Is It College Yet?

Is It College Yet?
Created by Glenn Eichler
Susie Lewis Lynn
Written by Glenn Eichler
Peggy Nicoll
Directed by Karen Disher
Starring Tracy Grandstaff
Wendy Hoopes
Julian Rebolledo
Marc Thompson
Alvaro J. Gonzalez
Theme music composer Splendora (theme: "College Try")
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
Production
Producer(s) Cindy E. Brolsma
Lemon Krasny
Andrea Wortham
Running time 75 min (original) / 66 min (DVD edit)
Production company(s) MTV Studios
Release
Original network MTV
Original release January 21, 2002

Is It College Yet? is the second of two movie-length installments featured in MTV's animated series Daria. The first music video for "Breaking Up the Girl" by Garbage premiered as part of the film, featuring a Daria montage, and the song was promoted as the "theme song" for College;[1] the song used to open the film was Splendora's last ever song "College Try (Gives Me Blisters)".

The two telemovies, Is It Fall Yet? and Is It College Yet?, chronicled, respectively, the summer hiatus between the school years of seasons four and five, and the end of high school for the characters. The second also served as the show's finale.[2]

Is It College Yet? was produced in lieu of an abbreviated, six-episode sixth season requested by MTV. Series creator Glenn Eichler had planned to wrap the show with the fifth season finale "Boxing Daria", believing that there was no more story to tell.[3] Eichler agreed to write Is It College Yet? in order to have a true series finale for Daria.

Plot

With high school graduation nearing, Daria is faced with difficult decisions about choosing her college and her future with Tom. Jane has second thoughts about whether she wishes to become a college student. Meanwhile, Quinn gets a job as a hostess at an upscale French restaurant to pay back her mother for maxing out one of her credit cards. She readily befriends one of her co-workers, Lindy (a college student), only to discover that she is showing signs of serious alcoholism.

Ms. Barch, while being informed by Mr. O'Neill that her divorce is nothing to be ashamed of, is led her to believe that he proposed to her. When Mr. O'Neil is unable to tell her he's mistaken, Mr. DeMartino tries to help O'Neil to man up, admitting that he considers him a friend and doesn't want to see him end up with Barch. With DeMartino's help, O'Neil manages to tell Barch that he doesn't want to marry her but she nonetheless decides to stay with him even if they don't get married, being "intrigued by [his] new backbone" (much to DeMartino's annoyance).

Sandi mysteriously loses her voice after Stacey's birthday party, and Stacey (whose wish when she blew out her birthday candles would be that Sandi would simply stop talking) feels responsible.

The movie ends with Daria and Jane — who heeded Daria's advice about applying to college — being accepted into colleges, both in Boston. Daria and Tom break up because Daria feels that trying to stay together as a couple in college would ask way too much of both of them. Nonetheless, they decide that they will keep in touch with each other throughout college as friends. The Fashion Club ends up disbanding, but decides that they will spend the next day analyzing what they will do with all their free time.

At Lawndale High's graduation, Jodie gives the valedictory address. Daria receives the Dian Fossey Award for Academic Achievement and gives a sincere speech thanking her family. The final scene has Daria and Jane eating pizza and talking about the graduation and their future.

During the end credits, various "alter ego" renderings (more detailed than at the end of the regular episodes) depict possible future careers and scenarios for nearly all of the series' characters. These are:

Cast

Alternate version

An edited version of this TV-movie was cablecast by MTV in reruns, which cut several minutes from the original broadcast version. Both DVD releases (the original single-disc release and the Complete Animated Series release) include this edited version, not the original.[4]

Reception

In a review of the movie and the show in general, Slate reporter Emily Nussbaum said Is It College Yet? was "a bit of a classic" for showing its "sharply funny exploration of social class... the high-schoolers head off to very different paths in life, based on their economic prospects — unlike, say, the characters on 90210."[5]

References

  1. ↑ Breaking Up the Girl (trade ad) in USA: Hits magazine. 2001-12-01.
  2. ↑ "Is It College Yet?". DVD Talk. Retrieved 2010-05-13.
  3. ↑ Desowitz, Bill. "Daria Ends Successful Run on MTV with Second TV Movie", Web.Archive.com of Animation Magazine, Jan. 18, 2002. Reprinted at Outpost Daria: "In the Media".
  4. ↑ Quinn, Mike. "Episode Guide: Is It College Yet? - Interesting Tidbits: Miscellaneous", Outpost Daria, 2002
  5. ↑ Nussbaum, Emily. "Requiem for Daria: Daria slips into the Ghost World of great high-school drama", Slate.com, January 21, 2002

External links

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