Customer Reviews

Daria: The Complete Animated Series

5 star:		(237)
4 star:		(67)
3 star:		(25)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Finally!!! A whole generation will be able to go back to a time when the world felt smarter in many ways and when teenagers were the hope of the future rather than oversexed, immature, corporate packaged fad followers (Or maybe we were but the corporations had to be less obvious about it?). Ironically, MTV, the channel that originally broadcast this brilliant show about Daria and her witty friend Jane to a mostly likeminded audience have now begun to cater to, or some would say go out of their way to create and perpetuate, an immature drama addicted generation of Britneys and Kevins who only want shows like The Hills or Jersey Shore. Ah, look how far we've come.

This 8-Disc set contains all five seasons and both TV Movies:

Season 1

Esteemsters
The Invitation
College Bored
Cafe Disaffecto
Malled
This Year's Model
The Lab Brat
Pinch Sitter
Too Cute
The Big House
Road Worrier
The Teaching of Don Jake
The Misery Chick

Season 2

Arts n Crass
The Daria Hunter
Quinn The Brain
I Don't
That Was Then, This Is Dumb
Monster
The New Kid
Gifted
Ill
Fair Enough
See Jane Run
Pierce Me
Write Where It Hurts

Season 3

Daria!
Through A Lens Darkly
The Old and the Beautiful
Depth Takes a Holiday
Daria Dance Party
The Lost Girls
It Happened One Nut
Lane Miserables
Jake of Hearts
Speedtrapped
The Lawndale File
Just Add Water
Jane's Addition

Season 4

Partner's in Complaint
Antisocial Climbers
A Tree Grows in Lawndale
Murder, She Snored
The 'F' Word
I Loathe a Parade
Of Human Bonding
Psycho Therapy
Mart of Darkness
Legends of the Mall
Groped by an Angel
Fire!
Dye! Dye! My Darling!

Daria TV Movie: Is it Fall Yet?

Season 5

Fizz Ed
Sappy Anniversary
Fat Like Me
Camp Fear
The Story of D
Lucky Strike
Art Burn
One J at a Time
Life in the Past Lane
Aunt Nauseum
Prize Fighters
My Night at Daria's
Boxing Daria

Daria TV Movie: Is it College Yet?

That's 65 episodes and 2 TV Movies which adds up to 1606 minutes, or over 26 hours, of Daria!

Special Features For The Set Are:

Original Pilot: Sealed With A Kick (10 Minutes Long)
Music Video: Mystik Spiral Music Video "Freakin' Friends"
Daria Day Intros
Top Ten Video Countdown Hosted by, who else, Daria & Jane
Cast & Crew Interviews!!!
Never Before Seen Mystik Spiral Spin-off Script

All in all this set is great for us fans who have waited so long, even if it can't live up to being entirely worth the wait. Firstly, I am thankful that they released the entire series at once so we never had to worry about poor sales or stupid executives only allowing partial release of the series. Secondly, I did enjoy the special features but wish they'd had more, maybe some commentaries, to make up for the absence of proper music. There is also a paper inside the set telling us, in Daria fashion, to be happy we got the set at all and I found it funny and in tone with the show. That said it would have been nice to have a proper booklet with episode summaries and show facts to go along with it.

Watching the show with the music changes I will say it's still a funny and enjoyable show, but even to those who say they didn't pay much attention to the music, I think you'll still sense an absence. It's not enough to ruin my enjoyment of this great series but I can best describe it by saying when I watch the show without proper music it feels as though one of the main characters is missing. I still enjoy it but in the back of my mind I keep wondering when and if that main character will return. At any rate getting the complete series with a few special features for this price is more than worth it.

To sum up this show is great regardless but it does suck that songs inevitably had to be changed and left out since the late 90's and early millenium music is a character of the show. I personally say five stars for this series but I have to give this set 4 stars because I do miss the music and wish there had at least been some more in depth special features to make up for it or even a book with proper episode listings. Still, this is a great buy for any Daria fans - just remember to only get as excited about it as you imagine Daria would have been and you should be fine.

*Kind of upset that the Looking Back In Annoyance Special wasn't included on this set yet the Jane and Daria Top Ten Countdown was. Oh well, still 4 stars from me.

After waiting so many years for Daria to be released on DVD, this set is kind of a let down. I realize that Daria can't be released with the orginal music, but watching the show is different without the music that went along with the time period. That said, I'm so glad to have a Daria DVD collection that it almost doesn't bother me. But what feels kind of insulting is the piece of paper inside the DVD case explaining that the show can't be released with its original soundtrack, and basically saying that we should just suck it up and be glad that we got a DVD collection at all. That's all that comes with the DVDs (which are packaged in a crappy case that keeps falling apart when I open it). No booklet, no episode guide, just a slip of paper telling us that the music is gone and we should just get over it. I feel like the fans who have waited so long deserve something more. It feels kind of like MTV throwing the DVD set at my head and saying, "Here it is! Happy now?!" Um, thanks MTV...I guess it's better than nothing.

In the era when MTV still gave a crap about not pandering to the lowest common denominator with its programming, there was "Daria".

The irony is, "Daria" was spun off from the ridiculous, but admittedly amusing, "Beavis and Butthead" series. Where that show gleefully wallowed in the stupid and moronic, "Daria" went in the opposite direction. Using her sarcasm, commentary, and general cynicism, the show showed that one could be intelligent and blunt but still be entertaining. In its way, the show dealt with the usual crap of being a teen without being preachy, moralistic, or boring. And it assumed that the audience was smart. Which MTV obviously no longer does.

Admittedly, I am not in the demographic for this show (30s), but a smart show is a smart show, and I have waited for this series for ages. It is long past time this series is finally being released. Maybe it will make some remember when MTV was relevant, socially aware, and treated young people like thinking beings and not Barbie and Ken dolls for reality TV crap. I think - if one like smart shows with an edge - one would love "Daria", regardless of age. (Ironically, I think the character of Daria, if she existed naturally, would have plenty to say about the state of the channel today that she originated from. And none of it good! LOL!)

On the downside, I am 99.999% sure there will be music deletions and substitutions, the dreaded "rights issues". While I do wish that would be left intact, I guess I could see where it would be cost prohibitive, and this series is too good to sit in a vault because of it. Which is why I still give this DVD set five stars regardless of that issue. So, I will live with the music changes. But complain. Daria would be pleased!

In short, if you like animation, wit, fun, intelligence, and snark (of which there is plenty!), let "Daria" entertain you! You'll feel smarter for it.

Edited to add, as I have answered another review via the comment link, and it may not be readily seen: Daria the Musical episode *is* included on this DVD set, making it, as advertised, the "complete" series! Its production number was 301; however, MTV used "Through A Lens Darkly" as the Season 3 premiere years ago, and the DVD order is the same way. Daria The Musical is episode #7 in Season 3, as it was when it originally aired. And it is the one episode retaining its original end music over the alter egos/credits.

Also, regrettably, "Is It College Yet" is again the edited version, but from another account here in the discussion thread regarding this set, MTV tried for the unedited version, but the master of the audio and video could not be located to synchronize, so the edited version it is. There is also the belief that copyright played a role in using the edited version, as well. However, one episode in the grand scheme of things is not bad!

I'll try and be as detailed as possible.

1. The Packaging.

The complete set comes in one DVD case. It's plastic, not cardboard. The DVDs themselves are attached to "pages" inside the DVD (similar to the Justice League and Superman complete series sets, if you're familiar with those. A lot of other DVD compilations have started using this format lately as well, so you might've seen it elsewhere). The DVDs are NOT dual-sided, thank goodness, so inadvertent scratching should be minimized. All in all, the packaging looks sturdy, and arrived in perfect condition from Amazon. Not a single disk was out of place.

2. The Episodes.

When you first load up a disk and get to the menu, you're presented with two options: Episodes and Play All. These are pretty self explanatory, however, it appears that if you want to see the Daria Day intros, you must go to the Episodes section and individually select the episode you want to watch, and you'll be presented with an option to watch the ep with the intro. Not every episode has an intro. Also: only the first episode on a disk has the complete credit sequence, all the rest just have the title card (as if they had been edited into a large TV marathon, which I think helps).

Also, as most of you are already aware (especially the ones who downloaded some eps off of Amazon recently), most-if-not-all of the incidental, licensed music has been replaced with, as the initial press release said, "generic and scene-specific music." The music is SIMILAR thematically to the original tracks but, yanno, a hell of a lot cheaper. Those of you who taped every episode of Daria off the TV and watched them until the tapes broke, you're probably gonna be disappointed. However, if you love the SHOW (or if you're like me, and have only seen a handful of original eps), the loss of the music is really inconsequential. Also, the music they used IS appropriate to the scenes, so someone actually paid attention while dubbing this stuff in, and didn't just throw generic tracks in at every point where a licensed song used to be.

One final musical note: every commercial bumper now has a sampling of the Splendora theme, and each credit sequence has a lyric-less version of the theme playing over it. This does KINDA get annoying after awhile, but really, you can ignore it. At least they actually kept the bumpers IN, y'know?

In terms of episode quality, they all look GREAT. Everything is crisp and as clean as it could possibly look. The sound quality is nice and clear.

Disk 1: Season 1 (Picture of Daria)
Episodes 101 through 109
Esteemsters; The Invitation; College Bored; Cafe Disaffecto; Malled; This Year's Model; The Lab Brat; Pinch Sitter; Too Cute

Disk 1 also has three ads at the beginning for The Maxx, The State, and the three Mike Judge Beavis & Butt-head compilations. This seems to be the ONLY disk in the set with these ads, which is good. You can manually skip past these straight to the menu, but you cannot use the 'menu' function to jump past them.

Disk 2: Seasons 1 & 2 (Picture of Jane)
Episodes 110-113, 201-205
The Big House; Road Worrier; The Teachings of Don Jake; The Misery Chick; Arts 'N Crass; The Daria Hunter; Quinn the Brain; I Don't; That Was Then, This Is Dumb

Disk 3: Seasons 2 & 3 (Pictures of Quinn & Trent)
Episodes 206-213 and 301
Monster; The New Kid; Gifted; Ill; Fair Enough; See Jane Run; Pierce Me; Write Where It Hurts; Through A Lens Darkly

Disk 4: Season 3 (Pictures of Kevin & Brittany)
Episodes 302-310
The Old and the Beautiful; Depth Takes a Holiday; Daria Dance Party; The Lost Girls; It Happened One Nut; Daria!; Lane Miserables, Jake of Hearts; Speedtrapped

Yes, Daria! (aka The Musical Episode) is included. All of the music should be intact, since it was created specifically for the show and doesn't used licensed tracks.

Disk 5: Seasons 3 & 4 (Pictures of Helen & Jake)
Episodes 311-313, 401-406
The Lawndale File; Just Add Water; Jane's Addition; Partner's Complaint; Antisocial Climbers; A Tree Grows in Lawndale; Murder, She Snored; The F Word (aka "Fail"); I Loathe a Parade

Disk 6: Seasons 4 & 5 (Pictures of Stacy & Upchuck)
Episodes 407-413, 501-502
Of Human Bonding; Psycho Therapy; Mart of Darkness; Legends of the Mall; Groped by an Angel; Fire!; Dye! Dye! My Darling; Fizz Ed; Sappy Anniversary

Disk 7: Season 5 (Pictures of Jodie & Mack)
Episodes 503-511
Fat Like Me; Camp Fear; The Story of D; Lucky Strike; Art Burn; One J at a Time; Life in the Past Lane; Aunt Nauseam; Prize Fighters

Disk 8: Season 5 (Pictures of Mr. DeMartino & Ms. Li)
Episodes 512 & 513
Movies: Is It Fall Yet? & Is It College Yet?
Special Features

3. Final Thoughts.

As mentioned elsewhere, the DVD comes with a special letter from Glenn Eichler, explaining the reasons why 99% of the music has been changed.

Aside from the music issue (which, again, to me is a non-issue), this is the set we've all been waiting for. The episodes are INTACT (not the Noggin edits), pretty, and as funny as they were the first dozen or so times you watched them.

Really, I implore you, if you've been waiting for Daria on DVD, don't let the music thing hold you back. You really DO want this set. It's not EXACTLY what you've been asking for, but it's within 99% of it, and in my opinion that is DEFINITELY worth it.

The release of "DARIA" on DVD is a mixed blessing: on one hand, it's a long-overdue release of a genuinely excellent series (that I continued to watch weekly even AFTER graduating high school); on the other, its also a painfully truncated version of it that kinda ruins the nostalgia for those of us who remember it differently (with the VHS evidence to prove it).

THE GOOD NEWS: the boxed set allows for complete viewing. It's very easy to catch up or completely introduce yourself to the series if you were too young the first time around. And you get to see all five years at once rather than scrounging around for multiple seasons. I suppose it is better for the show to be available and doctored than to be unavailable at all, since the characters and writing were the key to its power.

AND we get the Pilot episode, which is nice.

THE BAD NEWS: Well, let's start with the music: we all knew that the original music was never going to be included; no one at Viacom will spend the money for licensing on every episode, and until a wealthy fan does so on their own dime, it'll be a dream unrealized. But the generic music is kinda hard to deal with because sometimes its louder than the dialogue in the scene, or doesn't fit at all. Also, the Splendora theme song for the opening titles is a different recording than the original broadcast and can be a bit annoying, although some of the Splendora cues made specifically for the movies are still intact. The music situation is probably only going to hurt purists like me who remember the show from the first time around.

Here are some others, some big, others just nitpicky:

- The second movie/last episode "IS IT COLLEGE YET?" is the censored Noggin-channel version. While I've resigned myself to the music problems, this one is inexcusable; MTV owns the series, it should have the original print somewhere.

- The special features are a joke. Again, due to music issues, the specials "Look Back in Annoyance" and "Behind the Scenes at Daria" are absent, and the retrospective is painfully short, with snippets of interviews rather than actual ones. Also absent are any TV spots for music (like the Garbage promo from "IS IT FALL YET?"). However, the animated sections from an MTV video countdown are included, though not the videos themselves.

- The show is in order but with no season dividers; you have to research which episodes were in which season.

- The early episodes are a bit faded; they aren't damaged, but the color isn't as sharp as the later episodes.

- Closed Captioning but no subtitles.

- The movies are shoved on the extras disc, not given context as to which seasons they capped off (video quality is SLIGHTLY inferior as a result).

So overall, the collection isn't a waste for those who want to experience the show as a whole and not as a time capsule. For those who want the show in its entirety uncut and unaltered...we still have our VHS collections. But while some things were unavoidable due to rather large legal issues (the music), other things that were entirely solvable (uncut versions, picture quality, etc.), make this an underwhelming accomplishment. Considering how well the "AEON FLUX" boxed set turned out, and how terrible the "BEAVIS & BUTT-HEAD" boxed sets turned out, this one falls in between: neither as good or as bad as it COULD have been. Three stars is being generous.

Regardless, I would suggest waiting for sales or markdowns to buy it; at the current price it isn't worth it.

5 stars for the show itself.
-0.5 star for failing to mention on the outside of the product--*before* people buy it--that all of the songs have been replaced.
-1 star for not even springing for plot-relevant songs such as R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts"
-1 star for no episode guide.
-0.5 star for unskipable previews. I didn't pay fifty dollars to be forced to watch advertisments of Beavis and Butthead.

First off, I just wanna say that I, for one, am glad the show was released on DVD at all, given that its been many years with nothing. It was one of my absolute favorites as a teenager and I was SO excited to hear it was FINALLY coming out. Daria does, in fact, rock.

That aside...I wanna address some of the "issues" in this release. The music, 99% of it, has been changed. Yes, if you've recorded it and watched it on video for years and you know EVERY song inside out, you may be disappointed. However, if you never did this and you waited for a proper DVD release, you may not notice too much. There are moments here and there that I notice a particular song has been changed but, for the most part, they did a REALLY great job in replacing it with stuff that sounds very similar to what was there. Fitting the mood of the scenes and all. You can tell that actual thought was put into it and they didn't just lump some generic elevator music in. I think, if they just HAD to replace the music, they did a pretty good job.

As far as sound and picture quality...I've noticed shakiness and some obvious cuts, probably from where they put scenes back into cut versions of the episodes. Yes, they are ALL uncut on this release, which is a great thing. Overall, the quality is pretty good. It's decent. Yes, it IS, of course, in full frame as opposed to widescreen...why I've seen people complaining about this is beyond me because I wouldn't have expected anything else. I think some people just like complaining.

The packaging, in my opinion, is where the release really falls short. It's a large, plastic, standard DVD case with a plastic insert containing 4 double sided hard plastic "pages", it's like a book...if you often buy DVDs, you know what I'm talking about. Each DVD has it's own place so they ARE secure and safe from scratches. As you can tell, so far, this is nothing special at all. No box with artwork, not even so much as a cardboard slip of any kind. No episode guide either, which would have been REALLY nice to have. The artwork is just so-so, nothing special and there isn't much of it. They really dropped the ball in this aspect.

Content...you basically get everything as far as I can see. Every uncut episode from all 5 seasons including the 2 TV movies "Is it Fall Yet?" and "Is It College Yet?". The features are the original pilot episode "Sealed with a Kick", Mystik Spiral music video "Freakin' Friends", Daria Day intros, Top Ten Video Countdown hosted by Daria and Jane, Never before seen Mystik Spiral spin-off script and cast & crew interviews. The original theme song IS there as well.

Overall, I'm happy with the set the way it is. Yes, all the little things that could have been done would have been pretty nice. The music could have been left in, the packaging could have been A LOT better...but ya know what? It isn't. We have what we have, it's good enough. The show is still intact. The writing is still as great as it was...it's STILL Daria.

I just got my copy. As I opened it, I noticed that there is a note on the inside of the set from series creator Glenn Eichler describing the wonders of this box. However, he also details its horror, and that is that "99% of the music has been changed, because the cost of licensing the many music bites we used would have made it impossible to release the collection (and for many years did)."

Now, if you're a die-hard Daria fan like myself, this will discourage and upset you, but will not keep you from owning and enjoying this wondrous box set. It looks great, it sounds great, and the extras are awesome. But it won't be exactly the way I remember it. It will be a new way to experience Daria. Maybe not the most authentic, but it's as close as we're going to get.

Daria is one of my favorite animated shows. She's sarcastic, dry, thoughtful - and the show just reeks of wit and irony. I can't believe this is not on DVD - my friends and I check all the time, hoping for the day. I miss the high school adventures of Daria, Jane, Quinn and the Fashion Club. Please please satisfy the loyal fans and put Daria on DVD!!!

Daria: The Complete Animated Series

The Complete Series in Full-Screen Format (Five Seasons and 2 Movies) on 8 Discs with a running time of 1606 minutes! Whoa! This will be released on DVD on May 11th.

Who can forget Daria Morgendorffer? Even I, who did not grow up with cable and wouldn't have been allowed to watch it if I did since teenagers were speaking rudely to their parents, knew the impact "Daria" had on the hearts and minds of the young. Watching it fresh for the first time as a 26 year old, it makes me flash back to those days in high school....*shudder* and I feel her pain that can only be combated by truly brilliant sarcasm.

The series "Daria" paints a picture many young people are familiar with of high school jocks, cheerleaders, nerds, antisocial elitists, and the most ditzy "popular" younger sister along with a phony suburban mother and a clueless father. Parents have a lot of trouble understanding their kids when they get in high school -- case closed, there is no argument here. High school is a brutal trial by fire that is supposed to be some of the happiest days of our lives. Then thank goodness we graduate and move on to bigger and better things. Even college is scorned in this show as a series of frat parties, keg stands, and paying people to write your papers for you without a hint of real nostalgia. (Tangent: Yes, college is supposed to be the next stage of the "best days" and it too can have wonderful, endearing moments way more than high school every could, but wouldn't it really be great if we lived every day in the present without looking back or forward? I could be on to something here. Just sayin'. ;-) )

The character Daria just doesn't fit in anywhere and doesn't WANT to. She scorns everyone and would much rather sit back with her friend, Jane and puzzle on the mystery of other people's idiosyncrasies. Her sarcasm is hilarious and unforgettable as she would tell a whole sub-population of people to go to hell if she actually cared about them. If you looked up "indifference" in the dictionary, you would probably see her picture.

This series ran for five seasons and even included two movies, all of which are included in this set. Unfortunately it is in full-screen, but what can you do? It ran from 1997-2002. A major difference that might be noticed by fans of the show that is addressed in an insert in the case is that 99% of the music changed because of the cost of licensing it and that's why it's taken so long to release this collection.

Bonus Features:

The Pilot episode "Sealed with a Kick" is included as a bonus....I thought it was part of the collection *shrug*. Also you get to see Mystik Spiral's music video "Freakin' Friends" featuring Trent Lane singing. There are written character profiles on EVERYONE so that should keep you occupied for a while if all the other content wasn't enough!

The two movies in the series are included as extras on the last disc: "Is It Fall Yet?" and "Is It College Yet?" They are both like extended episodes in the spirit of the series. The Fall one focuses on summer plans and College obviously on the future.

Top Ten Video Countdown hosted by Daria & Jane is great if you like the MTV's countdowns. You get to see Daria and Jane using as much sarcasm as possible in their introductions but it does not show any of the actual music videos since that would require too much licensing. Mystik Spiral spin-off script is a DVD-ROM extra available for download. It is a third draft that was never made into a series.

The cast and crew interviews give a lot of background to the series. MTV was looking for an animated series that would appeal more to women and Daria started as a character on "Beavis and Butthead" and decided to create a spin-off with her and they needed a strong female protagonist. The show developed naturally without a lot of direction and it was pretty much a free-for-all in the first season. The same voice-over actress, Wendy Hoopes voiced Quinn, her mother Helen, and Daria's best friend Jane by using different registers in her voice.