Remember what I said last week, about liking the show better when it’s snarky or surreal?
Now that’s what I call surreal. :eek: 
I thought it was okay. I definitely preferred last week’s effort. This just fell flat to me despite anticipating it for a while.
Me too. I was really looking forward to this episode. Community is my favorite comedy right now, and I think this is my least favorite ep. I’m going to erase it off the DVR. It was no paintball fight.
It was fun to watch, but not really all that funny. The early part was good, but I don’t think they really had any idea what to do other that come up with the concept.
I did like the symbol of the first season of Lost representing unresolved endings.
Well I thought it was one of the best Christmas specials ever. I think my heart grew three sizes tonight.
I liked it. Like last week’s episode, there were less jokes but more story, which works for me since I enjoy all of the characters. Poor Abed got abandoned by his mother again. I wonder if that’s partly why he rejected his group replacement mom, Britta in the episode too.
My Christmas list just got longer. A Christmas Pterodactyl and a train that goes to Bjork have been added to the list.
I had an interestingly mixed reaction. I had more actual laugh out loud moments than usual (like Chang’s comment about Abed spending a little longer on the third button), but the overall tone was pretty dark and somber, and I felt like if they had just gone for it completely instead of linking to the “reality” of the show through Abed’s delusional state, they could have really had some fun with the concept.
I ended up not liking it nearly as much as I’d hoped and not as much as a typical episode.
Abed should never be allowed to sing. Other than that, I thought it worked.
I want a A Christmas Pterodactyl.
Did anybody else notice at the end, where they showed the tv screen, when the picture on the screen when blank, you could see the reflections of the real actors on the blank claymation tv screen?
Yep. I wondered if they did that for contractual reasons, or just to annoy the actors with busywork.
EDIT: To clarify, a comparison to a regular job would be that you get a week off except you have to work that Monday. (Voice acting takes a day, tops.) But then you find out that you also had to go in Thursday afternoon, turn on your computer, watch it run a virus scan for an hour, power it down and then you could leave. That would be incredibly annoying.
Possible Retcon: When we first saw images of Abed’s mother in the episode in which he takes a film class, she seems to be Arabic or Middle Eastern. Now she’s Polish. Danny Pudi is half Indian and half Polish I believe.
Eh, no reason they couldn’t have filmed that bit at the same time as one of the other episodes.
I wondered about that. It’s also possible that Abed’s film was about his Dad and Step-mother.
I just remembered - the mother left at the end, and the dad said the wrong one left.
It still requires staging a set, getting the lighting right, etc… This isn’t a 10 minute deal. That would be annoying to add into a full shooting schedule for a different episode.
I thought it was the best Christmas sitcom episode ever.
Actually, I thought it was kind of cool thematically - it gives you a moment where you realize how much you can buy the characters being like a family. I thought it was sweet.
I usually hate Christmas special episode type stuff but I liked it. I think I’m ok with the less comedy/more plot centric shows because I really like the show and I’m willing to watch different stories with the characters.
Could be something they worked into the Bottle Episode schedule. Between that episode, and this animated one, they freed up a lot of on-set production time.
Also, from what I can tell from interviews and what not - this group of actors would be anything but annoyed about an extra day of shooting to make this happen.
Yeah, I get the impression that this is one of the rare shows where it’s a labor of love for the cast and not just a job. Like Firefly and Pushing Daisies.
Forgot to mention I liked the scene where, after opening the slide, Troy immediately indicated he was with Abed. Their friendship is awesome.
Why couldn’t the shot on screen be taken from any one of a hundred publicity stills of the cast that they already have posed for? TV show casts have to do group shots all the time for various promotional needs.
Not only does Abed now have a Polish mother but Annie has a Episcopalian father. I don’t remember that being mentioned before. Add that to Shirley’s lost years from last week. Is everybody going to get new updated pasts this season?
I don’t mind the revisionism, but I was bothered that Abed and Annie have entire childhoods that revolve around Christmas. Sticking menorahs into the background of scenes doesn’t do justice to being a minority in America. Abed’s Muslim identity was completely obliterated.
However, except for the treacly Christmas hogwash I loved that you had to watch closely for all the stuff that was in the background of every shot. (Like the blanket tent episode but sharper.) They had a lot of fun with the concept.