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Clerks Uncensored DVD Set
Review
by : Russ
Ray
About
a year ago, ABC attempted a brilliant experiment that ended
in miserable failure. Kevin Smith was shopping around an animated
series based on his cult film Clerks to several networks.
As desperate a network as they were, UPN wouldn't buy it,
and they couldn't get HBO to bite either because it wasn't
adult enough. Finally, ABC picked up the rights to the show
through their association with Disney and their association
with Miramax. However, after numerous delays from ABC to put
the show on their schedule and the network's indifference
to letting the show grow an audience, the series was cancelled
after two episodes (Episode 4 aired first, followed by Episode
2). In Clerks Uncensored, Kevin Smith has assembled
all six completed Clerks: The Animated Series episodes
on two DVDs as a sort of "vault opening" to let
everyone see the lost episodes of this hilarious series.
If you
happened to miss the show on ABC, the Clerks episodes are
all feature the great stabs at pop culture with the taste
of a fanboy. Expect to see a lot of riffing on the sci-fi,
horror, action, and comic book genres. The look of the art
is very to that of Clerks: The Comic Book from Oni Press,
but much more refined and fluid. Although the comic book art
is great, it is a bit blocky and severe, and the animation
art improved on that for television.
Each episode
features audio commentary with Executive Producers Kevin Smith
(Silent Bob), Scott Mosier and Dave Mandel with Supervising
Director Chris Bailey and actors Brian O'Halloran (Dante),
Jeff Anderson (Randal), and Jason Mewes (Jay). Most of the
commentary is everyone's way of venting after the shoddy treatment
they got from ABC, but they also reveal some of the inside
jokes of the series, voices you may or may not have recognized,
and the inability of the Korean animators to get the look
of the series the way they wanted. The most disappointing
part of the commentary is how badly the pilot gets treated,
because they didn't talk about the episode itself a whole
lot, and spent the better part of 20 minutes talking about
how the show came to be. That would have been better served
with some sort of documentary so they could have concentrated
more on the episode itself. I also thought they were a bit
heavy-handed on their criticism of Sports Night (which
they replaced on the schedule, and which I thought was a good
attempt at the half-hour comedy/drama) and Family Guy
(which I thought was similar to Clerks in that it was
too smart for its own good. For the most part, though, the
commentary is really what makes this set great.
All episodes
have an introduction by Jay & Silent Bob, and they also
have a hilarious cameo with Jeff Anderson at the end of these
little skits. Each
episode also features an interesting twist with audio track
laid down over the animatics in widescreen. Those of you that
are interested in the production aspect of films and animation
will find that particularly interesting. It includes two short
featurettes about the Clerks animated style as well as the
development of the appearance of the main four characters.
You also get to see the commercial that ABC aired for the
show during the Super Bowl and a special extended film festival
trailer. The DVD-ROM portion of the set has a synchronized
viewer that allows you to read the script and see the storyboards
at the same time, as well as web links and character profiles.
The episodes
(which all feature episode titles that are impossibly long):
- Episode
1 ("The Pilot" or "Leonardo Leonardo Returns
And Dante Has an Important Decision To Make"):
Sam Walton wannabe Leonardo Leonardo (brilliantly voiced
by Alec Baldwin) returns to Leonardo, New Jersey to open
a one-stop megaplex convenience store to put our heroes
out of business. The ending features the first of three
Science Sez segments with Jay, Silent Bob, and Charles Barkley
that are throwbacks to the Public Service Announcement conclusions
at the end of 80's cartoons like The Superfriends
and all the Filmation action shows like He-Man.
- Episode
2 ("The Clipshow Wherein Dante And Randal Are Locked
In the Freezer And Remember Some Of The Greatest Moments
In Their Lives"): This episode is probably the
worst of the series. Although I get the joke that they're
making fun of clipshows, the overuse of the running jokes
aren't really that funny. We never got to see this episode
in Indy because the local affiliate was too busy fellating
Deer Creek, errrrrrrrr... Verizon Wireless Music Center
and they ran a 30-minute infomercial of all the crappy acts
that were playing there last summer.
- Episode
3 ("Leonardo Is Caught In The Grip Of An Outbreak Of
Randal's Imagination And Patrick Swayze Either Does Or Doesn't
Work In The New Pet Store"): After Randal leaves
a box of frozen burritos to rot on the sidewalk, he sells
one to Leonardo Leonardo (who gets sick). After finding
out Leonardo was bitten by a monkey at the new pet store
down the block, Randal believes Leonardo is the carrier
of the deadly Motaba virus.
- Episode
4 ("A Dissertation On The American Justice System By
People Who Have Never Been Inside A Courtroom, Let Alone
Know Anything About The Law, But Have Seen Way Too Many
Legal Thrillers"): Jay sues Dante, so Randal acts
as Dante's defense attorney in front of a jury composed
by the NBA All-Star Team. This is the best of the series
and the first episode that aired. I knew the series was
going to be a classic went they went to a riotous anime
knockoff at the end of the show.
- Episode
5 ("Dante And Randal And Jay And Silent Bob And A Bunch
Of New Characters And Lando Take Part In A Whole Bunch Of
Movie Parodies Including, But Not Exclusive To, The Bad
News Bears, The Last Starfighter, Indiana Jones And The
Temple Of Doom, Plus A High School Reunion"): As Dante
coaches a Little League team, Randal gets the high score
on a video game and is taken away by men in black. As the
title says, there are all kinds of great movie references.
- Epsiode
6 (The Last Episode Ever"): As all hell breaks
loose at a carnival across the street, Dante and Randal
are stuck inside the Quick Stop. Lisa Spoonauer reprises
her role (off-camera) as Caitlin Bree, who depresses Dante
by having sex with everyone in sight. The ending turns into
a concept piece with a brilliant homage to the Merrie Melodies
at the end.
If you're
any fan of Clerks or Kevin Smith, you should have already
bought this DVD set two months ago.
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