Intro to Recycled Cinema
"Intro to Recycled Cinema" is the eighth episode of the sixth season of the American comedy television series Community, and the 105th episode of the series overall. It was released on Yahoo! Screen in the United States on April 28, 2015.
| "Intro to Recycled Cinema" | |
|---|---|
| Community episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 6 Episode 8 |
| Directed by | Victor Nelli, Jr. |
| Written by | Clay Lapari |
| Production code | 608 |
| Original air date | April 28, 2015 |
| Running time | 28 minutes |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
| |
Plot
Greendale decides to cash in on Chang's new-found fame by turning a cop drama Police Justice, into a sci-fi movie. Abed directs the group in the film Chief Starr and the Raiders of the Galaxy, incorporating outtake audio and recycled footage of Chang. The Dean stars as Chang's stand in body double, while Jeff plays the mayor of outer space, Britta plays Princess Meridian, and Annie stars as Scorpio 9, a pleasure droid assassin. Abed is forced to lower his filmmaking standards and asked to edit his film removing Jeff's big scene. Consequently, Jeff has an identity crisis and realizes he will be the last one to ever leave Greendale. At the last minute the film's producer Maury informs the group that the company funding the film went bankrupt thanks to YouTube. Chang comes back to Greendale after he talks back to an unseen Steven Spielberg and is replaced by Randall Park.
Cultural references
This episode parodies a scene from the original Star Wars when the characters fall into a trash compartment, as well as the films Raiders of the Lost Ark and Guardians of the Galaxy and actor Chris Pratt. The episode later lampoons the conventional distribution model of TV by suggesting the company set to distribute Abed's film just filed for bankruptcy because of the surge in online streaming. It also parodies The Big Bang Theory with Abed imitating Sheldon Cooper saying "bazinga" in a ball pit.
Production
On February 9, 2015, Dan Harmon disclosed that Steve Guttenberg would be appearing on an episode of Community.[1] On February 13, 2015, TV insider reported Guttenberg would play a Hollywood producer friend to Frankie.[2] On April 7, 2015, the episode's title was first revealed during an interview with Yahoo's Robert Chan.[3]
Critical reception
Den of Geek says, "This is the closest we’ve yet come to an homage-style episode this season and it’s good, fresh ground for Community to cover."[4] Hypable says, "After a relatively slow start, Community has really hit its stride mid-season with two stellar back-to-back episodes."[5] Flavorwire says, "the 3AM release time doesn’t help," and suggests that perhaps the show would be better served releasing the episodes at a time of day when social media would have a bigger impact.[6] IGN liked the premise of the episode, "The idea of Chang becoming a (very brief) star was amusing in and of itself, but it was how the Greendale gang reacted that really set the story in motion."[7]
References
- Harmon, Dan (February 9, 2015). ".@SteveGuttbuck is doing a guest role...@bcgoldthwait was doing his director's cut...so Tim Kazurinsky JUST, LIKE, APPEARED. #AcademyMagic". Twitter. Retrieved February 9, 2015.
- Schneider, Michael (February 13, 2015). "There Was a Police Academy Reunion on the Community Set, and Steve Guttenberg Explains Why". TV Insider. Retrieved February 13, 2015.
- Chan, Robert (April 7, 2015). "'Community' Postmortem: Dan Harmon Talks 'Laws of Robotics and Party Rights'". Yahoo. Retrieved April 7, 2015.
- Matar, Joe (April 28, 2015). "Community: Intro to Recycled Cinema Review". Den of Geek. Retrieved April 28, 2015.
- Bojalad, Alec. "'Community' season 6, episode 8 recap: Haaaaaaaaam, girl!". Hypable. Retrieved April 28, 2015.
- Viruet, Pilot (April 28, 2015). "Don't Let Fans' Silence Fool You — 'Community' Remains as Great as Ever in Season 6". Flavorwire. Retrieved April 28, 2015.
- Goldman, Eric (April 28, 2015). "Community: "Intro to Recycled Cinema" Review". IGN. Retrieved April 28, 2015.