Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo....

Daria's having a rough time of it on Twilight Zone Day, but she should look on the bright side. Maybe she'll end up in a parallel universe where Brittany and Kevin are smart!

Nah. That's too bizarre, even for Rod Serling.

For a tamer holiday, I can recommend Hostess Cupcake Day. If you want to get some chocolate desserts, just ask Brittany! She's a great hostess...cupcake.

Fanfic Update!

• Construct, by FictionAuthorofFiction (COMPLETE!): "Today had been particularly awful, Daria thought to herself. There must have been a rumor about her going around, because people would not stop watching her all day."


• Her Last Words, by Sheila Wisz Ellayn (part 64): "Anna Coulthard had not been very friendly, welcoming at all or even cooperative when Lockie finally came back with a specialist that day, in fact she had turned quite hostile and yet the doctor provided a diagnosis after analyzing her patient for about thirty minutes."


• Mystery Incorporated in Lawndale (World's Shortest Crossover XV: A New Era In Crossovers), by cfardell_Brenorenz29 (part 2): "Daria walked out with Velma to the Mystery Machine. 'This is likely to be tedious, Daria,' Velma said. 'No doubt.'"


• Spacetrapped, by chaoslordsquidward (parts 1 and 2): "'What is your legal name?' The interrogator asked. The interrogator was a gray-skinned alien with black eyes and tendrils covering their mouth." (Part 2)

Christmas Afternoon, Egg-Nogginized

You've opened all your presents and you didn't get anything you wanted, which you had expected, but you did get a lot of stuff you didn't want, which you also had expected. It's time to kick back with your best friend and have some spiked flavored eggnog and offer your final Christmas thoughts.

Interesting old thread about the supposed religious backgrounds of the Morgendorffers and other folks. Worth a read in this particular season. Any new thoughts?

Did you know Rod Serling, creator of The Twilight Zone, was born on Christmas Day? Read all about it here, including the many fanfic links between Daria and that scariest of places.

Fanfic update this weekend, I hope.

Your Next Stop... The Twilight Zone

It is not well known that today, in addition to being Christmas, is the anniversary of the birth of Rod Serling, an award-winning screenwriter who created two enormously popular TV shows, The Twilight Zone and Night Gallery. He would have been 84 today. The Twilight Zone (the early episodes are now online) has had an outrageous impact on mass-media presentations of science fiction and modern fantasy. It also had an effect on Daria.

In the 1997 Beavis and Butt-head book, The Butt-Files (later collected in Reading Sucks), we discover that Beavis and Butt-head once traveled into the Twilight Zone and met Rod Serling. They also met the Twilight Zone versions of Daria, Stewart, and teachers at Highland High. (Think of the Star Trek episode "Mirror, Mirror." You've got it.) This two-page adventure is reproduced for your edification (it's a word, look it up) here and here. Start with the first "here," then move on to the second. For more atmosphere as you read, click here before going to the story.

Enjoy your nightmare.


Incidental Notes: "The Twilight Zone" is referenced many times in Daria fanfiction. Daria and Jane are both widely believed to be quite familiar with the show, despite it never being discussed in the Daria series. Some stories mention it in an offhand but relevant way (e.g., "Art Frieze" and "Fixing Dad"), but some weave the two shows together in a more intimate way, adding large doses of drama, horror, or startling change to the normal Daria presentation. Some of the most notable fanfics with clear Twilight Zone influence are named below.

• "The Butterfly Storm"
• "Heart's Desire"
• "Next Time, This Time" (which produced the stunning "Twilight's Own")
• "The Way Things Ought to Be"
  

The tale "Mirror, Mirror," a crossover with the Star Trek episode of the same name, appropriately offers homage to Rod Serling's landmark show at the end.

If you have some favorite Twilight Zone-style Daria tales, share them in the Comments section.

P.S. In an unrelated news story, Tom Sloane is still dead.

Somewhere, in an alternate universe very, very, very, very, very far away . . .

Image credit goes to Beavis and Butthead: Reading Sucks. I feel dirty now. The bad kind of dirty. It was worth it, though.

As ours is an animation fandom, it is worth a tip of the hat to a famous figure whose birthday was today: Walter Lantz, creator of Woody Woodpecker and company. While acting as the live host for his cartoon TV show in the late 1950s and beyond, he demonstrated the techniques of how animation is done, which was an eye-opener for many young viewers of the time. I remember seeing these episodes myself. Though it is a source of frustration for Quinn Morgendorffer to know that she was not the first famous redhead in animation (Woody probably was), at least she's the cutest. Unless you count Kim Possible. Or Daphne Blake. Or Mary Jane Watson. Oh, Jean Grey, yeah, for sure. And there were some others. . . .

PPMB

• Avalon, by legendeld (Part 17): Veronica is back, but not as you might imagine, and Quinn pays a visit to Mom.
• Iron Chef: Unusual Superpowers (continued): This just gets worse and worse (i.e., better and better).
  
• Stacy Rowe, Seeker (Part II) (continued): [groans] Okay, I was not expecting that.