Retrotainment 2: Clone High
Retro-tainment: Media You Might Have Missed - Vol 2: Clone High
Can you imagine if we were somehow able to extract DNA remnants of all the great figures in history. And then, from those specimens, we would create genetic duplicates of these great and infamous men and women in history. Then imagine when those clones enter their awkward teenage years: the angst, the uncertainty and emerging sexuality playing against their famous personalities. Bill Lawrence (creator of Scrubs and Spin City did, only he (Along with co-creators Phil Lord and Christopher Miller) decided to make it a cartoon and play it for laughs.
Clone High imagines a world where Abe Lincoln is a neurotic sociopath with an unspoken crush on Cleopatra and JFK is the popular football team captain with 2 gay foster parents. It is a place where Winston Churchill can be a thugged-out B-boy and Ghandi can be an indulgent, sex-obsessed hedonist.
Clone High went into production in 2001, helmed by famed Canadian animation house Nelvana (the company responsible for the brilliant Eek! The Cat series). It aired in 2002 and 2003 on the Canadian Teletoon network. In 2003, MTV picked up the series for Stateside broadcast. Given that Scrubs was hitting its stride in its popularity, Lawrence was able to get series regulars like Donald Faison, Nicole Sullivan and Zach Braff to contribute voices to episodes of CH. During the production of the series, writers began introducing multi-step gags that became so tedious, they were only funny for their sheer un-funniness. Larwence dubbed such running gags “wacky-stacks”, which has slowly become part of comedy writers’ vernacular.
The sheer joy of Clone High, apart from its crude,yet clever, slapstick, is the small details one might not pick up on first viewing. For instance, the hangout of the Clone High student body is a diner called “The Grassy Knoll”. Whenever an exterior shot of the ‘Knoll is shown, the American flag is at half-mast. Distance shots show a black Lincoln on top of the building. Teenage Abe often dines obliviously at a booth decorated with a painting of Lincoln’s assassination at Ford’s Theater. The school’s ethically-challenged principal, Mr. Scudworth, hooks the school up with dubious corporate sponsorships, the results of which can be seen in ads all over the school.
Much like other high-school-themed shows, Clone High makes heavy-handed attempts at communicating moral messages about saying no to drugs, being true to oneself, not “selling out”, etc… The way these messages surface and play against the characters is nothing short of hilarious.
Episode 2: X-treme Blu (Best Of)
In 2003, an article in the Indian Express reported on the portrayal of teenaged Gandhi (Known casually as “G-Man” on the series) as an aggressive, junk-food binging, sex-starved partyboy. This caused outrage in the subcontinent with everyone from laborers to members of the Indian Parliament staging demonstrations and undertaking fasts in protest. (Gandhi, as the non-violent catalyst for Indian independence from Britain, is revered in India.) MTV apologized formally and promised to be selective about the episodes it would air in the future. Strangely enough, the series was cancelled by Teletoon and MTV did not take over production for the series, which ended after, technically, one season. Teletoon/Nelvana have released the entire series in Canada. Warner Brothers has exclusive release rights for an American release, but I somehow doubt we’ll see that happen.
Marilyn Manson’s Food Pyramid
Related posts: It’s Always Sunny on TV - Would anyone like any toast - Fuck you, David Chase
I, for one, was depressed for an entire year when this show got yanked. Easily my favorite animated series. Ever. Of course, MTV dispatched Sifl and Olly as well, so my hatred for MTV is one of momentous proportions. My favorite episode was the ‘kegger’.
keywork.
13 May 08 at 4:36 pm
ahh, i remember this! I had a crush on Cleopatra and Joan of Arc. both of them made Betty Rubble look cheap and common.
wasn’t Nelvana also responsible for the Alf cartoon as well?
seohack
13 May 08 at 4:49 pm
I didn’t love Clone High as much as Soy did, but I loved the X-treme Blu episode!
It’s got vitamites and nutrimins!
STICK IT IN YOUR FACE HOLE!!!
The Bagel of Everything
13 May 08 at 5:24 pm
nope! never heard of it. the sheltered life I live has deprived me once again.
capricorn1966
13 May 08 at 5:33 pm
they could never clone me, I’m one of a kind.
capricorn1966
13 May 08 at 5:35 pm
I’d have to fucking kick the shit out of myself.
capricorn1966
13 May 08 at 5:36 pm
But Cappy! I’ve been working for months on that clone for your birthday!
Whatever shall I do now?
The Bagel of Everything
13 May 08 at 5:56 pm
Well…..if you really think you can handle two of me go right ahead but I’ll need another one of you. four boobies is better then two.
capricorn1966
13 May 08 at 6:09 pm
As a matter of fact clone 7, this way I can fuck every night without being tired.
capricorn1966
13 May 08 at 6:23 pm
I think Micky would like it, if there were 7 of me.
capricorn1966
13 May 08 at 6:24 pm
Always loved this series. The humor was of a very outlandish nature and it was very much aware of its own overkill.
@ Keywork: I can’t help think that the Gandhi thing had something to do with the cancellation. Honestly, do you know anybody who watches MTV, anymore?
@ SEO: Yeah, Joan and Cleo were hot in their own special ways. Actually, I think DiC Entertainment was responsible for the ALF cartoon. Nelvana’s done everything from Inspector Gadget to My Gym Partner’s a Monkey. For me, their Piece de Resistance was Eek! The Cat. I loved that cartoon more than perhaps any other.
@ Cap: Bagel’s been splicing chromosomes like a mad woman. We’re just now getting into the stem-cells.
@ Bagel: Yeah; that was one of the best-written episodes of anything ever. Manson really brought it home, though.
Soylent Ape
13 May 08 at 6:44 pm
I always told you to go fuck yer self.
Make it an even 8.
8 ball
micky2
13 May 08 at 6:45 pm
I remeber watching this a couple times.
They always do that shit to people like us.
Everyone else wants this streamlined homogonized shit that hits the mainstream.
There was this one show on sci fi, I forget the name.
This crew of 4 or 5 lived in a ship that was actually alive. And there was this one character that was a face inside a monitor that always has the hots for this one fine foxy english bitch with Angelina Jolie lips. They used big dragon flys to transport from the ship to other planets.
Anyone?
micky2
13 May 08 at 6:51 pm
yeah but mick now you can tell me to go fuck myself 7 times. And I would enjoy it 7 times more.
capricorn1966
13 May 08 at 7:05 pm
yea,
when most people get laid they say they got lucky.
I dont think you could fuck yer self with all the luck in the world.
micky2
13 May 08 at 7:56 pm
I don’t need luck.
capricorn1966
13 May 08 at 8:25 pm
You need directions.
Insert Bill face up.
micky2
13 May 08 at 8:49 pm
Soy, you’re totally right. there was some cartoon show they had on NBC saturday mornings back in the day.
But Nelvana IS responsible for Franklin and Little Bear. Trust me - true evil lies in there.
seohack
14 May 08 at 12:14 am
@Micky Lexx?
LOL Heathen
14 May 08 at 12:47 am
Thank you LOL, Yes !
Lexx !!!
That show was cooler than shit man!
What happened to it ?
micky2
14 May 08 at 1:18 am
I loved Lexx. The show played out like a Gwar concept album.
The Bagel of Everything
14 May 08 at 1:42 am
Bagel watched Lexx back when it was on. It was definitely more imaginitive than your average space opera. I believe it aired on Sci-Fi through 2004 or so. Bagel owns the 1st season on DVD.
@ SEO: agreed.
Soylent Ape
14 May 08 at 5:42 am
Lexx? Sorry.
capricorn1966
14 May 08 at 5:46 am
I have been retrotained this day.
The 'Goose
14 May 08 at 8:40 am
I liked Clone High, but it wasn’t….GREAT or anything. It was on par with that Drawn Together show.
You failed to mention the greatest clone on the show, which was a cloned Jesus named Jay-sus, he was a latino gangsta student who was good at woodshop.
Kevin
14 May 08 at 12:35 pm
Sorry I’ve not been around much, kids.
It’s been weird here.
I’ll be back on my game ASAP, promise.
The Bagel of Everything
14 May 08 at 5:06 pm
dito. there hasn’t been anyone any where. I don’t have internet at work and I can’t seem to connect from anyone. It pisses me off. I’m having withdrawl.
capricorn1966
14 May 08 at 5:56 pm
@ Kevin: To each his own. I thought it was brilliant. Jesus was one of those characters that didn’t get much screen time. There were lots of great characters on Clone High like that. George Washington Carver’s teen clone was on a couple of episodes and he was always researching outlandish applications for peanuts. Hilarious!
@ Capricorn: I used to be able to access the internet at work, but now I can’t–even on my own break time. Really sucks.
Soylent Ape
14 May 08 at 7:29 pm
and what really sucks, Soy, is that you get it a for a couple of days then you don’t get it for a couple of weeks. very frustrating, I tell you, very frustrating.
capricorn1966
14 May 08 at 8:02 pm
I never watched Clone High, but I’ve heard of it a lot, and I’m bummed I never got a chance to watch it. The YouTube clips are hilarious, though, which leads me to believe that it’s an awesome show. Or is that a massive understatement?
Cody
14 May 08 at 9:46 pm
I’m glad we have YouTube to preserve stuff like that. I’ve found all kinds of stuff on there that I never thought I’d see again.
Soylent Ape
15 May 08 at 5:58 am
um, this was totally an episode of GI Joe.
WDL
15 May 08 at 9:28 am
G.I. Joe? Maybe if there was a ROTC program at Clone High.
Soylent Ape
15 May 08 at 9:55 pm
Wow this is really cool…I didn’t know about it. I think it’s interesting how NBC cancelled Scrubs because of what they called poor ratings (which was because they moved it all over the place in different time slots) and now ABC has picked it up for next year…yay…..haha NBC..idiots.
Freddy
16 May 08 at 10:25 pm
Freddy: I can’t say I watch much network television, anymore. I did really like /Scrubs/ and /My Name is Earl/ at one time, but NBC moved their air schedules so much, I couldn’t keep up with when they came on.
Soylent Ape
17 May 08 at 7:48 am
They cancelled Scrubs?
@#$!
The Bagel of Everything
17 May 08 at 8:03 am
Scrubs is going to another network. If the deal goes through, Scrubs’ production company will go to ABC for its next season.
Soylent Ape
18 May 08 at 4:49 pm