Community
With the release date of Community’s season six fast approaching, it’s hard not to get excited. The series was cancelled by NBC back in 2014, but like a knight in shining armor (who also happens to own a production company), Yahoo! has taken over the show, which it’s now producing as a web series for devoted audiences.
Although the previous season saw the departure of some notable characters, comedic staples like Danny Pudi, who plays Abed Nadir, and The Soup’s Joel McHale, who plays Jeff Winger, have stuck around, guaranteeing that this sixth season is bound to be a great one, as evidenced by the trailer below.
One character whose brilliance is often overlooked, however, is that of Dean Craig Pelton. Played by Oscar winning screenwriter Jim Rash, Pelton and his costume choices are a highlight of the show. His costumes, which aim to either explore an issue or theme that’s woven throughout the episode, are always hilarious and creative. They’re made even funnier by the Dean’s accompanying puns, but they always show another layer of Dean Pelton that we may not have seen otherwise. Pelton’s costumes reveal more about him than they cover up.
In honor of Community’s season six release, which comes out March 17, here are the five best Dean Pelton costumes seen on the show, narrowed down from the forty-odd costumes he’s worn through the series’ five-season run.
Dean Pelton
- Half Man, Half Woman
S3E16, “Virtual Systems Analysis”
In order to make his announcement, marked with both good news and bad news, the beloved Craig Pelton decided to dress as half a man, and half a woman, to demonstrate the “duali-dean of man.” With long blonde hair and a dress on his left half, and his standard shirt and tie on the right, the dean broke the news to the study group that their biology professor was sick with the flu but, on the plus side, their class was canceled. His costume was particularly poignant to the episode, given that Annie and Abed spend it in the Dreamatorium, with Abed exploring the duality of both his personality and the personalities of the study group. It also shows the extent to which Pelton is willing to humiliate himself for the fun of the group. He notes to them afterwards that this time he feels he’s gone a bit extreme with the costuming, and will now have to go to the bank dressed as half a man, half a woman. Pelton’s willing to be the butt of a joke, if only to make his favourite students smile.
- Lady Justice
S3E22, “Introduction to Finality”
In the season three finale, Jeff represents Shirley in the school’s court of law when Pierce wants to sign as the representative of her sandwich shop, since he’d completely financed the project. Serving as judge, the honorable Dean Pelton spent the second half of the episode as Lady Justice. Wearing white from head to toe, a white blindfold, and carrying a set of scales, he announced that, “blind justice [is] presiding,” shortly before walking into the corner of a desk. Unlike the other costumes of the episode, which included a full judge costume with a powdered wig, this one summed up Pelton’s character fairly neatly. Pelton, like Lady Justice, doesn’t judge the students at Greendale Community College, and is open to hearing all their cases. While he’s not a perfect character by any means, Pelton is willing to go to great lengths to appease his students, even going as far as holding court in a spare classroom with paid lawyers, if he thinks it will better their day.
- Scarlett O’Hara
S2E21, “Paradigms of Human Memory”
Dressed as Scarlett O’Hara from Gone With the Wind, Dean Pelton announces to the study group that the school will be holding a Gone With the Windows cotillion to celebrate the new energy conscious windows the school has installed, and ends his announcement with, “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a Dean.” The costume is hilarious and helps to highlight the insanity, and kindness, of Pelton. The skinny Dean of a community college who, despite the institution’s tight financial situation, still manages to find enough money to don expensive ballgowns and throw parties for arbitrary reasons. Despite what should be a boring, mundane, regular week for the study group, Pelton goes out of his way to try and brighten their day, sometimes at the expense of both himself and the school.
- The Devil
S3E5, “Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps”
While the costume itself may not have been one of the most original of the series, the context of it sets it apart from the rest. Appearing in one of Community’s Halloween specials, Dean Pelton plays the Devil in Shirley’s horror story. Dressed in plush red horns, high heels, and a red and black corset dress, the Dean-vil announces to the study group that, as part of their “damnation orientation,” at ten they’ll “be buried neck deep in scorpions, 11:15- lava enemas, followed by Pilates… Pilates is a demon that eats your genitals.” Lucky for them, their Christian friend (appearing as an angel) sends him away for a short while, but he soon comes back waving a chainsaw and shouting, “gay marriage!” The scene is hilarious, poking fun at anti-gay marriage sentiment by equating the kindhearted Pelton to Satan himself. The costume, while not hilarious on its own, is brilliant in the context of the episode. It helps show Shirley’s true feelings about Pelton’s sexuality, but also helps demonstrate how ridiculous, and unfounded, her beliefs concerning Pelton’s sexuality are. It also shows that, even when he’s supposed to be the embodiment of evil, Pelton’s still too kind to ever be scary. Poking fun at both religion and homophobia with the same three-pronged pitchfork, Pelton’s devil costume is definitely a season highlight.
- Can-can Dancer
S3E18 “Course Listing Unavailable”
Dean Pelton’s can-can dancer costume at the end of season three may seem like a surprise winner, but it easily deserves the top spot. In true Pelton style, he dons a massive frock and shakes the skirts back and forth while announcing to the study group that their biology class has been, “can-can-cancelled.” The scene, on its own, is hilarious, as Rash shakes his gown and makes a clever pun. However the scene also shows Pelton’s genuine love for the study group. It’s more than just affection for the members of the study hall, or Pelton’s crush on Winger, that drives him to wear fancy costumes and crack jokes. The Dean is willing to do whatever it takes to help the group out when they’re at their worst, or to brighten their spirits when he has bad news for them. Unlike other teacher and administrators at the school, Pelton invests his time in the study group and genuinely wants the best for them. He gives them his all and asks for nothing in return, going out of his way to put on elaborate outfits (that, like the O’Hara costume, likely take over an hour to assemble) if he knows it will bring them even one second of joy.
Bonus Costume: Jeff Winger as Dean Pelton
S3E8, “Documentary Filmmaking: Redux”
Although this may not be one of Dean Pelton’s costumes, it was easily one of the best costumes in the whole series, as Jeff Winger’s portrayal of Pelton had the audiences in stitches. With some great method acting, and a not-so-great bald cap, Winger plays a perfect Pelton at the start of Community’s third season. And while this may not be one of Pelton’s costumes, it’s a costume of Pelton, so we’re counting it. Sort of.