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[JohnIan101]

Past Tense - Diarrhea-cha-cha-chaa Part I


[An earlier version of this PT was originally posted on June 6th, 2013 on JoBlo's "DVD, Blu-Ray & Home Theater Discussion" forum.]

This outing we get a good helping of teen angst sprinkled with wit in "Daria".



"Daria: The Complete Animated Series" was released on home video on May 11th, 2010.

It streeted against "Daybreakers", "Toy Story" (re-release), "Toy Story 2" (re-release) and "Legion".

The release came in a thick DVD case, holding eight discs, no slipcover issued. There was a single insert, a note from series creator, Glenn Eichler. The long road to an official release and the changes which had to be made to get it done (addressed further down). It's single sided. There is no episode guide, don't ask why it wasn't included.

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There was single, web based exclusive from www.dariaondvd.com, a t-shirt for the first 5,000 orders.

The set sold here for $49.99 with free shipping.

Screen snap above was taken on release day (sold out quick) - did not order.

I bought mine in store, Best Buy.



On street, it sold for $49.99 at Target and $44.99 at Best Buy (above). It has a retail price of $72.90 - too expensive, more than I'm willing to pay.

So I passed on it. Later that evening was goofing off online (not much has changed) and came across a bit of info - an error.

Best Buy's website had it listed as $27.50, wrong.

An idea popped...



Took a screen snap, the image you see above; taken 7:10pm. Yes, I'm that anal.

Printed and returned to the store. I was there in the morning for my Legacy Project which has died in August of 2014. For nearly a decade would visit the store (Best Buy) each Tuesday to pick up their weekly ad. Why?

Wanted something to look back on years from now. How commercial technology and prices has changed. These are not a pile of print ads. Each year is broken into two large manila envelopes and marked, no mess. It has since become a reference archive. It all started in the mid '00; I was at a friends house looking online at old 1980s Sears catalogs.

We wished we had kept our old catalogs. A great piece of nostalgia. And that resulted in the Legacy Project. I did just one store, otherwise it felt wrong; like I was becoming a pack rat.

Back to the story...

There were three copies, one had a floater (loose disc). The other had what is best described as a dented box. I took the best to the register, showed the gal the printout and asked if they would honor their online price. She said, yes. There was a wait since she had to get someone to override the scanned price. I was worried that the guy would examine the transaction and say no.

This happened in June of 2007 - an internet coupon, ten dollars off various 20th Century Fox series box sets. Best Buy was having a sale at the time for twenty dollar sets. I got some great deals that day. Anyhow, the guy was busy and just punched in some numbers and left. And there it was... $29.98 (with tax) for a $72.90 set; saved $42.92 for those doing the math.

As you can see from that web page, others took advantage of the mistake. By the way, the price went back to normal a few hours later. I was lucky.

I've never had cable (still don't). When it aired in the late 1990s, a friend of mine tape some episodes when he could. So for the most part, that box contained eighty percent of shows I not seen at the time. The series ran for five seasons (1997 - 2002), thirteen episodes per season.

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Footnotes.

There is no aspect, no facet, no moment of life that can't be improved with pizza.

- Daria Morgendorffer

The good and the bad...

These are the unedited versions ("Is It Fall Yet?" is uncut too), minus the subject of music; episodes were later cut up for cable syndication.

With the exception of three songs ("Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", "Whoomp! There It Is" and opening credits) all the music was replaced. Why? Getting the licenses for all the songs would be incredibly expensive and would have to be passed on to the customers.

The series was brimming with popular songs (artists like Sneaker Pimps, The Cardigans, George Michael, Garbage, Soundgarden, Journey, Foo Fighters and Rage Against The Machine to name just a few), the show didn't have a score.

99 percent of the music has been changed, because of the cost of licensing the music bites we used would have made it impossible to release the collection (and for many years did). So no, these aren't the shows as aired, but more like one of these astronauts in a TWILIGHT ZONE episode who returns from space and finds his wife can't figure out what's changed about him, until it slowly dawns on her that instead of a cool song from 1997 playing when he walks into a room, it's some tune she's never heard of. Yeah, it's just like that.

To put it bluntly, replacing the music had to be done. Does that mean this box set is compromised? Season 1 Daria would have said, "Yes". Season V Daria would have said, "Shut up and pass the remote".

- Glenn Eichler

I have to say I'm impressed. The new music feels very natural, like it belongs there, most sway. Whoever did the job did a great service to fans. You don't notice it. Not like the job done for "Birds Of Prey: The Complete Series" (a previous Past Tense). Frack me, the music replacement was so generic. Couldn't they at least get the rights to the theme song ("Revolution" by Aimee Allen)? Nope.

I say three songs remain intact, true, but on a technicality.

The opening song "You're Standing On My Neck" by Splendora, only plays once. It's attached to the first episode on each disc. The rest begin with the episode's name. I guess it was cheaper to have it play once per disc than sixty-five times. They could've done it with seamless branching, tack on the opening for each episode, but I suspect that would quality as sixty-five times too.

It needs to be mentioned, many of the scenes in this new version is devoid of music. Not that it takes away from those particular moments, thought it should be noted.

Something I didn't know until researching; Garmin and TomTom GPS systems have a Daria voice option. New putdowns and jokes were recorded by the voice actress Tracy Grandstaff.

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Besides the music changes there is another, something of more weight. The box set has all of the episodes, the "Sarcastathon 3000" intros for the "Daria" marathon and the two TV movies, "Is It Fall Yet?" (August 27th, 2000) and "Is It College Yet?" (January 21st, 2002). The latter is shorter, shorten by seven minutes. Why?

A good question with no good answer other than the original master is lost. Yeah.

The thing aired in 2002 (January 21st), it's not like it was a long time ago. How can it be lost?



"College" had it's own DVD release and on VHS in 2002, it was in this edited form. The movie was originally ninety minutes long. "Fall" also had an individual release too.

When it first aired, "College", it was broadcast commercial-free and featured an intermission with the premiere of the music video "Breaking Up The Girl" by Garbage. And after the finale, Grandstaff came on with one of the VJ to present the winners of their online poll, "Mock The Vote".

The least popular episodes were named and a final montage of alter egos, character images shown at the end of episodes.

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There were two official books for the series. And yes, I do own them. *smiles*



Both soft covers were released in 1998. "The Daria Database" (seventy-six pages) was written by Peggy Nicoll; she was the story editor for seasons four and five as well as a series writer. "The Daria Diaries" (seventy-eight pages) was written by Anne D. Bernstein; she was the head writer. Both were published by MTV Books.

The books were not a narrative, but rather a slice of the main character's life; the people and places around her.

You could call them scrapbooks of sorts.

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The extras present are pretty cool. But there are additional stuff missing.

There was a half hour retrospective hosted by Daria and Jane, "Daria: Look Back In Annoyance" (January 14th, 2002). Aired a week before the finale, "Is It College Yet?" Found it on YouTube, the reason for its exclusion might be because the clips used on the program have the original music.

There was also a making-of special, "Behind The Scenes With Daria", an hour long program (February 18th, 2000; hosted by Janeane Garofalo). It would later re-air as a half hour special. Music issues may have been the reason too why its absent.