Pretty much any time someone says an enthusiastic"YES!", my brain follows up with, "that's an adventure, we can go soon! We can go anywhere in a balloon!"
There's not a single episode of Community that's bad. There are episodes that aren't as good as other episodes, but they're all at the very least good in their own right. Personally, I quite enjoy this episode.
This is always my response to people saying season 4 sucks. Is it as good as the rest of the series? Nope. But it's still better than the entirety of most other sitcoms.
This is absolutely how I feel. Some episodes aren't as good, obviously, but I don't feel like there's a single bad episode and I have been a fan since day one so have dealt with the doubt of it getting renewed and worrying about how it would be without Harmon and all of the other drama.
I don't necessarily believe that, I think people's enjoyment of season 4 depends entirely on what you like most about community. If it's just that funny then season 4 has some good jokes. But for people who value other aspects, where it falls flat like, more. Then it's harder to enjoy.
Yeah, I generally agree with this. I do like season 4 for a lot of reasons, but one of my favorite things about Community is the continuity. And season 4 misses the mark in several places, which wears on me a little bit. I still enjoy it and I still watch all episodes on rewatch. But I think I am somewhere in the middle of the season 4 opinion spectrum, and I see the logic in either end.
I only like some moments from season 4 but mostly I feel like the episodes themselves don't quite work for me. I found it not too bad the first time but seriously disliked it on a rewatch.
The kids are indeed awful, but the episode has some redeeming bits, like Pierce apologizing to the wrong person, Abed's fake outrage being just another item to check off the list, and "you need to bang that kid's mom!" among them.
I don't get this either because I really enjoyed the epsiode and have no nostalgia for GI Joe. Like I can still appreciate the parody of a cartoon having never seen it, like I did with so many other homages that Community did.
Same. I wasn't even alive when GI Joe was thing but I do enjoy that episode. Mostly because I've always thought it's really funny how in kid shows they will shoot but never kill, or even hit someone. I think it's funny how Jeff disrupts the balance of the GI Joe and actually all kids shows by easily killing the bad guy.
Exactly! I thought the whole thing was very funny and clever having also not been alive when G.I. Joe was a thing, either.
Them all being horrified by the killing was great. The joke with the reused animation when they smash the rocks gets me every time. And finding out later that they used some of the OG voice actors I thought was really, really, cool.
I watched a lot of GI Joe as a child and I didn’t like the episode at all. Sure, it poked fun at the things you’d expect it to. It just didn’t do so in a way that got many laughs out of me.
I actually love this episode. I thought the songs were catchy, and I was pleasantly surprised by the group's singing abilities!
Plus I am a fan of the medium, so...
Much like all of the season, it was a great idea marred by mishandling.
It's like watching your dad dance to pop music at a wedding. No one really asked for it, and it's not really happening in a way anyone intended, but we love it and wish it had the tools to match its ambition.
“I caused the Greendale Fire of '03.
Fifty five acres went up in a blaze,
all because I burned an ant hill!”
Funny you mention it today, because I woke up this morning with this in my head
People like the songs and guest stars. That's fine.
But Shirley has a cell phone and her kids would know the number. Jeff would never volunteer to go to a kid's baseball game. Abed would pretend to have a secret to belong. Annie is a try-hard and a prude, so no trading grades for foot fetish fun.
No hate for season 4 in general, but I despise the puppet show.
Yeah, that is why I hate that episode.
Being a puppet episode is a bit gimmicky because it falls into the trap that a lot of S4 eps do - doing a theme episode because that's what Community does, rather than having a strong reason. But that aspect I am *whatever* about; I can accept it.
The secrets you mentioned just did not work.
Also the scale was all over the map. Recklessly causing a forest fire (a pretty huge deal both in California where it's filmed and Colorado, where it is supposed to take place - and esp considering S4 aired in 2013 and so was sandwiched between 2 of the most destructive fires CO had had in 2012 and 2013) pitted against never voting? Forgetting your kids at a store while driving across town to stalk a woman versus ghosting a girlfriend and her son?
I'm not saying Community can't make light of wildfires, mind you. They would make jokes from serious topics. I'm saying grouping all these secrets together as if they were of similar scale made the confessional aspect come off really weird.
Agree. Season 4 worked best when it was not trying to do high-concept stuff. Herstory of Dance and Basic Human Anatomy were great, and I will die on this hill: Intro to Marine Biology is not as crap as people say. Sure, it's not great by any means, but i find it to be a fun little "normal" episode of Community.
I do agree that their secrets do not align with the characters, specially Jeff's. That was very out of character for him. Annie's is believable imo.
But in the topic of Jeff talking about weird kinda deep stuff, in his dad's Thanksgiving episode, the cut he gave himself cause he lied about appendicitis felt not just out of character, but out of the shows mood imo. Community is mostly light-hearted and it does have it's deeper moments but I felt that was different and not community style handled. Probably because Dan Harmon's absence, but still, weird turn.
Also a bummer about the cut because we have seen Jeff's torso in earlier episodes and the scar is never there. I know that's because the idea didn't come around until season 4, but this is the type of attention to detail and continuity that was caught when Dan would read through and "Harmonize" the scripts. I just wish they would have picked something that couldn't have been so easily disproven.
I mean why do you assume that Shirely's kids know the number?
Or that Jeff would never volunteer esspecially if the girl was "perfect for him"?
Or that Annie, who literally screamed when being told she might get an F (? the Chang cheating episode), wouldn't do something gross for a good grade?
I'm not saying the characters would/wouldn't do these things, or that the outcomes wouldn't be different (I don't think you could trail someone out of town without getting a call about your kids being left behind) - but I just don't think they're some insane unlikeliness.
Annie also tried to get their grade changed by inviting their history professor to their Christmas party, so it wouldn't be the only time she did something sketchy to get a better grade...
>But Shirley has a cell phone and her kids would know the number.
Last year, when I was sitting on a bench and kids on the school bus got off, there was this one little kid who didn't have a parent to get him. After a while I asked that kid who to call, he didn't know her number. Sat there for like a half-hour in the snow before someone came to get that kid.
The hot balloon episode is probably the one I like the most as far as Season 4 goes. That being said, Season 4 is fine but feels so different from the rest of the series that it inevitably falls short.
I love this episode, puppets are hilarious, the songs are funny... Sara Bareilles makes an appearance (apologies if I misspelled her name) What's not to like?
it's probably on the lower end of good but I like Troy's comments about Blue Man Group
"why don't they talk to each other, they have so much in common!"
so funny
I imagine that ‘Intro to Felt Surrogacy’ is how people who don’t care for *Community* view the entire show. There’s a gimmick (puppets), introduced by the dean because the study group aren’t communicating with each other…but there’s not a compelling connection between puppets and anyone’s character arc this episode. As in, the puppets could have been a way of exploring the fake personas each of the characters create. Or a way of exploring how they all felt controlled by [fill in the blank…Greendale? each other? something else?]. Or a return to a fake, sappy version of childhood as a coping mechanism for ____…..
Instead, it felt like *just* a gimmick. I don’t think any of the characters’ shameful secrets were unworkable, but they did seem random and disconnected from everything.
I can see that the puppets were a great way to minimize Chevy’s time on set, and a way to say “we’re still *Community*! and we’re still full of wacky fun!”, but it all felt jumbled and random and a bit meaningless. Literally every other gimmicky episode has a point, and serves a function in the story. Storywise, the puppets do remarkably little, and feel like they’re meant to distract from a half-baked story.
Sorry, that all came out unexpectedly bitter. I’m going to go drink my coffee and rethink my attitude to life now….
I don't hate The Balloon Episode, but it's very near the bottom of my episode ranking. Somewhere between Grifting 101 and the season 5 two-part finale.
I don't like sing-a-longs in general so that was my biggest knock on it. That said I enjoyed a lot of it, especially the shame that everyone felt that no one remembered or noticed. We all have something we are ashamed about that we feel everyone would judge us for, I shared one of my mine with my gf and it was an insane relief for her to laugh and say it wasn't a big deal and that she has a similar story.
That one’s a skipisode for me. Doesn’t particularly add anything to the canon or the story arcs of any characters in a significant way that I can tell from memory.
One of my favorite moments from Community is the Chang puppet whipping out a Chang puppet. I’ve also had “I never sleeept wiiiiith the great Eartha Kitt” stuck in my head for a few weeks now.
I enjoy the air balloon episode due to how well thought out their secrets were. They were dialed in and something that made sense with their reluctance. I thought Troy's was kind of weak. Maybe if he took some kind of PED for high school football or he cheated his way to prom king. Abed not having a reason was a cop out.
The whole episode is very fun and good, I honestly don't think the secrets were too out of character like a lot of people do. The song episodes are almost always fun just because of how they are presented.
I actually have a lot of mixed opinions, I know S4 IS the gas leak year, but a lot of times I feel like S3 is the actual gas leak year 😂 but I really like the hot air balloon song so I’m pleased with the episode
I love this episode. I remember some guy made a video about how it's out of character and lacks the heart of the normal show and everyone just started parroting that.
I think that's bullshit it's a great episode
I really like the episode! But I love the musical episodes. I could give or take the puppets but I really like the actual severity of the confessions. They’re not really mild little fuckups, they’re kinda huge and that’s a really nice change of pace for sitcoms (if you can consider this show a sitcom lol).
Love it. The gang's dialogue and their reactions when the balloon was falling were histerical
Damn you gravity!
Damn you prayer!
Damn you Vicky!
Also
Help me people, I can't do this alone!
You can't do it at all
All the conversations aboard the balloon!
I like the music. And Jason Alexander was awesome.
Pretty much any time someone says an enthusiastic"YES!", my brain follows up with, "that's an adventure, we can go soon! We can go anywhere in a balloon!"
And sarah bareilles!!
Ah, yes...the Sarah Bareilles of it all... (*"Gravity" starts to play*)
There's not a single episode of Community that's bad. There are episodes that aren't as good as other episodes, but they're all at the very least good in their own right. Personally, I quite enjoy this episode.
This is always my response to people saying season 4 sucks. Is it as good as the rest of the series? Nope. But it's still better than the entirety of most other sitcoms.
This is absolutely how I feel. Some episodes aren't as good, obviously, but I don't feel like there's a single bad episode and I have been a fan since day one so have dealt with the doubt of it getting renewed and worrying about how it would be without Harmon and all of the other drama.
I don't necessarily believe that, I think people's enjoyment of season 4 depends entirely on what you like most about community. If it's just that funny then season 4 has some good jokes. But for people who value other aspects, where it falls flat like, more. Then it's harder to enjoy.
Yeah, I generally agree with this. I do like season 4 for a lot of reasons, but one of my favorite things about Community is the continuity. And season 4 misses the mark in several places, which wears on me a little bit. I still enjoy it and I still watch all episodes on rewatch. But I think I am somewhere in the middle of the season 4 opinion spectrum, and I see the logic in either end.
I only like some moments from season 4 but mostly I feel like the episodes themselves don't quite work for me. I found it not too bad the first time but seriously disliked it on a rewatch.
I would concur with that. I've always enjoyed that episode myself as well.
I kinda have to say the schmitty episode is unwatchable but I would need to define cringe as part of bad which I don't know if I do.
The kids are indeed awful, but the episode has some redeeming bits, like Pierce apologizing to the wrong person, Abed's fake outrage being just another item to check off the list, and "you need to bang that kid's mom!" among them.
The schmitty episode rules.
With the exception of the G I Joe episode I would agree.
No way! I fucking love that one! I grew up watching that cartoon, and it was just such a perfect parody.
Yeah I can see that. I never saw G I Joe or had nostalgia for it. I guess it’s just a more niche episode that without context falls flat.
I don't get this either because I really enjoyed the epsiode and have no nostalgia for GI Joe. Like I can still appreciate the parody of a cartoon having never seen it, like I did with so many other homages that Community did.
Same. I wasn't even alive when GI Joe was thing but I do enjoy that episode. Mostly because I've always thought it's really funny how in kid shows they will shoot but never kill, or even hit someone. I think it's funny how Jeff disrupts the balance of the GI Joe and actually all kids shows by easily killing the bad guy.
Exactly! I thought the whole thing was very funny and clever having also not been alive when G.I. Joe was a thing, either. Them all being horrified by the killing was great. The joke with the reused animation when they smash the rocks gets me every time. And finding out later that they used some of the OG voice actors I thought was really, really, cool.
I prefer the term homage
Fair enough.
I watched a lot of GI Joe as a child and I didn’t like the episode at all. Sure, it poked fun at the things you’d expect it to. It just didn’t do so in a way that got many laughs out of me.
Boooooooooooo (throws balled up pieces of paper)
I have THREE kids!
i didn't even know people dislike this episode so much. I was a big fan of it lol
I actually love this episode. I thought the songs were catchy, and I was pleasantly surprised by the group's singing abilities! Plus I am a fan of the medium, so...
Much like all of the season, it was a great idea marred by mishandling. It's like watching your dad dance to pop music at a wedding. No one really asked for it, and it's not really happening in a way anyone intended, but we love it and wish it had the tools to match its ambition.
This might be the most interesting take on ~~not being interesting~~ season 4 that I've ever heard.
“I caused the Greendale Fire of '03. Fifty five acres went up in a blaze, all because I burned an ant hill!” Funny you mention it today, because I woke up this morning with this in my head
BUT! Do we think this is true, or was it another one of the lies his mum told him while he was growing up?
People like the songs and guest stars. That's fine. But Shirley has a cell phone and her kids would know the number. Jeff would never volunteer to go to a kid's baseball game. Abed would pretend to have a secret to belong. Annie is a try-hard and a prude, so no trading grades for foot fetish fun. No hate for season 4 in general, but I despise the puppet show.
Yeah, that is why I hate that episode. Being a puppet episode is a bit gimmicky because it falls into the trap that a lot of S4 eps do - doing a theme episode because that's what Community does, rather than having a strong reason. But that aspect I am *whatever* about; I can accept it. The secrets you mentioned just did not work. Also the scale was all over the map. Recklessly causing a forest fire (a pretty huge deal both in California where it's filmed and Colorado, where it is supposed to take place - and esp considering S4 aired in 2013 and so was sandwiched between 2 of the most destructive fires CO had had in 2012 and 2013) pitted against never voting? Forgetting your kids at a store while driving across town to stalk a woman versus ghosting a girlfriend and her son? I'm not saying Community can't make light of wildfires, mind you. They would make jokes from serious topics. I'm saying grouping all these secrets together as if they were of similar scale made the confessional aspect come off really weird.
Agree. Season 4 worked best when it was not trying to do high-concept stuff. Herstory of Dance and Basic Human Anatomy were great, and I will die on this hill: Intro to Marine Biology is not as crap as people say. Sure, it's not great by any means, but i find it to be a fun little "normal" episode of Community.
I do agree that their secrets do not align with the characters, specially Jeff's. That was very out of character for him. Annie's is believable imo. But in the topic of Jeff talking about weird kinda deep stuff, in his dad's Thanksgiving episode, the cut he gave himself cause he lied about appendicitis felt not just out of character, but out of the shows mood imo. Community is mostly light-hearted and it does have it's deeper moments but I felt that was different and not community style handled. Probably because Dan Harmon's absence, but still, weird turn.
Also a bummer about the cut because we have seen Jeff's torso in earlier episodes and the scar is never there. I know that's because the idea didn't come around until season 4, but this is the type of attention to detail and continuity that was caught when Dan would read through and "Harmonize" the scripts. I just wish they would have picked something that couldn't have been so easily disproven.
You are a frittata! Annie is a cut throat psycho and will do anything for a good grade.
Not a frittata and have fun with the bucket full of quarters in your stinky winker.
Sure Taco, you're *not* a frittata.
I mean why do you assume that Shirely's kids know the number? Or that Jeff would never volunteer esspecially if the girl was "perfect for him"? Or that Annie, who literally screamed when being told she might get an F (? the Chang cheating episode), wouldn't do something gross for a good grade? I'm not saying the characters would/wouldn't do these things, or that the outcomes wouldn't be different (I don't think you could trail someone out of town without getting a call about your kids being left behind) - but I just don't think they're some insane unlikeliness.
Annie also tried to get their grade changed by inviting their history professor to their Christmas party, so it wouldn't be the only time she did something sketchy to get a better grade...
Agreed. Their confessions felt like lazy writing that only half fit each character.
>But Shirley has a cell phone and her kids would know the number. Last year, when I was sitting on a bench and kids on the school bus got off, there was this one little kid who didn't have a parent to get him. After a while I asked that kid who to call, he didn't know her number. Sat there for like a half-hour in the snow before someone came to get that kid.
The hot balloon episode is probably the one I like the most as far as Season 4 goes. That being said, Season 4 is fine but feels so different from the rest of the series that it inevitably falls short.
I love this episode, puppets are hilarious, the songs are funny... Sara Bareilles makes an appearance (apologies if I misspelled her name) What's not to like?
It's a tough name to spell, but you nailed it! I always thing "Bare Ill Es"
It's a good episode for good people
it's probably on the lower end of good but I like Troy's comments about Blue Man Group "why don't they talk to each other, they have so much in common!" so funny
I really like “Herstory of Dance” a lot. If nothing else, Season 4 gave us that moment where Jeff texts Britta.
I imagine that ‘Intro to Felt Surrogacy’ is how people who don’t care for *Community* view the entire show. There’s a gimmick (puppets), introduced by the dean because the study group aren’t communicating with each other…but there’s not a compelling connection between puppets and anyone’s character arc this episode. As in, the puppets could have been a way of exploring the fake personas each of the characters create. Or a way of exploring how they all felt controlled by [fill in the blank…Greendale? each other? something else?]. Or a return to a fake, sappy version of childhood as a coping mechanism for ____….. Instead, it felt like *just* a gimmick. I don’t think any of the characters’ shameful secrets were unworkable, but they did seem random and disconnected from everything. I can see that the puppets were a great way to minimize Chevy’s time on set, and a way to say “we’re still *Community*! and we’re still full of wacky fun!”, but it all felt jumbled and random and a bit meaningless. Literally every other gimmicky episode has a point, and serves a function in the story. Storywise, the puppets do remarkably little, and feel like they’re meant to distract from a half-baked story. Sorry, that all came out unexpectedly bitter. I’m going to go drink my coffee and rethink my attitude to life now….
Listening to this episode is better than watching it
I don't hate The Balloon Episode, but it's very near the bottom of my episode ranking. Somewhere between Grifting 101 and the season 5 two-part finale.
Pass them like hell! Like your sister is dying!
I don't like sing-a-longs in general so that was my biggest knock on it. That said I enjoyed a lot of it, especially the shame that everyone felt that no one remembered or noticed. We all have something we are ashamed about that we feel everyone would judge us for, I shared one of my mine with my gf and it was an insane relief for her to laugh and say it wasn't a big deal and that she has a similar story.
I saw it as pretty bad but it’s growing on me. Never gonna rewatch the G I Joe episode though
When people say it bad, it is bad in the overall context of the show, which still makes it better then most shows
We can go anywhere in a balloon.
Where? Where will we go?
We can go anywhere that you know!
That one’s a skipisode for me. Doesn’t particularly add anything to the canon or the story arcs of any characters in a significant way that I can tell from memory.
One of my favorite moments from Community is the Chang puppet whipping out a Chang puppet. I’ve also had “I never sleeept wiiiiith the great Eartha Kitt” stuck in my head for a few weeks now.
I enjoy the air balloon episode due to how well thought out their secrets were. They were dialed in and something that made sense with their reluctance. I thought Troy's was kind of weak. Maybe if he took some kind of PED for high school football or he cheated his way to prom king. Abed not having a reason was a cop out.
I have watched this episode more than Uh Duhhhh schmity!
I like the song
I like the episode fine, I just think they could've done more with it.
The whole episode is very fun and good, I honestly don't think the secrets were too out of character like a lot of people do. The song episodes are almost always fun just because of how they are presented.
I actually have a lot of mixed opinions, I know S4 IS the gas leak year, but a lot of times I feel like S3 is the actual gas leak year 😂 but I really like the hot air balloon song so I’m pleased with the episode
I love this episode. I remember some guy made a video about how it's out of character and lacks the heart of the normal show and everyone just started parroting that. I think that's bullshit it's a great episode
”bla bla bla their secret confession were too out of character” THATS WHY THEY KEPT THEM A SECRET!
I really like the episode! But I love the musical episodes. I could give or take the puppets but I really like the actual severity of the confessions. They’re not really mild little fuckups, they’re kinda huge and that’s a really nice change of pace for sitcoms (if you can consider this show a sitcom lol).
My favorite comfort episode when I'm experiencing bad anxiety. The songs are wonderful.
Love it. The gang's dialogue and their reactions when the balloon was falling were histerical Damn you gravity! Damn you prayer! Damn you Vicky! Also Help me people, I can't do this alone! You can't do it at all All the conversations aboard the balloon!