Melody Powers: Difference between revisions
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'''Melody Powers''' is a fictional spy character developed by [[Daria Morgendorffer]] and included in stories featured in the episodes "[[Cafe Disaffecto]]" and "[[The Old and the Beautiful]]." The character's stories appear to be set during the Cold War, as she uses sex appeal and bloody brutality to fight Communists. What little we know of Daria's writing indicates that her Melody Powers stories are rather over-the-top with death and violence, almost parodying the genre of spy fiction. Daria displays no antagonism toward Communism or Russians otherwise, leading one to wonder if her Melody Powers tales are a sort of [[metafic]].
[[Image:MP2.jpg|thumb|right|[[Melody Powers (RLobinske artwork)|Another concept]] of Melody in 1/8 scale, by Richard Lobinske]]▼
In the episode [[Cafe Disaffecto]], Daria presents her short story of Melody Powers to the new student coffee house and [[Timothy O'Neill|Mr. O'Neill]]. The name of Daria's story is titled "Where The Future Takes Us". The transcript of Daria's story is as follows:
'''Daria''': As students standing at the dawn of a brand new century, we face certain choices. How do we prepare for the future? Melody Powers knew how she was going to prepare, as she checked the fit one more time on her tooled leather shoulder holster. She thought about all the communists she would be taking out tonight.
''(view of bored crowd becoming interested)''
'''Daria''': Melody harbored no illusions about unilaterally stemming the resurging red tide. "But," she reflected with a grim smile, "what special agent could resist the opportunity to fill a few Bolshevik cemeteries?"
''(view of Mr. O'Neill at the stage wing, looking shocked, worried or frightened)''
''(time passes; fade back to Daria on stage)''
'''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.
''(brief view of Brittany and Kevin at a table; Brittany is very attentive to story, Kevin has a black eye)''
'''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.
''(the audience is silent for a moment; then, Kevin jumps up and cheers, followed by the rest of the audience)''
In the episode [[The Old and the Beautiful]], Daria continues her writing and story building with Melody Powers when she finishes reading a story she wrote to read for [[Mrs. Blaine]] at the Better Days Retirement Home. The transcript of that story is as follows:
''(at the nursing home)''
'''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 H.Q. after her rendezvous with Team Algiers and the intriguing Edouard. '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.'"
''(Mrs. Blaine smiles, which Daria returns)''
==Melody Powers in fanfiction==
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▲==Melody Powers in Fanfiction==
Having Daria write Melody Powers stories has become a staple in fanfiction writing. In [[Richard Lobinske]]'s [[Last Summer]] and [[Falling Into College]] stories, Daria published a total of four Melody Powers stories with an action pulp magazine called ''[[Literature in Action]].'' Daria has a Melody Powers story published in "[[Prayers for a SAINT]]" that causes unexpected problems. A few fanfics have Daria become the famed author of Melody Powers novels ("[[Of Lifestyle Choices and Definitions of Success]]," by [[Wyvern337]]), which might result in Daria attracting the most unusual fans ("[[It's a Wonderful Life, Not]]," by [[Thomas Mikkelsen]]). The Melody Powers meme is so pervasive that Daria writes these stories in various [[alternate universes]] like the ([[John Lane series]] by [[Richard Lobinske]], even when Daria is no longer Daria but Darren ("[[Café Ineffective]]," by [[Bacner]]).
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