10a. Culture Shock

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We've finally broken the streak of okay/bad episodes with Culture Shock. This episode isn't the greatest, but it's good for what it is. It has some good gags, and, of course, Squidward's dance.

Ranking so far:
1. Pickles (A+)
2. Pizza Delivery (A+)
3. Plankton! (A)
4. Naughty Nautical Neighbors (A)
5. Sandy's Rocket (A)
6. Help Wanted (A)
7. Culture Shock (B)
8. Boating School (B)
9. Bubblestand (B)
10. Home Sweet Pineapple (B)
11. Hall Monitor (B)
12. Jellyfishing (B)
13. Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy (C)
14. Jellyfish Jam (C)
15. Tea at the Treedome (C)
16. Opposite Day (C)
17. Ripped Pants (C)
18. Reef Blower (C)
19. Nature Pants (C)
20. Squeaky Boots (D)
 

FinnDinner

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I love this episode, it’s honestly amazing for how it pulls all of the characters together in one amazing idea. Everything about it works and works well.
 

EB The Original Master

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010a%20-%20Culture%20Shock%20(421).jpg


I can relate to this one scene alone from the episode

Sandy: "He has such a way with words"

Random Purple Fish Who's Looking At Sandy: "You kidding me right now?"
 

FinnDinner

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EB The Original Master said:
010a%20-%20Culture%20Shock%20(421).jpg


I can relate to this one scene alone from the episode

Sandy: "He has such a way with words"

Random Purple Fish Who's Looking At Sandy: "You kidding me right now?"
I actually thought that was serious because Gary was supposedly a genius in the first season, maybe there is more than one interpretation?
 

CheeseCrocker

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This episode is essentially a compilation of plays all in one episode, and it's really funny IMO.

Great Episode (8.5/10)
 

Rex

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Culture Shock is a non stop hilarious ride from beginning to end, Squidward giving everyone a shot at the big time while mainly wanting to focus on himself is perfect for his character. This episode is really funny, it has so many classic quotes and performances however I will admit this episode did confuse me for a long while. I always thought when Spongebob said "With this mop, I shape my destiny" I always thought he said "With this mop, I'll make, a living" Probably me being dumb and thinking of an episode like Squid's Day Off but anyway, the performances of how I love the performances. Everyone gets their time to shine and it's great that we got a nice reunion of the cast only in the 20th episode. Squidward's dance is of course amazing and I may be alone or I may not be but the ending really works IMO, Squid was a jackass for most of the episode so I think its fine he got publicly shamed. Although the audience has terrible taste if they don't like that dance, ITS GLORIOUS. This one never stood out to me that greatly until I got older, I'm only 16 now so who knows the older I get this may soon be my favorite episode, however Ripped Pants will always be my numero uno. Also the fact that this and Ripped Pants are both on Home Sweet Pineapple, another reason that DVD is awesome, another short one but what else can I say a hilarious classic and a very worthy episode of being in the top 15 (yes I changed my order again)

10a Culture Shock Best Of The Best 10/10

Also for fun here is my new top 25 for the season


#1 Ripped Pants (The King)
#2 SB-129
#3 Rock Bottom
#4 Culture Shock
#5 Walking Small
#6 Arrgh!
#7 Pizza Delivery
#8 Hooky

Best Of The Best

#9 Home Sweet Pineapple
#10 F.U.N.
#11 Plankton!
#12 Employee Of The Month
#13 Suds
#14 Mermaid Man And Barnacle Boy
#15 Squeaky Boots
#16 Jellyfish Jam
#17 Help Wanted
#18 Musclebob Buffpants
#19 Sleepy Time
#20 Naughty Nautical Neighbors
#21 Sandy's Rocket
#22 Reef Blower
#23 Bubblestand
#24 Hall Monitor
#25 Nature Pants

Amazing Aka Personal Favorites 9/10
 

JoeyBoi

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This is one of the more gag centered episodes of the season, and it is pretty funny. I feel like they spent too much time setting up the plot though, they could've utilized that time on some more performances from the characters. I feel like an episode like this could benefit from a faster paced story. The highlight of this episode was definitely the ending bit with Spongebob and Squidward swapping places on stage. That scene never fails to crack me up. Anyway, fine episode, not much else to say here.

Good episode (7/10)

1. Pizza Delivery (10)
2. Opposite Day (9)
3. Pickles (9)
4. Help Wanted (9)
5. Plankton! (8)
6. Naughty Nautical Neighbors (8)
7. Sandy's Rocket (8)
8. Hall Monitor (8)
9. Ripped Pants (8)
10. Jellyfish Jam (7)
11. Tea at the Treedome (7)
12. Culture Shock (7)
13. Home Sweet Pineapple (7)
14. Boating School (7)
15. Bubblestand (7)
16. Mermaidman and Barnacleboy (6)
17. Reef Blower (6)
18. Squeaky Boots (6)
19. Nature Pants (5)
20. Jellyfishing (5)

By the way, I've changed some of my ratings around if you couldn't tell.
 

MimicMadness

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(They are both on the stage)

Audience: cheers while throwing tomatoes at Squidward
 

spunchbop444

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7.5/10

The first few parts of the episode were very good and funny, especially Pearl's act, until the Bikini Bottomites kept torturing Squidward. And they think SpongeBob is better? Yeah, the ending is horrid, but the rest is pretty good.

Naughty Nautical Neighbors: (10/10)
Ripped Pants: (10/10)
Tea at the Tree-Dome: (10/10)
Help Wanted: (9.5/10)
Pizza Delivery: (9/10)
Plankton!: (9/10)
Boating School: (8.5/10)
Bubblestand: (8.5/10)
Culture Shock: (7.5/10)
Reef Blower: (7.5/10)
Pickles: (7/10)
Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy I: (6.5/10)
Home Sweet Pineapple: (6.5/10)
Opposite Day: (6/10)
Nature Pants: (4.5/10)
Sandy's Rocket: (4.5/10)
Hall Monitor: (4/10)
Squeaky Boots: (3.5/10)
Jellyfishing: (1.5/10)
 

SlipperytheTotodile

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MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH! I dont know why its MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH

Rating: Okay Episode

Rankings:
Pizza Delivery (Amazing!)
Reef Blower (Amazing!)
Opposite Day (Amazing!)
Help Wanted (Amazing!)
Pickles (Amazing!)
Plankton! (Amazing!)
Naughty Nautical Neighbors (Amazing!)
Squeaky Boots (Great)
Bubblestand (Great)
Jellyfishing (Great)
MMABB (Great)
Ripped Pants (Okay)
Boating School (Okay)
Hall Monitor (Okay)
Culture Shock (Okay)
Tea at the Treedome (Meh)
Jellyfish Jam (Meh)
Sandy's Rocket (Meh)
Home Sweet Pineapple (Bad)
Nature Pants (Terrible)
 

Pugs4Thugs

#1 SpongeBob Reviewer
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Let's go, my favorite season 1 episode is here! :sbhappy:
Yep, "Culture Shock" is my favorite season 1 episode. Not "Pizza Delivery", not "F.U.N."..."Culture Shock". I am aware this is an unpopular opinion, so let's talk about it!

I love the opening to this episode. I know I said before that I don't think the show should've kept the surf rock vibe of season 1, and I stand by that, but man oh man does it work well here. I love the whole segment of SpongeBob cleaning off an essentially spotless table, it's just so SpongeBob, the little workaholic dork. And Mr. Krabs being crabby (pun intended) about the salad bar not bringing in customers makes me laugh for basically no reason, he's just so dramatic about it, I can't help it. Very rarely do I hate a "Mr. Krabs trying to get customers" plotline. Maybe that's another unpopular opinion of mine, given the hatred of episodes set in the Krusty Krab in seasons 6-8.

Anyway, Mr. Krabs is great in this episode. His sheer excitement when a customer comes in, combined with SpongeBob's enthusiasm towards the poor guy who just wanted change, makes that whole scene. The ending of the scene, where Mr. Krabs launches himself at the penny, kills me everytime, it's just so absurd (the SpongeBob wiki describes the ending of the scene like this: "However, Mr. Krabs notices the penny and literally gets the drop on it first." When the literal synopsis of a scene makes me laugh, that's probably a good sign). Also, his desire to see his little girl (Pearl) become a star is so wholesome and sweet, I love when we get moments like this with the cheap crustacean.

You know, now that I'm thinking about it, I think everyone in this episode shows enthusiasm in a way that makes each character both compelling and hilarious at some point or another. I mean, we've got Mr. Krabs, like I just said, who's very enthusiastic about his money (read: above paragraph) and making Pearl a star. We've got SpongeBob, who's enthusiastic about being able to perform, and throughout the rest of the episode we see him try to think up an act, with varying results. His little tap dance show with the bubble was absolutely adorable. Really, SpongeBob is just so cute in this episode, it makes my heart want to explode. Lastly, we've got Squidward, who is also excited about being able to host the talent show and perform himself. (There's also Pearl, whose cheerful (sorry, I love puns) presence leads to another hilarious sequence of the episode with her cheering).

Another thing I'm now just thinking about, I think this episode is the closest we've come so far (chronologically, obviously it's happened by now in 2022) to having all of the main cast in one episode. At the time of this episode airing, the main cast was SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward, Mr. Krabs, Sandy, Gary, Pearl, and Mrs. Puff. Plankton and Karen were promoted to the main cast in 2004 (in the first movie). This episode has everyone except Mrs. Puff in the original lineup (but it does have Plankton). So look at that, we've got a real ensemble in this episode! (not to mention the inclusion of SpongeBob's parents)

Okay, back to the actual review. I already talked about Pearl's portion of the episode, so I'll just briefly mention I love the Patrick joke (this joke walked so "leedle leedle lee" could run). And then of course, we've got my main man Gary coming through with the beautiful poetry, and a Sandy cameo that really makes the joke. I love that "Sleepy Time" kind of expands on the joke here, with Gary clearly being a very smart and cultured mollusk. Then we've got Plankton, enacting a very short-lived scheme, which was just the perfect length for me.

And then finally, we've got this episode's "grand finale", Squidward dancing horribly and the audience throwing tomatoes at him. This entire scene gets me rolling every time, because the jokes just come from every direction. From the reaction of the audience, to Squidward's anger, to Mr. Krabs trying to make a quick buck. When SpongeBob enters the scene, it becomes a lovely mix of wholesome and hilarious as Squidward deludes himself into thinking the audience wants an encore, when all they (and we) want to see is the little square dude. SpongeBob being universally loved just for cleaning in this episode is just so cute! And it's great to see him win after Squidward kept shutting him down all episode.

Side note, but did anyone ever play the game Truth or Square? One of the minigames is based on this episode, which I adore.

This episode is filled with many iconic moments. We've got Squidward's dance, which is definitely in the top 10 of most recognizable moments in the show, don't @ me on that. And then we've also got "Oh brother, this guy stinks!" which is a classic and also a reaction video I find myself using often. Also using the same shot of the audience, we've got the complete silence with the footage of a cricket. "Culture Shock" also uses a lot of running gags, something that hadn't happened too much before this. Like other episodes had running gags, but "Culture Shock" had like 3.

If you couldn't already tell, "Culture Shock" is well into my "Amazing" tier, because it's hilarious, wholesome, satisfying, and never lets up! At least for me, I know others might find this episode to be meh, boring, or slow, but not me. Not me at all. And because I've always loved this episode, it has a huge nostalgic quality for me. If I actually did rankings past my top 3, I would probably put this episode in my top 10. It could even be a top 5 contender (theoretically, idk anything outside my top 3 lol). That's how much I love "Culture Shock". Okay, time to go back to writing normal-length reviews.

Episode Tier: Amazing
Episode Score:
9.7/10
 

meko1432

Happiest Sponge Alive
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Let's go, my favorite season 1 episode is here! :sbhappy:
Yep, "Culture Shock" is my favorite season 1 episode. Not "Pizza Delivery", not "F.U.N."..."Culture Shock". I am aware this is an unpopular opinion, so let's talk about it!
wait! people dont think this episode is the best out of season 1. i always loved this episode, spongebob was really adorable and squidward getting nervous while on the stage was really funny

And then finally, we've got this episode's "grand finale", Squidward dancing horribly and the audience throwing tomatoes at him. This entire scene gets me rolling every time, because the jokes just come from every direction. From the reaction of the audience, to Squidward's anger, to Mr. Krabs trying to make a quick buck. When SpongeBob enters the scene, it becomes a lovely mix of wholesome and hilarious as Squidward deludes himself into thinking the audience wants an encore, when all they (and we) want to see is the little square dude. SpongeBob being universally loved just for cleaning in this episode is just so cute! And it's great to see him win after Squidward kept shutting him down all episode.
''you dont even know talent''

''no talent no talent''
 

Pugs4Thugs

#1 SpongeBob Reviewer
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wait! people dont think this episode is the best out of season 1. i always loved this episode, spongebob was really adorable and squidward getting nervous while on the stage was really funny
Glad to see another "Culture Shock" lover here. Agreed with both of those statements at the end. Also, nice signature!
 
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