This Week: Kevin Smith

Welcome to the first installment of "Invasion of the Pod People." Each week will revolve around a theme. Without further ado...

Kevin Smith has had a cult following ever since he directed the indy hit, "Clerks." His company View Askew has produced several movies, not to mention hosting several websites such as Newsaskew, Moviepoopshoot and My Boring Ass Life to name a few. He has an army of fans so it's no wonder there are more than a few podcasts devoted to him and his works. And being a geek himself, he is currently producing a podcast to promote his new movie "Clerks 2."

Title: Train Wreck: The Making of Clerks 2
Average Length: 4 minutes
Number of Episodes: 58
Frequency: Weekly
Podcasters: Kevin Smith/View Askew
Audio or Video: Video
Quality: Good
Language: R for Language
Website: www.clerks2.com

If you ever wondered what it would be like to work on a Kevin Smith film, this is the podcast for you. It is made up of short behind-the-scenes videos from the production of "Clerks 2." Some clips focus on introducing various crew/cast members as well as explaining their roles, some are random production clips set to music and others are random stories from set. Nothing super insightful to the filmmaking process, but a lot of fun to watch how everyone interacts. They are good about not showing any spoilers and bleeping anything plot related. I've been a fan since the beginning and I'm familiar with a lot of people from past productions because of how much Kevin references them in his Q&A sessions, so for me this feels like hanging out with friends you don't get to see that often.

Time Worthy: Yes
Subscription Worthy: Yes
Grade: B+ "Keep up the Good Work!"

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Title: CastAskew
Average Length: about 20 minutes
Number of Episodes: 3
Frequency: Last episode was 9/27/05
Podcasters: Rob and Rachel Unck
Audio or Video: Audio only
Quality: Fair
Language: PG
Website: www.castaskew.com

Rob and Rachel are a married couple from Seattle who decided to share their love of Kevin Smith by podcasting out of their home. While they seem like nice people, they sound like bad actors reading from a script. Not only did it seem like Rachel was forced into doing this, but I have a hard time buying she's a Kevin Smith fan at all. She completely lost me with her interpretation of "Chasing Amy." I can't even begin to tell you her point. On the other hand, I don't doubt that Rob is a genuine fan, but he is completely uncomfortable in front of a microphone. What insight he might have gets lost in their banter. They don't give you any new information, a fresh viewpoint, or anything else that would make this worth your time. It doesn't help that it seems they have abandoned the idea of doing the show entirely - the last episode was late September of 2005.

Time Worthy: No
Subscription Worthy: No
Grade: D+ "Needs to work harder in class."

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Title: Radio Askew
Average Length: 40 minutes
Number of Episodes: 34
Frequency: Weekly
Podcasters: Will Wilkins and Scott Kramer
Audio or Video: Audio
Quality: Good
Language: R for Language
Website: www.radioaskew.com:88

Will Wilkins began the podcast by himself and Scott Kramer joined him around episode five. In the beginning, the episodes were a little haphazard both in format and in frequency. It has since found its rhythm. Much like Kevin Smith, it's heavy on the pop culture. Will and Scott have a good chemistry and make the show very enjoyable. Some shows are a little heavy on audio clips. Some clips are from interviews from outside sources and others are recorded specifically for this podcast. Several episodes are recorded during Kevin Smith signings and those episodes are fun the first time. I would rather see fresh material from Will and Scott than hearing more of the same from different signings. The rest of the episodes give all the dirt about what is going on not only with Kevin Smith, but with the people who have worked with him in the past. If you are familiar with NewsAskew, consider this an audio version of that site. All in all, if you are a Kevin Smith fan you will enjoy this podcast. You just might want to skip some of the episodes from the signings.

Time Worthy: Yes
Subscription Worthy: No
Grade: B "Above average, but room for improvement"

I hope you found this first review helpful and informative. Please let me know what you think by posting in the comments section. Stay tuned for next week when we get "Lost."

Powering off.