Clerks

"Finding the fun within failure..."

To anyone familiar with Clerks, it's probably of little surprise that a cartoon based on an R-rated movie failed to take off on network television. Canceled after only two episodes, the remaining four would be relegated to this DVD set and on again off again showings on Adult Swim.

Despite being much cleaner than its movie counterparts, which isn't the curse one think it be, the characters in Clerks still manage to channel the synergy you'd expect despite all the necessary trappings that come with an animated series. New, purposely stock characters like Leonardo Leonardo become the butt of numerous jokes - as does the entire show itself. This marks the defining element of Clerks as a cartoon; the people behind its creation almost seem to know it's destined to fail. Failure, and fun within it has always been a central theme in Clerks and the writers capitalize on this, each episode standing on it's own and written like it's the last. In fact, the last episode is entitled "The Last Episode Ever."

Fun as the experience and disrespecting Charles Barkley can be, I can't exactly give Clerks a ten out of ten. While there isn't any glaring error I can use to specify why I can't give it a ringing endorsement, there's an intangible factor that keeps it from being a slam dunk of the cult classic variety. Additionally, while I'm not particularly offended by anything presented here, I could see how some could take offense to the smorgasbord of jokes aimed at being of the other persuasion. I know that's typical Clerks humor and all but it's almost overdone at certain points.

CONCLUSION:

Regardless of the fate TV handed it, the animated version of Clerks did what it could with what it was given. You can't ask for more than that and is definitely a worthy distraction despite its undeciphered problems.

Overall Score: 7/10