Clue, The Series
CLUE was a television mini-series consisting of five individual episodes broadcast on The Hub channel in November of 2011, promising more to come.
A group of kids (that more resemble The Breakfast Club than the Scooby-Doo gang) witness what appears to be a murder and embark on an mystery adventure when the police report Nobody in the room where they all witnessed the violence occur.
The sleuths include: Seamus, the rebel; Whitney, the do-gooder; Dmitri, the jock; Agnes, the gossip; Liz, the pretty girl; and Lucas, the nerd.
For episode synopses and actors names: Clue: The TV Series
Gathered at a charity event, the kids witness what looks like a murder in an overlooking hotel room. After the police say there is no evidence of a crime, the kids are either fired from the venue or expelled from school. To get their lives back, they decide to prove that something happened, but end up on the wrong side of Ellis Industries CEO, Mr. Whittaker, who has kidnapped “Mr. Nobody,” Adam Ellis.
Room 33 in the hotel turns out to be where Nicola Tesla once lived, and a search turns up no candlestick, but a book written in cypher. Luckily, Lucas happens to be a puzzle addict and discovers the location of the coolest secret hideout ever: an old subway station hidden amid the tunnels below the city.
One by one, we see that each player in the drama is tied to a color design poster found in the hideout. Seamus is involved in The Green Scene (an underground club for organizing flash mobs and the like), Lucas is a “Certified Apprentice Cryptographer at the Plum Institute, Dmitri plays the Mustard Missions video game, Agnes runs the Eyes of the Peacock blog, Liz has a necklace bearing the red symbol, the only heirloom she has from her birth parents, and Whitney works for the charity White Lights for a Brighter Future, all of whose symbols correspond to a color on the design.
The candlestick turns out to be a device designed by Tesla (the inventor, not the band,) as a wireless electrical generator (“static charge-generating electromagnetic awesomeness”), and Mr. Whittaker, representing the House of Plum, send his “men in black” to fetch it. Adam Ellis is rescued by the kids, but his daughter Sarah gets involved leading the kids to Ashcroft Academy, a nearby private school that functions as a recruiting tool for Ms. Kroger… and the Order of Black.
“Many believe Tesla’s greatest innovations were hidden by the inventor as he believed mankind might not use them wisely.”
Factions from The House of Plum, the Order of Black, Whittaker, Ellis, Kroger and the kids all end up in a confrontation that ultimately resolves the conflict over the Tesla Device, but leaves the mystery of the color diagram and the secret societies it represents.
The acting is believable and the mystery compelling as the kids piece together a mosaic of crime and secret societies that each of them seems to be involved with in some way. (Though I am still marveling at the extent of the coincidence that placed just these particular party guests on the balcony at exactly the moment Mr. Nobody is attacked.) I also noticed the proclivity of the women to wear wedge heels in every scene. The use of iPhones and close captioning to express a clandestine conversation, however, was a slick new feature of the TV series.
Although this is not strictly horror, it fits seamlessly with the suspenseful atmosphere of the old radio mysteries and Alfred Hitchcock’s dramatic tension.
The series is not yet available on video. I believe Clue was a direct response to the success of Nickelodeon’s House of Anubis, which just ended its second season. Hopefully, we will see more of this addictive show in 2012 and after.
Clue, The Game
The TV series follows the long-running and diverse Clue franchise from the original board-game and its licensed spin-offs(other versions include The Simpsons, Seinfeld, The Office, 24, Family Guy, and variations such as Clue Jr., Clue at Sea, and Clue: Secrets & Spies) to an off-broadway musical (where three cards were chosen at random by audience members and displayed on stage for the rest of the show!)
Clue, The Movie
…And of course, who can forget the full-length 1985 Clue movie:
Clue Mystery Books
Clue also inspired a mid-grade book series: 18 books based on the board game, published from 1992 to 1997. Each chapter of the books are mini-mysteries that the reader must solve, all involving the cast of the game and Mr. Reginald Boddy, who is murdered at the end of each book. Like a serial cliff-hanger from the 1930s, The next book begins with the host explaining how he managed to escape by methods unseen by the audience.
