List of View Askewniverse motifs

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Several common threads run through the View Askewniverse, a series of characters, movies, comics, and ideas that were created by film writer and director Kevin Smith

[edit] Numbers

[edit] The number 37

In Clerks., this is the number of men Dante's girlfriend Veronica has fellated, including Dante.
Each of the three Clerks comics contain 37 pages from front to back cover.
In Mallrats, a scene from the extended version begins the film at the 37th Annual Governor's Ball. Walt Flannigan's character also appears in a Hockey Uniform with the number 37 on it. The "Superman's baby" dialogue is also apparently 37 seconds long, beginning as the scene cuts to Brodie and TS and ending after Brodie mentions Kryptonite condoms.
In Chasing Amy, the first successful comic created by Banky & Holden is titled 37.
In Clerks: The Animated Series, Randal rings up a 37-cent purchase in the pilot episode.
In the Bluntman and Chronic comic book, Earth is described as being in sector 37 of the universe in the first issue.
In Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, the title characters interrupt the filming of Scene 37 of the Bluntman and Chronic movie. Also, the jewelry thieves celebrate their 37th heist with a banner proclaiming this while Justice's (Shannon Elizabeth) prison number is "3737".
In Clerks II, Engine 37 pulls up to extinguish the “fire” Dante called in. The running time for the film is also 1 hour and 37 minutes.
Not in a movie, but on the Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash website is a four set of Clerks: Inaction Figurines marked on the price tag $37. Also, the individual inaction figures cost $9.37.

[edit] The number 12

In Clerks., Dante has had sex with 12 girls (including Veronica). The hockey game on the roof runs for 12 minutes. Also, Dante's boss originally promised that he would arrive at the Quick Stop by noon (12:00).
In Mallrats, Brodie plays a hockey video game in which he is defeating the opposing team 12-2.
In Chasing Amy, Alyssa yells out "Punch him in his neck, Number 12!" to a player at a hockey game. The animated Bluntman and Chronic series is also to be spun off into an animated TV show, with 12 episodes ordered.
In Dogma, Rufus claims that Jesus Christ owes him $12. Jesus's young age of 12 is also referenced.
In Clerks II, Becky refers to Jay and Silent Bob as "12 Step", though this is also a reference to the pair's probation. All cars that are shown also have a registration sticker date for December (the 12th month). Also, during the ass-to-mouth scene, after Randall mentions it, the phrase 'ass-to-mouth' is said twelve times before the end of the scene.

[edit] Brands

[edit] Buddy Christ

Main article: Buddy Christ

In Dogma, Buddy Christ is seen as a project to open his "Catholicism WOW" campaign.
In Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, a Buddy Christ is seen on the dashboard of the car driven by the nun.
In Clerks II, Jay wears a "Got Christ?" tank top with Buddy Christ's image.
In both Clerks II and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, on the front of the Mooby restuarant, you can clearly see the Mooby pointing the same way as the Buddy Christ.

[edit] Nails

A fictional brand of cigarettes that appears on cartons and posters.

In Chasing Amy, all the cigarette packs the characters use are Nails packs.
In Dogma, a poster can be seen after Silent Bob throws Loki off the train. Silent Bob also uses a Nails brand Zippo lighter.
In Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, a poster can be seen on the wall in between the Quick Stop and RST Video stores.
In Clerks II, posters for the brand as well as packages can be seen at the Quick Stop as they were in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

[edit] Mooby the Golden Calf

Main article: Mooby the Golden Calf

Mooby is a fictional children's television character and is a parody of Barney the dinosaur and elements of the Disney empire.

In Chasing Dogma, Silent Bob buys a hat with a Mooby logo on it, which he wears for most of his future appearances.
In Dogma, the angels Bartelby and Loki go on a killing spree of Mooby executives. It originally acts as an allusion to the golden calf which Moses destroys in The Holy Bible. It is also initially revealed that Mooby is also a fast food chain.
In Clerks: The Animated Series, "The Last Episode Ever" features a fan at a comics convention wearing a Mooby shirt.
In Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Jay uses an Internet kiosk at a Mooby's restaurant to read message board postings. In one scene, a costumed Mooby character is accidentally shot while taping a TV special. It is notable that the Mooby statue in the front of the restaurant is in the same pose as Buddy Christ from Dogma.
In Clerks II, Dante and Randal work at a Mooby's fast food restaurant.

[edit] Media (Film, Television, Comic Books, etc.)

[edit] Hockey

In Clerks., Dante and Randal close the store to play hockey on the roof of the Quick Stop. Also, major characters are seen wearing ballcaps and/or jerseys depicting NHL team logos during the roof hockey scene:
- Randal wears a New Jersey Devils ballcap.
- Jay wears a San Jose Sharks ballcap while shoplifting.
- Dante wears a Pittsburgh Penguins jersey while playing hockey.
- One hockey player wears a Tampa Bay Lightning jersey.
- Other players wear Devils jerseys.
In Mallrats, Brodie's girlfriend breaks up with him while he is playing a hockey video game. It is also worth noting that he plays as the Hartford Whalers, is winning, and claims that they "only beat Vancouver once, maybe twice in a lifetime." Walt Flanagan's character also appears in a hockey uniform with the number 37 on it.
In Chasing Amy, Holden and Alyssa break up soon after attending a local hockey game. Referencing Mallrats, Banky Edwards refers to the Whalers as "a bunch of fuckin' faggots." (Note: the same year Chasing Amy was released, the Whalers moved to North Carolina and became the Carolina Hurricanes.) Alyssa is also seen wearing a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey in one scene.
In Dogma, The Stygian Triplets are all wearing street hockey gear, using hockey sticks to attack and occasionally slaughter mortals. There is also a scene at the free clinic in which Walt Flanagan appears in his signature "37" hockey jersey.
In The Flying Car Randal is wearing a hockey jersey.
In the Soul Asylum video "Can't Even Tell", hockey is played on the roof ala Clerks.
In Clerks II, a Koho brand hockey stick is visible outside Randal's house. Also, Randal is seen wearing a Leonardo Reapers hat throughout the film, and refers to Elias' kiss goodbye to his mother as "tonsil hockey."
In both Clerks and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Randal wears a CCCP hockey jersey.
In the last episode of Clerks: The Animated Series, Randal goes on a rant about why hockey is better than soccer. All of the things he finds stupid in soccer are in hockey too. (For example, the object of soccer is to get a ball into a goal.) Also, in the second episode, Dante and Randal are seen standing in a hockey rink after a game.

[edit] Star Wars

Star Wars is often mentioned during discussions.

In Clerks., Dante and Randal have a conversation about independent contractors roles in building the Second Death Star.
- On the Clerks X DVD, Kevin Smith jokes how the visual clean-up did not make Greedo shoot first, digitalize Jabba or add in Hayden Christensen's ghostly image over Sebastian Shaw.
In Clerks: The Comic Book, the story revolves around Star Wars Action figures.
The title of the second comic, Clerks: The Holiday Special, is a reference to the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special.
In Mallrats, Silent Bob claims to be able to control the force. His only line is a Star Wars quote.
In Chasing Amy, Hooper X refers to the Star Wars Trilogy as the "Holy Trilogy," and it begins a debate over racism in the movies. Silent Bob quotes Yoda to Holden after he spouts his speech in the bar scene.
In Dogma, Jay makes a reference to the "fucked up bar" in the cantina sequence of Episode IV. A deleted scene depictes a stoned Loki and Silent Bob discussing religious overtones of Star Wars. Also, the sidewipes between scenes are a reference to those in Star Wars.
In Clerks: The Animated Series, Randal chastises George Lucas in a courtroom over the flaws of The Phantom Menace. An African-American character named "Lando" makes an appearance in some episodes. The second episode features Randal comparing the temperature inside of the Quick Stop's freezer to the ice planet Hoth. Jay also quickly mentions his wish to slice Silent Bob open with a lightsaber and live inside him, as Luke Skywalker does on Hoth. The fifth episode ends with a scene with Silent Bob, mirroring the end of Return of the Jedi, looking on as Anakin Skywalker, Yoda, and Obi-Wan Kenobi's spirits in the baseball field ignore Charles Barkley's spirit.
In Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, the weapons of Bluntman and Chronic are similar to that of Jedi's. The title of the film is in fact a pun of The Empire Strikes Back, a movie in the Star Wars Saga . Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher also appear in the movie, making it the first film with the two of them since Return of the Jedi. Silent Bob uses the force at one point (as a call back to Mallrats). There is also a reference by Holden McNeil about a Bluntman and Chronic movie being "the worst idea since Greedo shooting first."
In Clerks II, Randal Graves has a humorous and heated argument with his coworker Elias and a customer about the relative merits of the Star Wars trilogy and the The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Lance Dowds also makes fun of Dante and Randal by telling them he'll leave so they can go back to arguing whether Han or Greedo shot first.

[edit] DC Comics

In Mallrats, T.S and Brodie have a discussion over Superman and Lois Lane's ability to have sex. Also, as one of Jay and Silent Bob's many attempts to destroy the stage, Silent Bob sports a Batman-like helmet and cape as he swings on a rope over to the pin the holds the stage up.
Bluntman and Chronic, the comic book created by Holden McNeil and Banky Edwards in Chasing Amy have a few similarites to Batman and Robin.
- In the third and final issue, Chronic is killed by Cockknocker. This is similar to the death of the second Robin Jason Todd in Batman: A Death in the Family, especially the cover shown in Amy which echos the images of Batman carring Jason's corpse. There is also a reference to a continuity error in the second Batman film Batman Returns.
- The Bluntcave, partically seen in the comic books and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, is designed after the Batcave from the comics; The glass case with Silent Bob's Mallrats costume inside is a reference to how the Batman and Robin costume were placed in as potrayed in the Batman films.
Two people who were involved with Batman: The Animated Series were also involved in the Askewniverse; Paul Dini, who wrote for both Batman and Clerks: The Animated Series and Mark Hamill, who did the voice of The Joker and played Cockknocker in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

[edit] Jaws

In Clerks., Randal imitates Jaws with a salsa chip.
In Mallrats, the main characters are named after lead characters in Jaws. T.S. also plans to propose to Brandi on the Universal Studios tour where Jaws pops out of the water. Brodie's surname is also referring to the on-set nickname of the Jaws mechanical shark.
In Chasing Amy, there is a discussion of injuries sustained during oral sex as a homage to a similar scene in Jaws. Hooper X is also named after a lead character in Jaws.
In Clerks: The Animated Series, Randal tells Dante that after he saw Jaws he was an afraid to sit on the toilet. Dante added that sharks only swim in salt water and Randal claims that he had salt water in his toilet.
In a deleted scene in Dogma, Jay immitates Jaws with Cardinal Glick's hat.

[edit] The Degrassi series

It is important to note that Kevin Smith is actually a longtime fan of the Canadian TV series Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High.

Although not a part of the View Askewniverse, Kevin Smith appears in five episodes of Degrassi: The Next Generation pretending to be filming a Canadian Jay and Silent Bob Movie.
In Clerks., Caitlin Bree is named for Degrassi's Caitlin Ryan.^{[citation needed]}
In Mallrats, Rene wears a jacket with the Degrassi logo.
In Chasing Amy, Banky and Holden have a conversation about the show.
In Clerks II, Emma is named for Degrassi's Emma Nelson.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] People

[edit] Jay and Silent Bob

Main article: Jay and Silent Bob

This pair simply appears in some form or other in every part of the View Askewniverse. They have also made appearances in the following non-Kevin Smith mediums.

In Scream 3, the pair make a cameo walking around in Hollywood.
In Degrassi: The Next Generation Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes are preparing to film a fictional Canadian Jay & Silent Bob Movie, Jay and Silent Bob go Canadian, eh?. The episodes feature scenes from the fictional films starring the pair.

[edit] Julie Marle Dwyer

She is not actually shown in any of the films, but her death while swimming in a YMCA pool is referenced often. It is this reference which establishes that the events of Clerks. happened the day after the events of Mallrats.

In Clerks., Dante and Randal visit her funeral. The actual scene isn't in the movie. In the film, Julie Dwyer's name is said as "Julie Doyer", but in every other View Askew movie, it is Dwyer.
In Mallrats, Brandi fills in on a game show for Julie. It is revealed that preparation for the gameshow is the reason for Julie Dwyer's death in the pool.
In Chasing Amy, Alyssa (who attended the wake) tells Holden about her friend who died at the YMCA.
In Walt Flanagan's Dog (which leads into Mallrats), an ambulance is shown in front of the local YMCA.
In Clerks: The Lost Scene, the scene from Clerks. where Dante and Randal visit her funeral is actually shown.
In Clerks II, her wake is mentioned as a reference point for the first film. Also, Randal mentions that he knows Dante has gone down on a woman before when he's talking about ass-to-mouth. This is obviously a reference to Clerks: The Lost Scene when it's shown Dante has gone down on Julie Dwyer.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] The Hicks cousins

In every Askewniverse film, Brian O'Halloran has played either Dante Hicks or another character with the last name "Hicks". Kevin Smith claims that they are all cousins. O'Halloran's appearance in the short film The Flying Car makes him the only actor to appear in every View Askewniverse filmed production.

In Clerks., Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Clerks: The Animated Series, The Flying Car, Clerks: The Lost Scene and Clerks II Dante Hicks appears.
In Mallrats, Gill Hicks is suitor #3 in the third act's game show.
In Chasing Amy, Jim Hicks, an animation company executive wants to make a Bluntman and Chronic series.
In Dogma, Grant Hicks is the local news reporter.

[edit] Cousin Walter

An obscure and embarrassing story involving someone's cousin Walter has cropped up a couple of times.

In Clerks., Randal tells Dante how his cousin Walter broke his neck and died attempting to perform autofellatio.
In Mallrats, the movie opens with Brodie narrating a story about his Cousin Walter trying to get a gerbil out of his ass by using a cat. Brodie also tells another story on the gameshow about how his Cousin Walter jacked off with a plane full of people when they thought it was going to crash.
It has been subsequently revealed that Randal and Brodie are first cousins, and were referring to the same cousin. Kevin Smith discussed this on the View Askew website, though a throwaway line in the comic books is the most this has been established in official canon.

[edit] The Jones sisters

A series of characters with the last name of Jones have been revealed to be sisters by Kevin Smith.

In Clerks., Heather Jones dates Rick Derris. She is the younger sister of Alyssa Jones.
In Mallrats, Patricia (Tricia) Jones is introduced as the underaged author of a research study on sex; she subsequently has sex with Shannon Hamilton, leading to his downfall.
In Chasing Amy, Alyssa Jones is the female lead and love interest. It is revealed that had dated Caitlin Bree and performed a sexual act with Rick Derris and Cohee London that gave her the nickname "Fingercuffs".
In Chasing Dogma (a comic book sequel to Chasing Amy and prequel to Dogma) Patricia Jones allows Jay and Silent Bob to stay at her place for a while. In one panel, a picture of the three sisters is visible.
In Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Patricia and Alyssa attend the premiere of Bluntman and Chronic and it is indicated in dialogue that they are sisters.

[edit] Rick Derris

In Clerks., he appears as a customer who also used to sleep with Caitlin Bree while she was dating Dante. He later takes Heather Jones out as well.
In Mallrats, he is mentioned as having once had sex with Gwen Turner on a pool table during a high school party.
In Chasing Amy, Holden finds out that Alyssa was once in a ménage à trois with Rick Derris and a man named Cohee Lundin.
In both Dogma and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back the name of the bus company that appears is called Derris.
In Superman Lives, an unused draft of Kevin Smith's script featured a character named "Derris". It also mentions a "Governor Caitlin Bree" and her son "Brodie".

[edit] Run DMC

In Chasing Amy, the DMC song "It's Like That" is heard before Holden and Edwards are called for their interview with MTV execs.
In Dogma, in the strip club (after the board room killing and before the Golgothan appears) the same song can be heard while Bethany and Rufus are talking to Serendipity. Loki also sings the lyrics to their song "Run's house" after killing a cheating husband on the bus.
In Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, the first few lines of the song " Tougher than Leather" by Run DMC is heard when the three jewel thieves are first seen coming out of their van in the Mooby's Parking Lot.

[edit] N.W.A.

In Chasing Amy, in the scene with Jay and Silent Bob in the diner, Jay quotes Ice Cube, a former member of the rap group N.W.A.
In Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back, in the diner scene, Jay starts rapping lyrics from "Fuck the Police", a song by N.W.A. and Chaka Luther King who claims to have invented Seasame Street before PBS and called it "Niggas With Puppets".

[edit] Vulgar the Clown

The offical mascot for View Askew for several years, Vulgar has appeared in a few of the Askewniverse films. It should be noted the Vulgar was personified by Askewniverse regular Brian O'Halloran in the View Askew produced film Vulgar, which was directed by fellow Askewniverse regular Bryan Johnson.

A cartoon (animated by Walt Flanagan) was used to introduced Clerks.
In Mallrats, Dogma and Clerks: The Animated Series, Walt the Fan Boy wears a jersey with Vulgar on the front.

[edit] Girls with Glasses

In Mallrats, Claire Forlani wears glasses at the beginning of the movie.
In Dogma, Salma Hayek wears glasses on stage at the strip club.
In Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Shannon Elizabeth wears glasses throughout the movie.
In Clerks 2, Rosario Dawson wears glasses throughout the movie.

In Jersey Girl, (which isn't even a part of the View Askewniverse) Liv Tyler wears glasses throughout most of the movie.

[edit] Burt Reynolds

In the original script for Clerks., which was printed along with the Chasing Amy, Randal and Dante recommend Smokey and the Bandit III as "The best Burtless movie ever".
There are several allusions to Reynolds in Mallrats; Brodie Bruce claims Mr. Svenning has an iron grip "like Burt Reynolds and shit", Bruce uses the phrase Reynolds style, Bruce says that T.S Quint drives "like the Bandit!", alluding to Burt's character, and Brodie, T.S Quint and Gwen remenise about a party where she and Rick Derris had sex at on a pool table during a costume party while dressed as Reynolds and Jackie Gleason's characters, respectively, from Smokey and the Bandit.
In Dogma, the woman Azreal kills at the beginning of the film is named Mrs. Reynolds.
In Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Brodie once again mentions Reynolds style.

[edit] Scenarios

[edit] Sexual intercourse in unusual places

In Clerks., Caitlin Bree has sex in the lavatory of the Quick Stop convenience store with who she believes to be Dante, but is, in actuality, a deceased customer.
In Mallrats, Brodie and Rene have sex in the Eden Prairie Center Mall's elevator. Also, Shannon Hamilton's goal is to have sex with Rene in a "very uncomfortable place". Brodie and several characters ask if this uncomfortable place is "like the back of a Volkswagen", but it really refers to anal sex. A video is shown at the game show of Hamilton doing this act with Tricia.
In Chasing Amy, Alyssa Jones recalls having sex in the backseat of a girlfriend's car, with her legs dangling out of the door. Also, Caitlin Bree's lavatory incident is recalled.
In Dogma, Jay suggests that he and Bethany have sex behind an overturned truck as renegade angels wreak havoc outside a church. He also mentions having once almost had sex on an Asbury Park carousel.
In Clerks II, Dante and Becky allude to previously having had sex on the prep station table in the kitchen area of the Moobys restaurant in which both are employed.

[edit] Taboo sexual topics

In Clerks., "nudie booths", bestiality, and necrophilia are touched upon; one character describes "snowballing" another. Also, Randal rents a pornographic video featuring hermaphrodites, and watches it in the Quick Stop.
In Mallrats, promiscuity, prison rape and pedophilia are expressed, as well as potential sexual situations superheroes may find themselves involved in.
In Chasing Amy, homosexuality is a main theme.
In Dogma, immaculate conception is witnessed.
In the fifth episode of the Clerks cartoon, lesbians are featured as a running joke of being Randal's previous girlfriends and being voiced by males.
In Clerks II, Dante, Randal and Becky have a lengthy discussion about ass-to-mouth, and watch a donkey show.

[edit] Unusual Smells

In Clerks., Dante smells like shoe polish throughout the whole movie.
In Mallrats, Brodie gives the stink palm to Mr. Svenning.
In Chasing Amy, Alyssa threatens Banky not to use the smell as a reason not to perform oral sex on a woman.
In Dogma, a demon made completly of excrement appears in the stripclub.
In Clerks II when Randall tells Dante and Becky how he just made a customer puke, he makes another comment about a weird smell.

[edit] External links

The View Askewniverse - Company’s Homepage
News Askew
History Askew, archived copy of a fan-assembled timeline, up to the aired episodes of Clerks.: The Animated Series.

v • d • e Kevin Smith
Films
The View Askewniverse: Clerks \| Mallrats \| Chasing Amy \| Dogma \| Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back \| Clerks II Other: Jersey Girl \| An Evening with Kevin Smith \| An Evening With Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder Upcoming: Red State \| Untitled non-Askewniverse comedy \| Clerks: Sell Out Abandoned: The Green Hornet \| Superman Lives \| Fletch Won
Comics
Clerks \| Walt Flanagan's Dog \| Chasing Dogma \| Bluntman and Chronic \| Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil that Men Do \| Daredevil/Bullseye: The Target
Notable characters
Jay and Silent Bob \| Dante \| Randal \| Banky \| Alyssa \| Leonardo \| Bluntman and Chronic \| Mooby \| Buddy Christ \| Brodie \| Willam \| Minor characters
Miscellaneous
View Askew Productions \| View Askewniverse motifs \| View Askew Media \| The Flying Car \| Clerks: The Animated Series \| Clerks: The Lost Scene \| Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash \| Silent Bob Speaks \| Sucks Less With Kevin Smith \| My Name Is Earl

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