• Due to being away for the holidays, we’re a bit late on this, but better late than never — And hey, who doesn’t like to get a few presents AFTER Christmas? First off, you got probably the most infamous piece of animation that you’ve heard about, that Powerhouse animation footage done for the Clerks cartoon movie. Great stuff (not to mention the fact that it’s being more widely seen bodes well for the cartoon movie. THEN, you’ve got something totally out of left field, the HOSTIES animation realized! This little gem was meant to appear in Dogma and never got finished, now you can finally see the commercial as it was meant to be seen. Here’s Ming with the full report:

• Fans in Texas were lucky enough to be the first to see that animated test footage that was done for the upcoming Clerks cartoon movie — In it, Jay has a a light saber battle with Darth Vader…or is it? The clip was shown during Kev’s Q&A today and ran about 3 minutes. It’s done by Powerhouse Animation (they of that excellent “Heroes” Clerks spoof), who will be handling the animation duties for the Clerks cartoon film totally in Flash (a first for a motion picture). No new details from Kev’s Q&A today (at least, nothing we heard so far), though this seems to be a good indication that the animated movie is still on the slate, though no release date is planned at this point.

• This one takes the cake as one of the best web parodies for View Askew, let alone parodies in general, we’ve ever seen! What would happen if the Quick Stop and RST were run by the likes of Captain America and Daredevil? The hilarity ensures as this duo and a ton of your other favorite superheros appear in this flash animated tribute to Clerks the film and Clerks the cartoon. You’re gonna love this one! It’s well worth your download time. Check out the flick right now over at the Power House site!

• Oni Press is currently holding a charity auction at Ebay to benefit the American Red Cross. There’s a TON of great items out there, but this one might be of key interest to you – Phil Hester donated his original thumbnails to the Clerks The Lost Scene comic book. You can get your bids in or check the status of the auction by clicking HERE. The thumbnails are at $200 with 4 days to go at this point, so you still have plenty of time to get in there with a bid. Not only is this a fantastic View Askew item, but it’s a great cause to donate to. Don’t miss your chance to own these.

Surf over HERE for a link to all of the auction items that Oni’s got going on right now, it’s an impressive list. Donate to a GREAT cause and get a one-of-a-kind collector’s item to boot, get those bids in today, and good luck!

• IGN reviews the Clerks TCS DVD and again the disc scores an amazingly high rating (9 out of 10). The reviewer goes on about how wonderful the disc is, and includes a TON of shots from the episodes and menus (many from that hilarious Korean animation finale of the first ABC-aired show). Here’s a preview, just a couple very slight spoilers:

Read the full review HERE!

• A couple of advanced reviews came into us on the Clerks: Uncensored DVD, as two lucky readers from the UK got their discs a full week early, since companies tend to ship stuff overseas very early to make sure it arrives on time. Anyway, here’s some information that we heard about the disc from these reports:

• The commentary track is quite good, and includes quite a bit of Kevin discussing the cancellation of the show.
• The commentary re-affirms that the Clerks cartoon animated feature will happen.
• Kevin tells about some of the episodes that were never made due to the cancellation. Our scooper says, “My fave one was they were gonna have an episode where Randall bought Kitt from Knight Rider and Kitt becomes so jealous of his relationship with Dante that he kills him, then lays some of Dante’s clothes on the hood and nobody notices.”
• Each episode comes with a multi-angle option. Angle 1 is the actual cartoon, and angle 2 is every single storyboard used to create the episode along with the commentary. How cool is that?
• All the original character development and early pics of their appearances are included on the disc and rumored to be quite good as well.

Both our reviewers were amazed that the series didn’t do better when it aired and wish that it wasn’t pulled. Too bad more US audiences didn’t feel the same way! We’ll of course have a full review of this thing when we get copies. Sadly, we couldn’t get review copies sent out to the site so we had to order our copies just like the rest of ya. We’ll be watching it the same time as you! Our review will probably focus on the extra features more since we’ve seen the toons themselves on several occasions.

• Thanks to Joey Baloney at Joblo.Com, we’ve got here on pretty good authority what looks to be the final cover art for the Clerks Uncensored DVD which arrives later next month. You can see the package promises a 2-disc collection filled with lots of extras. Fantastic choice of cover art, too, and much better than the rumored Clerks logo cover from a while back. Remember, the disc arrives on February 20, 2001. We’ll try and get an advanced review copy for an early look as soon as they’re available.

• Brian Lynch dropped us a line yesterday to clarify something about the Film Threat bit we posted last update. When we first read it, we thought they were talking about Ben & Kevin as people, when they really were more referring to their “status in Hollywood”. Still ridiculous, as every film site on the internet seems to be anxious for VA5 and Affleck’s got about 10 projects lined up, let alone “Pearl Harbor”, probably the biggest film of next year. Just sounds like more of Film Threat’s silly name calling going on.
• View Askew 5 and Kevin himself continue to perform very well at the Hollywood Stock Exchange, that addictive game that these two webmasters wisely keep away from (else we may have to sacrifice sleep). Folks who play report both stocks are soaring, a very good sign that the Kevin and the new flick are more popular than ever online.
• Here’s a brief excerpt from a chat with Spawn creator Todd McFarlane. Seems he’s a fan:

• Yet another obscure (but scooper found) reference to Kev’s flicks appears in the latest Scientific Journal. In it, they cite micro budgeted features such as “Clerks” and “El Mariachi”, shot on film cheaply before the advent of digital video. They also cite the internet’s role in things, since View Askew has always had a very good web presence:

• What’s Mallrats babe Claire Forlani up to these days? Seems she’s got a new film lined up called “Anti Trust” which just wrapped filming. Read more details HERE. They’ve also got a clip up of her discussing the flick.
• Couple quick mentions around the web of Kevin today: A Clerks reference is worked into the daily rant over at the IGN website, Kevin’s a choice in Big G Media’s “Favorite Comic Show Booth Babe” poll (don’t ask us) which is located HERE, and the Buddy Christ was spotted at a humor-oriented website called The True Meaning of Life. Catch ya next time!

Well, it looks like we were right after all yesterday. According to a Variety article AND a post from Kevin himself, the last four episodes of Clerks: TCS will not see network air. It really is crazy that a network wouldn’t even SHOW the last four episodes of a new show, and would air a bunch of recycled reruns instead, but hey, that’s show business for ya:

Thanks to everyone who mailed us with the confirmation. Sorry we don’t have a scooper list up, but we’re each late for work as it is and just wanted to throw this quick update here for ya. Bummer of a way to start the weekend, huh?

• Straight from a souce inside the ABC network, this announcement pretty much speaks for itself:

Well, we’re sad to see the show go so soon, but it was pretty much expected given all the press about the show, Kevin’s feelings towards ABC and, ultimately, the ratings (see below). At least the American public got a dose of View Askew for a couple of weeks, and we’re sure the show did bring in some new fans. Those folks, as well as all of you good people who read this site on a regular basis, will certainly enjoy the forthcoming home video editions of the show. No details have been announced for this yet, but we DO know that Kevin, Scott, Chris, Dave, & all the others who worked so hard on the show won’t let those last episodes go unseen. Sit tight.