The Office: Threat Level Midnight, 7.17
Thursday, February 17th, 2011 | 169 comments
W: B.J. Novak, D: Tucker Gates
Summary (NBC): After eleven years of writing, shooting, re-shooting and editing, Michael is finally ready to present his long-awaited action movie, “Threat Level Midnight,” to his coworkers and love interest Holly. But is he ready for their reactions? “Threat Level Midnight” stars Michael Scott as “Agent Michael Scarn,” Dwight Schrute as Scarn’s butler sidekick, and Jim Halpert as archnemesis “Goldenface,” along with many familiar faces from Michael’s past. Guest stars: Amy Ryan, Melora Hardin, Linda Purl, Rashida Jones, David Denman, Andy Buckley.
Icon provided by pessimistreader.
The Office Threat Level Midnight trivia
- Read OfficeTally’s exclusive Threat Level Midnight Q&A with B.J. Novak
- Threat Level: Midnight website
- Deleted scenes | Promos and trailer
- Photos | The Faces of Scarn
- The song playing in the skating rink is Billy Joel’s Running On Ice.
- History and trivia about Threat Level: Midnight.
Rating
In a poll conducted February 17-21, 2011, Tallyheads rated this episode: 8.53/10
The Office Threat Level Midnight quotes
Manually transcribed by tanster :)
Michael: Clean up on aisle five.
Michael: After three years of writing, one year of shooting, four years of re-shooting, and two years of editing, I have finally completed my movie, Threat Level: Midnight.
Jim: Threat Level: Midnight is the great lost film of Michael Scott.
Pam: We’re all in it. From like years and years ago. It’s like a home movie.
Jim: Yeah, if Michael Scott did your home movie.
Pam: Everything pointed to it being a comedy.
Pam: Let’s stay positive. And no laughing, no comments, just positive energy. And we’ll have a pure fun day. Okay?
Creed: Thanks, Mom.
Michael: It’s got action. It’s got heart. It’s got symbolism.
Holly: It’s got you.
Michael: It’s got a lot of me.
Michael Scarn’s address:
Scarn Manor
451 Hanover Lane
Clarks Summit, PA 18411
Dwight: I play Samuel, Michael Scarn’s robot butler.
Michael: Dwight does not play a robot.
Michael: Goldenface. This make it personal.
Darryl: I gave up a lot of weekends because I thought it would be good for my daughter to see a black man as president. Even in a silly home movie. What a stupid waste of time.
Darryl (President): I own the stadium. I can’t see it blown up. It’s my retirement plan.
Darryl (President): Scarn, will you find these hostages and save the game?
Michael: Heads I do it, tails I don’t. Best out of seven.
Michael: Looks like there’s going to be a clean-up on aisle five.
Jim (Goldenface): See, I’m going to lure him here. Then I’m going to kill everybody. Then I’m going to dig up Scarn’s dead wife. And I’m going to hump her real good.
Jim: I did not love the dialogue. Or the character. I took the role to impress a receptionist. Who will remain nameless.
Stanley (narrator): Scarn didn’t know a hockey stick from a Slim Jim.
Creed (Cherokee Jack): Mop the ice.
Ryan: Oh your marks, get set…
Jim (Goldenface): …die!
Michael: Nice try, Goldenface. Except you forgot one thing. To kill me.
Jim (Goldenface): Oh by the way: how’s your wife doing?
Dwight (Samuel): I’m intercepting a name. Jasmine Windsong. She works for Goldenface.
Dwight (Samuel): What I can’t figure out is, who is The Funky Cat?
Michael: Not who, what. The Funky Cat is the hippest jazz club in town.
Dwight: He cut the part where my circuit board malfunctioned? Then what was the point of spilling the drink on me?
Jan (Jasmine Windsong): The hostages are under the stadium.
Michael: Check, please.
Pam: You have to let us go, Goldenface. We have families!
Jim (Goldenface): This is going to show them, that I mean business.
Michael: Far and away the most expensive shot of the movie. But it was intregral to the story.
Michael: The joke’s on you, Goldenface. That man was a wanted animal rapist.
Michael: Hey Goldenface.
Jim (Goldenface): Yeah?
Michael: Go puck yourself.
Michael: It’ll take a lot more than a bullet to the brain, lungs, heart, back, and balls to kill Michael Scarn.
Michael: Where had I gone wrong. All I wanted to do was start a family with my beautiful wife. But somewhere along the way, things got messed up.
Michael: Don’t ever change, Billy.
Michael: Goldenface is going to blow up the NHL All-Star game tomorrow.
Karen: Ever banged an entire bachelorette party, baby?
Karen: Why are you singling my line out, like a million years later?
Billy: Hey kid, hit G-9 on the jukebox.
The Scarn
Well my name’s Michael Scarn and I’m here to say
I’m about to do The Scarn in a major way
You jump to the right and you shake a hand
Then you jump to the left and shake that hand
You meet new friends
You tie some yarn
And that’s how you do The Scarn
Packer: If doing The Scarn is gay, then I’m the biggest queer on earth!
Kevin: It’s like one of the best movies I’ve ever seen in my life.
Ryan: You should enter it in festivals.
Kevin: Or carnivals.
Andy: Some people are really popping on screen.
Michael: This isn’t Ocean’s 11 where you get together with all your friends and you just have fun and you don’t care about how it turns out.
Michael: This has been my dream for eleven years. Eleven years that I could have been working on The Scarn Nebulus.
Michael: I have my book on business, Somehow I Manage. I have my HBO Comedy Special, Here I Go Again. Dot dot dot.
Michael: I’m sorry I called you a pain in the ass. I’m angry, and I love you.
Michael: I’m a huge Woody Allen fan. Although I’ve only seen Antz.
Michael: Don’t listen to your critics. Listen to your fans.
Michael: This one’s for you, Cherokee Jack.
Pam: Why is your face gold?
Jim (Goldenface): Why do you care?
Pam: I’m just making conversation.
Creed (Cherokee Jack): Take it out on the puck. All on the puck.
Andy (Billy): Hey! We got sports games again!
Michael: Oh yeah, I guess I did let him be a robot.
Andy: Whoa whoa whoa. Isn’t the president evil?
Tag
Aw, yeah!
Threat Level Midnight
Makes all the girlies feel all right
From Madonna to Madeleine Albright
Threat Level Midnight
It’s a threat
A level
A level level threat
He’s the greatest hockey star I’ve ever seen yet
Threat Level what? Midnight
Threat Level who? Michael Scarn
Threat Level why? Apartheid
Gotta fight it, free Mandela
Peace, I’m out
Follow OfficeTally
Upcoming Episodes
- Season 9 schedule tbd...
Current Episodes
- May 10:
Free Family Portrait Studio - Watch 'The Office' online
- The Office Episode List
- Nielsen ratings | Fan ratings
- The Office seasons:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
- May 10:
Quick Links
Get Stuff
OfficeTally Exclusives
Advertisement
Archives
Categories
any idea what’s the music playing after the “running on ice” during the goldenface/scarn/oscar race (1,2,3…die!). same as the opening credit for the bonus version. please, it’s driving me nuts…
As to many of the comments that I have read about “why was this not like what was read in season 2?”
Michael said that he was writing and RE-WRITING.
With knowing how to use a computer but not a blackberry, he probably had Pam’s help with some of it since she was very interested in the completion of the movie. And lots of people don’t know how to use cellphones, but are great with computers.
The episode was great, and even though it wasn’t the all-time best, it still was great! The all-time best was Casino Night. And STEVE wrote it! If Steve wrote all the episodes, the show would’ve been GREAT AND AMAZING~
To those saying it’s sad Michael is giving up his dream of filmmaking because Holly didn’t like it: He’s giving it up because he is finally growing up. He’s not good at it – it was a childish pipe dream. Giving it up means he is finally growing up.
Despite the obvious nit-picky inconsistencies of the episode with Season 2′s screenplay reading, and the shaky timeline (why is Helene in it, but not Holly), bottom line, it was hilarious!! After seven-ish years, it is still so very funny!
If we remember, Michael edited and put together an video advertisement in the episode “Local Ad” from Season 4. But in episodes right before that, “Dunder Mifflin Infinity” and “Money”, he is shown not to be able to use a Blackberry or PowerPoint. So the presentation of Michael’s technology skills are inconsistent at best.
I loved this episode. It was the hardest I laughed in a while. I have watched this show since season 1 and love it.
Was anyone else annoyed that Samuel L. Chang wasn’t the (please correct me if I’m wrong) Chinese man with broken english and weird slang catch phrases that Ryan read in Season Two’s “The Client”? Instead, he was a robot? Don’t get me wrong- I thought it was cute that Michael eventually let Dwight be the robot that he wanted, but overall, I was disappointed that the episode strayed farther from its original reference than it appears it claims to. Just so disappointing, especially since earlier episodes that have dealt, in part, with some of the same ideas, were so so good! All in all, this episode just made me realize how I miss “The Client” and the old Office so much more.
I thought the episode was great! I did find the logistics of the movie unrealistic but still enjoyed it. If they had made every scene set in the office or Michael’s condo (like the Oval “Office”) it would have been more believable. Also, it would have helped made everyone’s participation more believable because they were getting out of work for it. Still, I don’t think it was that far of a stretch since they were super into doing the script reading in Season 2 it makes sense that they would participate for the purpose of making fun of Michael.
Although, explaining the production value would have been nice. You can easily make TLM on imovie, but I don’t see how Michael could do that when he couldn’t figure out Power Point.
Tiffany @153- I watched the episode again and noticed that Holly didn’t seem to like the movie from a start. She always looked serious and never laughed at all. I also think Michael took the movie too seriously and wasn’t really enjoying it until Holly said she didn’t like it. It was only until the end that he was laughing at some of the scenes. I think he also realized that he didn’t need the movie or anything else that he has created because what Holly said struck a chord with him. He has her and she is real so he doesn’t really need all these other things that he mentioned. Some people said they felt like Michael grew up a little in the way he responded to Holly. He could’ve been immature and mean about her comments, but he wasn’t at the end. I still don’t like that he gave up on his dream so quickly,it just didn’t make sense to me. I still think Holly should have been more supportive since she loves him. It felt very out of character for her to act like this.
The part where Toby got his head blown off was the hardest I’ve laughed in a long long long long long time.
@158: I’m one of the people who didn’t love it, and I’ve been watching since season 1. Aside from the fact that the episode centered around a film that was part of an episode in season 2, I saw no homage to the “old” Office. In fact, this strayed so far from what The Office used to be that I think this episode was for the newer fans. I don’t mean to be such a negative Nancy– I laughed several times– but was mostly just shaking my head, disappointed.
I loved this episode. The Scarn was awesome and now I know it by heart. But the one thing I hated about the episode, Holly. Ever since she returned she has been a little bit colder to Michael and in Classy Christmas I really hated her. I am glad she only has two episodes left. The only thing I like about her is Michael is still happy. I like Erin’s views on her because I agree 100% with Erin. Also I noticed Jim had his S1-S4 hair back in TLM.
I loved this episode! I was slightly disappointed that it didn’t follow the script that was originally read way back in season 2 (“The Client”). I also LOVED that Stanley was the narrator…it reminded me of how Morgan Freeman narrates so many movies. Overall, awesome episode!
I’m actually a little surprised how polarizing this episode seemed to be. I am willing to bet, however, that most of the people who hated the episode are more casual and newer fans. I felt like TLM was clearly a tribute to the hardcore fans that have followed the show from the very beginning. There were various aspects that were callbacks to earlier seasons, that I’m guessing were harder to notice and appreciate had you not been watching since Season 1/2.
I enjoyed this episode, especially since we got a nice slice of the entire cast, past and present. I was very willing to suspend disbelief that the Office staff was participating in the movie, as I could imagine Michael bribing them one way or another. Jim’s rationale was so spot on from Seasons One and Two, when he would do anything to impress Pam. Loved Kevin saying to show the movie at a carnival. What I hated was Michael giving up on his dream of moviemaking because Holly didn’t like it. I’d never recognize Michael anymore with this newfound insight into his own psychology. If the writers think Holly will only want to marry Michael if he grows up, and are willing to change a character that has worked for years to do that, then no wonder this romance seems so contrived.
@ Chris (#147)
I think the suspense-type music is from the Jason Bourne movies.
It just seems to me like they want to get all the episodes dealing with Michael Scott’s “story” out of the way, and everything feels rushed. Just like with Holly and Michael getting together, showing old flames like Jan, and his movie, you can obviously tell that the writers want to tie up as many loose ends as humanly possible, but it comes at the expense of the true comedy of the show.
Terrible. Absolutely terrible. I love this show, and I hate being negative on the internet, because it’s a cliche, but that was not funny and, as others have said, did not fit with the tone and spirit of the show at all. This season has had some very high points, but this is probably the worst episode of the series for me.
soup snake @ 137 – I agree that it was disappointing that Michael gave up on his movie after all this time because of Holly’s opinion. It made me sad because not only is he leaving, it feels like he is being de-Michaeled on his way out. I’d love it if he took a stand for something that means so much to him. That would be my ideal swan song for Michael Scott.
Oh, and Holly? Boo. Ironic that every single person in that office, including Oscar, Angela, Stanley and Jan (all of whom relish being brutally honest with Michael) were more supportive of Michael’s dream than she was. Even Toby was there for him. Just boo.
That piece of the story aside though, I loved this episode and I can’t wait to watch the full length TLM!!
Did anyone notice that when they would show the external shot of the White House, it was labeled as “Washington DC, D.C.”? Love it!
I like that the ZIP codes shown for Scarn Manor in Clarks Summit, PA, and for the White House, were the correct ZIP’s! But Google Maps says there’s no 451 Hanover Lane, so Scarn Manor will remain a figment of Michael’s imagination.