Burning Down the House

Nine years ago today, one of the best episodes in the Daria series was aired for the first time: "Fire!" (At right, Quinn tries to find something fashionable to wear before she escapes the blaze, complaining to Sandi about it all the while.) "Fire!" was the first element in a three-part arc of closely related stories about the development of the relationship between Daria and Tom Sloane. The best webpage on this episode (IMHO) is on DariaWiki, which contains many links to commentary on the episode and some interesting trivia bits. More episode pages should be like this one.

It seems to me that "Fire!" is one of those points from which quite interesting "what if" worlds could be created.

• What if Tom Sloane showed no interest at all in Daria, being faithful to Jane to the end? This would require some modification of "I Loathe a Parade," of course, but it's interesting.
• What if the fire in the Morgendorffers' home had spread and become worse, leading to serious injuries or fatalities, or the complete loss of the home?
• What if Tom and Daria were run over by the floats while... oh, right, not so much angst. Sorry.
• You get the idea. Last chance to turn away from disaster in the next episode. Also, there was that stalker Bobbie, Sandi's interesting interest in dumping bodies, Stacy in a bikini and cowboy hat, etc.
• What if Trent was a superhero whose superpower was ethereal transference? I don't know either, but it sounds interesting.
  

NEWZ PHLASH! The announcement of Daria's 2010 release on DVD has gotten around. The following are some interesting news items about this. It's worth giving them a look because some have whistles and bells with them, like pictures and even short animated segments. Enjoy.

• Daria Headed to DVD in 2010 (Animation World Network)
• Role Models: The Return of Daria (SignOn SanDiego)
• La La La La La: Daria's Coming to DVD! (Paste Magazine)
• A High Schooler Has Hard Times on MTV's New Show [brief mention of Daria in article about a VERY weird planned show, OMG] (BuzzSugar)
• Excuse Me? Daria Finally Coming to DVD (TV Squad) [see also these posts]
• Daria - 'Coming to DVD'? Yes (TVShowsOnDVD)

Stay tuned!

XTRA GNUZ! Richard Lobinske has updated the list of 2009 Daria Visual Fanworks! Hooray!

And now for the fanfiction. Jeepers, people sure write enough of it around here.

PPMB

• Iron Chef: Daria Is Raven's Apprentice, by Project Pegasus & company (continued): [The rudeness never ends. ]
• Daria the Hoosier, by Doggieboy (Part 4.5): She saw a cardboard box just under the bed near a small table with a lamp and a clock radio. Seeing an analog clock on a radio blew her mind, though she did see a digital clock radio in the kitchen earlier. Apparently, they’re still new on the market, she thought.
• Legion of Lawndale Heroes Gold Team 1:5: Fish or Fry, by Roentgen (continued): It was Lance that suggested that the five of them go to see what Thomas "had been working on" as a diversion. This involved the five of them getting in the Maybach and driving out to God Knows Where in El Paso. "What about Daria?" said Tom. "I'm sure she'll be fine. We'll be coming back!" Villacana acted to reassure Tom. "Oh Pope, not even of age you're already shackled to the old ball-and-chain! Let's have a "'boy's day out!'"