Well, the Runaway Roadtrip miniseries is over, and now we have a Halloween special with a cool-looking title card.
It begins with SpongeBob and Patrick finding an old ghostly ship. Thinking it’s one of those fake haunted house attractions made for kids on Halloween, they decide to go explore it. Of course it’s not fake, it’s real, and the owner of the ship, a ghostly pirate named Lord Poltergeist, isn’t happy to find trespassers on his ship. He tells SpongeBob and Patrick that the reason his ship has landed in Bikini Bottom is because of a broken gasket. He offers them a doubloon if they find him a replacement gasket, and to give them incentive to return, he takes their souls. That’s pretty fucking metal. Anyway, SpongeBob and Patrick run to the Krusty Krab where Mr. Krabs, Squidward and Sandy are and tell them what happened. Mr. Krabs is interested in getting the doubloon, so he steals a gasket from some random fish’s car to give to Lord Poltergeist, saying that once they get there they can overpower the ghosts and steal their gold. Sandy offers to help with her device that detects and catches monsters, and Squidward tags along too because of reasons. They head back to the ship and Krabs finds a chest full of gold doubloons. He starts putting them in bags, when Lord Poltergeist appears from out of the chest. SpongeBob gives him the replacement gasket and LP explains that he never actually had their souls, when he spots Krabs, Squidward and Patrick trying to make off with his gold. He stops them and takes them into “The Void”, which shows each of them visions of torment. That’s when Sandy goes all Ghostbusters on LP and sucks Krabs, Squidward and Patrick out of The Void with her device. Once out of The Void, they discover that the gold actually belongs to the Flying Dutchman. Apparently LP used to be part of his crew and stole the Dutchman’s gold years ago. SpongeBob reports the theft to the Dutchman and the Dutchman attacks LP’s ship. And I guess he kills everyone because the episode ends with all of them in The Void, working at the Krusty Krab. So, I guess the Krusty Krab = Hell? I don’t know.
I can’t decide if I think this episode has too much going on or not enough.
This episode doesn’t seem to have a focus. The Great Patty Caper and Frozen Face-Off had a lot happening in them too, in fact I think there was more going on in those episodes than in Ghoul Fools, but they still had a focus and never lost sight of that focus. Everything fit together and felt like it was part of a larger story. The events in Ghoul Fools felt oddly disconnected from each other. It didn’t feel like one story, it felt like a bunch of smaller stories that vaguely related to each other. Each of the stories felt like they could have been an episode on their own. SpongeBob and Patrick trying to get their souls back could have been its own episode. The Void could have been an episode on its own (which I probably would have loved). The ending with the Flying Dutchman attacking his old crew members could have been an episode on its own. If they’d separated the stories and gave this episode more of a Treehouse of Horror-like structure, it could have worked, but they presented it as one story, and it just doesn’t feel like one story, at least not to me. Yet even with all this stuff happening, this episode felt really slow, especially the first half of it. It picks up during the second half, but it still felt a bit slow. Even the chase scene at the end didn’t excite me. Everything about this episode felt lethargic to me.
I would be happy about this being a group episode, but really Sandy and Squidward had no reason to be in the episode at all. Okay, I guess Sandy’s purpose was to save everyone from The Void, so basically she’s a plot-device. Squidward had no purpose whatsoever. He could have been cut from the episode entirely and it wouldn’t have made a difference. Eh, at least he had one or two funny lines.
Actually, the entire episode is pretty funny. At least that’s something good I can say about it. Also, the animation is particularly nice to look at in this episode, it’s smooth and the colors really pop. My only problem with this episode is the story, but unfortunately it’s a big problem. It’s too slow and plot-points feel too disconnected. I just can’t get into it.
Rating: 5.5/10
SpongeBob and Patrick are getting ready to watch a special episode of Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy which is supposed to tell the story of their origin. Unfortunately a storm hits and none of the TV’s in Bikini Bottom are working, so they go to see Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy, hoping to hear the origin story from them. Mermaid Man Barnacle Boy argue about the origin for a bit when the power comes back on and we see their origin story according to their show, and it’s… well, take a look:
Yeah.
This is easily my favorite Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy episode to come out of post-movie (so far). An episode focusing on their origin is a great idea, and most importantly it’s hilarious. So much of this episode had me laughing, and the origin story shown on TV at the end is especially funny. I love how they go through basically every super hero origin cliche ever only to have burnt popcorn be the thing that gives them powers. It’s completely ridiculous in all of the right ways. (As a side note, I also like that the title of the episode references Batman Begins.)
Seeing the human world above water in animation felt really surreal. Before now anything from above water was live-action, and I’ve always liked that, it made it feel like underwater and the surface were separate worlds. It makes sense for them to animate it for this episode, since an origin story that ridiculous would have been difficult to pull off in live-action, but it still felt really odd to me.
I thought having Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy’s original names be the same as their voice actors (Ernest Borgnine and Tim Conway respectively) was a nice idea, but it also reveals an inconsistency since Mermaid Man called Barnacle Boy “Kyle” in a past episode. Oh well, I’m pretty sure only hardcore fans would pick up on it, and I kind of prefer the name Tim for him anyway, I like the idea of them being named after their voice actors.
Speaking of their voice actors, this was the last Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy episode to air before Ernest Bornine’s death in 2012. There are still a couple more episodes with his voice work in them that were made before his death but aired after it, but Mermaid Man Begins is technically his “last episode”. Knowing that makes this episode feel really sad somehow, and this picture doesn’t help:
If that picture doesn’t break you heart then you probably aren’t human. But you might be dancer.
At least Ernest Borgnine’s last episode was a good one. Rest in peace, good sir.
Rating: 9.5/10
Karen tells Plankton that his lack of depth perception due to having only one eye is holding him back, so Plankton begins working on an experiment that will give him a second eye. After a few failed attempts, he and Karen figure out that to grow a second eye, he needs DNA from someone who already has two eyes. So, Plankton collects some DNA from SpongeBob and uses that to make himself a second eye successfully. Now with perfect depth perception, Plankton is ready to make another attempt at stealing the formula. However, this new eye seems to have a strange effect Plankton. It makes him nicer. Suddenly, being evil is a much more difficult task. Plankton tries to fight the effects of the new eye and eventually resorts to trying to get rid of it, but the eye can’t be gotten rid of. He returns home to find that SpongeBob has planned a surprise party for him to celebrate his new kinder attitude. At the party, everyone gives Plankton a group hug, and they squeeze him so hard that his second eye pops out. Ew. With nothing to keep him from his evil ways anymore, Plankton chases everyone out of the Chum Bucket with lasers.
The beginning of this episode where Plankton is hiding in a pickle jar on Mr. Krabs’ desk made my heart flutter because my mom once said that Plankton looks like a dill pickle and I thought that was an adorable description and since then I may have referred to him as “my little dill pickle” in my head. An obsessed fangirl, me? Don’t be silly.
Anyway, this is the best Plankton episode in a while, mainly because it at least has some creativity. Though the formula is technically Plankton’s motivation in this episode, it’s not given that much focus. The focus is on a kind of reverse Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde scenario, where instead of an evil personality taking over someone good and ruining their life, a good personality takes over someone evil and ruins their life. Weird idea, but in a good way. And it’s not just another episode where Plankton pretends to be nice, he actually is nice. And he hates it. It makes for some really funny moments when he tries so hard to be mean but keeps accidentally being nice.
This episode also marks the return of Bubble Bass, who we haven’t seen since Season 1. I only bring this up because it’s apparently a big deal for a lot of people, but I honestly don’t care that much. I guess it’s cool to see him again, but it’s not like I was particularly attached to him. I’d rather see other one-time antagonists like Flatts or Kevin the sea cucumber make a return. Besides, calling this Bubble Bass’ “return” seems a bit generous. He only has a very minor role, and I doubt we’ll be seeing him again after this anyway.
Back on topic, I really liked this episode. I’m glad to see that the writers still have some creativity when it comes to Plankton episodes.
Rating: 8/10
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