Community series creator Dan Harmon spilled the beans that this season’s Christmas episode is going to be “wall-to-wall stop motion animat[ed]” back in late September. And here’s proof that the man was not lying! In the episode preview above you can clearly see that the entire Greendale gang has received the Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer treatment just in time for the Christmas special. According to Harmon the episode will deal with “Abed’s search for the meaning of Christmas.” The episode “looks into what makes him different from other people.” He says, “Everything that happens on this episode is part of the actual show and will change the characters, and yet there are wonderful, fantastic holiday things happening in it.” Can’t wait! Thus far Community‘s holiday episodes have been the most memorable; there’s no denying that “Epidemiology” (the Halloween zombie episode) kicked major ass. The stop motion Christmas ep will surely impress. Speaking of which… be sure to look in the gallery below to get a closer look at Shirley, Jeff, Britta, Abed, and the rest of the gang in animated form. Senior student Chang is an Asian snowman!
Community airs Thursday nights at 8PM on NBC. “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas” is penned in for a 12/9 air date.
Update: Head over to EW if you want to see some more Community stop motion goodness. In addition to some sneak peeks you’ll also find a couple behind-the-scenes videos that show how much effort goes into making a claymation special. It’s intensive work!