Honest Slug
Ink Lemonade hurts me.
I agree, The Chaperone is on the weaker side of season 1 for sure.
Re-Evaluating my opinions on SpongeBob Season 1-8
- Thread starter EmployeeAMillion
- Start date
EmployeeAMillion
Season 12 Time!
Employee Of The Month (Season 1, Episode 12b)
Original Airdate: October 2 1999 (Episode 25)
Plot: SpongeBob and Squidward compete to be the Krusty Krab's "Employee of the Month"
Written by Paul Tibbit and Mr Lawrence
[titlecard]12B[/titlecard]
Title Card Music: Oyster Girls
Note: Not related to the 2002 video game of the same name.
Well now, this is certainly one of the most mixed bags that I've even seen from the show. Not because it hovers around the "Average" rating, but because it has "Spongey" parts, "Good" parts and "Average" parts all within the same episode. It was hard to assign it a single rating, that's how mixed it was! You wouldn't expect an episode that hits this many notes to come in Season 1, mainly because Season 2 onward tend to have more episodes that hit all barriers, notably a certain family-related one. But I'm getting ahead of myself…again.
Let's talk about the first act, which I consider "Good", mainly because it shows SpongeBob's dilemma and how it's affecting him rather well. What's his dilemma? Being "Employee of the Month" once again. And by "once again", I mean he's already won the award 26 times in a row. Write that down, SpongeBob's been working at the Krusty Krab for more than two years, so if we're to assume that he started working on May 1999, then the story would be set on July 2001. Don't listen to SpongeBob's calendar!
It seems all fine and dandy, but uh-oh, Mr Krabs and Squidward tease him, saying that Squidward could be the next employee, which sparks SpongeBob imagining Squidward's face on the next "Employee of the Month" photo, which somewhat traumatises him. The reason I use such a strong word as "traumatise" is because it's clear that the quality of SpongeBob's work starts slipping at this point. Under no other stress, aside from the "Pickle Fiasco", would he flip a patty so hard it got stuck to the ceiling, prompting him to try to flip it off (sorry for the language) by walking upside down onto the ceiling (get it, it's a cartoon), then accidentally spray it all over Squidward as the ingredients fly into a fan. In fact, the meat covers Squidward 3 times, even though the whole patty burst the first time! Burger physics, ladies and gentlemen.
Although it's still within the "Good" area, I'd just like to point out my two favourite moments come from it. The first being Squidward attempting to kick SpongeBob's hat, and subsequently hurt his foot because SpongeBob conveniently, and very randomly, decided to hide a block of iron under it. The second is SpongeBob imagining his "Employee of the Month" photos coming to life and talking some sense into him, like an army general, prompting him to take the situation more seriously. Honestly, stuff like this; only in Season 1 I tell you.
Then we get to the second part of this episode (in which SpongeBob and Squidward are fighting at night), the "Spongey" part, and I just have to say, it's just fantastic. Just the fact that they're so at each other's throats is very fun to watch, and also kind of satisfying. It's shown that SpongeBob has sunken to Squidward's level in terms of attitude, possibly even lower, due to him intentionally sabotaging Squidward's chances of getting the award by breaking into his house and breaking all of his alarm clocks. Yes, I said all of them. Meanwhile, Squidward has sunken to SpongeBob's level in terms of over-reacting to the situation, possibly even lower, due to the fact that his pride has gotten so high, he's basically begging for a comptetion against SpongeBob. Honestly, I've never seen them this neck-and-neck before, other than Can You Spare A Dime?, but that's later, even though it's earlier where I come from. Goodness, I feel like River Song!
Of course, no review of this episode would be complete without mentioning the chase scene. Basically, SpongeBob continuously placing Squidward in boobie-traps and vice versa, and although with the first couple they get out easily, the rest it's left to the audience's imagination as to how they got themselves into those messes and how they have a chance in getting out of them (a good example would be SpongeBob getting stuck in a brick wall), culminating in the two of them dragging giant boats behind them, which begs the question, how come they look like legit boats instead of the motor vehicle-like ones we've seen up to this point?
Then we get to the "Average" part of the episode, which is unfortunately very close to being "Bad". SpongeBob and Squidward call it truce and shake hands, and while they're shaking hands, they think about how they're gonna make a run for it to the Krusty Krab. Close-ups on their ugly faces aside (which might be the show's first real example of gross-out humour), it's pretty okay. They make a run for it, and essentially shock Mr Krabs with how…uh, gold they are at their jobs. Both of them have pretty much been driven mad with how much they want the "Employee of the Month" award, and pretty much turn the place into a wreck.
The only thing entertaining about this scene is hearing the music (Twelfth Street Rag for those interested) slowly increase in speed as their """""assistance""""" goes out of control. Also, I'd just have to say that the ending, in which they make so many Krabby Patties (despite Squidward's lack of skill at doing anything in the kitchen in Pickles) that the restaurant explodes, allowing people to take free Krabby Patties, while Mr Krabs is horrified, SpongeBob and Squidward are completely insane, and the "Employee of the Month" photo wall has been destroyed, is too much of a downer to be funny for me. I mean, this has been 26 months of SpongeBob's dedication to the Krusty Krab, and the only known way of recording it thus far, destroyed, as are the chances of either of them getting the award, due to essentially blowing up the restaurant with their """""assistance""""". You may say that I'm looking too deep into it, but I'm really looking as deep into it as the episode allows me to.
How would I expect the ending to play out? If they had put a little less emphasis on the fact that SpongeBob and Squidward's actions are not helpful and actually damaging to the Krusty Krab, it would've made a little more sense. After all they did appear to call it truce a few minutes earlier. Also, Mr Krabs doesn't have much of a reaction to this other than fear. As he's their boss, I'm sure that he should've stepped in and stopped SpongeBob and Squidward from misbehaving immediately. Squidward even says it himself, "If we keep this up, neither of us will win the award!"
I'm not going to say that the middle redeems this episode, the ending ruins it or the beginning, I dunno, neutralises it, but what I will say is that it's still overall, an enjoyable SpongeBob episode. I don't think any other episode has had me conflicted on the rating this early on, but I think I've finally decided.
My rating for this episode on my personal scale would be a "Good".
On a scale of 1-10, it would be a 7/10.
It's worse than Boating School, but better than Culture Shock.
Our upcoming episode is going to introduce one of my personal favourite secondary characters of the series. Until then, play me out, SpongeBob.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iVxMlw0IQA
:sbthumbs:
Original Airdate: October 2 1999 (Episode 25)
Plot: SpongeBob and Squidward compete to be the Krusty Krab's "Employee of the Month"
Written by Paul Tibbit and Mr Lawrence
[titlecard]12B[/titlecard]
Title Card Music: Oyster Girls
Note: Not related to the 2002 video game of the same name.
Well now, this is certainly one of the most mixed bags that I've even seen from the show. Not because it hovers around the "Average" rating, but because it has "Spongey" parts, "Good" parts and "Average" parts all within the same episode. It was hard to assign it a single rating, that's how mixed it was! You wouldn't expect an episode that hits this many notes to come in Season 1, mainly because Season 2 onward tend to have more episodes that hit all barriers, notably a certain family-related one. But I'm getting ahead of myself…again.
Let's talk about the first act, which I consider "Good", mainly because it shows SpongeBob's dilemma and how it's affecting him rather well. What's his dilemma? Being "Employee of the Month" once again. And by "once again", I mean he's already won the award 26 times in a row. Write that down, SpongeBob's been working at the Krusty Krab for more than two years, so if we're to assume that he started working on May 1999, then the story would be set on July 2001. Don't listen to SpongeBob's calendar!
It seems all fine and dandy, but uh-oh, Mr Krabs and Squidward tease him, saying that Squidward could be the next employee, which sparks SpongeBob imagining Squidward's face on the next "Employee of the Month" photo, which somewhat traumatises him. The reason I use such a strong word as "traumatise" is because it's clear that the quality of SpongeBob's work starts slipping at this point. Under no other stress, aside from the "Pickle Fiasco", would he flip a patty so hard it got stuck to the ceiling, prompting him to try to flip it off (sorry for the language) by walking upside down onto the ceiling (get it, it's a cartoon), then accidentally spray it all over Squidward as the ingredients fly into a fan. In fact, the meat covers Squidward 3 times, even though the whole patty burst the first time! Burger physics, ladies and gentlemen.
Although it's still within the "Good" area, I'd just like to point out my two favourite moments come from it. The first being Squidward attempting to kick SpongeBob's hat, and subsequently hurt his foot because SpongeBob conveniently, and very randomly, decided to hide a block of iron under it. The second is SpongeBob imagining his "Employee of the Month" photos coming to life and talking some sense into him, like an army general, prompting him to take the situation more seriously. Honestly, stuff like this; only in Season 1 I tell you.
Then we get to the second part of this episode (in which SpongeBob and Squidward are fighting at night), the "Spongey" part, and I just have to say, it's just fantastic. Just the fact that they're so at each other's throats is very fun to watch, and also kind of satisfying. It's shown that SpongeBob has sunken to Squidward's level in terms of attitude, possibly even lower, due to him intentionally sabotaging Squidward's chances of getting the award by breaking into his house and breaking all of his alarm clocks. Yes, I said all of them. Meanwhile, Squidward has sunken to SpongeBob's level in terms of over-reacting to the situation, possibly even lower, due to the fact that his pride has gotten so high, he's basically begging for a comptetion against SpongeBob. Honestly, I've never seen them this neck-and-neck before, other than Can You Spare A Dime?, but that's later, even though it's earlier where I come from. Goodness, I feel like River Song!
Of course, no review of this episode would be complete without mentioning the chase scene. Basically, SpongeBob continuously placing Squidward in boobie-traps and vice versa, and although with the first couple they get out easily, the rest it's left to the audience's imagination as to how they got themselves into those messes and how they have a chance in getting out of them (a good example would be SpongeBob getting stuck in a brick wall), culminating in the two of them dragging giant boats behind them, which begs the question, how come they look like legit boats instead of the motor vehicle-like ones we've seen up to this point?
Then we get to the "Average" part of the episode, which is unfortunately very close to being "Bad". SpongeBob and Squidward call it truce and shake hands, and while they're shaking hands, they think about how they're gonna make a run for it to the Krusty Krab. Close-ups on their ugly faces aside (which might be the show's first real example of gross-out humour), it's pretty okay. They make a run for it, and essentially shock Mr Krabs with how…uh, gold they are at their jobs. Both of them have pretty much been driven mad with how much they want the "Employee of the Month" award, and pretty much turn the place into a wreck.
The only thing entertaining about this scene is hearing the music (Twelfth Street Rag for those interested) slowly increase in speed as their """""assistance""""" goes out of control. Also, I'd just have to say that the ending, in which they make so many Krabby Patties (despite Squidward's lack of skill at doing anything in the kitchen in Pickles) that the restaurant explodes, allowing people to take free Krabby Patties, while Mr Krabs is horrified, SpongeBob and Squidward are completely insane, and the "Employee of the Month" photo wall has been destroyed, is too much of a downer to be funny for me. I mean, this has been 26 months of SpongeBob's dedication to the Krusty Krab, and the only known way of recording it thus far, destroyed, as are the chances of either of them getting the award, due to essentially blowing up the restaurant with their """""assistance""""". You may say that I'm looking too deep into it, but I'm really looking as deep into it as the episode allows me to.
How would I expect the ending to play out? If they had put a little less emphasis on the fact that SpongeBob and Squidward's actions are not helpful and actually damaging to the Krusty Krab, it would've made a little more sense. After all they did appear to call it truce a few minutes earlier. Also, Mr Krabs doesn't have much of a reaction to this other than fear. As he's their boss, I'm sure that he should've stepped in and stopped SpongeBob and Squidward from misbehaving immediately. Squidward even says it himself, "If we keep this up, neither of us will win the award!"
I'm not going to say that the middle redeems this episode, the ending ruins it or the beginning, I dunno, neutralises it, but what I will say is that it's still overall, an enjoyable SpongeBob episode. I don't think any other episode has had me conflicted on the rating this early on, but I think I've finally decided.
My rating for this episode on my personal scale would be a "Good".
On a scale of 1-10, it would be a 7/10.
It's worse than Boating School, but better than Culture Shock.
Our upcoming episode is going to introduce one of my personal favourite secondary characters of the series. Until then, play me out, SpongeBob.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iVxMlw0IQA
:sbthumbs:
EmployeeAMillion
Season 12 Time!
Scaredy Pants (Season 1, Episode 13a)
Original Airdate: October 28 1999 (Episode 26)
Plot: SpongeBob celebrates Halloween, despite being percieved as a wimp by everyone in Bikini Bottom
Written by Paul Tibbit and Peter Burns
[titlecard]13A[/titlecard]
Title Card Music: The Ghastly Ones
Well, we've technically come to our first special episode. Okay, it's not "special" in the same way as Christmas Who? or Atlantis SquarePantis, but it is an episode that's treated as though it should be watched on a particular holidary - Halloween. Now you might say, "But that technically makes stuff like Shanghaied and Ghost Host "Halloween specials" as well.", but this is set on Halloween, so it makes for a better viewing experience on October 31, and it's also paired woth another spooky, or at least horror-related, episode, I Was A Teenage Gary. However, this is just my opinion. What I'm pretty sure you can agree with me on is that this is a fantastic episode, and here's why.
The opening is simply stunning. It was a great idea to use a skeleton on an abandoned pirate boat as the starting point for a pan across Bikini Bottom on All Hallow's Eve (1999?), presumably having drowned. Again, really pushing that undersea aesthetic. The French Narrator tells us that it's a holiday in which everyone has fun except for SpongeBob, who's apparently very easy to scare on Halloween, which is something very relateable. Haven't you had that one point in your life where you were just a complete wimp to anything spooky coming to get you?
After what was probably one of Mr Krabs and Squidward's attempts to frighten SpongeBob (by using the slits of paper you place orders on to spell out "B O O" slowly enough to make sure that any over-the-top reaction, like quickly cleaning and supposedly breaking dishes, would pay off), he leaves in a hurry, but not before Mr Krabs can tell him his annual scary story. This I don't really get. If it's an "annual" scary story, in that he tells it every year, why does he continuously need to remind SpongeBob of it? Maybe SpongeBob just keeps repressing it out of shock and terror.
Anyway, Mr Krabs' story is basically a description of a pirate ghost called "The Flying Dutchman", basically underwater Satan who goes around stealing people's souls on Halloween night. What makes this scene funny is that Mr Krabs uses a Krabby Patty as a model of the Flying Dutchman's boat, pickle from the 'Patty as a soul, and a paper bag as the Flying Dutchman's bag of souls. And as if that wasn't funny enough, Squidward creeps up behind SpongeBob dressed as the Flying Dutchman saying, "I've come for your pickle.", despite sounding stupid, crazily makes sense in context, and it's better seing SpongeBob get jumpscared by it so quickly. But seriously, Squidward having a sense of humour? Let alone a sense of humour shared with Mr Krabs? This really is Season 1!
We then get a couple of scenes, not a montage, of SpongeBob getting scared by a multitude of things, including Mrs Puff driving in a witch costume, his own giant Jack-O-Lantern (I must say he definitely put effort into it), and Patrick wearing a moustache and glasses, possibly the least scary thing that one can actually find kinda funny seeing SpongeBob get scared by. If they went through a plethora of completely random things freaking SpongeBob out, it would get a little bit boring and desensitise the audience very quickly.
Now, the problem with all this is that SpongeBob wants to be scary. Understandable, it's Halloween, a time in which any town/city/subrub would be obsessed with getting people to poopie their panties (in a good way!), so he decides to put on a white sheet and some wooden shoes that Patrick carved from a Christmas tree (there's a joke here, but the only thing that's amusing me is that this came before Christmas Who?) to look like the Flying Dutchman. Even when he becomes round later on, we still know that this is a terrible costume and an idiotic portrayal of the Flying Dutchman compared to what Squidward was wearing, but more on that later.
What I would like to talk about, however, is the part where SpongeBob realises that to be a ghost, he has to be, round. It's actually a pretty clever way of reminding the audience of his square shape, considering this was still pretty early on in the series (before Plankton, Naughty Nautical Neighbours, Home Sweet Pineapple, 6, Jellyfish Jam, Sandy's Rocket, 9, 10, 11 and 12 in production order), and the way they did it, with Patrick barely having a clue about it even with the obvious difference between "round" and "square" staring him right in the eyes is just classic.
I would also like to mention those jerk children that appear three times in the episode. They are pretty mean to SpongeBob (in the third scene they appear in, they even call him by his name), even though he's just trying to look creepy on the day where you're supposed to look creepy. However, I can accept it, and even embrace it, because they're just kids, and they're really just meant to be having fun. After all, Halloween is all about the fun, right? Krabby Land this ain't.
So SpongeBob and Patrick get to the Halloween party at the Krusty Krab, where we see that Pearl is dressed as the bride of Frankenstein (I guess, I mean, I could've also gone for Marge Simpson in a Victorian dress), and Sandy has painted to head to look like a goldfish. Squidward appropriately says, "I don't get it.", because of course he wouldn't, and of course he shouldn't. Do you know what kind of rebellion there would be in Bikini Bottom if they got knowledge that humans (and potentially other land animals) kept fish as pets? That must be why Sandy dressed up as one; it's a pretty creepy concept.
I did say that SpongeBob and Patrick get to the Halloween party, but they don't attend it, per se. Instead, Patrick ties SpongeBob around the waist, turns all the power in the Krusty Krab, and speaks as the Flying Dutchman into a megaphone. This actually scares everyone there, so what now? Well, a jellyfish stings Patrick (two of it's stingers turn into hands rubbing together before doing so, just making that jellyfish even more of a love-to-hate sorta guy), causing Patrick to hurt real bad and start pacing around the Krusty Krab's roof, accidentally revealing SpongeBob's pants while having him swing around the Krusty Krab. If it ended here, I actually would've already been satisfied. SpongeBob could've just accepted that he brightens up the holiday and doesn't need to be scary. However, after re-watching this episode, I'm glad it didn't. I really am.
This is where we get the Flying Dutchman's debut appearance (aside from his comic book in Squidward the Unfriendly Ghost, which was later in production order), and I just have to say, he's one of my favourite characters. He can be menacing one second, and striking up a normal conversation with someone the next, and he's just a joy to watch, almost as if the former is him being like an actor or something. Whether he's a better villain than Plankton or not is up to debate, but one thing we can agree on is that they're both green.
He's come, not to take innocent people's souls, but to warn them that he's sick and tired of his name being tainted each passing year with more worthless celebration, which is actually an original take on fictitious characters. It works to it's advantage because, if Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy has taught me anything, Bikini Bottom has no visible line between their fantasy and their reality, mostly because it's even acknowledged at several points that they're fantasy anyway. Back on track, can you just imagine how Santa Claus would feel if he were associated with Halloween? I mean, you don't get too many fictional characters (implying Santa Claus is a ficitonal character, what am I doing!?) that represent Halloween, isn't that right, Jack Skellington?
He says hi. Anyways, this gives an opportunity to bring up Squidward's costume again in a rather funny way, as well as draw attention to SpongeBob's costume being the worst serious attempt at a representation of the Flying Dutchman that the man has seen yet. Without being too much of a pain, he's settles down and tells SpongeBob nicely that he isn't scary. This is just brilliant, because just a second ago, he was the scariest character in the room, now he's just casually talking to the least scary person he knows. See what I mean?
After that, he takes off SpongeBob's sheet, and is surprisingly horrified by what's underneath and runs away. What could possibly be underneath? Perhaps, SpongeBob's still pulsating brain not covered by anything. Seriously, it gets more morbid the longer you think about it. This causes everyone at the party to run out screaming in panic, which is really satisfying, seeing as how SpongeBob finally got a chance to scare, not just someone, but everyone in the Krusty Krab at once, by pure luck. Everyone except Patrick, who needed a reminder that it was SpongeBob's brain instead of a pink hat before getting spooked. SpongeBob then says, "Don't worry, it grows back!", at the very end, assuring the audeince that he won't look like that forever.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, was a really amazing Halloween episode. It certainly still holds up to this day, even among the rest of the generally decent first season, and it delivers two important messages. The first being that you can't always be fit for the holiday. It's unfortunate, but it tells us upfront that SpongeBob isn't fit for Halloween, and instead of making it depressing, which could've been an easy thing to do, they worked around it and made it really funny, while also keeping a good old fashioned Halloween spirit, which is something I must give it credit for. Seriously, this really tries to feel like something that can not only be watched on Halloween, due to how fantastic they pulled it off. It's a wierd way of looking at holiday specials, but it works. The second lesson being that, if you screw up you Halloween costume, or just make a generally bad one, the person you're playing will come and kill everyone you know. True fact.
Before I go, I'd just like to mention a song associated with this episode, "SpongeBob ScaredyPants", written by The Ghastly Ones. It doesn't appear in the episode itself, at least not in reruns or on DVD, but I'd just like to bring it up because it's a really awesome rendition of the theme song (not to mention 90s as heck). Not to mention a very spooky one.
My rating for this episode on my personal scale would be a "Spongey".
On a scale of 1-10, it would be a 9/10.
It's worse than Pizza Delivery, but better than Pickles.
I really hope that I don't have to get too angry with the next episode. Until then, here's that song I just mentioned.
http://www.sbmania.net/music.php?id=10
:sbthumbs:
PS: This is minor thing, but also kinda funny. When I logged in to post this, the "Picture Of The Moment" was from this episode (I saved it and it's the attatched thumbnail)! Just thought I'd like to point that out.
Original Airdate: October 28 1999 (Episode 26)
Plot: SpongeBob celebrates Halloween, despite being percieved as a wimp by everyone in Bikini Bottom
Written by Paul Tibbit and Peter Burns
[titlecard]13A[/titlecard]
Title Card Music: The Ghastly Ones
Well, we've technically come to our first special episode. Okay, it's not "special" in the same way as Christmas Who? or Atlantis SquarePantis, but it is an episode that's treated as though it should be watched on a particular holidary - Halloween. Now you might say, "But that technically makes stuff like Shanghaied and Ghost Host "Halloween specials" as well.", but this is set on Halloween, so it makes for a better viewing experience on October 31, and it's also paired woth another spooky, or at least horror-related, episode, I Was A Teenage Gary. However, this is just my opinion. What I'm pretty sure you can agree with me on is that this is a fantastic episode, and here's why.
The opening is simply stunning. It was a great idea to use a skeleton on an abandoned pirate boat as the starting point for a pan across Bikini Bottom on All Hallow's Eve (1999?), presumably having drowned. Again, really pushing that undersea aesthetic. The French Narrator tells us that it's a holiday in which everyone has fun except for SpongeBob, who's apparently very easy to scare on Halloween, which is something very relateable. Haven't you had that one point in your life where you were just a complete wimp to anything spooky coming to get you?
After what was probably one of Mr Krabs and Squidward's attempts to frighten SpongeBob (by using the slits of paper you place orders on to spell out "B O O" slowly enough to make sure that any over-the-top reaction, like quickly cleaning and supposedly breaking dishes, would pay off), he leaves in a hurry, but not before Mr Krabs can tell him his annual scary story. This I don't really get. If it's an "annual" scary story, in that he tells it every year, why does he continuously need to remind SpongeBob of it? Maybe SpongeBob just keeps repressing it out of shock and terror.
Anyway, Mr Krabs' story is basically a description of a pirate ghost called "The Flying Dutchman", basically underwater Satan who goes around stealing people's souls on Halloween night. What makes this scene funny is that Mr Krabs uses a Krabby Patty as a model of the Flying Dutchman's boat, pickle from the 'Patty as a soul, and a paper bag as the Flying Dutchman's bag of souls. And as if that wasn't funny enough, Squidward creeps up behind SpongeBob dressed as the Flying Dutchman saying, "I've come for your pickle.", despite sounding stupid, crazily makes sense in context, and it's better seing SpongeBob get jumpscared by it so quickly. But seriously, Squidward having a sense of humour? Let alone a sense of humour shared with Mr Krabs? This really is Season 1!
We then get a couple of scenes, not a montage, of SpongeBob getting scared by a multitude of things, including Mrs Puff driving in a witch costume, his own giant Jack-O-Lantern (I must say he definitely put effort into it), and Patrick wearing a moustache and glasses, possibly the least scary thing that one can actually find kinda funny seeing SpongeBob get scared by. If they went through a plethora of completely random things freaking SpongeBob out, it would get a little bit boring and desensitise the audience very quickly.
Now, the problem with all this is that SpongeBob wants to be scary. Understandable, it's Halloween, a time in which any town/city/subrub would be obsessed with getting people to poopie their panties (in a good way!), so he decides to put on a white sheet and some wooden shoes that Patrick carved from a Christmas tree (there's a joke here, but the only thing that's amusing me is that this came before Christmas Who?) to look like the Flying Dutchman. Even when he becomes round later on, we still know that this is a terrible costume and an idiotic portrayal of the Flying Dutchman compared to what Squidward was wearing, but more on that later.
What I would like to talk about, however, is the part where SpongeBob realises that to be a ghost, he has to be, round. It's actually a pretty clever way of reminding the audience of his square shape, considering this was still pretty early on in the series (before Plankton, Naughty Nautical Neighbours, Home Sweet Pineapple, 6, Jellyfish Jam, Sandy's Rocket, 9, 10, 11 and 12 in production order), and the way they did it, with Patrick barely having a clue about it even with the obvious difference between "round" and "square" staring him right in the eyes is just classic.
I would also like to mention those jerk children that appear three times in the episode. They are pretty mean to SpongeBob (in the third scene they appear in, they even call him by his name), even though he's just trying to look creepy on the day where you're supposed to look creepy. However, I can accept it, and even embrace it, because they're just kids, and they're really just meant to be having fun. After all, Halloween is all about the fun, right? Krabby Land this ain't.
So SpongeBob and Patrick get to the Halloween party at the Krusty Krab, where we see that Pearl is dressed as the bride of Frankenstein (I guess, I mean, I could've also gone for Marge Simpson in a Victorian dress), and Sandy has painted to head to look like a goldfish. Squidward appropriately says, "I don't get it.", because of course he wouldn't, and of course he shouldn't. Do you know what kind of rebellion there would be in Bikini Bottom if they got knowledge that humans (and potentially other land animals) kept fish as pets? That must be why Sandy dressed up as one; it's a pretty creepy concept.
I did say that SpongeBob and Patrick get to the Halloween party, but they don't attend it, per se. Instead, Patrick ties SpongeBob around the waist, turns all the power in the Krusty Krab, and speaks as the Flying Dutchman into a megaphone. This actually scares everyone there, so what now? Well, a jellyfish stings Patrick (two of it's stingers turn into hands rubbing together before doing so, just making that jellyfish even more of a love-to-hate sorta guy), causing Patrick to hurt real bad and start pacing around the Krusty Krab's roof, accidentally revealing SpongeBob's pants while having him swing around the Krusty Krab. If it ended here, I actually would've already been satisfied. SpongeBob could've just accepted that he brightens up the holiday and doesn't need to be scary. However, after re-watching this episode, I'm glad it didn't. I really am.
This is where we get the Flying Dutchman's debut appearance (aside from his comic book in Squidward the Unfriendly Ghost, which was later in production order), and I just have to say, he's one of my favourite characters. He can be menacing one second, and striking up a normal conversation with someone the next, and he's just a joy to watch, almost as if the former is him being like an actor or something. Whether he's a better villain than Plankton or not is up to debate, but one thing we can agree on is that they're both green.
He's come, not to take innocent people's souls, but to warn them that he's sick and tired of his name being tainted each passing year with more worthless celebration, which is actually an original take on fictitious characters. It works to it's advantage because, if Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy has taught me anything, Bikini Bottom has no visible line between their fantasy and their reality, mostly because it's even acknowledged at several points that they're fantasy anyway. Back on track, can you just imagine how Santa Claus would feel if he were associated with Halloween? I mean, you don't get too many fictional characters (implying Santa Claus is a ficitonal character, what am I doing!?) that represent Halloween, isn't that right, Jack Skellington?
He says hi. Anyways, this gives an opportunity to bring up Squidward's costume again in a rather funny way, as well as draw attention to SpongeBob's costume being the worst serious attempt at a representation of the Flying Dutchman that the man has seen yet. Without being too much of a pain, he's settles down and tells SpongeBob nicely that he isn't scary. This is just brilliant, because just a second ago, he was the scariest character in the room, now he's just casually talking to the least scary person he knows. See what I mean?
After that, he takes off SpongeBob's sheet, and is surprisingly horrified by what's underneath and runs away. What could possibly be underneath? Perhaps, SpongeBob's still pulsating brain not covered by anything. Seriously, it gets more morbid the longer you think about it. This causes everyone at the party to run out screaming in panic, which is really satisfying, seeing as how SpongeBob finally got a chance to scare, not just someone, but everyone in the Krusty Krab at once, by pure luck. Everyone except Patrick, who needed a reminder that it was SpongeBob's brain instead of a pink hat before getting spooked. SpongeBob then says, "Don't worry, it grows back!", at the very end, assuring the audeince that he won't look like that forever.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, was a really amazing Halloween episode. It certainly still holds up to this day, even among the rest of the generally decent first season, and it delivers two important messages. The first being that you can't always be fit for the holiday. It's unfortunate, but it tells us upfront that SpongeBob isn't fit for Halloween, and instead of making it depressing, which could've been an easy thing to do, they worked around it and made it really funny, while also keeping a good old fashioned Halloween spirit, which is something I must give it credit for. Seriously, this really tries to feel like something that can not only be watched on Halloween, due to how fantastic they pulled it off. It's a wierd way of looking at holiday specials, but it works. The second lesson being that, if you screw up you Halloween costume, or just make a generally bad one, the person you're playing will come and kill everyone you know. True fact.
Before I go, I'd just like to mention a song associated with this episode, "SpongeBob ScaredyPants", written by The Ghastly Ones. It doesn't appear in the episode itself, at least not in reruns or on DVD, but I'd just like to bring it up because it's a really awesome rendition of the theme song (not to mention 90s as heck). Not to mention a very spooky one.
My rating for this episode on my personal scale would be a "Spongey".
On a scale of 1-10, it would be a 9/10.
It's worse than Pizza Delivery, but better than Pickles.
I really hope that I don't have to get too angry with the next episode. Until then, here's that song I just mentioned.
http://www.sbmania.net/music.php?id=10
:sbthumbs:
PS: This is minor thing, but also kinda funny. When I logged in to post this, the "Picture Of The Moment" was from this episode (I saved it and it's the attatched thumbnail)! Just thought I'd like to point that out.
Attachments
Zimmy11
Use your imagination...
Just a suggestion, you could use attached thumbnail(s) to help get your points out more :)
EmployeeAMillion
Season 12 Time!
I Was a Teenage Gary (Season 1, Episode 13b)
Original Airdate: October 28 1999 (Episode 27)
Plot: Squidward takes poor care of Gary, then he and SpongeBob get injected with medicinal snail plasma
(It was medicinal, I swear officer!)
Written by Steve Fonti, Chris Mitchell and Mr Lawrence
[titlecard]13B[/titlecard]
Title Card Music: House of Horror
I, I don't know how to say it. I feel like I've transcended to a higher state of being a SpongeBob fan. Going back to watch the first chunk of Season 1 has taught me so much about who SpongeBob SquarePants truly is, not just as a cartoon character, but as a pop culture icon. He provides wit, charm, and a kind-hearted attitude, things that should be present in all of us. He has proven to be the next big Bart Simpson, and across 27 adventures, he seems to show no sign of stopping being a continued positive influence on the general public, rectifying the past decade of the hand-drawn comedy of it's irony and sarcasm. Now as I stand on this side of the first 13 episodes of Nickelodeon's magnum opus, the "humble beginnings" of this masterpiece in animated television history, I have something to proclaim…: I feel like I'm the only person left on Planet Earth that actually likes this episode!
Yeah, I find this episode to be a teeny tiny bit overhated. Most people will call it the bad episode the show ever had, even more will say that it's their least-favourite episode from Season 1. Could this have caused my mind to unintentionally build up negative expectations for this episode, or are there things about it that I well and truly enjoy? Read on and find out!
The beginning starts out pretty well, as in it's funny seeing the sorts of things that you can do with a snail pet. For instance, having it go as slow as possible on a wheel and still consider it to be overworking, playing fetch with it for a long, long, long time, and probably the cutest one, him crawling over SpongeBob. It really shows how much of a loving pet-owner SpongeBob is, and how something coming between the two would be disastrous.
Unfortunately, that just happens. Patrick comes in to collect SpongeBob and go to the Jellyfishing Convention or something (amusingly, everyone on the bus going to the convention repeats the word, "Jellyfishing!", like SpongeBob and Patrick did…in one episode) in a place called "Ukulele Bottom". This is the only time we're ever going to hear of Ukulele Bottom, isn't it? Anyway, SpongeBob is a little worried because he has nobody to take care of Gary while he's gone, and Patrick is a little worried because he broke some of SpongeBob's stuff with his jellyfishing net.
SpongeBob asks Squidward to take care of him, and we see Gary looking ugly and covered with slime. I can only assume that this is how he looks to Squidward, probably to prevent myself from thinking of Pet or Pests, but also to supply contrast between how Squidward and SpongeBob view Gary. SpongeBob sees him as an adorable companion, while Squidward sees him as a revolting mongrel.
Squidward rejects the offer at first, until he hears that SpongeBob and Patrick would be gone for 3 days. I love seeing him walk away as the production music ends, then when SpongeBob mentions this fact, he rushes back to SpongeBob's house as the music rewinds. Overall, this season had a lot more fun playing with the audio than other seasons. Back to the subject at hand, Squidward is more than enthusiastic to do anything for SpongeBob if it means having him go away for a certain amount of time, which is a funny idea, but then he just loses himself in his own joy and doesn't listen to SpongeBob's instructions on how to feed Gary, and that right there just makes it better.
So SpongeBob and Patrick leave and Squidward gets prepared for a 3-day weekend of rest and relaxation, while Gary slowly starves. Note that this is where we get our first time card, "3 Days Later" (great place to start), however, there isn't a narrator to narrate it, which unintentionally makes it a little less funny, especially because Squidward wasting the weekend doing nothing but sunbathing is a pretty good idea, especially because he described it as everything he couldn't do with SpongeBob and Patrick around.
However, all that goes away (in that he conveniently goes from sunburnt to normal) when he realises that he forgot to feed Gary for 3 days. In other words, he sorta forgot that SpongeBob was gone. He tries to feed Gary everything at once as quickly as he can, but it's too late for that, as SpongeBob gets home and sees just how sick Gary's gotten. Here's one of my nitpicks towards the episode, and that's SpongeBob doesn't get angry with Squidward for neglecting his responsibility. I know I just praised SpongeBob for his kind-hearted nature and all, but it would feel a bit satisfying seeing SpongeBob stick up to Squidward, especially because Squidward inadvertedly caused SpongeBob's adorable companion to get so sick.
They call a snail vet, who comes to the shocking realisation that Gary is a snail, and instructs the two to inject Gary with some snail plasma (again, I swear it's medicinal). He can't do it, because despite being an SDE/SE (Snail Disease Expert/Snail Expert), he's too squeamish. Not only that, but he leaves SpongeBob and Squidward with the tube, which I'm sure would be hospital equipment, and once used, should be returned. Yeah, this is where the episode dips a little bit in quality. I'm not saying that it becomes outright bad, but it's clear that the first half is better than the second.
Squidward accidentally injects SpongeBob with the plasma, says that it probably won't affect him, and sure enough, it starts affecting him. In fact, the transformation of SpongeBob beginning to act more like Gary, and physically becoming a snail is very creepy, yet well-executed from a horror aspect. SpongeBob has no idea what's happening to himself throughout the whole thing, making each and every new feature look scary. It's certainly a good example of a creepy scene in the series done right.
He goes over to Squidward's house and, I guess, tries to get his attention. It's hard to know what he's actually thinking because all he can say is, "Meow! Meow! Meow!", but I think that's the point, as this is from Squidward's point of view. Not to mention that the whole chase scene is brought upon by Squidward alone, and get ends up getting injected with the plasma as well and gets turned into a snail, even though it's not shown onscreen.
Inb4 "I Was A Teenage Gary Deleted Scene" rumour
I think that this was a fair punishment for Squidward. He neglected to feed Gary for 3 days, and karma hit him hard by having him turn into a snail and hang out with SpongeBob and Gary for it. Remember, no SpongeBob was the reason he neglected Gary in the first place. For those who are still turned off by the ending because it's still to hard on Squidward, I'd just like to say that Squidward has always been the show's primary punching bag, ever since Reef Blower, Bubblestand and Jellyfishing.
I know I've only been saying positive things about this half of the episode, but I'd like to stress the fact that it feels a little bit rushed. I mean, they could've done a whole episode where SpongeBob was a snail, it didn't have to be 2 minutes. Heck, the name of the episode is "I Was a Teenage Gary", meaning that it could've had a bit more of SpongeBob as a snail. Not to mention that the pacing for this episode as a whole is all over the place. Some scenes are slow, some are fast-paced, and it feels a bit uneven watching.
Again, I've ascended to SpongeBuddy-ism or whatever (M.A. Larson owes me wings now), but as a true SpongeBob fan, I can safely say that I find this episode a bit overhated. It has good moments, some pretty strong jokes, but I will give criticism where it's due, and I did address the rushed ending and the pacing problems. That isn't to say that this episode is bad, or even mediocre, it's to say that it was just slightly flawed, at least to me.
My rating for this episode on my personal scale would be a "Average".
On a scale of 1-10, it would be a 6/10.
It's worse than Reef Blower, but better than Naughty Nautical Neighbours.
Now to focus on more fuutuure episodes. Until then, it's still that Halloween 2-parter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2rwxs1gH9w
:sbthumbs:
Original Airdate: October 28 1999 (Episode 27)
Plot: Squidward takes poor care of Gary, then he and SpongeBob get injected with medicinal snail plasma
(It was medicinal, I swear officer!)
Written by Steve Fonti, Chris Mitchell and Mr Lawrence
[titlecard]13B[/titlecard]
Title Card Music: House of Horror
I, I don't know how to say it. I feel like I've transcended to a higher state of being a SpongeBob fan. Going back to watch the first chunk of Season 1 has taught me so much about who SpongeBob SquarePants truly is, not just as a cartoon character, but as a pop culture icon. He provides wit, charm, and a kind-hearted attitude, things that should be present in all of us. He has proven to be the next big Bart Simpson, and across 27 adventures, he seems to show no sign of stopping being a continued positive influence on the general public, rectifying the past decade of the hand-drawn comedy of it's irony and sarcasm. Now as I stand on this side of the first 13 episodes of Nickelodeon's magnum opus, the "humble beginnings" of this masterpiece in animated television history, I have something to proclaim…: I feel like I'm the only person left on Planet Earth that actually likes this episode!
Yeah, I find this episode to be a teeny tiny bit overhated. Most people will call it the bad episode the show ever had, even more will say that it's their least-favourite episode from Season 1. Could this have caused my mind to unintentionally build up negative expectations for this episode, or are there things about it that I well and truly enjoy? Read on and find out!
The beginning starts out pretty well, as in it's funny seeing the sorts of things that you can do with a snail pet. For instance, having it go as slow as possible on a wheel and still consider it to be overworking, playing fetch with it for a long, long, long time, and probably the cutest one, him crawling over SpongeBob. It really shows how much of a loving pet-owner SpongeBob is, and how something coming between the two would be disastrous.
Unfortunately, that just happens. Patrick comes in to collect SpongeBob and go to the Jellyfishing Convention or something (amusingly, everyone on the bus going to the convention repeats the word, "Jellyfishing!", like SpongeBob and Patrick did…in one episode) in a place called "Ukulele Bottom". This is the only time we're ever going to hear of Ukulele Bottom, isn't it? Anyway, SpongeBob is a little worried because he has nobody to take care of Gary while he's gone, and Patrick is a little worried because he broke some of SpongeBob's stuff with his jellyfishing net.
SpongeBob asks Squidward to take care of him, and we see Gary looking ugly and covered with slime. I can only assume that this is how he looks to Squidward, probably to prevent myself from thinking of Pet or Pests, but also to supply contrast between how Squidward and SpongeBob view Gary. SpongeBob sees him as an adorable companion, while Squidward sees him as a revolting mongrel.
Squidward rejects the offer at first, until he hears that SpongeBob and Patrick would be gone for 3 days. I love seeing him walk away as the production music ends, then when SpongeBob mentions this fact, he rushes back to SpongeBob's house as the music rewinds. Overall, this season had a lot more fun playing with the audio than other seasons. Back to the subject at hand, Squidward is more than enthusiastic to do anything for SpongeBob if it means having him go away for a certain amount of time, which is a funny idea, but then he just loses himself in his own joy and doesn't listen to SpongeBob's instructions on how to feed Gary, and that right there just makes it better.
So SpongeBob and Patrick leave and Squidward gets prepared for a 3-day weekend of rest and relaxation, while Gary slowly starves. Note that this is where we get our first time card, "3 Days Later" (great place to start), however, there isn't a narrator to narrate it, which unintentionally makes it a little less funny, especially because Squidward wasting the weekend doing nothing but sunbathing is a pretty good idea, especially because he described it as everything he couldn't do with SpongeBob and Patrick around.
However, all that goes away (in that he conveniently goes from sunburnt to normal) when he realises that he forgot to feed Gary for 3 days. In other words, he sorta forgot that SpongeBob was gone. He tries to feed Gary everything at once as quickly as he can, but it's too late for that, as SpongeBob gets home and sees just how sick Gary's gotten. Here's one of my nitpicks towards the episode, and that's SpongeBob doesn't get angry with Squidward for neglecting his responsibility. I know I just praised SpongeBob for his kind-hearted nature and all, but it would feel a bit satisfying seeing SpongeBob stick up to Squidward, especially because Squidward inadvertedly caused SpongeBob's adorable companion to get so sick.
They call a snail vet, who comes to the shocking realisation that Gary is a snail, and instructs the two to inject Gary with some snail plasma (again, I swear it's medicinal). He can't do it, because despite being an SDE/SE (Snail Disease Expert/Snail Expert), he's too squeamish. Not only that, but he leaves SpongeBob and Squidward with the tube, which I'm sure would be hospital equipment, and once used, should be returned. Yeah, this is where the episode dips a little bit in quality. I'm not saying that it becomes outright bad, but it's clear that the first half is better than the second.
Squidward accidentally injects SpongeBob with the plasma, says that it probably won't affect him, and sure enough, it starts affecting him. In fact, the transformation of SpongeBob beginning to act more like Gary, and physically becoming a snail is very creepy, yet well-executed from a horror aspect. SpongeBob has no idea what's happening to himself throughout the whole thing, making each and every new feature look scary. It's certainly a good example of a creepy scene in the series done right.
He goes over to Squidward's house and, I guess, tries to get his attention. It's hard to know what he's actually thinking because all he can say is, "Meow! Meow! Meow!", but I think that's the point, as this is from Squidward's point of view. Not to mention that the whole chase scene is brought upon by Squidward alone, and get ends up getting injected with the plasma as well and gets turned into a snail, even though it's not shown onscreen.
Inb4 "I Was A Teenage Gary Deleted Scene" rumour
I think that this was a fair punishment for Squidward. He neglected to feed Gary for 3 days, and karma hit him hard by having him turn into a snail and hang out with SpongeBob and Gary for it. Remember, no SpongeBob was the reason he neglected Gary in the first place. For those who are still turned off by the ending because it's still to hard on Squidward, I'd just like to say that Squidward has always been the show's primary punching bag, ever since Reef Blower, Bubblestand and Jellyfishing.
I know I've only been saying positive things about this half of the episode, but I'd like to stress the fact that it feels a little bit rushed. I mean, they could've done a whole episode where SpongeBob was a snail, it didn't have to be 2 minutes. Heck, the name of the episode is "I Was a Teenage Gary", meaning that it could've had a bit more of SpongeBob as a snail. Not to mention that the pacing for this episode as a whole is all over the place. Some scenes are slow, some are fast-paced, and it feels a bit uneven watching.
Again, I've ascended to SpongeBuddy-ism or whatever (M.A. Larson owes me wings now), but as a true SpongeBob fan, I can safely say that I find this episode a bit overhated. It has good moments, some pretty strong jokes, but I will give criticism where it's due, and I did address the rushed ending and the pacing problems. That isn't to say that this episode is bad, or even mediocre, it's to say that it was just slightly flawed, at least to me.
My rating for this episode on my personal scale would be a "Average".
On a scale of 1-10, it would be a 6/10.
It's worse than Reef Blower, but better than Naughty Nautical Neighbours.
Now to focus on more fuutuure episodes. Until then, it's still that Halloween 2-parter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2rwxs1gH9w
:sbthumbs:
Zimmy11
Use your imagination...
It said you quoted my previous post but I can't seem to find it.
EmployeeAMillion
Season 12 Time!
I did, I said that it would be hard for non-members to see attatched thumbnails, plus there's a file size limit, so no is the answer. I deleted it because when I uploaded my review of I Was a Teenage Gary, it was slap bang in the middle of one of the paragraphs, and it looked a little messy.
Zimmy11
Use your imagination...
Oh OK, I understand now
EmployeeAMillion
Season 12 Time!
SB-129 (Season 1, Episode 14b)
Original Airdate: December 31 1999 (Episode 28)
Plot: Squidward goes through an adventure through time and space
Written by Aaron Springer, Erik Wiese and Mr Lawrence
[titlecard]14A[/titlecard]
Title Card Music: A ColecoVision vommiting
If you looked up "wierd" in the dictionary, not only would SB-129 be the accompanying picture and the whole description, but it would also be the author of the darn book. This is certainly a very "out-there" episode for SpongeBob, and it feels even moreso seeing as the show at this point had only been mildly surreal. Most of the surrealism came from the fact that it was underwater, ie, odd character designs and the fact that gravity comes and goes like an old man stuck in a revolving door. However, does that make the episode funny and engaging? Grab a seat, because that seat is gonna be antique in a few millennia.
It starts off nicely with the narrator putting down Squidward's clarinet-playing by telling the audience to get their earplugs ready. I like it when they give the narrator a sense of humour like that. On top of that, one thing I'd like to compliment this episode on is not having Squidward actually get to play his clarinet that often, because they know that it sounds awful. Thankfully, the first time he attempts to play, he gets stopped by SpongeBob's alarm clock, somehow launching the clarinet into his windpipe. Ain't the last time that this is going to happen, ladies and gentlemen.
[titlecard]75A[/titlecard]
SpongeBob and Patrick decide to invite Squidward along for their jellyfishing, and they seem to be very enthusiastic about Squidward coming, especially after the joy and happiness that their last outing provided.
[titlecard]3A[/titlecard]
Squidward is already annoyed with them, so he rejects the offer again, which leads to an extremely funny comedy routine of SpongeBob and Patrick standing outside while Squidward just stands there slamming the door on them endlessly, before they appear inside and ask him if he's ready, causing him to walk out and slam the door on himself! It's a mouthful, but it's honestly one of the best gags in the entire series.
Squidward then gets the idea that, since this is SpongeBob's day of leisure (Sunday) and the Krusty Krab is closed, that he can just waltz right in and hide. He doesn't even need to ask Mr Krabs for the keys or anything, he, and later SpongeBob and Patrick, just push the doors open! And somehow it's taken years of Plankton to try and get the Krabby Patty secret formula, he could just go in on Sunday! Not only that, but Squidward can go into the kitchen freezer with little difficulty, and hides from SpongeBob and Patrick behind the door. Seriously Plankton, step up your game!
Unfortunately for Squidward however, the door locks on him after SpongeBob and Patrick head off, leaving him unable to escape. He says that he'll be out in no time, but it takes 2,000 years before one of SpongeBob's ancestors, SpongeTron, even notices Squidward, and at that, it's because the door to the freezer had rusted so bad that the door fell over. SpongeTron could either be one of SpongeBob's ancestors, or SpongeBob reincarnated as a lifelike robot. Encyclopedia SpongeBobia says that it's the former, but I'm personally going with the latter, because he looks more like SpongeBob than any other sponge in the series, even SpongeBob's actual grandchild in The Great Patty Caper, it implies that SpongeBob got married and had kids, and because who would wear something like that in the 4000s? Seriously, is he trying to look like a loser? Not to mention, him being just SpongeBob as a robot sounds a lot cooler. As for why he doesn't know who Squidward is, would you expect him to know everything he's ever done if he's lived for thousands of years and seen nearly millions of people?
Anywho, he defrosts Squidward and introduces him to the future, knowing full well that Squidward is from a different time, and subsequently, from a different ocean. Squidward is pretty freaked out at the entire Krusty Krab being chrome (if I were in the same situation, I'd be freaked out the Krusty Krab would still be open), to which SpongeTron states that everything is chrome in the future, even new-ly planted flowers that have to be painted chrome. An oddly humourous take on why most futuristic settings have so much metallic…stuff, even depictions back in the 1920s. of what we call the present.
Two pieces of bad news for Squidward arrive and one piece of good news. The first piece of bad news is that Patrick still exists as PatTron, and has two heads. The second is that jellyfishing still exists, and SpongeTron and PatTron still like it. However, the single piece of good news is that he has a way out. SpongeTron mentions that the Krusty Krab has a time machine (and I'm going to be referring to all 4 of them as one SpongeTron for convenience sake), and that Squidward can freely steal it without anyone caring, showing that it's gonna take a while too repair once it disappears! Like seriously!? This episode was made with rules just to break them, and I love talking about it!
So Squidward goes inside and finds it to actually look pretty roomy inside. Must be a recurring theme with time machines in fiction, nudge nudge, I'm a Whovian, nudge nudge. Not only that, but the only way to control where in time and space one is is by a vague lever that has two modes, "Future" and "Past". Squidward chooses the past, and we get a visually appealling time vortex, though I wouldn't have minded this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fnzcAFy8d8
Nudge nudge, I'm a Whovian, nudge nudge.
The TARD- I mean, the time machine lands him in the pre-historic era, which would probably be the Cambrian/Ordovician/Silurian period underwater (heh heh, Silurian), or at least when jellyfish came around (definitely around or after Cambrian). The reason I say this instead of around what we consider pre-historic life on land is because the art style has changed to signify that this is an entirely different age of undersea life entirely. Squidward then notices caveman ancestors of SpongeBob and Patrick, and unlike in Ugh, they're not very bright (or pretty in Primitive Patrick's case). However, they do know how to make memes and act like the animals we assume they once were.
Squidward decides to distract them by building them jellyfish nets so that he can go to playing his clarinet, and it works for little while, before Primitive Sponge and Primitive Patrick hear Squidward's terrible playing and go mad. I'm going to be completely honest when I say this, but it's actually quite funny to see this, and it's not just because of the memes. They chase Squidward back to the time machine, where he goes inside and tries to go to a different time, but unfortunately brakes the lever. Uh-oh. Then they throw in a gambling joke because gambling. However, after that is where the episode…gets really interesting.
I don't know how to say it, but…Squidward broke reality! Personally, I'd expect SpongeBob to do that first, but in a different way. Squidward here just completely destroyed time and space. I know previously I've stated that the time machine might have malfunctioned sending him into a non-existent void, but the way that everything around him distorts and bends, with the laws of physics breaking around him (one of the words in the vortex is just "HUH", showing that time and space has just given up, humourously forcing me to personify time and space), before losing all dimension and becoming nothing seems to suggest that Squidward may have ended the universe! Boy howdy, and they thought Y2K was something to freak out over at this point in time, what about a time travelling octopus!?
So anyway, with that headcanon, the white void sequence is a little less disturbing. Remember, for stuff that creeps you out that you can't explain in cartoons, just make your own headcanon to it. If it doesn't help, at least you'll have less fear towards it's ambiguity.
Back onto the subject at hand, Squidward finds that now he can play his clarinet in peace, as SpongeBob no longer exists. He proclaims to be all alone, but then that loneliness literally gets to him in the form of bright happy words saying "ALONE" circling him with dark, unpleasant voices accompanying them, a metaphor for how one would feel about being alone. It may seem like a joy on the outside, but once you attain it, you'll realise just how cold it is. Just how unpleasant it is. Just how much it makes you feel…ALONE.
Squidward realises this…without taking the time to actually play his clarinet, and hurriedly tries to find a way out. It's at this point that I'd just like to mention that in the background, outside of ironically sounding like a dark tunnel to accentuate that lonely feeling, there's the sound effect of this guy going, "abedibarbiebideba", that I just can't get over! I think it's the sort of thing that if you listen to it long enough, you go insane, but it's ironically kinda funny.
He jumps up and down so hard that he crashes through the floor and falls into the time machine somehow. It's here that he confesses that he misses SpongeBob, and the time machine magically takes him back to 1999 (or 2017 or whatever), where SpongeBob and Patrick just so happen to be waiting outside of Squidward's house ready to go jellyfishing. There's very little confirmation as to whether or not this is the day that Squidward got stuck, it's probably sometime later, and despite that, SpongeBob and Patrick don't seem to mind that there in the presence of a time machine from the 5th millennium with Squidward even unintentionally stating that if they break it they'll end up nowhere!
Squidward immediately reverts back to his old grouchy self and asks who invented jellyfishing, to which SpongeBob and Patrick say Squidward did. Squidward then says, "I'm going back", to what point (future, past, nowhere) is left vague, but what is confusing is the episode as a whole. I'm just going to take off my nostalgia goggles for a split second that this episode is not perfectly written. There are a couple holes, like why Squidward didn't just play his clarinet in the void, and how the time machine is still there, and why it's in the floor, and how SpongeBob and Patrick were waiting right in the spot where Squidward went back to the present. However, what keeps this episode at a perfect 10 is that it was clearly intended to feel like a fever dream of sorts. Not much makes sense in a fever dream, keep in mind. Maybe this whole episode was a nightmare that Squidward had, presumably after the events of Jellyfishing, but this is veering way too much into headcanon now.
And with that starts late Season 1, and I just have to say, the story is a lot faster paced than the rest of the show at this point (probably due to it being a bit more sci-fi), the animation is a lot smoother and judging by the production order for the next episodes, seems to be looking a little more consistent from this point onward, and the characters are at their best here. Even if this particular episode has a bit of that Aaron Springer touch where SpongeBob and Patrick are a bit more obsessed with having Squidward as a friend than normal. Either way, I'm really excited for the rest of Season 1 (save Valentine's Day)!
My rating for this episode on my personal scale would be a "Spongey".
On a scale of 1-10, it would be a 10/10.
It's worse than Pizza Delivery, but better than Scaredy Pants.
Next time, we'll be hearing about the squirrel and the tin cans. Until then, not sure if reference or coincidence?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei9xrCykk_I
:sbthumbs:
Original Airdate: December 31 1999 (Episode 28)
Plot: Squidward goes through an adventure through time and space
Written by Aaron Springer, Erik Wiese and Mr Lawrence
[titlecard]14A[/titlecard]
Title Card Music: A ColecoVision vommiting
If you looked up "wierd" in the dictionary, not only would SB-129 be the accompanying picture and the whole description, but it would also be the author of the darn book. This is certainly a very "out-there" episode for SpongeBob, and it feels even moreso seeing as the show at this point had only been mildly surreal. Most of the surrealism came from the fact that it was underwater, ie, odd character designs and the fact that gravity comes and goes like an old man stuck in a revolving door. However, does that make the episode funny and engaging? Grab a seat, because that seat is gonna be antique in a few millennia.
It starts off nicely with the narrator putting down Squidward's clarinet-playing by telling the audience to get their earplugs ready. I like it when they give the narrator a sense of humour like that. On top of that, one thing I'd like to compliment this episode on is not having Squidward actually get to play his clarinet that often, because they know that it sounds awful. Thankfully, the first time he attempts to play, he gets stopped by SpongeBob's alarm clock, somehow launching the clarinet into his windpipe. Ain't the last time that this is going to happen, ladies and gentlemen.
[titlecard]75A[/titlecard]
SpongeBob and Patrick decide to invite Squidward along for their jellyfishing, and they seem to be very enthusiastic about Squidward coming, especially after the joy and happiness that their last outing provided.
[titlecard]3A[/titlecard]
Squidward is already annoyed with them, so he rejects the offer again, which leads to an extremely funny comedy routine of SpongeBob and Patrick standing outside while Squidward just stands there slamming the door on them endlessly, before they appear inside and ask him if he's ready, causing him to walk out and slam the door on himself! It's a mouthful, but it's honestly one of the best gags in the entire series.
Squidward then gets the idea that, since this is SpongeBob's day of leisure (Sunday) and the Krusty Krab is closed, that he can just waltz right in and hide. He doesn't even need to ask Mr Krabs for the keys or anything, he, and later SpongeBob and Patrick, just push the doors open! And somehow it's taken years of Plankton to try and get the Krabby Patty secret formula, he could just go in on Sunday! Not only that, but Squidward can go into the kitchen freezer with little difficulty, and hides from SpongeBob and Patrick behind the door. Seriously Plankton, step up your game!
Unfortunately for Squidward however, the door locks on him after SpongeBob and Patrick head off, leaving him unable to escape. He says that he'll be out in no time, but it takes 2,000 years before one of SpongeBob's ancestors, SpongeTron, even notices Squidward, and at that, it's because the door to the freezer had rusted so bad that the door fell over. SpongeTron could either be one of SpongeBob's ancestors, or SpongeBob reincarnated as a lifelike robot. Encyclopedia SpongeBobia says that it's the former, but I'm personally going with the latter, because he looks more like SpongeBob than any other sponge in the series, even SpongeBob's actual grandchild in The Great Patty Caper, it implies that SpongeBob got married and had kids, and because who would wear something like that in the 4000s? Seriously, is he trying to look like a loser? Not to mention, him being just SpongeBob as a robot sounds a lot cooler. As for why he doesn't know who Squidward is, would you expect him to know everything he's ever done if he's lived for thousands of years and seen nearly millions of people?
Anywho, he defrosts Squidward and introduces him to the future, knowing full well that Squidward is from a different time, and subsequently, from a different ocean. Squidward is pretty freaked out at the entire Krusty Krab being chrome (if I were in the same situation, I'd be freaked out the Krusty Krab would still be open), to which SpongeTron states that everything is chrome in the future, even new-ly planted flowers that have to be painted chrome. An oddly humourous take on why most futuristic settings have so much metallic…stuff, even depictions back in the 1920s. of what we call the present.
Two pieces of bad news for Squidward arrive and one piece of good news. The first piece of bad news is that Patrick still exists as PatTron, and has two heads. The second is that jellyfishing still exists, and SpongeTron and PatTron still like it. However, the single piece of good news is that he has a way out. SpongeTron mentions that the Krusty Krab has a time machine (and I'm going to be referring to all 4 of them as one SpongeTron for convenience sake), and that Squidward can freely steal it without anyone caring, showing that it's gonna take a while too repair once it disappears! Like seriously!? This episode was made with rules just to break them, and I love talking about it!
So Squidward goes inside and finds it to actually look pretty roomy inside. Must be a recurring theme with time machines in fiction, nudge nudge, I'm a Whovian, nudge nudge. Not only that, but the only way to control where in time and space one is is by a vague lever that has two modes, "Future" and "Past". Squidward chooses the past, and we get a visually appealling time vortex, though I wouldn't have minded this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fnzcAFy8d8
Nudge nudge, I'm a Whovian, nudge nudge.
The TARD- I mean, the time machine lands him in the pre-historic era, which would probably be the Cambrian/Ordovician/Silurian period underwater (heh heh, Silurian), or at least when jellyfish came around (definitely around or after Cambrian). The reason I say this instead of around what we consider pre-historic life on land is because the art style has changed to signify that this is an entirely different age of undersea life entirely. Squidward then notices caveman ancestors of SpongeBob and Patrick, and unlike in Ugh, they're not very bright (or pretty in Primitive Patrick's case). However, they do know how to make memes and act like the animals we assume they once were.
Squidward decides to distract them by building them jellyfish nets so that he can go to playing his clarinet, and it works for little while, before Primitive Sponge and Primitive Patrick hear Squidward's terrible playing and go mad. I'm going to be completely honest when I say this, but it's actually quite funny to see this, and it's not just because of the memes. They chase Squidward back to the time machine, where he goes inside and tries to go to a different time, but unfortunately brakes the lever. Uh-oh. Then they throw in a gambling joke because gambling. However, after that is where the episode…gets really interesting.
I don't know how to say it, but…Squidward broke reality! Personally, I'd expect SpongeBob to do that first, but in a different way. Squidward here just completely destroyed time and space. I know previously I've stated that the time machine might have malfunctioned sending him into a non-existent void, but the way that everything around him distorts and bends, with the laws of physics breaking around him (one of the words in the vortex is just "HUH", showing that time and space has just given up, humourously forcing me to personify time and space), before losing all dimension and becoming nothing seems to suggest that Squidward may have ended the universe! Boy howdy, and they thought Y2K was something to freak out over at this point in time, what about a time travelling octopus!?
So anyway, with that headcanon, the white void sequence is a little less disturbing. Remember, for stuff that creeps you out that you can't explain in cartoons, just make your own headcanon to it. If it doesn't help, at least you'll have less fear towards it's ambiguity.
Back onto the subject at hand, Squidward finds that now he can play his clarinet in peace, as SpongeBob no longer exists. He proclaims to be all alone, but then that loneliness literally gets to him in the form of bright happy words saying "ALONE" circling him with dark, unpleasant voices accompanying them, a metaphor for how one would feel about being alone. It may seem like a joy on the outside, but once you attain it, you'll realise just how cold it is. Just how unpleasant it is. Just how much it makes you feel…ALONE.
Squidward realises this…without taking the time to actually play his clarinet, and hurriedly tries to find a way out. It's at this point that I'd just like to mention that in the background, outside of ironically sounding like a dark tunnel to accentuate that lonely feeling, there's the sound effect of this guy going, "abedibarbiebideba", that I just can't get over! I think it's the sort of thing that if you listen to it long enough, you go insane, but it's ironically kinda funny.
He jumps up and down so hard that he crashes through the floor and falls into the time machine somehow. It's here that he confesses that he misses SpongeBob, and the time machine magically takes him back to 1999 (or 2017 or whatever), where SpongeBob and Patrick just so happen to be waiting outside of Squidward's house ready to go jellyfishing. There's very little confirmation as to whether or not this is the day that Squidward got stuck, it's probably sometime later, and despite that, SpongeBob and Patrick don't seem to mind that there in the presence of a time machine from the 5th millennium with Squidward even unintentionally stating that if they break it they'll end up nowhere!
Squidward immediately reverts back to his old grouchy self and asks who invented jellyfishing, to which SpongeBob and Patrick say Squidward did. Squidward then says, "I'm going back", to what point (future, past, nowhere) is left vague, but what is confusing is the episode as a whole. I'm just going to take off my nostalgia goggles for a split second that this episode is not perfectly written. There are a couple holes, like why Squidward didn't just play his clarinet in the void, and how the time machine is still there, and why it's in the floor, and how SpongeBob and Patrick were waiting right in the spot where Squidward went back to the present. However, what keeps this episode at a perfect 10 is that it was clearly intended to feel like a fever dream of sorts. Not much makes sense in a fever dream, keep in mind. Maybe this whole episode was a nightmare that Squidward had, presumably after the events of Jellyfishing, but this is veering way too much into headcanon now.
And with that starts late Season 1, and I just have to say, the story is a lot faster paced than the rest of the show at this point (probably due to it being a bit more sci-fi), the animation is a lot smoother and judging by the production order for the next episodes, seems to be looking a little more consistent from this point onward, and the characters are at their best here. Even if this particular episode has a bit of that Aaron Springer touch where SpongeBob and Patrick are a bit more obsessed with having Squidward as a friend than normal. Either way, I'm really excited for the rest of Season 1 (save Valentine's Day)!
My rating for this episode on my personal scale would be a "Spongey".
On a scale of 1-10, it would be a 10/10.
It's worse than Pizza Delivery, but better than Scaredy Pants.
Next time, we'll be hearing about the squirrel and the tin cans. Until then, not sure if reference or coincidence?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei9xrCykk_I
:sbthumbs:
EmployeeAMillion
Season 12 Time!
Karate Choppers (Season 1, Episode 14b)
Original Airdate: December 31 1999
Plot: SpongeBob's obsession with karate lands him in trouble with Sandy and Mr Krabs
Written by Aaron Springer, Erik Wiese and Merriwether Williams
[titlecard]14B[/titlecard]
Title Card Music: Take That! (a)
I don't usually like to pick favourite writers for SpongeBob, or heck, any show that I watch (mainly because I'd also have to pick a least favourite, and there's multiple people who have their share of work put into each and every episode, and most SpongeBob episodes are written by more than one person), but I will say that I love Merriwether Williams' SpongeBob episodes. She replaced Peter Burns in the middle of Season 1 and worked on the show until the end of Season 3, writing some of my favourite episodes like Shanghaied and The Camping Episode. She just had this great way of writing the characters more like people than the other guys in the studio, and I commend her for that. However, as this is a re-evaluation, I doubt that all of my favourite episodes are going to be written by her, but Karate Choppers (her first episode in airing order) has already set high expectations for me.
As for her other stuff, from what I've seen…she's certainly divisive with bronies, and I guess she's also done good things on Adventure Time, so I'm just glad that she's translated her success into 2010s cartoons.
Right off the bat, this episode is pretty epic while not sacraficing humour, but building around it. SpongeBob is walking home from work when his karate senses kick in, and he's essentially home-invaded by Sandy, it appears. SpongeBob tries uncovering her hiding spot, always missing, implying she has super-fast reflexes and telling me the writers don't know the difference between karate and ninjutsu. I'm okay with this, as it provides more tension as SpongeBob starts watching TV, then Sandy just non-chalantly sitting on the couch next to him and watching. They proceed to battle, and I must say, SpongeBob's really stepped up his game since Tea at the Treedome. I know he's still supposed to provide the "funny guy" to Sandy's "smart girl" in their…let's call it duo, and he's still going to be pathetic at physical strength in episodes like No Weenies Allowed, but it's nice to see them give him a bit of a boost in his strength for an episode or two, as it's in service to the plot.
What follows is a montage of SpongeBob and Sandy getting more and more into the spirit of karate, disrupting each others' leisure time over the phone, causing a ruckus at the supermarket, and doing the most evil thing of all, using that darn hot sauce without mercy! The hot sauce drop even grows a face and demands that it be really, really hot! I'm nor sure if Sandy noticed that or intended it to happen, but if she did, she is one evil Xerus Rutilus!
Sometime later at work, SpongeBob's still hooked on karate, and is continuing to practice his blocks, while Squidward is angrily handing him orders. This is where the central conflict of the episode arises (4 minutes in? Golly, I had too much fun watching that karate). SpongeBob has become so obsessed with karate that, not only is it hard to break him out of it in what he describes as "his own dojo" XD, but it being in his dojo is the problem. For instance, he attacks Fred, who he thinks is Sandy simply because he was swatting a fly away from his Krabby Patty, causing Mr Krabs to try and knock some sense into him.
All fine and good, but SpongeBob still has trouble lowering his senses, as he accidentally attacks Mr Krabs in the bathroom while cleaning it out. Remember, karate is either for self defense or in good fun, and since Fred and Mr Krabs weren't attacking SpongeBob in any way or having fun with him, it's understandable why Mr Krabs would be as mad as he is. In fact, he's so mad that he tells SpongeBob that if he sees him doing karate one more time, then he's fired. SpongeBob almost immediately snaps out of it, and that makes sense. His job as a fry cook is something that he holds very dear to his heart, and it's either keeping his job, which SpongeBob You're Fired would later reveal as the only thing in the workplace that he's competent at and happy doing, unintentionally making this even more dramatic, or losing it over some silly game.
Unfortunately, Sandy comes around and starts throwing him kicks and hits, which SpongeBob doesn't even react to, he stays stationary. However, from Mr Krabs' perspective, it looks like he's joining in. Mr Krabs fires SpongeBob on the spot, and here's how I know that the show has really picked up the pace. SpongeBob's outburst is funny. Now you might be thinking why I say that? Well, it's because in episodes like Pizza Delivery and Squeaky Boots, heck, even The Chaperone to an extent, innocent little SpongeBob breaking down was played for drama. Here, it's just a laugh riot. They throw in a ton of cartoony gags and don't even attempt to make it heartbreaking. You might say that this would've ruined a bit of the show's charm, but it just made it funnier.
Sandy explains that it was only her who was playing, so Mr Krabs decides to give SpongeBob his job back, but under the condition that if he's caught doing karate anymore, then he's fired. What follows is probably the best part of the episode (no, not photosynthesis, but it is pretty funny seeing SpongeBob think that, if plants could talk, they'd just be saying photosynthesis), where SpongeBob and Sandy are in the park and karate just keeps coming into their minds. What works is that they share the desire to play, and aren't at all willing to say so. I do have to say, though, that the scene where SpongeBob is cutting barnacle loaf is kind of…"sexual"? It's at least a little lewd, even for SpongeBob.
This brings up the question as to whether or not this whole scene, heck, this whole episode, was written as a metaphor for sexual desire. I mean, SpongeBob is "almost" asexual, but this was written before the writers knew about that (Stephen Hillenburg confirmed this in 2002, near the end of Season 3's production, which is why some 2000-2001 merchandise seems to suggest he has a crush in Sandy), and I'm not sure about Sandy's sexuality, but she's had some playful ship tease with SpongeBob as of late, particularly for a few seconds in House Sittin' for Sandy. I'd have to say that on one hand, I think it's a little sexist to think that, considering Spandy is one of the few straight ships in the series (not meaning to be homophobic or anything, but I think that it's the safest ship to go with). But on the other hand, the people behind SpongeBob have proven themselves to have dirty minds if Rock-a-Bye Bivalve and Krusty Dogs have told me anything. I'll stop right here, because then I'd have to mention Truth or Square an-I've said too much!
What we get is another bout of entertaining karate after their resistence has broken, and later on, Mr Krabs walks into the park where he sees Sandy chopping wood and SpongeBob asking, "Do you ever think Mr Krabs does karate?", which judging by what Mr Krabs has said about SpongeBob's bad habit of karate chopping innocent people, would probably be the last thing SpongeBob would ever say in the presence of Mr Krabs. However, seeing how many sandwhiches they made with their karate-chopping skill, Mr Krabs decides to take Sandy on board at the Krusty Krab (for exactly one day) and have her and SpongeBob make Krabby Patties using their martial arts. It ends on Squidward saying, "I hate all of you.", and since this was immediately after SB-129 for audiences, I guess they'd know why Squidward is emotionally flushed while saying that. :P
Re-watching this episode, it's far better than I remember it. SpongeBob and Sandy are at their best here without being a "couple", Mr Krabs has a valid reason not to trust SpongeBob, and Squidward hates all of us, so that balances things out. I was expecting to not be completely blown away by this episode after SB-129, but this is still fantastic SpongeBob material nonetheless.
My rating for this episode on my personal scale would be a "Spongey".
On a scale of 1-10, it would be a 9/10.
It's worse than Opposite Day, but better than F.U.N.
Now I guess I should update my list, now that we've hit a milestone of being the last "90s" SpongeBob episode:
Coming up is the sort episode that would only appear in your wildest dreams. Anyway, December 31 1999 and all, celebrate new millennium and all, Y2K gon' get us and all, I want mah childhood back and all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOuReZy7Jto
:sbthumbs:
Original Airdate: December 31 1999
Plot: SpongeBob's obsession with karate lands him in trouble with Sandy and Mr Krabs
Written by Aaron Springer, Erik Wiese and Merriwether Williams
[titlecard]14B[/titlecard]
Title Card Music: Take That! (a)
I don't usually like to pick favourite writers for SpongeBob, or heck, any show that I watch (mainly because I'd also have to pick a least favourite, and there's multiple people who have their share of work put into each and every episode, and most SpongeBob episodes are written by more than one person), but I will say that I love Merriwether Williams' SpongeBob episodes. She replaced Peter Burns in the middle of Season 1 and worked on the show until the end of Season 3, writing some of my favourite episodes like Shanghaied and The Camping Episode. She just had this great way of writing the characters more like people than the other guys in the studio, and I commend her for that. However, as this is a re-evaluation, I doubt that all of my favourite episodes are going to be written by her, but Karate Choppers (her first episode in airing order) has already set high expectations for me.
As for her other stuff, from what I've seen…she's certainly divisive with bronies, and I guess she's also done good things on Adventure Time, so I'm just glad that she's translated her success into 2010s cartoons.
Right off the bat, this episode is pretty epic while not sacraficing humour, but building around it. SpongeBob is walking home from work when his karate senses kick in, and he's essentially home-invaded by Sandy, it appears. SpongeBob tries uncovering her hiding spot, always missing, implying she has super-fast reflexes and telling me the writers don't know the difference between karate and ninjutsu. I'm okay with this, as it provides more tension as SpongeBob starts watching TV, then Sandy just non-chalantly sitting on the couch next to him and watching. They proceed to battle, and I must say, SpongeBob's really stepped up his game since Tea at the Treedome. I know he's still supposed to provide the "funny guy" to Sandy's "smart girl" in their…let's call it duo, and he's still going to be pathetic at physical strength in episodes like No Weenies Allowed, but it's nice to see them give him a bit of a boost in his strength for an episode or two, as it's in service to the plot.
What follows is a montage of SpongeBob and Sandy getting more and more into the spirit of karate, disrupting each others' leisure time over the phone, causing a ruckus at the supermarket, and doing the most evil thing of all, using that darn hot sauce without mercy! The hot sauce drop even grows a face and demands that it be really, really hot! I'm nor sure if Sandy noticed that or intended it to happen, but if she did, she is one evil Xerus Rutilus!
Sometime later at work, SpongeBob's still hooked on karate, and is continuing to practice his blocks, while Squidward is angrily handing him orders. This is where the central conflict of the episode arises (4 minutes in? Golly, I had too much fun watching that karate). SpongeBob has become so obsessed with karate that, not only is it hard to break him out of it in what he describes as "his own dojo" XD, but it being in his dojo is the problem. For instance, he attacks Fred, who he thinks is Sandy simply because he was swatting a fly away from his Krabby Patty, causing Mr Krabs to try and knock some sense into him.
All fine and good, but SpongeBob still has trouble lowering his senses, as he accidentally attacks Mr Krabs in the bathroom while cleaning it out. Remember, karate is either for self defense or in good fun, and since Fred and Mr Krabs weren't attacking SpongeBob in any way or having fun with him, it's understandable why Mr Krabs would be as mad as he is. In fact, he's so mad that he tells SpongeBob that if he sees him doing karate one more time, then he's fired. SpongeBob almost immediately snaps out of it, and that makes sense. His job as a fry cook is something that he holds very dear to his heart, and it's either keeping his job, which SpongeBob You're Fired would later reveal as the only thing in the workplace that he's competent at and happy doing, unintentionally making this even more dramatic, or losing it over some silly game.
Unfortunately, Sandy comes around and starts throwing him kicks and hits, which SpongeBob doesn't even react to, he stays stationary. However, from Mr Krabs' perspective, it looks like he's joining in. Mr Krabs fires SpongeBob on the spot, and here's how I know that the show has really picked up the pace. SpongeBob's outburst is funny. Now you might be thinking why I say that? Well, it's because in episodes like Pizza Delivery and Squeaky Boots, heck, even The Chaperone to an extent, innocent little SpongeBob breaking down was played for drama. Here, it's just a laugh riot. They throw in a ton of cartoony gags and don't even attempt to make it heartbreaking. You might say that this would've ruined a bit of the show's charm, but it just made it funnier.
Sandy explains that it was only her who was playing, so Mr Krabs decides to give SpongeBob his job back, but under the condition that if he's caught doing karate anymore, then he's fired. What follows is probably the best part of the episode (no, not photosynthesis, but it is pretty funny seeing SpongeBob think that, if plants could talk, they'd just be saying photosynthesis), where SpongeBob and Sandy are in the park and karate just keeps coming into their minds. What works is that they share the desire to play, and aren't at all willing to say so. I do have to say, though, that the scene where SpongeBob is cutting barnacle loaf is kind of…"sexual"? It's at least a little lewd, even for SpongeBob.
This brings up the question as to whether or not this whole scene, heck, this whole episode, was written as a metaphor for sexual desire. I mean, SpongeBob is "almost" asexual, but this was written before the writers knew about that (Stephen Hillenburg confirmed this in 2002, near the end of Season 3's production, which is why some 2000-2001 merchandise seems to suggest he has a crush in Sandy), and I'm not sure about Sandy's sexuality, but she's had some playful ship tease with SpongeBob as of late, particularly for a few seconds in House Sittin' for Sandy. I'd have to say that on one hand, I think it's a little sexist to think that, considering Spandy is one of the few straight ships in the series (not meaning to be homophobic or anything, but I think that it's the safest ship to go with). But on the other hand, the people behind SpongeBob have proven themselves to have dirty minds if Rock-a-Bye Bivalve and Krusty Dogs have told me anything. I'll stop right here, because then I'd have to mention Truth or Square an-I've said too much!
What we get is another bout of entertaining karate after their resistence has broken, and later on, Mr Krabs walks into the park where he sees Sandy chopping wood and SpongeBob asking, "Do you ever think Mr Krabs does karate?", which judging by what Mr Krabs has said about SpongeBob's bad habit of karate chopping innocent people, would probably be the last thing SpongeBob would ever say in the presence of Mr Krabs. However, seeing how many sandwhiches they made with their karate-chopping skill, Mr Krabs decides to take Sandy on board at the Krusty Krab (for exactly one day) and have her and SpongeBob make Krabby Patties using their martial arts. It ends on Squidward saying, "I hate all of you.", and since this was immediately after SB-129 for audiences, I guess they'd know why Squidward is emotionally flushed while saying that. :P
Re-watching this episode, it's far better than I remember it. SpongeBob and Sandy are at their best here without being a "couple", Mr Krabs has a valid reason not to trust SpongeBob, and Squidward hates all of us, so that balances things out. I was expecting to not be completely blown away by this episode after SB-129, but this is still fantastic SpongeBob material nonetheless.
My rating for this episode on my personal scale would be a "Spongey".
On a scale of 1-10, it would be a 9/10.
It's worse than Opposite Day, but better than F.U.N.
Now I guess I should update my list, now that we've hit a milestone of being the last "90s" SpongeBob episode:
29. Jellyfishing
28. The Chaperone
27. Nature Pants
26. Naughty Nautical Neighbours
25. I Was a Teenage Gary
24. Reef Blower
23. Sandy's Rocket
22. Squidward the Unfriendly Ghost
21. Culture Shock
20. Employee of the Month
19. Boating School
18. Hall Monitor
17. Tea at the Treedome
16. MuscleBob BuffPants
15. Squeaky Boots
14. Home Sweet Pineapple
13. Help Wanted
12. Plankton!
11. Bubblestand
10. Jellyfish Jam
9. Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy
8. Ripped Pants
7. F.U.N.
6. Karate Choppers
5. Opposite Day
4. Pickles
3. Scaredy Pants
2. SB-129
1. Pizza Delivery
28. The Chaperone
27. Nature Pants
26. Naughty Nautical Neighbours
25. I Was a Teenage Gary
24. Reef Blower
23. Sandy's Rocket
22. Squidward the Unfriendly Ghost
21. Culture Shock
20. Employee of the Month
19. Boating School
18. Hall Monitor
17. Tea at the Treedome
16. MuscleBob BuffPants
15. Squeaky Boots
14. Home Sweet Pineapple
13. Help Wanted
12. Plankton!
11. Bubblestand
10. Jellyfish Jam
9. Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy
8. Ripped Pants
7. F.U.N.
6. Karate Choppers
5. Opposite Day
4. Pickles
3. Scaredy Pants
2. SB-129
1. Pizza Delivery
Coming up is the sort episode that would only appear in your wildest dreams. Anyway, December 31 1999 and all, celebrate new millennium and all, Y2K gon' get us and all, I want mah childhood back and all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOuReZy7Jto
:sbthumbs:
EmployeeAMillion
Season 12 Time!
Sleepy Time (Season 1, Episode 15a)
Original Airdate: January 17 2000* (Episode 30)
*copyrighted 1999
Plot: SpongeBob uses telepathy to invade his freinds' dreams
Written by Paul Tibbit, Ennio Toressan and Mr Lawrence
[titlecard]15A[/titlecard]
Title Card Music: Island Romance
I was really excited at getting to this point in the re-evaluation. Not because this is technically the start of 2000s SpongeBob, although Your Shoe's Untied is a better starting point in my opinion, and also not because this is the last cel-animated episode in production order, thus being the best animated, but because the idea of literal dream worlds is an ingenious concept for a SpongeBob episode, especially as they've spent a season developing these characters and how we see them. So I was a little surprised when, really, I found that I didn't have a whole lot to talk about.
It starts with SpongeBob going to bed (already this episode has got my blood pumping), and telling Gary to beware his wandering eye after Gary plays with SpongeBob's shoes, which is just adorable. I'm sorry, but Gary is an adorable character. Let's pretend Shell Shocked never existed, which it didn't at this point, and carry on. We see SpongeBob's dream, which is a road with giant Krabby Patties, cooking utensils like spatulas and Krabby Patty ingredients scattered all over the place. SpongeBob imagines his body parts apparating out of nowhere and forming together on a rock, and then he's placed inside a racecar and drives along the road. This sequence is pretty surreal, but in a charming, imaginative, and surprisingly slightly retro way. There's a reason I used clips from it as part of my vaporwave mix a while back.
After a mishap with his driving skills, and having Mrs Puff remind SpongeBob that he'll never get his boating license,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe2Hb1YFMJA
SpongeBob somehow flies out of his own dream and into the real world, where he's a mini ghost-version of himself that can hop into other people's dreams. He decides to go into Gary's dream, and here's where I can stop being as descriptive with the episode. Why?
All of the dreams are very easy to summarise, but hard to talk about. Seeing what happens in each of them is half the fun of watching the episode, and it's not the kind of thing that should be spoiled. I know I could put a "Spoilers Ahoy" tag halfway through them and tell you why they're funny/memorable, but even at that, describing them in great detail would somehow make them seem less fun. I haven't had that feeling with any episode, or heck, anything yet in this re-evaluation and it's kind of unfortunate.
So here's some very brief descriptions for you: Gary is some sort of snail-human hybrid who lives in a giant library (I'll say one thing and that is that the animators really put some effort into making the library expansive), Patrick has fun on a rocking horse (unlike the others, that's about as far as I'm going to go, as ruining it for you would be like cutting down a newborn tree), Squidward, oh I'm sorry, Wolfgang Amadeus Tentacles, is playing his clarinet for the King of Idano (very overlooked captial, not to far off the coast of Springfield), Sandy is parachuting (keep that in mind, parachuting, Pearl is having a tea party (don't set your expectations for this one too high), Mr Krabs is parodying Moby Dick but with money (pretty funny in hindsight of Clams, I have to say), and Plankton is having fun being a 50-foot giant destroying Bikini Bottom (easily the most epic of all the dreams). SpongeBob finds a way to ruin, or at least agitate his friends in, each and every one of his friends in these worlds, and that's all I'm going to say.
I have to say that the art in each and every one of these dreams continues to make me pre-emptly miss Season 1's animation. I'm not saying the later art styles are bad, I'm just saying that this really pushes the limits of traditional cel animation, especially for a Nicktoon. The colours are vibrant, they really fit the characters' personalities, and even though SpongeBob's dream has a black sky, which would make it look unappealling on the surface, it takes the Alice in Wonderland/Dr Suess approach by having everything on the ground, and thus, directly in the characters' line of sight, look like a visual marvel. Honestly, those Krabby Patties haven't looked better at this point in the series. Honestly, I wouldn't mind a sequel to this episode expanding on these dreams and showcasing more of the characters' psyches.
With all that out of the way, let's talk about the ending. SpongeBob goes back into his own head, but is suddenly distracted by all his friends coming up to him with angry looks on their faces telling him to stay out of their dreams…except Patrick, and if you watched the episode, you'd know why. I've heard people say that this ending is too mean-spirited, or at least feels a bit hard on SpongeBob, but I think it would've been a worse ending had SpongeBob just invaded all his friends' dreams with no consequence for his actions. I dunno, that's just me.
And that, my friends, was Sleepy Time, and I'm still surprised I didn't want to talk about a good chunk of it, lest I spoil it for you, but this is seriously one of those episodes that you have to watch for yourself, and it's certainly a shining star in Season 1.
My rating for this episode on my personal scale would be a "Spongey".
On a scale of 1-10, it would be a 9/10.
It's worse than Ripped Pants, but better than Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy.
I just hope the next episode isn't one that I'd get sick of very quickly. Until then, I'm gonna take the piss out of the fact that SpongeBob's drivers license says he's 13!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98WtmW-lfeE
PS: I want to know what you guys think of this! Nobody's really expressed their views/opinions on these in quite some time, and I feel quite alone with that in mind. :( I'm not forcing you to post here and give me ratings, I'm just asking you what you think of this.
:sbthumbs:
Original Airdate: January 17 2000* (Episode 30)
*copyrighted 1999
Plot: SpongeBob uses telepathy to invade his freinds' dreams
Written by Paul Tibbit, Ennio Toressan and Mr Lawrence
[titlecard]15A[/titlecard]
Title Card Music: Island Romance
I was really excited at getting to this point in the re-evaluation. Not because this is technically the start of 2000s SpongeBob, although Your Shoe's Untied is a better starting point in my opinion, and also not because this is the last cel-animated episode in production order, thus being the best animated, but because the idea of literal dream worlds is an ingenious concept for a SpongeBob episode, especially as they've spent a season developing these characters and how we see them. So I was a little surprised when, really, I found that I didn't have a whole lot to talk about.
It starts with SpongeBob going to bed (already this episode has got my blood pumping), and telling Gary to beware his wandering eye after Gary plays with SpongeBob's shoes, which is just adorable. I'm sorry, but Gary is an adorable character. Let's pretend Shell Shocked never existed, which it didn't at this point, and carry on. We see SpongeBob's dream, which is a road with giant Krabby Patties, cooking utensils like spatulas and Krabby Patty ingredients scattered all over the place. SpongeBob imagines his body parts apparating out of nowhere and forming together on a rock, and then he's placed inside a racecar and drives along the road. This sequence is pretty surreal, but in a charming, imaginative, and surprisingly slightly retro way. There's a reason I used clips from it as part of my vaporwave mix a while back.
After a mishap with his driving skills, and having Mrs Puff remind SpongeBob that he'll never get his boating license,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe2Hb1YFMJA
SpongeBob somehow flies out of his own dream and into the real world, where he's a mini ghost-version of himself that can hop into other people's dreams. He decides to go into Gary's dream, and here's where I can stop being as descriptive with the episode. Why?
All of the dreams are very easy to summarise, but hard to talk about. Seeing what happens in each of them is half the fun of watching the episode, and it's not the kind of thing that should be spoiled. I know I could put a "Spoilers Ahoy" tag halfway through them and tell you why they're funny/memorable, but even at that, describing them in great detail would somehow make them seem less fun. I haven't had that feeling with any episode, or heck, anything yet in this re-evaluation and it's kind of unfortunate.
So here's some very brief descriptions for you: Gary is some sort of snail-human hybrid who lives in a giant library (I'll say one thing and that is that the animators really put some effort into making the library expansive), Patrick has fun on a rocking horse (unlike the others, that's about as far as I'm going to go, as ruining it for you would be like cutting down a newborn tree), Squidward, oh I'm sorry, Wolfgang Amadeus Tentacles, is playing his clarinet for the King of Idano (very overlooked captial, not to far off the coast of Springfield), Sandy is parachuting (keep that in mind, parachuting, Pearl is having a tea party (don't set your expectations for this one too high), Mr Krabs is parodying Moby Dick but with money (pretty funny in hindsight of Clams, I have to say), and Plankton is having fun being a 50-foot giant destroying Bikini Bottom (easily the most epic of all the dreams). SpongeBob finds a way to ruin, or at least agitate his friends in, each and every one of his friends in these worlds, and that's all I'm going to say.
I have to say that the art in each and every one of these dreams continues to make me pre-emptly miss Season 1's animation. I'm not saying the later art styles are bad, I'm just saying that this really pushes the limits of traditional cel animation, especially for a Nicktoon. The colours are vibrant, they really fit the characters' personalities, and even though SpongeBob's dream has a black sky, which would make it look unappealling on the surface, it takes the Alice in Wonderland/Dr Suess approach by having everything on the ground, and thus, directly in the characters' line of sight, look like a visual marvel. Honestly, those Krabby Patties haven't looked better at this point in the series. Honestly, I wouldn't mind a sequel to this episode expanding on these dreams and showcasing more of the characters' psyches.
With all that out of the way, let's talk about the ending. SpongeBob goes back into his own head, but is suddenly distracted by all his friends coming up to him with angry looks on their faces telling him to stay out of their dreams…except Patrick, and if you watched the episode, you'd know why. I've heard people say that this ending is too mean-spirited, or at least feels a bit hard on SpongeBob, but I think it would've been a worse ending had SpongeBob just invaded all his friends' dreams with no consequence for his actions. I dunno, that's just me.
And that, my friends, was Sleepy Time, and I'm still surprised I didn't want to talk about a good chunk of it, lest I spoil it for you, but this is seriously one of those episodes that you have to watch for yourself, and it's certainly a shining star in Season 1.
My rating for this episode on my personal scale would be a "Spongey".
On a scale of 1-10, it would be a 9/10.
It's worse than Ripped Pants, but better than Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy.
I just hope the next episode isn't one that I'd get sick of very quickly. Until then, I'm gonna take the piss out of the fact that SpongeBob's drivers license says he's 13!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98WtmW-lfeE
PS: I want to know what you guys think of this! Nobody's really expressed their views/opinions on these in quite some time, and I feel quite alone with that in mind. :( I'm not forcing you to post here and give me ratings, I'm just asking you what you think of this.
:sbthumbs:
Noah Spongy
FIRETRUCK CLOWNS
Man, I haven't seen some of these episodes in FOREVER. But I do know Sleepy Time was a very creative, funny, and really good-looking ep. Sorry for not replying any other time, I normally just read your review and go on my way.
EmployeeAMillion
Season 12 Time!
Suds (Season 1, Episode 15b)
Original Airdate: January 17 2000* (Episode 31)
*copyrighted 1999
Plot: SpongeBob gets the suds, so Patrick plays doctor with him
Written by Paul Tibbit, Ennio Torresan and Mr Lawrence
[titlecard]15B[/titlecard]
Title Card Music: Sugar Plum Fairy 59
You know, I've actually started to see people who don't like this episode, that much. I personally think that, while it isn't a great episode by any means, it's still a rather harmless Season 1 episode. However, after re-watching it again, and seeing how it fares in comparision to other episodes, as well as being more knowledgeable of later seasons that have stories similar to this, have my opinions changed considerably? Well, you might find the answer a bit surprising.
It starts with SpongeBob dreaming about raining Krabby Patties, and I'm feeling a bit of déja vu. Oh yeah, that's because the last episode was all about dreams! Anyway, he wakes up chewing on his pillow, which is very amusing. He decides to make himself a seanut butter and jellyfish jelly sandwhich to get himself through the night, however, because I gets it's hard or something, he falls asleep immediately. Unfortunately, he forgets to close the fridge, somehow freezing his entire house, even the anchorman on TV! I guess that's why they invented fridges with alarms that go off when the door's been left open too long. You can thank a SpongeBob episode!
So yeah, the house is completely frozen over, and you know what, it's absolutely beautiful. They really put fine work on the ice and icicles in this scene, even if it's only for one scene before it's back to normal once SpongeBob gets home from work. Not only that, but the reflection effect is gorgeous. I don't know how Nickelodeon made it so that cel animation an have a reflection, but they found a way to make it look stunning. Either that or it was just a special effect that takes about 15 minutes to do. In that case, it holds up today.
SpongeBob is in a sickly state of panic, because he's caught the suds (basically the common cold, but with sponges, which is just pure genius), and since he'd have to miss work if he owned up for it, he's in a state of denial, despite Gary trying to talk some sense into him. I like how whenever SpongeBob sneezes, pink bubbles come out of all of his pores. It's a lot cartoonier and really more appealling then just having a snotty nose. Yes, I know I use the word "appeal" way too much, but really, it's something that a show like SpongeBob SquarePants needs to be accessible, not just to fans, but to outside viewers as well. Otherwise, it would just be seen as another stupid children's cartoon.
So he goes to work where he looks even worse. He's completely pale and one of his eyes is continuously falling out of place. You might think it's creepy, but given how SpongeBob can take parts of his body off with ease, notably his entire head in Plankton and Karate Choppers, it seems natural that a guy like him would have some sort of issue with literally keeping himself together when he's sick.
Mr Krabs gives SpongeBob the day off, because he fears that something bad will happen in the Krusty Krab if SpongeBob's suds are just that bad. I would like to note that there's this one background fish (when Mr Krabs mentions sneezing all over the food and ruckus ensues), who's just being twirled around by the animators. It doesn't look realistic or even motional, but I guess that makes it even funnier. Either way, it's not the first time a background fish (or seven) in the Krusty Krab has deserved special mention from me.
Later on at home, although all the ice has thawed, SpongeBob is still very sick, so he calls Sandy to see what she can do, and she tells him that she's going to take him to the doctor. He's completely okay with this (apart from Sandy's Texan rambling), at least until Patrick comes around and tells him about the horrors of going to the doctor, like reading old magazines! Now this is one of the reasons people dislike this episode, as it feels like Patrick's manipulating SpongeBob into being tortured by him, which makes it a mix of a Clueless Idiot SpongeBob episode and SpongeBob Torture Plot episode. However, here are the positive things about this.
For one, SpongeBob can trust Patrick without me complaining about it like in Sandy's Rocket, because he's never been to the doctor before. Plus he hasn't got any other choice than to trust Patrick, because he has no other opinion from another person to be weakened and have the episode brought down as a result. Not to mention, each of Patrick's methods of "torturing" SpongeBob are just him trying to make SpongeBob feel better. Sure SpongeBob turns into a giant ball, but he wasn't intending it, and it's funny to see just how far he can go, even going as far as to turn SpongeBob's house into an Old English dungeon! Also unlike Sandy's Rocket, Sandy actually calls Patrick out for his actions, even saying that he should be arrested for impersonating a doctor, and solves the problem herself by taking SpongeBob to the doctor and curing him. Last but not least, Patrick gets his just desserts, no lollipop included. If it's an episode where Patrick harms someone and doesn't get called out on it or punished, then it's going to feel less enjoyable as a whole.
I should probably talk about the ending now, as it's easily the highlight of the episode. SpongeBob finally goes to the doctor and a giant hand by the name of Hans takes him into the medical room, which is actually the real world, and SpongeBob is now an actual sponge, and is being cured by being actually used for cleaning kitchens, and scrubbing Tom Kenny's back! Why SpongeBob doesn't need to breathe here as opposed to Tea at the Treedome is up for debate, but this might just be a simulated reality or something.
After that, SpongeBob gets a free lollipop, because I guess it's the law in cartoons to give all children (or manchildren) who go to the hospital lollipops, and Patrick sees an opportunity to get one himself. So the doctor (who's the same as the SDE/SE in I Was a Teenage Gary, but with a different colour palette, so I guess he's like the "Doctor Hibbert" of SpongeBob) gets Hans and takes Patrick into the live-action realm, and painfully abuses him by scrubbing him against painful surfaces. Although Patrick meant no harm for SpongeBob earlier in the episode, it's satisfying knowing that Sandy even acknowledged that Patrick was breaking the law…unlike a certain episode later on where Patrick impersonates a doctor and is never called out on it.
Like I said, the ending is definitely the best part of the episode. I'm not saying that the rest is bad, or even "meh", but it's certainly not as enjoyable. Overall, this episode is still fairly well done for SpongeBob at this point in time, even if it's a teeny bit forgettable. The ending is just what saves this from being an Average episode.
My rating for this episode on my personal scale would be a "Good".
On a scale of 1-10, it would be a 7/10.
It's worse than MuscleBob BuffPants, but better than Tea at the Treedome.
Up next is…one that I've shown to be a little hard on in the past. But for the meantime, I should just chill out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsBtQCDbTWc
:sbthumbs:
Original Airdate: January 17 2000* (Episode 31)
*copyrighted 1999
Plot: SpongeBob gets the suds, so Patrick plays doctor with him
Written by Paul Tibbit, Ennio Torresan and Mr Lawrence
[titlecard]15B[/titlecard]
Title Card Music: Sugar Plum Fairy 59
You know, I've actually started to see people who don't like this episode, that much. I personally think that, while it isn't a great episode by any means, it's still a rather harmless Season 1 episode. However, after re-watching it again, and seeing how it fares in comparision to other episodes, as well as being more knowledgeable of later seasons that have stories similar to this, have my opinions changed considerably? Well, you might find the answer a bit surprising.
It starts with SpongeBob dreaming about raining Krabby Patties, and I'm feeling a bit of déja vu. Oh yeah, that's because the last episode was all about dreams! Anyway, he wakes up chewing on his pillow, which is very amusing. He decides to make himself a seanut butter and jellyfish jelly sandwhich to get himself through the night, however, because I gets it's hard or something, he falls asleep immediately. Unfortunately, he forgets to close the fridge, somehow freezing his entire house, even the anchorman on TV! I guess that's why they invented fridges with alarms that go off when the door's been left open too long. You can thank a SpongeBob episode!
So yeah, the house is completely frozen over, and you know what, it's absolutely beautiful. They really put fine work on the ice and icicles in this scene, even if it's only for one scene before it's back to normal once SpongeBob gets home from work. Not only that, but the reflection effect is gorgeous. I don't know how Nickelodeon made it so that cel animation an have a reflection, but they found a way to make it look stunning. Either that or it was just a special effect that takes about 15 minutes to do. In that case, it holds up today.
SpongeBob is in a sickly state of panic, because he's caught the suds (basically the common cold, but with sponges, which is just pure genius), and since he'd have to miss work if he owned up for it, he's in a state of denial, despite Gary trying to talk some sense into him. I like how whenever SpongeBob sneezes, pink bubbles come out of all of his pores. It's a lot cartoonier and really more appealling then just having a snotty nose. Yes, I know I use the word "appeal" way too much, but really, it's something that a show like SpongeBob SquarePants needs to be accessible, not just to fans, but to outside viewers as well. Otherwise, it would just be seen as another stupid children's cartoon.
So he goes to work where he looks even worse. He's completely pale and one of his eyes is continuously falling out of place. You might think it's creepy, but given how SpongeBob can take parts of his body off with ease, notably his entire head in Plankton and Karate Choppers, it seems natural that a guy like him would have some sort of issue with literally keeping himself together when he's sick.
Mr Krabs gives SpongeBob the day off, because he fears that something bad will happen in the Krusty Krab if SpongeBob's suds are just that bad. I would like to note that there's this one background fish (when Mr Krabs mentions sneezing all over the food and ruckus ensues), who's just being twirled around by the animators. It doesn't look realistic or even motional, but I guess that makes it even funnier. Either way, it's not the first time a background fish (or seven) in the Krusty Krab has deserved special mention from me.
Later on at home, although all the ice has thawed, SpongeBob is still very sick, so he calls Sandy to see what she can do, and she tells him that she's going to take him to the doctor. He's completely okay with this (apart from Sandy's Texan rambling), at least until Patrick comes around and tells him about the horrors of going to the doctor, like reading old magazines! Now this is one of the reasons people dislike this episode, as it feels like Patrick's manipulating SpongeBob into being tortured by him, which makes it a mix of a Clueless Idiot SpongeBob episode and SpongeBob Torture Plot episode. However, here are the positive things about this.
For one, SpongeBob can trust Patrick without me complaining about it like in Sandy's Rocket, because he's never been to the doctor before. Plus he hasn't got any other choice than to trust Patrick, because he has no other opinion from another person to be weakened and have the episode brought down as a result. Not to mention, each of Patrick's methods of "torturing" SpongeBob are just him trying to make SpongeBob feel better. Sure SpongeBob turns into a giant ball, but he wasn't intending it, and it's funny to see just how far he can go, even going as far as to turn SpongeBob's house into an Old English dungeon! Also unlike Sandy's Rocket, Sandy actually calls Patrick out for his actions, even saying that he should be arrested for impersonating a doctor, and solves the problem herself by taking SpongeBob to the doctor and curing him. Last but not least, Patrick gets his just desserts, no lollipop included. If it's an episode where Patrick harms someone and doesn't get called out on it or punished, then it's going to feel less enjoyable as a whole.
I should probably talk about the ending now, as it's easily the highlight of the episode. SpongeBob finally goes to the doctor and a giant hand by the name of Hans takes him into the medical room, which is actually the real world, and SpongeBob is now an actual sponge, and is being cured by being actually used for cleaning kitchens, and scrubbing Tom Kenny's back! Why SpongeBob doesn't need to breathe here as opposed to Tea at the Treedome is up for debate, but this might just be a simulated reality or something.
After that, SpongeBob gets a free lollipop, because I guess it's the law in cartoons to give all children (or manchildren) who go to the hospital lollipops, and Patrick sees an opportunity to get one himself. So the doctor (who's the same as the SDE/SE in I Was a Teenage Gary, but with a different colour palette, so I guess he's like the "Doctor Hibbert" of SpongeBob) gets Hans and takes Patrick into the live-action realm, and painfully abuses him by scrubbing him against painful surfaces. Although Patrick meant no harm for SpongeBob earlier in the episode, it's satisfying knowing that Sandy even acknowledged that Patrick was breaking the law…unlike a certain episode later on where Patrick impersonates a doctor and is never called out on it.
Like I said, the ending is definitely the best part of the episode. I'm not saying that the rest is bad, or even "meh", but it's certainly not as enjoyable. Overall, this episode is still fairly well done for SpongeBob at this point in time, even if it's a teeny bit forgettable. The ending is just what saves this from being an Average episode.
My rating for this episode on my personal scale would be a "Good".
On a scale of 1-10, it would be a 7/10.
It's worse than MuscleBob BuffPants, but better than Tea at the Treedome.
Up next is…one that I've shown to be a little hard on in the past. But for the meantime, I should just chill out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsBtQCDbTWc
:sbthumbs:
EmployeeAMillion
Season 12 Time!
Valentine's Day (Season 1, Episode 16a)
Original Airdate: February 14 2000 (Episode 32)
Plot: Patrick gets over-excited for SpongeBob's Valentine's Days gift to him
Written by Chuck Klein, Jay Lender and Merriwether Williams
[titlecard]16A[/titlecard]
Title Card Music: Nostalgic Hawaii
If you've known me for a while, you may know some of the things that I've called Valentine's Day:
A bad episode
The first bad episode in the series
My least favourite Season 1 episode
Among my least favourite pre-movie episodes
My least favourite pre-movie Patrick episode
As you can see, I haven't got a very high opinion of it. It's a shame too, because most of the worse episodes of the show at this point were just a bit mediocre. Suffice to say, I gave it another watch, and unfortunately, nothing's changed. While not as bad as I remember it, it's still a "Bad" episode, and here's why.
It opens with a montage of SpongeBob giving his friends Valentine's Day gifts. I don't really find this scene to be that funny, mostly because it establishes stuff that I already know; Squidward hates SpongeBob, Mrs Puff drives boats which meet a terrible fate when SpongeBob's within a 5-mile radius, and Plankton's tiny. I know that this is just a way to shoehorn jokes about them in for people who are used to these characters and the scenarios in which they interact with SpongeBob in, because newcomers would typically be alienated without sound or dialogue. However, the thing with this is that fans already know how SpongeBob interacts with these characters. I really wouldn't have minded them having a slightly bigger focus or just longer scenes.
We then go to Sandy's treedome and they exchange Valentine's Day gifts. Sandy gives SpongeBob an acorn-shaped heart-shaped valentine, and SpongeBob gives Sandy a bubble made of chocolate syrup. Cut to many 2000s kids trying and failing to make bubbles out of chocolate syrup. That appears to be a pretty great gift (although I'm not sure how Sandy opened her water helmet without a gush of water filling it up), but it's nothing compared to what SpongeBob has prepared for Patrick- a giant chocolate air balloon! I have to admit, that's a pretty creative idea, and a very SpongeBob-ish thing to make up.
SpongeBob then gives the plan that he's laid out for Sandy while blowing more chocolate bubbles putting on a James Bond-esque voice, which is pretty funny. The plan is that SpongeBob takes Patrick to the Valentine's Day Carnival where Sandy will come in and show Patrick his Valentine's Day gift, which isn't that bad of a plan. However, the episode just goes downhill the instant Patrick appears onscreen.
Yes, I know this may sound shocking, but Patrick is still my least favourite thing about this episode. A sign of this right off the bat is that his first joke is that he's preparing for SpongeBob's valentine, which is a rock, but when SpongeBob starts talking to him, he thinks that SpongeBob is inside the rock and breaks it, leaving his best friend's Valentine's Day gift as a pile of rubble. Aside from signalling that Patrick is going to be very self-destructive in this episode and not that likeable, at least for me, it's also a copy of a similar scene with the ice cream from Hall Monitor, except twice as long and with him accidentally ruining SpongeBob's holiday gift.
SpongeBob then decides to completely hype Patrick up for his gift, calling it the best ever, which it potentially is. However, Patrick gets a little bit…wierd when SpongeBob says he can't have it at this point in time. Why not? Because that would ruin the surprise, of course. What I mean by Patrick being wierd is that he's unusually hyperactive in this episode, constantly trying to find out what his gift is. If SpongeBob hadn't hyped it up to this extent, he wouldn't be acting exactly like this. I mean, before he realises that the gift isn't the carnival, he demands everyone get out because it's his! On top of just being a bit rude, especially for Patrick in Season 1, he'd have to be living under a rock (it's a figure of speech!) to not know that a giant Valentine's Day Carnival would be coming around on Valentine's Day, and even then, SpongeBob would have to have told him about it. Considering he wears a Valentine's Day shirt for half the episode, I think he ought to know that a carnival dedicated to the titular holiday would be in town!
Anyway, things seem to be going okay with Sandy taking the hot air balloon to the Valentine's Day Carnival, that is until the balloon gets attacked by chocolate eating scallops (interesting concept), and eventually goes off course. Meanwhile, Patrick is still trying to guess what his Valentine's Day gift is, getting more and more on my nerves. Honestly, I don't think that Patrick should be this hyperactive, in Season 1. He's supposed to be slow and dim-witted, even the worst Patrick episodes get that part about him right, for better or for worse (give I'm With Stupid some credit, he isn't bouncing around like a sugar high elementary schooler).
This hits a climax when he and SpongeBob are on the Ferris Wheel and he's shaking around, ready to explode of excitement despite SpongeBob having to go with the dreaded "Plan B". He shakes it so hard that it starts bouncing around! It's funny, but it's painfully out-of-character. I'd expect something like this from SpongeBob (in Season 4 or 5) sooner than Patrick. SpongeBob then proceeds to go ahead with "Plan B", which is presenting Patrick's Valentine's Day gift as just a friendly handshake, and here's where Patrick's behaviour starts going in the opposite direction.
He's gone from a sugar rush to a sugar low, as he wears a look of upmost disappointment and resentment on his face. People generally find it funny seeing Patrick with this look on his face contrasted with SpongeBob trying to have a fun time at the carnival, but I personally think it kills the mood. It gets the same reaction out of me as "Try Not To Laugh" videos on YouTube from 2007, in that knowing that it's supposed to be funny, and it's hammering in the fact that it's funny, it comes off as a bit less funny.
Then later, after seeing that SpongeBob gave much better Valentine's Day gifts to complete strangers than him, he just goes bezerk. Honestly, he acts like a complete spoiled brat, just because he didn't get a good gift from his best friend, even though he was right about to admit that it's the thought that counts! It just feels like heartless, hypocritical behaviour. It also tries to make me feel that this is all SpongeBob's fault for building it up so much for Patrick and giving him a cruddy gift when all else failed, when really, SpongeBob did nothing to deserve this. In fact, he put up with Patrick's immature attitude throughout the whole episode, so I have more than enough respect for him.
Another thing I don't like about this is that Patrick is at threat at causing damage to the Valentine's Day Carnival. He destroys a few things, and even attempts to break a ride by lifting it during his tantrum. Considering this is a mass event that lots of Bikini Bottomites would attend anually, there really should've been some guards or something to take him away or just calm him down. Honestly, that could've led to something. Instead, it ends up with Patrick about to "break something" of SpongeBob's (remember, SpongeBob still technically gave him a gift!), as well as saying he hates the other Bikini Bottomites for not giving him anything either! After all that, there's virtually no logical reason for the Bikini Bottomites to just throw Patrick some gifts at the last minute.
Then Sandy comes at the last minute, and we get 40 seconds of Patrick selfishly refusing to turn around, despite everyone on the dock yelling at him to do so. Remember, in an 11-minute (660-second) cartoon, that would be more than 6% of the episode. It's not that painful to sit through, but you've got to make precious time with your jokes, most of the other jokes/scenes in this episode were just over 3%, making the time spent feel more apparent.
Sandy calls out to him and he turns around and finally gets his reward, which would be good payoff, but after everything they've been through…:/. He then takes a bite out of it and it explodes all over the carnival (despite it just deflating earlier when the chocolate eating scallop bit into it), and Patrick says, "Oh SpongeBob, you didn't have to get me anything.", which essentially ruins the episode for me. I would've forgiven it had Patrick actually learned something, and been called out for it more, or gotten punishment, especially after Suds (which came out later, but even then, there's some earlier episodes like Jellyfishing where he's not a complete karma houdini), which as I said has one of the most satisfying endings for a SpongeBob episode. Like I said, it sort of feels like the episode is manipulating me into putting SpongeBob in the wrong for going Mighty No 9 with Patrick's gift, but it was just a misunderstanding.
Female dogging and moaning about Patrick aside, is there anything that I liked about this episode? Well, some of the jokes were okay. Not great, but they certainly get a pass. For instance, Patrick getting so desperate so find his gift that he guesses Paramecium (only in Season 1, ladies and gentlemen), showing just how desperate he is to find a gift, even if it's at the expense of him being OOC (out of character). Not only that, but I also get a bit of a kick out of watching him jumping off of "Mt Climb Up And Fall Off". Call me a sadist, but my enjoyment for that moment grows every time I watch this episode.
Another thing that I'd like to note is that this might have some of the most on-model animation for SpongeBob at this point in the series. There are many more angles of him from the frontal view than before, and whenever he's jumping around like Mario on a trampoline, his animation feels a bit more cartoony, like they just traced over promotional art. I consider this a good thing, as it makes him easier to look at, even though he never looks this clean in any other episode in the show's early days.
You have my whole hearted permission to tear my heart out and burn my body on a pile of newspapers, because I still hate this episode. Not a lot of the jokes are funny, Patrick is terribly OOC, and it's supposed to make me dislike SpongeBob for this whole mess happening, even though it's a misunderstanding story. I can see that they were going for a "Rocko's Modern Life" approach, in that it's slice of life exaggerated to cartoony effects, but when that's at the expense of characterization, then it fails on a certain level, because it generally makes a character less relateable. I don't really see why this is a fan favourite, and one of Tom Kenny's favourite episodes next to Help Wanted and Band Geeks, I really don't. He says that it was the "first great Patrick episode", which…I really need to let that sink in for myself.
Note: Tom Kenny actually works with the writers/producers and is the voice of SpongeBob himself, and probably has a better grasp on the show than I, or any of us for that matter, do. Then again, this is just my opinion on the episode, so there's no reason to get too mad, or think that I hate him. Remember, he was still practically my childhood, I can't stay mad at him. :)
My rating for this episode on my personal scale would be a "Bad".
On a scale of 1-10, it would be a 4/10.
It's worse than Jellyfishing.
Next episode is one that definitely made the papers back when it aired. Until then, Happy Valentine's Day from Nickelodeon!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fismZ428P5A
:sbthumbs:
Original Airdate: February 14 2000 (Episode 32)
Plot: Patrick gets over-excited for SpongeBob's Valentine's Days gift to him
Written by Chuck Klein, Jay Lender and Merriwether Williams
[titlecard]16A[/titlecard]
Title Card Music: Nostalgic Hawaii
If you've known me for a while, you may know some of the things that I've called Valentine's Day:
A bad episode
The first bad episode in the series
My least favourite Season 1 episode
Among my least favourite pre-movie episodes
My least favourite pre-movie Patrick episode
As you can see, I haven't got a very high opinion of it. It's a shame too, because most of the worse episodes of the show at this point were just a bit mediocre. Suffice to say, I gave it another watch, and unfortunately, nothing's changed. While not as bad as I remember it, it's still a "Bad" episode, and here's why.
It opens with a montage of SpongeBob giving his friends Valentine's Day gifts. I don't really find this scene to be that funny, mostly because it establishes stuff that I already know; Squidward hates SpongeBob, Mrs Puff drives boats which meet a terrible fate when SpongeBob's within a 5-mile radius, and Plankton's tiny. I know that this is just a way to shoehorn jokes about them in for people who are used to these characters and the scenarios in which they interact with SpongeBob in, because newcomers would typically be alienated without sound or dialogue. However, the thing with this is that fans already know how SpongeBob interacts with these characters. I really wouldn't have minded them having a slightly bigger focus or just longer scenes.
We then go to Sandy's treedome and they exchange Valentine's Day gifts. Sandy gives SpongeBob an acorn-shaped heart-shaped valentine, and SpongeBob gives Sandy a bubble made of chocolate syrup. Cut to many 2000s kids trying and failing to make bubbles out of chocolate syrup. That appears to be a pretty great gift (although I'm not sure how Sandy opened her water helmet without a gush of water filling it up), but it's nothing compared to what SpongeBob has prepared for Patrick- a giant chocolate air balloon! I have to admit, that's a pretty creative idea, and a very SpongeBob-ish thing to make up.
SpongeBob then gives the plan that he's laid out for Sandy while blowing more chocolate bubbles putting on a James Bond-esque voice, which is pretty funny. The plan is that SpongeBob takes Patrick to the Valentine's Day Carnival where Sandy will come in and show Patrick his Valentine's Day gift, which isn't that bad of a plan. However, the episode just goes downhill the instant Patrick appears onscreen.
Yes, I know this may sound shocking, but Patrick is still my least favourite thing about this episode. A sign of this right off the bat is that his first joke is that he's preparing for SpongeBob's valentine, which is a rock, but when SpongeBob starts talking to him, he thinks that SpongeBob is inside the rock and breaks it, leaving his best friend's Valentine's Day gift as a pile of rubble. Aside from signalling that Patrick is going to be very self-destructive in this episode and not that likeable, at least for me, it's also a copy of a similar scene with the ice cream from Hall Monitor, except twice as long and with him accidentally ruining SpongeBob's holiday gift.
SpongeBob then decides to completely hype Patrick up for his gift, calling it the best ever, which it potentially is. However, Patrick gets a little bit…wierd when SpongeBob says he can't have it at this point in time. Why not? Because that would ruin the surprise, of course. What I mean by Patrick being wierd is that he's unusually hyperactive in this episode, constantly trying to find out what his gift is. If SpongeBob hadn't hyped it up to this extent, he wouldn't be acting exactly like this. I mean, before he realises that the gift isn't the carnival, he demands everyone get out because it's his! On top of just being a bit rude, especially for Patrick in Season 1, he'd have to be living under a rock (it's a figure of speech!) to not know that a giant Valentine's Day Carnival would be coming around on Valentine's Day, and even then, SpongeBob would have to have told him about it. Considering he wears a Valentine's Day shirt for half the episode, I think he ought to know that a carnival dedicated to the titular holiday would be in town!
Anyway, things seem to be going okay with Sandy taking the hot air balloon to the Valentine's Day Carnival, that is until the balloon gets attacked by chocolate eating scallops (interesting concept), and eventually goes off course. Meanwhile, Patrick is still trying to guess what his Valentine's Day gift is, getting more and more on my nerves. Honestly, I don't think that Patrick should be this hyperactive, in Season 1. He's supposed to be slow and dim-witted, even the worst Patrick episodes get that part about him right, for better or for worse (give I'm With Stupid some credit, he isn't bouncing around like a sugar high elementary schooler).
This hits a climax when he and SpongeBob are on the Ferris Wheel and he's shaking around, ready to explode of excitement despite SpongeBob having to go with the dreaded "Plan B". He shakes it so hard that it starts bouncing around! It's funny, but it's painfully out-of-character. I'd expect something like this from SpongeBob (in Season 4 or 5) sooner than Patrick. SpongeBob then proceeds to go ahead with "Plan B", which is presenting Patrick's Valentine's Day gift as just a friendly handshake, and here's where Patrick's behaviour starts going in the opposite direction.
He's gone from a sugar rush to a sugar low, as he wears a look of upmost disappointment and resentment on his face. People generally find it funny seeing Patrick with this look on his face contrasted with SpongeBob trying to have a fun time at the carnival, but I personally think it kills the mood. It gets the same reaction out of me as "Try Not To Laugh" videos on YouTube from 2007, in that knowing that it's supposed to be funny, and it's hammering in the fact that it's funny, it comes off as a bit less funny.
Then later, after seeing that SpongeBob gave much better Valentine's Day gifts to complete strangers than him, he just goes bezerk. Honestly, he acts like a complete spoiled brat, just because he didn't get a good gift from his best friend, even though he was right about to admit that it's the thought that counts! It just feels like heartless, hypocritical behaviour. It also tries to make me feel that this is all SpongeBob's fault for building it up so much for Patrick and giving him a cruddy gift when all else failed, when really, SpongeBob did nothing to deserve this. In fact, he put up with Patrick's immature attitude throughout the whole episode, so I have more than enough respect for him.
Another thing I don't like about this is that Patrick is at threat at causing damage to the Valentine's Day Carnival. He destroys a few things, and even attempts to break a ride by lifting it during his tantrum. Considering this is a mass event that lots of Bikini Bottomites would attend anually, there really should've been some guards or something to take him away or just calm him down. Honestly, that could've led to something. Instead, it ends up with Patrick about to "break something" of SpongeBob's (remember, SpongeBob still technically gave him a gift!), as well as saying he hates the other Bikini Bottomites for not giving him anything either! After all that, there's virtually no logical reason for the Bikini Bottomites to just throw Patrick some gifts at the last minute.
Then Sandy comes at the last minute, and we get 40 seconds of Patrick selfishly refusing to turn around, despite everyone on the dock yelling at him to do so. Remember, in an 11-minute (660-second) cartoon, that would be more than 6% of the episode. It's not that painful to sit through, but you've got to make precious time with your jokes, most of the other jokes/scenes in this episode were just over 3%, making the time spent feel more apparent.
Sandy calls out to him and he turns around and finally gets his reward, which would be good payoff, but after everything they've been through…:/. He then takes a bite out of it and it explodes all over the carnival (despite it just deflating earlier when the chocolate eating scallop bit into it), and Patrick says, "Oh SpongeBob, you didn't have to get me anything.", which essentially ruins the episode for me. I would've forgiven it had Patrick actually learned something, and been called out for it more, or gotten punishment, especially after Suds (which came out later, but even then, there's some earlier episodes like Jellyfishing where he's not a complete karma houdini), which as I said has one of the most satisfying endings for a SpongeBob episode. Like I said, it sort of feels like the episode is manipulating me into putting SpongeBob in the wrong for going Mighty No 9 with Patrick's gift, but it was just a misunderstanding.
Female dogging and moaning about Patrick aside, is there anything that I liked about this episode? Well, some of the jokes were okay. Not great, but they certainly get a pass. For instance, Patrick getting so desperate so find his gift that he guesses Paramecium (only in Season 1, ladies and gentlemen), showing just how desperate he is to find a gift, even if it's at the expense of him being OOC (out of character). Not only that, but I also get a bit of a kick out of watching him jumping off of "Mt Climb Up And Fall Off". Call me a sadist, but my enjoyment for that moment grows every time I watch this episode.
Another thing that I'd like to note is that this might have some of the most on-model animation for SpongeBob at this point in the series. There are many more angles of him from the frontal view than before, and whenever he's jumping around like Mario on a trampoline, his animation feels a bit more cartoony, like they just traced over promotional art. I consider this a good thing, as it makes him easier to look at, even though he never looks this clean in any other episode in the show's early days.
You have my whole hearted permission to tear my heart out and burn my body on a pile of newspapers, because I still hate this episode. Not a lot of the jokes are funny, Patrick is terribly OOC, and it's supposed to make me dislike SpongeBob for this whole mess happening, even though it's a misunderstanding story. I can see that they were going for a "Rocko's Modern Life" approach, in that it's slice of life exaggerated to cartoony effects, but when that's at the expense of characterization, then it fails on a certain level, because it generally makes a character less relateable. I don't really see why this is a fan favourite, and one of Tom Kenny's favourite episodes next to Help Wanted and Band Geeks, I really don't. He says that it was the "first great Patrick episode", which…I really need to let that sink in for myself.
Note: Tom Kenny actually works with the writers/producers and is the voice of SpongeBob himself, and probably has a better grasp on the show than I, or any of us for that matter, do. Then again, this is just my opinion on the episode, so there's no reason to get too mad, or think that I hate him. Remember, he was still practically my childhood, I can't stay mad at him. :)
My rating for this episode on my personal scale would be a "Bad".
On a scale of 1-10, it would be a 4/10.
It's worse than Jellyfishing.
Next episode is one that definitely made the papers back when it aired. Until then, Happy Valentine's Day from Nickelodeon!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fismZ428P5A
:sbthumbs:
FaLaLaLaLa Un-i-ver-rse
What year do I come back again?
My reaction to the next episode:
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I love Valentine's Day (No pun intended)
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I love Valentine's Day (No pun intended)
EmployeeAMillion
Season 12 Time!
The Paper (Season 1, Episode 16b)
Original Airdate: February 14 1999 (Episode 33)
Plot: SpongeBob fiddles around with some paper that Squidward proclaims to be "garbage"
Written by Chuck Klein, Jay Lender and Mr Lawrence
[titlecard]16B[/titlecard]
Title Card Music: Grass Skirts Blowing
This is usually seen as one of the best STPs of the Classic era, and subsequently, of all time. Considering the first few episodes that I could classify as STPs (Jellyfishing, Naughty Nautical Neighbours and Opposite Day) have been hit-or-miss when it comes to just how much Squidward really deserves to be in the predicament he's in. It's still a rule that he has to end with less than he started, with this episode in particular being quite a literal example, but the way he acts in the first two doesn't make the torture nearly as satisfying enough for the viewers as the latter did. So i didn't set my hopes very high for this episode, but going back and watching it, I'm surprised I didn't set them higher.
It begins the way you'd expect an STP would, Squidward relaxes, does one thing wrong, SpongeBob tries to tell Squidward about this wrong thing, and Squidward's relaxation time ends just like that. I really like how Squidward knows that it's going to go to the crud the second SpongeBob notices the litter he threw on the ground, and tries to pack up. It's great bit of self-referential humour, as if he knows where this is going to go and how it's all going to end, but I'll explain the genius of how it ends later.
SpongeBob is incredibly OCD in this episode, and feels the need to bother Squidward about giving the piece of bubblegum wrapper (which is mistaken for paper) back to him for a solid minute. When I said that they really need to make time with their jokes instead of take time, this is one of the best examples of that. It's a minute-long scene of SpongeBob bothering Squidward, with several jokes and funny moments spicing it up, not a minute-long scene with a minute-long joke that's expected to be funny automatically, because it goes on for so long.
Not to mention, it's ended satisfyingly enough when Squidward spells it out to him as clear as day that he no longer wants the paper. We then get SpongeBob just being a goofball and playing around with the piece of paper, spending a good long while giggling to himself because he's just gonna have that much fun. This sets the audience's expectations high if you're on SpongeBob's side, and if you're on Squidward's side, you're still going to expect something amusing, or just something.
Now onto SpongeBob being a goofball with the piece of paper. It's handled very well when it comes to how far SpongeBob goes with having fun with the paper in such a short amount of time. But the end of it, I'm pretty sure he's bending reality more than actually playing with the paper. Remember, the first couple, like the impressions and doing bullfighting with Gary, are more him using his
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbPWe9U4uPU
than performing feats beyond logic. You may call this unfair on Squidward, but remember, SpongeBob's powers with using the paper for fun seem to be building and reaching ridiculous heights more and more as the episode progresses, eventually being able to play music with it and hover over the ground like a helicopter! That's both impressive and funny!
All the while, Squidward is finding himself more and more susceptible to the paper's charm, even though he doesn't want to admit it, and even when he tries to find other hobbies like ventriloquism,
[titlecard]79A[/titlecard]
Hopefully, just hopefully I can find a SpongeBob episode that doesn't predict the future of SpongeBob. One day. Anyway, oh yeah, when he tries to find other hobbies like go-carting, he's always outsmarted, or at least bested, by SpongeBob. Squidward wouldn't be this stressed if he had just started using the paper when fate gave it to him, which makes sense in a cartoon. If this were the real world, it would be highly questionable as to if this whole thing is even fair on Squidward, but since it's a comedy cartoon, it's allowed to stretch the limits, and unlike Valentine's Day, has the characters stretch the limits as opposed to the limits stretching the characters.
Squidward eventually can't take it anymore, and tries to get the paper back by force, but SpongeBob won't allow him, or even change his facial expression, because-it's ended satisfyingly enough when Squidward spells it out to him as clear as day that he no longer wants the paper.-what just happened? Well, that right there was supposed to imitate the scene where SpongeBob uses his paper like a flipbook to replay the scene from earlier in the episode where Squidward said something along the lines of, "You can have the paper, not matter what I do, never give it back to me!" The fact that they literally just replayed footage from the episode to show the difference Squidward's attitude has taken upon seeing the possibilities of the paper is just hilarious.
With that knowledge, Squidward tries to go above and beyond with what is an acceptable bargain for a piece of paper, even his entire house, with SpongeBob seeing it all as just a test, and he tells Squidward that he won't let him down. Unfrontunately, Squidward's shirt, the last thing left to bet for, is the straw that breaks SpongeBob's camel's back (wait, he has a camel?), as he's always loved that shirt. Eh, at least it's less creepy than being stimulated by Squidward's breathing. With that, here's just the pure genius of the episode.
Squidward gets the paper after all this time, and tries to have fun with it. Unfortunately, he's essentially forcing the fun onto himself, and as such, feels less imaginative and more boring. Remember, SpongeBob didn't force anything upon the paper, he just wanted to have a good time. Squidward is trying to do exactly what SpongeBob did, but that magic, that spark of imagination just isn't there. This might be the part of looking deep into things where you give up and say that the world is being hard on Squidward simply because he's not SpongeBob, but digging deeper, his pessemistic view on life is what drives the episode's ending home. He found no redeeming value in the paper whatsoever until SpongeBob found enjoyment out of it, and now he's lost everything he owns and Patrick comes along and throws it away. You could say this was a stupid and jerkish thing of Patrick to do, as it was everything Squidward owned, but Squidward flat-out said, or was at least going to say, that the paper was worthless. So there, it's a little stressful and complicated, but I there's why I think the ending is fair and well-deserved.
Anything else that I would like to say about this episode before I finish off? Well, it's really, really funny. This is one of those episodes that's always on the move and is always bringing the audience something brand new in terms of it's jokes. Seriously, there's a whole range of jokes here, and while not all of them are good, especially towards the end (I said it was well thought out, not funny), they're all creative. On a sidenote, those oral-gami children will haunt my nightmares.
My rating for this episode on my personal scale would be a "Good".
On a scale of 1-10, it would be a 8/10.
It's worse than Plankton!, but better than Help Wanted.
Coming up next is a real treasure in Season 1. Until then, ladies and gentlemen, The Beatles!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVixELx-jZc
:sbthumbs:
Original Airdate: February 14 1999 (Episode 33)
Plot: SpongeBob fiddles around with some paper that Squidward proclaims to be "garbage"
Written by Chuck Klein, Jay Lender and Mr Lawrence
[titlecard]16B[/titlecard]
Title Card Music: Grass Skirts Blowing
This is usually seen as one of the best STPs of the Classic era, and subsequently, of all time. Considering the first few episodes that I could classify as STPs (Jellyfishing, Naughty Nautical Neighbours and Opposite Day) have been hit-or-miss when it comes to just how much Squidward really deserves to be in the predicament he's in. It's still a rule that he has to end with less than he started, with this episode in particular being quite a literal example, but the way he acts in the first two doesn't make the torture nearly as satisfying enough for the viewers as the latter did. So i didn't set my hopes very high for this episode, but going back and watching it, I'm surprised I didn't set them higher.
It begins the way you'd expect an STP would, Squidward relaxes, does one thing wrong, SpongeBob tries to tell Squidward about this wrong thing, and Squidward's relaxation time ends just like that. I really like how Squidward knows that it's going to go to the crud the second SpongeBob notices the litter he threw on the ground, and tries to pack up. It's great bit of self-referential humour, as if he knows where this is going to go and how it's all going to end, but I'll explain the genius of how it ends later.
SpongeBob is incredibly OCD in this episode, and feels the need to bother Squidward about giving the piece of bubblegum wrapper (which is mistaken for paper) back to him for a solid minute. When I said that they really need to make time with their jokes instead of take time, this is one of the best examples of that. It's a minute-long scene of SpongeBob bothering Squidward, with several jokes and funny moments spicing it up, not a minute-long scene with a minute-long joke that's expected to be funny automatically, because it goes on for so long.
Not to mention, it's ended satisfyingly enough when Squidward spells it out to him as clear as day that he no longer wants the paper. We then get SpongeBob just being a goofball and playing around with the piece of paper, spending a good long while giggling to himself because he's just gonna have that much fun. This sets the audience's expectations high if you're on SpongeBob's side, and if you're on Squidward's side, you're still going to expect something amusing, or just something.
Now onto SpongeBob being a goofball with the piece of paper. It's handled very well when it comes to how far SpongeBob goes with having fun with the paper in such a short amount of time. But the end of it, I'm pretty sure he's bending reality more than actually playing with the paper. Remember, the first couple, like the impressions and doing bullfighting with Gary, are more him using his
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbPWe9U4uPU
than performing feats beyond logic. You may call this unfair on Squidward, but remember, SpongeBob's powers with using the paper for fun seem to be building and reaching ridiculous heights more and more as the episode progresses, eventually being able to play music with it and hover over the ground like a helicopter! That's both impressive and funny!
All the while, Squidward is finding himself more and more susceptible to the paper's charm, even though he doesn't want to admit it, and even when he tries to find other hobbies like ventriloquism,
[titlecard]79A[/titlecard]
Hopefully, just hopefully I can find a SpongeBob episode that doesn't predict the future of SpongeBob. One day. Anyway, oh yeah, when he tries to find other hobbies like go-carting, he's always outsmarted, or at least bested, by SpongeBob. Squidward wouldn't be this stressed if he had just started using the paper when fate gave it to him, which makes sense in a cartoon. If this were the real world, it would be highly questionable as to if this whole thing is even fair on Squidward, but since it's a comedy cartoon, it's allowed to stretch the limits, and unlike Valentine's Day, has the characters stretch the limits as opposed to the limits stretching the characters.
Squidward eventually can't take it anymore, and tries to get the paper back by force, but SpongeBob won't allow him, or even change his facial expression, because-it's ended satisfyingly enough when Squidward spells it out to him as clear as day that he no longer wants the paper.-what just happened? Well, that right there was supposed to imitate the scene where SpongeBob uses his paper like a flipbook to replay the scene from earlier in the episode where Squidward said something along the lines of, "You can have the paper, not matter what I do, never give it back to me!" The fact that they literally just replayed footage from the episode to show the difference Squidward's attitude has taken upon seeing the possibilities of the paper is just hilarious.
With that knowledge, Squidward tries to go above and beyond with what is an acceptable bargain for a piece of paper, even his entire house, with SpongeBob seeing it all as just a test, and he tells Squidward that he won't let him down. Unfrontunately, Squidward's shirt, the last thing left to bet for, is the straw that breaks SpongeBob's camel's back (wait, he has a camel?), as he's always loved that shirt. Eh, at least it's less creepy than being stimulated by Squidward's breathing. With that, here's just the pure genius of the episode.
Squidward gets the paper after all this time, and tries to have fun with it. Unfortunately, he's essentially forcing the fun onto himself, and as such, feels less imaginative and more boring. Remember, SpongeBob didn't force anything upon the paper, he just wanted to have a good time. Squidward is trying to do exactly what SpongeBob did, but that magic, that spark of imagination just isn't there. This might be the part of looking deep into things where you give up and say that the world is being hard on Squidward simply because he's not SpongeBob, but digging deeper, his pessemistic view on life is what drives the episode's ending home. He found no redeeming value in the paper whatsoever until SpongeBob found enjoyment out of it, and now he's lost everything he owns and Patrick comes along and throws it away. You could say this was a stupid and jerkish thing of Patrick to do, as it was everything Squidward owned, but Squidward flat-out said, or was at least going to say, that the paper was worthless. So there, it's a little stressful and complicated, but I there's why I think the ending is fair and well-deserved.
Anything else that I would like to say about this episode before I finish off? Well, it's really, really funny. This is one of those episodes that's always on the move and is always bringing the audience something brand new in terms of it's jokes. Seriously, there's a whole range of jokes here, and while not all of them are good, especially towards the end (I said it was well thought out, not funny), they're all creative. On a sidenote, those oral-gami children will haunt my nightmares.
My rating for this episode on my personal scale would be a "Good".
On a scale of 1-10, it would be a 8/10.
It's worse than Plankton!, but better than Help Wanted.
Coming up next is a real treasure in Season 1. Until then, ladies and gentlemen, The Beatles!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVixELx-jZc
:sbthumbs:
FaLaLaLaLa Un-i-ver-rse
What year do I come back again?
"Twitching intensifies"
Anyways, yay for the next episode
Anyways, yay for the next episode
BenPaz: Act Zero
My Waifu
Really?Supmandude said:
https://vimeo.com/129333972
Zimmy11
Use your imagination...
For your Valentines Day evaluation, I understand very clearly why you hate it but I just find it OK//good area, I mean sure Patrick was out of character here, but coming down to it, I think he has reasons;
Hyped (before handshake): I didn't care much for his behaviour here like you did, but it's going to be a gift from his best friend.
Rampage (after handshake): There's a reason Patrick was on a rampage and it's a really dark and clever one. Let's put it this back to hyped Patrick, you can tell his hype, but coming to think about, what did SpongeBob say to Patrick to begin his hype? He told him it's the greatest gift ever, you can already tell that I'm going to point out that the handshake was a bit of a let down and he should just try and remain cool, but then you have to remember that SpongeBob has dragged through all this guessing and believe me, without hyped Patrick (as much as I don't really care much for him), we wouldn't have rampage Patrick.
Hyped (before handshake): I didn't care much for his behaviour here like you did, but it's going to be a gift from his best friend.
Rampage (after handshake): There's a reason Patrick was on a rampage and it's a really dark and clever one. Let's put it this back to hyped Patrick, you can tell his hype, but coming to think about, what did SpongeBob say to Patrick to begin his hype? He told him it's the greatest gift ever, you can already tell that I'm going to point out that the handshake was a bit of a let down and he should just try and remain cool, but then you have to remember that SpongeBob has dragged through all this guessing and believe me, without hyped Patrick (as much as I don't really care much for him), we wouldn't have rampage Patrick.