Next up, we've got the last of the Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy sextet, "Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy VI"! A real end of an era. I love how this whole set of episodes ends on a movie...very ahead of their time in that regard, given the proliferation of superhero movies nowadays.
This episode begins with a fun little segment of Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy stopping crime...petty crimes that is, but crime nonetheless. It makes me think of those "
X in Gotham" videos that were going around a while ago. Anyway, I love that SpongeBob and Patrick are in a fan club for MM and BB (I'm just going to abbreviate like this because it's easier), because I think it's cute that they're able to hang around like-minded individuals, and it's always nice to see that their world doesn't exclusively revolve around members of the main cast, you know? Also, I love how offended the two get by actors playing MM and BB, which is fair especially because they just got finished watching a video about the real MM and BB so like...what gives? But I think it's hilarious that they end up getting kicked out for being against the actors.
I love how SpongeBob and Patrick are just kind of friends with MM and BB now, to the point where they can just show up at Shady Shoals and nothing happens to them lol. The exchange between an irate SpongeBob and Patrick, and MM and BB, is great. The "
actors" part is just hilarious and iconic, and I love the horror shared by the heroes upon hearing that.
The plot of this episode is lowkey kind of cute, because of SpongeBob and Patrick's enthusiasm to make this movie a success. I love how they get lots of other characters involved too. I really like how Mr. Krabs channels his "Culture Shock" self by proposing Pearl be a star in the movie, as he should. Oh wait, he didn't do that. Yeah I'm not a fan of how certain episodes make Mr. Krabs a really bad father for no reason. That joke wasn't all that funny. But at least SpongeBob keeps the offer to star towards Pearl, which makes the bad taste of the joke wash away. But anyway, back to the involvement of other characters, I love how Sandy is in charge of explosives, and the way SpongeBob gets Squidward to be a part of the show is peak manipulation, love that for the little sponge. Squidward working on the "makeup" for MM and BB is hilarious, I love how he just uses power tools.
This episode is also full of my favorite kind of gag, random explosions! I also love your new job Sandy, because I love things blowing up. There's a reason I love the
Fast & Furious movies, and the
Mission Impossible movies, and
John Wick movies, and
The Equalizer movies...I just love action movies where things blow up. And I love the running gag of boom equaling literal boom. It's really nice to see all the characters come together like this to put this movie on, like even Plankton is here! Also, I just realized this, but in the Cosmic Shake, one of the levels is movie themed, and it uses that "Take 5003" director cut board thing! That's such a neat little reference!
Anyway, watching everyone try to make this movie varies from being just entertaining to decently funny, at least until we find out that Patrick had the lens cap on the camera the entire time. This episode manages to pull off having an element as frustrating as that without me actually getting legitimately frustrated, which is pretty impressive. SpongeBob's ensuing freakout is hilarious, because of how absurd it is. Poor guy just wanted to put on a good movie. I love how Mermaid Man is the one to get everything back on track though, given his usual senility.
Moving on, I love the background of the Krusty Krab during the movie premiere, the lights from inside the Krusty Krab makes it look really cool. And I think it's sweet that Mr. Krabs closed the restaurant early for the premiere of the movie. I also love that Pearl is so tall that she blocks the projector a little bit lol. But it's very satisfying to see everyone there watching the movie they made. I love the horrid production values of the movie, how you can tell there was love put into it even if the end result isn't all that great. I love that no one ends up raining on SpongeBob's parade in the end, even if we see that the rest of the audience didn't like what they just saw. And then of course, the episode ends with a good laughing bit, which I will always appreciate.
I really like "Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy VI" because it's funny and engaging, and also because it's an excellent send off to this little series of episodes. Yes, MM and BB make future appearances, but this is the end of the road for the Roman Numeral series, and I think this episode does a great job of closing it out. It shows the evolution of SpongeBob and Patrick's friendship with these two heroes, their return to the public spotlight, and it gets other characters involved. I can't ask for much more.
Episode Tier: Great
Episode Score: 8.5/10