Holy Crap, Leonard’s a Zombie: Epidemiology, Community (2010)

So my friend loves Community and tried to get me to watch it with her.

We watched some and I loved it…until they forced the Dean to take care of the Changnesia ex-teacher Ben Chang who had imprisoned him for months. After coming from an abusive relationship, I was not interested.

Not for me.

With COVID-19, my friend suggested I give it another watch and started rewatching and was hooked.

Not every episode was for me, but after all the bad news in the world it was nice to have some comedy and laugh. The thing I love about it it is all the different homages to film and TV and Abed’s film references as that is me and my obsession with film.

So after the marathon I had this past summer, I thought what better time than now to review one of it’s Halloween episodes. I had a hard time choosing between this and “Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps”, and I went with the former as I really like the horror homage being set to ABBA.

So the “fake” Spanish Study Group was formed when Jeff Winger (Joel McHale), a former lawyer who had faked his degree and has to go to college, wanted to try and get with Britta Perry (Gillian Jacobs). Britta asks Abed Nadier (Danny Pudi) to join him. He invites a few others, and the group rounds up to Pierce Hawthorne (Chevy Chase), Troy Barnes (Donald Glover Jr.), Annie Edison (Alison Brie), and Shirley Bennet (Yvette Nicole Brown).

The group ends up becoming close friends, even though Jeff tries hard not to, and after they all pass Spanish-they continue with Anthropology. Since they started the class Jeff was attacked by the Anthropology professor: Jeff goes to a party at his old law firm and finds out his old buddy Alan is the one who revealed his fake degree (but he still helped him so that Alan would owe him a favor); Pierce’s mother died and was “vaporized” into his cult and Jeff went through a midlife crisis regarding his mortality; they rode a Space Simulator that was donated by KFC, Shirley and Abed had a showdown regarding Jesus; and Pierce joined a group of “Hipsters” (those who had their hips replaced) and was reverting to teenage rebellion. So Halloween is her again and after the craziness of Pierce getting drugged and freaking out, all are looking forward to a “regular” holiday.

So we start of with George Takai narrating the episode. The Greendale Community College Dean is dressed as Lady Gaga and got a special deal on military rations surplus food for this year’s Halloween dance-man this school has A LOT of dances. My four year university only had one thrown by the actual school-the Blue & White Ball/Homecoming dance. Everything else was done by clubs, Frats, or Sororities. They always do this in TV, like Saved by the Bell’s school had a gazillion.

The study group is there-Jeff is David Beckham, Pierce Captain Kirk from Star Trek, Troy as Ripley from the Alien series with Abed as the Alien Queen from Aliens, Britta a dinosaur, Annie Red Riding Hood, and Shirley Glinda the Good Witch.

Pierce has been eating the food and starts acting weird and sick, not too far off from what he did last year. Annie finds Rich (Jeff’s nemesis from pottery class), a doctor to examine Pierce.

Hmm…

Abed and Troy’s costumes are soooo cool. I’m glad I have my sister to do costumes with, I miss matching costumes.

Rich quickly grows busy as there are more and more people sick-their effects changing to biting people and 102 degree temps. Uh, oh. Biting people? Vampires?

Troy gets upset that girls aren’t into his costume as Ripley and tries to make a new on out of the toilet seat covers and toilet paper-a sexy Dracula.

Not for me.

The Ripley costume was much cooler.

Annie discovers that the illness is being transferred from the bites and takes a hold of them much faster.

That’s not good.

The Dean calls to complain to the store and reads the label, giving the code word-as soon as he does the call is taken over by the military. This reminds me of Return of Night of the Living Dead when the military sends the zombies from Night of the Living Dead, to the crematorium and the two workers get into it, releasing zombies on the world. He is told to lock them in the building and help will arrive in 6 hours.

Annie tries to coordinate an orderly evacuation of those that aren’t sick, but Troy sees Leonard biting someone and screams:

Troy Barnes: Holy crap, Leonard’s a Zombie!

Soo utter pandemonium is with people screaming, running, zombies biting, and ABBA’s Dancing Queen playing in the background.

Zombies from Night of the Living Dead

The study room runs with Jeff throwing his soccer ball and punching people out of the way. Jeff always gets the action scenes.

The group locks themselves in their study room, just like in Night of the Living Dead. In Night of the Living Dead they were house to wait it out. Rich asks if any are bitten and all say no-but I’ve seen the film Night of the Living Dead. One of them is a liar, but which one?

Hmm…?

Also in the background is a tombstone that says Craig Pelton, the Dean. Foreshadowing?

Hmm…

They start barricading the doors and are scared and unsure they will last the full six hours, Dr. Rich says they only have three hours before permanent brain damage is done.

That’s not good.

Annie comes up with the idea to lower the building temp in efforts to stop the fever. Luckily Abed knows where the thermostat is. Sooo in reality they probably wouldn’t be able to do anything as the thermostat is probably closely regulated. I know the thermostat at my university was as they didn’t want anyone messing with it. And of course the thermostat is on the other side of the library as they need an excuse to leave the safety and make a run for it.

Dr. Rich starts sharing the symptoms of the disease and slurs in the middle as he has ever symptom. Yep, he’s been bit and he let them barricade themselves in with him? He’s like the little girl in The Night of the Living Dead.

But at least she was a child, you are an adult-and a doctor. Isn’t your first vow to do no harm? So yeah, you suck.

Oh and it turns out he wasn’t the only one. Britta was bit too.

Chang, dressed a Peggy Fleming, throws his ice skate at Dr. Rich and misses hitting the window. It breaks and the zombies start coming in, taking Annie.

The Zombies chase the remaining group and Gimmie, Gimmie, Gimmie! (A Man After Midnight) plays. It is a perfect pairing!

The non-zombie members of study group run for their lives, Jeff punching people left and right.

Shirley falls and is saved by Chang having split from the group they hide out in the ladies bathroom. Shirley and Change share a tender moment that develops as both believe it is the end of the world.

They will regret that the next day.

Jeff, Troy, and Abed are all that are left. The boys are then assaulted by a crazy cat-homage to horror films, and Abed spots a window they can escape from. Jeff doesn’t want to as he is wearing a $6000 suit. He tries to go through the door and gets attacked by the Zombies.

Jeff isn’t too upset about being a zombie, but is more angry about his archival Dr. Rich stealing his jacket. Oh, Jeff.

Abed and Troy start climbing shelves, shelves that look a lot like the ones from the Lava episode, “Geothermal Escapism”. Abed sacrifices himself so that Troy can save them all-quoting the “I Love You” scene from Star Wars.

Troy gets out and knocks the Dean over to get the key. He runs back into the library in his costume with the song Mama Mia playing in the background. Troy runs through the people in his Ripley costume punching people left and right, but they quickly overpower him. It was cool while it lasted.

Even though he becomes Zombified, with his final moments before he is fully zombified he crawls to the thermostat and mages a temp change.

What!

Fernando plays as the air starts coming through and they grow cold and begin to change back. They are going to take them out, but as they seem to be normal they Men in Black blue light them and they can’t remember anything that happened-they think it was a mass roofie.

After Troy and Abed have their wounds treated, they head to the dormitory to watch a movie…anything but Zombies.

In the end, Troy listens to his voicemails and discovers a message from Chang, so it really did happen.

For more Zombies, go to Sometimes, Dead is Better: Pet Sematary (1989)

For more ABBA, go to Take a Chance on Me: Austentatious (2015)

For more TV episodes reviews, go to The Adventure of the Sinister Scenario: Ellery Queen (1976)

A Study in Fandoms

I am Audrey Hepburn and Cat is my fandoms

So after a brief hiatus, the fandom posts are back. Here we go with a few more things, as Audrey would say, I go ape over.

ABBA

I first got into ABBA through my mother, who grew up in the ’70s and was a disco queen.

Yep she and my and my dad grew up in the ’70s, being the ones to blame for my obsession with the music from that decade.

Anyways, one day she was watching a Time Life infomercial or something that had a collection of all of ABBA‘s greatest hits; along with their concerts on a collection of videos (yes I said video, they were on VHS).

I started watching it with her when I heard the song Dancing Queen. I said “Isn’t that by the band S Club 7, a band I was a fan of through the TV show that used to be on abc family. My mom told me that ABBA was the one who created it. I stayed with her to finish watching, and became a huge fan.

What can you say about this Swedish Disco/Pop Rock/Glam Rock group other than they were awesome! I love the songs and their costumes.

When Mamma Mia! came out in 2008, I was the only girl their under the age of 40; but I didn’t care. The story was so-so, but I had fun singing along as I knew every lyric.

My favorite songs are Dancing Queen, Does Your Mother Know, Fernando, Gimmie! Gimmie! Gimmie! (A Man After Midnight), Honey Honey, Lay All Your Love On Me, Mamma Mia, S.O.S., Super Trouper, Voulez Vous, and Waterloo

Ned and Stacey

I happened upon this show accidentally one morning (they had stopped showing Saved By the Bell). I was channel surfing to see what to watch before class, when I saw Thomas Haden Church. As I just adore him, I decided to check the show out and fell for it.

Ned Dorsey (Thomas Haden Church) is a fantastic advertising executive. He’s up for a big promotion; only problem is he is a confirmed bachelor (trust issues & parent issues) and they are looking for a family man. He needs a wife and he needs one quick.

Stacey Colbert (Debra Messing) is a writer living with her parents as she can’t find an apartment she can afford with her meager paycheck. After Stacey and Ned meet on a blind date, Ned proposes. If Stacey can be his wife for three years; she can live in the beautiful apartment, have nice clothes, enjoy the parties Ned is invited too, and date anyone she wants to (discreetly). It seems like too good of a deal and the two are soon living together. But will this odd couple be able to last?

The show was cute and zany as Stacey was crazy and all over the place, while Ned was more controlled and the “straight man” in the comedic duo.

I loved this show, but couldn’t see why Stacey hated Ned. He’s hot, funny, has great fashion sense, takes her to all kinds of cool places, can cook, is a great gardener, etc. I would have loved being married to him.

Ringer

Ringer was a show that starred Sarah Michelle Geller and aired in 2011-2012. I thought it was fantastic and ended way too early. I’m not sure exactly what happened. Why did they cancel it?

 

Why did it end?

So the series is in the noir genre and has one over-arcing mystery, with multiple twists and turns. Similar to Veronica Mars but much more adult.

Bridget Kelly is a drug addict and stripper. She witnesses a murder crime boss Bodaway Macawi, but is afraid of his power; running away from the FBI agents who promised to protect her. She instead goes to her long estranged twin, Siobhan in New York.

Siobhan has risen from their humble roots, now being a a high society girl; married to one of the most powerful stockbrokers; Andrew Martin (Ioan Gruffudd). Siobhan promises to protect her and takes her out to their house on the Hamptons. They go for a boat ride when Bridget falls asleep. She wakes up to discover her sister gone! The only thing left are her rings!

Oh no…

Afraid that she might be suspected of doing something and worried about Macawi; she decides to pretend to be her sister. But what she thought was a perfect life; money, handsome husband, gorgeous clothes, great friends, etc.- turns out to be anything but.

Siobhan and Andrew’s marriage is on the rocks, her friends are catty, she’s cheating with her best friend’s husband, the stepdaughter hates her, an evil ex-wife trying to remove the “ex” in her title, and to top it all off; someone is trying to kill Siobhan.

Throw in a hot FBI agent that won’t settle until he finds Bridget and not knowing who to trust and you have one winner of a show! Too bad the network didn’t see that.

The only thing I didn’t like about this show was the reason why Bridget and Siobhan were estranged. It wasn’t a horrible reason, it made sense; but I don’t know I guess I was expecting more. The same way I was expecting MORE SEASONS!!

Why did they end it?!

For more on Sarah Michelle Geller, go to She’s Been Totally Different…Like Stepford: Ted, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997)

Saved By the Bell

Saved by the Bell was one of my favorite shows growing up. I used to watch it in the afternoons, and then when they changed the line up; every morning. This continued up into college as I just loved the nostalgia, characters, and the fun plots. As they have it on Netflix; I’ve recently continued my watching and enjoyment.

So the show started out Good Morning Miss Bliss, with Hayley Mills as the main character, and teacher at the junior high school. The show did so-so; so they choose four of the characters to continue; changed the location, and instead focused on the students rather than teachers.

The show centered around Zach Morris, Screech Powers, Jessie Spano, Kelly Kapowski, Lisa Turtle, and A.C. Slater. Usually Zach either created a crazy situation or came up with some silly scheme to get out of a problem. However, they didn’t shy away from the serious issues; sometimes dealing with them in a cheesy way and others very poignantly.

I also watched the College Years, although I didn’t like the two girls they added on when Lisa, Kelly, and Jessie left the show. Otherwise it was good, espechially when they brought Kelly back.

So for characters we have my absolute favorite- Zach Morris played by Mark-Paul Gosselaar.

Zach was hot, and let me just say MPG is still looking pretty fine. He was also loyal, funny, kind, and just fun. He always had some kind of get-rich-quick scheme or plan that usually didn’t work out how he planned. However, one of the things that made him the best was his devotion and adoration of Kelly. Loved her from episode one and continued on.

Jessie Spano was played by Elizabeth Berkley. She was tall, intelligent, a feminist, and always crowing about rights and how stupid men are.

Sometimes she was annoying, but usually fun. At the beginning of the series she had a crush on Zach, but she ended up dating A.C.; and I thought the two worked well. She left the series, but returned for the series finale: when Zach and Kelly got married.

There was Screech Powers played by Dustin Diamond. Screech was a total nerd. He got straight As, built a robot, messed around with all kind of electronics, and was usually the naive one that went along with one of Zach’s schemes. He had a crush on Lisa, but she wasn’t interested in him.

Kelly Kapowski was played by Tiffani-Amber Thiessen. Kelly is the popular, pretty, cheerleader, but also smart all-American girl. All the boys wanted to date her; including Zach and A.C.

She and Zach are constantly being thrown together and then pulled apart, until the very end when the two finally stay together forever, as they get married.

Lisa Turtle was played by Lark Voorhes. Lisa was super rich and super stylish; always dressed the best.

She was always super popular and helping plan parties and dances. She and Zach date briefly, but most of the time she had a new beau every episode.

And last, but not least; the other guy that I thought was a total hunk (although my heart was first for Zach) Mario Lopez who played A.C. Slater. A.C. transferred to the school and was a jock, also being a rival for Zach in Kelly’s affections. However, as MPG and Mario became such great friends; the writers had to change the script and have the two become buds instead. He dated around, Kelly at times, but in the end of the high school series he and Jessie stole each other’s hearts. In the college years, he and Zach are roomies even trying to get into the same fraternity. Slater isn’t just a jock though, he has some great story lines in dealing with being an army brat and moving from place to place; along with trying to express his Latino culture. Like MPG he is still as hot as ever.

Lookin’ good

And just because it was awesome; here is the funny reunion they has on Jimmy Fallon’s show.

For more on Mario Lopez, go to On the 8th Day ‘Til Christmas: Holiday in Handcuffs (2007)

For the previous post, go to To Kill a Fangirl

And Stay tuned for part 20