Post by tereglith on Jun 8, 2013 21:27:01 GMT -6
ORIGINS
Or: COMMUNITY THE MOVIE
It started innocently enough. Gauephat asked what we would do with a hypothetical Community: The Movie. I took a while to think about it, and wrote a pitch. A lot of people liked it. Here it is:
For the 100,000th Comment Party-Palooza, I expanded it into a nine-page story treatment. That story treatment can be found HERE. It was originally written in Disqus, taxing it to its very limit of 25000 characters per comment. I transferred it to Google Docs for better share-ability.
I laid low for a while. Community was gone for so long that it nearly fell out of my mind, or at least the part that stews on creative endeavors. But then... then the Fourth Season happened.
THE FOURTH SEASON
As the Fourth Season began to air, it was clear that things weren't the same, and I felt that maybe, just maybe I could do something I'd never felt I could really do before; not just add to Community, but improve upon it. I waited, though, until the show aired an episode with so much wasted potential that I couldn't help but serve its ideas better that it itself had. Such an opportunity came quickly with Alternate History of the German Invasion, the nugget of a good idea with a whole heaping helping of unfunny crap surrounding it.
I wrote probably the easiest possible script to write, the fan-favorite idea of a look at the lives of a group of secondary characters. It was the perfect lens through which to view what seemed like the initial thesis of AHGI: When Professor Cornwallis says to look at a historical event from the perspective not of the victors, but of the vanquished. THEY SET THEMSELVES RIGHT UP FOR IT, and then just went for hacky Hitler jokes instead. But I digress. I set the script when AHGI should have aired; in position 4x02, the week after the finale.
To make things even easier for myself I expanded on an idea that AHGI presented; the cutaway clip show. Except instead of a brief, undercooked gag I made it the entire point of the episode. Throw in every possible unused variation of the jokes attached to each secondary character and I was able to throw together a complete script, 4x02 Alternate Historical Perspectives. It is located HERE.
A few weeks later, I was distressed by the lack of emotional fallout present in the aftermath of Jeff meeting his dad, particularly in regards to his relationship with Pierce. In an effort to rectify that somewhat, I wrote another script, this one longer, heavier, and (in my opinion) better than the first. I titled it 4x05.5 Waiting With the Web. It's set between 4x05 CEFR and 4x06 EMB and I tried to treat it as such. The Virtual School plot doesn't end very well, but other than that I'm fond of it, particularly the Knight Rider line. It is located HERE.
After that school caught up with me and I haven't written any more since. But I have plans. PLANS!
PLANS!!!!
I intend over the next couple weeks to work on a completely new finale that ignores 4x13 AITF. It has a very ambitious structure that will either come out really awesome or not quite come together, in which case I will scrap it, tell you all what I was trying to do and why it didn't work, and begin anew with a less ambitious idea. A Pizza Episode Finale, if you will. Also, if my finale plans fall through, I will work on Loki1001's idea about reworking Heroic Origins, namely revisiting the Pilot from the perspective of each character. That would conflict with my finale idea a little too much for me to work on both at the same time. I'll just see how things work out.
After that, I may work on actually writing a full script for my version of Community: The Movie. Here's a taste:
SEASON FIVE
Sadly, the facts that I am seventeen, have no prior experience, and am committed to a college several thousand miles away from LA all add up to an inability to respond to Dan Harmon's call for new writers, despite certain rumors to the contrary. However, I did write one scene of Season 5 on a lark. This is not meant to exist in the same alternate timeline as the rest of Tereglith's Community. I merely wanted to register my take on the same joke literally everyone has been making except Dan Harmon. It is located HERE.
Or: COMMUNITY THE MOVIE
It started innocently enough. Gauephat asked what we would do with a hypothetical Community: The Movie. I took a while to think about it, and wrote a pitch. A lot of people liked it. Here it is:
"Movie adaptations of serialized television-style stories always involve the heroes banding together to undertake a more epic quest than they ever have before. Serenity. Most of the Muppet Movies. The Spongebob Squarepants Movie. The pattern is always the same." - Abed, at some point during this movie idea.
It's four years after graduation. Despite solid continuation of the group for the first couple years, the Greendale Seven have drifted apart. Annie has been extremely busy at the hospital, where she has been quickly moving through the administrative ranks, but finds little real pleasure in being the Assistant Assistant Deputy Manager. Jeff worked in the DA office for a while, but after Alan died in a shark accident several months before, the firm invited him back as a senior partner. Shirley's kids have been busier and busier in their schools, and she's decided that she doesn't have time to be anything other than a mom - the Bennetts have been getting by on Andre's income. Troy started out enjoying his time as the AC Repair Messiah, but found that in the real world that translates into being just a normal AC Repairman, and that career path has left him burnt out and grown up. Abed found that he was unable to make enough money just from his films, which have never found success except at niche festivals, and is now discontentedly selling falafel. Nobody knows what's happened to Pierce.
It transpires that Annie, hoping to get the group back together to figure out what, if anything, made them drift apart, has organized a four-year reunion for their class at Greendale. They filter back into the cafeteria, mingling with other of their Greendale contemporaries (Magnitude, now a successful local politician, Vicki, a professional dancer, etc) and notice that current students are treating the six of them rather oddly - respectfully, almost. There is a conspicuous lack of silliness at Greendale. No hat club. No "Ladders". They consider visiting some of their old teachers, but an employee roster reveals that everyone they remember - Whitman, Duncan, Garrety, Kane - are all no longer working there.
Visiting the study room, they find Pierce sitting in Jeff's old chair, regaling a facsimile study group with tales of the original study group - chicken fingers, paintball, pillow forts, the Chang heist, more paintball. It turns out that he's just stayed a student the whole time, and that he's seen the study group pass into Greendale legend as a band of folk heroes. The stories of their time at the school have become emblematic of a now-mythical past at Greendale - a time when it was absurd and silly, when ridiculous things could happen and there were twenty dances per year. Because it turns out that the Dean has done the worst thing possible - he's succeeded in making Greendale a legitimate school.
The group finds themselves binding back together almost automatically, amazed at how defensive they feel of the way their school was. Surrounded by whispers about their identities, they head to the Dean's office to consult him about what's going on. They find the Dean sitting in a normal suit, acting completely calm and put-together, discussing with a Sub-Dean of Admissions about which students to let in next semester and which ones will be denied. His costume closet is full... of more suits. He doesn't seem nearly as pleased to see them as they expected - he is polite, but dismissive. He has finally achieved his dream of making Greendale a legitimate, successful school, and doesn't want the Seven around to remind him of the past - the past that he fears he would want to go back to in a heartbeat, since running a normal school has been extremely boring.
Meanwhile, Dean Spreck has been watching and waiting for the perfect opportunity to destroy Greendale once and for all, this time taking it on not as a bug to be squashed but, thanks to its newfound legitimacy, an equal to have war waged against it. His scheme (to be defined later) is put into action just as the group is heading back out through the cafeteria, not sure how they feel about the school now and mostly ready to simply drift apart again, the visit failing to remind them what they loved about Greendale and the study group. The attack somehow confines them to the cafeteria. The current students panic, but the ones back for the reunion who were involved with the Great Paintball War (led by Magnitude and Vicki) feel the need to step up and fight. The Seven are reluctant, but with Abed reminding them that all of them going out on One! Last! Mission! is a plot necessity and will probably fix all their problems, they at last decide to step up. Using all the knowledge gained from four years of absurd Greendalery, they fight back against Spreck's plans.
The evil plot is laid out such that in order to overcome it, they'll have to fight back not as New, Serious Greendale, but as Old, Absurd Greendale. They'll have to teach the new students about how the school used to run. They'll have to bring Dean Dangerous back out of the shell of Pelton's adopted seriousness. Starburns will make his official return from the dead, bringing with him a contingent of other teachers and students like the final battle at Hogwarts. And in the process of fighting for the school as its grizzled veteran heroes, the Greendale Seven remember what made the school, and their group, so amazing, and rediscover the Greendale within themselves.
Inspired by the events of the day, they both re-form the group for regular meetings, and improve each of their own lives on an individual basis. Shirley starts Shirley Sandwiches for real and in earnest. Troy has the brilliant idea for DancePants. Abed decides to quit selling falafel and continue following his filmmaking dreams, starting with an adaptation of the events that just transpired. Pierce finally graduates and looks for a truly worthy project to invest his money in. Jeff decides that he doesn't want to slip back into his old firm, and Annie decides that she wants to help people in a more direct way - they begin their own law firm, which Pierce invests in. They work as the attorneys for all of their friends' businesses. And Britta finally finds a place of employment where her Britta-ing of things will be not just tolerated but celebrated - she becomes a teacher at Greendale.
Cue iconic final shot, credits with The 88 song playing, post-credits scene that's Abed and Pavel in an editing bay debating whether or not to include a post-credits scene.
It's four years after graduation. Despite solid continuation of the group for the first couple years, the Greendale Seven have drifted apart. Annie has been extremely busy at the hospital, where she has been quickly moving through the administrative ranks, but finds little real pleasure in being the Assistant Assistant Deputy Manager. Jeff worked in the DA office for a while, but after Alan died in a shark accident several months before, the firm invited him back as a senior partner. Shirley's kids have been busier and busier in their schools, and she's decided that she doesn't have time to be anything other than a mom - the Bennetts have been getting by on Andre's income. Troy started out enjoying his time as the AC Repair Messiah, but found that in the real world that translates into being just a normal AC Repairman, and that career path has left him burnt out and grown up. Abed found that he was unable to make enough money just from his films, which have never found success except at niche festivals, and is now discontentedly selling falafel. Nobody knows what's happened to Pierce.
It transpires that Annie, hoping to get the group back together to figure out what, if anything, made them drift apart, has organized a four-year reunion for their class at Greendale. They filter back into the cafeteria, mingling with other of their Greendale contemporaries (Magnitude, now a successful local politician, Vicki, a professional dancer, etc) and notice that current students are treating the six of them rather oddly - respectfully, almost. There is a conspicuous lack of silliness at Greendale. No hat club. No "Ladders". They consider visiting some of their old teachers, but an employee roster reveals that everyone they remember - Whitman, Duncan, Garrety, Kane - are all no longer working there.
Visiting the study room, they find Pierce sitting in Jeff's old chair, regaling a facsimile study group with tales of the original study group - chicken fingers, paintball, pillow forts, the Chang heist, more paintball. It turns out that he's just stayed a student the whole time, and that he's seen the study group pass into Greendale legend as a band of folk heroes. The stories of their time at the school have become emblematic of a now-mythical past at Greendale - a time when it was absurd and silly, when ridiculous things could happen and there were twenty dances per year. Because it turns out that the Dean has done the worst thing possible - he's succeeded in making Greendale a legitimate school.
The group finds themselves binding back together almost automatically, amazed at how defensive they feel of the way their school was. Surrounded by whispers about their identities, they head to the Dean's office to consult him about what's going on. They find the Dean sitting in a normal suit, acting completely calm and put-together, discussing with a Sub-Dean of Admissions about which students to let in next semester and which ones will be denied. His costume closet is full... of more suits. He doesn't seem nearly as pleased to see them as they expected - he is polite, but dismissive. He has finally achieved his dream of making Greendale a legitimate, successful school, and doesn't want the Seven around to remind him of the past - the past that he fears he would want to go back to in a heartbeat, since running a normal school has been extremely boring.
Meanwhile, Dean Spreck has been watching and waiting for the perfect opportunity to destroy Greendale once and for all, this time taking it on not as a bug to be squashed but, thanks to its newfound legitimacy, an equal to have war waged against it. His scheme (to be defined later) is put into action just as the group is heading back out through the cafeteria, not sure how they feel about the school now and mostly ready to simply drift apart again, the visit failing to remind them what they loved about Greendale and the study group. The attack somehow confines them to the cafeteria. The current students panic, but the ones back for the reunion who were involved with the Great Paintball War (led by Magnitude and Vicki) feel the need to step up and fight. The Seven are reluctant, but with Abed reminding them that all of them going out on One! Last! Mission! is a plot necessity and will probably fix all their problems, they at last decide to step up. Using all the knowledge gained from four years of absurd Greendalery, they fight back against Spreck's plans.
The evil plot is laid out such that in order to overcome it, they'll have to fight back not as New, Serious Greendale, but as Old, Absurd Greendale. They'll have to teach the new students about how the school used to run. They'll have to bring Dean Dangerous back out of the shell of Pelton's adopted seriousness. Starburns will make his official return from the dead, bringing with him a contingent of other teachers and students like the final battle at Hogwarts. And in the process of fighting for the school as its grizzled veteran heroes, the Greendale Seven remember what made the school, and their group, so amazing, and rediscover the Greendale within themselves.
Inspired by the events of the day, they both re-form the group for regular meetings, and improve each of their own lives on an individual basis. Shirley starts Shirley Sandwiches for real and in earnest. Troy has the brilliant idea for DancePants. Abed decides to quit selling falafel and continue following his filmmaking dreams, starting with an adaptation of the events that just transpired. Pierce finally graduates and looks for a truly worthy project to invest his money in. Jeff decides that he doesn't want to slip back into his old firm, and Annie decides that she wants to help people in a more direct way - they begin their own law firm, which Pierce invests in. They work as the attorneys for all of their friends' businesses. And Britta finally finds a place of employment where her Britta-ing of things will be not just tolerated but celebrated - she becomes a teacher at Greendale.
Cue iconic final shot, credits with The 88 song playing, post-credits scene that's Abed and Pavel in an editing bay debating whether or not to include a post-credits scene.
For the 100,000th Comment Party-Palooza, I expanded it into a nine-page story treatment. That story treatment can be found HERE. It was originally written in Disqus, taxing it to its very limit of 25000 characters per comment. I transferred it to Google Docs for better share-ability.
I laid low for a while. Community was gone for so long that it nearly fell out of my mind, or at least the part that stews on creative endeavors. But then... then the Fourth Season happened.
THE FOURTH SEASON
As the Fourth Season began to air, it was clear that things weren't the same, and I felt that maybe, just maybe I could do something I'd never felt I could really do before; not just add to Community, but improve upon it. I waited, though, until the show aired an episode with so much wasted potential that I couldn't help but serve its ideas better that it itself had. Such an opportunity came quickly with Alternate History of the German Invasion, the nugget of a good idea with a whole heaping helping of unfunny crap surrounding it.
I wrote probably the easiest possible script to write, the fan-favorite idea of a look at the lives of a group of secondary characters. It was the perfect lens through which to view what seemed like the initial thesis of AHGI: When Professor Cornwallis says to look at a historical event from the perspective not of the victors, but of the vanquished. THEY SET THEMSELVES RIGHT UP FOR IT, and then just went for hacky Hitler jokes instead. But I digress. I set the script when AHGI should have aired; in position 4x02, the week after the finale.
To make things even easier for myself I expanded on an idea that AHGI presented; the cutaway clip show. Except instead of a brief, undercooked gag I made it the entire point of the episode. Throw in every possible unused variation of the jokes attached to each secondary character and I was able to throw together a complete script, 4x02 Alternate Historical Perspectives. It is located HERE.
A few weeks later, I was distressed by the lack of emotional fallout present in the aftermath of Jeff meeting his dad, particularly in regards to his relationship with Pierce. In an effort to rectify that somewhat, I wrote another script, this one longer, heavier, and (in my opinion) better than the first. I titled it 4x05.5 Waiting With the Web. It's set between 4x05 CEFR and 4x06 EMB and I tried to treat it as such. The Virtual School plot doesn't end very well, but other than that I'm fond of it, particularly the Knight Rider line. It is located HERE.
After that school caught up with me and I haven't written any more since. But I have plans. PLANS!
PLANS!!!!
I intend over the next couple weeks to work on a completely new finale that ignores 4x13 AITF. It has a very ambitious structure that will either come out really awesome or not quite come together, in which case I will scrap it, tell you all what I was trying to do and why it didn't work, and begin anew with a less ambitious idea. A Pizza Episode Finale, if you will. Also, if my finale plans fall through, I will work on Loki1001's idea about reworking Heroic Origins, namely revisiting the Pilot from the perspective of each character. That would conflict with my finale idea a little too much for me to work on both at the same time. I'll just see how things work out.
After that, I may work on actually writing a full script for my version of Community: The Movie. Here's a taste:
TROY: Are you sure you didn't rename it something nefarious, like Deandale?
PELTON: Why on earth would I do that? Every college has a Dean, Troy.
TROY: Well then what about Craig...dale...? Whatever, I know you're being evil somehow, even if you're not renaming stuff.
PELTON: Why on earth would I do that? Every college has a Dean, Troy.
TROY: Well then what about Craig...dale...? Whatever, I know you're being evil somehow, even if you're not renaming stuff.
SEASON FIVE
Sadly, the facts that I am seventeen, have no prior experience, and am committed to a college several thousand miles away from LA all add up to an inability to respond to Dan Harmon's call for new writers, despite certain rumors to the contrary. However, I did write one scene of Season 5 on a lark. This is not meant to exist in the same alternate timeline as the rest of Tereglith's Community. I merely wanted to register my take on the same joke literally everyone has been making except Dan Harmon. It is located HERE.