lauralot89:

WE’RE GONNA TALK ABOUT CLONE HIGH, KIDS

(If this is not old-timey enough or obscure enough, let me know and I’ll find something else to talk about)

The show aired in Canada in 2002, but it didn’t get over here in the US until 2003, when I was thirteen. It was the only MTV cartoon I ever watched.

AND IT WAS GLORIOUS.

The conceit of the show is that shadowy government figures for reasons never fully specified decided to make clones of dead historical figures, and said clones have grown to high school age by the time the series starts. Our protagonists are Abe Lincoln, Joan of Arc, and Gandhi, and other major characters are Abe’s crush Cleopatra, and her jerk jock boyfriend, JFK, as well as the high school principal Mr. Scudworth and his robot, Mr. Bultertron. Yes, there is a clone of Jesus, though he’s not a frequent character.

Weirdly, aside from the historical puns or episodic plot about a character trying to follow the example of their real historical selves (like the episode where Joan starts hearing voices), the show mostly is a typical teen comedy that doesn’t really focus on the clone aspect.

(There is a pretty great visual pun, though, in that Marie Curie’s clone is deformed because the source DNA was irradiated.)

But anyway, it was a fantastic show. It was hilarious, and gave us what I consider to this day comedy staples such as “Let’s destroy property to show how much we appreciate the team!” and “You see the pool? They flipped the bitch!”

Not to mention “Nothing bad ever happens to the Kennedys!”

You want a show where Marilyn Manson sings about proper nutrition? You got it. You want a show where the “beautiful all along” makeover includes sci fi gore and vampire fangs? You got it. You want a musical episode parodying Pink Floyd’s The Wall with Jack Black singing and kids getting high off of raisins? You got it.

I feel like this video speaks for itself.

Also there’s the great moment in the film festival episode when Joan makes some weird art house film that no one understands except Freud.

Now I know what you’re thinking, “Laura, this show sounds amazing! Why was it ever cancelled?”

Because the world is cruel, my friend. The world is a cruel place where Family Guy has 16 seasons and Clone High only got one.

Actually, the reason for the cancellation is that India as a whole was extremely offended by the show’s portrayal of Gandhi, to the extent of a massive public fast in protest and the threat of MTV’s license to broadcast in India being revoked. Viacom/MTV offered the idea of a second season without Gandhi, and the show creators pitched “two potential versions of a second season [which] included one that made no mention of Gandhi’s absence, and another that revealed that the character was, in fact, a clone of actor Gary Coleman all along, and the show continued as normal.” Both versions were rejected, and the show ended.

On the bright side, you can now watch all of the show on Youtube and Will Forte did briefly get to voice Abraham Lincoln again in The Lego Movie.