SpongeBob Reviews: Season 8 Overview

Well, people were right. Season 8 was definitely an improvement over previous post-move seasons. The average score it got was 6.5, which is actually less than I was expecting (I was expecting at least a 7), but I did like this Season more than I liked the other seasons I reviewed. In fact, I like it about as much as I like Season 1. Mind you that’s still a lot less than I like Seasons 2 and 3, but it’s something.

Season 8 was an improvement in just about every aspect. Most of the characters have improved, the humor has improved, the writing has improved, and it’s more consistent than other post-movie seasons. One of the main things pre-movie has over post-movie, in my opinion, is consistency. It’s not that post-movie can’t be as good as pre-movie, it’s that it so often just… isn’t. And it’s really frustrating to see great episodes like Krusty Towers or Single Cell Anniversary surrounded by mediocre to just plain shitty episodes. It’s perfectly normal for even the best shows to have weaker episodes. It happens. I get it. Not every episode can be amazing no matter how talented the writers are. Of course they’re going to drop the ball every now and then. What’s important is for the show to have consistency with good episodes, for the weaker episodes to be the exception. That’s not how it is with post-movie. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a show as inconsistent as post-movie SpongeBob is. It’s kind of incredible how quickly it can go from great to mediocre to awful. It’s such a mixed bag that I can never decide if I feel positively about it or negatively. Even looking at post-movie as a whole and not episode by episode, there are so many aspects of it that I like and so many that I dislike. I love that they developed the relationship between Mr. Krabs and Plankton so much more, I adore what they’ve done with Karen, and I like that they’re generally more experimental and weird, even if it doesn’t always work in their favor. However, they clearly don’t have a good grasp on some of the characters, the writing tends to be lazy, the humor can be really mean-spirited, and the animation tends to be stiff.

But like I said, Season 8 is an improvement, mainly because it has more consistency. It does still stumble a lot, but for the most part it’s solid. There are a lot of funny, interesting, and well-written episodes. It’s a relief to see after the incredibly forgettable Season 5, the roller coaster that is Season 6 (which I still think it the most exemplary post-movie season, it’s pretty much the definition of “inconsistent”), and the very “meh” Season 7. And then there’s Season 4.

Okay, I need to say something about Season 4, and I’ll do it here because where else can I do it? I don’t think I was very fair to Season 4. Reading my old Season 4 reviews honestly makes me cringe because they’re so unnecessarily harsh (also, I think I’ve much improved as a reviewer since then, so there’s that too). A lot of the episodes that I was really critical of I’ve now come to appreciate a lot more, and while I still stand by some of what I said and I don’t think Season 4 comes to close to greatness overall, it is better than I gave it credit for. My post-movie bias is clear in those old reviews, but the thing is, I don’t think Season 4 ever really had a chance with me. It was at a disadvantage from the beginning, more so than any other post-movie season, for a couple of reasons. For one thing, it’s the first post-movie season, so it’s before I got used to post-movies style and certain aspects of it. I got more lenient with later seasons, and some things stopped bothering me altogether (remember when I used to despise Scientist Sandy? Now I don’t mind it at all). Another thing is that Season 4 is the season that made me quit watching this show. I watched most of it as a kid and hated it so much that it turned me off what was my favorite show at the time. Now I’m not even sure why I had such an aversion to Season 4, let alone one strong enough to get me to quit on the show, but that doesn’t matter now. When I think about Season 4, all I can think about is how much it disappointed me and how it kept me away from this show for so long. It makes it hard for me to like Season 4 at all even though, objectively, it is a decent season and didn’t deserve as much vitrol as I gave it.

However, as embarrassing as those old reviews can be to read, I don’t regret them either. My reviews were never meant to be taken as recommendations or as representations of post-movie, I was doing them more for me than for anyone else (though I am glad that people are apparently enjoying them). This project was about my journey through post-movie, about rediscovering something I’d given up on and figuring out for myself what I liked and disliked about it. I wouldn’t change what I’ve written because it would feel dishonest, and I always try to be as honest as possible in my reviews. I kind of like that my Season 4 reviews are indicative of how much my opinions have grown and changed.

So, with that off my chest, back to Season 8. This season was kind of validating for me, because the majority of my complaints about post-movie were centered on the characters, and Season 8 fixed a lot of the problems I had with them. Well, okay, maybe it didn’t fix them completely, there’s still a lot of room for improvement, but it is a good start. I actually found most of the characters consistently enjoyable, which is a good feeling after so many seasons where I liked one or two and had varying opinions of the others depending on the episode.

It’s pretty funny to me to think that back when I first started reviewing post-movie I thought Squidward and Mr. Krabs were mostly fine and I had a hard time liking SpongeBob in most episodes. Now it’s the other way around. I like SpongeBob again. He occasionally lapses back into being too oblivious or stupid, but it’s a lot more rare, and even when it does happen it’s not as annoying as it used to be (thought I’m not sure if that’s a sign of improvement or of me growing accustomed to it and therefore becoming more lenient). Anyway, I’m glad I can actually enjoy SpongeBob as a character again. I’m glad that he’s a lot closer to his sweet, funny, lovable self. I really disliked disliking him, if that makes sense.

Squidward actually didn’t appear in Season 8 as often as he usually does in a season, at least not in major roles. I’m actually okay with that, though, because Squidward has lost nearly all of his charm for me. I don’t like him much in recent seasons. It honestly pains me to type that, because even though I’ve mentioned before that Squidward is my favorite I don’t think I’ve ever really expanded much on my incredibly dorky admiration for this character which would probably be infinitely more embarrassing than my crush on Plankton. I still think of him as my favorite, because I choose to rank characters based on what they’re like when they’re at their best, but if I was to rank them based on what they’re like at this point in the show, Squidward would be waaaaay down on my list. And I hate that. I hate disliking Squidward even more than I hated disliking SpongeBob. I still want to like Squidward in post-movie, but it’s so hard to do when he’s become so unpleasant. That’s really the only word to describe him now. He’s just fucking unpleasant. The only emotions he ever shows anymore are anger, depression, and bitterness, and I know that these have always been part of Squidward’s character, but he was capable of having other emotions too. He had other qualities to balance him out. There’s no balance anymore, he’s just… uuuuugh. I’m probably exaggerating a little, he’s not always that bad, and how much I dislike the changes made to him probably has a lot to do with how much I liked him originally (something similar probably happened with SpongeBob as well). He does still have some good lines occasionally, and some episodes at the end of Season 8 did seem like they were at least trying to improve his character a little bit. I liked him in Squiditis, Hello Bikini Bottom, Chum Fricassee, and It’s a SpongeBob Christmas!, but those episodes have become exceptions. That’s not good. It should not be an exception for me to be able to enjoy or even tolerate my favorite character. It sucks, because I still want to like Squidward. I still want him to be able to make me laugh without fail. I still want him to be the one that I identify with to a point that’s actually kind of uncomfortable. I still want him to be the one who always seems to say what I’m thinking. I still want him to be the one who captures my interest more than anyone else on the show. I still want him to be the one my eyes are immediately drawn to because the simple fact that he’s present makes the episode that much better.

I should really stop talking about Squidward now because I just realized how utterly insane I sound. But I think I’ve made my point. While most characters have been improving lately, Squidward is deteriorating. Those few episodes I mentioned earlier portray him fairly well, but it’s not enough.

Patrick had his ups and downs for this season. In general I think I’d say he’s gotten a little better? I don’t know, Patrick didn’t actually leave much of an impression on me this season. It seemed like whenever he appeared in an episode it was to be a plot-device, or he was just kind of there and didn’t really contribute anything. I do have this vague feeling that I enjoyed Patrick a bit more than I did in other seasons, but maybe that’s because he had less opportunities to be annoying since he was mostly sidelined this season. Yeah, I don’t know, there’s never that much to say about Patrick, is there? I hate how every time I talk about Patrick it somehow ends up sounding like I want him to die in a ditch or something but I swear I don’t.

Mr. Krabs, thankfully, was much improved in Season 8 after two seasons of him being pretty terrible. It’s nice, because I love Mr. Krabs and wasn’t at all happy with the decline of his character in Seasons 6 and 7. Can I just take this opportunity to say that I think Mr. Krabs deserves much more credit then he gets? Seriously, he’s hilarious when he’s at his best, I don’t know why this goes unnoticed so often. Anyway, back to his representation in Season 8. I liked that Krabs seemed to be getting a lot of his humor back, and he also showed hints of his paternal side again.

Oh hey, Sandy actually had a good number of appearances this season! I’ve been asking for more Sandy since, what, Season 5? I’m glad it finally happened, and I liked most of her appearances in this season. I think this is Sandy’s best season since Season 2. That’s partly because this is the most appearances she’s had since Season 2, but also because, well, it just was a good season for her. She rarely felt like she was only a plot-device, she was allowed to be a character. She was allowed to show off her brainy side, her heroic side, her Texan side, and her athletic side. She was allowed to be funny, helpful, interesting, quirky, bad ass. She was allowed to be Sandy. I think Sandy had a lot to do with my enjoyment of Season 8. I’d missed her so much, I’m so happy she was given a decent amount of appereances. Not all of them were great, but a lot of them were, and at least she was given a chance to shine. Besides, this show is such a sausage fest, it would be nice if the few female characters it does have were given more development and bigger roles.

Is it me or did Plankton not get as many appearances this season as he did in other post-movie seasons? I mean, he still got more than he did in any pre-movie season, but it felt like less than other seasons. It’s probably for the best, since in Season 7 Plankton episodes started getting stale and derivative. The fact that they slowed down a little with Plankton episodes meant that the ones we did get had a bit more creativity and energy put into them, and it also meant that other characters (namely Sandy) got more attention. Anyway, for what we did get of Plankton, I really liked him, mostly because he felt like a villain again. I’ve always been satisfied with Plankton’s post-movie portrayal, especially compared to other characters, but there was something a little bit off about him. He had been starting to get too sympathetic. I mean, Plankton has always been pretty pathetic, it’s partly what makes him so funny, and I’m not against the writers trying to make us feel sorry for him, I’m all for sympathetic villains. The problem is I’m not sure if they were trying to make us feel sorry for him or not. I felt weird about pitying him and siding with him because I don’t think it’s what they were going for. It connects to how their portrayal of Mr. Krabs was getting too monstrous as well. Plankton was starting to seem like the lesser of two evils, which he’s not supposed to. Krabs isn’t exactly a saint, he is supposed to have a skewed sense of morality and he can make mistakes, again this is partly what made Krabs such a good character. But despite his flaws, he is ultimately a good person, or at the very least a better person than Plankton. Similarly, Plankton is allowed to have a few redeeming qualities, but he is ultimately supposed to be a villain. You know, the kind that delights in the pain and misery of others, enjoys manipulating others for his/her own ends, is exceptionally cruel and bitter, and has unrealistic goals of world domination. That’s who Plankton is, and I love him for it, but he’s not the sort of character I want to condone or side with. I didn’t like how Krabs and Plankton’s roles were kind of flipped around in post-movie. It didn’t feel right. Now it seems like Plankton is starting to become more like himself again, more diabolical and sadistic and villainous while still being funny and faceplam-worthy. Oh Plankton, never change.

In Season 7 I noticed that the writers seemed to be trying to develop Gary’s character a bit more and give him a bigger role on the show. I was expecting this to continue in Season 8, but it kind of didn’t. Episodes where Gary had a big role were few, and most of them were pretty standard Gary episodes. I don’t mind because though I like Gary there really isn’t that much you can do with him, but I was a little surprised since they seemed to put so much effort into getting Gary more involved in the show in Season 7. Well, anyway, Gary was… Gary. As usual there isn’t anything to complain about where he’s concerned because seriously how the fuck can you screw up Gary’s character? But at the same time, there aren’t that many compliments that can be given to him. He’s cute and I like having him around, and that’s kind of all I can say.

Now for minor characters. Karen got to star in her own episode, and it was a pretty good one, so that’s cool. I’m really glad Karen has gotten so much more development in post-movie, not just because she ended up being an amazing character, but because, well, remember what I said about this show being a sausage fest? Yeah. At least one female character has received more attention and development, and even though in a lot of ways Karen is really stereotypical, I think she’s a great character. She’s hilarious, she’s interesting, she’s entertaining, and she’s pretty faceted for a minor character. I could go on and on about Karen but I won’t because this post is already really long, but let it be known that Karen is probably my favorite character in post-movie. I actually like her much better in post-movie than I do in pre-movie, which I guess isn’t saying much because she didn’t have much presence in pre-movie, but still. She’s the only character who has actually improved, and that’s pretty cool. My love for her might have something to do with the fact that her humor and attitude are reminiscent of what Squidward used to be, but I don’t think that’s entirely the reason. They share similarities, but I don’t think of Karen as “the new Squidward”. She feels like a unique character on her own.

Oh yeah, I said I was going to stop talking about Karen, didn’t I? My bad. On to other minor characters. I really liked Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy’s appearances, and Pearl was more enjoyable than she usually is. You know, I actually don’t hate Pearl as much as I make it seem like I do. I don’t like her, but I don’t think she’s completely horrible and I think she has a few redeeming qualities. She can be sensible and willful, which are qualities I like, and she can be kind of funny. I think she has the potential to be a decent character if only they’d have her show these qualities more often instead of having her be just a walking teen stereotype. Anyway, Mrs. Puff was all right in her appearances, I liked how they really pushed her to her limits in Demolition Doofus, but I’m still not totally happy with her post-movie portrayal. Man Ray’s one appearance was disappointing, and did the Flying Dutchman appear at all? Oh, that’s right, he appeared in Ghoul Fools. Which was also disappointing. Hm. I don’t think Larry appeared did he? I guess this season was okay for minor characters, at least a couple of them were good. I’m sad that there was no Squilliam, though.

This is definitely way too long now and I’m starting to run out of steam anyway, so let’s wrap this up. I like Season 8. It’s not perfect, far from it, but it definitely feels like an improvement. Most of the characters are seeming more like themselves again and the writing in general has gotten better. I hope this continues in Season 9.

Season Rating: 6.5/10

Best Episode: Frozen Face-Off and It’s a SpongeBob Christmas!

Worst Episode: Squidward’s School For Grown-Ups and House Sittin’ For Sandy (I barely remember these episodes…)

Keep an eye out for my next post, which will be either tomorrow or the day after. It’ll be an important one.

SpongeBob Reviews: Season 8 (Treats!/For Here or To Go/It’s a SpongeBob Christmas!)

SpongeBob buys Gary some new treats called Snail Bites, which Gary finds so delicious that he finishes the entire box in one evening. Gary is desperate for more Snail Bites and won’t leave SpongeBob alone until he buys some, but they’re sold out at the pet store. They go to the factory where they’re made to see if they can get a box there, but the factory is closing down because Snail Bites sold so quickly that they ran out of ingredients…? How does that make sense? Is it so hard to get more ingredients? What was in those Snail Bites, dragon blood?! Anyway, Gary still insists on having more Snail Bites (hm, maybe the ingredient in them is crack), so he makes SpongeBob search every pet store in the ocean for them. And they still don’t find any. They return home and Gary still isn’t satisfied. SpongeBob explains his dilemma to Patrick, who tells him he should be firm with Gary and say no. So SpongeBob firmly tells Gary no. Gary accepts this answer and stops demanding Snail Bites. Kay.

Well, if there’s one thing that can be said about this episode, it’s that it’s cute. Real cute. It’s like a goldmine of cuteness. That montage of Gary performing tricks that get more and more impossible elaborate to earn treats? That was cute. Gary’s sad reaction to the box of Snail Bites being emptied? That was cute. Those pictures of when SpongeBob first got Gary? Those were cute. That one shot of Patrick at the end where he’s pretending to be Gary? I don’t even think of Patrick as cute ordinarily but that shit was adorable.

Aside from that, um, there’s not much to this episode. Some jokes were a little funny, but I found the plot a bit stupid because… dude, just say no to your pet. And since when does SpongeBob have an issue with disciplining Gary anyway? I don’t remember him ever being that much of a pushover when it comes to his pet. I guess it was pretty cute how far he was willing to go to make his pet happy, but it just seemed a little stupid to me. I don’t really like how it ended either, it was much too easy.

I find it a little funny when people call Gary inconsiderate or unreasonable in this episode. Guys. Seriously? He’s a cat. I mean, technically he’s a snail, but you know what I mean. He’s a cat for all intents and purposes, no matter how smart he is. You can’t really hold him to the same standards as other characters who are essentially people despite not being human. That said… yeah, Gary is a bit annoying in this episode, isn’t he? The constant meowing… ugh. I wouldn’t mind it that much normally, but hearing it constantly in quick succession like that gets grating fast.

So, I guess I didn’t enjoy this episode as much as most fans seem to. Aside from all of the cuteness, there isn’t much else about it that I thought was worth seeing, and I’m probably not going to rewatch this episode just for its cuteness factor.

Rating: 6/10

Mr. Krabs holds a contest where people need to guess the number of sesame seeds in a jar, and if they guess right they win a free Krabby Patty. I’m not really sure why Krabs would want to hold this contest. Publicity? Anyway, Plankton wants to guess, but of course Krabs won’t let him. So Plankton calls a lawyer of sorts and Krabs is forced to let him guess. Plankton uses science to guess the correct number of seeds like a boss and Krabs is forced to give him a free Patty. He stalls for time as long as he can, but eventually he has to give it to him. Before doing so, he makes up a new rule for the contest: Plankton has to eat the Patty on the premises. Plankton swallows it whole and then runs back to the Chum Bucket to have Karen cut his stomach open and take the Patty out. The next day it appears that Plankton is selling Krabby Patties, but his customers soon leave the restaurant in disgust. It turns out that when Karen analyzed the formula she didn’t take into account that the Patty she analyzed had been swimming in Plankton’s stomach acid. Yuck.

I liked this episode. I thought it was funny and it was at least somewhat creative. Though I’m still not sure why Mr. Krabs was holding the contest to begin with, it seems like a weird move for him. I’m also not sure why, instead of going out of his way to stall Plankton getting the Patty, Krabs didn’t just tell SpongeBob to make the Patty wrong or taint it in some way. No one would have had to know and there would be no worries about Plankton getting the formula. Oh well, it’s still a funny episode. A little slow and low-energy, and not very memorable, but funny.

I wasn’t grossed out by the ending, unlike most people. It’s not like we actually see Plankton’s stomach being cut open anyway. Even if we did I probably still wouldn’t have cared because I tend not to be grossed up by gore when it’s animated anyway. Besides, I love how Plankton just walks in and says “Yo Karen I need you to cut my stomach open” and Karen’s just like “lol sure thing, honey *slice*” and they don’t even use anesthesia or anything, they just do it right away like it’s nothing. That is so metal.

Ever notice that Plankton seems to have more success (however brief) when he doesn’t try to outright steal a Patty?

Rating: 6.5/10

Here we have the first Christmas special this show has had since Christmas Who? all the way back in its second season. And it’s entirely in claymation, and if the idea of a claymation SpongeBob episode isn’t the raddest shit you’ve ever heard you can get right off of my blog, thanks (jk plz stay). So, it begins with a song sequence in which SpongeBob briefly visits all of his friends in Bikini Bottom to see how they’re preparing for Christmas. It’s basically a way of showing off the claymation sets (which are wonderful) and the claymation characters (which are wonderful and adorable). At the end of this sequence, we see Plankton in the Chum Bucket, who is angered by the fact that he gets coal every single Christmas. Karen tells him that he probably wouldn’t get coal all the time if he wasn’t the biggest jerk in Bikini Bottom, but Plankton is way ahead of her. His plan is to give everyone in Bikini Bottom fruitcake laced with “Jerktonium”, a chemical that makes people act like jerks when ingested. He thinks that if everyone in Bikini Bottom starts behaving like jerks, he’ll look better by comparison. He tries giving some of his Jerktonium fruitcake to SpongeBob, but it doesn’t seem to have any effect on him no matter how much of it he eats. It does, however, have an effect on everyone else in town, and they all start acting horribly as a result. Since SpongeBob isn’t affected, Plankton builds a robot that looks like him and programs it to wreak havoc around town (I love how the robot has to be wound up like a toy). The next day, SpongeBob is concerned about how everyone is behaving, so he goes to visit Sandy to see if she can help him get everyone back into the Christmas spirit before Santa comes. Unfortunately Sandy has also become a jerk and is unwilling to help him, but when SpongeBob accidentally drops her piece of fruitcake in her analyzer, they discovers the Jerktonium inside it. The analyzer also tells them how to cure the Bikini Bottomites of their behavior. The cure is a song. They sing it to the town and everyone goes back to normal. That’s when Santa shows up, and he reprimands everyone for being jerks, complimenting Plankton for being a saint in comparison. He also tells SpongeBob that he was the worst of all, but of course the robot is really the one to blame. Speaking of which, the robot shows up and SpongeBob defeats it… really easily. So, Plankton gets coal for Christmas and everyone else gets gifts. The end.

This episode was one of the things that convinced me to give post-movie another chance. I was curious about it because I found out that it was done in claymation, and because it was the first official Christmas special since Christmas Who?. Despite my hatred for post-movie at the time, I really wanted to see it.

And I loved it. It had me from the moment we saw Squidward stringing lights on his house to read “Go Away” (even though I know this episode isn’t meant to have any connection to Christmas Who?, I like to think Squidward is still bitter toward Santa about what happened in that episode). I was pretty blown away by it since at the time I hadn’t seen any other post-movie episodes that I liked. Even now that I have, this episode still blows me away a bit every time I watch it.

That’s not to say that there aren’t a few flaws to be found with it, but it won’t lower my score because A) the good outweighs the bad if you ask me and B) lol since when does my rating system make any sense whatsoever. But I do think I should mention the not-so-good things about this episode, it’s only fair. And since they’re mostly nitpicks I’m just going to list them:

• Patchy. I’m sorry, but I will never like Patchy. At least his scenes are brief and can easily be skipped over, but still… Patchy.
• The ending is pretty anticlimactic. The SpongeBob robot is defeated way too easily.
• We don’t actually get to see Gary, we only see his shell.
• If Santa can see everything, how did he miss the fact that Plankton laced the fruitcake with Jerktonium? And how did he miss the fact that the evil robot SpongeBob is not the real SpongeBob? Honestly this show’s Santa isn’t very good at his job. Squidward actually did his job better in Christmas Who?.
• I don’t like the implication that SpongeBob is stupid. I’m talking about the scene where they analyze the fruitcake and Sandy says that SpongeBob’s immunity to Jerktonium is to due to a combination of his “tiny brain and big heart”. It had already been said by Karen earlier that SpongeBob’s immunity was due to his innocence, could they not have left it at that? Did they really have to throw in low intelligence as a factor as well? Ugh, I hate it when they make SpongeBob out to be stupid. Maybe it’s just me, but I never saw SpongeBob as stupid. I saw him as naive, childlike, and weird, but still smart. I would have preferred if his immunity had simply been because of his innocence and “big heart”, no need to imply that he’s an idiot.
• This definitely feels like the cheapest of my nitpicks, but why does SpongeBob not wear a helmet when he goes to Sandy’s treedome? At first I thought it was because putting a helmet on the claymation version of him would have been too difficult, but later they put a helmet on Sandy when they leave her treedome…
• Never mine, this one is the cheapest of my nitpicks. When the analyzer shows the cure for Jerktonium, it prints out a song. As a musician, I couldn’t help pausing the episode to look at the notes to see if they actually do match the song. They don’t. The staff doesn’t even have the right number of lines and spaces.

Now that that’s out of the way, I can talk about what I actually liked about this episode. Did I mention how much I love the claymation? It’s a really nice tribute to other claymation Christmas specials, and since I grew up watching those this episode made me feel really nostalgic. They really did an amazing job with it. To be honest I actually like the way the Chum Bucket looks more in this episode than in regularly animated episodes. I like how the outside of it looks slightly rusty, as if it’s neglected and in need of repair (which it is), and I liked the gloomier, more desolate look of the inside of it, it’s seems more suitable for Plankton’s character and for what the Chum Bucket is.

Getting away from how it’s animated, this is just a really good episode. The story is a little cheesy, but it’s executed well enough that I didn’t really care, and it’s at least creative. Plus, to be fair, all Christmas specials are a little cheesy. The jokes are pretty funny as well, and while I’m a little disappointed that we didn’t get to see Gary, I liked that all of the other main characters were at least in the episode briefly, and they were all great. The songs are fantastic as well. They’re both really catchy, especially Don’t Be a Jerk, It’s Christmas. Speaking of those songs, I found it a little funny that Squidward wasn’t affected by the cure because he didn’t seem affected by the Jerktonium either. I’m guessing it was for the opposite reason of SpongeBob, that he’s already a jerk so he can’t be made jerkier. Or maybe he didn’t eat any of the fruitcake because he’s such a misanthrope that he didn’t even get any.

Although I’ll always prefer Christmas Who?, It’s a SpongeBob Christmas! has a special place in my heart. I love that both Christmas specials have punctuation in their titles, so naming them back-to-back like that in the middle of a sentence looks really weird. Anyway, It’s a SpongeBob Christmas! is funny, heartwarming, entertaining, and I love how nostalgic it is about old claymation Christmas specials. Plus, it’s partly responsible for me giving post-movie another chance, and for this whole project.

Rating: 13/10 (fucking rating systems, how do they work?)

SpongeBob Reviews: Season 8 (Face Freeze!/Glove World R.I.P.)

SpongeBob and Patrick are amusing themselves by making silly faces, when Mr. Krabs warns them that if they keep making faces like that, their faces will freeze that way forever. Wanting to test this theory, they dare each other to hold their goofy faces for as long as possible. As a result, their faces really do freeze that way. Afraid to show his frozen face to Krabs, SpongeBob and Patrick visit Sandy to see if she can fix their faces. She massages their faces to relax the muscles, but that doesn’t work as planned. It just looks like their faces melted. So, SpongeBob must go to work with his face looking like a pancake and he does his best to hide it from Mr. Krabs. Unfortunately Mr. Krabs eventually sees his face, as well as Patrick’s, and he gets angry. Angry enough to make a face that looks like the one that greets you when you go to Hell. And his face freezes that way because of reasons. Then Squidward sees everyone’s frozen faces and laughs so hard that his face freezes too. Um, wasn’t it established earlier that you need to make the face for a long time in order for it to freeze that way? Or at least longer than two seconds? If it takes this short a time for faces to freeze, why aren’t people’s faces freezing all the time?

Well, it’s obvious where the inspiration for this episode came from. As kids, we all heard from adults that if we keep making faces they’ll freeze that way. Well, I didn’t, because I didn’t really make faces as a kid. And even if I did I don’t think my parents would have told me that, I think they would have just told me to stop. But still, I know it’s apparently a common thing for kids to hear. It’s a pretty good idea, I guess. It reminds me of episodes like Sailor Mouth or Hooky, where Mr. Krabs warns SpongeBob against doing something stupid and then he does the stupid thing anyway, so he has to be scared out of doing it. It’s nice to see another episode like this, mostly because it’s nice to see Krabs acting paternal again.

A lot of people find this episode disturbing and scary because of the faces. I don’t. I joked about being scared by Krabs’ face at the end, but I really wasn’t. I don’t think these faces are scary, I think they’re ugly. They’re just… not pleasant to look at. I guess that’s the idea, but it does cut back the episode’s replay value a lot. It’s hard for me to want to watch something that I don’t like looking at. And it is possible to have “ugly” imagery that’s still enjoyable to look at, but I just don’t really like looking at most of the images in Face Freeze!. They’re a little too Ren-and-Stimpy-esque, and I’ve never liked the Ren and Stimpy aesthetic to begin with.

Still, I am glad I saw the episode at least once, there were a couple of things that made it worthwhile. It might even be worth watching a couple more times. Some of the dialogue was funny (Sandy in particular had some great lines) and I like how Mr. Krabs sort of goes back to his father-figure persona again, it’s nice to see.

Rating: 6.5/10

This title card made it seem like the episode was going to be much less light-hearted than it was.

SpongeBob and Patrick are saddened to find out that Glove World is going to be closed down because it’s outrageously unsafe, so they decide to spend one last day at the park, all the while wondering why they would close it down. Eventually they realize how unsafe it is, and they decide that they should save the park by fixing all of its problems. They are successful and soon Glove World is good as new. Just kidding, they fail spectacularly, as one would expect. So now the only way to save Glove World is to chain themselves to the gate so that it can’t be demolished. Hell yeah, fight the power! Anyway, the guy who owns Glove World tells them that the reason Glove World is closing is because they’re opening Glove Universe, a bigger and better theme park. Oops.

I don’t like this episode. I know it’s a pretty well-liked episode among fans, but I didn’t enjoy it. Sorry. Not that I hate it, far from it, but I definitely don’t think it’s one of the better post-movie episodes, or even one of the better Season 8 episodes, like most people seem to.

I just didn’t find it that funny. I can barely remember any jokes from the episode and the ones I can remember were annoying gags. The story seemed kind of all over the place, and I guess I couldn’t help being a bit disappointed because the title card made it seem like it was going to be at least a little dark. Or maybe not “dark” per se, but not as silly and light-hearted as this.

I did like the sort of bittersweet ending, though. I’m big on nostalgia, so I know I’d be upset if one of my favorite places to go was being closed down. This episode is pretty relatable in that sense, and I like that the ending isn’t a cheesy one that has them saving Glove World. It just closes, which is sad, but the opening of Glove Universe at least eases the pain a bit. Though I wonder why they had to build an entire new theme park. Could they not have used that money to repair and improve Glove World?

Anyway, aside from the ending and the relatable plot, I didn’t enjoy this one much. It’s not bad, just not my kind of episode.

Rating: 5.5/10

SpongeBob Reviews: Season 8 (Free Samples/Home Sweet Rubble)

Plankton gives away free samples to attract customers to the Chum Bucket, but the samples make everyone sick and cause everyone to hate him and his restaurant. More than they already do, that is. So, Plankton comes up with a new plan: give away free samples of chum disguised as Krabby Patties to ruin Mr. Krabs’ business. That… that’s bloody brilliant. That’s the best plan Plankton has ever come up with. And this is the same guy who tried to ruin Krabs’ restaurant by turning it into a fucking ice rink. Anyway, the plan works and everyone hates Krabs and the Krusty Krab, though he and SpongeBob are unsure why. SpongeBob suggests that they give away free samples to attract customers again, but of course it doesn’t work, thanks to Plankton. Then SpongeBob decides to sell the Patties as a new recipe even though they’re just regular Krabby Patties. What the fuck, that’s brilliant too. God, I love it when characters are smart and do smart things please make this happen more often writers of anything ever. The “new” Patties are a success and Krabs’ business is saved.

I really like that this is a Plankton episode that has him trying to ruin the Krusty Krab in a new way, and like I said, it’s actually a really smart plan. I mean, Plankton has always been a genius, but he also has always been really incompetent and rather idiotic for someone so smart, if that makes sense. He so often overlooks the obvious and makes everything more complicated than it needs to be. I guess that’s partly what we love about him, but it’s pretty cool to see a plan of his that makes sense and is sly and subtle. SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs never even find out that Plankton was behind everything, which is also interesting.

Beyond that, there isn’t that much to say about this episode. It’s pretty unique for a Plankton episode and it’s a little funny sometimes, but I also found it a bit dull, and it doesn’t stand out that much from other episodes.

Rating: 6/10

SpongeBob’s home is rotting and falling apart, so he calls his friends for help. Patrick, Sandy and Mr. Krabs all show up willing to help. Squidward shows up not willing to help, but they make him help anyway by tying his limbs around the house to hold it together. Are we sure that Squidward isn’t Mr. Fantastic? Anyway, Patrick, Sandy and Mr. Krabs all offer to help rebuild SpongeBob’s house, but they don’t listen to his input and basically build it the way they would want their homes to be. The result is a hot mess. Also, they somehow forgot to untie Squidward and when he starts to unravel the whole thing falls apart. Gary hands SpongeBob a can and SpongeBob thinks he wants to be fed since he had forgotten to feed Gary that morning. It’s actually a can of fully-furnished pineapple. SpongeBob opens the can and just like that he has a new house exactly like his old one. Still a better resolution than Dear Vikings.

Judging by this episode’s title, I was sort of expecting it to be a rip-off of Home Sweet Pineapple. Luckily that’s not what it was, though I do wish this episode had a different title, I’m afraid I’m going to confuse it with Home Sweet Pineapple now. I found it pretty funny that SpongeBob says in this episode “Well, it’s no home sweet pineapple, but I guess it could be worse.” I see what you did there, writers.

Actually, SpongeBob’s quote is a good description of how I feel about this episode. It’s no Home Sweet Pineapple, but it could be worse. I wish I liked Home Sweet Rubble more than I do, as I really like a lot of aspects of it, but something holds it back from being a great episode for me. I can’t place my finger on what that something is, though.

I like the fact that this is a group episode and the idea of everyone working together. The jokes were mostly hit-and-miss for me, I think I’m one of few people who didn’t like the office joke with Patrick. I thought it dragged too much and it felt really out of place not just in the episode but in the show in general. I don’t know, it seemed more like the kind of joke that Family Guy would do, not SpongeBob. It just didn’t seem to fit.

Seeing SpongeBob’s house fall apart was kind of heartbreaking for some reason. I’ve gotten attached to his pineapple house, but it’s not like we’ve never seen it or other staple settings of the show destroyed and it never bothered me before. Maybe it’s because when settings get destroyed on this show it’s usually in such a quick, silly way, but here we see his house fall apart slowly, so it’s more poignant to me. It’s more than seeing it fall apart, really, we see it rotting. It’s almost hard to watch. I actually don’t mean any of this in a bad way, I think it’s interesting that I can get this emotional over a pineapple house of all things.

I don’t know why I don’t like this episode more than I do. Objectively I think it’s a really good episode, but for some reason I don’t like it as much as I feel I should, and I can’t figure out why that is.

Rating: 6/10

SpongeBob Reviews: Season 8 (Are You Happy Now?/Planet of the Jellyfish)

Haha, oh boy. This episode.

Okay, so it begins with SpongeBob looking through a book and giggling. Squidward asks him what he’s giggling about and he tells Squidward that the book is full of his happiest memories. He asks Squidward what his happiest memory is, and Squidward says he doesn’t have one. SpongeBob is saddened to hear this, and though he tries to act like he doesn’t care, it quickly becomes apparent that Squidward is extremely depressed to realize he can’t think of any happy memories. SpongeBob offers to help him find one and Squidward accepts. SpongeBob keeps trying to create a happy memory for Squidward and the attempts all end in failure. Eventually Squidward gives up on finding a happy memory, falling into a deep depression and not leaving his house for weeks. Here’s where we get the ~controversial~ suicide jokes. There’s one where it looks like Squidward is going to stick his head in the oven but he’s actually just taking some brownies out of it, and there’s another one where it looks like he’s going to hang himself but he’s actually just hanging a birdcage. Anyway, SpongeBob wants to cheer Squidward up, so he kidnaps him (he tried to contact Squidward and all of his attempts were rejected) and brings him to the Krusty Krab, where he has prepared a surprise party for him. Except no one he invited could make it, so he filled the restaurant with paper mache copies of himself. Oh, SpongeBob, honey, what were you thinking? Squidward goes bonkers upon seeing the copies, yells at SpongeBob that he doesn’t want a happiest memory, and destroys the copies. And then he declares that this is his happiest memory. What.

So, this is one of few episodes past Season 4 that I watched before starting this project. Months before, in fact. I came across it on YouTube and the title caught my interest, as did the thumbnail, which just so happened to be the scene where Squidward is preparing a noose – sorry, I mean hanging a birdcage. Though at the time I still had the belief that all episodes after the movie were crap, I couldn’t help being curious. A SpongeBob character hanging himself, with a title like “Are You Happy Now?”? What the hell? I had to watch it. And boy did I hate it. I thought it had to be the worst episode ever. Now that I’ve seen episodes like Gone I can only laugh at how naive I was, but I’ve harbored a dislike for this episode for a really long time, even though it has decreased significantly over time.

Watching it again now, I don’t hate it. At all. I kind of like it. Sort of. Maybe. I don’t know. What is it even.

It’s funny how polarizing this episode is, and people’s like or dislike for the episode seems to be mostly hinged on the suicide jokes, which I’ll get to later. Here’s the thing about this episode: it’s really depressing. Probably the most depressing episode of the show. Here’s the thing about me: I LOVE DEPRESSING SHIT. I’m not kidding. I eat that stuff up. 98% of my favorite books are dark, grim, horrifying sobfests where tons of people die and there are no truly happy endings. I didn’t like the ending of Deathly Hallows because I thought it was too happy. I swear I’m not a sadist, it’s just that when it comes to fiction I prefer stuff that makes me want to curl into a ball and cry forever because it feels like all happiness has been destroyed. I swear I’m normal.

To be clear, I like depressing stories that are actually intended to be depressing. If something that’s supposed to be making me feel happy is making me feel sad, that doesn’t work. That’s why I have such a complicated relationship with One Coarse Meal (which is often compared to this episode given the similar themes). It could so easily have been my favorite episode ever, but the weirdly not-dark tone matched with the really dark subject matter ended up just seeming tasteless. Not that dark stories can’t be humorous, but the tone should always match. One Coarse Meal was strange because it should have been a dark episode, but it’s kind of not. It’s weirdly… normal. Just another SpongeBob episode with a twist. I think the normalcy of it is what stopped me from liking it. If you’re going to use dark themes in your stories, go right ahead, I’ll love you for it. But treat them like something dark.

There’s also an issue of whether or not dark topics are even appropriate for SpongeBob, which is intended for children and generally has a light, happy tone, which is sort of why it’s attracted such a large audience. People don’t like seeing something so depressing in a show that’s supposed to make them feel happy. I don’t have a problem with it personally. Yes, SpongeBob should be a happy show and despite my tendency to gravitate towards darker themes and tones I can appreciate happy things. But I think the occasional dark episode, even in something as “innocent” (that word is in quotations for a reason) as SpongeBob, is fine. It makes me appreciate the show more, in fact. It’s like how Futurama has a lot of episodes that are really sombre even though it’s a comedy. I love their more sombre episodes, and I’m not against SpongeBob having sombre episodes too. Besides, it’s not exactly new territory for this show. Pre-movie had episodes that were really morbid as well. Of course there is a slight difference because Futurama is an adult show and SpongeBob is for children, and either way there should be a line drawn somewhere, but that line is really blurry because it depends so much on context, execution and framing, and also on people’s personal tastes.

I’ve already written so much and I haven’t even talked much about Are You Happy Now?. What I appreciate about this episode when not watching it through everything-post-movie-sucks goggles is that its tone is very consistent and appropriate. It has bits of humor here and there, but they don’t really distract from the tone. I really like that. Then there’s those suicide jokes which… I don’t even know how to talk about these. Are suicide jokes insensitive? Yes, but let’s be real, we all make them. How many times have you said things like “kill me now” when talking about something you dislike? How many times have you said things like “I’d rather shoot myself than do that”? One time in high school, I told my friend I would rather jump out the window (we were on the top floor) than stay in class. My point is, that while our intention is not to make fun of suicide, which is something that really should not be made fun of, we do all make jokes about it. When we say these things, we don’t think of them as jokes about suicide, just ways of expressing dislike and annoyance, but technically we are joking about wanting to kill ourselves. Nobody sees it this way because of how innocent and trivial the context is, though. Obviously my friend didn’t honestly think I was going to jump out the window to get out of class, she knew I was being hyperbolic and didn’t take my words literally. But if I talked to her about my struggles with depression and then started saying things that connote suicide, she wouldn’t take that as a joke and I probably wouldn’t mean it as a joke, because why would I joke about that in that context? Context is everything. Not just when it comes to jokes about suicide, but jokes about any dark or sensitive topic.

I think that’s why people are bothered by the suicide jokes in this episode. Because really, this show has had jokes that allude to suicide before, and most of them involved Squidward, interestingly. Remember Band Geeks, when he nearly got impaled by some drumsticks and said “Too bad that didn’t kill me”? Or Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy IV when he wondered if a fall from a certain height would be enough to kill him? Those lines make you laugh, don’t they? They make me laugh too. Because we’re not actually worried about Squidward, we know it’s sarcasm and hyperbole to express his annoyance. I bet most people didn’t even think of them as jokes about suicide. In Are You Happy Now?, the suicide jokes stand out a lot more, not only because they’re a lot more explicit, but because of the context. Squidward is extremely depressed in this episode. For all we know, he could have been contemplating suicide, so it’s a lot more disturbing when we see jokes about it. The jokes don’t bother me as much as they once did, perhaps because I’ve now realized why they bothered me to begin with, and I’m able to see that it was really just the context that bothered me, not the subject itself (I feel similarly about One Coarse Meal now, for the record). I guess what I’m trying to say is that I totally get why people dislike these jokes, but I can’t bring myself to be too bothered by them anymore.

As a side note, I know some people thought these jokes were funny, and that’s fine. I don’t think less of them for laughing. Humor is subjective, especially this kind of humor. What’s funny to me could be offensive to someone else and vice versa. I’m positive that I’ve laughed at jokes that other people would be offended by, so it would be hypocritical of me to judge someone for laughing at these jokes. Everything I’ve said about humor so far is entirely subjective. It’s not fact, it’s just my opinion, and this whole what’s-okay-to-laugh-at-and-what-isn’t discussion is really complex and I can’t cover everything, so please don’t jump down my throat.

So far I’ve been very unclear about what my actual feelings for this episode are, but here’s something that I can express very clearly: I don’t like the ending. I don’t think anybody liked the ending of this episode, but I think I dislike it for a slightly different reason than everyone else. I think most people wanted this episode to have a Band Geeks-esque ending, where something wonderful happens for Squidward that he can call his happiest memory. That would have been nice, but I think I would have preferred something more subtle and bittersweet, like if Squidward didn’t necessarily receive a happy memory but found something worthwhile about his life anyway, or if he realized that it’s not too late for him to find some form of happiness. I didn’t like that his happiest memory at the end of the episode was destroying a bunch of SpongeBob statues in a fit a madness. It implies that Squidward completely hates SpongeBob which is really not true and is probably the one thing that I’ll never be able to just “get used to” about post-movie because his deep-down affection for SpongeBob was like my favorite thing in pre-movie and I can’t stand the fact that it’s gone uuuuuuuugh. So yeah. That bothered me. But I was also bothered by the party SpongeBob set up for Squidward. SpongeBob is naive about a lot of things, especially when it comes to his relationships with other characters, but he’s not an idiot. He knows Squidward. He knows what Squidward likes and what his passions are. I highly doubt he would think that Squidward’s perfect party would be one with a bunch of paper mache statues of himself. The ending makes SpongeBob seem oblivious to the interests of his friends, which is simply not true. It’s especially weird since his attempts at finding Squidward a happy memory earlier in the episode were good ones that actually did match Squidward’s interests, but SpongeBob really dropped the ball in the ending.

Oh, and I guess I should say something about that “He’s so handsome!” line that people always complain about. I really don’t have much of an issue with that line, to be honest. It’s a random and stupid line to end the episode with, yes, but I don’t care much about the implications of it. It is odd that so many post-movie quotes seem to imply that SpongeBob has a crush on Squidward and I do wonder why the writers would suddenly go that direction (if that is there intention, I’m not sure if it is), but I don’t give a shit about the sexualities of these characters and neither should you. Maybe I shouldn’t be so quick to think that it’s an issue with sexuality that makes people dislike this line, it’s probably just because SpongeBob was never intended to have a crush on Squidward and people don’t like the change to their dynamic. Well, again, I can’t take much issue with this fact because firstly SpongeBob having a crush on Squidward is the least of my worries when it comes to the change in their dynamic and secondly, whether or not SpongeBob had a crush on Squidward in pre-movie is probably up to interpretation, just like whether or not he has a crush on Sandy is up to interpretation. (I bet the SquidBob shippers were thrilled about the “He’s so handsome!” line.)

I should say something about the characters in this episode too. I’ve been complaining a lot lately about how Squidward comes off as legitimately depressed rather than just curmudgeonly in a lot of post-movie episode, so it’s kind of funny that I don’t have much of a problem with an episode that centers around him being depressed. Somehow it fits in this episode, probably because his depression, for the most part, isn’t being played for laughs and is instead used to get us to sympathize with him. It’s successful. One line that hit me really hard was at the end of the episode, when Squidward said he doesn’t want a happiest memory. That line has always stood out to me. Squidward has fallen so deep into his depression that he doesn’t even want to be brought out of it. That’s… I don’t know what that is. I can’t even tell if the line was supposed to be a joke or not, but it deeply disturbs me, which can either be a good thing or a bad thing depending on whether or not I decide to view that line as a joke. SpongeBob was extremely sweet in this episode, I loved how earnestly he was trying to help Squidward… minus the ending, that is, but I already talked about that. Gary is also in the second half a lot and he was really cute. That’s it. That’s all I can say about Gary.

Okay, so this post is over 2000 words and I’m not even done reviewing the first episode of the pair yet, so let’s wrap this up.

This is a really loaded episode. I knew when I started this project that when I got to this episode I would have a lot to say about it, but I didn’t expect to say this much. There’s just so much to talk about with this episode, so many discussions that can be opened up. I even managed to talk about shipping, for crying out loud. I kind of like this episode for that fact alone. It’s interesting. There’s a lot to talk about and I like talking about it.

This episode is depressing, controversial, and borders on insensitive (for some it crosses the line entirely), and that’s what I like about it. It’s fascinating, even if I’m not sure if I can call it “good”. I’m not even sure if “like” is the right word to describe my feelings toward it. I don’t even know what to rate it.

What is this episode even.

Rating: 8/10

SpongeBob and Patrick are jellyfishing, unaware that a giant jellyfish monster in creating miniature jellyfish that kidnap people in gelatin cocoons and make zombie-like clones of them that are devoid of emotion or personality. What the shit. This is awesome. The monster clones Patrick, and Zombie-Patrick insists on giving a mini monster jellyfish to everyone in Bikini Bottom. By the next day, most of the town has been replaced with a zombie clone, SpongeBob being one of the few that hasn’t been turned. At first he’s oblivious to what has happened to the town, but soon begins to suspect something. He discovers the gelatin cocoons with the real Bikini Bottomites in them in the freezer of the Krusty Krab, as well as the original monster/alien/whatever. Frightened, SpongeBob tries to escape from the zombified Bikini Bottomites, who are trying to turn him into a clone. Or they’re trying to devour him. I don’t know, either way it’s awesome. While running from the clones, he’s kidnapped by Sandy, who hasn’t been turned yet. Sandy thinks he’s one of the clones and wants to question him, but after testing him she realizes that he’s not a clone. The two of them come up with a plan to defeat the clones (SpongeBob realizes that mayonnaise is there weakness as they all seemed to have an aversion to it at the Krusty Krab) and exit Sandy’s treedome disguised as clones. They make it to the Krusty Krab and their disguises are found out, but they manage to spray all of the clones with mayonnaise which looks really dirty, or maybe I’m just too perverted. It’s probably the latter. Oh yeah, and when they get sprayed with the mayo they explode and the real person they were cloned from is freed from their cocoons. Eventually, Sandy and SpongeBob make their way to the giant jellyfish monster and defeat it, saving the town.

Oh my God, why is this not a special?! That’s really the only complaint I have about this episode. It’s too short. And this story really feels like it could be expanded into twenty-two minutes easily. It’s fine as an eleven minute episode too, a lot happens but it’s paced really well so it doesn’t feel too jam-packed. But it also feels rushed thanks to the time limit. I wish it could have spent more time with each scene.

I also find it odd that we never found out where the giant jellyfish monster came from. It’s just there. I think we can assume it’s an alien, but why would aliens try to take over Bikini Bottom of all places? They know that there are humans above water, right? You’d think that would be their priority. I’m over-thinking this, aren’t I?

I love how the jellyfish clones looked, though. Those eyes, man. They look so creepy, especially Mr. Krabs.

But as creepy as they look, I also think they look weirdly cute? Look, I wasn’t kidding when I said I have a weird definition of cute. Also I’m disappointed that we didn’t get to see Plankton as a clone. Just imagine how cute that would have looked! Please tell me there’s fan art of this.

Since I practically wrote a novel on Are You Happy Now?, I want to keep this review short. Conveniently there isn’t that much I have to say about this episode anyway. I really loved it, though. It’s exciting, it’s creepy, it’s a great throwback to Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and while it’s not heavy on humor because the focus is mostly its (awesome) story, the few jokes it does have are really funny. The only thing that could have improved it is if it had been longer.

Rating: 9.5/10

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 8 (The Way of the Sponge/Bubble Troubles)

SpongeBob goes to visit Sandy and sees a… something in her Treedome. That thing is “Fuzzy Acorns”, Sandy’s Karate sensei who has come to test her abilities and see whether or not she is worthy of the “blacker” belt, which is apparently a rank above the black belt that she already has. What kind of animal is Fuzzy Acorns supposed to be? I can’t figure it out and I can’t find the information anywhere. Eh, it doesn’t matter I guess. SpongeBob wants to earn a belt too, so Fuzzy (who came up with such a cute name like that for a bad ass Karate master, Hagrid?) puts him through a series of tests, all of which SpongeBob fails. Unimpressed, Fuzzy schedules a fight between Sandy and SpongeBob to take place the next day. SpongeBob spends the rest of the day and night training, and the next day is too exhausted to fight. Sandy beats him easily, and Fuzzy tells SpongeBob he isn’t worthy of a Karate belt. To make matters worse, he takes Sandy’s black belt as well for wasting his time with an unworthy student. Dejected, SpongeBob leaves to go to work, and Sandy berates Fuzzy for being so mean to SpongeBob.  Fuzzy dismisses her words and says that he’s hungry. Sandy takes him to the Krusty Krab, hoping that he’ll be impressed with SpongeBob’s skills there. After watching SpongeBob prepare and serve food like some kind of ninja chef (I know it sounds silly but I really don’t know how else to describe it, also it is pretty silly), Fuzzy starts to think that he may have judged SpongeBob too quickly. He tries to attack SpongeBob to see him in action, and SpongeBob unknowingly defeats him through sheer luck. Fuzzy decides that SpongeBob does deserve a black belt after all, and that Sandy deserves her blacker belt.

For some reason Fuzzy’s (that name still sounds far too cute) voice really bothered me. Every time he opened his mouth to say something, it took me out of the episode. I think it’s because the voice didn’t seem to match how the character was designed or his personality, or maybe the voice actor just isn’t that good. Whatever it was, it was really distracting.  I don’t even dislike Fuzzy as a character, I actually think he’s one of the better one-time characters that we’ve seen post-movie, and perhaps pre-movie as well, but his voice was so off-putting. I’m probably the only one who feels this way, though.

Getting past his voice, I do think Fuzzy is a fairly good character. He’s not great, but he serves his purpose well. He’s dignified and imposing but can also get in some moments of humor that don’t feel forced. His arrogance and bullying nature make him hard to like as a person, but easy to like as a character since he’s supposed to be antagonistic (yes, there is a big difference between liking someone as a character and liking someone as a person). What I find kind of cool about Fuzzy is that he actually learns his lesson at the end of the episode and apologizes for his behavior. I can’t think of any other one-time antagonists on the show who have done this, usually they’re pretty one-note (though admittedly in an entertaining way) and don’t really learn anything in the end, Fuzzy actually has something resembling a character arc, and once again it doesn’t feel forced. Hm, the more I think about it, Fuzzy is a pretty great one-time character. I actually could see him appearing in more episodes, unlike most one-time characters. Too bad about that voice.

I also really loved Sandy in this episode. I will never understand why so many people in this fandom hate Sandy. Next to SpongeBob, I think she’s the most likable character on the show, as well as one of the best overall. This episode demonstrates why she’s so likable. She’s extremely kind and she believes in SpongeBob so much, despite all of his failures. She encourages him and stands up for him when Fuzzy treats him badly. I also like that she was hesitant to fight SpongeBob when she saw how exhausted SpongeBob was. I mean, it only lasts a second because she’s under pressure from Fuzzy (and it would disrupt the pace of the episode if they dwelled on this too much), but I liked that they slipped that line in. It shows that she cares about her friend’s well-being and values fair play.

SpongeBob was pretty good too, though there isn’t as much to say about him. You definitely feel for him when he’s denied his Karate belt and his tenacity is admirable, but besides that he’s just kind of there. Funny, since I think he is supposed to be the focus of the episode, but since Fuzzy is the one with the arc the focus shifts to him.

The humor is the weakest part of the episode, but it’s not even that weak. None of the jokes are really worth writing home about, but they are amusing and I got a giggle here and there. I especially liked that bit of meta humor where Sandy is monologue-ing her plan to bringing Fuzzy to the Krusty Krab and Fuzzy asks her who she’s talking to.

If it’s not clear yet, I loved this episode. I thought it was pretty fantastic. It’s entertaining, it’s well-paced, it’s a decent story with really good execution, and the character were great.

Rating: 8.5/10

That title card looks very much like a scene from Pre-hibernation Week.

The first three minutes of this episode are dull and drag for way too long. Plus there’s a weird part with a bonsai tree that makes me pretty certain Squidward is taking drugs. All you need to know is that SpongeBob and Patrick get bored of blowing regular bubbles and instead start blowing hot sauce bubbles. They go to visit Sandy and find her fixing the oxygen tank connected to her treedome. Apparently she’s running low on oxygen. SpongeBob blows some hot sauce bubbles at the tank and as we all know hot sauce is equivalent to acid in the world of cartoons, so the oxygen tank melts. Sandy only has a few minutes of oxygen left in her suit, so she must go to the surface in her submarine and replenish her air supply. SpongeBob opens the door of the submarine and water rushes in. Nice going, genius. The lack of oxygen is making Sandy woozy, so she tells SpongeBob that he has to drive the submarine to the surface for her. Um, have you seen SpongeBob drive? Actually, SpongeBob drives it quite well until Sandy, who is basically drunk from the lack of oxygen, grabs the wheel from SpongeBob and crashes the submarine into the Krusty Krab. Now the gang must find air for Sandy (who has removed her helmet and smashed it on the ground) before she dies. They give her some air bubbles and have Pearl, who technically is also an air-breather, share her air with Sandy. However, SpongeBob knows he has to get Sandy more air from the surface, so using an oxygen tank (seriously?) as a jetpack, he reaches the surface, blows a bubble full of air, and brings it back down to Sandy’s treedome.

The beginning of this episode really does drag for too long. It shouldn’t take three minutes to tell me that SpongeBob and Patrick are blowing hot sauce bubbles.

Things do start to pick up once they get to Sandy’s house, though. I was a little disappointed that the episode didn’t take place on the surface as I had expected it to, but it was amusing nonetheless. Weird, but amusing. The methods they found of giving Sandy air were actually pretty creative, and I liked how they acknowledged that Pearl is actually a mammal and needs to breathe air too. Kind of a random, trivial thing to like, I know, but I just like it when they acknowledge little facts like that. It makes me wonder what side Pearl would have been on if she’d been part of the land vs water debate in Pressure. Also, I kind of want to see an episode where Sandy and Pearl bond over being air-breathers now. What.

Seeing Sandy drunk from the lack of air was actually pretty funny and weirdly adorable (I don’t know I have a weird definition of adorable okay), and it’s rare that we see her in a vulnerable position like this, so it was kind of refreshing. I mean, I love my tough, bad ass, heroic Sandy, but I also like to see something different now and then, and Sandy in a vulnerable position is different. She spends so much time saving everyone else, it’s nice to see them return the favor for once.

Patrick was also really funny in this episode. It feels weird to say that since my last review included a rant on how Patrick isn’t as funny as he used to be and I definitely still stand by that rant. But… he was funny in this one. I hope this isn’t just a fluke.

The story-telling and pacing are a bit shaky, but I thought it was a fairly entertaining episode. It’s really strange, but also fun and an interesting idea for an episode.

Rating: 7/10

SpongeBob Reviews: Season 8 (House Sittin’ For Sandy/Smoothe Jazz at Bikini Bottom)

Sandy asks SpongeBob to house sit for her and gives him a bunch of strict instructions to follow. While Sandy is gone, Patrick shows up and SpongeBob agrees to let him help as long as he promises not to screw anything up. However, SpongeBob accidentally activates Sandy’s robots (she has a warehouse full of them) and they destroy her treedome. Sandy comes home and they think she’s about to vaporize them with her laser, but it turns out the laser reverses rubble and fixes things? Kay. So she fixes everything easily and tells SpongeBob that she wanted him to destroy her house all along so she could test her invention. I…. I don’t… what. After that the robots are accidentally activated again and this time they break Sandy’s laser as well so she can’t fix anything. Yeah, because that was necessary.

If I could describe this episode in one word, it would be pointless. It’s sort like the Dear Vikings of Season 8, it doesn’t feel like an episode, it feels like eleven minutes of filler.

This isn’t even a bad idea for an episode necessarily, it’s just crappy execution. Lazy and lethargic. And kind of stupid, especially the ending. What was the point in having the robots destroy Sandy’s house twice? What was the point of her laser that fixes everything if the episode is going to end with her house destroyed anyway? The laser isn’t even a clever idea.

Also, SpongeBob isn’t wearing his water helmet for half of the episode because… because why? Why is he not wearing his water helmet? And why does he not realize this until Patrick points it out to him? How is that even possible? I know it’s a joke, but it’s a stupid, nonsensical joke.

I did enjoy that little Spandy hint, and I remember laughing a couple of times, but I can’t remember what I laughed at. Like I said, this is basically the Dear Vikings of Season 8 for me. It’s just a boring, empty, nonsensical episode, but not worth expending hatred on. Hatred takes energy, and I’m not going to waste energy on an episode that the writers clearly didn’t put any energy into themselves.

Rating: 2/10

That title seems wrong. Shouldn’t it be Smoothe Jazz in Bikini Bottom, or am I mistaken?

Squidward has a ticket to go see his favorite clarinetist, Kelpy G (nice pun, writers) in concert. Unfortunately, Patrick eats his ticket because Squidward kind of shoves it into his mouth accidentally. Well, that was a forced plot-point. Anyway, SpongeBob wins a pair of tickets to the concert as well as backstage passes and invites Squidward along. So, they go to the concert together and SpongeBob keeps embarrassing Squidward because he has the audacity to be happy and excited and cephalopods obviously hate joy or something so how dare he. Okay, I’m kidding, SpongeBob actually was a bit obnoxious, and it’s expected for the cephalopods to be snooty, but I guess I can’t help finding SpongeBob’s enthusiasm endearing, even if it was a tad inappropriate. Anyway, the concert starts and Patrick is somehow there even though the concert was said to be sold-out before. And he’s there for nachos, because apparently he can’t get nachos anywhere else? And then he eats Squidward’s backstage pass, through no fault of Squidward’s this time, he just eats it. SpongeBob offers Squidward his backstage pass, which is really sweet of him, but Patrick eats that too. Well, shit. And then for some reason Patrick gets on stage and tries to order nachos there? What is even happening in this episode. Anyway, security tries to get him off stage, but Patrick escapes by stage diving, and the other cephalopods are apparently fine with this even though they hated SpongeBob’s behavior earlier. Squidward and SpongeBob chase after Patrick hoping to get their passes back (good luck with that) and they end up getting told to go back to their seats. But their seats have been taken by someone else, so they get kicked out. What. They find a way to sneak back stage, but get caught by Kelpy G’s manager. Squidward tries to impress Kelpy’s manager by playing his clarinet while SpongeBob plays his ukulele. Kelpy hears them playing during his intermission and is impressed by SpongeBob’s ukulele playing. He pushes Squidward to the ground (!!!!!) and invites SpongeBob to play on stage with him. SpongeBob does so and Squidward gets thrown out of the concert.

I like this episode. No seriously, I do. I know it seemed like I was really taking the piss out of this episode, and there is a lot of stupidity in it, but I just can’t dislike it for some reason. I guess you could count this episode as somewhat of a guilty pleasure for me.

But yeah, it’s undeniable that this episode has problems. One of them is Patrick.

You know, I watched some pre-movie episodes for the first time in months a few days ago, and I was startled to realize how much I like Patrick. I know it sounds silly, but I’d forgotten. He’s actually quite endearing in most pre-movie episodes. It’s probably because back then his stupidity was usually harmless. If anything his stupidity was more detrimental to himself than to the people around him, so he can even be a bit sympathetic. Plus, there was actual wit behind his stupidity. Yes, that is possible. I don’t think a lot of people realize this, but doing stupid humor well is actually really hard. There needs to be some sort of cleverness behind it for it to work, it can’t just be pure, abstract randomness. Sometimes Patrick in post-movie reminds me of those annoying people in high school who would run around yelling things like “CHEESE” and think that they were funny because ~*omg so random lel*~. Ugh, no.

The problem I have with Patrick in post-movie is not just that his humor is (usually) not utilized as well in post-movie, it’s that Patrick himself has become rather unlikable. His stupidity is harmful to other characters the majority of the time and he’s often around just to screw things up for other characters. And he always gets away with it. He’s never punished for his actions, it’s always other characters who get punished instead. I hate that. And have you ever noticed that Patrick never gets abused? I can’t think of a single episode that would qualify as “Patrick Abuse”. I’m not saying I want Patrick Abuse to happen, not at all, I just think it’s noteworthy that he’s the only character who has never gotten it.

Anyway, in Smoothe Jazz at Bikini Bottom, Patrick is basically only used to cause trouble for Squidward and gets off scot-free. It’s really quite irritating, as he had no purpose in this episode besides that. It would bother me less if he was actually being funny, but he wasn’t. He was just an annoyance.

I was also really bothered by the ending of this episode, particularly the part where Kelpy pushes Squidward over while Squidward is trying to speak to him. Dude, that is just mean. Kelpy will let a guy come on stage and order nachos in the middle of the concert, but he won’t take a few seconds to talk to a fan that has something to say to him? In I’m Your Biggest Fanatic, Kevin the sea cucumber was being incredibly mean to his fan, SpongeBob, but at least in that episode Kevin was clearly the antagonist and got what he deserved. Plus, that episode served as a moral about hero-worship. In Smoothe Jazz at Bikini Bottom, it’s just mean-spiritedness. You could argue that Squidward had it coming for sneaking backstage where he wasn’t supposed to be, but SpongeBob did that too and he didn’t get the same treatment, so the argument is moot in my opinion.

All that being said, I don’t dislike this episode. Maybe it’s due to low expectations after everything I’d heard about it, or maybe it’s because I watched it immediately after I watched the borefest that is House Sittin’ For Sandy and anything is enjoyable after that as long as it’s interesting. SJABB is a mess, but at least it’s not boring. I don’t think I’d go out of my way to watch SJABB again, but I really did enjoy it, even with all of the forced plot-points, stupidity and the meanness of the ending. It was entertaining, occasionally kind of funny, and SpongeBob was actually really sweet in this episode, though I do wonder why he didn’t at least try to stand up for Squidward at the end. Considering how hard he was trying to make Squidward happy earlier in the episode, it seems a bit strange that he would just forget about him. Oh well, he was still sweet and endearing for most of it, and he’s mainly what I enjoyed about this episode.

Rating: 6/10

SpongeBob Reviews: Season 8 (Ghoul Fools/Mermaid Man Begins/Plankton’s Good Eye)

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

SpongeBob Reviews: Season 8 (Mooncation/Mr. Krabs Takes a Vacation)

The episodes starts the same way the other episodes did. Sort of. SpongeBob and Patrick go over to Sandy’s house and see two secret agents leaving with her vacation slides. Then Sandy rushes SpongeBob and Patrick into her house and tells them that she had secretly made copies of her slides that she then shows to them. We never find out why her slides were taken away, where those secret agents came from and how they even found out about her slides. It just happens.

Anyway, the flashback begins with Sandy preparing to leave on her vacation to the moon. SpongeBob decides to get her a cake as a parting gift, but when he returns to the rocket Sandy is already launching. He climbs on board just as the ship takes off, so Sandy has no choice but to bring SpongeBob along with her. When they get to the moon, Sandy shows SpongeBob how to board in the moon craters. Being the klutz that he is, SpongeBob crashes into the fuel tank and causes a leak. So, he and Sandy rush back into the rocket and try to return home before their fuel runs out. They make it back into Earth’s atmosphere, but the ship goes into a steep dive. Sandy exits the rocket, saying she’s going to “grab this bull by the horns”. Basically, she lassos the nose of the rocket to pull it out of its dive. The weird thing is, this actually seems logical compared to most of the stuff that happens on this show. They make it back to Bikini Bottom and SpongeBob apologizes for ruining Sandy’s vacation. Sandy tells him there’s no need to apologize because he made her vacation exciting, and that she plans on taking him to Mars with her next.

This is kind of a strange episode for me because I think it’s pretty weak in terms of structure, writing and pacing, but there was also a lot that I liked about it.

As I’ve mentioned before, how the writers use their time is really important because the average episode is only eleven minutes long. The main problem with Season 7 was that the pacing of most episodes was totally out of balance. They took too much time setting up their main plot and then by the time they got to it there were only a few minutes left. So the episode ended up being mostly build-up and then the plot was crammed into the last couple of minutes. Mooncation suffers from the same problem. It isn’t until three minutes into the episode that Sandy and SpongeBob are in the rocket, and then they only get to the moon six minutes into the episode. They stay on the moon for about two minutes, and then the rest of the episode is about them getting back home. Call me crazy, but when an episode is entitled Mooncation, I expect most of it to take place on the moon. Spending time on the journey to and from the moon is perfectly fine, but I couldn’t help feeling cheated about the fact that they’re only on the moon for two minutes. What a wasted opportunity. It’s rare enough that we get an episode outside Bikini Bottom, but an episode on the moon? How many chances like that do we get? Not many, and I would have liked it if the writers had taken advantage of this setting more.

The beginning of this episode could easily have been shortened, most of it feels like filler anyway (plus that Big-Lipped Alligator Moment with the secret agents…). The journey to and from the moon could probably have been shortened a bit too, which would have allowed for more time on the moon. It always disappoints me to see what could be a cool, creative episode be brought down by poor execution or structure.

That being said, there is a lot that I really like about this episode. Like this face from Sandy:

It makes me laugh every time.

But seriously, there’s a lot to like in this episode. For one thing, it feels like forever since we’ve had an episode with just SpongeBob and Sandy. I’ve missed seeing episodes with these two, I’ve always enjoyed their dynamic and it’s been a while since we’ve had an episode that really displays it. Most episodes involving Sandy lately have only had her in in them briefly, or they’ve been group episodes. The one recent Sandy episode that did neither of these things was Perfect Chemistry, but that was focused on Sandy and Plankton, not Sandy and SpongeBob. I love group episodes and I love seeing writers experiment with character dynamics the way they did in Perfect Chemistry, but it is nice to see an episode that’s simply about Sandy and SpongeBob again. Their interactions are always a lot of fun and full of cuteness, even if you’re not a Spandy shipper. There’s something so endearing about how SpongeBob always seems in awe of Sandy and how determined he is to impress her, and I like how Sandy is clearly aware of what a klutzy weirdo SpongeBob is, but she loves him anyway and does her best to include him in her stunts. Though there were a couple of moments in Mooncation where Sandy seemed a bit inconsiderate of SpongeBob’s feelings in a way that’s rather unlike her (like when she ate his cake and then only commented on how it could have used more nuts), their chemistry in this episode was mostly spot-on. I’m glad to see that the writers seem to understand the SpongeBob-Sandy dynamic and can actually portray it well, unlike the SpongeBob-Squidward dynamic which they clearly don’t understand (I don’t think I’ll ever stop being bitter about that).

Sandy herself was really fun to watch in this episode too. I like how this episode made use of her scientist persona, her thrill-seeker persona, and her Texas cowgirl persona. Sandy has always been one of the most versatile characters on the show because of how many facets there are to her character, and it’s cool to see an episode that makes good use of a lot of them at once.

The visuals in this episode were really interesting. I liked the way the animation for the moon and space looked. It had a nice look and the different animation suits the fact that it’s a different location from underwater, kind of like how any scene taking place above water uses live-action. Plus, space in general is a really pretty, mysterious and interesting setting that I enjoy looking at. Even the title card is nice.

Mooncation also has a great climax. The episode jumps to the climax a bit too quickly, but the climax itself is paced pretty well and it’s actually really exciting.

This review is getting way too long, so time to wrap this up. Mooncation isn’t the best-written episode, but there is a lot to like about it. It’s one of the more popular post-movie episodes and I can definitely see why. It’s just a shitload of fun. I wouldn’t call it one of my favorites even for post-movie, but it’s definitely worth watching at least a few more times.

Rating: 7.5

You’d think they could have come up with a more creative name for the episode.

Again it starts with vacation slides, this time belonging to Mr. Krabs. For his vacation, he took SpongeBob and Pearl to The Mint, where all of the money is made. Well, he took SpongeBob to The Mint, at least. Pearl decided she would rather go through the rubble of the demolished Teenage Boy Museum next to The Mint. Why does Bikini Bottom have a teenage boy museum? That’s kind of creepy. It sounds like something that perverted old man from Family Guy would go to. Anyway, SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs go to The Mint and take a tour of the factory and that’s pretty much most of the episode. Not much really happens, they just take a tour and Krabs is a little too into it. Toward the end of the episode The Mint is robbed, but Krabs gets rid of the burglars and he and SpongeBob are rewarded with bills that have their face printed on them. Then Pearl steals them to buy shoes.

It’s kind of funny to me to think that when I first started these reviews, I thought Mr. Krabs was one of the better post-movie characters. The changes that were made to his character weren’t as pronounced yet and he was one of few characters that was able to make me laugh consistently. Around Season 6 that started to change, and now I think that of all of the main characters, he’s probably the one that got the worst downgrade. All of his likable qualities have been stripped from him, and lately he hasn’t been funny enough to make up for it. I’ve started to kind of dread Mr. Krabs-centered episodes because I keep thinking that Krabs couldn’t possibly get worse and then he keep getting worse.

So I wasn’t terribly excited to watch this episode, but I was pleasantly surprised. This episode was actually really funny. The dialogue and especially the visuals had me laughing throughout most of it. Even Pearl was kind of funny. And Krabs wasn’t completely unlikable here. In fact, Mr. Krabs has been pretty good so far in Season 8. Maybe I shouldn’t speak too soon since I’m not even halfway through the season yet, but I can’t help feeling hopeful, especially now that we’ve had an episode where he’s in the spotlight that’s actually good. Could it be that Krabs is improving?

Anyway, besides the humor and the hope it gives me about Krabs’ character, this episode isn’t amazing. It moves rather slowly and the pacing is kind of jumpy. The humor is really its saving grace, and even that feels like it wouldn’t have very good replay value. Still, it’s a pretty good episode and I feel like it’s a sign of good things to come for Krabs.

Rating: 7.5/10