Is It Fall Yet?

"Is It Fall Yet?"
Directed by	Karen Disher Guy Moore
Written by	Glenn Eichler Peggy Nicoll
Starring	Tracy Grandstaff Wendy Hoopes Julian Rebolledo Marc Thompson Alvaro J. Gonzalez Carson Daly Bif Naked Dave Grohl
Distributed by	MTV and The N
Release date(s)	August 27, 2000
Running time	75 min
Country	United States
Language	English

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?, chronicled, respectively, the summer hiatus between the school years of seasons four and five, and the second served as the show's finale.

Plot

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

Is It Fall Yet? continues the series' running plot from where it left off at the end of season four. In the final episode of season four ("Dye! Dye, My Darling!"), Daria Morgendorffer kisses Tom Sloane, the boyfriend of Daria's best friend, Jane Lane. The episode ends 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 work as a counselor at English teacher Timothy O'Neill's summer camp for pre-pubescent children. While at the camp, Daria meets a nihilistic young boy named Link, who feels disillusioned with his existence and voices his bad attitude every chance he gets. Recognizing herself in Link, Daria attempts to reach out to him. 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 (a party school), and in doing so discovers a hidden intellectuality. Quinn becomes sincerely interested in pursuing a romantic relationship with David, but he turns her down because he still sees the shallowness to her personality. He nonetheless admits that Quinn has more depth than her friends, the other members of The Fashion Club. In a second B-story, Mr. Anthony DeMartino has become disillusioned with teaching and has joined O'Neill's summer camp as a staff member ("Uncle Anthony") in an attempt to regain his enthusiasm; to his surprise, his enraged outbursts against a bullying camper and against O'Neill's misguided touchy-feely activities make him tremendously popular with the kids, causing him to want to be a teacher again.

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 budding friendship is tested when Allison reveals that she is bisexual and propositions Jane. Jane, surprised, responds that she is straight 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.

External links

• Is It Fall Yet? at the Internet Movie Database