206b. Code Yellow

BobCarotte

BobCarotte

meep
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SpongeBoob
Discuss this episode when it airs (June 3, 2017)
 
instant 10/10 in my book
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SpongeBob being a doctor was nice and funny (Demolition Doofus callback with the puffing iron lung? shame they didn't do iron butt but hey we also got my legs even if it wasn't Fred...again...as always lately) and the visual gags with Squid's surgery were hilarious ie the sushi and pieces over the nose job, the few grosser gags such as the picture above didn't bother me either as they were quick. Overall this had enough humor with the short gag style it went with to pass time until the end, not my favorite style and I wouldn't rely on it over and over again for a story in general, but it worked with what they did.

8/10, may change depending on the day.
 
...oh boy I was worried as hell about this episode. Now... what's the word I should use for this... it's... oh right, AWFUL.

This is a major step back in both story quality and the style of jokes. I thought that gross-out humor was completely gone by Season 8, but it seems like this was a big ::dolphin noise:: you to that improvement. It's bad when the close-up of Squidward's nose isn't even the worst moment in the episode. Nope, here's one that comes after SpongeBob literally cut Squidward up like Sushi and tore his limbs off with painful tools.

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It doesn't help at all that this episode's three-act structure makes the episode stinted and fragmented. The first act is uninteresting as all it does is make lowbrow humor out of Squidward's nose being ugly (including bad wordplay with "picking" noses which sounds bad out-of-context), the second act is filled with poorly executed comedy from SpongeBob painfully shoving a skeleton down a fish's throat and crashing Mrs. Puff down a hallway (where it wasn't even necessary--although I did like the first gag with the Sea Chicken and SpongeBob's Candy Striped-Outfit actually being made of strawberry licorice, that was fun), and the third act where SpongeBob actually performs surgery loaded with filler sand, as there are lots of moments that didn't add to the story at all, and the ones that did are repetitive and have identical punchlines--this is at it's most ergregious when we get a montage of Squidward having a bunch of noses that all end in a loud "No!" with nothing to make them stand out.

There are a lot of visual gags that do save this--I did like the part where SpongeBob adorably loads Squidward's hospital beds with Teddy Bears and balloons, that was cute, and I did enjoy the first attempt at SpongeBob being a doctor where he actually gives an educational description of bottom feeders when a catfish got a sore throat from eating keys, and overall the animation quality is top-notch and filled with amazing expressions--much like the rest of the Season. But that's only enough to make the episode tolerable. And tolerable does not mean good.

Grade: "D-" (Worst episode in a very long time, no doubt. I'm really sorry)
 
More_Starco said:
This is just a major step back in both story quality and the style of jokes. I thought that gross-out humor was completely gone by Season 8, but it seems like this was a big ::dolphin noise:: you to that improvement. It's bad when the close-up of Squidward's nose isn't even the worst moment in the episode. Nope, here's one that comes after SpongeBob literally cut Squidward up like Sushi and tore his limbs off with painful tools.

Codeyellow_squidburger.png
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I can't help but feel like this is a gross overexaggeration. That was only shown for like one second so it's not enough to gross me out completely but it still shows how messed up a hospital can be, and Squidward was unconscious and didn't even feel any pain when it happened. If he was screaming throughout the surgery then I'd have to agree as that being overkill, but he wasn't.

I will agree that they shouldn't do the structure again, but I feel like it worked well with the gags/story of SB going throughout a hospital while gradually wowing them enough to perform surgery and mess with Squidward.
 
Trophy said:
I can't help but feel like this is a gross overexaggeration. That was only shown for like one second so it's not enough to gross me out completely but it still shows how messed up a hospital can be, and Squidward was unconscious and didn't even feel any pain when it happened. If he was screaming throughout the surgery then I'd have to agree as that being overkill, but he wasn't.
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Yeah that's probably an exaggeration, but I think Squidward being awake would have been helpful to the story, because there could've been an exchange between him and SpongeBob to level out how ridiculous the humor is (like in "Unreal Estate"). I felt that keeping him asleep reduced the joke opportunities and gave too much leeway to the visual department.

Heck, gross close-ups have always been in the show--"The Whole Tooth" just had one of an Old lady having gross dentures be the final straw in Patrick deciding to get his tooth pulled. Thing is that worked, it contrasted the otherwise happy mood beteen SpongeBob and Patrick and was the story's turning point. This did nothing but emphasize Squidward's nose is ugly.

It's like having a sour cherry on a beautiful banana split vs. having a sour cherry on a peanut-onion sundae. Both times you can take off the cherry, but it's obvious which one I'd eat.
 
More_Starco said:
Yeah that's probably an exaggeration, but honestly I think Squidward being awake would have been helpful to the story because there could've been an exchange between him and SpongeBob to level out how ridiculous the humor is (like in "Unreal Estate"), but I just felt that keeping him asleep reduced the joke opportunities and gave too much leeway to the visual department.

Heck, gross close-ups have always been in the show--"The Whole Tooth" just had one of an Old lady having gross dentures be the final straw in Patrick deciding to get his tooth pulled. Thing is that worked, it contrasted the otherwise happy mood beteen SpongeBob and Patrick and was the story's turning point. This did nothing but emphasize Squidward's nose is ugly.
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That's a fair enough point but they had opportunities with him asleep, so gags like using chainsaws to make him into sushi also worked so reduction felt like it was at a minimum given the circumstances. There may have been better potential there, but that shouldn't completely take away what they did do well.

On the emphasizing Squidward part, the first time showed he needed a nose job at the beginning, and the second one also emphasized the joke of how people can't just waltz in to do surgery on their first day of volunteering at a hospital with no prior experience. It felt like a nice reality check that was a nice reminder of how ridiculous the situation is, as the other gags did as well. They just so happened to go crazy with a design to do it this time, and it works as a type of visual humor. Gross out stuff like this really shouldn't be a bother when kept to a minimum like this, as those screenshots were the only brief moments and nothing at all like TLaP or the infamous "is there something wrong with me" scene as that lasted nearly 5 whole seconds.
 
I'm just going to say that both gross-out gags were very quick blink and you miss them gags. You don't have to enjoy them, but it's nothing compared to the places this show has went in the past to gross-out their viewers.

I was mixed on this episode, but it's far from the worst of the worst.
 
Trophy said:
On the emphasizing Squidward part, the first time showed he needed a nose job at the beginning, and the second one also emphasized the joke of how people can't just waltz in to do surgery on their first day of volunteering at a hospital with no prior experience. It felt like a nice reality check that was a nice reminder of how ridiculous the situation is, as the other gags did as well. They just so happened to go crazy with a design to do it this time, and it works as a type of visual humor. Gross out stuff like this really shouldn't be a bother when kept to a minimum like this, as those screenshots were the only brief moments and nothing at all like TLaP or the infamous "is there something wrong with me" scene as that lasted nearly 5 whole seconds.
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Can't really argue with that, humor is ultimately subjective. I just think it was a wasteful use of the background painter's extreme skill to put so much detail and color into a shot that only lasts for about a second that not a lot of people like, I feel it's time better spent.

And yes, it's not as bad as Season 6 as the lighter gross-out gags did have a lot of fluidity--SpongeBob jumping up and down on the marathon runner, and SpongeBob pretending the iron lung was a submarine was well-animated and cute. If it was that bad I'd fail this, but it doesn't even come close to "Pet or Pests", "Sun Bleached" or "The Splinter". SpongeBob's actually pretty adorable and in-character despite all the harm he causes.
 
More_Starco said:
Can't really argue with that, humor is ultimately subjective. I just think it was a wasteful use of the background painter's extreme skill to put so much detail and color into a shot that only lasts for about a second that not a lot of people like, I feel it's time better spent.
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That's probably the only thing I could really agree with completely about it being a waste. Yeah there is better, but it still does show off their talent in an interesting way and if anything it comforts me to have people that talented on the show and does keep up with the great animation and art syle that we've gotten lately.

Weirdly I'm usually pessimistic on these episodes and I'd have every right to be, but this one strangely has me an optimist. :P
 
I might need to see this episode another time to really get a more solid opinion on it, but I did enjoy the episode upon first viewing. From what I can tell, we haven't really had a hospital-focused episode before, so ultimately that does make this episode feel unique when compared to episodes prior. (While yes, I have seen this episode compared to "No Nose Knows" due to its focus on a nose job, I feel the premise of SpongeBob as a doctor took up much more of the episode.) I admit, I didn't love the gross-out, but I'm glad Vincent Waller was able to give advice on how to avoid it. I think the gags did just fine, though I do feel they may have put Squidward through a little too much undeserved pain. Maybe one of Season 10's lesser episodes so far, but ultimately, that's not saying much, since I've been ultimately pretty sold on Season 10. I preferred "Unreal Estate," but I wouldn't call this episode bad.
 
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