Great find, LadySings1! Clerks II really *rocked*, and I like lots of Kevin's other work, plus, he's a VM fan, must give props to him for that. It sounds like we can rely on Mr. Mewes to get through to him someday & make Kevin sit down in front of Serenity the pilot; Mr. Smith will be hooked from there, no doubt. That will be a great day in the 'Verse! :-)

billz | October 02, 06:50 CET

I imagine this topic will result in a variety of no-no attacks on Kevin Smith, and of course personal attacks are not kosher here nor should they be. That said...hmmm, how to put this...no big loss in the 'verse--Uni, Buffy, or otherwise--on that front, aside from some obvious comic fan cross marketing appeal. Mr. Smith's self-imposed loss, however, is legitimately monumental, but that goes without saying. Hope he figures out what he's been missing at some point soon. Could even get a few Browncoats into the theaters for his shows, and based on recent box office he could use the help.

GrrrAargh | October 02, 06:51 CET

"Could even get a few Browncoats into the theaters for his shows, and based on recent box office he could use the help."

LOL not that that would do anything. No offense to the Browncoats, I love Firefly and Serenity, but with all of the Browncoats going to see the movie multiple times, and handing out tickets on the streets...the movie still flopped hard and was a box-office failure. The TV show's ratings weren't stellar to begin with either so I'm pretty sure Kevin Smith isn't worried about whether or not he has the Browncoats on his side.

I'm just sayin'. :-/

[ edited by vmars on 2006-10-02 05:19 ]

vmars | October 02, 07:18 CET

I cannot wait for Evening With Kevin Smith 2. I've watched the first one like three times.

Odysseus | October 02, 07:27 CET

Clerks 2 only made around $24 million, but when the movie only cost $5 million to make, which means Clerks 2 was a financial success. Especially when you add DVD on top of that and Kevin Smith has always done really well on DVD. Kevin Smith has a small but loyal fanbase and he pretty much plays up to that fanbase and as long as his budgets don't get out of control, his movies are doing okay.

As for Kevin Smith missing out on Firefly and Serenity, no big deal. Seems like he's going to check it out eventually, he just never had time yet and wants to watch it in the right order.

Matt_Fabb | October 02, 07:33 CET

He's like, the archduke of geekdom, but he hasn't seen the crown jewels? What is wrong with him?

Resolute | October 02, 07:34 CET

Re: Kevin Smith: To each his own. Yes, every serious notion I have can be expressed in four cliched words or less, which means, I guess, this sentence is too long. Brevity is the soul of quit.

jaynelovesvera | October 02, 07:51 CET

I just happened upon this forum (A Fluffy Bunny Filled Gumdrop Forest?) that in 2001 posted a 2001 Kevin Smith article in which he mentions having a drink with Eliza Dushku and his sad lack of Buffy-viewing & knowledge:

"I christen Eliza 'Duck-Shoot', and we talk about her native country, Boston... She tries to fill me in on Buffy lore and how she plays into the mythos, and it only further solidifies my previously-stated assessment that Buffy is a show I should've been into early on, as it's now too intricately told a tale for a late-comer like me to catch up with."

Don't know 'zackly how this might relate to his lack of FF/S viewing, but it was interesting... and I kinda get being wary of finally seeing something that's been built up (apparently) so much.

Can't confirm the Kevin Smith article for certain sure, as Kevin Smith's weekly column at Psycomics (http://www.psycomic.com/columns/2000/ksmith/) doesn't seem to be up anymore.

(Hey jvl, you could have a fine career writing Four Word Film Reviews.)

ET: forgot to say, Resolute, loved "the archduke of geekdom..."

[ edited by QuoterGal on 2006-10-02 07:23 ]

QuoterGal | October 02, 09:13 CET

I think there has been at least one interview since where he has referred to Joss as "Buffy." I not sure he wants to get it. I have seen him speak a few times and admired some of what he said, but he's not one of the few artists I trust.

dreamlogic | October 02, 10:03 CET

dreamlogic, I read that same interview. I find them both funny, but Joss funnier, without all the foul (to some) language, which I think is much harder to do. Also, His Jossness doesn't exploit the female form (except for Amy Acker's legs, and I for one can't blame him).

jaynelovesvera | October 02, 10:20 CET

And let's not forget Summer's feet...

QuoterGal | October 02, 10:40 CET

Joss' gravestone will say "Feet Exploiter". (I'm a cheery fellow today).

Also, I really don't think people (especially Joss!) should try to force Firefly on anybody. That way leads to the scientific phenomen known as the "Devin from CHUD effect". Or, they resent it before they even watch it.

As for Clerks 2 being in box office trouble. Uhm - it made 5 times it's production budget at US theatres. There's still international takings, and DVDs on top of that. If he wanted to, he could make Clerks 3, 4, 5, 6 and The Musical off the back of that.

[ edited by gossi on 2006-10-02 08:49 ]

gossi | October 02, 10:49 CET

But despite whatever talent of his cast, Kevin Smith's musical would probably suck.

No?

dreamlogic | October 02, 11:14 CET

I didn't forget, QuoterGal--I just don't have a foot fetish, so feet focus doesn't strike me as erotic. It actually reminds me of Strangers on a Train.

Can't we have a Serenity sequel where the whole movie takes place in the cargo bay?

jaynelovesvera | October 02, 11:15 CET

Now don't get me wrong, I love Kevin Smith, hell I even think of Ben Affleck in a reasonable light because of the work he's done with Smith, but does no one remember his scathing attack on Browncoats a while back?

For those who don't recall, and for that matter, those who never even knew about it, he came down pretty harsh on the BCs, basically bithcing and whining saying we were annoying and pathetic (this was in the run-up to Serenity being released) and as such much as I can't speak as to his attitude concerning the Buffyverse, I don't think he CAN watch firefly now, as this would force him to eat his words. That's not something Mr Smith is ever going to do.

dev | October 02, 11:16 CET

dev, I'm pretty sure you're confusing Kevin Smith with somebody else. Also, all these bastards called Kevin are confusing me.

[ edited by gossi on 2006-10-02 09:25 ]

gossi | October 02, 11:24 CET

LOL, whatsyername, er, gossi! ;-)

billz | October 02, 11:31 CET

He sat in for Ebert this weekend and his DVD Pick was Battlestar Galactica Season 2.5.

So, come on, he's gotta love Firefly/Serenity.

TheZeppo | October 02, 13:44 CET

Or as Spike might have said "I'm drowning in Kevins !".

I quite like Kevin Smith though I find his films very patchy (just watched 'Dogma' the other day and thought it was pretty good, 'Chasing Amy' not so much, 'Mallrats' definitely had moments, 'Jay and Silent Bob' had loads of good stuff but ultimately didn't know when to rein its craziness in a bit, IMO). Usually though there's at least one hilarious, crazily contrived monologue on some aspect of pop-(or not so pop)-culture that's worth listening to. Haven't read the stuff dev refers to but i'll sometimes stop by his blog and I know he enjoys the odd, not necessarily entirely sincere, way over-the-top rant about a particular group or critic.

If he wants to watch it i'm sure he will. Probably a while after people stop suggesting he watches it (if Jason Mewes - presumably a pretty close friend - can't convince him to check it out then i'd guess there may be a contrary element to his character that's stopping him checking it out as long as everyone keeps telling him to check it out).

Saje | October 02, 13:45 CET

Guy's entitled to watch or not watch what he likes. I get what he means actually. So many times I've watched something after it's been recommended to me with high praise and a lot of hype and it just doesn't live up to it for me. Doesn't mean it's not good, but too high an expectation can often detract from a decent movie/tv show/etc. Maybe once people stop telling him he'll love it (how would they know, everyone has their own tastes) he might give it a try.

lynnie | October 02, 16:18 CET

So, come on, he's gotta love Firefly/Serenity.

Not necessarily. Hard to find a bigger Firefly fan than me but BSG leaves me cold. I can recognize the excellence of the show, but there's not enough of a sense of humor for my tastes. I watched afew, just couldn't get interested.

I think the worst thing anyone could do would be to keep bringing this up to Kevin Smith in a "c'mon, you'll love it!" manner. He knows it's out there. His posting about the Browncoats wasn't that far off -- some of the BCs posting on his forum were getting shrill about any Joss criticism, and that may have contributed to his Whedon-shyness. Let's face it, the overly enthusiastic proselytizing and forum-flooding from some of the fans last year did turn some people off.

As the bloke who posted that review linked up there, I can tell you that Kevin was not in any way hostile towards Joss, just... disinterested, like someone who's not fond of seafood who's been told over and over that he'll love oysters.

C. A. Bridges | October 02, 16:21 CET

Like someone sort of said before, Kevin Smith does some relatively decent movies with a couple of genuinely funny parts, a couple of interesting bits and a lot of fart type jokes throughout. I dont get a lot of emotional impact in his movies and, really, thats the hard part, isnt it?

wouldestous | October 02, 17:16 CET

Aww, Kev isn't a fan? :-(

I love most of what he's done, especially Dogma.

Good to know that Mewes is on our side, though!

wouldestous, no emotional impact? Have you seen Chasing Amy?

UnpluggedCrazy | October 03, 02:24 CET

I don't know Kevin Smith at all. (Yes, I have been living in a cave, I thought that was established a long time ago. ;-) ) I can understand his worry about high expectations, though. I had plenty of really good shows ruined because I just expected too much. Now I just try to take hype with a grain of salt until I see for myself. I did think it was shortsighted of him to base whether to see all of a writer's work on having seen a couple of episodes of his first series. Oh well. At some point he will probably catch-up for some reason and it will be interesting to hear his thoughts.

Speaking of people being introduced to Joss's work, my friend who was sure that she would have no interest in a show about a vampire hunting teenager just declared herself hooked by "Puppet Show". As she put it, "It's been entertaining so far, but now I really want to know what happens next." I loaned her S2 this morning...

newcj | October 03, 07:48 CET

But... 'Family Guy' and 'Firefly' are exactly alike! I don't blame him for not wanting to see Firefly. He'll totally hate it!

Hjermsted | October 04, 01:50 CET