Clone High

The twenty years belated reboot/sequel to the cult cartoon series Clone High is dominated by a single question. Why? Why reboot it? What is the function of this reboot? The Dawson's Creek teen dramas the show was originally satirizing are now a thing of the past, and the edgier humour must be cut out or skipped over, so why even revisit it at all? What's even more galling is that outside of its fundamental pointlessness and some lame "how do you do fellow kids" gags it's actually pretty solid, Scudworth and Mr. B are still very strong as a duo and in one episode they even give up all pretence, ignore all the new characters and just do an episode about the two of them. It's awkward. I'm now raising both my hands, open, palms upward, looking imploringly.... "why?"

I'm surprised at how low rated the first episode is, that was my favourite one. Lots of great writing, great jokes, I was smiling ear to ear. Sure not everything is the same - Ghandi is missing, and Cleopatra was recast for some reason. But there were lots of interesting new characters, and they were exploring modern themes with a 2003 lens.

And then I guess they ran out of ideas and went back to the old "haha white people are so dumb and ignorant" barrel, and well, it's getting old. At best it's lazy and unfunny, and at worst it's hurtful and leads to real life bullying. It's a shame because I was really liking the show until then.

Try hard humor at its floppiest. So much of it is referencing the high points of the original that it feels like it has nothing new to say. What the writers might have had to say, surely they were too afraid to go there. I feel like Ghandi got them in so much trouble back in 2001, that the whole experienced has been stifled by the fear of being cancelled. This new reboot is full of jokes, but none of them land. The new characters are just milquetoast archetypes that other shows have done better. Frida Kahlo is a nice touch, Confucius is almost as capable as a watered down replacement for Ghandi, but still the whole thing feels stifled, bereft, and empty. Do yourself a favor and rewatch Another Period, maybe even drunk history. Everything this show tried to do this go around has been done better elsewhere by a mile. Just finished the first three episodes this morning and I want my time back.

The original had me laughing every episode. It had very clever writing compared to this new one. They removed what was in my opinion, the best character (Ghandi) and added new characters that just aren't funny at all. I thought it was okay until episode 5, when they just had to throw in this ridiculous political-social agenda with the white privilege b.s. And now I don't even know if I want to continue watching. I don't know about everyone else, but I don't watch movies and shows with the intention of having ideologies of any kind shoved in my face. I don't care if they are left or right leaning. If this is the direction they are going to take this series, count me out.

I really enjoyed the original show, but this is just weak. So many cliche sentiments and themes. One thing that is still consistent is the comedy, but even that has died down significantly. It just isn't the same. They are missing the original flare of shock comedy, and most of the jokes don't land well. I'm still slightly optimistic about the shows future, because I can tell that all they need is there, they just can't figure out how to put it to the screen. The idea that teenagers who have been frozen for 20 years, and are now living in 2023, makes for a lot of potentially interesting stories and themes.