Escape to Beer Mountain: A Rope of Sand

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"Escape to Beer Mountain: A Rope of Sand"
Clone High episode
Episode no.Season 1
Episode 1
Directed byTed Collyer
Written byPhil Lord
Christopher Miller
Bill Lawrence
Featured music"I Don't Want to Wait" by Paula Cole (original broadcast)[1]
"Standard Lines" by Dashboard Confessional (reairings/DVD release)[1][2]
Original air datesNovember 2, 2002 (2002-11-02) (Canada)[3]
January 20, 2003 (2003-01-20) (United States)[4]
Running time22 minutes
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
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"Escape to Beer Mountain: A Rope of Sand", titled onscreen as "Clone High School, USA!",

animated television sitcom Clone High, written by series co-creators Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Bill Lawrence, and directed by Ted Collyer and Harold Harris. The episode premiered on Teletoon on November 2, 2002, and on MTV
on January 20, 2003.

The series introduces protagonists, Clone High students

Mr. Butlertron plan to crash the party to better understand the students. The pilot had a mixed-to-positive reception and when it premiered and was seen by about 1.2 million viewers,[3][4]
later retrospectively receiving critical praise.

Plot

main character must make an important choice. A supporting character has an amusing side story. While a mysterious subplot reveals the shocking truth behind Clone High."[6]

In the opening scene, at the end of

JFK is hosting a kegger party later that night. Believing Abe to like Cleo because of her "commitment to community service", she tries to gain Abe's attention by starting a "Teen Crisis Hotline" with Gandhi, who sneaks away to go to the party with Abe, who has gotten an invitation in exchange for bringing the beer
.

Meanwhile, the

sexist
comment, as Van Gogh watches from the bushes.

The kegger is suddenly brought to a halt when a small cop car shows, and Gandhi and Joan (as the only two people who can fit in the back of the car) are charged with

theme park
called "Cloney Island".

Meanwhile, Abe, depressed on losing Cleo, is cheered up by Gandhi, who says it's only a matter of time before someone else makes a bigger idiot of themselves, and everyone forgets about what Abe did. Moments later, Gandhi becomes this figure, as Van Gogh paints an ad for the Teen Crisis Hotline featuring Gandhi after being tasered/pantsed. At that moment, JFK and Cleo pass by Abe, and Cleo quietly hands Abe a note, reading "Sorry…Luv, Cleo."

Production and release

The episode was written by series co-creators Phil Lord, Christopher Miller & Bill Lawrence, and directed by Ted Collyer, premiering on Teletoon on November 2, 2002, and on MTV on January 20, 2003.[3][4] The first part of the episode's title is in reference to the 1968 novel and 1975 film Escape to Witch Mountain, while the second part of the title is in reference to a ploy used by Clone High co-creator Christopher Miller to make his university essays "sound more academic and high-minded", referenced in the episode by Scudworth titling his unfinished report "What It's Like To Be A Teenage Clone: A Rope of Sand", and turned into a running gag for the remainder of the season, with every episode titled with a colon followed by a phrase.[7]

Reception

Initial reviews

Scott Sandell of the Los Angeles Times felt the as a debut episode, "Escape to Beer Mountain: A Rope of Sand" felt lacking, saying: "The problem is that the first episode, which focuses on crushes and beer, doesn't quite live up to the obvious comedic potential behind the killer premise."[8] Similarly, The Hollywood Reporter's Michael Farkash wrote that "The premise sounds intriguing, but what hatches in the first episode is a disappointing, weak strain of comic material, lacking the cunning, subversive quality of, say, South Park."[9]

Gandhi controversy

Further information: Clone High § Gandhi controversy
Gandhi (voiced by Michael McDonald) as a "party animal" was negatively received in India.[10][11]

The episode's introduction of

Gandhi as a "party animal" received negative reception in India, culminating in a 150-person hunger strike held outside of MTV's Indian branch in early 2003, and the consequent cancellation of Clone High, before it was eventually revived in 2023 (without the Gandhi character).[10][11]

Retrospective reviews

Reviewing the first episode of Clone High in a retrospective on the careers of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, Kevin Noonan of The Observer lauded it as "a perfect parody of high school dramas with humor that hits hard and often, but it goes above and beyond easy parody jokes, making for a consistently funny, frequently brilliant comedy".[12] Caroline Framke of The A.V. Club similarly complimented the episode as a pilot for "pok[ing] fun at the histrionics of high school drama, especially at how the smallest things become world-altering nightmares inside the mind of a hormonal teen [and] then subvert[ing] the expected resolutions to the conflicts that would get tied up in a neat, unrealistic bow on something like Dawson's Creek", further lauding its ending, in which "poor Joan [sees] Abe and Cleo making out [to] a close-up of her shocked face as the soundtrack smash cuts" as being "the perfect blend of irreverent and affectionate[…] pok[ing] fun at the do or die nature of a high school crush while also letting Joan have a truly heartbreaking moment [in an] absurd, soul-crushing, melodramatic, and ultimately, hilarious—like living through high school all over again."[13]

Joe Reid of

Decider praised the premiere as "ma[king] history come alive with teen angst", serving as a solid introduction to "such an odd premise with economy and humor", while also featuring "my all-time favorite joke in a TV show ever, featuring George Washington Carver and a peanut.",[14] while ranking the episode as the 10th-best in the first season of Clone High, Ana Isis Cisneros of Collider praised the episode as "do[ing] a great job at establishing the tone and premise of the show while introducing each of its main characters with their goals and worries", noting that while the episode "doesn't fully live up to the comedy potential of the setting, it is still a humorous episode on its own, with the kind of fun gags that would become the series' staple."[15]

References

  1. ^ a b @DailyCloneHigh (May 6, 2023). "The original airing of "Escape to Beer Mountain: A Rope of Sand" featured "I Don't Want to Wait" by Paula Cole (the original theme to Dawson's Creek). It was replaced with "Standard Lines" by Dashboard Confessional in future airings and on the DVD release. 17 DAYS" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  2. ^ "Clone High [2002], "Escape to Beer Mountain: A Rope of Sand"". What Song?. January 20, 2003. Retrieved January 20, 2003.
  3. ^ a b c "Television Program Logs". Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. 2016-03-02. [dead link] Alt URL
  4. ^ a b c "Clone High | MTV". MTV.
  5. ^ Barshad, Amos (February 7, 2014). "Phil Lord and Chris Miller of 'The Lego Movie' Look Back on 'Clone High,' Their Cult Classic MTV Cartoon". Grantland. Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
  6. ISBN 978-1538103739
    .
  7. ^ Pava, Adam. "Episode One: "Escape to Beer Mountain: A Rope of Sand" Notes". CloneHighUSA.com.
  8. ^ Sandell, Scott (January 20, 2003). "Peer pressure of historic proportions". Los Angeles Times. pp. C-24. Archived from the original on 2012-08-20. Retrieved November 8, 2010.
  9. ^ Farkash, Michael (January 10, 2003). "Clone High, U.S.A. (TV Brief)". The Hollywood Reporter.
  10. ^ a b Clone High NEW Behind the Scenes Discussion. YouTube. Archived from the original on September 14, 2011. Retrieved December 6, 2010.
  11. ^
    The Guardian. London. Archived
    from the original on February 17, 2017. Retrieved December 14, 2016.
  12. ^ Noonan, Kevin (February 24, 2014). "Everything Is Awesome In "Clone High"". The Observer. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
  13. ^ Framke, Caroline (August 10, 2014). "Clone High: "Escape To Beer Mountain: A Rope Of Sand"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved August 10, 2014.
  14. Decider
    . Retrieved November 2, 2015.
  15. ^ Cisneros, Ana Isis (June 15, 2023). "'Clone High:' The Best Episodes from Season 1, According to IMDb". Collider. Retrieved June 15, 2023.

External links

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