Pugs4Thugs
#1 SpongeBob Reviewer
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Can you believe we're already at Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy Four????? Yeah, looks weird without the Roman numerals, doesn't it. I'll say it right this time: "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy IV". This is, erm, not my favorite of the whole Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy series, but it's not my least favorite either. I guess it's right in the middle? I'm not sure on my feelings on the 6th one so we'll say that for now. Let's get to talking about it, so you can see why I feel this way about this episode.
I like how this episode starts, because Barnacle Boy and Squidward's argument is hilarious. It feels a lot like when SpongeBob and Patrick were going at it in "The Fry Cook Games" to me, for some reason. It also reminds me that we haven't seen these two characters interact before, or really any character outside of SpongeBob and Patrick interacting with MM and BB, which is a shame, because as shown by this scene, it's ripe for comedic potential. But future episodes do capitalize on this, so my sadness is short-lived. Anyway, I love how excited SpongeBob is about Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy being in the Krusty Krab, the little fanboy. The bit where he literally comes through the wall is so funny, and I love how it looks visually. 3D in SpongeBob always looks a bit odd, but I think it fits well enough. Unfortunately for SpongeBob, these heroes are just about tired of him, so they're sprinting out of the restaurant faster than one of Sandy's Texas-isms.
SpongeBob is that wonderful combination of childlike adult in this episode, given how such a significant chunk of "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy IV" takes place while SpongeBob is working, but he's playing with Mermaid Man's belt like a child with a new toy. Seeing SpongeBob mess around with the belt is entertaining enough, and I love the visuals of all the small stuff in the kitchen, especially once Squidward takes a gander at what's going on. The little bug restaurant is so cute!
Things start getting funny once Squidward enters the situation and gets shrunk. The whole scene of SpongeBob trying to turn him back is just hilarious, with great visual jokes and amazing voice acting from Rodger Bumpass. I love that we as viewers are left to guess after a certain point just what this belt is doing to poor Squidward, especially when he starts making that weird choking noise? Y'all remember what I'm talking about, right? I can already see the haters calling this a Squidward-torture episode, but I truly don't care. It's still funny even if it does fall under that category, and SpongeBob isn't being malicious, which as I've covered before is an absolute must of mine.
Anyway, the electric beginning of the episode starts to fade a bit once we get to the middle section with Patrick. I do enjoy some of the shenanigans in this scene, such as Patrick mistaking Squidward for an action figure, the ever-iconic wumbo, or Squidward's curious musings of whether a fall from that height would kill him. But overall it's kinda...meh. I don't really laugh at any point except for that last thing I said about Squidward. And I'll come right out and say it, but wumbo has never really made me laugh. I think it's absurd, sure, just because it's such a random word that doesn't exist, and so very Patrick, but like it's not really funny.
Things get more interesting again once SpongeBob puts Squidward and Patrick in a jar and he starts getting greeted by different Bikini Bottomites, spooking him and making SpongeBob shrink them too. However, the newfound amusement from this section doesn't last very long, and I'm back to feeling meh about the episode by the end of the shrinking. The moment with Mermaid Man isn't all that funny either. But things do pick back up again once everyone gets mad and starts attacking SpongeBob, literally breaking his internal organs (man, good thing that this is a kids' show, SpongeBob would be so beyond dead if this happened fr).
SpongeBob's solution, in the end, makes me think of "Sandy, SpongeBob, and the Worm" for some reason. I don't know why, maybe it's just because of the whole "doing something to Bikini Bottom" as a solution to a problem? Who knows. Either way, it's a decent solution that gets funnier once Plankton shows up and it turns out he's much bigger than the town now. Though that does make me wonder about the fate of everyone after this episode. Yes, I know it's a cartoon and so everything went back to normal with the incident being forgotten just like any other cartoon, but allow me to pretend that doesn't happen and consider whether they just shrunk Plankton, or found a way to reverse everything. Maybe even Plankton helped with that, being the tech genius that he is (which also means that Sandy should be able to help...). Listen, I overthink SpongeBob SquarePants, it's what I do. Why else would I literally be writing an 8-paragraph review of an 11-minute episode of a cartoon???
To sum it all up, "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy IV" is a perfectly fine episode of the show. It gets dull more than once, which makes it lose points with me, but it does have some pretty funny and enjoyable moments, which saves it from being in the "Okay" tier, but not by much.
Episode Tier: Good
Episode Score: 7.3/10
I like how this episode starts, because Barnacle Boy and Squidward's argument is hilarious. It feels a lot like when SpongeBob and Patrick were going at it in "The Fry Cook Games" to me, for some reason. It also reminds me that we haven't seen these two characters interact before, or really any character outside of SpongeBob and Patrick interacting with MM and BB, which is a shame, because as shown by this scene, it's ripe for comedic potential. But future episodes do capitalize on this, so my sadness is short-lived. Anyway, I love how excited SpongeBob is about Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy being in the Krusty Krab, the little fanboy. The bit where he literally comes through the wall is so funny, and I love how it looks visually. 3D in SpongeBob always looks a bit odd, but I think it fits well enough. Unfortunately for SpongeBob, these heroes are just about tired of him, so they're sprinting out of the restaurant faster than one of Sandy's Texas-isms.
SpongeBob is that wonderful combination of childlike adult in this episode, given how such a significant chunk of "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy IV" takes place while SpongeBob is working, but he's playing with Mermaid Man's belt like a child with a new toy. Seeing SpongeBob mess around with the belt is entertaining enough, and I love the visuals of all the small stuff in the kitchen, especially once Squidward takes a gander at what's going on. The little bug restaurant is so cute!
Things start getting funny once Squidward enters the situation and gets shrunk. The whole scene of SpongeBob trying to turn him back is just hilarious, with great visual jokes and amazing voice acting from Rodger Bumpass. I love that we as viewers are left to guess after a certain point just what this belt is doing to poor Squidward, especially when he starts making that weird choking noise? Y'all remember what I'm talking about, right? I can already see the haters calling this a Squidward-torture episode, but I truly don't care. It's still funny even if it does fall under that category, and SpongeBob isn't being malicious, which as I've covered before is an absolute must of mine.
Anyway, the electric beginning of the episode starts to fade a bit once we get to the middle section with Patrick. I do enjoy some of the shenanigans in this scene, such as Patrick mistaking Squidward for an action figure, the ever-iconic wumbo, or Squidward's curious musings of whether a fall from that height would kill him. But overall it's kinda...meh. I don't really laugh at any point except for that last thing I said about Squidward. And I'll come right out and say it, but wumbo has never really made me laugh. I think it's absurd, sure, just because it's such a random word that doesn't exist, and so very Patrick, but like it's not really funny.
Things get more interesting again once SpongeBob puts Squidward and Patrick in a jar and he starts getting greeted by different Bikini Bottomites, spooking him and making SpongeBob shrink them too. However, the newfound amusement from this section doesn't last very long, and I'm back to feeling meh about the episode by the end of the shrinking. The moment with Mermaid Man isn't all that funny either. But things do pick back up again once everyone gets mad and starts attacking SpongeBob, literally breaking his internal organs (man, good thing that this is a kids' show, SpongeBob would be so beyond dead if this happened fr).
SpongeBob's solution, in the end, makes me think of "Sandy, SpongeBob, and the Worm" for some reason. I don't know why, maybe it's just because of the whole "doing something to Bikini Bottom" as a solution to a problem? Who knows. Either way, it's a decent solution that gets funnier once Plankton shows up and it turns out he's much bigger than the town now. Though that does make me wonder about the fate of everyone after this episode. Yes, I know it's a cartoon and so everything went back to normal with the incident being forgotten just like any other cartoon, but allow me to pretend that doesn't happen and consider whether they just shrunk Plankton, or found a way to reverse everything. Maybe even Plankton helped with that, being the tech genius that he is (which also means that Sandy should be able to help...). Listen, I overthink SpongeBob SquarePants, it's what I do. Why else would I literally be writing an 8-paragraph review of an 11-minute episode of a cartoon???
To sum it all up, "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy IV" is a perfectly fine episode of the show. It gets dull more than once, which makes it lose points with me, but it does have some pretty funny and enjoyable moments, which saves it from being in the "Okay" tier, but not by much.
Episode Tier: Good
Episode Score: 7.3/10
