Will The New 'Clone High' Revival Be Good?
Image Source: CultureSlate
SPOILERS FOR CLONE HIGH AHEAD
Remember back when MTV still aired animated TV shows? Back then, to fit the demographic of adolescents and young adults, the company decided to showcase a small variety of different shows, such as Beavis and Butthead and Daria. Of course, one of the cult classics still enjoyed by fans to this day is Clone High.
Created by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Bill Lawrence, the series centers around a high school where the students are cloned from various historical figures, including JFK, Joan of Arc, and Abe Lincoln, to name just a few. Unfortunately, due to poor ratings and controversy involving the party-loving clone of Gandhi (who, consequentially enough, did not appear in the leaked episode), the show was pulled from MTV in 2003. Fittingly, the show ended with all the characters becoming frozen once more.
Image Source: Reddit
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All was not lost for the historically hilarious teenagers, though, as MTV revealed in 2020 that the show would be revived (or, in this case, unfrozen). Set to release on HBO Max in early 2023, the excitement from older fans helped revitalize nostalgia and love for the series. Many memes, both new and old, soon spread around on just about every social media site.
Unfortunately, as production for the show continues, it didn't take long for someone to leak the unfinished first episode of the Clone High revival onto Twitter. Of course, just like everything else on the internet that shouldn't be shared, it didn't take long for views to mount up.
Eventually, the post was removed, though by that point, many fans had already gotten quite a bit of information from the leaked video. And just like everything else regarding a show's fandom, fans were split on whether the show would deliver on its jokes or not.
Out of respect for the team working on Clone High, plus the fact that I have yet to see much of the episode outside of a few minutes, the plot of the leaked pilot will not be discussed. There are still aspects that can be addressed, however. What causes a lot of detractors some hesitance on the quality of the rebooted show is how many gags and jokes centered around the cloned students center around "Gen Z-esque" inside jokes.
Image Source: Clone High Wiki
Even if that kind of humor isn't everyone's tea, it's not a good reason to write off the show. As with any comedy-centric show or movie, the humor within it will always be subjective to the audience. More important, however, is that Clone High has always carried a tongue-in-cheek type of wit towards adolescent-inspired trends and culture waves. Remember the episode where the whole school gets addicted to a "like, totally radical new drink for teens"? Even if a few jokes can be groan-worthy, this type of writing is nothing new for the showrunners. From a writer's perspective, they're only looking to match the same energy as they had done 20 years back.
Of course, when it comes to an animated show, the writing is only half of what viewers pay attention to. For some people, especially those prevalent in the art and animation community, the artistic directions taken with the characters are just as important as their quips. While the simplistic UPA style hasn't changed too drastically, there are a few differences that the keener eyes might catch. The animators have taken more creative liberties regarding how expressive characters are, not just with the already overly dramatic Principal Scudworth.
Image Source: Reddit
Predictably, one area where creative liberties are endlessly discussed and judged is the designs of the newer characters. While some don't see anything wrong with having previously unseen clones of historical figures with different bodies or skin types, there's the inevitable argument that some people can't accept when a character has unconventional design choices. Again, having not seen much of the leaked pilot myself, I can't say for sure how clones will look or act or if they'll be accurate to their counterpart. After all, part of the rhetoric and humor of Clone High was the differences and similarities the clones have when compared to their 'prime' counterparts.
While the reboot doesn't hesitate to flaunt how "in the know" it is with the newest generation, there's plenty of good reason for it to do so. The showrunners have always had a critical yet satirical take on teenagers and their cultural movements, whether it was back in 2002 or 2023. Viewers are most critical of the fact that, yes, another animated reboot, or more accurately, revival, is being released. That isn't to say that there aren't good, well-made, captivating series that expand with the properties, even if they do happen to be rebooted. The iCarly, Animaniacs, and Beavis and Butthead revivals are pretty good, and Young Justice got two pretty good seasons following its revival.
There's also the point to be made that the episode leaked in question was the first episode. No matter what you're watching, the first episode is almost always used to provide a tone for the rest of the show to expand upon. Characterization, humor, and drama will most likely change as the series continues. Besides, and this must be stressed, the series isn't even complete yet. Even Lord himself lamented about people watching the stolen episode before it was finished, feeling rightfully protective of the work his crew put into it.
Lord apologized for being so harsh, though it's not hard to see where his frustration comes from. While criticism is always necessary, it's not right to quickly judge a product when it has yet to hit streaming services. Only then will watchers know if the Clone High revival will be good or not. For those eager to give the unfrozen clones a chance, keep your eyes peeled on HBO Max for its release date.
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Source(s): BubbleBlabber
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