Kirsten Kilponen loves: Clone High: Complete 1st Season

By Venus Zine Staff
Published: June 1st, 2009 | 12:00am

MTV has had its fair share of quickly forgotten shows. I would like to share a few examples, but no matter how hard I furrow my brow, I fail to remember any (probably due to guiltily suppressing them in the back of my mind somewhere).

Clone High, however, was one of those that I do remember. Perhaps its humor was way too ahead of its time to be readily accepted by the Britney-crazed music television audience, or maybe the concept of the show was too radical for the general public to accept altogether.

The premise of the show was this: way back in the '80s, secret government officials dug up the DNA of various historical figures, cloned them, and put them into foster homes. The show revolves around the teenage lives of Gandhi, Abe Lincoln, Joan of Arc, John F. Kennedy, and Cleopatra (to name a few), and the stereotypical high school drama that bombards them. The characters’ teenage selves are the opposite of the personas they are historically known for, which causes a hilarious internal struggle for many of the characters. In one episode Gandhi, who has historically been known for great calmness, is told that he has been diagnosed with ADHD; to that he replies, “Am I going to die?!”

The wacky plot, paired with the extremely absurd jokes, makes this short-lived MTV show an instant lovable throwback. You no longer have to scour the internet for fuzzy, low-resolution videos of the show either, because my prayers have been answered, and it is available on DVD!

Kirsten Kilponen is a Venus Zine editorial intern.