mistakes, and never fully recovering from it. In a word, she may not be acting like an idiot, but she is getting caught up in the very same kind of situations of those teenagers she and Jane mocked in the early episodes. Granted, these situations aren't the same; but due to her anti-social nature, Daria progresses much slower than other characters and does not take as many risks - thereby not leaving her open to those same kinds of situations; instead it takes awhile for them to find her and we see the end result. Is it a good twist of things? It caught me off guard when I first saw it; and while I didn't particularly enjoy it - it does help keep the series fresh - I found I watched every episode through, despite not actively liking some of them. It is not a boring series by any means, although a few episodes can be slow.The only turnoff from the series might be the fact that later, as opposed to earlier; plots are a bit superficial and redundant. I blame this on the fact earlier episodes are something I'm sure most teenagers and indeed adults can identify with; where as later episodes seem to be a bit specialized towards Daria's character and family life. In a word, the series takes on a life of its own, with really detracts from what it started out as initially. It is the initial statement the series makes, that is its selling point. Watching the series from season three onward, might actually create some friction that only those into drama might enjoy. I probably only stuck around due to the fact the series had a setup and a hitch before - it played right through this 'snag' and plays through many episodes which are a bit generic compared to the others.If you want to see the more serious side of teenage culture as portrayed in the media, you simply cannot go wrong with Daria. As an added note, this was also at a time when MTV was in its prime and played a role in shaping teenage culture without the advent and interference of the Internet.Originally posted to Orion Age (http://www.orionphysics.com/? p=11029).

pflasticgirl This was the last thing broadcast before TV sanitised all opinion. Please bring it back I implore you! All re runs of Daria are well received and achieve relatively high viewing ratings. The format would be easy to carry on with Daria at some sort of post College life stage, It would be lovely to have an irreverent, acid commentary on our screens again, Daria also beats the pants off whatever MTV is showing currently. Most of MTV sucks, a return to Daria would be a return to form. Suitable plots can be developed around the other major characters on the show. I am more than happy to engage in story development, marketing and tea making if it will help.

Rectangular_businessman Daria" is simply one of the best shows about teens that I've seen in my entire life. More than being just a good spin-off of "Beavis & Butthead", "Daria" was a great series with its own merits. It was funny, clever and ironic, but at the same time managed to have many sincere heartwarming moments. It was even cute occasionally, without being corny.What made "Daria" so good (Besides of the excellent jokes) were the characters, which were much more complex that one could expect: At first sight, each one of them seems like the classic cliques and stereotypes from many other teen stories (The dumb blonde cheerleader, the Gothic girl, the dumb jock and the eccentric teachers) but a closer look showed that each one of them had a much more interesting and well developed personality, being each one of them very funny and likable. I have to admit, that at first, I didn't like Daria (I mean the character, not the show, which I liked from the first episode) but as I saw more episodes, I started to understand why she was sarcastic about almost everything, and the way in which she interacted with her family and the other students.I miss animated shows like this. Now, almost all the recent "adult" animated shows are way too much focused in shock value and mean-spirited jokes, but "Daria" remains to be one of the best series from all the history of television, being a witty and honest portrayal of teen life.10/10

morphion2 The self-defeating world of MTV began as a spark in the mind of one perceptive demographics adviser or another, but soon it grew to epidemic proportions, numbing and sugarcoating all things rebellious in a depressingly successful attempt to convince the masses that nonconformity is all about styles and fads. Any sensible teenager will tell you that it is an unwitting mockery of the things it believes it is making available to an already converted audience, but amongst the throngs of bright colors and loud-but-not-too-loud noises that essentially is MTV, you will occasionally find a gem; an intelligent, insightful, informed show of independent thought, sincerity and sardonic subtlety. "Daria" is one such example.Anybody who used to watch "Beavis and Butthead" (no comment) will recognize Daria already, as the plain girl with glasses and the monotone voice that would often foil the titular duo's moronic and half-baked plans. When the show began to think about packing it in, MTV approached the creators with the offer of giving Daria her own show. And thank heavens for that. Not only is "Daria" up there with "Frasier" as one of the greatest spin-offs of all time, but it threatens to take a place as one of the greatest stand-alone shows of all time.Daria Morgendorffer, our bland anti-heroine, is not your average teenage girl. Smart, sarcastic, opinionated but highly unmotivated, her life revolves around observing the actions of others with her best friend Jane Lane, a misfit artist from a family of unconventional thinkers. Together Daria and Jane see fit to mock the sea of stereotypes that is their suburban hometown of Lawndale, mainly the student body of their high school. Daria's deep loathing of all things superficial is regularly tested by the presence of her shallow and materialistic sister Quinn, while her workaholic lawyer mother Helen and her perpetually stressed out and slightly unbalanced father Jake struggle to do the right thing by their daughters in the interactive jumble that is life in Lawndale.At a mere glance, one might perceive "Daria" as a children's show, due to its animation. However, even the slightest exertion of further examination would reveal that it is no more a children's show than "The Angry Beavers" is a sophisticated portrayal of American Wildlife. Where a lot of shows sell their credibility for cheap laughs and mold their characters on popularity polls, "Daria" is firm in its subtlety, never wavering in its belief that, given time, its audience will get the joke. Some may take longer than others, but all that do never turn back.The genius of the show lies in its ironic reflection of a culture that would never allow a show like this to get off the ground. Surrounded on all sides by the trivial and materialistic values she lives to hate, Daria takes refuge in the companionship of Jane, the isolated safety of her own room and the glow of the television (which will probably be tuned in to dissocial ironathon news program 'Sick Sad World'), emerging now and again for a futile attempt to significantly impact the alienating world around her. And perhaps the experience might be alienating to us, the audience, if it weren't for the shows strategic and successful ploy to get us to see the world through Daria's eyes. Once there, we're completely hooked, and all the rest of the show's intrinsic jokes fall into place.Arguably the most enviable quality of animation is its freedom to let characters be exaggerated without being unrealistic. The most brilliant thing about this is that eventually, characters that are truly only meant to serve as tired clichés perversely become beloved, unique personalities. Trent, Jane's lazy soft spoken musician brother with delusions of future stardom with his garage band Mystik Spiral, Kevin and Brittany, quarterback of the football team and head of the cheerleaders respectively, two blissfully ignorant airhead lovers with no aspirations beyond their current high school status, Mr. O'Neal, the hypersensitive English teacher, balanced in the extreme by the borderline psychopathic Mr. DeMartino, an irate History teacher who has lost the will to educate. Even the unbearably shallow and conceited Fashion Club, four fashion-victimized teenage girls who believe their undeservedly elitist circle is doing the world around them a world of good, gradually grow on you until, like it or not, you couldn't imagine Lawndale without them.It is because of this paradoxical attachment to the characters that serious plot developments towards the end of the series are able to engage the audience on a level that is more than just honesty for the sake of mockery. Once we've grown accustomed to Daria's detached and cynical attitude, the show begins to admit that perhaps it has been having us on a little bit, at least concerning the rigid personalities of our beloved caricature personas. Therefore, once Daria has opened up a smidgeon , so does her/our view of her world, in an event suspiciously symptomatic of personal growth. And from there it's a small step to actually caring about the students, teachers and residents of Lawndale as we farewell them in the "Daria" movie finale "Is It College Yet?", in which we see our little high-schoolers graduate and move on. It says a lot about the show that it is able to gradually soften its bite enough to let us feel for the characters without ever feeling inconsistent.If one were to only catch a few episodes of "Daria", then they might like what they see, and they'd be well justified. But they'd ultimately be missing out. Because as entertaining as the self-contained half-hour segments of the show can be, the world of Daria is not about separate jokes, separate characters, separate stories or separate anything. Everything within the show works to build to a greater understanding about teenage life, indeed about life in general, and everything it entails; a simple masterpiece that's value only increases when put into social context.