DVD: Clone High

Moving on, next I'm going to talk about Clone High. Clone High is an animated series from 2002 produced for MTV and Teletoon by Nelvana and was created by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Bill Lawrence of Scrubs fame. The premise of Clone High is that a shadow board of figures has hired Dr. Cinnamon Scudworth to create clones of great historical figures to be used for "superior physical and intellectual combat". Until they are ready, they are raised in foster homes in an anytown U.S.A. and have now reached adolescence. The series is then a parody of teen dramas using historical figures to fit into stereotypical archetypes and Scudworth as the high school principal assisted by his robot valet Mr. Buttlertron.

The series primarily revolves around Abraham Lincoln (as the average joe), Mahatma Gandhi (as the class clown), Joan of Arc (as the goth girl), J.F.K. (as the jock) & Cleopatra (as the society girl). The series parodies the classic love triangle with Lincoln being in love with Cleopatra, Cleopatra being in love with Kennedy & d'Arc being in love with Lincoln. Clone High also makes hilarious allegories of the typical teen drama topics such as drugs, alcohol, AIDS, holidays and more. For example there's one episode where Gandhi is diagnosed with A.D.D. but everyone treats him like he has AIDS. Another has the teens at Clone High smoking raisins to get stoned and the whole episode turns into a psychedelic 1970s rock opera featuring Jack Black.

The visual is great. It's very stylized but you can still tell who each character is supposed to be and even those who aren't clones or guest celebrity appearances are just as distinctive in their own right. It's very two-dimensional, colourful and uses a great level of exaggeration to convey emotions from the characters which can sometimes be funny, other times touching and often both at once.

The writing is very sharp. At the same time it is both satirical and irreverent. The voice acting is also hilarious. I swear, I never get tired of hearing J.F.K. deliver his lines. As good as the writing is, it's made only better by the great performances by talented actors such as Nicole Sullivan, Michael Mcdonald, Christa Miller, Andy Dick, Joe Flaherty as well as creators Phil Lord & Christopher Miller. And the music on top of all that makes very appropriate choices as well. Often using Indy rock from the time such as Dashboard Confessional and of course the Abandoned Pools who write the opening theme song as well.

Unfortunately for Clone High, it was allegedly taken off the air because people in India (a country where this series never even aired) heard about Gandhi being portrayed as a class clown made known their protest to MTV who then cancelled the series. It's fortunate however that there's still one whole season with a 12 episode plot arc for people to enjoy. If you're familiar with John Hughes films, Degrassi High, Beverly Hill 90210 and the like then I feel you would enjoy Clone High. If you're interested in history then you will enjoy the references you'll notice. if you're a fan of animation then I feel you'll enjoy Clone High. It's a series not to be missed.