Archived Issue 010

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4909 Total Signatures Since March, 2001

IIFY Ranking: 961 -- All-time high since 02/22/02: 594 on 07/12/2002
IICY Ranking: 271 -- All-time high: 113 on 08/22/2002

Rankings gleaned from http://www.junglescan.com, User = Quinn1, Pass = blushathon

Hits to www.the-wildone.com/dvdaria/index.html: 1,723 in July, 2002

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Dammit! Dammit, Dammit, Dammit!

It has been a long time since I've updated DVDaria, or sent one of these messages. My apologies.

A lot has been going on for me. But the main reason I haven't attended to my commitments to this project is despair. I haven't wanted to deal with the facts.

The fact that "The N" has chopped up the Daria episodes it currently syndicates (and apparently will not syndicate a good number of the more "difficult" ones). The probable situation that no one wanted Daria other than this commercial-free side-project of Viacom's -- and then because they could get it nearly for free (as has been argued by Daria fanfic reviewer CINCGREEN, a.k.a. James Bowman, as well as his new bride, Ruthless Bunny, a.k.a. Ruth, nee Margolis). (Which is not to say that I'm lumping them together or anything...sorry, inside joke.)

The further fact that Paramount/Viacom released the second Daria DVD today, "Is it College Yet?", from which eight minutes is cut from the original version, which ran on MTV on Jan. 21, 2002.

And the further fact that, when recently asked straight up whether or not the edited (for commercials) version would appear on the DVD, as was suspected, my sources at Viacom insisted that this was not the case.

These facts mean that Viacom doesn't care about Daria very much (or at least, not as much as we fans do). They are the ones who cut it up for syndication. They either don't mind or don't care that the DVD is edited. I strongly suspect that no one bothered to check which version went to be mastered for the DVD -- my Viacom source may have told me what he or she believed to be true.

Heck, no one bothered, as well, to include the promised character information, which was announced when the IICY? DVD was first promoted. I'm led to suspect that no one will bother to ensure that any future DVD releases include the unedited MTV versions, rather than the edited versions now appearing on The N.

So, I've been poking around the message boards, kinda slinking about, being bummed. Updating DVDaria and sending this message was more than I felt like doing, given the circumstances.

There are other people who are riled up about this. Kara Wild of The Contrarian's Corner fan site asked for my thoughts about what we could do about The N making Daria fit for their vision of the 9-year-old demographic, on behalf of herself and Michelle Klein-Haas, better known as Ms. Geek. Well, when folks like Michelle -- who can talk with Daria creator Glenn Eichler via email -- are asking me what to do, things are in a less than desirable state. I sure don't know what to do, and I told them so.

Another fan who's angry is long-timer Doc Forbin, a.k.a. Peter W. Guerin, who has started another petition drive, which I happily promote here: http://www.geocities.com/dickmarino/dariatnn.html. The site points to Peter's petition for TNN to run Daria uncut alongside the broadcasts on The N, and also to a long essay on the subject.

Returning to the IICY? DVD, Adam Spradlin was the first to point out (via The Paperpusher's Message Board) that the original running time of the unedited broadcast -- omitting "wraparounds" and interviews -- was 74 minutes, and the running time written on pictures of the DVD box was 66. My source at Viacom said we'd gotten it wrong, and I -- being a trusting soul -- repeated this assertion.

But Fr. Martin Sylvester, proprietor of The Irony Maiden, picked up the first online review of the IICY? DVD from Morv, a UK importer of Region 1 DVDs. A quick check between a videotape of the uncut, Jan. 21 version and the DVD by Fr. Sylvester showed that, indeed, eight minutes have been cut. (A second, more complementary review was soon penned by Shadow, who deserves better than the non-response I gave to his request it be posted here. Sorry.) Huzzah to Fr. Martin for picking up my copious slack. :-)

Okay. Does this matter, in the grand scheme of things? Isn't it better -- as the aforementioned CINCGREEN and R. Bunny assert -- that The N runs any version of Daria at all, even Bowdlerized? Isn't it better that any DVD at all is produced? Isn't it true that the Daria program -- owned entirely by Viacom -- will just get stuffed in a vault, along with Sif and Ollie, Downtown and The Julie Brown Show if we don't watch and buy what we're given?

I guess it doesn't matter, on those terms. I guess that's true -- Daria is Viacom's to do with what they wish. Hell, even Daria's creator, Glenn Eichler, has made plain many times his opinion that we fans are a bunch of hysterical, oversensitive, bad-fiction-writing goofs in dire need of lives. It's not like he's rushing to the defense of his creation, or apparently half as excited about what's happened to it as me, or Peter, or Kara and Michelle, or any of hundreds of other people.

And the thousands of people who DON'T write about this, but who care as deeply about Daria. Dammit, we've got a petition with about 5,000 names on it, and they all want uncut Daria on DVD. But that doesn't amount to a hill of beans in Viacom's crazy world, where The Osbournes pulls 1.5 million viewers.

Where am I going with this? I'll tell you.

I encourage people to watch Daria on The N. I encourage you to go right now and buy "Is it Fall Yet?" and "Is it College Yet?" on DVD, if you have not already. Finding new fans is important. Getting new DVDs (as uncut as possible, PLEASE!) is important.

But I no longer care how well they sell. I won't be signing up for The N, or watching my DVD of IICY? -- at least until my tape craps out entirely. That's Viacom and Paramount's problem. I'm done pimping their product for free.

This fandom isn't dead yet. Not by a long shot. Mike Yamiolkoski's masterful database of Daria character information, Daria Online -- http://www30.brinkster.com/quadstar/Daria-Online/Daria-Online.htm -- all by itself proves much about this fandom's strength. CINCGREEN'S putting an enormous amount of energy into the Daria Tournament of Champions, a league-table style comparison of seeded Daria episodes in search of the all-time champeen, over at the Scorched Remnants Message Board. Outpost Daria, The Contrarian's Corner, and even Glitter Berries all recently updated.

I'm down, but dammit, I'm not out. I'm going to leave Viacom its version of Daria. And I'm going to have fun with mine.

I'm going to show uncut Daria episodes to friends, for free. If I happen to have hundreds of friends, from all around my town, that's not my fault, is it? It's not our fault if many of us around the country get together to watch Daria episodes for free, is it?

And if a reproduction of an uncut Daria episode should come my way, I certainly won't refuse it. It would be a violation of Viacom's copyright and trademark, yes. I won't make these copies, but I won't refuse them. You all do what you think is appropriate in your own homes.

There is a Daria that is mine. The memories of getting into the show are mine. The friends I've made getting into this fandom are mine. The excitement I've felt about this program, the DVDaria project and this fandom are mine. Not Viacom's, not Paramount's.

Dammit, that Daria is mine.

Alan Benard
DVDaria
August 27, 2002