Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas

"Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas"
Community episode
Refer to caption
Abed imagines his friends in stop motion, like members of the Island of Misfit Toys, on their way to discover the true meaning of Christmas.[1]
Episode no.Season 2
Episode 11
Directed byDuke Johnson
Written by
Production code222[2]
Original air dateDecember 9, 2010 (2010-12-09)
Running time21 minutes
Guest appearances
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"Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas" is the eleventh episode of the second season of the American comedy television series Community. It originally aired on December 9, 2010, on NBC. Abed (Danny Pudi) begins experiencing the world in stop motion. His study group enlists the help of psychology professor Ian Duncan (John Oliver) to end the delusion, but turns against Duncan after he reveals Abed's delusion began when he learned his mother is not visiting for Christmas.

Series creator Dan Harmon and writer Dino Stamatopoulos had been interested in launching an animation studio and saw an NBC executive's suggestion of an animated episode as a starting point. With Duke Johnson as director and help from the animation studio 23D Films, the episode was Starburns Industries' first production. The script was completed within a few weeks in August 2010; the animation process began on October 18 and finished on December 8, the day before the episode premiered. A scene was also filmed for later use in "Paradigms of Human Memory".

The episode was critically acclaimed for its animation and themes of holiday loneliness, earning the show its only Primetime Emmy Award in the Animation category.[3] It draws on the style of Rankin/Bass Christmas specials and develops Abed's characterization, concluding that his meaning of Christmas lies in his found family—the study group.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference AVClub was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Community. Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas". Library of Congress. Retrieved June 5, 2021.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Nerdist was invoked but never defined (see the help page).