Girls of Geek TV Rewind - Clerks: The Animated Series

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

It seems there was a time back in the 80's and 90's that if you had a hit movie, the animated television show was to follow.  Quite frankly, it was awesome. The Real Ghostbusters, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures, Back to the Future oh the list goes on and on. 

It was a glorious time to say the least, but at the dawn of a new millennium, an experiment took place on ABC when it came to animated shows adapted from motion pictures...Clerks: The Animated Series. 

Yes, Kevin Smith's brilliant motion picture was adapted into a weekly animated serial and well...at the time things did not go well.  Only two episodes made it to air time on ABC, and they were shown out of order and the ratings were all that the network needed to see.  So after that simple two episode run, Clerks: The Animated Series was quietly cancelled and it seemed, that was that.  

But DVD is a wonderful thing and the show quickly found a full release of the original six episodes released to home video and it quickly garnered a cult following.  I have to admit that I was at first skeptical of this show.  I loved the film, but was leery of an animated series that came from a movie filled with awesome adult humor.  After all, we all know network TV would never allow the kinds of jokes found in Clerks to air on national television but it actually turned out great.

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Because not only did Kevin Smith reunite Jason Mewes, Jeff Anderson and Brian O'Halloran to reprise their roles as Jay, Randal and Dante respectively, he made one funny show.  Sure the jokes aren't as raunchy or over the top as they were in the movie, but they work.  You'll find yourself wiping tears from your eyes at  just how hilarious this show manages to get. Oh and I need to make sure I mention this too, Alec Baldwin showed up on this gem as well as Leonardo Leonardo.  

Either way, big time actors aside, Clerks: The Animated Series did the movie and the franchise incredible justice and it even briefly aired on Comedy Central years later. It just goes to show, sometimes an idea is ahead of its time and while it may fail at first, with the right home and the right care, all can enjoy the wonder.  Plus, I'm still holding out hope that this somehow comes back to television someday.  

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