JFK: I'm a Kennedy. I'm not accustomed to tragedy!
Gandhi: If there's one thing Mahatma Gandhi stands for, it's revenge!
Clone High is an animated show parodying the Teen Drama, especially the Very Special Episode.The plot is pretty straightforward, being outlined at the beginning of every episode by the Expository Theme Tune. Way, way back in the 1980s, secret government employees dug up famous guys and ladies and made amusing genetic copies. Now the clones are sexy teens, now. They're gonna make it if they try. Loving, learning, sharing, judging. Time to laugh and shiver and cry. A time to watch Clone High.A Myth Arc is implied, wherein the Secret Board of Shadowy Figures that created the clones check up on the progress toward conditioning them into a super-strong and super-intelligent army. However, little progress is ever made in that, or in Principal Scudworth's plan of creating a clone-based amusement park called "Cloney Island", as the series was canceled in the US after less than a season. The rest of the season aired in Canada (home of the series' lead animation studio), and the out-of-print DVD was only released in the Canadian market. The large list of historical figure clones includes:
Abe Lincoln, the clumsy, lanky, nice-guy protagonist who is smitten with Cleopatra and constantly suffers physical abuse as he tries to live up to the original Lincoln's legacy.
Gandhi, Abe's best friend, who cracked under the pressure of living up to the original Gandhi and devolved into a wild party animal.
Joan of Arc, an angstygoth clone of the original Joan of Arc, who is desperately in love with her best friend Abe, and can't seem to ever make him realize said infatuation.
JFK, the cocky Jerk Jock who macks on all the hot clone girls at school, and has a skewed perspective of the original JFK as a "macho, womanizing stud who conquered the MOON!" Made even more hilarious by the fact that his foster parents are a male gay couple.
Cleopatra, the sexy, seductive horndog who fulfills the role of Alpha Bitch.
A plethora of minor characters useful for one-shot jokes and Twenty Four Hour Party People scenes, including Napoleon Bonaparte, Julius Caesar, Fedor Jeftichew (Jojo the Dogfaced Boy), Catherine the Great ("Or should I say Catherine the So-So"), the Bronte Sisters, Nostradamus, and countless others
Afterschool Charisma is a story with a similar concept, but with less emphasis on comedy and more emphasis on how clonesare viewed by normal people.A lot of the humor comes from off-hand or irreverent historical references (like the scene where the clone of Buddy Holly invites Abe to ride on a broken-down plane along with Richie Valens, The Big Bopper, Jim Croce, and half of Lynyrd Skynyrd... all of whom had their real life counterparts die in plane crashes)....Wesley.
As a show with a premise based on parody, it mocks quite a few tropes:
Word Of God even says that the janitor from Scrubs actually is named Glenn Matthews, and confirms that he got the name from the character from Clone High.
Animal Athlete Loophole: Lincoln directs a film called It Takes a Hero, based on the fact that "There's no rule that says a giraffe can't play football."
Inverted for the purpose of a You Go Girl moment by Clone High's actual sports team, which explicitly prohibits "girls and animals" from playing on the team (considering it's supposed to be boys' basketball). A lot of those players have fine moustaches...
Attack of the Political Ad: When Abe and JFK are running for student body president, JFK puts out an attack ad against Abe. First the ad claims Abe is a liar because his answer to what his age is was different to what it was a year before and then footage of Abe eating spaghetti is very poorly edited to make it look like he's eating a baby.
Beta Couple: Gandhi and Marie Curie near the end of the show.
Betty and Veronica: Joan (Betty) and Cleo (Veronica) for Abe (Archie), in one of the most obvious and evident parodies of this classic love triangle.
Bittersweet Ending: Abe and Joan confess their love the minute they get frozen along with everyone else. But then Skudsworth does include the board of shadow figures who were going to use them as super soligers.
Bland Name Product (possibly Mr. Alt Disney): The "Unspecified Rodent-Themed Amusement Park", where Abe goes to visit the animatronic Lincoln in order to gain some advice.
Blind Seer: Parodied with Toots, who thinks he's perceptive and insightful despite his blindness.
Sometimes he shows surprisingly clear insight, but most of the time he stumbles around like Mr. Magoo.
Bolivian Army Ending: The (more or less, see Cut Short) resolution of the series Love Triangle, with Abe realizing he has feelings for Joan (and the other way around) only to discover she and JFK in bed together, just as the freezer is turned on.
Cloning Blues: Several of the clones have adopted wildly different personalities than their clone parent because the pressure to live up to them [or more accurately, The Theme Park Version of them] caused minor breakdowns
Clumsy Copyright Censorship: Mr. Butlertron was originally named Mr. Belvetron, but they couldn't secure the rights. He still calls everyone Wesley, though.
Colon Cancer: Every episode title has a colon, leading up to "Changes: The Big Prom: The Sex Romp: The Season Finale."
Cut Short: Aside from and due to MTV bailing out mid-season, the finale (of the season and the series), in which the Secret Board, having been officially told of Scudworth's plans, attempt to take back the clones at the Winter Prom, leading to the Locked in a Freezer ending was a Cliff Hanger.
Department of Redundancy Department: Larry Hardcore - "I was into everything: weed, grass, ganja, reefer, marijuana, mary jane, I did it all. I even smoked pot once."
Also, the full name of the school is "Clone High High School".
Did Not Do the Research: Buddha (that is, Siddartha Gautama) is depicted as a jolly, fat, bald, Chinese-American kid, despite him having been a thin, hair-sporting Indian. Then again, many of the teens in-universe seem to base their understandings of their original figures on popular, erroneous perception.
We have no idea where Cleopatra is buried, so how did they get her DNA? Cue MST3K Mantra.
For that matter, what remained of Joan of Arc after the burning was thrown into the Seine River nearly 600 years ago. So that one is also impossible.
During the PTA scene when Scudworth gets up to talk to the parents, a blink-and-you-miss-it drawing of him surrounded by little hearts flashes onscreen with the words, "Scudworth is your favorite character!"
During the hippie song, after JFK sings "Sign my cast for me," the words "I BURIED PONCE" flash onscreen.
At the very end of the episode, the words "FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT RAISINS, VISIT YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY" appear.
In the season finale, when Abe enters the freezer to find Joan in bed with JFK. Just before Joan pulls the sheet up over her chest, "Nice try" can be seen written on her breasts, replacing any naughty bits.
Freud Was Right: Parodied when Sigmund Freud's clone is the only one who picks up on the subtext of Joan's film
Freudian Slip: Subverted with Cleo's "sex o'clock", she points out that it was not a slip of "six o'clock", and that she really did mean to say "sex o'clock".
Fridge Logic: To make a clone of someone, you need their DNA. There's a clone of Jesus. Where did they find Jesus's DNA?
In the third episode, A.D.D.: The Last 'D' is for Disorder, it's revealed Joan of Arc wears a retainer. Wouldn't that mean the original Joan of Arc had a deformed upper jaw? What makes it worse is that she says 'If this causes an overbite, [Gandhi], you're so dead.'
Maybe they found a genuine nail, thorny crown, or bit of cross?
Girl on Girl Is Hot: Cleo's first reaction to finding out John was Joan was to gag at the thought that she was trying to make out with Joan, then she smirked and said "Hot."
Goofy Print Underwear Pink heart boxers are seen off of Gandhi in the pilot and on a cop during the parody of The Benny Hill Show.
Happily Adopted: All the clones have foster parents, and they're aware of it. Of course, sometimes it's questionable as to how happy they are.
What's that on the roof of The Grassy Knoll? Oh look, it's the reconstruction of John F. Kennedy's assassination.
Which seems to be a theme of the restaurant, considering what's inside. When Abe can't figure out what would stop him from wanting to be President, perfectly framed in the shot is a painting depicting a highly exaggerated version of Abraham Lincoln's assassination.
Before dying, Poncey discusses mortality with JFK, remarking that there is no real Fountain of Youth. The real Ponce de Leon was a Spanish explorer. Guess what he was searching for.
Ho Yay: Well, JFK's foster-parents are a gay couple, plus there's JFK's crush on "John Dark". And his best friend forever Ponce in episode 10, complete with break-up and incessesant weeping and crawling into the coffin. And then Abe holds him on the Thinking Dock.
Most Ho Yay of all, Gandhi's kiss with Abe in the episode "A.D.D.: The Last 'D' is for Disorder". Played for Laughs, but Gandhi still payed him for it, implying he liked it. Or he's stupid.
Ink Suit Actor: The guest stars who don't play themselves usually wind up as this (such as Jack Black's character). Joan lampshades this with Mandy Moore's character by constantly asking her if she is really Mandy Moore, although it seems to be purposely inconsistent whether the character is supposed to be Mandy Moore having randomly become a hobo, or a hobo who just is identical to Mandy Moore.
The credits lampshade this, by giving Mandy Moore a special guest credit as "herself?"
Jesus Was Way Cool When Jesus appears in episode 3, they try to not let you know that it's a Jesus. And by "not let you know", I mean "shoot himself in the hand with a nail gun in the carpentry room with a halo over his glowing head"!!
Mr. Butlertron: What would the real Joan of Arc have done?
Joan: She would have listened to her heart. And then she would've gotten burned at the stake. [nervous laugh] But what are the odds of that happening again?
Locked in a Freezer: With literally everyone who had appeared beforehand (except Scudworth and Butlertron) in the Season Finale. Although it's not quite an example of this trope...
Logic Bomb: Parodied and averted in one fell swoop by Mr. Butlertron on Scangrade
Butlertron: Before you kill me, I have one request: can you answer a multiple choice question?
Scangrade: I'm Scangrade. I grade tests for a living. Ask me your question!
Butlertron: Are you a) handsome, b) smart, c) scrap metal, or d) all of the above?
Scangrade: That's easy. I'm a) and b), but not c), so I can't be d). You can't fill in two ovals! (explodes)
Loophole Abuse: Subverted with the rule that "no girls or animals can play on the boys teams".
Love Triangle: Joan/Abe/Cleo and Abe/Cleo/JFK. The end of the show showed some beginnings to a Abe/Joan/JFK triangle but of course it was canceled before we could find out.
My Eyes Are Leaking: Parodied. When JFK (seeking guidance) cries in front of Principal Scudworth, Scudworth shrieks and exclaims "Is that water leaking out of your face!?" Could be considered an inversion as well, since Scudworth is the only (naturally born) human among the main characters.
Refuge in Audacity: The segments of Plane Crazy with Principal Scudworth and Skunky-Poo, whose interactions are almost as violent as Itchy and Scratchy, and a fair bit more profane (Skunky-Poo's catchphrase is "try and catch me, bitch!").
Six Student Clique: Minus the sixth student but they fulfill these roles as well as the the Five-Man Band. Both Cleo and Joan could count as the Wild One.
The Head: Abe
The Muscle: JFK
The Quirk: Gandhi
The Pretty One: Cleo
The Smart One: Joan
Special Guest: Ranging from Tom Green to Marilyn Manson to, of course, STAMOS himself.
Marylin Manson even gets his own song.. about eating healthy!
Talking To Themself: JFK, after making fun of Ghandi, starts arguing with his own reflection (and losing badly) and ends up betting to his reflection that he can turn Ghandi into a ladies man of his own caliber.
Tempting Fate: Many times. Conversed and Inverted in episode 2. Also subverted once: "Don't worry about the storm. I built this house like Noah built his ark. Yep, this house is flood-proof!" Cue lightning strike, setting house on fire
The Power of Love: Used in the musical episode to try and break down the giant fence their parents are building. Though Cleo points out "Love is just an abstract concept, it can't break down stuff!"
Thing-O-Meter: The official voting system for Clone High's student counsil elections is an applause-o-meter. This is how a dog became student council president.
Tonight Someone Dies: Mocked extensively with Ponce de Leon, so much, in fact, that this doesn't even need to have a spoiler tag
Oh Ponce, you're such a regular character.
"Tonight, on a very special Clone High, one of the clones you've grown to love will be horribly killed! This is not some cheap-ass stunt where we lamely introduce a new character just to kill him off! A Clone dies tonight!" As the Narrator talks, the camera cuts to each cast member, but Ponce is cut to more and more often as the speech goes on.
Extra points for bending over backwards to be the most Very Special Episode on a show parodying those.
Xtreme Kool Letterz/Totally Radical: X-Stream Blu, an EXTREME new food product which is made of pancake batter and blue paint. Ghandi nearly kills himself with it.
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