'DARIA' ENDS SUMMER TV SEASON WITH SARCASM, WIT.

Byline: David Kronke TV Critic

Daria Morgendorffer may be the only teen-ager who has no use for summer vacation, but she makes a compelling case for her viewpoint in the MTV movie ``Daria: Is It Fall Yet?'' Daria, who has had her own MTV series for three years after escaping from ``Beavis and Butt-Head,'' extends her trademark deadpan sardonicism to feature length and proves, as did her former acquaintances with ``B&B Do America,'' that a one-note shtick can play that long if handled delicately and smartly.

As the film opens, Daria is overjoyed at the prospect of three solid months of slacking and moping. Her parents, on the other hand, have other ideas, signing her up to be a counselor at an irksomely precious, insanely politically correct children's camp, the OK-to-Cry-Corral. Her buddy Jane, who's still miffed at her for stealing her boyfriend Tom - Daria with a boyfriend? Who'd have guessed she'd ever do anything so proactive? - heads to a pretentious art camp, where she's propositioned by a bisexual.

Daria's airhead sister, Quinn, is subjected to a tutor's attentions, but much to her mystification, finds she enjoys intelligence, if it's also cute. And Kevin and Brittany, the class airheads (and most popular kids), endanger lives as pool lifeguards.

Needless to say, Daria experiences much angst - over her boyfriend, who comes from an overprivileged, overmoneyed family, and over a distraught, disaffected young boy she counsels at camp, a younger version of her who hasn't yet learned to greet life with a stiff smile and a caustic rejoinder.

``Is It Fall Yet?'' is, like Daria, smart and low-key and fatalistic in a bizarrely life-affirming way. The virtually clip-art nature of the stylized graphics and minimal animation suit the satiric tone of the show, and this film, perfectly. Like ``Beavis'' before her, ``Daria'' tells her youthful MTV audience that most teens are essentially idiots, but from her point of view, the smart kids get the last laugh.

Action film practices some bad witchcraft

``Witchblade'' is obviously based on a comic book, but it's hard at times to tell which one. It's about a tough-babe cop who, thanks to some mystical mumbo-jumbo, gets this goofy-looking metal arm that deflects bullets just like Wonder Woman's wristbands and pops out villain-skewering daggers similar to the knuckle-bound cutlery of the X-Men's Wolverine.

Sara Pezzini (Yancy Butler, who takes this role more staggeringly seriously than anyone could ever imagine) is haunted by memories of a dead-dad cop and an iced estranged pal. Surrounding her are a partner (William Yun Lee), who's around just long enough to mention the wife and kids before the inevitable happens; a moony, hunky cop (David Chokachi) who takes time from his Tommy Hilfiger photo shoots to provide snippets of exposition; and a zealously murderous evil genius (Conrad Dunn) of the sort that exist only in really stupid movies.

There are also a couple of mysterious figures who disappear whenever there's a convenient break in the editing - and, given Norman Buckley's MTV-on-speed cutting and ``Matrix''-on-a-budget visual effects, that's fairly often - who are tied in some fashion to an ethereal goofball named Irons (Anthony Cistaro). Irons studies up on this sort of thing so he can tell Sara, ``The Witchblade has a way of slipping from its wearer's grasp just when it is needed most'' - kind of like common sense in this movie. It gets worse - the gizmo is ``a mystery wrapped in a riddle and cloaked in a conundrum.'' Even though this is clearly designed to spin off into an equally dumb TV series, Irons sums it up for us when he says, ``You've disappointed me, Sara.''

The facts

--The show: ``Daria: Is It Fall Yet?''

--What: Animated feature starring the sardonic refugee from ``Beavis and Butt-Head.''

--Where: MTV.

--When: 7 tonight.

--Our rating: Three stars

The facts --The show: ``Witchblade.''

--What: Action flick/potential pilot for a TV series based on a comic book about a crime-fighting dame with a magical metal arm.

--The stars: Yancy Butler, Anthony Cistaro, Conrad Dunn, David Chokachi, William Yun Lee, Eric Etebari.

--Where: TNT.

--When: 8, 10 and midnight tonight; also Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sept. 4.

--Our rating: One and one half stars

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Daria Morgendorffer, left, with her sister, Quinn, stars as a reluctant summer camp counselor in the feature-length animated MTV film ``Daria: Is It Fall Yet?''

(2) Yancy Butler stars as Sara Pezzini, a crime-fighting tough cop with a bullet-deflecting metal arm, in ``Witchblade.''