35b. Band Geeks

[FinnDinner]

I love this episode, my second favorite of the season.

 

[Combusto82]

it was very good! 8/10

 

[Tyler730]

Everyone calls it overrated nowadays. It actually gets flack on the SpongeBob wiki. I really like this episode and while it’s only my fourth favorite, I think it deserves its praise.

 

[jack_of_all_traids]

Everyone calls it overrated nowadays.

Yeah, if everybody calls it overrated, is it really overrated?

 

[Bigsmoker]

I rewatched it today. This is the best episode in the entire show. 10/10

 

[Sara SquarePants]

It IS overrated but it's still a classic

 

[The Tough Sponge Man]

I'd rather not talk about this episode, since everyone else does so for me.

I do think it's a bit overrated, but that's more in the sense that I prefer other, more story centric episodes like "Selling Out" or "Friend or Foe," or that it just isn't the shows Magnum Opus/Sacred Cow.

Oh, and by the way, I would have preferred it if there was an original song at the end of the episode. Sweet Victory is good and all, but other original songs the show has were great at the time, so why didn't they just write up one here? (Update: Apparently the song was released in 1997, but was a part of a library of songs Nickelodeon had access to, and it's not exclusive to Spongebob, so I don't know whether to consider it original or not.)

9 half-time show... er, I mean instruments out of 10

 

[MimicMadness]

I think I've said it before but I would love on the last episode if they just faded to the ending of this episode and have that as a sort of after-ending ending.

But of course Nick shows don't have endings.

If I had a Nick show, I would give it a GREAT ending.

 

[MimicMadness]

LOVE IT! Not in my top 5 though.

 

[The Tough Sponge Man]

But of course Nick shows don't have endings.

Avatar: Am I a joke to you?

 

[MimicMadness]

I think I've said it before but I would love on the last episode if they just faded to the ending of this episode and have that as a sort of after-ending ending.

But of course Nick shows don't have endings.

Spongebob movie: I was originally gonna be the finale, am I a joke to you?

 

[JoeyBoi]

Don't really know what to say about this episode that already been said a million times. Of course, it's cliché to call it one of the best episodes ever, but it's really not hard to see why people think that way. There are great gags (even if I don't think its the funniest episode ever), and it's just really awesome to see all of the main cast coming together to make Squidward happy. And, of course, the ending is the best in the series. If I really had to nitpick something I don't like about this episode, it's that 1 or 2 scenes go on for a bit too long, but that's so minor it doesn't really matter. I don't think it's the best episode ever, but it's damn well up there.

Perfect episode (10/10)

1. Band Geeks (10)
2. Shanghaied (9)
3. Dying For Pie (9)
4. Something Smells (9)
5. Patty Hype (9)
6. Welcome to the Chum Bucket (9)
7. Big Pink Loser (9)
8. Squidville (9)
9. Survival of the Idiots (9)
10. Christmas Who? (8)
11. Frankendoodle (8)
12. Squid's Day Off (8)
13. Wormy (8)
14. Mermaidman and Barnacleboy III (8)
15. The Secret Box (8)
16. Imitation Krabs (8)
17. Life of Crime (8)
18. Prehibernation Week (7)
19. Pressure (7)
20. Gary Takes A Bath (7)
21. No Free Rides (7)
22. I'm Your Biggest Fanatic (7)
23. The Smoking Peanut (7)
24. Bossy Boots (6)
25. Your Shoe's Untied (6)
26. Dumped (6)
27. Bubble Buddy (5)
28. Squirrel Jokes (5)
29. Grandma's Kisses (5)

 

[spunchbop444]

9/10

Overrated, but still good. The gags are funny, but some of them have been referenced so much that they just aren't funny anymore. I also like the plot, which is a good plot, not the absolute best in the series though. The song was fantastic, but yet again it isn't a SpongeBob original, so I don't consider it a SpongeBob song. It might sound like I'm bashing this episode, but I'm not. I'm just stating why this isn't the absolute best like most people think. But yeah, I can see why most people love this episode.

Big Pink Loser: (10/10)
Something Smells: (10/10)
Squidville: (10/10)
Imitation Krabs: (10/10)
Patty Hype: (10/10)
Christmas Who?: (9.5/10)
FrankenDoodle: (9.5/10)
Shanghaied: (9.5/10)
Squids Day Off: (9.5/10)
Dying for Pie: (9/10)
Welcome to the Chum Bucket: (9/10)
Band Geeks: (9/10)
MM&BB III: (9/10)
No Free Rides: (9/10)
Wormy: (9/10)
Your Shoes Untied: (9/10)
Survival of the Idiots: (8.5/10)
I'm Your Biggest Fanatic: (8.5/10)
Bossy Boots: (8.5/10)
The Smoking Peanut: (8/10)
The Secret Box: (8/10)
Pre-Hibernation Week: (6.5/10)
Grandma's Kisses: (6.5/10)
Gary Takes A Bath: (5/10)
Life of Crime: (5.5/10)
Bubble Buddy: (4/10)
Squirrel Jokes: (3.5/10)
Dumped: (1.5/10)

 

[Sara SquarePants]

Sweet Victory IS a SpongeBob original it's just done in the vein of songs like "We are the Champions" by Queen

 

[Yoshi]

Highlight: ID Profen
Lowlight: Eager Face

 

[SpongeBobFan2008]

The best episode of the series with real competition against only Plankton's Army and Legend of Boo-kini Bottom.

Why it Rocks (get it? Because the song in the episode is rock)

1. This episode was consistently funny through and through.
2. The ending where Squilliam gets comeuppance and Squidward is happy is amazing.

• Sweet Victory was a perfect choice for a rock song. It wasn't that popular in 1997, but this episode brought popularity to it, and there can't be any other rock songs that could be a better choice. It has inspiring lyrics, is catchy, and has great instrumentals. Also, the visuals were great in that scene.

3. Many memorable lines, especially from Patrick.
4. A simple plot that works.
5. Makes 2 bad things into good things, specifically flanderization and quantity over quality, which you will see in Bad Qualities.

Bad Qualities (keep in mind, these are minor bad qualities)

1. Flanderizes Sandy and Plankton into normal moronic and mediocre students.
2. While all the jokes are good, none of the best jokes in the episode are even close to being some of the best jokes we got in the show.

 

[Squidwardiard]

What to say about Band Geeks. It's a great episode. But I do find it a bit overrated. Not one of my favorites, but still great. The song, Sweet Victory, is awesome at the end (I feel like I'm pointing out the obvious haha). The comedy in the episode is very good too though (like is Mayonnaise an instrument? or Big Meaty Claws). An underrated instance of clever writing is when they're all confused on where they are during the human football game, and Spongebob says that maybe they are in one of those toxic waste dumps. I've always been a little unsettled by the marching band deaths in this episode though, even though it's a joke. So yeah, I think certain other episodes are better and funnier than Band Geeks, but still a great, classic episode. I can't deny that.

 

[SlipperytheTotodile]

Band Geeks my friends the series most praised episode! Band Geeks oh my goodness its an obvious 11/10 Perfecto! Its not my favorite of the show. But its one of the most funniest and fun-est episode yet! The ibuprofen joke was very funny! It also has many funny moments like: "Is mayonaise an instrument?" "Big Meaty Claws!" and Sweet Victory!

Rating: Golden Episode


Rankings:
Dying For Pie (Golden)
Band Geeks (Golden)
Survival of the Idiots (Golden)
Frankendoodle (Perfect)
Shanghaied (Perfect)
Pressure (Perfect)
Big Pink Loser (Perfect)
No Free Rides (Amazing!)
MMABBIII (Delightful)
Christmas Who? (Sublime)
Imitation Krabs (Superb)
The Smoking Peanut (Awesome)
Squidville (Tolerant)
Squid's Day Off (Tolerant)
The Secret Box (Great)
Life of Crime (Great)
Dumped (Great)
Something Smells (Polite)
Bubble Buddy (Polite)
Bossy Boots (Polite)
Gary Takes a Bath (Okay)
Your Shoe's Untied (Dull)
PreHibernation Week (Bad)
Welcome to the Chum Bucket (Bad)
Patty Hype (Sucky)
Wormy (Pathetic)
I'm Your Biggest Fanatic (Stupid)
Grandma's Kisses (Garbage)
Squirrel Jokes (Trash)

 

[Pugs4Thugs]

So remember when I said that "Pizza Delivery" was the second most overrated episode of SpongeBob SquarePants? ...Yeah. We're here. We're doing it. And I'm going to say it. "Band Geeks" is absolutely the most overrated episode in this entire show. Now everyone please get your pitchforks down, I'm not done yet. I quite like this episode, but it's not in my top of the season or anything. I understand why people believe it to be one of the greatest of the entire show, and I don't think it's entirely unworthy of that honor either. But it is definitely overrated.

This episode comes out the gate swinging with the animal hospital joke, and it doesn't let up until "Sweet Victory" starts playing. So I have to give credit where credit is due, this episode is far from boring, and a masterful example of SpongeBob SquarePants at its best. We're introduced to Squilliam in this episode, who is a great addition that I need to return to the show ASAP. Squidward having a rival who is much more successful than he is is perfectly in-character, and sets up the conflict that drives the plot very well. I like that we're not even told what the Bubble Bowl is, but we can guess it's a parody of the Super Bowl just from the name.

I like how the episode continues to waste no time, introducing us to all of the main characters that will be in the episode through the flyers, and then cutting straight to the beginning of the first practice. Of course, we have plenty of iconic moments in just this first scene, from "Is mayonnaise an instrument?" to "too bad that didn't kill me" to Sandy stuffing Patrick in a trombone. The momentum keeps going in the fiery day two, which ends with the perfect visual of Squidward being on the edge of a mental breakdown. Out of every segment, the day three one is probably my least favorite, but seeing Plankton try and mostly fail to play a harmonica is still funny to watch. And then of course we have day four, which is where everything goes to crap. The scene is a little slow until the fighting starts, which is extremely entertaining. I love that when practice ends everyone just makes up and leaves. I also like that after Squidward's sob show and SpongeBob's rousing speech, we see that no one in Bikini Bottom save for a few actually like Squidward, which makes me surprised that they even signed up to do this band thing in the first place.

But anyway, back to SpongeBob's speech, I think that might be my favorite moment in the episode because of how dramatic and heroic it is, only to end with "to be in a marching band" haha. Because music people are really like that, I would know. In high school I was in choir, and I know multiple people who were in marching band. It really is That Serious to some. A coloring book I used to own (I might still have it around somewhere) kind of expanded on the story between SpongeBob's speech and the next scene, where everyone starts practicing for real, which I think is cool.

Anyway, returning to the actual episode, we have a funny dialogue between Squidward and Squilliam before the band shows up, and of course we have those fun visuals of SpongeBob doing his little dance, which is of course one of the most iconic moments in the show.

Then, we have the moment we've all been waiting for...Sicko Mode! I mean, Sweet Victory! And man, one thing this episode really has going for it is how satisfying it is. After the constant mockery Squidward (somewhat rightfully) has received, not only in this episode but in the show thus far, and after the state of mediocrity the band was last seen is, seeing them completely slay the game is as cathartic as can be, especially once Squilliam has a heart attack (let's not take this one out of context, please, I sound like a horrible person). The episode ending with Squidward's smile is amazing, and makes the 11-minute episode feel 10x as long, like we were watching a movie (especially considering the first SpongeBob movie ends on such a shot).

"Band Geeks" is an extremely well put together episode. It's hilarious, engaging, and satisfying. So, why do I think it's overrated? Well, truthfully, it's overrated through no fault of the episode. If my favorite episode of the show got the same treatment as this episode does (which it does, to a much lesser degree), I would call my favorite episode overrated too. This episode is seen as the pinnacle of SpongeBob SquarePants, the greatest it ever gets, and I simply disagree. When we start to do that, to say one episode stands above the rest, make everything else lesser, that diminishes other episodes no matter how fair you try to be. There are multiple "pinnacles" of SpongeBob. At least 10 of them, in my opinion. There is no "one" best episode. I may have a favorite episode, but I'm not going to call it objectively better than the rest, which is what the overrating of this episode has done.

To close out my review, I want to say that "Band Geeks" absolutely deserves its spot in my "Amazing" tier. It is simply fantastic, a true testament to writing and animation talent.

Episode Tier: Amazing
Episode Score: 9.2/10

 

[Bigsmoker]

So remember when I said that "Pizza Delivery" was the second most overrated episode of SpongeBob SquarePants? ...Yeah. We're here. We're doing it. And I'm going to say it. "Band Geeks" is absolutely the most overrated episode in this entire show. Now everyone please get your pitchforks down, I'm not done yet. I quite like this episode, but it's not in my top of the season or anything. I understand why people believe it to be one of the greatest of the entire show, and I don't think it's entirely unworthy of that honor either. But it is definitely overrated.

This episode comes out the gate swinging with the animal hospital joke, and it doesn't let up until "Sweet Victory" starts playing. So I have to give credit where credit is due, this episode is far from boring, and a masterful example of SpongeBob SquarePants at its best. We're introduced to Squilliam in this episode, who is a great addition that I need to return to the show ASAP. Squidward having a rival who is much more successful than he is is perfectly in-character, and sets up the conflict that drives the plot very well. I like that we're not even told what the Bubble Bowl is, but we can guess it's a parody of the Super Bowl just from the name.

I like how the episode continues to waste no time, introducing us to all of the main characters that will be in the episode through the flyers, and then cutting straight to the beginning of the first practice. Of course, we have plenty of iconic moments in just this first scene, from "Is mayonnaise an instrument?" to "too bad that didn't kill me" to Sandy stuffing Patrick in a trombone. The momentum keeps going in the fiery day two, which ends with the perfect visual of Squidward being on the edge of a mental breakdown. Out of every segment, the day three one is probably my least favorite, but seeing Plankton try and mostly fail to play a harmonica is still funny to watch. And then of course we have day four, which is where everything goes to crap. The scene is a little slow until the fighting starts, which is extremely entertaining. I love that when practice ends everyone just makes up and leaves. I also like that after Squidward's sob show and SpongeBob's rousing speech, we see that no one in Bikini Bottom save for a few actually like Squidward, which makes me surprised that they even signed up to do this band thing in the first place.

But anyway, back to SpongeBob's speech, I think that might be my favorite moment in the episode because of how dramatic and heroic it is, only to end with "to be in a marching band" haha. Because music people are really like that, I would know. In high school I was in choir, and I know multiple people who were in marching band. It really is That Serious to some. A coloring book I used to own (I might still have it around somewhere) kind of expanded on the story between SpongeBob's speech and the next scene, where everyone starts practicing for real, which I think is cool.

Anyway, returning to the actual episode, we have a funny dialogue between Squidward and Squilliam before the band shows up, and of course we have those fun visuals of SpongeBob doing his little dance, which is of course one of the most iconic moments in the show.

Then, we have the moment we've all been waiting for...Sicko Mode! I mean, Sweet Victory! And man, one thing this episode really has going for it is how satisfying it is. After the constant mockery Squidward (somewhat rightfully) has received, not only in this episode but in the show thus far, and after the state of mediocrity the band was last seen is, seeing them completely slay the game is as cathartic as can be, especially once Squilliam has a heart attack (let's not take this one out of context, please, I sound like a horrible person). The episode ending with Squidward's smile is amazing, and makes the 11-minute episode feel 10x as long, like we were watching a movie (especially considering the first SpongeBob movie ends on such a shot).

"Band Geeks" is an extremely well put together episode. It's hilarious, engaging, and satisfying. So, why do I think it's overrated? Well, truthfully, it's overrated through no fault of the episode. If my favorite episode of the show got the same treatment as this episode does (which it does, to a much lesser degree), I would call my favorite episode overrated too. This episode is seen as the pinnacle of SpongeBob SquarePants, the greatest it ever gets, and I simply disagree. When we start to do that, to say one episode stands above the rest, make everything else lesser, that diminishes other episodes no matter how fair you try to be. There are multiple "pinnacles" of SpongeBob. At least 10 of them, in my opinion. There is no "one" best episode. I may have a favorite episode, but I'm not going to call it objectively better than the rest, which is what the overrating of this episode has done.

To close out my review, I want to say that "Band Geeks" absolutely deserves its spot in my "Amazing" tier. It is simply fantastic, a true testament to writing and animation talent.

Episode Tier: Amazing
Episode Score: 9.2/10

I enjoyed reading your great review very much and I sort of agree with you.
Personally, I don't find Band Geeks to be one of the funniest episodes(it is probably not in my top 20 funniest episodes of the show).
However, I think Band Geeks is one of the best episodes of the show and it is in my top 2 or even my favorite episode, mostly thanks to all the Squidward's win, Sweet Victory and everyone's help stuff.
I can see why it is overrated for many people. I tend to not say that there is an episode above the rest because it makes the rest episodes being "worse" which is not really the case plus everyone has his/her own opinion which is legitimate. Many people say it and even though I also consider it as a top tier episode, it is not that this episode it better than the rest objectively or something, it just has something special and a bit different that many people like more than the things in other episodes and thus they(and me) like it more than many/most/all the episodes.
I mean, this episode is sure special and great and personally I like it very much, but it is not a "fact" that it is the best episode and people should not treat like it is a fact because there are many opinions.