098. What Ever Happened to SpongeBob?

JoeyBoi

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Probably one of the stupidest specials. The plot feels extremely rushed and all of the characters are unlikable. I will say that this special didn't feel as if the entire thing was pointless, like Spongebob You're Fired, but it's still pretty freaking boring. It also was played way too straight, which also means that there's almost no comedy to be found here, making it even more of a slog to get through. Overall a pretty stupid and mean episode, but not the worst thing out there.

Bad episode (4/10)


1. Roller Cowards (10)
2. Spy Buddies (9)
3. Spongebob vs. the Patty Gadget (8)
4. Sing a Song of Patrick (8)
5. The Krusty Plate (8)
6. Friend or Foe (8)
7. Krabs à La Mode (8)
8. The Krusty Sponge (7)
9. Goo Goo Gas (7)
10. Pest of the West (7)
11. Blackened Sponge (7)
12. New Digs (7)
13. Mermaidman vs. Spongebob (7)
14. Bucket Sweet Bucket (7)
15. The Battle of Bikini Bottom (7)
16. Picture Day (6)
17. Money Talks (6)
18. Blackjack (6)
19. The Donut of Shame (6)
20. The Inmates of Summer (6)
21. Night Light (5)
22. Boat Smarts (5)
23. Rise and Shine (5)
24. 20,000 Patties Under The Sea (5)
25. To Save a Squirrel (5)
26. Slimy Dancing (5)
27. Breath of Fresh Squidward (5)
28. The Original Fry Cook (5)
29. Le Big Switch (4)
30. Good Ol' Whatshisname (4)
31. Pat No Pay (4)
32. A Flea in Her Dome (4)
33. What Ever Happened to Spongebob? (4)
34. To Love A Patty (3)
35. Waiting (3)
36. Atlantis Squarepantis (3)
37. Fungus Among Us (2)
 

MimicMadness

Born On January 14
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Apr 20, 2021
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The 122nd episode although it is the 98th in production order episode in airing order-
 

Season 4-11

7 Years of Hospitality
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This episode isn't that bad in my opinion. I used to dislike it and I can totally see why someone would, but this episode is very much watchable. I'll give it a 5/10, because despite being flawed I can still enjoy this episode to an extent and it's not that bad.

Season 5 Specials Ranked:
1. Friend or Foe (7/10)
2. Whatever Happened To SpongeBob? (5/10)
3. Pest of the West (4/10)
4. Atlantis Squarepantis (3/10)
 

kevin_emery

Imitation Krab
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Not a Very popular opinion, but this is probably my favorite episode in season 5. Not sure why I love this one so much. There's just something about it. xD
 

spongie33

Sad Squidward Expert
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I don't really like this episode. 5/10. Also has the SpongeBob Face meme.
 

SlipperytheTotodile

The Pokemon Enthusiast
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SpongeBuddy Mania
Old review

I dont like this episode the plot was nice and all but the whole episode is all over place it didnt have to be bad but they executed it badly luckily we do get some funny humor like the ending saved it from going to my bottom 5

5/20 Stupid episode
 
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GlitchyGoomba

Bomb-Selling Pirate
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Inside an arcade machine
This is, simply put, a poorly written episode. There are multiple elements of it that I didn't care for, such as Squidward's rude remarks and flimsy desires, the fact that too many plot elements are being cramped into the 22 minute runtime, and the overall lack of comedy. Although I did really enjoy the climax of the episode with Spongebob using bubbles to defend himself against the Bubble Poppin Boys. I also think the concept of Spongebob trying to find his footing in a new city is a good concept, it just doesn't have good execution. I especially hate that it has to do with Spongebob losing his conscience, it feels like an afterthought that was tacked on as a gimmick for marketing and less like an actual element to the story.
 

SlipperytheTotodile

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Not only this is my least favorite special but its an episode i will hate for eternity. The plot was nice and all but the whole episode is all over place it didnt have to be bad but they executed it badly. The only funny thing here was that ending. Never ever EVER speak of this episode near me again...

Rating: Terrible Episode

Rankings:
Roller Cowards (Perfect)
Friend or Foe (Perfect)
Mermaid Man Vs. SpongeBob (Perfect)
Goo Goo Gas (Amazing!)
Spy Buddies (Amazing!)
SpongeBob Vs. The Patty Gadget (Amazing!)
20,000 Patties Under the Sea (Amazing!)
Atlantis SquarePantis (Great)
Sing a Song of Patrick (Great)
Bucket Sweet Bucket (Great)
Krab a la Mode (Great)
The Donut of Shame (Great)
Slimy Dancing (Great)
BlackJack (Great)
Picture Day (Great)
Breath of Fresh Squidward (Great)
Rise and Shine (Great)
The Krusty Plate (Great)
Le Big Switch (Great)
Pest of the West (Good)
Boat Smarts (Meh)
A Flea in her Dome (Meh)
Fungus Among Us (Meh)
Night Light (Alright)
The Krusty Sponge (Okay)
The Original Fry Cook (Okay)
New Digs (Okay)
The Inmates of Summer (Okay)
To Save a Squirrel (Okay)
Good Ol' Whathisname (Bad)
Money Talks (Bad)
Blackened Sponge (Bad)
The Battle of Bikini Bottom (Bad)
Pat No Pay (Horrible)
WhoBob WhatPants (aka Whatever Happened to SpongeBob) (Terrible)
To Love a Patty (Terrible)
Waiting (Terrible)
 

Pugs4Thugs

#1 SpongeBob Reviewer
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Next up, we've got--hey wait a minute, didn't I just finish up reviewing a special yesterday? Season 5, what is going on here? First we have tons of 3-episode segments and now we've got specials all over the place! At least now we're finally at the last special of the season, "Whatever Happened to SpongeBob", also known as "WhoBob WhatPants" (as it was advertised as). What's funny is the formulaic advertising name is a much better description of the episode than the other title. But anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. Today we've got a treat in revisiting this old infamous episode. Over the years I feel like it's kinda moved away from infamy and more into obscurity with only a thin air of dislike surrounding it. Either way, I haven't watched this episode in a long time, so it was nice to do a rewatch for this review. That’s one thing about these episode reviews, I’m basically just doing a very slow and methodical marathon of the entire show. Alright, that's enough talk, let's get into this review because I have a feeling it's going to be a long one.

The beginning seconds of this episode interest me immediately because of the title card paired with the suspenseful, dangerous-sounding music. It makes me think that we're about to have a mystery on our hands, which excites me. And I stay excited up until I realize pretty quickly that this is not what this episode is going to be about. At all. I'll discuss this more at the end of the review, because I came across some very interesting information while preparing this one that I think helps what I'll be saying immensely. What I will say right now is that a mystery would’ve been a lot better than what we get. Because, see, this episode is unpleasant. We’re but a minute into the thing when we get the whole running trend of this set-up portion of SpongeBob accidentally making other people’s lives worse (except for Squidward, who he doesn’t even bother at all this episode so Squidward is really just nasty for no reason). I have…multiple problems with this set up.
  • First, everyone calling SpongeBob ‘Idiot Boy’ doesn’t even make sense for some of these characters, especially Patrick. The insult also doesn’t even fit like…any of the situations because they were caused by SpongeBob’s clumsiness, not idiocy.
  • Second, none of the reasons that each character is angry at SpongeBob for are enough to justify the extent of their anger, in my opinion. Patrick’s cake gets destroyed but like why was he standing outside with it in the first place??? SpongeBob didn’t even do anything to Squidward when the guy comes out and yells at him. As for Sandy, she can only blame herself for designing the water helmets that way, and by giving SpongeBob an open invitation to her home and not telling him that maybe don't come by today or be careful if he does. And for Mr. Krabs, while SpongeBob may have fallen in the pans, it is he who left the kitchen in a state of disarray with water on the floor so…he also can only blame himself.
  • Third, and most importantly, the entire sequence of events that cause SpongeBob’s departure from Bikini Bottom are irritating, annoying, and above all infuriating, and not because of SpongeBob. I’m honestly impressed at how quickly this episode makes me want to take myself down to Bikini Bottom and fight 4 people (not Gary though, never Gary. Not to mention he had the most legitimate complaint and at least didn’t call SpongeBob an idiot). But seriously, these first few minutes are just hard to watch because every single incident (again, except Squidward) is an accident, so seeing everyone snap at SpongeBob is horrible because he doesn’t deserve their ire. It’s also just weird because other than Squidward, all of these characters love SpongeBob and his idiosyncrasies, so what exactly is going on here? I understand that this sequence is meant to be over-the-top and show why SpongeBob thought he should leave town, but good lord there had to have been a better way than this. And if there wasn’t, then this plot should’ve been scrapped.
SpongeBob decides to leave Bikini Bottom, and even though we’re only 4 minutes in at this point I’m cheering him on because literally what is everyone else on?? At least we get some nice looking backgrounds as SpongeBob travels. Unfortunately mans has no luck and he ends up taking quite the tumble and then…no, oh noplease no…we’re doing an amnesia plot!!! It is very important that you all know I am shaking my fist at the sky right now…curse you amnesia plotsssss :ahh: I can’t stand amnesia plots they almost never work and they are dumb and pointless because they almost always end with the person getting their memories back (if they didn’t end that way, then they’d be more interesting). Also they’re always scientifically inaccurate lmao.

I’ll just go ahead and talk about all of SpongeBob’s part of the plot before returning to talking about my feelings about what’s going down in Bikini Bottom. It’s…fine. The first few minutes of him just not knowing anything about himself are boring, as is the first few minutes of him in New Kelp City. The mystery surrounding bubbles is interesting enough I guess, but like by this point I’m grasping at anything to keep me going in this episode. And then we get the infamous gross-up shot which at least was interesting. I actually don’t even find that shot to be very unappealing…it’s actually very impressively painted. And then when we finally learn why blowing bubbles is a bad idea, and it’s…slightly nonsensical because the Bubble Poppin’ Boys are extremely unintimidating lmao. At least the chase sequence was entertaining. And it’s nice to see SpongeBob be lauded as a hero, especially after the horrendous mess that was the beginning of the episode.

Backing up and taking a look at what’s going on with the 4 people who pissed me off in this episode, things don’t really get better. After SpongeBob leaves town, we see Patrick knocking on his door so he can demand something of SpongeBob instead of, you know, APOLOGIZING. And we don’t know why Sandy showed up so I’m going to pretend it’s so she could apologize, especially given the guilty look on her face after reading the letter. See what really upsets me about this episode is the fact that SpongeBob’s friends treated him in this horrible way, even though they are all very well aware that they need him (except for Squidward, who denies that). And the whole part where they all start crying shows that. They aren’t apologetic enough for me, with Mr. Krabs and Patrick thinking of themselves more than anything. At least Squidward’s line there was really funny, which made sitting through that undeserved crying session much easier. I like that they all decide to work together to figure out how to get SpongeBob back, but again I don’t like it because they want to bring him back not to make anything up to him or because they care about him, but because they want something from him. Now to be fair, I only take it this way because Mr. Krabs takes charge here, but the only person I felt any sincerity from in this entire episode was Sandy. And the way Squidward keeps sabotaging plans isn’t even entertaining. At least the way Mr. Krabs ropes him in is fun.

And then we get the awaited intersection of the two plot lines as Sandy, Squidward, and Patrick find SpongeBob with…very little fanfare. At this point I’m exhausted and this review is lengthy so I’m not even going to get into how underwhelming this “climax” is. Seeing SpongeBob blow Patrick and Sandy off was immensely gratifying. And then when SpongeBob gets into the limo and it’s revealed that Squidward’s the one driving, that actually got me laughing hard because I was not expecting that at all. When they bring SpongeBob back to the Krusty Krab, I start getting annoyed again by the way they all expect SpongeBob to just get right back into things and remember them like huh? Whatever. And then we finally get a resolution to the amnesia with the destruction of Squidward’s egg. What we don’t get a resolution for, though, is the whole mess that was the first 4 minutes of this episode. One half-assed apology by Mr. Krabs is all we get, as Sandy’s doesn’t really count since it was done earlier. SpongeBob just goes right back to work living in Bikini Bottom, and remain annoyed that he didn’t get the collective apology he deserved. In fact I’d argue some groveling was required as well.

Now, as I start moving towards a more retrospective look in this review, I have to say that "Whatever Happened to SpongeBob?" is not all bad. There are some pretty funny jokes here, like the very beginning when SpongeBob says hi to the mailman and the guy ends up crashing into a truck, that got a good laugh out of me. And that cutaway gag to Squidward and Mr. Krabs at the beginning while SpongeBob is wholesomely talking about how great is life is was really good too. And later in the episode, SpongeBob’s speech as mayor is pretty funny. And the news report that prevents SpongeBob from leaving Bikini Bottom again was pretty funny, especially as the violent guy is cut off. And the ending gag of the episode with Squidward trashing is brain was a good note to end on as well. So there's some good stuff here that helps provide some much-needed breaks from the bad and ugly.

This episode is a textbook case of "interesting premise, flawed execution". And this is true at every level where the episode could have improved itself (title --> plot, basic plot, detailed plot, and actual execution of the intended plot, but I won't detail that last one since I basically have been doing that this whole time). The title of this episode implying that something bad happened to SpongeBob leading him to be missing, and implying there's a mystery there...that's interesting! The basic plot of this episode, SpongeBob being in a new setting away from everyone he knows, and everyone back at Bikini Bottom having to deal with it...that's interesting! The detailed plot of this episode, SpongeBob leaving town because his friends disregarded him, and so they have to track him down and apologize because they care about him, that's still interesting! But the episode fails to capitalize on the interesting premise at all levels. And as I was thinking about how this episode could've been better (mostly by starting with the first level and completely revamping the plot to make it a mystery), I remembered the existence of those "What If SpongeBob Was Gone" shorts. Do you guys remember those? I thought about them, and I was thinking 'man, if this special was like these interesting shorts, with SpongeBob being missing right from the beginning and his friends realizing it before teaming up to solve the mystery and track him down, that could've been amazing!'. And it was at this point I found out...these shorts were made to promote this special! In other words, for the purposes of promotion and advertisement, the creative team made not one, not two or even three, but FOUR SHORTS THAT ARE BETTER THAN THE ACTUAL SPECIAL THEY ARE ADVERTISING. I'm...I'm in shock. I don't think there's anything else I can say about that one.

And speaking of nothing else to say, I have no more to add on about this episode. It's just not that good. Beyond the sparing moments of actually good comedy, the episode is either actively annoying or infuriating me, or boring me. And it's also just frustrating knowing the sheer potential this episode had. Keeping everything in mind, I'd say this episode fits my (barely) "Tolerable" tier the most. I heavily considered putting it down in "Bad", but like I didn't hate what I was watching or anything (mostly). It helps that the episode spent more time boring me than infuriating me. If the balance was more skewed to the latter, then this episode would be in "Bad" for sure. And no matter where I put it, there's no doubt that "Whatever Happened to SpongeBob" is the worst special of season 5.

Episode Tier: Tolerable
Episode Score:
4.2/10
 

SPNGBDDY

Resident SpongeBob Fanatic
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I never like this episode even as a kid
Plot is super predictable and mean-spirited, it's also boring as heck!
 

SpongebobMaster

Dollarbob enjoyer
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Problaby the 2nd worst special its mean spirited, boring, unfunny and has no such thing of being a special! i just feel soo bad for spongebob this is one of the worst season 5 episodes and one of the worst episodes of the show
 

SpongebobMaster

Dollarbob enjoyer
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terrible special this episode SOILED IT! also spongebob just repeating "idiot boy.... idiot boy...." was just so sad I can't imagine that happening that just makes this so sad and mean spirited! it doesn't have anything special as a special! I really hated this one on my rewatch too bad this had potential but was wasted so bad! 1.5/10
 

SpongebobMaster

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Problaby the 2nd worst special its mean spirited, boring, unfunny and has no such thing of being a special! i just feel soo bad for spongebob this is one of the worst season 5 episodes and one of the worst episodes of the show
terrible special this episode SOILED IT! also spongebob just repeating "idiot boy.... idiot boy...." was just so sad I can't imagine that happening that just makes this so sad and mean spirited! it doesn't have anything special as a special! I really hated this one on my rewatch too bad this had potential but was wasted so bad! 1.5/10
damn this is probably the episode with the most reviews I have done (never noticed how during this point season 5 was getting bad)
1.5/10
  1. Friend or foe (10/10)
  2. The Donut Of Shame (10/10)
  3. Roller Cowards (10/10)
  4. Krabs à La Mode (10/10)
  5. Spy Buddies (10/10)
  6. Pest Of The West (9.5./10)
  7. Spongebob Vs The Patty Gadget (9.5/10)
  8. Bucket Sweet Bucket (9.5/10)
  9. The Krusty Sponge (9.5/10)
  10. Sing A Song Of Patrick (9.5/10)
  11. Inmates Of Summer (9.5/10)
  12. The Krusty Plate (9/10)
  13. Rise And Shine (9/10)
  14. New Digs (8.5/10)
  15. Blackened Sponge (8.5/10)
  16. BlackJack (8.5/10)
  17. Night Light (8.5/10)
  18. Money talks (8.5/10)
  19. Goo Goo Gas (7.5/10)
  20. Breath Of Fresh Squidward (7.5/10)
  21. The Battle of Bikini Bottom (6.5/10)
  22. Pat No Pay (6.5/10)
  23. Slimy Dancing (5.5/10)
  24. Le Big Switch (5/10)
  25. 20,000 Patties Under The Sea (4.5.10)
  26. The Original Fry Cook (4.5/10)
  27. Good Ol'Whatshisname (3.5/10)
  28. Boat Smarts (3/10)
  29. Picture Day (2.5/10)
  30. A Flea In Her Dome (2/10)
  31. What Ever Happened To Spongebob? (1.5/10
  32. To Save A Squirrel (1/10)
  33. Waiting (1/10)
  34. Fungus Amongus (0.5/10)
  35. To love a patty (0/10)
  36. Atlantis Squarepantis (-99999/10)
 

Jovanaspongebobfan88

Imitation Krab
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Ughh why does this episode exist!!!??, THIS IS A TOTAL SPONGEBOB TORUTURE....!!!!!!FIRST OF ALL HIS OWN BEST FRIEND CALLS HIM IDIOT BOY!!!!UGHHH 😡!! NEXT IS SQUIDWARD,AND EVEN AFTER CALLING HIM IDIOT BOY HE HAVEN'T FELT BAD.UGHH🙄!! NEXT IS SANDY.SPONGEBOB DID IT BY ACCIDENT, HE DIDNT MEAN!!UGHH, LAST UP MR KRABS!!UGH, THIS IS THE SCENE THAT I HATE SO MUCH.UGHH HE DIDN'T MEAN TO RUIN YOUR MONEY,AND YOU JUST CALL HIM IDIOT BOY LIKE THAT!!!WHY DO I EVEN BOTHER...I HATE THIS EPISODE.0/10
 

SpongebobMaster

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Ughh why does this episode exist!!!??, THIS IS A TOTAL SPONGEBOB TORUTURE....!!!!!!FIRST OF ALL HIS OWN BEST FRIEND CALLS HIM IDIOT BOY!!!!UGHHH 😡!! NEXT IS SQUIDWARD,AND EVEN AFTER CALLING HIM IDIOT BOY HE HAVEN'T FELT BAD.UGHH🙄!! NEXT IS SANDY.SPONGEBOB DID IT BY ACCIDENT, HE DIDNT MEAN!!UGHH, LAST UP MR KRABS!!UGH, THIS IS THE SCENE THAT I HATE SO MUCH.UGHH HE DIDN'T MEAN TO RUIN YOUR MONEY,AND YOU JUST CALL HIM IDIOT BOY LIKE THAT!!!WHY DO I EVEN BOTHER...I HATE THIS EPISODE.0/10
another opinion we agree on
 
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