Is It Fall Yet?

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Shortly after becoming a couple, Daria and Tom awkwardly avoid explaining why Tom is not with Jane.

Is It Fall Yet?, first broadcast August 27, 2000, 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 off at the end of Season 4. In the final episode of Season 4 ("Dye! Dye, My Darling!"), Daria Morgendorffer kisses Tom Sloane, the boyfriend of Daria's best friend, Jane Lane. The episode ended with the two friends' future uncertain and Tom and Daria's relationship shaky.

The film begins on the last day of school at Lawndale High, where students are preparing for their summer break. Though Daria and Jane are still on speaking terms, Jane is cold toward Daria, and their relationship is tense. Daria and Tom are seeing each other romantically, but due to Daria's personality and the gravity of the situation, they are taking things slowly. Apparently to avoid Daria, Jane has signed up for a summer art camp. Daria intends to do nothing but read, sleep, and see her friends, but her mother Helen forces her to partake in English teacher Timothy O'Neill's summer camp for pre-pubescent children. While at the camp, Daria meets a young, nihilistic boy named Link, who feels 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, he rejects her overtures, which results in Daria feeling worse. Paralleling these emotions is her relationship with Tom, which she effectively ends for the discomfort it brings.

In a running B-story, Daria's sister Quinn hires a tutor, David (voiced by Carson Daly), to help her raise her grades for admittance to her preferred college, and in doing so discovers a hidden intellectuality. Quinn becomes sincerely interested in pursuing a relationship with David, but is ultimately rejected because he still sees the shallowness to her personality, though he does admit to seeing more depth in her than in her friends, the other members of The Fashion Club.

Meanwhile, Jane finds that art camp is not the paradise she envisioned: instead, it is inhabited by overly pretentious art students and an even more pretentious art teacher, Daniel Dotson (voiced by Dave Grohl). Jane's only pleasure comes from making a new friend, an older artist at the camp named Allison (voiced by Bif Naked), who shares Jane's distaste for the other campers' pretension. The two crack jokes together and go out to eat, but their relationship is tested when Allison reveals that she is bisexual and propositions Jane. Jane, surprised, responds that she is heterosexual and thus not interested, but Allison dismisses her, saying, "I never hit on straight chicks." As a result, Jane begins to question her sexuality. When she approaches Allison to discuss it, however, Allison brushes her off and reveals that after putting Daniel down to ingratiate herself with Jane, Allison is now dating him to further her career. Jane is left feeling betrayed and manipulated.

Daria comes to visit Jane, and, due to some meddling from Jane's brother Trent, the two reconcile. After returning home, Daria tells Jane that she was always impressed by Jane's strong sense of identity, which resolves Jane's identity crisis over her sexual orientation. Daria receives a letter from Link that invites her to email him, thus assuaging her fears that she is incapable of reaching out to or connecting with another human being. Jane affirms that she is no longer upset by Daria and Tom dating and encourages Daria to get back together with him.

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.