A trailer of Michael Scott’s film Threat Level: Midnight.
Entertainment Weekly reports (spoiler alert!):
B.J. Novak — who wrote the episode as well as Threat Level Midnight — sums up [the film]: “Action. Heart. Comedy. Music. Dance. And very violent wish fulfillment involving Toby. I don’t think cinema has seen a hostage murdered with such relish. We actually spent $10,000 on the shot of Toby’s head exploding, and we establish that Michael spent a similar amount.” Novak notes that the episode was the “most conceptually ambitious” in the show’s history; more than 50 percent of the half-hour is comprised of footage from the movie. (The full film, which is 25 minutes long, will be made available on the season 7 DVD.)
Here are the two previously posted promos.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!! Looks so good! Can’t wait!
Oh. My. GOSH! I don’t believe what i’m seeing. How did he do this? This looks so.. professional! Surprised everybody agreed to do this. The nurse outfit? Just wow. Unbelievable!
And this should be an hour long episode. Or at least supersized!
This is gonna be insane.
Jan is a stone cold diva, even with a dart in her neck! Miss her so so much. And Karen! Yay! The dance number looks awesome.
OMG Jim skating is just too adorable ! Can’t wait for this episode, I have the feeling that it’s gonna be hilarious !!
OMG OMG OMG! There are no words to express my excitement for this episode. This is going to be amazing! I mean Threat Level Midnight? I’ve been waiting for this episode since season 2!
Eh……I’m not trying to be negative, but this looks really over the top (even by the show’s standards).
SO. MUCH. AWESOME.
Can’t wait to see what’s going to unfold. Just getting to see all the old cast members – even if only for a second – will be great!!
This episode looks interesting,..
Words cannot describe how excited I am to see this episode. Michael’s movie is already exceeding my expectations!
Also, I am hoping in vain that we will at some point be able to see the entire film. Heh. Is that a stupid thing to hope for? In any case I predict a lot of bloopers on the S7 DVD.
When it comes out on DVD, I expect fake “Threat Level Midnight” behind-the-scenes material and bloopers!
#8 Yeah, I had the same feeling.
Was that Rashida Jones in the purple(?) dress in the dance sequence?
[from tanster: yes! and i believe way down at the end of the bar is todd packer?]
For you “It’s Always Sunny” fans out there, this looks like the Lethal Weapon 5 episode.
#8, I agree. I’m sure it will be really entertaining and funny, but will it be believable? Not sure about that.
Yeah. I’m especially bothered by the fact that it’s shot so professionally. I was expecting (and really hoping) that it’d have the crappy, super-low-budget, home video-esque look – I mean, THAT would be believable. Another thing is that Jan AND Angela took part in it (I could never see either of them willing to take part in Michael’s stupid shenanigans; it seems completely out of character for both).
I still can’t get over Karen agreeing to sing and dance in a Michael Scott movie.
Maybe it’s just all a dream. It’d be possible then. I’m looking forward to this whether it’s believable or not. Glad to see the writers are sending Michael off on a big bang.
#19 – It won’t be a dream because the show is shot as a documentary. The creative team has stated before that (I’m paraphrasing) they can only use footage that would have been shot by the film crew; nothing fantastical.
This looks awesome! I love that they’re bringing back past characters. Perhaps the episode will explain why some of the characters who would seem not to be interested in participating (e.g., Angela) were convinced to be in the film.
I too expected a more home video feel. Perhaps Michael will explain how he was able to pull some of this off? Karen, season 1-2 Pam and Jan, and especially Angela seem very unlikely to agree to “act” for Michael. None of this is affecting my opinion though. I’m still totally beside myself excited to see it.
Maybe Michael was able to use the documentary cameramen to help him film it and that’s why it has a professional quality
Is this only a 30 minute episode, or are we getting the full hour?
Who is that skating with Michael?
@Brad:
I’m not sure about Angela, but I take issue with the idea that Jan wouldn’t have agreed to be in it. Sure, the corporate Jan of season 2 and early 3 would never have been part of it, but crazy season 4 Jan for SURE would have, in my opinion.
Was that Troy that fired the dart at Jan?
I don’t care what anyone says, I’m so excited for this episode; it looks epic!
@25 SBF – You’re absolutely right. CrazyJan would have demanded the biggest part and a solo. Much as I hated the insanity, at least I have TLM to show for it. That said, I miss corporateJan.
So is this Steve’s last episode?? :(
This looks like a multiple views episode so I can catch all the cameos. I didn’t see Timothy Olyphant’s Danny but I hope he makes it into the show.
i could really care less about the believability.. this is michael scott/steve’s swan song. it’s gonna be epic. it HAS to be epic. if it was any other situation (i.e. steve wasn’t leaving this season), then i’d have doubts.. but we need something like this. the last hurrah for michael scott.
The TLM table read during “The Client” was one of the best conference room scenes ever. Hard to imagine this episode living up to that, but we’ll see.
Just because it’s Steve Carell’s last couple of episodes doesn’t in any way mean they should gladly be throwing the show’s realism out the window like I’m afraid they’re going to do. The tone and essence for his ‘swan song’ should be just as realistic as the rest of the series. Not over the top, not cartoonish (because….well, obviously that’ll take away a lot of the emotion).
I can’t wait for this!
I cannot wait to see Rashida Jones on THE OFFICE again! And then on PARKS AND REC afterward.
Am I the only one who noticed that NBC has now completely given up on trying to promote Perfect Couples and Outsourced? They are back to only putting in clips of the four comedies that are actually any good or matter!
Only 69 hours and 27 minutes till the brilliance that is THREAT LEVEL MIDNIGHT!
When I first heard about this, I thought it might be like a recap episode since a lot of these people wouldn’t have given Michael the time of day to help him film a personal movie. Glad to see it is new stuff with the old actors:-)
This looks awesome.
A couple things from the second promo. I like the picture of Abraham Lincoln behind Michael and Dwight. It reminds me of Diversity Day. Also, Jim as Goldenface looks interesting. But who is that little kid in the dance number? It definitely isn’t Teddy Wallace, so who could it be?
re: the high quality of TLM (i.e., that it’s film instead of video), I’ll bet Michael was able to use the documentary film crew and their equipment (I’m sure they’d be entertained by the silliness of it). It seems reasonable and not over the top to me.
Jim as Goldenface, with his oldschool hair. Oh. My. God. :D I want to watch this episode stat!
This is just…too over the top. It’s forsaking believability to send Michael Scott out on a high note. And they still could have done this plot, just with a much lower-looking budget and not having characters in the movie that never would have done it (Madge? Why would she have danced in it? That on top of Angela, Jan, etc). So I don’t quite understand this. Really disappointing.
@24. Wihagr
My old friend and teammate who goes to LMU told me that him and a few other students who played hockey filmed a few scenes with the crew. I’m guessing it will be some sort of game, gonna be sick
AHHHHH. SO COOL. There’s a real full-length movie?! :D
Who doesn’t buy that Michael would put himself seriously in debt and coerce people into doing things they would hate in order to get his film made? I absolutely, 100% buy that. Not a stretch for me at all.
Jan featured in the promo… aww yeeeeeaaaahhhh!
Ahahaha…I love it. I can’t wait to see how much $$$ Michael spent on this.
Looks like the ladies will finally get to see MORE JIM!!!
I’m just going to have to chalk this one up to creative license and not anything linked to the show’s reality. Toby being involved was the final straw.
Tony Gardner is in this? His name is in the credits!!! But how did he manage to be in the film if he had quit the same day he transferred to the Scranton Branch?
Note to self: do not eat or drink anything while watching this episode. Choking hazard.
I have never had such LOW expectations for an Office episode; I’m actually dreading this, as an epic fail in the canon of the show. (Now that I’ve set the bar so low, maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised!)
Wow! The trailer looks amazing! I CAN’T wait to see it tonight!! I wonder how Toby got in on the film. I find it very hard to believe Michael would’ve asked him to be in it. I guess I’ll have to wait and see. I’m so happy the whole film will be on the dvd set!! I’m so excited to see it all!
I get why people are hesitant, and normally I’d feel the same, but seeing Jan/Karen/Roy/callbacks to S2-3 all in one episode is enough to get me deliriously excited enough to suspend my disbelief. And if introverted, pre-corporate Ryan makes an appearance I can die happy.
This is one of the most amazing things i’ve ever seen. I don’t really care about anything else anymore. Besides, he would put himself in debt to make this, he would do almost anything.
@bob: I completely agree. This kills the show’s realism.
gonna have to agree with 41. Josh. I mean, it just doesn’t seem like the same show. Maybe I’m wrong, but I think this episode may be cringe-worthy…
It was good – not outstanding, but good. Had some really funny parts. The TLM movie itself didn’t feature too much Pam. I think there may be some deleted JAM moments I can’t wait to see. All in all, decent episode. PDA was better in my books.
Great to see Madge , Hide and Calvin doing the Scarn! When are they gonna do more warehouse scenes?