Clerks

Clerks is one fantastic cartoon, which is why some fans of the film may have been turned off. I know I was at first. But by the third episode it was obivious that the creators wanted to make a CARTOON SERIES, not twenty minute segments of a sequel to the cult original. After this realisation my enjoyment increased ten-fold. The show looks great, with excellent animation and character design. The six stories are strong and contain great dialogue and set pieces. I love all of Kevin Smith's films, and this complements them perfectly, while still being it's own thing. The show could have (and should have) been huge, and if you need any more proof buy the dvd and see how the first six episodes of this cancelled series hold up to the first six episodes of the simpsons, south park or family guy.

The 'JAPANAMATION FEVER' set piece alone is worth the asking price!

I first heard about this on viewaskew.com and was interested as a Jay and Silent Bob fan. I managed to see some episodes and I must say. ABC are stupid, this cartoon manages to be surreal and crazy without destroying the serious bit to the original film, and like any Kevin Smith piece Jay and Silent Bob pop up to annoy Dante and Randall. Now, if you are thinking, "But this show probably doesn't have cursing, how can there be Jay and Silent Bob without cursing?" I don't know how they did it but it works. The stoner duo manage to stay funny without four letter words. This cartoon series, that was sadly cancelled, should have been up there with the likes of Family Guy, Futurama, etc. Hopefully, like Family Guy, it will be resurrected.

Probably not.

On my list of top 20 movies of all time, at least 4 of them are Kevin Smith's. I *LOVE* his work. That said, I found the Clerks animated series to be boring. The stories were slow and repetitive. The jokes were sophomoric and tedious compared to his usually intelligent humor. I just couldn't get into it. I know what you're thinking, "Jay and Silent Bob? Intelligent humor?!" Ok, so maybe intelligent isn't the word, but it's humor for intelligent people. Compare and contrast with, for example, Jim Carrey or Adam Sandler. Still often VERY funny, but it doesn't take a much wit to get the jokes. This disk was more like that kind of humor.

I am a die hard Kevin Smith Fan, and I was anxiously awaiting the release of these shows on DVD. When I finally got them, I was a little disappointed. I, like many others, loved the original Clerks movie. I was hoping that this would be similar, but it's not. In the movie, Randall is a sarcastic smart-ass with non-stop funny remarks. In the animated series, he's just a really annoying sidekick. There are a few good laughs in every episode, but the show on a whole is very redundant (which suck because they repeat all the bad jokes). It does have its bright moments with its celebrity impressions (Some of them even did their own voices). To sum it all up, the show is a disappointment and I am not surprised at all that ABC cancelled it.

I am looking forward to the Animated Clerks Movie "Clerks: Sell Out" that is due out in the near future.

Laugh-Out-Loud Episode: Episode 4, bear with the first half because the last 10 minutes are hilarious. Recommended for anyone with a sense of humor and a knowledge of popular foreign cartoons.

It's really too bad that Clerks was up against the two highest rated events of the summer season- Survivor on CBS and the NBA Finals on NBC. I'm sure that the unfortunate scheduling contributed heavily to the lack of ratings; in some markets, including mine, the second episode wasn't even shown, because of the heavyweight competition. (Luckily, my local station sent me a videocassette of ep. 2.)

Both episodes of Clerks were hilarious, but not uniformly so. There are parts of both episodes that dragged, and parts of both that actually kind of shocked me. (Randall explaining to the jury how alike they and Dante are; the Indian convenience store). My friends and I, while enjoying the show immensely, realized there was no way the average viewer would even understand much of the cartoon, let alone appreciate the in-jokes and find the whole affair funny- in fact, there are parts of each that many would find downright offensive. While we wish the show would have continued (and perhaps with more equal competition, the show could have matured into something really good), perhaps it's best that the shows just come out on video for the benefit of the converted.

My main problem with the show was the stylistic similarity to "The Critic"- most of the jokes were not only pop-culture based, but they were essentially non-sequiters, contributing nothing to the story. Their use in the original movie fit in with the feel of the film- that of bored coworkers who are just killing time. They felt awkward, though, nestled in the sitcom-like plot of the cartoon.

All in all- recommended for the Clerks fans out there; everyone else may want to see the movies before seeing the cartoon.