The View Askewniverse is a fictional universe created by writer/director Kevin Smith, featured in several films, comics and a television series; it is named for Smith's production company, View Askew Productions. The characters Jay and Silent Bob appear in almost all the View Askewniverse media, and characters from one story often reappear or are referred to in others. Smith often casts the same actors for multiple characters in the universe, sometimes even in the same film; Smith himself portrays the character of Silent Bob.
Contents
- Setting
- Chronology
- Clerks 1994
- Mallrats 1995
- Chasing Amy 1997
- Dogma 1999
- Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back 2001
- Clerks II 2006
- Jay Silent Bobs Super Groovy Cartoon Movie 2013
- Jay and Silent Bob Reboot In development
- The Flying Car 2002
- Clerks The Lost Scene 2004
- Clerks The Animated Series
- Clerks
- Chasing Dogma
- Bluntman and Chronic
- Walt Flanagans Dog
- Wheres the Beef
- Jay and Silent Bob Chronic Blunt Punch
- Recurring actors
- Clerks 3
- MallBrats
- In popular culture
- Drawing Flies
- Scream 3
- Television
- Comics
- References
Setting
Smith's recurring characters, settings, and motifs first appeared in his debut film, Clerks. Since then, the main canon has consisted of six feature films, in addition to several short films, comic books, and a short-lived animated TV series. The View Askewniverse is centered on the towns of Leonardo, Highlands, and Red Bank, all located in Monmouth County, central New Jersey. Chasing Amy also takes place partly in New York, and both Dogma and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back involve road trips.
Chronology
Clerks (1994)
Clerks is the first film in the series of the View Askewniverse. It follows a day in the lives of two clerks, Dante Hicks (Brian O'Halloran) and Randal Graves (Jeff Anderson). The main protagonist Dante is called into work, the Quick Stop convenience store, on his day off to cover for a few until the boss is due to relieve him at noon. Dante's day is spent in the purgatory of serving a succession of customers while repeating the fact that he is "not even supposed to be here today". Randal works in the next-door video store, RST Video, although he spends almost the entire day at the Quick Stop. Learning that he is stuck working the store all day, Dante eventually decides to close the store for brief periods to either play hockey (on the roof of the store) or to attend a wake of an ex-girlfriend. Dante also encounters a surprise visit from an old flame who is engaged. The two had been talking on the phone for months and after seeing each other again they are keen to reunite and leave their current relationships.
Mallrats (1995)
Takes place one day before the events in Clerks. The film is about two young men, Brodie Bruce and T.S. Quint, who hang out at a mall after being dumped by their girlfriends; while also trying to avoid the wrath of Shannon Hamilton.
Chasing Amy (1997)
A heterosexual man, Holden McNeil, falls in love with a lesbian, Alyssa Jones, causing conflict with his homophobic best friend, Banky Edwards, with whom he has created a comic book called "Bluntman and Chronic" based upon Jay and Silent Bob.
Dogma (1999)
The world ends if two angels enter a church in New Jersey and it is up to Jesus' last scion, Jay and Silent Bob, and the thirteenth Apostle to stop them.
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)
Jay and Silent Bob embark on a road-trip to Hollywood to try and stop a "Bluntman and Chronic" movie from being made. Within the film, the "Bluntman and Chronic" movie was to be based on the comic made by the protagonists of Chasing Amy.
Clerks II (2006)
Roughly ten years after Clerks, Dante and Randal are now employed in the fast food industry.
Jay & Silent Bob's Super Groovy Cartoon Movie (2013)
The animated film depicts the events within the "Bluntman and Chronic" comic written by the protagonist of Chasing Amy, which was to be adapted into a movie in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Kevin Smith had originally written the (from the Bluntman And Chronic comics story) as a companion piece to the film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (In development)
Kevin Smith announced the film in February 2017, Smith said the script was finished and announced Miramax would produce it. The film plot will be focused on Jay and Silent Bob trying to stop a "Bluntman and Chronic" reboot film from happening.
The Flying Car (2002)
The Flying Car is a short film featuring Dante and Randall, that was produced for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
Clerks: The Lost Scene (2004)
Clerks: The Lost Scene is an animated short that was produced for Clerks. X (10th anniversary DVD), based on a scene previously off-screen in the original film and only seen in the comics.
Clerks: The Animated Series
Clerks: The Animated Series consists of six episodes featuring characters from the movie Clerks that originally aired on ABC in 2000 (only for two episodes) and were later released on DVD in 2001.
Clerks.
Clerks. is a three-part comic book series published in the late 1990s, continuing the adventures of the film's main characters.
Chasing Dogma
Chasing Dogma is a four-part series about Jay and Silent Bob's adventures between the events of Chasing Amy and Dogma. Many elements of the comic would end up in the film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
Bluntman and Chronic
Bluntman and Chronic is the comic "created" by Holden McNeil and Banky Edwards in Chasing Amy, published to coincide with the release of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
Walt Flanagan's Dog
"Jay and Silent Bob in Walt Flanagan's Dog" is a story in Oni Double Feature #1.
Where's the Beef?
Where's the Beef? is a 20-page comic which bridges the gap between the events depicted in the opening scenes of Clerks II.
Jay and Silent-Bob: Chronic Blunt Punch
A beat-em up videogame based on Jay and Silent Bob, was successfully crowdfunded.
Recurring actors
Smith often casts the same actors for multiple characters in the universe, sometimes even in the same film. This is most notable in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, in which several actors play multiple characters from earlier View Askewniverse films.
To date, Smith and Jason Mewes are the only actors to appear in every film as the same characters. Three other actors have appeared in every film, as different characters, Scott Mosier, Walt Flanagan and Brian O'Halloran, with O'Halloran always appearing as a member of the Hicks family (most notably Dante).
The more notable recurring actors include:
Clerks 3
The film was cancelled in February 2017. Kevin Smith revealed on social media, that the reason behind such cancellation was one of the four leads opted out, within the same post he announced Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. During the previous years, Smith had stated the script for Clerks 3 was finished.
MallBrats
MallBrats (also known as Mallrats 2) was a planned first as a film, and then as a 10 part TV series sequel to Mallrats. It was described by Smith as Die Hard in a mall.
In popular culture
The following appearances, references and Easter-eggs in other media are non-canon to the film series.
Drawing Flies
Much of the cast of Mallrats featured in a simultaneous production, Drawing Flies, which features two actors credited as one of their characters in the View Askew films; Kevin Smith credited as Silent Bob & Ethan Suplee credited as Willam Black. Both are referred to as different characters within the film, but "Silent Bob" is credited as himself. Smith also wore the same Bob coat from Mallrats in the film.
Scream 3
Jay & Silent Bob can be seen in the studio in one scene of Scream 3. Jay mistakes one of the protagonists, Gale Weathers, for a TV reporter, Connie Chung, and sarcastically asks her about Maury Povich.