Follow TV Tropes

Following

Recap / Community S 4 E 03 Conventions Of Space And Time

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/community-267_2336.jpg
InspectiCon here we come!

The study group ventures forth to an Inspector Spacetime fan convention, called InspectiCon.

While Troy and Abed's friendship seems endangered when Abed meets his pen pal Toby Weeks (Matt Lucas), another passionate fan of the series, the rest of the group has their own troubles. Jeff meets up with an attractive woman (Tricia Helfer) at the bar, which seems not to go over too well with Annie.


The Community episode "Conventions of Space and Time" provides examples of:

  • 419 Scam: Played with. Abed's internet friend Toby is a banker who works in Nigeria. He had financial difficulties so Abed sent him 700 pounds and a plane ticket. Britta is about to break the news to Abed that he was scammed when Toby shows up and gives Abed back his money. He then complains that of all the people he contacted, only Abed was willing to help.
  • Actor Allusion:
    • Toby is played by Matt Lucas, most famous for being half of the duo that star in Little Britain, with the other half being David Walliams. Now, what did Toby say was the name of his best friend who couldn't come to the convention...?
    • Annie is shown to have a Charlie St. Cloud movie poster in her bedroom, which stars Annie's in-universe crush Zac Efron but also actress Alison Brie's real-life now-husband Dave Franco (who she had recently begun dating at the time).
    • The American remake of Inspector Spacetime casts Luke Perry as the titular Inspector and Jennie Garth as his sexy Constable whom he has sexual tensions with. Perry and Garth play the Official Couple of Beverly Hills, 90210.
  • Bait-and-Switch: Jeff is troubled that Annie evidently acquired some of his hair for her staged domestic fantasy but his primary concern seems to be whether it had been falling out without his realizing.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Toby at first seems to be an awkward nerd, on the same wavelength as Abed. He even honorably pays back the 700 pounds he needed. Then he weaponizes Abed's claustrophobia when the latter says that he wants Troy and Toby in his life together, rather than hanging out solely with Toby; Toby grabs Abed and shoves him in an Inspector Spacetime phone booth to break his spirit.
  • Brick Joke: Pierce's low-brow suggestions in the Inspector Spacetime focus group pay off in The Tag, much to Abed's dismay.
  • Building Swing: Britta swings around the corner of the building to the fire escape.
  • Call-Back:
  • The Cameo: Luke Perry and Jennie Garth respectively play the Inspector and his Constable in the American remake of Inspector Spacetime shown in The Tag.
  • Celeb Crush:
  • Celebrity Resemblance: Troy and Abed wait until the group is at the Con to gleefully reveal that Jeff looks like the actor playing Thoraxis.
  • Character Development:
    • Rather than let Troy and Britta's relationship affect his attitude, Abed decides to look for other friends to expand his social circle. Then when said friend exploits his claustrophobia to lock him in a DARSIT, Abed calms himself down long enough for Troy to rescue him.
    • Britta here is more empathetic towards Abed, owing to their therapy sessions. She is also not jealous of the friendship Troy and Abed have.
  • Clingy Jealous Girl: Troy tries to fight his impulse to be this toward Abed.
  • Continuity Nod:
    • In "The Psychology of Letting Go", while Annie and Britta were fighting, Annie accused Britta of "getting up an hour early to ever so slightly curl [Britta's] hair." In this episode's scene where Britta is changing into her clothes outside of the apartment, Annie hands her a curling iron through the window.
    • Annie's initial crush on Troy is referenced when he is mentioned among her list of men she dreamed of marrying.
    • In "Regional Holiday Music", Abed describes the So Bad, It's Good Inspector Spacetime Holiday Special. Not only is it brought up in this episode in a discussion between Abed and Toby, but the creator of the episode (recognizable because he apparently had his knighthood revoked) appears in the credits in Shirley and Pierce's focus group.
  • Dirty Coward: Toby immediately leaves Troy & Abed alone when he learns Troy can make a fist.
  • Eiffel Tower Effect: (In The Tag) San Francisco, must mean we're within sight of the Golden Gate Bridge.
  • Event Title: Referring to the episode's Fan Convention setting.
  • Everyone Has Standards: Jeff tells Annie that, if they were ever married, he would never cheat on her in a hotel. That's what his father did to his mother, after all, and he doesn't want to emulate the former.
  • Evil Is Hammy:
    • Toby gets a lot hammier upon locking Abed into a DARSIT.
    • Thoraxis, a villain in Inspector Spacetime, was clearly written this way.
  • Fanservice:
    • We start out the episode with Troy and Britta in bed together; then we get a long shot of Britta in her underwear making her way to Annie's room while dressing herself.
    • The episode also has yet another Shirtless Scene for Jeff.
  • Fan Convention: InspectiCon, duh.
  • Fauxreigner: Jeff pretends to be Nigel Cuthbertson, Thoraxis's British actor, to flirt with an attractive fan... complete with an atrocious Cockney accent. (Further winked at when the fan tells Jeff off by saying that the "American accent" he switched into isn't remotely convincing.)
  • Freeze-Frame Bonus: The name of the episode's real life writer appears on the pilot for the american remake (the one shown to the focus group that includes Pierce and Shirley).
  • Food Slap: Jeff gets two drinks thrown in his face. Annie tries to then throw two drinks in his face simultaneously, but they're the same (now empty) cups from the first two times, prompting her to bashfully order more drinks.
  • The Foreign Subtitle: The planned American version of Inspector Spacetime is titled Epochs of Eternity: Inspector Spacetime.
  • Funny Background Event:
    • The hotel staff is very supportive when Annie confronts Jeff.
    • Britta gets a gaggle of nerds following her.
    • When Abed expresses his distaste to the changes Pierce had made to Inspector Spacetime, Britta & Shirley can be seen nodding in the background.
    • When Abed is trapped in the booth, you can see postcards with a Green-Skinned Space Babe lying in a suggestive pose.
  • Green-Eyed Monster:
    • Annie's apparent reaction to Jeff flirting with another woman; she later claimed it was just to keep up the act that she's his wife with the staff.
    • Troy also goes "psycho girlfriend" in reaction to his anxieties of Abed leaving him.
  • Handshake Refusal: Toby ignores Troy's extended hand, and Troy plays it off by brushing his hair. Britta also brushes her hair sympathetically.
  • Held Gaze: Jeff and Annie on the couch during the "If we were married...." conversation.
  • I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Britta tells Troy the "if you love someone, set them free" cliche regarding Abed and Toby, but she's also referring to herself. As she puts it, however, she's not interested in Inspector Spacetime, and sharing Troy with Abed is something she can do.
  • Kneel Before Zod: "Bow before Thoraxis!" The con attendees obey. Even Pierce lies prone.
  • Knuckle Cracking: Troy audibly cracks his knuckles when making a fist to threaten Toby.
  • A Match Made in Stockholm: Toby resorts to this after Abed sees through his ruse.
  • Mistaken for Cheating: The hotel staff believe Jeff is married to Annie and cheating on her. Jeff emphasizes that he would not cheat if they were married.
  • Ms. Fanservice: The "leggy blonde with the tennis racket" in the American remake of Inspector Spacetime.
  • My Own Grampa: The American Inspector must impregnate his own grandmother. According to Abed and Toby, the original Inspector Spacetime is both his own grandfather and grandmother.
  • Not So Above It All: Jeff, who had previously called the convention lame, finally has fun at InspectiCon at the end, by uttering Thoraxis' immortal line.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Britta gets confrontational about the (unpopular) female Inspector to Abed, after a moment of tension Abed — claiming that he is trying to be more relaxed about such matters — cheerfully replies that everyone is entitled to their opinion. Troy begins to panic.
  • Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Jeff claims that he needs to practice his American accent so that he can stop faking a British one.
  • Open Secret: Troy and Britta are having sex. Abed knew, even though they went to extremes to hide it. He just likes Britta bringing donuts when she "drops in" every morning.
  • Out-of-Character Moment: Parodied when Jeff tells the group to get their cameras ready because they'll "only see this once" before he rips his shirt open (considering how many times throughout the series he finds an excuse to bare his torso).
  • Person as Verb:
    • Abed asks for Toby's permission to "Winger" him for a moment (used in the sense of giving an epiphany speech).
      Toby: Sure. I don't know what that means, but...
    • Troy and Britta have a conversation that's all the more touching for the number of times that Britta's name has been derisively verbed:
      Troy: I screwed it up. Classic Troy.
      Britta: That's okay; it happens to the best of us.
  • Prematurely Bald: Jeff is very concerned about how Annie acquired his hair.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni:
    Abed: Maybe all relationships are made up of logical Inspectors and emotional Constables and we need both to make space and time a better place.
  • Running Gag:
    Annie: "You're on your own, Al Capone."
  • Ship Tease:
    • Abed/Troy - Britta warns Troy about Toby: "That dude is trying to steal your boyfriend."
    • Jeff & Annie's entire subplot - First, they're planning to go skiing whilst Troy, Abed & Britta were at the Inspector Spacetime convention. The ski resort being closed leads to a bored Annie pretending to be married to Jeff, and she later admits to have pretend-married Jeff a number of times; whilst Jeff tells Annie that if they were married, she'd never find him flirting with some random girl at a bar.
  • The Scrappy: In-Universe—there was a much-maligned female Inspector, Minerva. Since Britta is present, Abed is quick to point out that she isn't hated for being female, she's hated for sucking.
  • Shirtless Scene:
    • Jeff rips open his shirt and delivers Thoraxis's catchphrase.
    • Troy is shirtless in bed with Britta in the opening scene.
  • Shout-Out:
  • Show Within a Show: Inspector Spacetime is the subject of the entire episode.
  • Squee: All over the place. Troy and Abed are obviously hyped for the Inspector Spacetime convention, while Annie is very giddy when she's called "Mrs. Winger".
  • Stylistic Suck:
  • Suspiciously Specific Denial/Blatant Lies: "I'm not psycho!"
  • Take That!:
    • A rather unsubtle one to the new run of Doctor Who, where the Inspector states that "we can go anywhere, at any time in the universe! ...But it'll probably be London during the Blitz" — a reference to the common fan complaint that the Doctor can go anywhere, at any time in the universe... but keeps going to Great Britain's "Finest Hour".
    • Epochs of Eternity is one to every Transatlantic Equivalent that manages to completely bastardize the original show in the process, and the producers who miss the point of why the original show is popular to begin with.
  • Title-Only Opening: This is only the second episode after Season 1 to use the short version of the standard opening theme. Its last appearance was in Season 2's "Cooperative Calligraphy".
  • Tranquil Fury: Abed's reaction to the effects of Pierce's input on the American Inspector Spacetime remake.
    Abed: (whispered) I hate you.
  • Transatlantic Equivalent: An American version of Inspector Spacetime, apparently called Epochs of Eternity, was shown in production during the show.
  • Twofer Token Minority: Shirley (black, female, and older than original demographic) and Pierce (old) cover "several significant quadrants" in the focus group.
    Shirley: We have every right to be here, and I don't know if you're being sexist, ageist, racist, or what, but I don't think I like your -ist.
  • Would Rather Suffer: Jeff expresses his irritation at Annie by telling her he'd be relieved to suddenly wake up during a final exam completely unprepared — preferring a literal nightmare to the situation she's put him in.

Top