"When life gives you lemons, you clone those lemons and turn them into super-lemons." - Principal Scudworth

Clone High… ever heard of it? You probably haven’t. In fact, almost no one has heard of Clone High… and you have no idea what you’re missing!

Clone High was an animated series that ran on MTV a few years back, and can now be found on reruns on Teletoon in Canada. It has a simple but clever concept: scientists have dug up the graves of many important historical figures to collect their DNA, clone them, and bring them up in today’s society to see how they fit in. The results are quite hilarious: Abraham Lincoln is your typical self-conscious teen loser, Mahatma Ghandi is a party animal suffering from A.D.D., Joan of Arc is a cynical goth-chick, Cleopatra is an over-achieving, sexy super-bitch, and John F. Kennedy is… well, he’s like John F. Kennedy. Complete with Principal Scudworth, who is also the evil mastermind behind this cloning project, and hundreds of other historical figures that make small cameo appearances here and there, you end up with quite an amusing series.

But it’s the writing where the show really shines. Clone High has the kind of absurdist comedy that will keep you laughing from start to finish. In this reviewer’s opinion, the show’s writing and wit ranks as high as Family Guy and The Simpsons. So why did it only last one season? No one seems to know for sure. Some say it was cancelled due to lack of ratings, some say MTV giving up their commitment to animated shows, some say the producers put an end to it to avoid an apparent lawsuit from Ghandi’s family. Whatever the reason, it is unfortunate this show did not last, as it was one of the best animated show out at that time. Because of its cancellation, no one got a chance to discover the show; it never developed the audience it deserved. But with the first season released on DVD, it might actually find that audience.

This DVD set contains all thirteen episodes from the first season spread across two discs. The shown in fullscreen format, which is clean but slightly faded, and in 2.0 Dolby Digital audio in both English and French, which is clear and effortless. The bonus features on the disc, which can all be found on disc two, are rather disappointing considering what could have been included in this set. All the features are basically behind the scenes footage, a couple of interviews that don’t reveal much, and some footage shot for one of the episodes. It’s not the best selection of features, and it would have been nice to at least hear from the creative team in another featurette or commentary where they talk more about the show and what happened to it. Then again, it would also be nice if this show were still on the air.