Cool News
Tons of "Clerks" animated series news ((plus "Mallrats 2: Die Hard In A Mall" comic book news, too)) !!!
Glen here...
...with some news (straight from the horse's mouth - no offense to the source) about various
Kevin Smith projects currently in the works. Most specifically: the much-pondered Clerks
television series (you'd be stunned at how much mail I have received wanting to know information
about whether or not the series is going to happen).
This information comes from long-time AICN reader BLOK NARPIN, and here's what Blok
had to say:
Blok wrote:
I just saw Kevin Smith at
the University of Central Florida. He talked about a lot of stuff, but of interest to you:
Clerks: The Series. The show's animation is being done
by Disney (a fact Smith seemed amused by after this
past week's events).
The characters will look the same
in style as they do in the Clerks Comic Book. The
pilot episode has already been written and is entitled
"Outbreak". In the story, a pet shop opens up next to
the Quick Stop and RST Video.
One of the animals being
sold is a monkey. Randall, having seen the movie
Outbreak, becomes convinced that the monkey is caring
a disease and has the block of stores sealed off by
the government to prevent the disease from getting
out.
In a subplot Jay and Silent Bob are trying to
break the monkey out of the pet shop so they can teach
it to smoke. Sounds VERY funny.
He also mentioned some
of the new characters and strange situations we could
expect. Obviously Brian O'Halloran will voice Dante
Hicks, Jeff Anderson will voice Randall Graves, and
Jason Mews will voice Jay.
Also, Alan Rickman will
provide the voice of Leonardo Leonardo. Leonardo is
the Lex Luthor type of millionaire who founded the town
of Leonardo New Jersy. He lives in the only Skyscraper
in the whole town and sees Dante and Randall as his
arch enemies.
Another weird note: In the View Askew
universe Canada has only been a civilized country for
15 years. Leonardo is also a well respected missionary
because a few years back he was the one who introduced
fire and clothes to the primitave Canadians. I know
how weird that sounds but I swear Smith said it
himself.
Ben Afleck will provide the voice of the
local Canadian who lives in Leonardo. Alanis Morsette
and Chris Rock have also agreed to do voices in future
episodes. Clerks should premiere on ABC in 2000 after
the Superbowl.
Smith was asked about the Clerks 2 movie he has
mentioned from time to time. Smith said he's
concidered it, but probably won't do it now that the
animated series is going forth.
There will be Clerks
action figures from Graffiti (the company that did the
supercool Jay and Bob figures). The figures will be
Dante, Randall, Jay From Clerks, and Silent Bob from
Clerks. All four figures will be painted in Black and
White.
Unlike the current Jay and Silent Bob figures,
however, there will be no voice chips this time
around.
Smith is working on a comic book mini series based on
Mallrats. The interesting thing is the story was
originally intended to be a theatrical sequel called
Mallrats 2: Die Hard in a Mall. Smith and company
thought Mallrats would be a huge hit when they made it,
and honestlybelieved there would be a sequel.
((Glen Note: the film was not a huge success, and the
notion of a theatrical sequel was ultimately abandoned)).
The
story involved Ben Afleck's character, Shannon
Hamilton, getting out of prison and taking the Mall
hostage while Rene (Shannon Dogherty) and Brandi
(Claire Forlani) were shopping. Brodie and TS would
then have to take the John Mclane role and break into
the mall with the help of Jay and Silent Bob. Funny
sidenote: In the beginning of the film it was to have
been revealed that Jay and Bob won the lottery and no
one has seen them since.
When Brodie and TS need to
contact then Brodie tells TS that Jay gave him a
signal should they ever be needed. Brodie was then to
pull a cord and the Blunt signal was to shine in the
sky like the Batsignal.
The action would then cut to a
mansion called Blunt Mannor, where Jay and Silent Bob
were living as millionaires. In a Batman Returns style
scene, the Blunt signal would shine through the window
of Blunt Mannor and Jay and Bob would drop into tubes
in the ground and pop up outside Brodie's house (which
is located RIGHT NEXT DOOR to Blunt Mannor). It's a
shame Mallrats wasn't a huge hot cause I'd have LOVED
to see this movie.
Well at least we have the comic book!
Glen again...
THANK YOU to Blok Narpin for the concise but detailed report. Very much
appreciated...
Glen
Or call:
(512) 347-1992
Mail can be sent to:
Glen Oliver
P.O. BOX 160812
Austin, TX 78716-0812
USA
P.O. BOX 160812
Austin, TX 78716-0812
USA
Austin, TX 78716-0812
USA
USA
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+ Expand All
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Apr 12, 1999 7:22:40 PM CDT
UMMM... Disney doing a CLERKS cartoon? Did Jay sell them some Sn
by forty-two
Now... as much as i would love to see a Clerks cartoon, I hardly think that Disney will be handeling the animation.
I mean... It's Dante and Randal!!!
HOW FUCKING FAR CAN THEY GO WITH THE DIALOGUE? Must we rememebr that the rating board wanted to slap CLERKS with an NC-17?
Okay screw the dialogue... but Jay and Silent Bob are drug dealers!!!
If you think that's a problem... Think about OLAF!!!
Also ABC will be running this? Network television??? This project is dead!
Now even though we have only been civilized for 15 years, CANADA could air this show with no problem...eh?!?
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I was THERE, man! You're wrong about quite a bit. Outbreak is EPISODE 3. The pilot is still being written. You mention nothing of the 3rd Leonardo store's continual evolution, and Affleck, Alanis, and Rock HAVE NOT yet been signed on to do episodes, it's just speculation on Kevin's part. And why do you keep refering to Mallrats 2 as a movie? Grrr. I at least took notes. But who cares, this is AICN. Legitimate media go elsewhere. ;') *footnote: Kevin Smith showed up at UCF at about Midnight, and stayed until 4. Damn, he's awesome! You never, EVER see Lucas doing this kind of thing.
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The only way this can be done justice is on HBO and in Black and White!!! I just don't see how this can be done the right way on ABC by Buena Vista. I mean you deal with topics like drugs, necrophilia, oral sex, porno, constipated old gentlemen, masturbation, and New Jersey!!! I'm sure under Smith's guidance it can be funny. However, I just don't think innuendo and double entendres are gonna fly with Clerks. Look at South Park, with all the censoring the novelty just wore off. By the way is this gonna be black and white?
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I wonder what name he posts under if he does at all, that would be great if he does because than he qwould straighten this shit out, most of which is true just in and out of context. Kevin Loves to come here and read about all this, but he will probably reply to it on his own board if he feels the need to. But I will whole heratedly agree with the last poster, Kevin KNOWS his fans and he respects them more than any other man in the business, when it comes to directors, Kevin is the most Grounded and Level headed, well maybe not level headed all the time, he listens to his fans and trys his best to bring them exactly what they love and that is anything from him!!
And if he decides to put all of his Clerks 2 ideas into the series so be it, all I can Say is bring on "THE ULTIMATE JERSEY FLICK!!!!
notso SILENTSCOTT -
Apr 12, 1999 8:30:33 PM CDT
This is SO cool, and depsite popular opinion...Mallrats was HILL
by ottney
I love the Kevin Smith universe. It's intellectual, yet stupid! This is GREAT! I also can't wait for the animaated series! That will be friggin hilarious. And as for the Mallrats comic...that'd been a funny movie! I don't care what people say, MALLRATS was one of the funniest movies I've ever seen! I would love a sequel.
DOGMA is driving me crazy, I can't wait to see that one! And Clerks 2 will be cool, if it ever happens!
Bottom line, Kevin Smith is great! Anything he does is worth double the price of admission (or cover price as it were)! -
Regarding your critisism of my post, I left out details like the third store changeing because I diddn't want my report to Glen to be too long. As a result I only mentioned the important stuff. As for Affleck, Morsette, and Rock, they might not be signed yet but Kevin Said they wanted to be on the show. I never said they signed a contract. I only said they had agreed to do voices. Check the report above again if you need to. And as for Mallrats 2, I said it was GOING to be a movie, but NOW its going to be a comic book. This is EXACTLY what Kevin SMith said himself. As for Outbreak being the third episode, Is that REALLY so important? The point is it's the first show they have written and it gets the tone of the series across, doesn't it? I really don't think that makes me a "dumb bastard" as you so eloquently put it. If I got a small detail like that wrong it's probobly because I didn't leave untill almost 4 AM. Anyway, to EVERYONE ELSE other then Yellowdog I'll explain: Yellowdog is upset because I failed to mention a small detail. You see the Block of stores from Clerks (Quick Stop, RST Video) contains THREE stores. In real life the third store changes an aweful lot as buisnesses seem to come and go. Because of this SMith has decided to make it an ongoing joke on the series. In Outbreak the third store will be a pet store. In every episode the third store will change, however. I didnt think that was THAT important, but apperently Yellowdog did!
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If anyone has any information on the Mallrats DVD (when it comes out, what it will have blah blah)please post some of that precious info Mallrats fans would like to hear it Thanks. Mallrats is brilliant.
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Apr 12, 1999 10:15:11 PM CDT
Ummmm, still looking for a copy of "Happy, Scrappy Hero Pup".
by uncapie
I know the theme song.
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the Mallrats DVD will be out in July. For an exact date check WWW.DVDExpress.com. It's a special edition disc and will have lots of extras. As for those who think Clerks will suck on TV I couldn't disagree more. Clerks doesn'T NEED profanity. The humor came from the wacky situations they were in, the stupid customers, and Dante and Randell themselves. Clerks wasn't funny just cause they said naughty words a lot. There was a lot more to it then that. I worked in retail and this series has a LOT of room with where they can go. The show is being written by Smith and one of the writers from Seinfeld so this should be damn good. Besides, they don't use profanity on The Simpsons, and thats still funny, right? The profanity just isn't needed to make it funny. By the way, LaneMyers, ABC has had a lot of damn good shows over the years. Barney Miller, Taxi, The Critic, Spin City, and Davis Rules just to name a few. As for JAG, that show has a huge following with a young audience. I don't watch it myself but it is a big hit with the younger crowd.
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First, I have to say that Mallrats was pretty cool. I was working in the mall they used during filming. I think because of that, I know where it went wrong......it was the Shannon Doherty factor. What a b****. Odd thing, the mall was in suburban Minneapolis, not in out east.
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I think the show being on ABC could work in it's favor. Look at South Park-Spirit of Christmas was, for the most part, a one-liner. Little kids swearing and insulting each other. It was funny as hell, granted, but there wasn't much else there. When the show first started they had to watch what they said (can't say PigFucker on Comedy Central) and it forced them to write some pretty damn funny bits. Then, the show became such a hit that they could get away with just beeping out the swear words. By the second season, they were right back at writing one-liner episodes revolving around the kids foul mouths and the show just hasn't been worth watching since. Now, by putting Clerks on ABC (a subsidary of Disney, Inc.) there is always going to be a censorship bar the writers will have to get over. If they hire anyone who can write a gag other than "you sucked how many dicks?", the show will be pushed beyond the easy-out Blunt and Cunt jokes to be a really witty and biting show. Smith, for whatever you think of him as a director/writer, has a sublime mastery of Pop Culture. Setting up a situation where he (or those writing in his voice, most likely) is _forced_ to write a gag without using the "deadly 7" has the potential to be some of Smith's best writing. The moral of our story, You don't have to say Pig Fucker in front of Jesus to be funny.
BTW, I checked AWN and it doesn't list the studio actually animating "Clerks", but I doubt it's Disney TV. Touchstone is the producer, so I assume they will find their own studio to do the work. -
"You dumb bastard" being a Mallrats quote, I thought it was appropriate. As for my criticism, I wrote that at 2 AM, alright, I was not awake. My apologies for any pain this may have caused you or your family. Have a nice day.
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that its nice to see a Talk Back about Kev that doesn't bash him as a director/writer. Oh, its only a week before we find out if Dogma gets to go to France! Also, a great way to keep up on all the Kevin Smith/Viewaskew related stuff is to visit www.newsaskew.com daily. You might also want to drop by the Viewaskew WWWBoard every now and then to see if there is other behind the scenes news (just remember to keep on topic). Enough plugging for now, I guess. END OF LINE
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I was just wondering if anybody could find out if Matt Wagner will be designing the Clerks figures. He did a great job on the Silent Bob and Jay figures and I know Smith is one of many devoted fanboys.
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A few years ago I was managing a comedy club in southern california. One week Jim Bruer of SNL fame was performing. We were bullshitting between sets and he told me how he had tried out for a pilot for a new comedy on ABC. Turns out it was "Clerks"! I asked him if it was based on the "Clerks" I know and love and he said "yeah". So, "Clerks" has almost been on ABC before, but as a live action sit-com. And, Disney (or Touchstone) was going to produce it then. As you all know nothing ever came of it, and I'm not sure how much Kevin was involved. Bruer had no idea I was a "Clerks" fan when he brought it up, so I doubt he was blowing smoke up my ass. Anyway, that's what I know. What it's worth, only you know.
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I saw mallrats and that Movie was Fucking hilarous.Clerks was aweswome. If mallrats 2 was made it would kick ass.
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I have seen all the films and read all the comics and believe it or not, there is a continuity to the Smiths universe in everything so far. With Bob and Jay's story going on from Chasing Amy to the comics to Dogma, will the new series stay in the same reality? Does it take place as a prequel? or do they come back to Jersey and hang out by the food mart? And what about the story of them winning the lottery? is that gonna be part of the Bluntman universe? Sorry about being so anal about it but I really like the fact that all the stories so far connect in one reality. Whatever happens, I will read the comics and watch the shows and movies. Keep it up Kevin.
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All right it seems like we have a pretty good talkback going here let me make a few points about whats been going on. First off Mallrats 2 aint gonna happen and I really dont know how they could have done it. I mean only Jay and Silent Bob dont have endings in the film and they continue on in Chasing Amy. I guess Kevin could "lie" to everyone a la Evil Dead series but I wouldnt reccommend that. Also as for the Clerks animated series all I have to say to Kevin is have your guns ready. The disney execs are gonna be all over his friggin ass. While I do think he can do it I believe he really should have tried going with HBO they would have let him do whatever the hell he wanted. It is true that Clerks had some funny stuff that wasnt sick it also had a lot of funny stuff that was very sick. And as for the black and white cartoon dont bet on it. Got any criticism post it here or hell email it to me and make it personal adios.
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