A Power Behind the Melody

Even though Daria's fictional character Melody Powers was only mentioned twice during the show, in Season 1's "Café Disaffecto" and Season 3's "The Old and the Beautiful", the idea has generated a lot of material for fanfiction, from the obvious of Daria writing "Melody" as a plot element to the inclusion of actual Melody stories, the best example of which is Galen Hardesty's "Blood Oath of Patriots" series.

Since both episodes include the ending of their respective Melody stories, it is clear that Daria wrote at least two of them. The "Café Disaffecto" story ended with:

Daria - Safe for democracy, or almost safe. Melody brushed some errant grains of sand off her fingers, tied her top back on and reached into her beach bag. Tonio heard nothing, and that was a pity, because he would never hear anything again. So long Tonio, she thought as she calmly stood up. I could have loved you if you weren't as red as the blood stain now spreading across the sand.

(Mr. O’Neill hides face in hands)

Daria - Melody walked calmly away toward the hotel, there’d be a message there from HQ no doubt. She hoped she had time to shower.

While "The Old and the Beautiful" with:

Daria - "Melody Powers sighed as she began picking what was left of Misha out of her hair. She'd look into less aggressive explosives back at HQ after her rendezvous with Team Algiers and the intriguing Eduard. 'I hope he's the strong, silent type,' she thought, flicking away one of Misha's molars. 'I've already had one man go to pieces on me today.'"


Though riffing off of the contemporary movie, "Austin Powers", the character and stories are not comedies, but instead are satires of the spy genre with over-the-top body counts like an episode of "24".

Daria - As Melody sun-bathed on the Rio beach, she looked back upon the past few days with a certain quiet satisfaction: twelve dead Russians, five dead Chinese, three or four dead Cubans. The world was once again safe for democracy, she reflected while watching Tonio's exquisite chest rise and fall with his light snoring.

Come to think of it, it makes you wonder how Daria would write Melody meeting Jack Bauer. Hmm, since I'm feeling a little lazy today, that's your homework assignment. How would Melody Powers react to Jack Bauer. Write a short bit here or if it's something longer, take it over to one of our regularly scheduled message boards.