Ongoing Community Discussion Thread

[shivkala]

How about the show's second (third if you count "Encounter at Farpoint" as two separate episodes) episode, "The Naked Now," in which the crew is investigating what happened to a ship investigating a red dwarf star. The climax involves the crew escaping from the exploding star.

Is it sad that as soon as Troy mentioned the fact that they never trekked to a star, we immediately thought of all the times they did?

 

[Guy Gardener]

You had to think?

I think of "thinking" as asking your brain a question, and then you wait for it to prepare an answer.

This was much like standing on a tube of toothpaste.

 

[IndyJones]

I loved this episode, they are just killing it this season. Sad to see Donald Glover go, but I'm definitely interested in seeing how they adapt to this new paradigm.

 

[bigdaddy]

I loved this episode, they are just killing it this season. Sad to see Donald Glover go, but I'm definitely interested in seeing how they adapt to this new paradigm.

Yeah this season is really great, probably even better than season 3 and a lot of season 1. I just can't remember what the group is even doing at the college anymore. It's like the first episode "we know it's lame but this is why all the characters are back", and then they just ignore that because they know how lame it was.

 

[EnderAKH]

Colorado!

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Yeah, that was awesome. They made paintball fresh again.

I think Dan Harmon gauges realism by how much he could believe the premise, not how much he could believe the extreme it gets taken to. But yeah, he kind of takes liberties with his rule when he wants to do a stylized adventure.

When he takes those kinds of liberties, it's usually really, really worth it.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

Colorado..! Is this the first time they've actually confirmed the location of the show, or at least what state it's in? And if so, have they ever actually left the state? Maybe for Inspecticon?

This one was one of the greats. It was a little weird making Britta the odd one out this time (and having Jeff submerge himself completely into the fantasy), but then you realize that Britta's placing how much she cares for Troy and Abed above the game (and under the guise of "psychology") so that's fine with me.

And how awesome is this show's penchant for in-joking future plot points? Chang, your same-sex crush gives everything and nothing away!

Mark

 

[AgentCoop]

I think what Harmon is saying is that he wants a universe where crazy things can happen, but not one where there are no rules. He wanted to do a zombie show, but he didn't want to fundamentally change the nature of reality for the characters. By forcing the story to jump through certain hoops, I think he arguably made it stronger than if they just went "Oh my god! Zombies are real! Now let's never talk about it again!"

Season 4 was an example of what Harmon's always talking about when he talks about the tone of the show. On paper, the episodes don't sound any crazier than last night's "The Floor Is Lava" game, but S4's weirdness was more of a cartoony "there are no rules to this universe" sort of nuttiness.

 

[Aldo]

I loved this episode. At first I thought the Dean allowing them to do a "floor is lava" game at school was a little silly...but then I had to remind myself it's no more sillier than the paintball episodes, so I let it slide.

Since I'm still relatively new to Community, I keep seeing comments such as "The old Britta is back" and so forth. Since I've only seen Season 1 so far, does her character change from season 2 onward where she only returned to her old self recently?

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Brita in the first season was intellectually competent, and her defining characteristic was repeatedly insisting on progressive political causes in a sometimes grating way. As Jeff said in Repilot, she was turned into the airhead. It started in season 2 and 3 with people calling Brita 'The worst' and using her name to mean do something stupid. In season 3 particularly they started writing her as an idiot. But in season 4 they seized on the 'Brita is stupid' stuff, exaggerated it, and didn't use her politics at all.

In season 1 she had a cat named Susan B Anthony and in season 4 she couldn't tell her apart from Sophie B Hawkins.

Basically, in season 1 she was Wendy Testaburger and in season 4 she was Meg Griffin.

The Dean is back to normal too. In season 1 he was a bureaucrat, season 4 used him more as a stereotype.

Another difference between Harmon nuttiness and season 4 nuttiness is that Harmon is nutty in really nerdy, really awesome ways and season 4 is nutty more in campy ways that lean on character gimmicks. Season 4 was a laugh track away from being every other sitcom on TV.

 

[Aldo]

^^^Thanks for that Very informative.

When I was out shopping for Season 1 I went to Best Buy first and they only had Season 4. I had almost convinced myself I wouldn't be able to find Season 1 in any store so I should just pick up Season 4 instead. My knowledge of the BTS issues of season 4 is what eventually kept me from getting it. I later found Season 1 at Target.

Now I'll eventually get Season 4 (since I want to see the whole show), and I did watch a few episodes here and there last year, though I can remember not thinking too much of it.

I'm just glad things are getting back to normal (minus Pierce and Troy, of course).

 

[IndyJones]

Colorado..! Is this the first time they've actually confirmed the location of the show, or at least what state it's in? And if so, have they ever actually left the state? Maybe for Inspecticon?

It's funny to me how surprised everyone is about the confirmation of the show taking place in Colorado. Maybe it's just that I was living in Colorado when the show started and so was more inclined to pick up on and remember the references, but it's definitely something the show has referenced for awhile.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

Well, the point is that they've never brought it up. And while it's pretty clear that the show happens somewhere in the central states, it could be anywhere between California and Virginia for all any coastal people know. As long as it had mountains.

And speaking of geography, Magnitude may actually be British. Which is cool, because his actor is. And a Griffyndor. Look it up.

Mark

 

[JirinPanthosa]

It just occurred to me. If that comic book was so valuable why wasn't it in sealed plastic?

 

[Guy Gardener]

Because it's supposed to be in a short box surrounded by a hundred other bagged and boarded comics, and collectively these comics are as strong as a log.

Every one loves a log.

P.S.

The official CCG grading that puts those books into blocks of perspex are inviable.

You can't get them out without almost certainly damaging the book.

 

[IndyJones]

Well, the point is that they've never brought it up. And while it's pretty clear that the show happens somewhere in the central states, it could be anywhere between California and Virginia for all any coastal people know. As long as it had mountains.

I'm not going to waste any more time on this, but it was never a secret. The NBC-created Greendale Community College page from 2009 lists the location as being Colorado. A user added the state to the show's wikipedia page within two week's of the show's debut. Jeff's drivers license in S02E15 listed his zip code has being that of a Denver suburb.

It was always there for those who looked.

 

[Aldo]

It may not have been a secret, but for those of us who may not have noticed all the things that you pointed out, it was a nice surprise.

 

[Professor Zoom]

Well, the point is that they've never brought it up. And while it's pretty clear that the show happens somewhere in the central states, it could be anywhere between California and Virginia for all any coastal people know. As long as it had mountains.

I'm not going to waste any more time on this, but it was never a secret. The NBC-created Greendale Community College page from 2009 lists the location as being Colorado. A user added the state to the show's wikipedia page within two week's of the show's debut. Jeff's drivers license in S02E15 listed his zip code has being that of a Denver suburb.

It was always there for those who looked.

Why would I go and look?

 

[IndyJones]

Why would I go and look?

You're obviously right.

We're talking about a show that's obsessive about details, where Beetlejuice walks through the background when his name is mentioned three times, and Abed delivers a baby in the background.

We're talking about that show in a thread that also obsesses over the details. And when I've already stated that, as I was living in Colorado when I started watching that show, I might have been more inclined to pick up on it when they've made a point of referencing the state.

And I'm wrong to have corrected the mistaken impression that this is a new revelation. I'm somehow a dick for picking up on that when it's been mentioned *in the dialogue*, and on screen in the form of the Colorado state flag and Colorado license plates (seen most clearly on the cars that Abed dances across in the opening to Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas) and Jeff's Colorado drivers license, Jeff mentioning that he accidentally texted some guy in Boulder who he thought was Britta, and so on. I'm sure there's more.

Why are you busting my balls over this, Prof?

 

[Mister Fandango]

Why would I go and look?

If you cared enough to be excited by the "revelation," then you would have cared enough to have paid attention. If you didn't give a fuck where it took place, you didn't give enough of a fuck to have paid attention.

What's so hard about that?