Is It Fall Yet?
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Is It Fall Yet? is the first of two movie-length installments featured in MTV's animated series Daria. The two telemovies, Is It Fall Yet? and Is It College Yet? did not follow the standard trend of being stand alone features with self contained plots, but rather were made as components of the series, the first chronicling the summer hiatus between the school years of seasons 4 and 5, and the second serving as the show's grand finale. Is It Fall Yet? was written by show creators Glenn Eichler and Peggy Nicoll and directed by Karen Disher and Guy Moore, and features the voice talents of Tracy Grandstaff and Wendy Hoopes.
[edit] Plot
Is It Fall Yet? continues the series' running plot from where it left of at the end of Season 4. In the final episode of Season 4 (Dye! Dye, my Darling!), titular character Daria Morgendorffer committed the regretful act of kissing best friend Jane Lane's then boyfriend, Tom Sloane. The episode ended with the two friends' future uncertain and Tom and Daria's relationship shaky.
The film begins with students at Lawndale High preparing for their summer break on their last day of school. Though Daria and Jane are still on speaking terms, there is definite tension between them, stemming from Jane's subtly cold attitude. Daria and Tom are seeing each other romantically, but due to Daria's anti-social personality and the gravity of the situation are taking things slow. Perhaps to avoid having to be with Daria during the summer, Jane has signed up for an Art Camp to fill her holidays, whereas Daria is forced by her mother Helen to partake in English teacher Timothy O'Neill's summer camp for pre-pubescent children, located at a natural range dubbed the O.K. To Cry Corrale. In a running B-story, Daria's sister Quinn hires a tutor (voiced by talk show host Carson Daly) to help her raise her marks for admittance to her preferred college, and in doing so discovers a hidden intellectuality.
While at the camp, Daria meets a young, nihilistic boy named Link, who seems to be disillusioned with his existence and voices his pessimism every chance he gets. Recognizing herself in Link, Daria attempts to reach out to him to perhaps disband his isolation. However, bitter rejection from the child only results in Daria feeling worse. Paralleling these emotions is her relationship with Tom, which she effectively ends for the discomfort it brings.
Meanwhile, Jane is finding her romanticized Art Camp is not the paradise she envisioned. Inhabited mainly by overly pretentious Art students and an infinitely more pretentious Art teacher (voiced by Foo Fighters' frontman Dave Grohl), her only comfort comes in the form of a new friend, an older artist at the camp named Allison (voiced by female punk rock singer Bif Naked). The relationship between these two is somewhat ruined, however, when Jane discovers Allison is bisexual and is sexually attracted to Jane. When propositioned, Jane tells Allison that she is heterosexual, something that Allison questions by saying, "I'm sorry, baby, but I never hit on straight chicks". This incident of mistaken sexuality further antagonizes Jane's self-doubt.
When the summer is over and both Daria and Jane return home in the final days of their break, they meet to discuss their respective experiences. Comforted by Daria's admiration for her, Jane begins to reassert her characteristic self-assurance, while a letter from Link offering her to "email (him) if you want" finds Daria not quite so cynical about reaching out to others. By this stage Jane admits that she "actually is" over Daria and Tom's betrayal and subsequent relationship, and encourages Daria to give Tom a second chance.
The film ends with a happy resolution, Jane back to her "old self", Daria and Tom reattempting their slow-paced relationship and Quinn realizing her own academic potential. The series recommenced at the beginning of Season 5 by picking up where Is It Fall Yet? leaves off.
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| Morgendorffers: | Daria | Quinn (Sister) | Helen (Mother) | Jake (Father) |
| Other high school students: | Jane Lane | Brittany Taylor | Jodie Landon | Charles "Upchuck" Ruttheimer III | Kevin Thompson | Joey, Jeffy, and Jamie | Sandi Griffin | Stacy Rowe |
| Teachers: | Janet Barch | Claire Defoe | Anthony DeMartino | Angela Li | Timothy O'Neill |
| Miscellaneous: | Rita Barksdale | Amy Barksdale | Mystik Spiral |
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| Beavis and Butt-Head | Is It Fall Yet? | Is It College Yet? | Lawndale High | Lawndale | Episodes | Sick, Sad World | |
