Next up, we've got "Squidtastic Voyage", an episode I feel like I've seen a lot for some reason. Maybe it has frequent reruns or something. It's not an episode I purposefully go out of my way to watch, at least.
This episode randomly begins with the French Narrator, which is nice. I like that the narrator's able to get in on the comedy too. SpongeBob and Patrick dancing in this beginning scene isn't particularly funny or even that entertaining, but it does remind me of "Jellyfish Jam", so there's that at least. Things get more interesting though when Squidward's clarinet gets lodged inside his throat. The whole part where SpongeBob tries to get it out and the two start making a bunch of...noises while a parent and kid are walking outside is hilarious.
One thing I like about this episode is that we get to see Sandy and Squidward interact for once. Had we ever seen Squidward in a water helmet before this? I don't think so. The episode doesn't spend nearly enough time on their interactions, in my opinion, but I like what I see. I like how for once Sandy is not the practical one, level-headed one, at least not completely. She is pretty level-headed, but as shown by Squidward's ask if they could just shrink the reed, she isn't exactly being practical. I also love that Sandy just karate chops Squidward out of commission, instead of using idk anesthesia or something lol. The episode then starts progressing quite similarly to "Sandy's Rocket" with Patrick entering the fold and convincing SpongeBob to stop doing the sensible thing he is doing and go inside Sandy's machine. Patrick is kind of very dumb in this episode, which at times is entertaining (like the "shrink" joke) and at times is...not that (like everything he does to screw the mission when they're inside Squidward). The bit where Squidward finds out what's going on is pretty funny. I think this episode has some good jokes, they're just spread out.
I feel like my normal chronological style of episode reviews is not working as well for this episode, because I really don't have much to say about this part where they're first traversing the inside of Squidward's body. God I hate every time I have to say the plot points. Anyway, like Patrick being an idiot isn't all that funny and is kind of frustrating, and really the comedy only gets good when it cuts back to Sandy and Squidward. Like the nervous reaction from Squidward when Sandy's like "what are you trying to do, kill him?" like that was good. Also the part where Sandy has Squidward sign a waiver is pretty funny too, especially since he has no idea what it is. And then when SpongeBob and Patrick start hitting the brain stem and Squidward starts having all kinds of uncontrolled movements, and he kicks Sandy in an "uncontrolled movement", that was funny too. Also, that's definitely not what would happen if your brain stem was hit, considering the brain stem is not in control of motor activity, that's up in the motor cortex which is in the outside pink part of the brain. Honestly, you'd probably die since the brain stem is about very basic survival functions like breathing, heart beat etc. I took cognitive neuroscience last year, I'm basically an expert. ~Neuroscience with Pugs~
Anyway, the SpongeBob and Patrick segments of the episode do have their moments, like when SpongeBob's like "mayday! we're sinking! And Patrick won't stop screaming!" I liked the delivery on that. Also I like how Patrick had a sudden moment of genius. I like to think of this moment as either remnants of the brain coral from "Patrick SmartPants", or foreshadowing for "The Card". Either works for me haha. Anyway, I like how the thing that ends up solving the reed issue is the dancing from earlier, that was a good callback and a good example of sensible writing.
And then of course we have the ending, which is just body horror to me lmao. I love how instead of ending with the immediate aftermath of Patrick hitting "Grow", we cut to assumedly at least a day later, at the Krusty Krab. SpongeBob reporting for duty is somehow cute even though we literally don't see him, and the ending line with Patrick is just hilarious.
"Squidtastic Voyage" is a fun episode with some good jokes here and there, but not chock-full of them. It never gets boring by any means, but there are times where the plot lulls a bit. But those times are infrequent. I also enjoyed the collection of characters in this episode, even though Patrick is by far the weakest out of all of them. I'd say this episode fits nicely in my "Good" tier.
Episode Tier: Good
Episode Score: 7.8/10