Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. It’s Animation Bang time. During the mid to late 90s and early 2000s channels went through what I like to call the teen drama phase. Basically, shows that centered around high school teens facing the day to day issues of life while dealing with the romance and personal drama of their lives. The whole idea was to put ourselves in their shoes and make us connect with them on a personal and emotional level. In some aspects these shows worked but on other aspects they failed and you couldn’t help but laugh at them. And one of the shows that pointed out the faults of these shows was Clone High. Coming from the creative and comedic minds of Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Bill Lawrence, Clone High was an adult animated show that came on MTV of all channels in 2002-2003. This came out around the time when MTV was trying to grow their audience and instead of focus on music which was the whole point of the channel, the channel tried to show more mature cartoons to reach teens and adults. Anyway, Clone High was definitely one of those shows that came on, made a huge impact, and then ended way before it’s time. Let’s see what this show had to offer. This is Clone High.
The Plot
So the plot of Clone High goes a little something like this: //youtu.be/_ZFdz2vwU20. That’s basically the setup for Clone High. Secret government employees dug up the bodies of history’s greatest figures, extracted their DNA and created clones of them. Why? To raise and train them to be assassins. In order to monitor and keep them safe until they’re ready they’re placed in a school designed for them where they act like normal students. Throughout the show we focus on a few of these clones as they deal with the drama of their lives and relationships with each other.
The Main Characters
Abe Lincoln voiced by Will Forte
The main protagonist of the series. He has a great admiration of the original Abe Lincoln and tries very hard to be like him. Much like the original he’s a very tall man and believes in justice and fairness for all however he falls into the typical protagonist roll in dramas. He’s naïve, awkward, has a hopeless crush on the most popular girl in school, dense, and tries very hard to be accepted by everyone however he’ll always stay loyal to his friends.
Joan of Arc voiced by Nicole Sullivan
The best friend of Abe who secretly has a crush on him. She’s smart, cynical, and gothic. She’s pretty much a representation of the moody gothic high school girl who’s close to the main character but is too afraid to confess to him. However, she’ll be there for him no matter what.
Gandhi voiced by Michael McDonald
Abe’s other best friend who just like Abe struggles trying to live up to the original Gandhi. However, while Abe worries about this Gandhi doesn’t. He instead reinvents himself as a party boy. He’s always doing wild things to stand out and easily influenced by those around him. He’s a representation of that annoying party boy you either knew in high school or college.
JFK voiced by Chris Miller
The popular and cocky jock who is Abe’s on again off again rival. He’s a womanizer, arrogant, and has a desire to prove his masculinity because of his host parents being gay.
Cleopatra voiced by Christa Miller
The most popular girl in school who Abe wants. As with characters like her she’s vain, shallow, mean-spirited, selfish, and at times can be a total bitch. There will be times where she’ll do something nice but it’s never for long. As the series went on she and Abe do become a couple and even than her character doesn’t change and she and Joan eventually become roommates since their foster parents hook up in the show.
Principal Scudworth voiced by Phil Lord
A mad scientist and principal of Clone High. Hands down my favorite and funniest character in the show. His job is to monitor the clones and report on them but he secretly plans on stealing the clones and using them to open up his own amusement park called Cloney Island. This guy has some of the best lines in the show including my favorite quote from the show: //youtu.be/yv_ptXgAzZA. I have been waiting to use this quote in my life for a very long time. I haven’t had the chance to use it yet but when I do it’s going to be one of the best moments of my life.
Mr. Butlertron voiced by Chris Miller
Scudworth’s robotic companion and loyal friend who sticks by Scudworth through and through. While Scudworth takes little to no interest in the well-being of the clones Butlertron actually develops a relationship with them and even tries to help them out by giving them sage advice. One of his running gags is that he refers to everyone as “Wesley”.
Minor Characters
Outside of the main characters there really weren’t that many minor characters we focused on all that much. Most of them were the clones of other popular historical figures such as George Washington Carver, Genghis Khan, Julius Caesar, Paul Revere, and all 3 incarnations of Elvis. The rest were either foster parents, authority figures, or guest stars.
Episodes
Clone High unfortunately only ran for one season and had 13 episodes total. Each episode would center around an issue you see in all those teen drama shows. Like one student has an illness and everyone blows it out of proportion. In one episode we find out that Gandhi has A.D.D and everyone is now afraid to be around him out of the fear that they’ll get A.D.D as well. In one of their more creative episodes they put on a rock opera while talking about drug awareness. In the episode, a rumor starts going around that you can get high by smoking raisins so the clones start smoking raisins becoming drugged out hippies and growing their hair long. While that’s going on Scudworth takes over the PTA and they wage war on the students. There’s also a subplot about Gandhi getting so high that he subconsciously goes on a quest to save a princess he believes will have sex with him. It’s a strange but fun musical that really shows off the creativity of the show and the talent of the voice actors. The show even made fun of the whole character death drama. Remember how drama shows used to advertise the death of one of its characters only to see that character survive or some side character we just met die and we’re supposed to be sad? Well that’s what they did in this one episode of Clone High. In the episode we meet JFK’s best friend Pibbs. This is the first time we’ve ever seen him and the first time the show has ever mentioned him but everybody in the show acts like he’s been around forever. Anyway, tragedy strikes when Pibbs dies from litter and the whole school is sad especially JFK since the last time they talked they had a fight with each other with JFK saying he hated him. If I had to name my favorite episode it would have to be episode 7. In this episode Abe and Cleopatra have just become a couple however their relationship might be ruined when Cleopatra gets picked to star in a Canadian spring break dance show hosted by Ashley Angel himself. But the real selling point of this episode are the two subplots. The first one revolves around Gandhi who after rhyming thinks he’s a rap star and decides to become one. With JFK as his manager he becomes an international sensation in Canada with the show’s most memorable song: //youtu.be/GUDFA79yh9Y, as much as this is controversial you can’t deny that that beat is awesome. The other subplot revolves around Scudworth and a skunk participating in Tom & Jerry like scenarios. The show finally came to end in the 2-part season finale. It’s prom season and everyone is getting ready for the prom. Abe is going with Cleopatra where the two will do it on prom night but Abe starts to have doubts about Cleopatra and when he sees Joan’s new look he starts to realize his true feelings. On the night of the prom when Abe and Cleopatra are making out and about to have sex Abe comes to realize that he’s in love with Joan and goes to find her only to find out that she just had sex with JFK who actually was comforting her after Abe choose Cleopatra over her. While this is all going on the secret government agents find out about Scudworth’s plan and are coming for the clones as well as to kill Scudworth. When they arrive Scudworth tricks everyone into the cooler and freezes them all ending the season on a cliffhanger with Abe trying to tell Joan he loves her.
Themes and Controversy
Many of the show’s themes all came from past teen drama shows. The show was a satire of those teen drama shows basically making fun of them and everything. I always loved how they promoted the next episode as the most dramatic and special episode in the season but it just turned out to be a regular episode with nothing major happening. They even made fun of the one character is going to die cliché by having the character who died just be a one-time character who we’ve never seen before until this episode. The creators of the show really did want to create a second season but after the first season was over MTV cancelled the show and the main reason for that was because of Gandhi. While the show only aired in America and Canada people in India were outraged by the show’s interpretation of Gandhi. A magazine did an article about the show talking about Gandhi’s character and when the people of India went online and read the article they were outraged. They were so outraged that they protested outside of MTV’s office in India with the president of Viacom trapped inside and even threatened to revoke MTV’s broadcasting license in the country if they didn’t cancel the show. As you would imagine MTV apologized for this and the show was cancelled after the season was over. According to the creators of the show the plan for season two was to write Gandhi out entirely or say he was the clone of someone else. They pitched this idea to Viacom but the idea was rejected and the show was cancelled.
Does this count as Amerime
No. Not in my eyes. It’s pretty westernized plus the animation really does remind me of the animation used in Danny Phantom.
Does it deserve another season
Yes! At the time many critics and fans didn’t really care for the show. They thought it was okay and compared it to South Park which wasn’t what the show was trying to go for. Years later, everyone now sees how great this show was and how clever and funny the concept was. Not to mention we all wanna know what happens next. Do Abe and Joan become a couple, does Scudworth build his amusement park, how will the show handle Gandhi’s character after the big controversy in India? All these questions we want answered but unfortunately will never get the chance to see. Viacom still owns the right to Clone High and they have no intention of reviving the show.
Final Thoughts
In the end Clone High was one of those very underrated shows in the early 2000s that many people overlooked and underestimated but now that we look back at it we see just how great it was. The show wasn’t trying to be a South Park rip-off it was being its own show a show that saw all the clichés of teen dramas, pointed them out, and made fun of them. The animation as I said before reminds of Danny Phantom’s animation in fact I think this style of animation inspired the animation for Danny Phantom and it was pretty good. The music was mostly rock music that was mostly done by underground bands at the time so it was nice to see a show support the indie scene before there was an indie scene. At the time I was a child when this show came out and I didn’t really get most of the jokes but now that I’m older I can see what they were aiming for and honestly say that this show just like the Critic was funny and ahead of its time. If I had to name my complains they would have to be the clones not really interacting with their world. We never get to see them interact with the outside world and I would have liked to see that. The other problem is we never see the clones do any combat training. We’re told these clones are supposed to be trained to be assassins but all they do is go to school like normal kids. Finally, the obvious complaint is the cliffhanger ending but I can’t complain about this too much as it was obvious the creators wanted to make a second season but got stop by the ones in charge.
Final Score
The final score for Clone High is a 7.5/10. It’s clever, funny, and a good gem from the early 2000s. Do yourself a favor and look this show up for a good laugh. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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