Next week is Community‘s Christmas special, which — in perhaps the greatest idea ever — has been lovingly rendered with stop-motion animation (a.k.a. claymation). EW has the exclusive first look at three clips from the episode, plus three behind-the-scene vignettes depicting how the animation was produced. The answer: Very slowly. In the episode, Abed (Danny Pudi) wakes up in stop-motion animation, realizes he’s stuck in a Christmas special, and thereby resolves to discover the true meaning of the holiday. Meanwhile, Jeff (Joel McHale) and Britta (Gillian Jacobs) worry about Abed’s fixation on Christmas, and the entire study group subsequently undergoes hypnosis to enter Abed’s “Winter Wonderland.”
Yeah, makes no sense to me either, but I’m jazzed about seeing stop-motion animation — a dying art form — showcased on primetime television. And just look at how adorable the gang’s claymation doppelgangers are! (Although Britta appears to have stepped straight out of Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride.) After the jump, check out two exclusive clips from the episode, one bonus clip that hopefully explains what the heck is going on, and three featurettes on the episode with actors Danny Pudi (“I’m looking at a drawer of my mouth!”), Joel McHale (who provides a sample of his singing talents), and Chevy Chase (who seems to believe that stop-motion animation involves drawing). Community‘s Christmas special airs Dec. 9 on NBC.
Bonus clip that (kinda) explains what’s going on:
Behind-the-scene featurettes:
Damn, I can’t see them.
Haha this looks so good. Can’t wait!
I can’t wait either. This looks brilliant! Happy All-Inclusive Non-Denominational Holiday to all the Greendale Human Beings!
Hahaha gotta love Dean Pelton. Maybe Non-Denominational Mr.Winter will make an appearance in the episode
This is amazing! Which is expected from one of the funniest shows on tv/
You’re right I did expect it from the funniest show on tv: It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. They did it on their Christmas episode last year.
Never watched It’s Sunny …. can’t be that funny. I bet Community does it better!
And That ’70s Show did it before both, ok, we get it, it’s not new, but Community is really good with pop homage and this episode will probably be very memorable, funny, and heartfelt! There’s room for more than one special! Merry Happy!
Loved it last year; not doing it for me this year
this is a wonderful Christmas gift to us all. I can’t wait to see this episode. Community has been one long, and strange ride. Go Soup, Go Community, and of course Go 30 Rock. BTW it is cool beyond words for a sitcom to go all stop motion on us. Man I can’t wait…
Oh wow, this looks awesome. Can’t wait until next week!
Some people were complaining that last night’s episode wasn’t funny enough. I think they missed the point. It may not have been overloaded with laughs, but it was very interesting, to say the least. Bravo!
This show tickles my fancy
Love community hate this episode might not even watch. Why can’t we have a normal episode with some stop motion not the whole thing.
Can’t wait!
I just want my normal Community. This past Thursday’s episode (Troy’s Birthday) felt Season 1 to me and I loved it, but where has Chang been? We haven’t seen Dean Pelton regularly or Professor Duncan. Remember Sideburns, anyone? You can really tell they’re using their budget on episodes like this one coming up and the zombie episode. They can’t even afford students in the background on most of the episodes this year. I feel bad I’m hating on my favorite comedy, but I feel better getting it out.
Chang hasn’t been there because Ken Jeong has been filming Hangover 2 (or atleast that’s what I’ve been told and gossip isn’t fact). As well, Dean Pelton was in every episode this season except episode 3 and Troy’s birthday. Finally, Starburns (not sideburns) has been missing in action, but that makes sense because he’s a one joke character. He has side burns that look like stars and he wants to be called Alex instead of Starburns. That joke would get tired pretty quick if it wasn’t for the fact we only hear it every 6 episodes or so. Having said that, I completely agree with you that I loved Troy’s birthday because it was more like seaon 1. But there’s nothing wrong with season 2. This isn’t a scenario like Glee in which the show is obviously not as good as seaon 1. Seasons 1 and 2 of community are different, but both are just as good, if anything season 2 is better. Anyways, I don’t mean to start an argument with you. We both love community and just love different things about it. I do also love the non-parody episodes and I would expect alot more of those episodes in the second half of the season.
Sorry for the length of this comment.
Thanks, Jamie. I know better that it’s Starburns. I guess I couldn’t remember the Dean this year being around much except for Conspiracy Theories episode. I wondered that about Chang myself, if he was filming Hangover 2.
i didn’t realize that thinking season 2 of glee iss not as good is a fact as opposed to thinking season 2 of community isn’t as good being an opinion.
Yea. This is the most innovative thing on the teevee.
Except for last Christmas when It’s Always Sunny did the EXACT same thing.
Except Sunny did it for about 3 minutes, not an entire episode.
Thank you, I’ve been waiting for someone to say that.
This looks great! I hope this special episode will bring in some new viewers. Community keeps getting better and better, in my opinion.
Yes Always Sunny did this last year. So a TV show copied another, what else is new? Family Guy copied Robot Chicken for their Star WArs episodes. Modern Family just won an emmy for practically stealing 90% of their jokes from Simpsons/Office. Its how the business works. Always Sunny has copied jokes from other shows as well. However, because I watch Community I know not to criticize it until I watch this episode because there’s about a 75% chance that they actually reference the fact that Always sunny did this last year. After I watch it, if they say nothing, then I’ll criticize the show.
Or maybe they won’t reference it and they’ll just execute it really well and people won’t care.
Jeff!!!–I think your Jeff in the Box is after the Jack in the Box from the Land of Mitfit Toys from Rudolph, not the game Candyland! lol
You are right Jamie. Joel doesn’t know what he is talking about
haha.
That was a joke. He even corrected himself in the next sentence.
My expectations for this episode are so high…hope it lives up! Luckily, I’ve been pretty happy this season, especially with the Zombie episode and the bottle episode.
I am beyond jazzed for this episode. Community is amazing; hopefully it will get some Emmy love this year!