The Last Episode Ever was the sixth and final episode of Clerks: The Animated Series. It first aired on December 14, 2002 by Comedy Central after they acquired the series.
Disclaimer joke: "I don't care for this show either."
Plot summary[]
The show opens at a comic convention where Dante and Randal answer questions from an audience. Due to the poor turn out and snide comments of those who did show up, Dante declares that Clerks the cartoon will be more like Clerks the movie. The rest of the episode tries to play out like the movie: Dante and Randal remain in the Quick Stop for almost the entire episode, Dante is getting back together with Caitlin Bree, and Jay and Silent Bob continue to talk about a carnival that is right across the street (along with other fantastical and presumably visually impressive occurrences), all while several other references to the movie are made. In the end, Dante and Randal leave the store, only to find themselves trapped at the hands of the animator of the cartoon, which turns out to be Jay.
Production notes[]
- This episode was originally going to be black and white, just like the movie.
- This episode was never actually planned to be the last episode ever. The show was canceled before this episode made it to air.
- When this episode was animated, The Matrix was not yet out on video. However, series producer Dave Mandel had a bootleg copy from a friend at Warner Bros. and that tape was referenced for the Matrix influences.
- When Dante is standing naked in the store, the character was actually drawn naked with the mosaic blurring added in later.
- In the writer's room, all of the characters are the actual writers of the series (including Kevin Smith himself, who is reading the Bible). In addition, one is holding up a book titled "How to Write Cartoons, by Seth MacFarlane", a mocking reference to Seth MacFarlane, the creator of Family Guy.
Pop culture references[]
- An attendee at the comic convention is wearing a Mooby the Golden Calf t-shirt, a fictional franchise first popularized in Smith's Dogma and later referenced in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and Clerks II.
- The newspaper Randal holds up at the convention mentions another ABC show, Sports Night.
- Randal mentions actress Liv Tyler at one point. Tyler would go on to appear in Smith's Jersey Girl.
- Randal's question about being Steve Tyler, and saying he'd sleep with Liv Tyler may be a reference to the video for Aerosmith's 1993 hit "Crazy", in which he cast Liv, his daughter, as a stripper.
- Various references to the movie: Dante waking up under a pile of clothes, black and white chapter titles, the roof where they play hockey, logistical discussions about the Star Wars franchise, and Dante's ex-girlfriend Caitlin Bree (who's voiced by the same actress that played her in the original movie, Lisa Spoonhauer).
- One of the black and white chapter titles says, "Frasier stole this device." This is a reference to the show Frasier, which uses a similar style for chapter titles.
- The two pinheads that chant "One of us, one of us!" are a reference to the movie Freaks.
- Movie settings in which Dante and Randal are placed include: The Matrix, Caddyshack III, Gilligan's Island, Josie and the Pussycats, and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Then-Millionaire host (and fellow ABC personality) Regis Philbin provided his own voice in the latter setting.
- The ending is a reference to the Looney Tunes cartoon Duck Amuck.