Re-Evaluating my opinions on SpongeBob Season 1-8

Gary takes a bath Q/A (Gonna be starting here): A lot of these episodes seem to be of a misunderstanding, and that gets old really fast. They also seem to bring the WORST out of spongebob
 
Maybe it's No Review Thursdays? But I always thought that always occurred on Fridays
 
TheOtherSpongebob said:
Dude, are you okay? Where's your next review? :(
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Zimmy11 said:
Maybe it's No Review Thursdays? But I always thought that always occurred on Fridays
Click to expand...
I love how I'm gone for two days and my fans are freaking out already. XD
Sorry about the lack of update today, I'll post my review of Welcome to the Chum Bucket tonight (at least tonight for me). After so many days in a row of just relaxing (and studying because exams are getting closer for me), sorry if my schedule gets a bit wonky for the next couple weeks.
 
Welcome to the Chum Bucket (Season 2, Episode 14a)
Original Airdate: January 21 2002*
Episode 67 in broadcast order, Episode 78 in airing order
*copyrighted 2001
Plot: Plankton takes SpongeBob off of Mr Krabs and has him work at the Chum Bucket
Written by Walt Dohrn, Paul Tibbitt and Mr Lawrence

[titlecard]34A[/titlecard]
Title Card Music: Oyster Girls

And what a warm (and by that I intend to mean cold) welcome it was. This is the first episode to be primarily set in the Chum Bucket, and oddly enough, the only Season 2 episode to show the interior of the Chum Bucket at all as far as I know. Yes, there was a scene or two set inside the Chum Bucket previously in episodes like Plankton! and F.U.N., which are the only two episodes I could think of from the top of my head (just goes to show how unused the location was in the show's early days), but never for an entire episode. Does it get old quickly or is it a rather interesting location? Well, I already spoiled it in the first sentance, so I'll just explain why this episode is good.

From the beginning, this episode sets itself up to be a little bit darker than most SpongeBob episodes. How can I tell? Because it's set at night, and in most cases (I'm not saying all), that means that there is going to be a bit more drama in a SpongeBob episode (see Pizza Delivery and Scaredy Pants). The Krusty Krab is closing down for the night with SpongeBob and Mr Krabs walking outside, with Mr Krabs saying to SpongeBob that he's going to be gambling with Plankton. SpongeBob is shocked that Mr Krabs would want to do such a thing (especially after SpongeBob has had countless bad experiences with Plankton, and by countless, I mean 4), but then leans that it's okay because Mr Krabs always wins. They both walk home laughing, and the next day, Mr Krabs walks back to the Krusty Krab crying while SpongeBob is still laughing, which is rather funny, but also dramatic, as Mr Krabs knows something that SpongeBob, and by proxy the audience, doesn't.

Mr Krabs says that he lost the previous night's hame, but isn't able to finish his sentance and say what he lost twice because SpongeBob interrupts asking just what he lost out of shock. Mr Krabs then says that he lost SpongeBob, and further elaborates that he bet SpongeBob's contract, and here is part of the reason that this episode really works. Mr Krabs lost SpongeBob through, not just a bet, but by basically gambling SpongeBob. With that, the grief that Mr Krabs goes through, though not shown onscreen that much, can be a message on the dangers of gambling,,as you could lose something extra valuable, which is a great lesson for a show like SpongeBob to use, as it's target audience would have a very light grasp on what gambling really is (outside of Pokémon Gen 1, which by this point would've become a bit outdated for most Pokémaniacs), and would have to be taught about it while showing it's cons and it's cons only.

I like how Squidward comes out of the Krusty Krab pleasantly shocked at the news, because if you didn't know who Squidward was (which would be hard to believe in 2002), you'd still see it as a joke about unfriendly co-workers. Also how did Squidward get into the Krusty Krab before Mr Krabs unlocked it? Plankton comes around to confirm the deal was true to SpongeBob, and then SpongeBob and Mr Krabs share one last hug before Plankton literally seperates them. Of course he had to use a crowbar and shove SpongeBob into a flying device. Overall, this scene is very dramatic, and why shouldn't it be?

Plankton has seemingly won, now that he has SpongeBob, the Krusty Krab's greatest fry cook (remember, in the song later in the episode, it sees Mr Krabs failing at making Krabby Patties) working for him, and seeing as how he'd know how weak-minded SpongeBob is, this would make for the perfect opportunity to have him make a Krabby Patty and attain the formula. Seriously, this might be one of Plankton's most devious schemes so far. If only he'd thought of a mind control helmet at this point in the series in order to simply take control of SpongeBob and have him make Plankton a Krabby Patty on the spot. :P

Anyway, SpongeBob having his first look at the Chum Bucket (remember, negative continuity, we don't have to take Plankton! into account) might be one of the most atmospheric scenes in the series period. Heck, it might be one of the most atmospheric scenes in any Nickelodeon comedy show. The selective lighting, the robotic sounds in the background and SpongeBob's horrified reaction to it all, even going so far as to liken it to a jail, is just awesome to watch. The animation in the Chum Bucket is really at it's best here too. As I may have said before in Imitation Krabs when talking about the interior of the Mr Krabs robot, it takes advantage of the show's art style, with the slightly wavy lines and colours that are somewhat lifeless when brightened, and just runs with it, making it look like an industrial heckhole. I do have to point out little things like this because future episodes would occasionally make a completely different art style for a completely different scenario, especially the specials such as Dunces and Dragons and Atlantis SquarePantis.

Plankton walks up to SpongeBob and commands him to make a Krabby Patty, and I really like how even when Plankton is merely a speck compared to SpongeBob in height, SpongeBob is still frightened of him, with part of that having to do with the atmosphere of the scene, and how SpongeBob had reacted to it all. Later in the kitchen, SpongeBob finds depression in his new job, mostly due to how lifeless the environment is. In this scene, the animators go all out showing just how deprived of eccentricity and joy the Chum Bucket is, with an unrecognisable contraption in the place of a grill and a neon sign simply reading "kitchen", prompting SpongeBob to say what I believe is the best line of the episode.

"The sign says kitchen, but my heart says jail."

This shows just how much SpongeBob loves the Krusty Krab and how little chance he has of fitting into the Chum Bucket and it's customs, especially due to the fact that he likes a happy environment where he can at least assume that the people surrounding him are nice.

This segways into the show's ninth showtune (which Plankton refers to as such) after Ripped Pants, The F.U.N. Song, Doing The Sponge, SpongeBob ScaredyPants, Texas Song, Loop de Loop, That's What Friends Do and The Very First Christmas (just keeping track), by the name, This Grill is Not a Home, and when I get to Hey All You People (from Jellyfish Hunter), I'll post a Top 10, as I haven't exactly analysed them comparing them to each other that often. With that out of the way, I have to say that this one really stands out among the already solid musical library that the show has given us.

It's the second showtune after Texas Song to be sad, and I think that this one does a fantastic job at portraying SpongeBob and Mr Krabs' depression at having lost each other, and it makes you remember that Mr Krabs was the reason that they got into this mess. He did something terrible, gambling, and is now paying serious consequences for it. Look at how the Krusty Krab is seemingly done for, with Mr Krabs even opting to put up a "closed" sign. It really shows that SpongeBob made the Krusty Krab what it was and that he simply doesn't belong in the Chum Bucket. Also, I have to admit, it kind of sounds like a love song, what with the suggestive lyric, "if you'd come back to stay", complimenting this is Mr Krab's surprisingly raspy singing voice, which I think Clancy Brown, Mr Krabs' voice actor, just nailed. I would say that this is the first time I've heard Mr Krabs sing on the show, but then there's The Very First Christmas, where he sung both in his natural voice and then humourously in falsetto.

Once the song is over, it's revealed that Plankton has been observing SpongeBob on Karen, who can also function as a camera, and says that he's tempted to put SpongeBob's brain inside of a robot duplicate, which was brought up earlier, but I want to talk about it now because it is a rather frightening thought when you think about it. SpongeBob is being stripped of the reason he even has a job, and soon enough, we're meant to believe that he will also be stripped of his identity lest Plankton gets his Krabby Patty.

Karen suggests that a way to get SpongeBob to make a Krabby Patty for Plankton is by befriend him, similarly to F.U.N.. Plankton rejects the idea, and then says that maybe what Karen just said would work, but calls it his own idea. I swear to Neptune that I have seen this joke somewhere in Post-Movie. I would like to take note of the fact that Karen's vector animations for SpongeBob are very similar in style to the ones used in F.U.N., which further drives home the idea of these two being similar. However, that's really where the similarities end.

You see, wheras in F.U.N., Plankton was trying to brefriend SpongeBob by acting like a playmate, in this episode, he's trying to be a better boss to SpongeBob, and in a way, further ease him into the Chum Bucket's admittedly nightmarish environment. This is actually rather ironic, because Plankton, the villain, is now in a much more supportable position, as he's attempting to be of assistance to SpongeBob. It's for the wrong reasons, sure, you can't help but feel a bit closer to him than Mr Krabs, who isn't really in this episode all that much when you think about it.

The first way of helping SpongeBob out is by moving the grill to the exact location that SpongeBob wants it to be, resulting in one of those comedy moments where one person is saying to move something around for a specified amount of time until it's back in it's starting position, to which this person says it's perfect, much to the other person's annoyance. It works because Plankton is small, so moving the grill is excruciatingly hard for him, and SpongeBob clearly doesn't have a grasp on the dimensions of the Chum Bucket's kitchen. Although, I do have to note the animation error in which you can see grey bars where the animation stops which was supposed to be cut out.

The latter reason in the second to last sentence of the last paragraph is what prompts Plankton to simply build a replica of the Krusty Krab kitchen, so now he's essentially catering to SpongeBob, which SpongeBob doesn't seem to mind until he realises that the kitchen reminds him too much of Mr Krabs and gets sad again. Plankton decides to make up to SpongeBob and asks him if there's anything that SpongeBob wants that Mr Krabs would never give him, which prompts Plankton to give SpongeBob a large array of happiness and goods, including snazzy shoes (that's literally the only adjective I can ever use to describe shoes, I don't know why), an ice cream and a bedtime story among other things. It all feels very touching knowing that Plankton is kind of treating SpongeBob like a son in this way, even if it reminds us that he's got evil intent behind it all.

Eventually, it gets to the point in which Plankton simply can't control SpongeBob, due to spoiling him into a complete brat. Look at how SpongeBob backtalks Plankton and blows him a raspberry, he really doesn't care for anything but himself. It just goes to show that you need to strike a fine line between being a passive boss and an assertive one, and Plankton was once too assertive, and now he's been too passive, and that's shown big time.

Now I know that I previously bashed Patrick in Valentine's Day for turning into a spoiled brat in the episode's climax (as of Welcome to the Chum Bucket, it's still the lowest rated episode so far), but here's the difference. In Valentine's Day, Patrick wanted one thing more than anything else and didn't recieve it, so he slowly built up his frustration until he became, in a word, a maniac that essentially destroyed the Valentine's Day Carnival for many people. Here, SpongeBob recieved many things and became too warped by the rewards he was getting for nothing to even bother listening to Plankton anymore. Essentially, what I'm getting at is that there are many ways to be a brat.

Then we get the scene where Plankton punishes SpongeBob by inserting his brain into the robot, only for the robot to also disobey Plankton and go to reading comic books and drinking soda, which is really funny, not to mention satisfying, but I have to address the elephant in the room.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba08IGE4Oos
This is a clip from the 1991 Simpsons Halloween Special, specificially the third segment in which Mr Burns creates a robot to be the ultimate employee for the Nuclear Power with the energy source being Homer's brain, but since it's Homer's brain, it acts like Homer. As this episode aired 11 years before Welcome to the Chum Bucket, I find it hard to be a coincidence. After all, SpongeBob is starting to become semi-notorious as people find it having plagarised jokes from The Simpsons, like a joke from the 1994 Simpsons episode Fear of Flying (in which a guy looking like Homer was trying to get into Moe's Tavern, got rejected, and it was then revealed to not be the real Homer) was used in the SpongeBob episodes No Weenies Allowed and The Slumber Party, and the "new glasses" line from another 1994 episode, Bart's Girlfriend, was later utilised in Breath of Fresh Squidward (only giving people even more reason to hate that episode). I digress, because these are all obviously coincidences, right?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDuMp2kDxos

With that final nail in the coffin, Plankton goes over to the Krusty Krab and tells Mr Krabs that he can't take SpongeBob anymore, and offers to trade SpongeBob back to the Krusty Krab, and Mr Krabs pays Plankton $50.00 (1,000X more than SpongeBob would apparently then be worth seven seasons later), to which Plankton takes gleefully and even admits he cheated, which would be a rather Plankton-ish thing to do, even if it did take him 15 years to come up with the idea of cheating in the game. At the end of the day, all the main characters (save Squidward, although he was only there for a joke) have learnt something. Mr Krabs has learnt not to bet something as valuable as one of his employee's contracts, and just betting in general, Plankton has learnt that he has to keep a fine balance if he wants a satisfied employee, and SpongeBob has learnt to not backtalk or disobey his boss, especially if it's Mr Krabs.

This is one of those episodes where you have to think hard before you assign it a rating, because the fact that the story and presentation were handled so well would at first make you think it overshadowed the comedy, but sure enough, the comedy still shines in this particular episode. I was originally going to give this episode an 8, but then I realised that it's better if you give yourself time to really absorb everything. No pun intended.

SpongeBob Scale: Spongey (the highest rating)
Numeric Scale: 9/10 (not perfect, but still among the best)
Lower than: Opposite Day (Season 2- Squirrel Jokes)
Higher than: Karate Choppers (Season 2- Big Pink Loser)
Current Position: #14 out of 67 (Season 2- #7 out of 26)

Question of the Day: Have you ever noticed any jokes/scenarios in SpongeBob that seem to have been lifted from other shows?

Next time, ME HOY MINOY! There, I said it. Until then, I don't even know where I find this kinda crap! :D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNrKC7NP53c
:sbthumbs:
 
Question Answer: More like, "Jokes from Spongebob that were stolen by other shows" for me. There's just too many to count. I would put examples from "Phineas and Ferb" and MLP here, but those tow shows feature staff who previously worked on SB. Ditto the Mickey Mouse shorts shown recently on Disney Channel.

TheOtherSpongeBits: Me when I don't want to clean up the house.

One More Thing: I just want to say I'm alright, and the hurricane isn't going to hurt me. I have wi-fi! :lol: Also, that PMV was unexpected. :xP:

Well, that's all I have to say. If you excuse me, my boss is trying to make me do something I don't want to do. TheOtherSpongebob, out! ;)
 
Quite a few but not a lot, to be honest (Welcome to the Chum Bucket Q/A)

Also were you trying to do the scroll text for this review, I saw you said you might try it. :sbgrin:
 
Zimmy11 said:
were you trying to do the scroll text for this review, I saw you said you might try it. :sbgrin:
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[marquee]Could you imagine an entire review like this? You never know when it would cut off and disrupt the entire review.[/marquee]
 
Yeah, I just catched it cutting the last few words off, good call on not using it :)
 
Frankendoodle (Season 2, Episode 14b)
Original Airdate: January 21 2002*
Episode 68 in standard order, Episode 79 in airing order
*copyrighted 2001
Plot: SpongeBob and Patrick discover a magic pencil that can create living drawings
Written by Walt Dohrn, Paul Tibbitt and Merriwether Williams

[titlecard]34B[/titlecard]
Title Card Music: Arnold is Back 1 (ironically around the time Hey Arnold! was ending :p )

Every once in a while, especially now that we're firmly into SpongeBob's glory days, you're bound to come across an episode that was slightly popular for a good amount of years before falling off the radar, and then later being seen as one of the greatest episodes of the entire series. That's Frankendoodle for you. Believe it or not, there was a time when this episode was, not obscure per se, but it certainly wasn't seen as anything special around fans. Now it's seen as one of the best things to ever come out of the show, and we owe it all to a certain character that appears in it.

Oh Neptune, this opening and it's setup are just brilliant. The French Narrator describes an artist at sea (played by Mr Lawrence), who's trying to think of something to draw in a small boat with nothing but a pencil and a sketchpad (truly an aspiring artiste), but gets so excited that the pencil jumps out of his hand, learning the first lesson of the artist at sea: always bring a spare pencil, and the pencil falls into the ocean. Not only does the live action come in handy and actually benefit the plot, but it's really funny seeing that an artist this pathetic is what started the following mess off.

Down at Conch Street, SpongeBob and Patrick are blowing bubbles in the form of either rocks, papers or scissors in order to play "Rock, Paper, Scissors", which is a rather clever thing to do for a SpongeBob gag, as it takes a childlike thing and finds a way to fit it into SpongeBob's world. One thing that really stands out about this is Patrick blows paper twice, to which SpongeBob points out that he always blows paper, which could just be there to point out that Patrick is stupid and isn't very good at Rock, Paper, Scissors, but remember, this is the first time he's ever seen blowing a real bubble on the show (ironically unlike in Bubblestand), so maybe he just hasn't perfected the technique. Heck, maybe this is SpongeBob trying to teach him the technique in an interesting way.

One bit of "foreshadowing" I like is when the two paper-shaped bubbles are flying up, and when they're on the same vertical axis, the pencil from the real world drops through and pops them both. Once it completely lands into the sand, right inbetween where SpongeBob and Patrick were sitting, the two of them freak out and run around it in panic. I really like how, even in a 5 second scene like this, they have enough time to fit in a joke, in this case, Patrick slowing down, looking behind him and noticing the pencil again, causing him to start running again. I hope you like headcanons ladies and gentlemen, because at this rate, my theory of Patrick having amnesia isn't going away anytime soon.

After awhile, they settle down and realise that it's simply a giant pencil, but upon SpongeBob drawing a jellyfish and seeing it float away, they find it to not just be any pencil, but one that can bring it's drawings to life. That is just ingenious! It makes the live action world feel more distant and mystical, it feeds on the fact that SpongeBob is an animated series, so live action pencil would be able to create animation for them, and it leads to some really good jokes, particularly ones regarding cartoonists because, y'know, this is a NickToon we're talking about. What I mean by cartoonist jokes are little things like SpongeBob wanting Patrick to back away while he's drawing and Patrick giving surprisingly deep criticism towards SpongeBob's jellyfish drawing, to which he replies, "Everybody's a critic.", and when it comes to SpongeBuddy Mania, he ain't lying.

When they realise that they can create virtually anything using the pencil, Patrick says he wishes for a moustache (I'm already feeling hype for the movie at this point in the re-evaluation), to which SpongeBob just scribbles one onto his face, but flies off, but at least Patrick isn't too bummed out by it. This brings me to the point that I really like Patrick here. This might be one of his most well-recieved appearances, and it isn't hard to see why. He essentially serves as the comic relief to SpongeBob without being a foil in any way. He annoys SpongeBob from time to time, but it's never anything that drastic, and it's always funny to the audience as well. I'll explain some of these moments in further detail later in this review.

I would like to point out that the scenes with Squidward are just pure gold. The moustache flies into Squidward's room and lands on his head while he's complaining he doesn't have hair, and in a way, functions as a toupee for a while. Later, when SpongeBob and Patrick prank him with a cartoon dollar bill gag, the toupee flies away, which is rather embarrassing for him seeing as how he's fully dressed. There are other points in the episode in which Squidward is given pain, but the good thing about them is that they don't last long, so Squidward still feels present and somewhat functional as a character, as he reacts to everything accordingly. Also, unlike later STPs, or just STPs in general, SpongeBob and Patrick intentionally played a prank on Squidward, and it was mostly harmless (Squidward didn't really earn that toupee anyway), rather than being unintentional and very harmful.

This is where the episode gets interesting, and by thay, I mean that it deals with a genre that surprisingly few SpongeBob episodes deal with: adventure. It may be shocking to know that this is one of the few times that SpongeBob, and by extension Patrick, have ever been in legitimate mortal danger against an enemy, mainly because the audience at the time had video games and other such spin-off material that took a more complicated route when it came to their storytelling and world building. This kind of thing is a huge breath of fresh air for me, because if this were written by anyone else, it would just be about SpongeBob and Patrick laughing to themselves and making stupid drawings, nothing more. This is the kind of episode that really benefitted from having Merriwether Williams on the writing staff, as she knew what she was doing whenever she tried to break free of the standard SpongeBob formula and give something unique. It's no coincidence that her most popular work is on a little show called Adventure Time.

To follow up his prank, SpongeBob draws a crude-looking duplicate of himself, which he calls "Doodleboy", but then later "DoodleBob" (probably a reference to SpongeBob's original name being "Spongeboy"), and he's probably what makes the episode so unique for many people. Just think of SpongeBob, but "incomplete" in a way. His only way of communicating for most of the episode is through shouting gibberish, with his voice being provided by Paul Tibbitt, not to mention he's very violent, being able to swing Squidward around like The Hulk did to Loki in The Avengers (I barely know anything about the Marvel Cinematic Unvierse, I just went to see it with my brother and I was mixed on it), and break through solid rock! Honest to Neptune, SpongeBob wasn't kidding when he said that he had created a monster!

Now to bring up a few scenes where Patrick really shines, without breaking the flow of the review, because all of these happen in succession to one another. The first is when DoodleBob beats up Squidward, and Patrick thinks it's part of the prank and laughs about it. Admittedly, the joke was a rather pathetic one (SpongeBob was banking on the humour coming solely from the fact that it wasn't really SpongeBob at Squidward's door), so the payoff is good.

The next one comes from after DoodleBob steals the pencil and SpongeBob has a rare "What have I done?" moment. When they're in an area of bushes (a rather new and exotic-looking location as far as SpongeBob goes) and sneak up to DoodleBob's cartoon pineapple house, DoodleBob traps them in a hole that is drawn out from the audience's perspective, taking advantage of the fact that this is a cartoon, and later on down in the hole, Patrick gets hit on the head with a cartoon wrench and asks, "Where's the leak, ma'am?". Get it? Because he's holding a wrench! This followed up by DoodleBob throwing a cartoon bowling ball (made out of rock) at Patrick, who's head then turns into a bowling pin for a split second before he's hit and two X's appear in the corner of the screen. The bowling ball falls into the hole and supposedly cushes Patrick, adding a third X. When SpongeBob asks if Patrick's okay, Patrick simply yells, "Finland!". Unlike with the wrench, I see no reason for him to say that, which makes it much funnier seeing both of them happen nearly side-by-side.

After a quite menacing shot of DoodleBob holding the pencil as a shadow of them is cast on the cartoon pineapple house (note that whenever I say something is scary, that doesn't mean I'm scared of it, I mean that is supplies good drama and suspense), they then plan on a sneak-up-and-surprise tactic in order to distract him and attain the pencil. This supplies two great Patrick moments. The first being when Patrick is saying that DoodleBob looks ugly, pointing out thing that could also be attributed to SpongeBob, and then he blushes and semi-apologises to SpongeBob once he realises that he was unintentionally being rude to him.

SpongeBob explains that they're going to jump out and surprise DoodleBob, Patrick gets excited and likens it to a surprise party, even asking if it's DoodleBob's birthday (which technically it would be) before DoodleBob breaks through the rock wall and holds SpongeBob in the air. SpongeBob shrieks and asks Patrick to do something, but instead of attempting to save SpongeBob, Patrick simply gives DoodleBob a rock as a sort of present. At least Patrick recieves some form of slapstick as DoodleBob smashes it onto his noggin, leaving Patrick stunned and looking ridiculously stupid. I've got to be honest, Patrick's been on fire in this episode!

DoodleBob tries to rush off, but SpongeBob grabs the pencil and points the eraser at him. It had been established earlier in the episode that the pencil could kill as much as it can give birth by essentially wiping Patrick's crude drawing of Squidward (which SpongeBob described as looking like a jellyfish) out of existence. SpongeBob even says that he's gonna bring him out of the world he was brought into, but it's okay, as far as we know, it can only kill animated objects, right?

SpongeBob asks if DoodleBob has any last words, and DoodleBob replies with his typical gibberish. SpongeBob then asks if he can repeat it and DoodleBob breaks it down for SpongeBob with half-lidded eyes and a more serious tone of voice, as if to imply that it's supposed to symbolise actual words. SpongeBob erased DoodleBob's face, and when DoodleBob runs into a rock, SpongeBob then erases him bit by bit, getting more excited and triumphant with every stroke he makes until he seems to have rubbed him out entirely, and holds the pencil in the air in a similar fashion to DoodleBob, screaming that he is the "Destroyer of Evil!". What seals the joke perfectly is Patrick flatly saying to him, "Take it easy, it's just a drawing.", and when Patrick is telling SpongeBob to chill out, you know that SpongeBob just had a serious surge of power.

They then go home, calling it a day, but it's revealed that one of DoodleBob's arms survived the slaughter, which gives the audience an indication that he's still alive and moving, albeit in a limited way. Later that evening, SpongeBob takes further advantage of the pencil's power and redecorates his bedroom to look fancier, even giving Gary a kingly crown.
[titlecard]77B[/titlecard]
Foreshadowing much? Anyway, I really have to wonder if Patrick decided to decorate his rock in a similar fashion to SpongeBob, although seeing as how The Secret Box was the first episode to depict it being bigger on the inside and more like an actual house (heck, there were early episodes like Home Sweet Pineapple and Prehibernation Week that took advantage of the fact that Patrick's rock was just that, a rock), I guess they probably just didn't think it through.

Eventually, DoodleBob's arm returns to Conch Street and heads into SpongeBob's room, redrawing himself, or I guess at least bringing back out what would've been sealed inside the non-pencil void, I don't know, I don't understand philosophical/metaphysical me hoy minoy that much. SpongeBob wakes up as DoodleBob's redrawing himself and is shocked once he realises that DoodleBob's back in one piece. He asks if there's no hard feelings, to which DoodleBob draws angry eyebrows on himself, which might be one of the funniest little jokes on the show period, and aims the pencil at SpongeBob, speaking his first English words, "You doodle, me SpongeBob!" I see going into the non-pencil void gives you the meaning of life, in that the entirety of Bikini Bottom is a cartoon and that SpongeBob is just as animated as him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cU8HrO7XuiE

What ensues is a chase scene that really shows off the potential danger of the magic pencil, in that it's able to erase thing that were not necessarily created by pencil (you know well why I use the word "necessarily"), such as the walls to SpongeBob's bedroom and a door in which SpongeBob decides to hide behind. An amusing part comes when DoodleBob erases the door, but also part of SpongeBob's pants, revealling his butt, so DoodleBob simply erases it, but it supplies even more tension because, not only will SpongeBob never be able to poop again, but it's now shown to physically erase what we should assume for the past 67 episodes have been organic creatures.

Soon after, DoodleBob erases the entire left side of SpongeBob's body, prompting DoodleBob to laugh at his silly-looking appearance. SpongeBob gets angry and plays tug-of-war over the pencil until it snaps in two, allowing him to use his piece to draw himself back up, so at least they found a way to not have an off model design lingre for the entirety of an episode as opposed to just sticking with it like Neptune's Spatula. In other good news, SpongeBob can probably poop again!

They hold their pencils out like swords and prepare to joust, with SpongeBob even making a pun out of DoodleBob's "point". He then claims to have been voted the "most artistic" in high school while bending his pencil until he clumsily loses it and it flies out the window hitting Squidward on the head, before he realises that it was probably for "most clumsy" instead. I would point out that SpongeBob did something rather stupid, but I'm stunned by the fact that SpongeBob went to a high school at all. It may have something to do with the fact that Mrs Puff's Boating School is treated as an elementary school, especially in Season 3.

DoodleBob backs SpongeBob into a bookshelf to erase him, causing paper to fly everywhere, but DoodleBob just so happens to get part of himself stuck on a piece of paper. SpongeBob realises that he can be stuck to paper and uses it to his advantage by trapping him inside a scrapbook. Although smaller, once he becomes encased inside the page, his form changes to a smile. DoodleBob, the original internal screamer.

The next morning, SpongeBob hangs the drawing of DoodleBob on a wall, almost as if the animators wanted it to be in SpongeBob's house for the upcoming video games (although I haven't played any SpongeBob video games for myself, I've heard that the developers just looove these sorts of Easter Eggs), as Patrick comes in and looks at an opposite frame, that which contains the real SpongeBob in the form of a portrait, and freaks out, thinking it's the evil doodle. SpongeBob explains (while wearing an adorable pair of glasses and using a bubble pipe) that DoodleBob was never evil, but that he was simply lost and looking for a purpose. Truth be told, if his purpose was to beat up SpongeBob's friends and try to erase SpongeBob from existence, he was doing a rather good job of it.

The two then decide that the pencil is too dangerous for their underwater world to handle (we never even know if the walls of SpongeBob's bedroom were repaired) and send it back to the "heavens" from which it may have come from. They do this by shoving it into Patrick's mouth and drawing a diving board for SpongeBob to jump off of onto Patrick's stomach, sending it flying back up to the surface, which is a rather clever way of taking advantage of Patrick's pudginess. It's here that I realise that if this episode were made in Season 4, when "King Neptune 2.0" would've still been somewhat relevant, they would've just sent it to him for destruction.

However, that would've risked the existence of the scene in which the artist at sea (who's still on the boat doing nothing!) is finally reunited with his pencil, and is relieved as well as absolutely ecstatic and tries to draw again. However, the pencil snaps and he appears to have learned the second most important rule for the artist at sea, and that is to always bring a pencil sharpener, and the episode ends with him screaming, "NOOO!", like he did when he first lost the pencil, screaming in only the way that Mr Lawrence can.

What more do I have to say about this episode? This was a masterpiece! While I would often priase the show for it's Hawaiian undertones, especially back in early Season 1 when it was brand new and successfully establishing an identity, this one takes advantage of the fact that it's a cartoon, and in my opinion, that's a step up. On top of that, it has one of the best stories, some of the strongest jokes and one of the most iconic one-off villains in the SpongeBob franchise up to this point. I know I would frequently say that I recommend an episode, but coupled with Welcome to the Chum Bucket, I think that Episode 34 in it's entirely is highly recommendable for anyone starting out with SpongeBob who wants a full half-hour experience.

SpongeBob Scale: Spongy (the highest rating)
Numeric Scale: 10/10 (the highest rating)
Lower than: Shanghaied
Higher than: Patty Hype
Current Position: #2 out of 68 (Season 2- #2 out of 27)

Question of the Day: Do you think that SpongeBob should do more action/adventure stories?

I only just realised that I have been misspelling "Spongy" this whole time. Oh well, hopefully the next episode is good. (Most iconic part is a carton of milk spilling) Oh it looks set to be a laugh riot! Until then, I seriously don't know why this was made, but it needed to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsBLGzTMFIM
:sbthumbs:
 
Question Answer: Heck yes! An action-packed episode of Spongebob just like this is just what I need to make the series better! And make it be written by Merriwhether Williams, too!

TheOtherSpongeBits: IT'S ALIVE! "ME HOY MINOY!"

One More Thing: I didn't even realized you've been spelling Spongy wrong. To me, it doesn't really matter. :spongey:

Well, that's all I have to say. If you excuse me, I have a Doodle to erase. TheOtherSpongebob, out! ;)

AAAAAAAAAHHH! I AM THEOTHERSPONGEBOB, DESTROYER OF EVIL!

"Take it easy, it's just a drawing."
 
Frankendoodle (Q/A): Yes, if they play them out well like this one :)
 
Welcome to the chum bucket Q/A: Not really
Frankendoodle Q/A: As long as they have 1 good joke, then yes
 
The Secret Box (Season 2, Episode 15a)
Original Airdate: September 7 2001
Episode 69 in standard order, Episode 66 in airing order
Plot: Patricks makes a secret box which SpongeBob is eager to peep inside
Written by Paul Tibbitt, Walt Dohrn and Merriwether Williams

[titlecard]35A[/titlecard]
Title Card Music: Grass Skirts Blowing

This feels like one of the first episodes in which Patrick being a jerk is integral to the story. I say "one of" because Valentine's Day was sort of a backdoor introduction to this genre, which I will call PAP (Patrick's A Problem), and Big Pink Loser and Life of Crime may also fit into this category, but this is the first episode to play it straight for the entirety of it's run. Due to this genre of episode gaining notoriety amongst SpongeBuddies after a certain other SpongeBob critic decided to dissect many episodes of this genre from S2;5-8 with the mindset that Patrick Star as a character is sociopathic (or has Antisocial Personality Disorder, take that MatPat), opinions on this episode when looking back on it may be tainted. Is this really a dark side of what is to come ahead or is it a diamond in the rough that's yet to build up? Let's see!

It begins with SpongeBob going to meet Patrick so they can go jellyfishing, but Patrick is busy priding his own joy and having fun with what he calls his "secret box". However, SpongeBob's nosiness gets the better of him as he feels jealous of Patrick's exclusive supervision of the secret box. This already sets up that this is going to be an episode in which SpongeBob wants something and goes through hell to try and get it, similar to Pizza Delivery and Rock Bottom, but admittedly less like an adventure, with the difference here being that Patrick, his best friend, is the obstacle he must overcome.

This may make Patrick look like a jerk, but the thing is Patrick has no idea how badly he's torturing SpongeBob. He prides himself in his little secret, but doesn't have a clue how badly he's hurting SpongeBob's feelings, and can you really blame him? It's really SpongeBob's own nosiness that's gotten him so worked up over Patrick's prized posession. Think about it, the episode is about SpongeBob having to learn a friendship lesson, and Patrick doesn't really need to because, y'know, the ending, but I've gotten a bit too ahead of myself here.

SpongeBob decides that, since Patrick won't let him share his secret, then SpongeBob will share his secrets in order to break even with him so he can have a peek as to what's in the box, which is ineffective because Patrick still wants to keep what it contains confidential. It's great because it's a failing on SpongeBob's part, not exactly thinking ahead, but it's okay because he doesn't really lose anything (other than his patience) because the secrets that he reveals about himself are things that would be obvious to anyone alive on Planet Earth in 2001, such as that he's naïve, and it's funny seeing Patrick's reactions, even having him go so far as to say that he's never going to see SpongeBob the same way again. Remember that this was 2001, SpongeBob saying that he's wearing three pairs of underwear would've been life-changing for fans in contrast to his more "controversial" outings.

Continuing on, even with all that out of the way, Patrick refuses to let SpongeBob have a look inside the secret box, explaining that the inner machinations of his mind are an enigma, and then we get an imagine spot of what he's thinking, which is just a carton of milk spilling. This is another ones of those jokes that we take for granted nowadays, but when you're watching this as a kid and you see Patrick, typically a rather dumb character, saying something that complex in which less than half of the show's demographic can comprehend it, only for it to be juxtaposed by something that doesn't represent stupidity specifically, but represents randomness, is really funny.

I know that I would get into a lot of trouble with much more professional critics due to my habit of explaining the jokes in a comedy, but I find that I do it in a way that decreases confusion as to what the joke is and reminds people why they like it in the first place, I don't try to make it feel as though the buildup feels more tedious and predictable or the punchline becomes more forced, however if it seems like I'm going to far with explaining certain jokes, could you care to tell me so? That would be good, because I do need a bit of criticism from time to time.

SpongeBob's envy of Patrick's leg up on knowing what's inside the secret box soon enfuriates him and the two find themselves playing tug-of-war with it until SpongeBob's arms come off. Patrick is oddly very disgusted by this and even threatens that they no longer be best friends if SpongeBob acts like this. I have to note that it's very surprising seeing Patrick take something as oddly specifically childish as the secret box so seriously, and for SpongeBob to follow suit. Given how hated future episodes that hinge on the fact that SpongeBob and Patrick act like children, such as Toy Store of Doom and Yours, Mine and Mine are, I do have to wonder, what is it about this episode that makes it different?

I guess it has to do with the fact that this is how a child in any stage of their childhood would act, specifically around the age of 8-11, not very young children (almost like preschoolers) as presented on the two aforementioned future episodes. One thing that drives this idea is that when SpongeBob says they're supposed to be friends forever, he has a dream of them being friends as babies, children, their own age, and then senior citizens and eventually in the grave), so we can confirm that they're at least a little bit older than, say, 5. Another, and this is the most important thing, is their behaviour. Very young children would constantly bicker about this making the problem worse until they're crying and have to wait for an adult to fix everything for them.
[titlecard]83B[/titlecard]
Here, SpongeBob apologises and Patrick forgives him, saying that they can be friends for another day. Even though the turmoil rages on inside SpongeBob and Patrick is still overjoyed to the point that he appears to be unintentionally teasing SpongeBob over it, they handled it in a much more mature way then they did in Waiting.

Like I said, SpongeBob retains some level of suspicion about what's in the box over into the night, with his primary emotion changing from axiety to fear, because he believes it could be something embarrassing of him, even going as far as to think that it's probably what is described as an embarrassing photo of him at the Christmas Party. That's really all we have to back this up, but we do know that SpongeBob has had a photo of himself taken on Christmas, just not a very embarrassing one.
[titlecard]28[/titlecard]

SpongeBob gets the idea to sneak into Patrick's house at night and have a peak, but even Gary thinks it's a bad idea, as when SpongeBob asks Gary so, he literally just says "No!", as opposed to just meowing like he usually does. That's a rather unusualy joke, and the kind that you can only do once in a while so as not to break the status quo of Gary not being able to talk, and they spent it on a rather good scenario.

With that, SpongeBob goes over to Patrick's rock and puts on some burglar attire, such as a hockey mask and gloves, and goes inside Patrick's rock, which as I said in my review of Frankendoodle, is portrayed for the first time to be bigger on the inside and more like a bedroom, and it would be expanded further to look more like a house with more rooms in episodes like I'm With Stupid. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Well, I'm mixed on it. The good thing is that we get more of an idea of how Patrick lives and what his lifestyle is like, but the bad thing is that it decreases his status as a dimwitted loser who can't even have a real house ("he literally lives under a rock" had been the joke for two years at this point). Does it affect the first half of the Classic era in which is house is shaped to just be a rock with very little in the way of stuff inside of it? Well, aside from the brief running gag of him stuck to the top of his rock like a regular starfish, only to fall off and crash into his stuff (as seen in Help Wanted and Bubblestand), plus some scenes which can take place in either SpongeBob's or Patrick's house, like the majority of Suds and the free-form jazz scene in Grandma's Kisses, there's very little change that it has to the overall flow of the show.

This brings me into what should be the highlight of the episode, the scene in which SpongeBob is trying to be as quiet as he can while loud noises accompany his every step. That's basically the jest of things, and the best thing about it is that it's all in SpongeBob's head. It's hard to imagine that his tip-toes are large enough to sound like elephants and car screaches. This is complimented by the fact that Patrick sleeps through the whole thing, indicating that SpongeBob's mind is overexaggerating every little step. However, the reason I say that "this should be the highlight" as opposed to saying that "it is the highlight" is because there's very little dialogue to back it up and make it memorable. In essence, it has the same problem as Reef Blower, in that for a show that has most of it's best moments come from what the characters say as opposed to what the characters do. I'm not saying that this type of comedy isn't welcome at all, but words speak louder than actions when it comes to SpongeBob.

After various more ear-grating (in-universe) shenanigans, SpongeBob manages to wake Patrick up by merely talking to himself, which is really funny. Patrick mistakes SpongeBob for what he calls "The Clam-Burgler" (I guess it's a parody of "The Ham-Burglar", one of Ronald McDonald's friends in the McDonalds universe), and backs has him placed back into the corner (which he was already in) and prepares to attack. At least he's doing it for a reason this time, as he doesn't know it's SpongeBob. However, when SpongeBob reveals his identity, Patrick cries, which is a rather dramatic moment, because it would feel to him that his best friend (they even have adorable little best friend rings that play a little jingle when they're opened) has betrayed him. To be fair, betrayal in this way, let alone at the middle of the night when both of them would be very tired and weary, is not a good thing.

Although, Patrick does finally give in and allow SpongeBob access to the secret box (but not Squidward's house, that's not getting any of the riches unfortunately), and SpongeBob, having hyped himself so much, opens it only to find a piece of string, and assume that it was just the string that was entertaining to Patrick, because he's dumb, and forgives Patrick before going back home. However, it's then revealed that the string is actually used to open a compartment that Patrick says to the audience is an embarrassing photo of SpongeBob at the Christmas Party. This is a really satisfying ending, as it allows SpongeBob to be okay with what's inside the box (remember, he doesn't know about the photo) so that the audience can laugh with Patrick and not at SpongeBob.

This may be a random comparision, but The Secret Box kind of feels like an episode of The Angry Beavers, another 1990s NickToon which is probably the most comparable thing to SpongeBob on Nickelodeon until The Mighty B! in terms of it's sense of humour and characterzation, but even then, there are some differences, but with that said, this still feels bizzarely similar to The Angry Beavers. Just replace SpongeBob with Daggett, Patrick with Norbert (or vice versa for one of those rare episodes where Daggett has the upper hand) and it wouldn't feel out of place. However, you'd probably need to throw in some ad-libbing and uses of the word "spoot" for good measure.

In conclusion, I think it's no secret that The Secret Box is a pretty good episode, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it a highlight of Season 2. Sure it had some really good moments (like the "Squidward's House" gag which I neglected to elaborate on, as that kind of joke having to be explained would simply be too much), but there are some minor flaws, such as the pacing feeling a bit on the slow side on a couple of areas. Either way, this is still a really good introduction to the PAP genre of SpongeBob, in part due to it's ability to make us sympathise with both SpongeBob and Patrick, which seems to get harder and harder the longer this genre sticks around.

One more thing I have to note about this episode is that SpongeBob's buckteeth look a little odd, as they seem to be in more of a slanted shape than their usual appearance of just looking like white rectangles. It's not too distracting, but looking at individual screencaps is going to make it seem different from other episodes, and admittedly not in a good way.

SpongeBob Scale: Good (represents what SpongeBob stands for)
Numeric Scale: 8/10 (an enjoyable if not mildly flawed episode)
Lower than: Plankton! (Season 2- Imitation Krabs)
Higher than: The Paper (Season 2- Life of Crime)
Current Position: #33 out of 69 (Season 2- #16 out of 28)

Question of the Day 1: Did you ever notice how Patrick's rock just suddenly became bigger near the end of Season 2?

Question of the Day 2: Do you think Patrick is older or younger than SpongeBob? His deeper voice would give you the impression that he's older, but there are cases like this where he is far less mature than SpongeBob (at least on the outside). Personally, I'd say older, but you never know.

Join me next time as we meet Squidward's rival for the first time. Until then, my puns are out of "control".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqxqZD4kGl4
:sbthumbs:
 
Question Answers: (1 Yeah, I have. Of all of Season 1 and most of Season 2, it seemed to be a tad bit smaller than the rest of its appearances. Guess the "bigger on the inside" thing made it bigger on the outside as well.
(2 I have to say I agree with you on Patrick being older than Spongebob. He can be a bit less mature than him, but I still think he's older.

TheOtherSpongeBits: My best friend has a secret, but it's all boxed up.

One More Thing: I'm particularly excited for your next review. "Band Geeks" is one of my favorite episodes of the series, and is #2 on my favorite episodes list. I hope you give it a Spongy rating. Also, leave all the box puns for "Idiot Box", though that episode has enough box puns on its own. :)

Well, that's all I have to say. Now if you excuse me, I have a friend who won't let me look in the secret box to deal with. TheOtherSpongebob, out! ;)

P.S. Never mind, it was just a piece of string.
 
Band Geeks (Season 2, Episode 15b)
Original Airdate: September 7 2001
Episode 70 in standard order, Episode 67 in airing order
Plot: Squidward tries to form a band out of his friends to impress his rival, Squilliam
Written by Aaron Springer, C.H. Greenblatt and Merriwether Williams

[titlecard]35B[/titlecard]
Title Card Music: Here Comes the Band! (a)

Could this be SpongeBob's magnum opus? According to many people, yes. Ever since it aired, it has often been hailed as one of the best, if not the best, episodes in the series, although it's a position that is starting to become questioned as SpongeBuddies, especially in recent times, have found this episode to be "overrated", and are moving on to other episodes to consider the best, like Chocolate With Nuts (to name one example). What will I think of it? Well, it's got my power trio (Aaron Springer, C.H. Greenblatt, Merriwether Williams) behind it (these three also wrote Dying for Pie, Squidville, Survival of the Idiots and Shanghaied, all of which are Spongy), so there's got to be something about it that drives most fans to call it their favourite.

It begins with the sort of joke that you wouldn't expect when you come back to such a beloved episode, and that is Squidward playing his clarinet, only to be interrupted by a doctor coming up to his door and saying that there's a snail (AKA cat) dying on his premises, before rudely shutting the door in his face. That's a rather dark joke, and it gets even darker when you don't realise that Gary appears in this episode at all! Yeah, there's tons of secondary characters making grand reappearances, but Gary's not there at all. I mean, it makes sense, what would Gary even do in a marching band? But even with that, and the explicit reference to a snail dying, that just makes it all the more mind-blowing!

The thing with Squidward is that he refers to his clarinet-playing as "unrecognised talent" on the phone before he realises that it's Squilliam on the other line, signifying that he has no idea if people would even enjoy his music, and since this episode is all about the music, that's a really good thing, because it puts Squidward in a predicament that he needs to get himself out of, a role usually associated with SpongeBob, but it can be done masterfully well with Squidward, as seen here.

This brings me into my next point, and that is the character of Squilliam. It should be noted that, at one point, the writers were trying to come up with a rival for SpongeBob (they may or may not have found on in Bubble Bass), but they found that it just didn't work as well as they would've hoped. The great thing about giving the rival role to Squidward is that there needs to be an opposite version of him to show what his life would be like if he weren't so miserable (SpongeBob's life can barely be described as miserable), so in a way, although they were rivals in high school and are still rivals to this very day (at least until they stopped using Squilliam in Season 7), Squilliam can be described as who Squidward wants to be, without necessarily being an idol, and with that sort of description of Squilliam's role on the show, this might be one of the best possible ways you can introduce him.

Squidward is surprised to hear that Squilliam has a marching band and is set to perform at the "Bikini Bottom Bubble Bowl", prompting Squidward to humourously stutter "Bubble Bowl", which might be one of the best things to stutter without it sounding annoying, because "buh-buh-buh" feels like a natural sound, plus the angle in which it's shown Squidward stuttering is actually really good, just foucsing on his face in a surprised state as his mouth flaps up and down. What Squidward realises Squilliam's trying to do is teasing him over the fact that Squidward doesn't have a marching band, and is just a lowly cashier at a fast food joint (coupled with his prediction of the dying snail on Squidward's premises, Squilliam must be some sort of psychic, that's probably his unibrow is good for!).

Squidward does the worst thing he can and rebuts, saying that he does have a marching band and will play at the Bubble Bowl the following tuesday. What Squidward has done is terrible because, he has shown to be very doubtful about his ability to express himself in music (remember, "unrecognised talent"), and now he's got to assemble a ragtag team of musicians in order to impress Squilliam, and train them in instrument-playing before Tuesday. You can see that Squidward would be desperate for someone, anyone to help him out, and sure enough, anyone does help him out.

Squidward decides that the best way to recruit band members is by putting advertisements all over Bikini Bottom for music lessons, which Sandy, Plankton, Mrs Puff, Mr Krabs and Larry all read at different points in different locations, to increase that feeling that they're all being brought together for one cause. I'm not bothered by the fact that SpongeBob and Patrick don't get their own little scene like this, because they're Squidward's neighbours and Squidward would've (and should've) probably just told them on the spot by going up to their houses, as it would be easier to communicate with them that way. Besides, save Mr Krabs, these characters haven't interacted with Squidward all that often (which would be rectified in some later episodes like Sweet and Sour Squid and Squid Plus One), so it feels refreshing seeing them all band together. Get it? Band?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V2sBURgUBI

Band humour! When he arrives at the building in which they will be practicing, he finds that a ton of fish, not just SpongeBob's aquatic acquaintances, have tried out, which shows that they're willing to be committed to something, as long they don't keep going "blah blah blah", in place of actual chattering, which is one of those brilliant little SpongeBob-ish touches to an episode that just enriches the experience when you rediscover it. Bear in mind that they're committed to Squidward, even if they don't know why (the invitation never explicitly mentions Squilliam or the predicament Squidward is in), but that doesn't mean they know anything about music, which it takes Squidward four days to understand.

Note that Plankton asks if "instruments of torture" count as instruments and Patrick, asks of mayonnaise, and potentially horseraddish, count as musical instruments, which is just such a Patrick-ish thing to ask, especially to Squidward. This brings me to the point that all of the character-centric jokes in this episode have to do with the characters that are telling them, and that is simply brilliant, because it never feels like they threw a character into a scenario for no good reason, they had a good grasp on the characters and they use them to the story's advantage. Some noteworthy jokes include SpongeBob asking when they're going to start kicking, showing that he's too eager and eccentric to fully understand even what the others know, Plankton being too small to play a harmonica without tiring himself out running from mouthpiece to mouthpiece (which apparently took a whole day to rehearse) and Mr Krabs being called out on for his claws, and his and the fish's aggressive behaviour is what starts the whole ruckus that will be explained in further detail later in this review. As a character-driven show, this is a really good thing, and probably a reason why so many people like this episode, because everyone's favourite character gets at least one piece of the stardom, especially Squidward having to be the straight man to everything.

A good example of charactery dynamics in this is Patrick and Sandy's little feud that's brought up from time to time, notably, Patrick kicks Sandy in the butt, so Sandy stuffs his head inside a trumpet offscreen. The first time this happens, we see the outcome, with Patrick having his neck enlongated by the trumpet and he keeps making trumpet sounds as he walks. Otherwise, he shows no signs of fear or even pain. The second time this happens, Sandy just reaches for a trumpet, gives Patrick a dirty smile, and Patrick screams and runs out of view with Sandy chasing him. These are both fantastic moments, and probably one of the highlights in terms of humour, and considering how there's no other word to describe this episode other than "critical acclaim", that's saying quite alot.

I have to say that, if I had one minor gripe with this episode, don't worry, put down your weapons, is that the transitions from day to day. The one from day one to day two is good, moving to a different location and all, but day three feels much shorter and much less action-packed, probably having to do with Plankton's harmonica joke probably being the weakest joke in the episode. I'm not hating it, I still think it's decent, but it goes on for a bit longer than I would've liked. Not to mention, I would've like an extra joke on the side, like there were two different problems with playing the instruments on day three (similar to the joke with the percussion section blowing on their sticks) so that it didn't feel like a day was wasted on one thing.

Because I brought day two into this review, I might as well mention…the joke. Squidward is having the marching band practice their walk and gets the flag-twrilers to twirl the flags so quickly that they end up flying and crashing into a blimp. I've mentioned from time to time jokes in Season 2 (like in Dying for Pie and Life of Crime) that could only be seen as tasteful or epic in a pre-9/11 world (there's also a certain scene in Just One Bite, but that's in Season 3, and even then, it aired after the September 11 attacks), and this particular one might just be the grand champion in terms of how dangerously close it was to 9/11. As you can see from the information above, this episode aired on September 7 2001 (it was the last episode to air before the attacks), only 4 days before the unfortunate terrorist attacked that changed America forever. I don't live in America and I didn't know that much about 9/11 growing up (which was probably for the better, IMO), but I know a lot of fans would've been scarred and have their taste in these sorts of scenes dialed back a bit, which is why I bring it up when it has to be addressed. I'm not saying the scene isn't funny, or that it wasn't funny for me as a younger kid, but historical context can really make SpongeBob more interesting, as SpongeBob's rise to popularity was one of the last eventful things to happen in the United States before September 11 2001.

Eventually, on the last day of rehersal, Squidward realises that his band hasn't improved at all, and decides to tale a different approach. Since he knows that marching bands like to play loudly in order to make themselves sound better, he decides to give his marching band that same mindset, with disastrous results. The camera pans out to the shot of the building where a loud burst of marching band instruments is heard, with the windows shattering, and it goes back to show Squidward's face horribly disfigured from the blast of sound. Keep in mind that when I say horribly disfigured, I don't mean like how the characters looked in Face Freeze!, I mean it looks like it got rearranged as if it were play-doh.

He then suggests that they play quietly, but then a fish (with that darn Australian accent!) and Mr Krabs get into an argument and start fighting. Even when SpongeBob tries to act civilised and bring their fighting off, that just creates more problems until it escalates into a full-scale battle damaging most of the equipment, effectively ruining much of the progress that Squidward had with at least keeping the band together. Also, how do you know it's a serious brawl? When you can see those little bars on the side of the screen where the animation cuts off, and you can tell it's so that the scene can vibrate, but the bars don't vibrate alongside the scene. I'd blame the DVD releases, as I've never noticed it when watcing the episode on TV.

Once the lesson ends, Squidward gives up, cries and expresses that they have failed him. Once they've realised the magnitude of what they've done, SpongeBob, being the closest to Squidward and all, takes it upon himself to teach the Bikini Bottomites how to really perform in a marching band. I have to be honest, this is where the episode goes from great to downright fantastic. SpongeBob is taking it upon himself to please Squidward, and looking at the ending, in a way that would blow the audience's mind just as much as it did Squidward.

I guess crying does solve your problems, after all!

The next day, Squidward goes to the Bubble Bowl, only to see a smug Squilliam and his band (in appropriate uniform) and to flip out and get a bit more freaked, which is really funny. It's also great seeing the two different sides of what could happen, with Squilliam being smug about the fact that he's going to win, and SpongeBob remaining optimistic and even doing a little dance. It just goes to show that there's no inbetween at this point, either Squidward wins or loses. Another great thing leading up to the final moments of this episode, in which they're lifted up to the surface world where they appear to be in a real life football stadium, which is rather interesting, seeing all their frightened reactions to seeing humans for the first time. However, how come they were still in a beach-like area before reaching the dome? The world may never know.

Then we get the song, Sweet Victory, sung by SpongeBob (voice provided by David Glen Eisley), and it is just epic! Seriously, seeing Squilliam get taken away by doctors from a heart attack caused by the awe the song has, followed by Squidward giving up the stick and just posing to the music, thoroughly satisfied. The music, the visuals, the characters' rad poses! Baby, this is just the thing that SpongeBob needed after Shanghaied, something to win over adults (with the inescapable adrenaline) while maintaining it's audience of children (by keeping colourful visuals and funny things for the characters to do). It's no wonder people point to this scene when they mention Band Geeks being a masterpiece, because it might just be one of the most important moments in SpongeBob history, simply due to how grand and big it is!

Although I'm not going to call it my favourite episode, there's a darn good reason why it has such a firm place in SpongeBob's fandom. Everything about it, from the characters to the jokes to the ending really shines and it tries it's hardest to be unlike any other SpongeBob episode, and that's the most important thing. Although it's not my favourite episode, I still consider this a contender for SpongeBob's magnum opus. I guess you could call this a sweet victory on the episode's part.

SpongeBob Scale: Spongy (the highest rating)
Numeric Scale: 10/10 (the highest rating)
Lower than: Rock Bottom (Season 2- Patty Hype)
Higher than: Dying for Pie
Current Position: #6 out of 70 (Season 2- #4 out of 29)

Question of the Day 1: What is your favourite episode of the series?

Question of the Day 2: What are your thoughts on Squilliam?

I'm going to have fun with watching the next episode…at night! Until then, close your eyes and remenisce on your blissful childhood.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V2sBURgUBI
:bandgeek:



















Okay, here's the real link!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVm7LOHNA24
:sbthumbs:
 
The secret box Q/A: I actually never noticed that
The secret box Q/A 2: I'm pretty sure he's younger
Band geeks Q/A: Band geeks :)
Band geeks Q/A 2: He's Kevin done right, and he loses without it feeling too harsh
 
New school term tomorrow. I feel so tuckered out from simultaneously studying and doing the SpongeBob reviews, so I’m going to just take it easy and not do the SpongeBob stuff on as regular of a basis as I’d normaly do. Don’t be sad, I’ve got other surprises planned though.
 
So, here's your ranking of season two right now:

29. Dumped
28. Grandmas kisses
27. The smoking peanut
26. Bubble buddy
25. Bossy boots
24. Something smells
23. Gary takes a bath
22. Pre-hibernation week
21. I'm your biggest fanatic
20. Your shoes untied
19. No free rides
18. Life of crime
17. The secret box
16. Imitation krabs
15. MM&BB3
14. Christmas who
13. Wormy
12. Survival of the idiots
11. Pressure
10. Big pink loser
9. Welcome to the chum bucket
8. Squirrel jokes
7. Squids day off
6. Squidville
5. Dying for pie
4. Band geeks
3. Patty hype
2. Frankendoodle
1. Shanghaied

As a extra, here's what I consider early, mid, and late of every season:
Season 1:
Early: Help wanted-Jellyfish jam
Mid: Sandys rocket-Karate choppers
Late: Sleepy time-MM&BBII
Season 2:
Early: Your shoes untied-Christmas who
Mid: Survival of the idiots-Band geeks
Late: Graveyard shift-Sandy, spongebob, and the worm
Season 3:
Early: The algaes always greener-Krusty krab training video
Mid: Party pooper pants-Mid life crustean
Late: Born again krabs-Pranks a lot
Season 4:
Early: Fear of a krabby patty-Karate island
Mid: All that glitters-The thing
Late: Hocus pocus-The gift of gum
Season 5:
Early: Friend or foe-To love a patty
Mid: Breath of fresh Squidward-Antlantis squarepantis
Late: Picture day-Stanley s squarepants
Season 6:
Early: House fancy-SpongeBob vs the big one
Mid: Porous pockets-To squarepants or not to squarepants
Late: Shuffle boarding-The clash of triton
Season 7:
Early: Tentacle vision-One coarse meal
Mid: Gary in love-Sponge cano
Late: The great party caper-Perfect chemistry
Season 8:
Early: Accidents will happen-Mr krabs takes a vacation
Mid: Ghoul fouls-Face freeze
Late: Glove world RIP-Hello bikini bottom
Season 9a:
Early: Extreme spots-Little yellow book
Mid: Bumper to bumper-It came from goo lagoon
Late: Safe deposit krabs-SpongeBob, you're fired
Season 9b:
Early: Lost in bikini bottom-Patrick the game
Mid: The sewers of bikini bottom-Copybob dittopants
Late: Sold-The tooth, the whole tooth, and nothing but the tooth
 
Question Answer:

(1 While "Band Geeks" remains one of my favorite episodes of all time, it's only my second favorite episode. My favorite episode is actually "Ripped Pants", right down to knowing all the dialogue without looking at the transcript at Spongebob Wiki.
(2 I think Squilliam is a great character for Squidward episodes. Instead of all Squidward episodes being all about Spongebob and Patrick ruining Squid's life, we get some episodes where Squidward has someone else ruining is life for him. It's a shame that the only episodes with Squilliam that Spongebob isn't his usual annoying self to Squidward are this episode and "Squilliam Returns", which are the only two appearances of him in the early era. I just can't stand his other appearances such as "House Fancy" and "Keep Bikini Bottom Beautiful" because of Spongebob pestering Squidward more than Squilliam. Heck, be barely appears in more recent episodes after "House Fancy". Sorry that this was so long, I just had to rant on something.

TheOtherSpongeBits: Band Geeks? More like, "Band Awesome"! :D

One More Thing: You really like Seinfeld, don't you?

Well, that's all I have to say. If you excuse me. I have to drum up a band fast! TheOtherSpongebob, out! ;)

(Heh, "drum", heh, band humor)
 
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