YMMV / Clerks: The Animated Series

• Aluminum Christmas Trees: From the pilot — The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer may sound like a show the writers made up to parallel the show, but it was all too real. It aired on UPN for four episodes — two more than Clerks did.
• Audience-Alienating Premise: An Animated Adaptation of a profane, low-key indie cult film with virtually no cursing and Denser and Wackier plots. And that was before the Executive Meddling. In Kevin Smith's own words, it's "a cartoon for people who watch cartoons," not an easy idea to sell anyway.
• Cargo Ship: Jay reports that Caitlin Bree "started making out with the Ferris wheel" in episode six.
• Crosses the Line Twice
  • Randal's response to The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer winning an award for not using the word "retarded."
  "That's retarded. And queer."
  • Flintstone's List. To say nothing of when they actually watch it.
  • Randal's attempts to let the all African-American jury during Dante's case in episode 4 know that Dante is "just like them." Example include loving grape soda, living off of food stamps and collecting welfare. Keep in mind, of course, that the jury for the case is comprised entirely of NBA All-Stars.
  • From that same episode, the transformer turning back into a robot, killing all (but one) of the passengers inside it.
• Cult Classic: Even the people who don't care for Kevin Smith's other works admit that this was a decent show.
• The Firefly Effect
• Harsher in Hindsight: Episode 2 ends with a "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue where Dante is said to have gotten married and moved away. As of Clerks III, Dante not only stayed at the Quick Stop (which he owns), but lost his pregnant wife Becky in a car accident not long after getting married, then himself dies of a heart attack at the end of the movie.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight:
  • The Stand by Me spoof at the end of episode 2 where elder Jay takes his granddaughter out for ice cream is a lot cuter now that Jason Mewes has actually had a daughter.
  • Also, the episode was made before Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, where Jay meets the little girl's potential grandmother.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • In Episode 1, one of the phases of the Quicker Stop's world domination is robot chickens. Especially since [adult swim] would later rerun all six episodes.
  • Episode 2 ends with Jay as an old man writing his memoirs and narrating the end of the episode as well as a "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue - a reference to Stand by Me. The epilogue revealed that Dante was married and had moved away, Randal owned the video store, Skeeter died in the Vietnam War, Silent Bob went on to become Senator Robert Blutarsky, and that Jay had grandchildren. It seemed so unlikely since none of these characters had any drive to do anything beyond their current status, and Jay was an immature stoner who objectified women and seemed unlikely to settle down and have a family. Come Clerks II, the only inaccurate part of his monologue is Skeeter's Vietnam death and Silent Bob's senatorship. Dante didn't move away though he's certainly moved out of his mom's house. And with Jay finding out he has a daughter named Milly, him being a family man isn't inconceivable anymore. As for Skeeter and Bob, well...
  • In Episode 4, Judge Reinhold played an actual judge. He would later play as himself starring as a judge again in Arrested Development.
  • In Episode 6, a staff of cartoon writers are seen reading "How To Write Cartoons" by Seth MacFarlane, which suggests putting Dante and Randal on Gilligan's Island and have them make gay jokes. As it turns out, Seth MacFarlane did have that idea for the Family Guy episode "The Perfect Castaway" when Peter and his guy friends get stranded on a desert island and have an orgy^note Read: lie lifelessly on top of each other and wait for something to happen. to curb their sexual urges.
  • One of the spoof PSAs has a girl suggesting she and her friend "make a movie" before trying to take his shirt off. Young versions of Zack and Miri, perhaps?
  • Randal's Innocent Bigot bit in episode four feels like a precursor to his infamous "Porch Monkey" scene in Clerks II.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "Who is driving? Oh my God, Bear is driving! How can that be?!"
  • "Nothing can kill the Grimace."
  • "You're a cigarette!"
  • "It looks like a big bong!"
  • "That looks like a big bong!"
  • "Now that's the ugliest damn bong I've ever seen!"
  • "... Why are we walking like this?"
  • "Oh my god, it's happening! Just like in that Al Pacino movie!"
• Older Than They Think: The series did the "Judge Reinhold" gag before Arrested Development.
• Parody Displacement: The parody episode of The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer featured in the show's pilot is better known than the actual show it's parodying. There are many who've been shocked after discovering the show actually existed and wasn't just a made-up gag.
• Retroactive Recognition: Bryan Cranston did additional voices for a couple episodes. According to the commentaries, while recording his parts, he was excitedly talking about this upcoming show he was going to do. (Said show actually premiered half a year before this one, but Cranston recorded his parts before it was a given success.)
• Vindicated by Reruns: The show never found an audience during its original airing thanks to ABC's poor treatment of it, and the network airing just two episodes seemingly picked at random (and the first one that aired doesn't make sense if you haven't seen the actual first episode, which precedes it). Reruns on Comedy Central and Adult Swim, as well as its eventual release on DVD and VHS, helped turn the show into a cult favorite.

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