Comic-Con: Community Gets Back to Basics
After a video presentation that likened the renewal of Community for its 5th season to the return of McRibs, Twinkies and "classic" Coke, series creator Dan Harmon took the stage at Comic-Con in an amusingly cheap, cardboard Iron Man costume. Once freed of it by Jim Rash and Danny Pudi, he channeled Tony Stark and, tongue firmly planted in cheek, announced that he had risen "like a phoenix rising from the ashes of unemployment." But once he was back to being Dan Harmon, he assured the thousands of rabid fans assembled in Hall H that he felt a tremendous amount of pressure to deliver a great show. Even though he doesn't consider Season 5's 13 episodes to be the last episodes of the series, he does consider them "the most important."
Though vague on specifics, Harmon said that the first few episodes of Season 5 will be spent re-grounding the characters and getting back to "emotional basics." "Who likes their characters dimensionalized?" he joked, fearing that his talk of "organic storytelling" was boring the crowd. He did reveal that there would be an animated episode, and a planned sequel to the classic Season 2 installment, "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons." He also mused that entrepreneur Shirley might be the perfect character for him to use in terms of his recent tumultuous experiences in the business world. A fan question about what they'd like to see their characters do prompted Brown to suggest we meet Shirley's once-mentioned sister, saying Sherri Shepherd would be perfect as they are always being mistaken for one another.
Moderated by Chris Hardwick, who dubbed Community "the nerdiest show on television,' the panel also included Rash, Pudi, Alison Brie, Yvette Nicole Brown, Ken Jeong, Gillian Jacobs and writer Chris McKenna. The chemistry between the cast was infectious, and it will be hard to forget the intense mock-flirting that went on between Brie and Jeong as Pudi, pretending to be oblivious to what was happening to his right, gave a rambling, sincere answer to a fan question.
It was very clear that everyone is thrilled to have Harmon back, though there was praise for elements of last season, such as the puppet episode ("Intro to Felt Surrogacy") and the Rash-penned "Basic Human Anatomy". Alison Brie made a couple comments about how Annie had "devolved" and hoping her character would be "empowered" and "ambitious" again that seemed to be diplomatic references to her unhappiness with last season. There will be no "it was all a dream" shenanigans, however. Harmon stated emphatically that he will not actively undo anything that had happened in his absence.
Community does not yet have a return date, but fans will be able to whet their appetite with reruns. The show will be airing in syndication on Comedy Central as well as five nights a week in many markets beginning in September.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/07/21/comic-con-community-gets-back-to-basics