'Community' Animated Christmas Special Does Not Disappoint (VIDEO)

With Thursday night's episode of "Community," TV has found a new standard for Christmas specials. The last two seasons of the NBC ensemble comedy have seen the show regularly push television boundaries with original storytelling, sharp writing and resonating themes that seem largely absent from other comedies on the air. But last night's Christmas episode, which saw the entire cast rendered in stop motion animation as a throwback to Christmas specials of yore, truly set a new standard for both the series and Christmas episodes in general.

Sticking with their tendency to go meta, the show starts with TV-obsessed Abed (Danny Pudi) informing the study group that due to the Christmas season, they've all been inexplicably transformed into stop-motion animated characters that remind him of his childhood Christmases. None of the other characters see things the same way, but we get to view the entire episode from Abed's perspective, which is more fun (as are most things through Abed's eyes).

The rest of the episode depicts the gang's journey through Abed's imagination, portrayed as a winter wonderland, and concludes with a surprisingly bittersweet and affecting climax that sincerely reminds us why we love the Christmas season.

Check out the clip below to watch animated versions of Danny Pudi along with Joel McHale, Donald Glover, Alison Brie, Chevy Chase, John Oliver, Gillian Jacobs and Yvette Nicole Brown transform into Christmas toys. We also highly watching recommend the full episode.

WATCH:

Comments

[-swift]

01:49 PM on 12/14/2010

Community is pretty awesome. Abed was the rookie standout last year. Now he's the star.

[youngrasc]

04:16 PM on 12/13/2010

I thought it was a brilliant episode.

I love Community.

[Atxish]

12:14 PM on 12/13/2010

I'm not even playing Devil's Advocate with this comment and I already know comment is going to get huge eye rolls, but... I didn't like it. I just didn't. It wasn't funny. I absolutely HATED the animation). Senor Chang was the highlight of the episode and, unfortunately, he had so few lines. Just my 2 cents.

[Waiting for Something]

07:22 AM on 12/13/2010

I loved it! It's a great show and it was such a clever concept.

[The Truth Seeker]

10:49 PM on 12/12/2010

This episode was a work of pure genius.

[RobbieNY]

03:49 AM on 12/12/2010

"far more heavier"... Community college thing :p

[RobbieNY]

03:47 AM on 12/12/2010

I had to say goodbye to Big Bang Theory when they put it opposite Community. BBT was getting old anyway - those characters don't change at all and the humor is 90% smug/predictable. Community is way more outlandish, cleverly written, dynamic and far more heavier on the belly laughs.

[Iwpach]

08:39 PM on 12/11/2010

"There's the Menorah Mountains and Jehovah Witness Bay" LOL

[Puzzlr]

06:05 PM on 12/12/2010

Did you notice that the bay was actually shaped like Jesus?

[Iwpach]

11:02 AM on 12/13/2010

Yeah I did. I guess it flashed by so fast many would have missed it. Making a body of water in the shape of a watchtower would have been even stranger than a Chevy Chase Teddy Bear.

[Puzzlr]

08:15 PM on 12/11/2010

How about 10 more seconds with that third button! Priceless.

[RobbieNY]

03:06 AM on 12/12/2010

Chang only had a couple lines in the episode, but I almost hurt myself laughing on those snowman lines.

[ergoth]

05:07 PM on 12/11/2010

i love this show. modern family is the critics darling, and it's a fine show, but Community is funny as hell. week after week it produces great comedy. fantastic writers and an amazing cast. whether it's senor chang's key-tar, the paint ball competition,. professor professorson, troy and abed's monkey hiding in the air ducts or shirley's drunk pics at the local bar t his show kills every week.

[sempronia]

02:34 PM on 12/11/2010

I love this show, and was again reminded why. I also thought I was immune to tearing up a little at Christmas specials, but there it is...

[globugg]

01:50 PM on 12/11/2010

Loved it - Abed's songs were surprisingly sweet and the ending was wonderful! Best show on tv!

[TheRagingModerate]

01:10 PM on 12/11/2010

Community is the funniest, smartest show on TV right now, period. And this was another brilliant episode.

What's incredible is that NBC usually runs fourth -- yes, FOURTH! -- among the major networks in Thursday prime time audience share. Speaks volumes about the intelligence and sophistication of the American people at this moment in our history.

[Json]

11:38 AM on 12/11/2010

How late in the development of the show do think they decided to set it at a community college? That whole aspect is usually downplayed and it always felt to me like a fairly flimsy premise needed to get all of these great characters in a room together.

Great episode, btw!

[Orphie]

02:56 PM on 12/11/2010

I always thought the Mary Tyler Moore show should have been set in a car dealership. And Star Trek's crew would have played much better in a country club. The Seinfeld bunch blew it, too. Jerry would have made a great country gynecologist.

[Iwpach]

01:51 PM on 12/13/2010

How could Seinfeld have blew it with choice dialogue gems like this :
"You get your toilet book out of here, and I won't jump over this counter and punch you in the brain!" ?

LOL

[GraniteSkyline]

03:37 PM on 12/11/2010

I live in a small college town and I see those characters, students and teachers, everyday--nerds trying to be cool, girls trying to be taken seriously and be hot at the same time, wacky older people going back to college for "fun," the dean who thinks he can single-handedly change the the educational system, and the pompous professor who thinks he should be teaching at Harvard.

Betty White's wacky anthropology professor was right on target!

A couple weeks ago Community even did an episode on a little know character outside academic circles--the Fake Professor. Every college has at least one. He's a guy who wants to be a professor so badly but is sorely lacking in credentials so he dresses professorly, carries around a lot of books, and hangs around campus and giving bad advice to students.

[KeyWestDan]

10:58 AM on 12/11/2010

I will take well-scripted comedy over reality TV every time!