S05.E11: G.I. Jeff

[radishcake]

The study group gets 'animated' in the vein of the 1980s 'G.I. Joe' series.

 

[Lantern7]

Out of curiosity, are there any other people like me who don't watch this show, yet watched G.I. Joe when they were kids?

I think writer Dino Stamatopoulos (who I know is a weird puppy) did a great job capturing the essence of the cartoon and toy commercials, while mixing in the poignacy of a man turning 40 and trying to deny his age. Also, you had fun stuff like Destro getting killed, Abed/Fourth Wall breaking down reality, and Snake Eyes seemingly shocked speechless . . . which is one mean feat, since he never said anything in the series to begin with. Long story. Bonus points for making John Oliver play the Tomax and Xamot expies.

ETA: How many of the original voice actors came back to play? I could've sworn that was the case for Duke and Flint.

Edited April 4, 2014 by Lantern7

[morgankobi]

This really got the tone of GI-Joe. I enjoyed that, and Dan Harmon hitting on Annie in jail. Wasn't sure of the significance of the cartoon note from Pierce on Jeff's desk.

These people sure have a lot of psychotic breaks.

I'm not sure how I feel about it as an episode of Community, though.

[6 MeowMeowBeenz]

Harmon sucks. It said it on the wall

Actually I thought it was mostly funny but WTH with Jeff? That despondent about being 40--booze and pills? Dark

[Tara Ariano]

Here's Monty's post on the episode!

[Charlotte Vale]

Community is one of those shows I watch because I like one or two of the cast members and get a laugh or two, and every week I think, "Why do I watch this?" I hate 1) paintball episodes, 2) cartoon episodes, 3) Dungeons and Dragons episodes. So so far they have hit just about every one of my sitcom peeves except Very Special Christmas episodes. Unless I missed one of those.

The show just has its head way too far up its backside.

[BensBritches]

Didn't care for this episode.  Maybe because I never watched GI Joe, it didn't resonate with me. Or maybe someone lamenting turning 40 is old-hat and just makes me feel like I should start to room with the crypt-keeper...

This season has been very hit and miss with me, but this show was so far off the mark I didn't even finish watching it.  Which I've not done before.

[Monty]

Oh, they did a Very Special Christmas Episode. Perhaps you blocked it out because it was also the Claymation Episode.

[arc]

Doesn't the S3 Christmas episode also count as Very Special? It was the musical ep!

[April Bloodgate]

This episode really didn't do it for me. I normally don't have a problem with the theme episodes, but this one was rough.

[romantic idiot]

I think this is the first time I've felt that I really needed to be American to get the episode. 

Also, Farscape did it better. Speaking of doing it better, I think Joey's one line was better too, in a different way. 

And they really, really, really want us to stop rooting for Jeff & Annie, don't they?

I'd call this a swing and a miss. Actually, since they've done some form of animation twice already, it's really not much of a swing, is it?

[Lantern7]

I'm guessing you had to be a boy from the Eighties to really get into it. That's a pity, since I thought the homages were near perfect. But I have to admit that I don't normally watch Community, so I might not be the right person to talk to about it.

[DrSpaceman]

It was a good replica of a gi joe episode,but this episode didn't really work for me either.

I also didn't like the claymation episode though

[Indi]

I'm not going to say it was S4 levels of bad, but I was completely bored. I don't know if the problem is that I never watched GI Joe or that Jeff's age-related problems don't resonate with me. Maybe both.

[Eucrid]

I was a boy in the 80s and while the homage was well done and I enjoyed spotting a lot of toys I had as a child I found the episode a bit lacking. It wasn't that funny and the Jeff is upset over turning 40 poignancy they were going for never hit for me.

[AmandaPanda]

Yeah, I didn't get this episode at all. Maybe because I am a girl that wasn't even born until 1990, but this went so over my head. I also have never liked cartoons to begin with, so I felt super meh about all of it. 

Also, fun fact: Dino Stamatopoulous wrote this episode. The only other episode of Community that he's written was the claymation Christmas episode. Clearly it should be a warning sign to me when he is writing an episode.

[Lantern7]

Yeah, Dino isn't for everyone. Some of his work on Moral Orel can feel like a punch to the neck and genitals at the same time.

[mathewt]

As a major fan of GI Joe back in the 80's, I was laughing out loud for most of the episode.  I guess you really have to have been a Joe fan and a current Community fan for this episode to hit on all cylinders.

[ellystar]

I'm not sure how I feel about it as an episode of Community, though.

This sums up exactly my thoughts. It's kind of like making a meal with ingredients that work well on their own, but not together.

[BeatLA24]

As someone that has the complete G.I. Joe series case set, this was a great episode for me. The only thing I wish, is with having a couple of the original voice actors, they should have got someone to do a closer version of Cobra Commander. Maybe they could have found Dr. Smoov, who did some redubbing of Transformers and G.I. Joe. He does a great Cobra Commander/Starscream.

[DanaMB]

Never watched GI Joe and ended up deleting this ep half-way through. I think I'm losing interest in this show.

[Kalliste]

This episode just made me sad really. It's nearly the end of the season and Harmon's return to the series was meant to be something epic and a animated GI Joe parody is all they could come up with? I felt like they had no idea what direction to send the show in. This was the first somewhat odd episode that I just couldn't get into - with the exception of the musical episode with the puppets..

[NoWillToResist]

I was confused but amused during the cartoon stuff and I laughed at much of the fine print in the 'real' toy ads. Cobra's eulogy was hilarious to me. Once they went went back to the Community though, it kind of lost me.

 

 

And they really, really, really want us to stop rooting for Jeff & Annie, don't they?

 

Yeah. I guess Jeff's "we try not to sexualize Annie" was some bullshit. I was appalled at how she was drawn. That it ended up being Jeff's animated fantasy? So much worse. He may well be attracted to her, but I've always had the impression that he never acted on it because he actually LIKED and respected her. So for him to have envisioned her dressed like that and to excitedly point out how big and exposed her boobs were was just...ugh.

[Madness]

Not a big fan of this episode. Maybe because I wasn't really into GI Joe.