Most people haven’t heard of the original Claymation Christmas Special, but my family loves it. We love the singing camels, the dumb bells, the waffling/wassailing debate, all of it!
So when I heard that Community, one of my favorite TV shows, would be making a claymation Christmas special, I was excited. Even more exciting? The chance to preview the episode and tell you all about it!
“Fair warning, guys. A journey through Winter Wonderland tends to test your commitment to Christmas. And when I say “test,” I mean Wonka style. I’m talking dark. My advice: stay honest, stay alert, and for the love of God, stay between the gumdrops.” ~ Abed
If you don’t watch NBC’s Community – and believe me, you should – it’s a smart comedy about a group of community college students. It’s full of sarcasm and pop culture references, with a little romance and meaningful moments thrown in here and there.
And every once in a while, the show goes all out in its themed episodes. Sometimes, the results are awesome [see: Modern Warfare] and other times, it falls a bit flat for me [see: Epidemiology]. Overall, though, I’ll forgive a lot of craziness from this group, because I just love the show that much. [see: How I used to feel about The Office.]
This week’s Christmas episode, Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas, airs tomorrow night (Thursday, December 9) at 7 p.m. CST.
In this special stop-motion animation (also known, to me, as claymation) episode, the meaning of Christmas is lost and Abed’s intense fixation on Christmas concerns the group. When Abed (Danny Pudi) wakes up in stop-motion animation, he takes it as a sign that he and the group must re-discover the meaning of Christmas. Meanwhile, Jeff (Joel McHale) and Britta (Gillian Jacobs) become growingly concerned about Abed’s mental health and enlist the help of Professor Duncan (John Oliver). The group undergoes hypnosis to explore Abed’s winter wonderland and soon unravel the truth behind Abed’s madness. Chevy Chase, Yvette Nicole Brown, Donald Glover, and Ken Jeong also star.
I’ll be honest: This wasn’t my favorite episode of Community OR my favorite claymation Christmas special. But, it was still funny and touching. Yep – both. At the same time.
[Okay, not really. The Christmas pterodactyl was quite funny, as were the bugs attracted to sarcasm – but they weren’t touching. For the record. So you don’t think I’m weird.]
I did love how the episode integrated tons of references to Christmas movie cliches and Community inside jokes. And Britta’s puppet really looked like her!
Here’s a preview (click here if you can’t see the video):
So, do you watch Community? (Do you love it enough to like it on Facebook?) Do you watch the Christmas episode tomorrow (Thursday) night? What’s your favorite Christmas show?
Disclosure: One2One Network provided this episode preview, and in return for posting my review, I will be entered into a drawing for a camera and gift card.
