SpongeBob Reviews: Season 8 (The Good Krabby Name/Move It or Lose It/Hello Bikini Bottom)

It begins with Krabs taking pictures of everyone in Bikini Bottom who hasn’t been to the Krusty Krab, which is a little creepy, but let’s not dwell on that. Later he pulls SpongeBob and Squidward into his office and tells them that they need to bring in new customers with advertising. So SpongeBob goes out to advertise (Squidward has no fucks to give as usual) and is later joined by Patrick. And that’s pretty much the majority of the episode. SpongeBob and Patrick find silly and often dangerous ways of advertising that are surprisingly successful, until finally they manage to piss people off when one of their methods goes awry. Well, more awry than their previous ones, I guess. Anyway, angry customers storm the Krusty Krab and of course it ends up destroyed. Can that place ever catch a break?

This episode has an okay premise. It does feel a bit familiar, but it’s original enough. Can’t say I really enjoyed it much, though. I found it rather dull. There are a few funny bits, but nothing that really stands out. Except maybe that one brilliant scene between Mr. Krabs and the last customer needed that looked oddly suggestive. Y’all know what I’m talking about.

I did find it kind of amusing that despite their terrible methods of advertising the Bikini Bottomites couldn’t help being drawn to the Krusty Krab. And Plankton’s cameo was kind of funny too. However, I don’t think the episode as a whole has much worth writing home about.

Rating: 4/10

A notice is put up in between the Krusty Krab and the Chum Bucket, saying that the restaurants are too close together. Apparently there’s a law about restaurants needing to be a hundred feet from each other, and the Krusty Krab and Chum Bucket are ninety-nine feet from each other. If one of them doesn’t move, one of them will get plowed. Mr. Krab and Plankton are both too stubborn to move, so they start gathering signatures for petitions to let their restaurant be the one to stay. At first it appears that Krabs is winning, but SpongeBob overhears Plankton crying and feels bad, so he lets slip some ideas for how Plankton can get more signatures. Basically Plankton pays people for them, and he ends up getting more, so the Krusty Krab has to be plowed. And by “plowed” I mean it gets pushed one foot away from the Chum Bucket, meeting the requirements.

I was hoping to like this episode more than I did, since I really like it when characters are pitted against each other for an episode. But like its partner, this episode was pretty forgettable. I like it a little more than I liked its partner, but not much more. The ending was really predictable, and I was kind of annoyed at how the whole plot basically came about because of poor communication (the man who left them the notice wasn’t clear about what he meant when he said one of them would be getting plowed). I don’t know, I’m not a fan of plots that rely on characters not being able to communicate properly and tell each other what they actually mean, and while this definitely wasn’t as annoying as most plots like this can be (if anything, it’s probably one of the better examples of this type of plot), I still couldn’t help rolling my eyes a little at the ending’s “reveal”.

I liked how excited Plankton was about the Krusty Krab being plowed, it reminded of the movie, when we was way too excited about Mr. Krabs being executed. I love that Plankton is actually starting to feel like a villain again.

Rating: 5.5/10

Squidward is practicing his clarinet (this is one of those episodes where he’s randomly able to play it well) and is heard by SpongeBob, who tries to join him with his ukelele. Squidward is unhappy about the intrusion, but they’re heard by a fish named Colonel Carper, who says he wants them to form a band with him as their manager. Squidward doesn’t like the idea of working with SpongeBob, but he does so anyway for the possibility of becoming famous. SpongeBob, bless his heart, doesn’t care about the money and fame and is just happy to be in a band with his friend. Mr. Krabs overhears CC talking about how much money they’ll make (a lot of overhearing happens at the beginning of this episode) and he forcefully makes himself band manager, despite CC’s warnings that managing a band is harder than it look. Most of this is explained through song. From there, a lot happens and I don’t want to spend too much time on it, but here’s what you need to know: Mr. Krabs is a terrible band manager, SpongeBob and Squidward are obviously both hoping to get different things out of their band, CC is an asshole but to be fair Krabs did deserve a lot of what CC did to him, and the band eventually fails because, as mentioned earlier, Mr. Krabs is a terrible band manager. After a particularly bad concert experience Krabs, Squidward and SpongeBob (and Patrick who was their roadie, but he doesn’t have much of a purpose in the narrative, really) end up stranded far from home thanks to a flat tire on their tour bus. Squidward decides he’s had enough and gives up on the band. SpongeBob tries to stop him, but Squidward begins walking home on his own. Then we get another song, this time an emotional duet between Squidward and SpongeBob which culminates in the two of them rejoining and playing their instruments together. What happens after this is a bit confusing, but basically the band still ends up failing.

Okay, so I thought this special was really funny. Like, probably one of the funnier post-movie episodes. I found Mr. Krabs especially hilarious, though I’m not entirely sure why since he didn’t have that many lines that were particularly clever or even particularly memorable, I just remember laughing because of him a lot. I think it was mostly his deliveries and facial expressions that made me laugh. Colonel Carper was a pretty funny character too, in a wow-what-an-obnoxious-asshole kind of way, and the fact that he’s voiced by Andy Samberg earns him some extra points in my books. Squidward and SpongeBob both had their fair share of funny moments too.

My only problem with the episode is unfortunately one that’s hard to ignore. I didn’t like the story. No, that’s not it. I liked the story, or I wanted to anyway, but I didn’t like what the story focused on. Wait. No. I can explain this, I swear.

I really liked the portions of the story that focused on SpongeBob and Squidward, and it seemed like that should have been the heart of the episode, but it took a backseat to Krabs’ conflict with Colonel Carper. And yeah, I found most of the stuff with Krabs and CC funny, but I was much more interested in what was happening with SpongeBob and Squidward. I liked that they were both clearly looking for something different out of their partnership, but Squidward eventually comes around to SpongeBob’s way of thinking. And hey, remember that thing Squidward used to do sometimes where he didn’t hate SpongeBob’s guts? HE DOES IT AGAIN IN HELLO BIKINI BOTTOM. It’s small and fleeting, but it’s something. And that’s all I really wanted, just something, however small and short-lived it may be, to show that Squidward’s heart isn’t made completely out of stone. Unfortunately that plotline seemed more like an afterthought. I wish it had been the main plot and that the Krabs-CC plotline was more secondary. It would have made the episode feel a lot more balanced and increased its replay value.

The music in the episode is pretty decent. The ukelele and clarinet combo actually did sound quite nice, and the song sung at the beginning is fun, though it does go on for way too long. The duet SpongeBob and Squidward sing at the end is nice, but I kind of ruined it for myself when this thought entered my mind about halfway through it: “Wow, I wonder how many slash fics were inspired by this scene?” That was all I could think about afterwards. Fandoms have polluted my mind.

I don’t know why, but I laughed really hard at the first line SpongeBob sings in the duet: “Squidward, you must look inward!” I have no idea why this lyric is so funny to me, it probably shouldn’t be. I just think it’s such a clever rhyme and I really wasn’t expecting it when I heard it.

Overall, it’s a good episode, and a good way to end the season.

Rating: 7.5/10

Wait… am I really done with Season 8 already? Didn’t I start Season 4, like, two days ago?!

SpongeBob Reviews: Season 8 (The Krabby Patty That Ate Bikini Bottom/Bubble Buddy Returns)

Mr. Krabs spots a giant bean growing in Sandy’s treedome and is curious about it, so he asks for a tour of her treedome. During the tour, Sandy tells him that she enlarged the bean with some growth serum, and Mr. Krabs wants to use the serum on a Krabby Patty to make an unlimited supply. He calls SpongeBob and asks him to bring a Patty, and with Sandy’s guidance they pour a few drops of the serum onto the Patty. Nothing appears to happen, so while Sandy goes to the little squirrel’s room (her words, not mine, gotta love puns) Krabs pours the whole bottle on the patty. It still doesn’t seem to work, but on their way back to the Krusty Krab the Patty starts to grow. It keeps growing in the restaurant, eventually consuming it and then going on to consume the rest of Bikini Bottom. SpongeBob and Patrick run to Sandy’s house, thinking that she must have a solution, and of course she does. She tells SpongeBob that her artificial intelligence cube told her her he needs to “make direct contact” with the Krabby Patty, which basically means he needs to absorb it. Yeah… we’ll get to that cube. Anyway, SpongeBob absorbs the Patty and Bikini Bottom is saved. But… would the Patty just keep growing inside him? Or was it done growing by the time he absorbed it? Whatever.

This episode reminds me a lot of Whelk Attack. It’s another parody of old, cheesy monster movies, specifically The Blob in this case. This one is weaker than Whelk Attack, though. The story isn’t put together as well, and it’s perhaps a bit too similar to Whelk Attack, particularly the second half. But I do want more episodes like this, where some sort of epidemic comes to Bikini Bottom, so I do appreciate this episode for that fact.

I was rather pleased at the beginning of this episode, when it seemed like this was going to be a Sandy-Krabs episode, which we’ve never seen before. Unfortunately that got forgotten pretty quickly and the episode returns to the usual dynamics. In fact, Krab just disappeared during the second half, which I found odd. Since he was the cause of the giant Krabby Patty, I kind of thought he would be more involved in the solution. Okay, fine, he didn’t just disappear for no reason, he got consumed by the Patty, but I still found it strange that he wasn’t at least mentioned in the second half. We see him again at the very end, but it doesn’t amount to anything. Am I the only one who finds it weird that Krabs isn’t more involved in the story?

And Sandy’s cube thing. Just… what. What was the point? When Sandy showed Krabs the cube at the beginning of the episode, I thought it was just a throwaway joke and forgot about it until it was brought up again. She describes it as a Rubik’s Cube that can solve itself, it sounded like a joke. Turns out it was a plot point, but… why? Couldn’t the characters have figured out what to do without the cube? Sandy figures things out all the time. Why add in the cube? It’s really baffling.

Anyway, this episode does have a few funny and entertaining bits, and I liked the idea, but it’s too weirdly put-together and it comes off as somewhat of a poor man’s Whelk Attack.

Rating: 6/10

SpongeBob gets a letter from Bubble Buddy (yes, that Bubble Buddy) asking him if he can watch Bubble Buddy’s son, Shiny, for the day. Well, “ask” isn’t the right word, as it implies that SpongeBob had a choice. Bubble Buddy sends the letter to SpongeBob’s house with Shiny, so it’s not like SpongeBob can say no. It doesn’t matter anyway because SpongeBob is perfectly happy to watch Shiny, but personally I’d be pissed if someone ambushed me into watching their kid. Anyway, SpongeBob needs to keep Shiny away from sharp/pointy objects that could potentially pop him, but Shiny keeps wandering off to dangerous areas and ruining people’s day (like father like son?). And people wonder why I don’t like kids. Anyway, that’s basically the whole episode. Shiny wanders off, SpongeBob rescues him and scolds him, rinse and repeat until Bubble Buddy shows up at the end to pick up Shiny.

So, this is the first episode to directly reference a previous episode and can be considered a “sequel” of sorts to said episode. The closest thing we’ve ever had to this before was Prehibernation Week and Survival of the Idiots, which are sort of related but not directly. Bubble Buddy Returns actually is directly related to a previous episode (it even references the fact that Bubble Buddy owes Mr. Krabs money!), though why it’s called “Bubble Buddy Returns” when it mostly features his son is beyond me. Bubble Buddy is only in the episode for, like, two minutes total.

I was really skeptical about this episode at first. Not because I thought it would ruin a “classic” or anything like that (I don’t even like the original Bubble Buddy episode that much, honestly), but because the idea of a direct sequel to an episode was off-putting for me. This show has never had continuity (besides small, indirect references to other episodes that would probably fly over the casual fan’s head) and I actually like that. It gives the writers more freedom, and it’s a lot easier to pretend episodes that I don’t like don’t exist when they don’t have any lasting effect on the show or characters. It’s also nice for newcomers to the show. They don’t have to start from the beginning of the show to understand what’s going on. I like that each episode is its own separate entity.

So, I had reservations about this episode the moment I saw the title of it. I didn’t like the idea of a direct sequel to an episode, I kept wondering what it meant for the show, whether there was some weird timeline to it after all. Now that I think about it, I have wished for one-time characters to reappear before (though Bubble Buddy would not have been one of choices), which would require some reference to previous episodes, and Friend or Foe actually did provide some continuity to the show. Krabs and Plankton’s relationship had been hinted about before then, so it wasn’t exactly a new addition, just expanding on something that was already there, but still, that episode did have a lasting effect on the Krabs-Plankton dynamic, it wasn’t just a one-shot thing. So, I suppose a little bit of continuity is okay to an extent, but I still wouldn’t want a concrete timeline to the show. This episode actually doesn’t do much for continuity anyway. It’s a sequel, sure, but it could also exist on its own. You wouldn’t need to watch the original episode to understand this one.

All that being said, good God this episode is boring. It was easy to forget my hang-ups about direct sequels to episodes when the sequel in question was putting me to sleep. It’s way too repetitive, the only interesting thing to happen in the episode was the ending when SpongeBob accidentally popped Shiny. Is it bad that I was kind of relieved when he got popped? It probably is.

I just thought of something. If Bubble Buddy has a son… does that mean Bubble Buddy has had sex? How can bubbles have sex anyway? Can they… can they pop each other when they put it in? Ugh, why am I thinking about bubble sex this much?! I’m too dirty-minded for my own good.  Shiny was probably the result of bubble-blowing, just like Bubble Buddy was. Though that also raises some questions. Was Bubble Buddy “born” when SpongeBob blew him? Oh dear, I shouldn’t use the word “blow” or participles of it when I’ve just been talking about bubble sex. I don’t even know where I’m going with this anymore. Never mind.

To sum up, I’m still on the fence about direct sequels to episodes, and this episode is a bore. Luckily I’m not a big fan of the original episode, so I’m not too disappointed by this one.

Rating: 2.5/10

SpongeBob Reviews: Season 6 (Boating Buddies/The Krabby Kronicle)

Squidward is trying to get away from SpongeBob. Hey, that’s new. Anyway, he gets into a boat and drives away from him, but he runs through a stop sign and gets a ticket. The only way to preserve his perfect driving record is to go to boating school. Yeah, we all know where this is going. SpongeBob annoys him, Squidward gets mad, blah blah blah. Mrs. Puff tells them that they will be practicing driving in partners, and guess who’s paired with Squidward? Mrs. Puff, SpongeBob and Squidward get into the boat and SpongeBob is the one driving. Of course chaos ensues, and I’m not going to bother explaining what happens because it’s all really strange and doesn’t make much sense, but all you need to know is that it ends with Squidward breaking every bone in his body, which means he isn’t able to take the written test. He’s forced to ask SpongeBob to help him with the test, but time runs out before SpongeBob can help him. Both of them fail the test, which means both of them will have to come back next week.

The problems with this episode should be obvious. SpongeBob is annoying as Hell, Squid Abuse, you know the drill. Both of those are things I’ve ranted about so many times throughout these reviews and I’m really sick of repeating myself. You might as well go read my review of Good Neighbors again. Yeah, I know that’s lazy of me, in fact this entire review so far has been lazy, but I’m tired of talking about the same things over and over again. (As a side note, that Good Neighbors review is kind of funny to me now.  I was so mad, hehe.)

There is one thing about this episode I’d like to talk about though…

First of all, LOL at the last two lines from Squidward and Mrs. Puff. Those two should hang out more often. Second of all, WHAT IS WITH SPONGEBOB’S CREEPY BREATHING. You know, in the same way that the writers have started taking Squidward’s hatred for SpongeBob too far, I think they’re also taking SpongeBob’s adoration for Squidward too far. What with the “I like Squidward” thing in 20,000 Patties Under the Sea, the weird breathing in Boating Buddies, his occasionally stalker-like behavior, and his weird new habit of calling Squidward handsome at random times (in one episode he calls Squidward beautiful, I’m not kidding), it seems like they’re implying that SpongeBob has a crush on Squidward. Not that there would be anything wrong with that, I just wonder why they’re suddenly going that route.

You know, despite everything I just said, I actually don’t hate Boating Buddies. To be clear, I don’t like it, I barely think it’s watchable, but I definitely don’t hate it as much as I hate Good Neighbors or other episodes of that sort. There were enough things that I found amusing to keep me from disliking Boating Buddies too much. Plus, I like the idea of Squidward and SpongeBob being in boating school together, even if it wasn’t executed that well.

By the way, has anyone noticed that Squidward’s voice has been slowly changing over the past couple of seasons? It’s getting lower and he’s sounding more and more congested. Squilliam’s voice sounded a little bit off in House Fancy, too. Oh well.

Rating: 3.5/10

Mr. Krabs starts a newspaper to make more money, and he makes SpongeBob the lead reporter. The stories SpongeBob writes aren’t very interesting, so Krabs starts taking his stories and “embellishing” them. In other words, he makes up mean lies about people and ruins their lives. He makes up a story about Mrs. Puff being in a high speed chase, which puts her job in jeopardy; he makes up a story about Larry being beaten up by a wimp, so Larry loses his tough reputation and gets kicked out of the gym; he makes up a story about Plankton making chum out of fish, which causes the Chum Bucket to be closed down; he makes up a story about how Sandy is actually an idiot, so she loses all of her science awards. SpongeBob feels guilty about how the stories are ruining people’s lives, but whenever he tries to tell Mr. Krabs that, Krabs tells him that the stories aren’t doing any harm. SpongeBob prints a story about how Krabs mistreats his employees and about how he’s made up lies about everyone in The Krabby Kronicle. Everyone is furious and demands their money back. Krabs is upset about losing all of his profits, but then he realizes that he can use the printing press to print himself more money.

There are two problems with this episode:

1. Plots like this have been done to death.

2. The ending. I thought Krabs was going to get what he deserved, but he found a way out of it by doing something illegal. It seems that Krabs, much like SpongeBob and Patrick, is some kind of Karma Houdini.

A common complaint about this episode is that it has SpongeBob Abuse. Uh, where? I didn’t see any. Yeah, Krabs was working him hard, but when does he not do that? There was nothing in this episode that seemed out of the ordinary or particularly mean to me. Well, except for the stories Krabs was making up, but those were supposed to be mean. There’s nothing in this episode that I would consider character abuse.

Despite the two problems that I mentioned, I quite liked this episode. It’s funny, entertaining, and it’s one of very few episodes where SpongeBob rebels against Mr. Krabs. I like seeing that.

Rating: 8.5/10

SpongeBob Reviews: Season 6 (House Fancy/Krabby Road)

And now we begin Season 6, which everyone says is the worst season by far. This will be fun!

Oh my God, you guys, this is the episode with the infamous toenail scene.

But we’ll get to that in a moment.

Squidward is about to watch a show called House Fancy, which is a show where people show off their fancy houses. Squilliam Fancyson, Squidward’s snobby and far more successful nemesis, appears on the show. Squidward gets angrier and more jealous with each minute that he watches Squilliam brag about his house (which is pretty fabulous). Finally, he calls the host of House Fancy to tell him that his house is much better than Squilliam’s. The host says that they’ll be over in two hours to check out his house. Squidward hurries to get his house ready on time. SpongeBob offers to help, and Squidward accepts in his desperation. Of course SpongeBob destroys the place. The host of House Fancy and Squilliam arrive and find Squidward sitting in the rubble that was his house. The host thinks that this is some new, innovative design and loves it, declaring that Squidward’s house is indeed fancier than Squilliam’s. The host says that Squidward will get his own full episode on the show and will be crowned prince of House Fancy, an honor that was supposed to be given to Squilliam. It’s at this point that Squilliam starts crying.

Sigh. You can’t talk about this episode without mentioning the toenail scene, so let’s get it out of the way. Months before I started doing these reviews, I kept hearing about the toenail scene and how disgusting it was and how it scarred people for life and I thought, “Oh, come on, how bad could it be?” So I looked it up on YouTube and watched it. Now I’m scarred for life. Like I can’t even clip my toenails anymore without feeling sick. Nah, I’m kidding, it’s not that bad, but it is pretty horrifying and I have no idea what the writers were on when they thought it was a good idea.

I think what really bothers me is that this hilarious scene from Just One Bite…

… had to be deleted in certain parts of the world (not where I live, luckily), but a scene where Squidward has his toenail ripped out along with bits of his flesh (which he later slips on, by the way) gets a free pass ? What.

Why does he even have toenails?

All right. Now we can move on.

The toenail scene and the fact that SpongeBob is overly stupid (and kind of stalker-like) are my only problems with House Fancy. I actually really like the episode as a whole. Most of the jokes were funny and it’s nice to see an episode where Squidward comes out on top at the end, which I don’t believe has happened since Band Geeks. Yeah, it’s slightly undermined by the toenail thing and the fact that his house was destroyed, but at this point I’ll take what I can get.

More importantly, SQUILLIAM IS IN THIS EPISODE. You have no idea how happy I was to see him again. Along with Karen, Squilliam is my favorite minor character, and I’m not just saying that because I have a weird love for a certain ship. I like the idea of Squidward having a rival, it adds a bit more depth to his character, and it’s interesting to see him show a more vulnerable side as opposed to his usual snarky, narcissistic attitude. It’s a shame that Squilliam isn’t used more often, as I would love to see more interaction between him and Squidward and I think he has a lot of potential. I’m still hoping we’ll get an episode about their high school days. We got an episode about Mr. Krabs and Plankton’s past, why not Squidward and Squilliam’s?

Besides a few gross/annoying bits, this was a great episode. A lot of people let the toenail scene ruin this episode for them, and I think that’s too bad because the toenail scene is less than a minute long and the rest of the episode is better than people give it credit for.

Rating: 9/10

Any episode that references The Beatles in its title is doing something right.

It begins with Plankton escaping from prison (lolwut when did he get arrested?). When he returns to the Chum Bucket, Karen refuses to take him back and kicks him out, throwing a box of his old things out with him. Plankton looks through it and finds a guitar, which he apparently used to play as a child. Well, better that than the harmonica, amirite?

I can’t be the only one who thinks Plankton trying to play harmonica is one of the cutest things ever. Anyway, SpongeBob passes by singing a song about Krabby Patties, censoring the lyrics that have to do with the recipe (Mr. Krabs’ orders). Plankton tells SpongeBob that he should sing the uncensored version of the song, hoping to get the recipe this way. SpongeBob sees Plankton’s guitar and thinks that he wants SpongeBob to join his band. Plankton pretends that this is the case. SpongeBob asks Patrick and Squidward to join the band as well and both agree. Their first gig is at the Krusty Krab, but it’s after closing time because Krabs doesn’t want them to annoy the customers. Plankton is pleased to be inside the Krusty Krab while no one else is around because now he can grab the formula easily. SpongeBob, Squidward and Patrick prepare for the gig but then realize that Plankton is trying to escape with the formula. The cops arrive and Plankton is sent back to jail. SpongeBob, Squidward and Patrick visit him so that they can keep band practice going even while Plankton is in jail.

When I first found out what the plot of this episode was, I thought it was going to be Band Geeks: The Plankton Edition (which I wouldn’t necessarily be opposed to), but it wasn’t anything like Band Geeks. It was its own unique episode, and a funny one at that. A few of the jokes fell flat, but most of them got a giggle out of me. Plus, this is a really creative plot for a Plankton episode. Just the idea of him forming a band to get the formula is strange. I think it’s also the only Plankton episode (besides Walking Small and maybe F.U.N) where most of it doesn’t take place in either the Chum Bucket or the Krusty Krab. We don’t even see the inside of the Chum Bucket, and we only see the Krusty Krab at the very end of the episode, and for less than a minute.

Once again, SpongeBob is far too stupid in this episode. I’m starting to think that will be the case for just about every post-movie episode, so it probably isn’t even worth mentioning anymore. Still, it is a shame that SpongeBob is being portrayed this way. Sigh.

Rating: 8/10

The supposed worst season ever is off to a great start.

SpongeBob Reviews: Season 4 (Fear of a Krabby Patty/Shell of a Man)

All right, let’s get started.

I remember watching this one when I was younger and not liking it much. I had been hoping for a much better start to the new season. Now that I’ve re-watched it as a nineteen-year old I feel a little bit better about it. Just a little. It’s not as bad as I remembered, but I still don’t know if I’d call it good.

In this episode, Mr. Krabs decides to keep the Krusty Krab open twenty-four hours a day (anyone else reminded of Graveyard Shift? You know, that way, way better episode from Season 2?) after seeing that Plankton is keeping the Chum Bucket open twenty-three hours a day. Plankton knew that Krabs wouldn’t be able to resist competing with him, and he’s waiting for SpongeBob to crack under exhaustion so he can trick SpongeBob into telling him the Krabby Patty formula. After working for forty-three days straight (how are Krabs, SpongeBob and Squidward even still standing?), SpongeBob develops a fear of Krabby Patties.  Enter Dr. Peter Lankton, aka Plankton, who becomes SpongeBob’s therapist. After a few failed attempts at getting the formula out of him, Plankton tries hypnosis. SpongeBob falls asleep and Plankton is unable to wake him up. When SpongeBob finally does wake up, he instantly feels better (apparently all he needed was some sleep) and runs back to the Krusty Krab. The end.

There’s one thing I’d like to mention first: SpongeBob’s voice. Seriously, what the hell happened? The pitch is higher and he sounds even more childish than he did pre-movie. I always thought his voice sounded off in the movie, and apparently that’s continuing post-movie. Sigh. I guess that’s just something I’ll have to get used to. The animation looks a bit different too (which it also did in the movie), but I don’t mind that as much.

Anyway, back to the episode. Like I said, it’s not that good, but it’s not that bad either. Nothing made me laugh out loud, but I did snort at Karen’s “I’ve heard this joke before” when Plankton asks why she isn’t laughing with him about his evil plan. Squidward was pretty amusing too.

There isn’t really much I can say about this episode. It was kind of on the iffy side of okay, but there wasn’t anything particularly awful about it. I don’t think I would seek it out to watch it again, but I don’t think I’d turn it off if it was on, either. Mostly it just makes me want to watch Graveyard Shift instead.

Rating: 4.5/10

I didn’t like this episode much as a kid, either. Now, however, I think it’s slightly above average.

Mr. Krabs is supposed to go to a reunion of his buddies in the navy, but he’s molted out of his shell and is worried that his navy buddies won’t think he’s as tough without it. SpongeBob is able to fit into his old shell, so Krabs disguises SpongeBob as himself and sends him to the reunion. As you can imagine, this leads to disaster, and Krabs reveals himself to his navy buddies (why does that sound dirty?), who still think he’s plenty manly. That’s pretty much it.

There’s a completely pointless scene at the beginning of the episode, but it only lasts for about a minute. SpongeBob’s attempts at fitting in with Krabs’ navy buddies were pretty funny (I especially liked the sing-songy “Coming!”). Also, this wonderful out-of-context line: “Squidward and I have been doing it behind your back for years!” Tee hee, it sounds dirty out of context! Tee hee hee.

Overall, this episode is decent. It got a giggle out of me here and there, but it’s nothing that special. I wish I had more to say about it, but there really isn’t much I can say about it.

Rating: 5.5/10

Well, there we have it. The first two Season 4 episodes have been reviewed! Stay tuned for the next one!