hippythehippo
Banished
After all the garbage you had to put up with, IASBC should get a 10/10 right?
Re-Evaluating my opinions on SpongeBob Season 1-8
- Thread starter EmployeeAMillion
- Start date
Depressed Luigi
Dead Inspector
LOL at you actually posting this on this topic
EmployeeAMillion
Season 13 Time!
It’s a SpongeBob Christmas! (Season 8, Episode 23)
Original Airdate: November 23 2012*
Episode 335 in standard order, Episode 348 in airing order, Episode 347 in order of general release
*released on DVD November 6 2012, premiered on CBS first, later Nickelodeon on December 6 2012
Plot: Plankton makes everyone a jerk on Christmas Eve using fruitcake laced with “Jerktonium”
Written by Luke Brookshier, Marc Ceccarelli, Derek Iversen and Mr Lawrence
[titlecard]175[/titlecard]
Title Card Music: Magic Holiday Morning
As far as Post-Movie specials go, it doesn’t get much better than this. As one of the last major events in this era of the show, you wouldn’t expect anything that extravagant, but just a few seconds of footage are enough to make anyone’s head turn around. Being the successor to Christmas Who? isn’t easy, given just how well it introduced Christmas to Bikini Bottom. The fact that this special ranks among people’s all-time favourite episodes says something. There’s some serious debate over whether it’s better than the original though, because although that one had more heart, this one has far more ambition in its animation and scope. Care to see which one completes all the scenery?
At last, Patchy’s back in action, and he’s far more tolerable than in the last special he was a part of. It’s the first time he’s animated, and I think that’s what makes him so great in this. You can exaggerate the guy any further without flat-out making him a cartoon character. It helps that his segments are rather funny, focusing on his campy comedy more than some story about him being this wierdo manchild. As for what little there is of the story, he and Potty are travelling to the North Pole to visit Santa. It’s rather basic, but they manage to go places and make each cut back to them unique. Thank Neptune that the cuts are edited logically here, and there are just 4, clocking in at about a minute each.
Each of them sees them get a little closer to their destination, with some comical inconveniences along the way. There’s a literal fork in the road that cuts into a wheel and spins their mail van out of control, then they’re forced to fend for themselves in the wilderness, going through the old “picture each other as food” gag. The last vignette involes Patchy thinking he’s found Santa’s workshop and sharing his Christmas wish to meet SpongeBob SquarePants...before discovering he’s in a cave and is about to get eaten by a polar bear. His whole story is rather crazy, and it makes sense to have it be animated like the rest of the episode. It’s honestly one of my favourite set of skits from him, and I’m unsure why they weren’t included on the CBS premiere.
Now to talk about SpongeBob’s story, and it’s fantastically cheesy. It starts around the Christmas holidays, with SpongeBob singing a number about how much he loves the holiday spirit. I’ll bring up the animation again and again in this review, but this opening does a good job of getting you accustomed to it. It seems downright surreal at first, but with a nice song, it eases you into the style. Not only that, but SpongeBob goes to several locations, such as around Conch Street, Sandy’s treedome and the Krusty Krab, to make the world of Bikini Bottom a little more familiar. It’s cheerful, upbeat, and that’s all I’d ask for in an opening to a Christmas special, just getting that rush of joy out there.
Everything seems all fine and dandy until Plankton concludes the song, hating Christmas because Santa keeps giving him coal. Given his main job is being a thief, it’s no wonder he’s on the naughty list. He has a plan though, to make everyone else a jerk so he looks nice in comparison, and he’s got the right mineral for the job- “jerktonium”. It’s apparently a very rare element on the periodic table, which Plankton slaps a square of on, which is code for “completely fictional element”. It’s also something so mindless that it works in SpongeBob from a joke standpoint, something physical that makes you more hostile. If it isn’t related to or powered by Android phones, I don’t know what else.
Anyway, he sprinkles it onto fruitcake and plans to sell it to everyone in town. Given how the treat was comically bashed back in Christmas Who?, with everyone in town only pretending to like fruitcake, I guess they changed the ingredients up to make it more tolerable, especially underwater. He heads out to the streets in a fruitcake-shaped van and gets SpongeBob to be his first customer. SpongeBob isn’t that affected by the fruitcake, and Plankton ends up feeding him tons of it in the hopes he’ll become a jerk, which doesn’t happen. I like this scene, because it highlights what Kenny and Lawrence want the dynamic between SpongeBob and Plankton to be like. One’s always unintentionally thwarting the other’s schemes due to his good nature, which was the kind of thing Hillenburg wanted, and this whole fruitcake-feeding scene feels like something from very early Season 1, it’s just that in-line with the show and its principles.
After launching a baker’s dozen fruitcake into SpongeBob’s mouth with him showing no side effects, Plankton gives up and allows SpongeBob to travel around town and give others the fruitcake. However, everyone else instantly becomes meaner upon taking a bite, which leads to some good instant hatred-type humour. You get some carollers arguing over what song they should sing, and a parade ruined by SpongeBob’s presence. Once again, it’s the sort of thing Hillenburg wanted his show to be about, and it’s great to see that exchange function in a Christmas special. It helps that I really love the joke of a Santa guy turning on a kid asking for stuff, by saying he should work for those things.
With SpongeBob accidentallt spreading holiday dread and Plankton’s scheme being a success, he goes along with his new Plan B. Since SpongeBob wasn’t affected because he’s too pure for this world, Plankton builds a silver robot duplicate of him to cause mayhem, and ensure the absorbent oddball’s place on the naughty list. I like this “toybot” idea, because of how destructive it is and how it proves that even SpongeBob’s not safe from having his Christmas ruined, but I wish he was given more attention. He’s just in this introductory scene, annoying Squidward as the normal SpongeBob would, and in the climax, though you could connect the dots and assume he was being a bad egg offscreen while SpongeBob stayed a good noodle.
The next day, on Christmas Eve, SpongeBob wakes up to find his neighbourhood even more hostile than usual. Patrick’s plan to trap Santa has gotten more vicious, with him building a tiger den for him, and Squidward is still being Squidward, I guess. SpongeBob assumes it’s the holiday jitters, but when he goes over to see Sandy, they discover that the root of all the meanness in Bikini Bottom lately was the fruitcake. Sandy then discovers what the audience knows, that SpongeBob got the fruitcake from Plankton, which was laced with jerktonium, and they find out that the cure can be found in a song. SpongeBob mouths a few notes of it, and Sanddy returns to normal. It’s that good old Christmas special logic that works to your emotions’ advantage. You want to see all the characters happy again, so you’ll accept that the resolution can be found in a song. It helps that it’s a darn good song aswell.
Things seem to go well after this, with SpongeBob curing everyone in town of their bad attitudes, but it’s too late, as Santa comes tonight tonight, voiced by John Goodman, and alerts the town that only Plankton’s landed on his nice list, and gets his Christmas wish, the Krabby Patty secret formula. What could possibly be done to rectify this climax and return everything to normal? SpongeBob battling his robot duplicate, who’s landed him on the naughty list and is still burning and breaking things. They have a battle of epic proportions, that’s ended with the robot exploding from a bunch of fruitcake. It feels like something from Battle for Bikini Bottom, with just how silly the combat and situation are. With that, SpongeBob’s name is cleared, Santa revokes Plankton’s gift after finding out that he created the toybot, and leaves wishing Bikini Bottom a Merry Christmas. It’s all a rather random ending, and I don’t like elfish Santa as much as the strange live-action one from the last special, but it leaves you on a high, happy note.
I was expecting this episode to just be a bunch of holiday fluff, but it’s actually really funny. There are a ton of fantastic jokes like Squidward hanging up Christmas lights that just say “GO AWAY” allow the comedy to further make you familiar with Bikini Bottom. Whenever there’s a character-driven joke, like Mr Krabs throwing Plankton at Santa’s sled, it works well, due to the timing, performance and joy put into every joke. Unlike most other specials, there isn’t some running gag in the SpongeBob segments, each joke feels self-contained, even the ones the focus on a single continuous character.
You know something’s gone right when even the Patchy stuff’s funny. Although not exactly witty, it’s filled with good jokes, like Patchy stealing a mailvan in hopes of getting to Santa quicker, and the way he flies over to what he thinks is Santa in his workshop. Little goofy things like those give the segments a cartoonier feel, which I think is a rare instance of Pre-Sequel writers taking criticism and working around it. Many people don’t like Patchy because his style of comedy can be too awkward for live-action, so testing if he can work as animation was genius, and it paid off big time. If there’s one aspect to the episode’s comedy I don’t like, it’d have to be Patrick and his role. The main joke with him is that he’s trying to capture Santa so it can be Christmas forever, but setting up traps, even before he’s exposed to jerktonium, seems to malicious.
Now here are 2 paragraphs of me just gushing about the animation. Good lord did Screen Novelties go all-out in making it beautiful. In case you’re blind, it’s animated using stip-motion, to bring it closer to the Rankin Bass specials it’s influenced by. It doesn’t take long to get used to with how closely the sets resemble the 2D show, but it has its own feel. Many of the locations are smaller and darker than in the show, like SpongeBob’s pineapple and the Chum Bucket, but that gives them a cozier feeling that contrasts well with the exterior sets. By the way, did anyone else notice that the sand is blue? Sure it could also be snow, but in that case, there’s next to no sand present in the episode. It’s a welcome change that makes the warm colours more striking.
As for the character design, it’s fantastic. Each one looks like a brilliant translation from 2D, with the textures and faces being what you’d imagine them to look like as puppets. It surprises me that, with a reduced range, they remain just as expressive and alive as they do in hand-drawn animation. That shows craftsmanship on Screen Novelties’ behalf. I’ll admit though, I was caught off guard by Patchy’s massive jaw at first, but I eventually got used to it. Real people being animated are best when they’re caricatures after all. If there’s one thing that bugs me though, is that instead of remaking the title sequence here, they chose to crop the Christmas Who? version to widescreen. Personally, I’d rather have old footage letterboxed than cropped for a different aspect ratio, but I understand that it was just for this episode and Season 9 episodes would later show the original intro letterboxed (at least before having it revamped at the very end).
Just like the story, the characters feel different here, but in a great way. SpongeBob loving the holiday and singing about his enthusiasm is a given, and I love how he’s always trying to be happy, even when everyone around him’s turning into a jerk. I guess him being immune to jerktonium is excused in a weak way, considering even children were affected by it. It can be brushed off with the same reason the song makes everyone nice again, Christmas special logic. It feels like the other main character of the special, though in more of a villainous context, is Plankton. It’s not just your typical Grinchy “I hate Christmas” behaviour, as he genuinely wants a gift from Santa and believes in the naught/nice lists. He’s quite fun to be around, and I’m surprised Karen didn’t outshine him. I guess they wanted to keep her actions as basic as possible, since she seemed to be the hardest to animate.
Despite getting hit hard by the jerktonium, Sandy proves herself to be useless even when she’s grumpy, which is nice to see. She care enough about SpongeBob that he’ll help him out, even if she can’t help but be cranky. As for the new Santa Claus they animate, he’s voiced by John Goodman, I’ll give him that. I think the choice to make him an elf wasn’t that great, but I think the voice fits him well. Just imagine a “same voice actor” thread, and put the Big Lebowski and Santa side-by-side, it’s amazing. As for the other characters, they’re fine as comic relief. Squidward, Patrick and Mr Krabs only have bit parts, and Pearl and Mrs Puff only appear in montages, but I’ve seen them enough on the show as it is, and despite being a special, I wouldn’t want this episode to be too bloated.
This special’s one of those musical ones, but in a surprise change of fate, all the songs are good. First there’s “Santa’s got his Eye on Me”, which is mostly festive fluff. It does a good job of giving us insight into how much SpongeBob values the holiday and loves happiness, even if spreading it across 6 characters feels like a bit too much. Then there’s “Hot Fruitcake”, which keeps the “jerkification” scene (don’t take that the wrong way) a little easier to sit through. SpongeBob’s spreading cheer, but things are going wrong, making both the song and the story beats interesting.
Lastly, there’s one of the best songs in SpongeBob history, “Don’t Be a Jerk (It’s Christmas)”. What started as a little novelty song Tom Kenny wrote in 2009 became the feature presentation for this special. All the visuals are warm and filled with love, SpongeBob bouncing around Bikini Bottom making everyone nicer is just a joy, and the lyrics are funny. A problem with SpongeBob’s songs is they’re occasionally too jokey and rely on painful rhymes, but the ones here actually tie into the theme of not being mean (“There’s a sign above the line that says express, that means 10 items or less”). It’s a fantastic song, and proclaims the message loud and clear- the worst kind of Christmas is a mean-spirited one, so let’s try and avoid that.
What a special! Almost everything I can say about it is positive. Even if it weren’t stop-motion animated, I’d still consider it better than Christmas Who?. Let me explain, although that one made you want to give and was filled with more emotion, the ending felt satisfying due to how cynical the rest of the third act was. I can watch It’s a SpongeBob Christmas! the whole way through and have a big, goofy smile on my face, for the story and jokes alone. Keep in mind, this would just be a very close call, but this one has the added advantage of having a unique yet gorgeous art style, which just gets you into the holiday spirit more. Still, they’re fantastic examples of Christmas specials for different reasons. I don’t watch them every December, but after being reminded of how good they are here, I have to change my mind.
Final Verdict: Spongy 9/10 (not perfect, but still among the best)
Not Normal < It’s a SpongeBob Christmas!
Question of the Day: What’s your favourite song from these specials?
There are five episodes left, so let’s get up and go! And please, don’t be a jerk.
:sbthumbs:
Original Airdate: November 23 2012*
Episode 335 in standard order, Episode 348 in airing order, Episode 347 in order of general release
*released on DVD November 6 2012, premiered on CBS first, later Nickelodeon on December 6 2012
Plot: Plankton makes everyone a jerk on Christmas Eve using fruitcake laced with “Jerktonium”
Written by Luke Brookshier, Marc Ceccarelli, Derek Iversen and Mr Lawrence
[titlecard]175[/titlecard]
Title Card Music: Magic Holiday Morning
As far as Post-Movie specials go, it doesn’t get much better than this. As one of the last major events in this era of the show, you wouldn’t expect anything that extravagant, but just a few seconds of footage are enough to make anyone’s head turn around. Being the successor to Christmas Who? isn’t easy, given just how well it introduced Christmas to Bikini Bottom. The fact that this special ranks among people’s all-time favourite episodes says something. There’s some serious debate over whether it’s better than the original though, because although that one had more heart, this one has far more ambition in its animation and scope. Care to see which one completes all the scenery?
At last, Patchy’s back in action, and he’s far more tolerable than in the last special he was a part of. It’s the first time he’s animated, and I think that’s what makes him so great in this. You can exaggerate the guy any further without flat-out making him a cartoon character. It helps that his segments are rather funny, focusing on his campy comedy more than some story about him being this wierdo manchild. As for what little there is of the story, he and Potty are travelling to the North Pole to visit Santa. It’s rather basic, but they manage to go places and make each cut back to them unique. Thank Neptune that the cuts are edited logically here, and there are just 4, clocking in at about a minute each.
Each of them sees them get a little closer to their destination, with some comical inconveniences along the way. There’s a literal fork in the road that cuts into a wheel and spins their mail van out of control, then they’re forced to fend for themselves in the wilderness, going through the old “picture each other as food” gag. The last vignette involes Patchy thinking he’s found Santa’s workshop and sharing his Christmas wish to meet SpongeBob SquarePants...before discovering he’s in a cave and is about to get eaten by a polar bear. His whole story is rather crazy, and it makes sense to have it be animated like the rest of the episode. It’s honestly one of my favourite set of skits from him, and I’m unsure why they weren’t included on the CBS premiere.
Now to talk about SpongeBob’s story, and it’s fantastically cheesy. It starts around the Christmas holidays, with SpongeBob singing a number about how much he loves the holiday spirit. I’ll bring up the animation again and again in this review, but this opening does a good job of getting you accustomed to it. It seems downright surreal at first, but with a nice song, it eases you into the style. Not only that, but SpongeBob goes to several locations, such as around Conch Street, Sandy’s treedome and the Krusty Krab, to make the world of Bikini Bottom a little more familiar. It’s cheerful, upbeat, and that’s all I’d ask for in an opening to a Christmas special, just getting that rush of joy out there.
Everything seems all fine and dandy until Plankton concludes the song, hating Christmas because Santa keeps giving him coal. Given his main job is being a thief, it’s no wonder he’s on the naughty list. He has a plan though, to make everyone else a jerk so he looks nice in comparison, and he’s got the right mineral for the job- “jerktonium”. It’s apparently a very rare element on the periodic table, which Plankton slaps a square of on, which is code for “completely fictional element”. It’s also something so mindless that it works in SpongeBob from a joke standpoint, something physical that makes you more hostile. If it isn’t related to or powered by Android phones, I don’t know what else.
Anyway, he sprinkles it onto fruitcake and plans to sell it to everyone in town. Given how the treat was comically bashed back in Christmas Who?, with everyone in town only pretending to like fruitcake, I guess they changed the ingredients up to make it more tolerable, especially underwater. He heads out to the streets in a fruitcake-shaped van and gets SpongeBob to be his first customer. SpongeBob isn’t that affected by the fruitcake, and Plankton ends up feeding him tons of it in the hopes he’ll become a jerk, which doesn’t happen. I like this scene, because it highlights what Kenny and Lawrence want the dynamic between SpongeBob and Plankton to be like. One’s always unintentionally thwarting the other’s schemes due to his good nature, which was the kind of thing Hillenburg wanted, and this whole fruitcake-feeding scene feels like something from very early Season 1, it’s just that in-line with the show and its principles.
After launching a baker’s dozen fruitcake into SpongeBob’s mouth with him showing no side effects, Plankton gives up and allows SpongeBob to travel around town and give others the fruitcake. However, everyone else instantly becomes meaner upon taking a bite, which leads to some good instant hatred-type humour. You get some carollers arguing over what song they should sing, and a parade ruined by SpongeBob’s presence. Once again, it’s the sort of thing Hillenburg wanted his show to be about, and it’s great to see that exchange function in a Christmas special. It helps that I really love the joke of a Santa guy turning on a kid asking for stuff, by saying he should work for those things.
With SpongeBob accidentallt spreading holiday dread and Plankton’s scheme being a success, he goes along with his new Plan B. Since SpongeBob wasn’t affected because he’s too pure for this world, Plankton builds a silver robot duplicate of him to cause mayhem, and ensure the absorbent oddball’s place on the naughty list. I like this “toybot” idea, because of how destructive it is and how it proves that even SpongeBob’s not safe from having his Christmas ruined, but I wish he was given more attention. He’s just in this introductory scene, annoying Squidward as the normal SpongeBob would, and in the climax, though you could connect the dots and assume he was being a bad egg offscreen while SpongeBob stayed a good noodle.
The next day, on Christmas Eve, SpongeBob wakes up to find his neighbourhood even more hostile than usual. Patrick’s plan to trap Santa has gotten more vicious, with him building a tiger den for him, and Squidward is still being Squidward, I guess. SpongeBob assumes it’s the holiday jitters, but when he goes over to see Sandy, they discover that the root of all the meanness in Bikini Bottom lately was the fruitcake. Sandy then discovers what the audience knows, that SpongeBob got the fruitcake from Plankton, which was laced with jerktonium, and they find out that the cure can be found in a song. SpongeBob mouths a few notes of it, and Sanddy returns to normal. It’s that good old Christmas special logic that works to your emotions’ advantage. You want to see all the characters happy again, so you’ll accept that the resolution can be found in a song. It helps that it’s a darn good song aswell.
Things seem to go well after this, with SpongeBob curing everyone in town of their bad attitudes, but it’s too late, as Santa comes tonight tonight, voiced by John Goodman, and alerts the town that only Plankton’s landed on his nice list, and gets his Christmas wish, the Krabby Patty secret formula. What could possibly be done to rectify this climax and return everything to normal? SpongeBob battling his robot duplicate, who’s landed him on the naughty list and is still burning and breaking things. They have a battle of epic proportions, that’s ended with the robot exploding from a bunch of fruitcake. It feels like something from Battle for Bikini Bottom, with just how silly the combat and situation are. With that, SpongeBob’s name is cleared, Santa revokes Plankton’s gift after finding out that he created the toybot, and leaves wishing Bikini Bottom a Merry Christmas. It’s all a rather random ending, and I don’t like elfish Santa as much as the strange live-action one from the last special, but it leaves you on a high, happy note.
I was expecting this episode to just be a bunch of holiday fluff, but it’s actually really funny. There are a ton of fantastic jokes like Squidward hanging up Christmas lights that just say “GO AWAY” allow the comedy to further make you familiar with Bikini Bottom. Whenever there’s a character-driven joke, like Mr Krabs throwing Plankton at Santa’s sled, it works well, due to the timing, performance and joy put into every joke. Unlike most other specials, there isn’t some running gag in the SpongeBob segments, each joke feels self-contained, even the ones the focus on a single continuous character.
You know something’s gone right when even the Patchy stuff’s funny. Although not exactly witty, it’s filled with good jokes, like Patchy stealing a mailvan in hopes of getting to Santa quicker, and the way he flies over to what he thinks is Santa in his workshop. Little goofy things like those give the segments a cartoonier feel, which I think is a rare instance of Pre-Sequel writers taking criticism and working around it. Many people don’t like Patchy because his style of comedy can be too awkward for live-action, so testing if he can work as animation was genius, and it paid off big time. If there’s one aspect to the episode’s comedy I don’t like, it’d have to be Patrick and his role. The main joke with him is that he’s trying to capture Santa so it can be Christmas forever, but setting up traps, even before he’s exposed to jerktonium, seems to malicious.
Now here are 2 paragraphs of me just gushing about the animation. Good lord did Screen Novelties go all-out in making it beautiful. In case you’re blind, it’s animated using stip-motion, to bring it closer to the Rankin Bass specials it’s influenced by. It doesn’t take long to get used to with how closely the sets resemble the 2D show, but it has its own feel. Many of the locations are smaller and darker than in the show, like SpongeBob’s pineapple and the Chum Bucket, but that gives them a cozier feeling that contrasts well with the exterior sets. By the way, did anyone else notice that the sand is blue? Sure it could also be snow, but in that case, there’s next to no sand present in the episode. It’s a welcome change that makes the warm colours more striking.
As for the character design, it’s fantastic. Each one looks like a brilliant translation from 2D, with the textures and faces being what you’d imagine them to look like as puppets. It surprises me that, with a reduced range, they remain just as expressive and alive as they do in hand-drawn animation. That shows craftsmanship on Screen Novelties’ behalf. I’ll admit though, I was caught off guard by Patchy’s massive jaw at first, but I eventually got used to it. Real people being animated are best when they’re caricatures after all. If there’s one thing that bugs me though, is that instead of remaking the title sequence here, they chose to crop the Christmas Who? version to widescreen. Personally, I’d rather have old footage letterboxed than cropped for a different aspect ratio, but I understand that it was just for this episode and Season 9 episodes would later show the original intro letterboxed (at least before having it revamped at the very end).
Just like the story, the characters feel different here, but in a great way. SpongeBob loving the holiday and singing about his enthusiasm is a given, and I love how he’s always trying to be happy, even when everyone around him’s turning into a jerk. I guess him being immune to jerktonium is excused in a weak way, considering even children were affected by it. It can be brushed off with the same reason the song makes everyone nice again, Christmas special logic. It feels like the other main character of the special, though in more of a villainous context, is Plankton. It’s not just your typical Grinchy “I hate Christmas” behaviour, as he genuinely wants a gift from Santa and believes in the naught/nice lists. He’s quite fun to be around, and I’m surprised Karen didn’t outshine him. I guess they wanted to keep her actions as basic as possible, since she seemed to be the hardest to animate.
Despite getting hit hard by the jerktonium, Sandy proves herself to be useless even when she’s grumpy, which is nice to see. She care enough about SpongeBob that he’ll help him out, even if she can’t help but be cranky. As for the new Santa Claus they animate, he’s voiced by John Goodman, I’ll give him that. I think the choice to make him an elf wasn’t that great, but I think the voice fits him well. Just imagine a “same voice actor” thread, and put the Big Lebowski and Santa side-by-side, it’s amazing. As for the other characters, they’re fine as comic relief. Squidward, Patrick and Mr Krabs only have bit parts, and Pearl and Mrs Puff only appear in montages, but I’ve seen them enough on the show as it is, and despite being a special, I wouldn’t want this episode to be too bloated.
This special’s one of those musical ones, but in a surprise change of fate, all the songs are good. First there’s “Santa’s got his Eye on Me”, which is mostly festive fluff. It does a good job of giving us insight into how much SpongeBob values the holiday and loves happiness, even if spreading it across 6 characters feels like a bit too much. Then there’s “Hot Fruitcake”, which keeps the “jerkification” scene (don’t take that the wrong way) a little easier to sit through. SpongeBob’s spreading cheer, but things are going wrong, making both the song and the story beats interesting.
Lastly, there’s one of the best songs in SpongeBob history, “Don’t Be a Jerk (It’s Christmas)”. What started as a little novelty song Tom Kenny wrote in 2009 became the feature presentation for this special. All the visuals are warm and filled with love, SpongeBob bouncing around Bikini Bottom making everyone nicer is just a joy, and the lyrics are funny. A problem with SpongeBob’s songs is they’re occasionally too jokey and rely on painful rhymes, but the ones here actually tie into the theme of not being mean (“There’s a sign above the line that says express, that means 10 items or less”). It’s a fantastic song, and proclaims the message loud and clear- the worst kind of Christmas is a mean-spirited one, so let’s try and avoid that.
What a special! Almost everything I can say about it is positive. Even if it weren’t stop-motion animated, I’d still consider it better than Christmas Who?. Let me explain, although that one made you want to give and was filled with more emotion, the ending felt satisfying due to how cynical the rest of the third act was. I can watch It’s a SpongeBob Christmas! the whole way through and have a big, goofy smile on my face, for the story and jokes alone. Keep in mind, this would just be a very close call, but this one has the added advantage of having a unique yet gorgeous art style, which just gets you into the holiday spirit more. Still, they’re fantastic examples of Christmas specials for different reasons. I don’t watch them every December, but after being reminded of how good they are here, I have to change my mind.
Final Verdict: Spongy 9/10 (not perfect, but still among the best)
Not Normal < It’s a SpongeBob Christmas!
Question of the Day: What’s your favourite song from these specials?
There are five episodes left, so let’s get up and go! And please, don’t be a jerk.
:sbthumbs:
Not quite, but it’s the best episode since The Krusty Plate (a gap of 5 years!)hippythehippo said:
hippythehippo
Banished
Dang, than whats the criteria to get a 10?
QOTD: Blanking on a lot of the songs, but the Christmas song in Christmas Who ranks among my favorites.
Also FYI, I'll probably write a paragraph for the episodes discussing my thoughts starting Season 9, since the episodes are more interesting to talk about there, and I'm sure me and you will disagree on quite a few episodes.
QOTD: Blanking on a lot of the songs, but the Christmas song in Christmas Who ranks among my favorites.
Also FYI, I'll probably write a paragraph for the episodes discussing my thoughts starting Season 9, since the episodes are more interesting to talk about there, and I'm sure me and you will disagree on quite a few episodes.
Depressed Luigi
Dead Inspector
It has to be cute as pinkie pie :pattongue:
Pink Gold Peach
Imitation Krab
It needs to have more bunnies.hippythehippo said:
SpongeBronyPH
Giant Clam
It's a SpongeBob Christmas is also the best Season 8 special in my taste, along with Frozen Face-Off.
Don't be a Jerk (It's Christmas), of course. It's my favorite Christmas song.EmployeeAMillion said:
EmployeeAMillion
Season 13 Time!
Super Evil Aquatic Villain Team Up Is Go! (Season 8, Episode 24a)
Original Airdate: October 14 2012
Episode 336 in standard order, Episode 341 in airing order
Plot: Plankton and Man Ray team up to dominate the Krusty Krab, then the world
Written by Aaron Springer and Dani Michaeli
[titlecard]176A[/titlecard]
Title Card Music: Man, Go Man!
Plankton and Man Ray? That’s a match made in Heaven! Given just how great yesterday’s episode was, I found myself thinking barely anything of this one when it came time for viewing. It’s a shame too, because some fans could’ve been waiting 12 years for this episode, only to get something that was...pretty bad. I guess the brief transition back into standard episodes could’ve gone a little smoother. This is one of the last 4 standard length episodes of Season 8, so yeah, they’re episodes that are all-around mediocre and squeezed between too classic specials, so of course they get buried in the mix. Is there anything too them though? After all, this is 44 minutes worth of content that’s often overlooked, and I want to know more about why.
The story starts with SpongeBob heading through the city to work, a route that’s never been referenced, but okay. He sings about how he’s going to work until he hears Plankton crying in an alley, and tries to comfort him. It’s hard to tell if he’s genuinely sad here, or was just baiting SpongeBob like in Walking Small, but the point this opening conveys is that he’s miserable and needs help. SpongeBob recommends getting a friend and going through the phone book, accidentally opening to the “fiends” page. You can tell this is one of those hurdles the show had to get over so it didn’t have to reference the internet, as modern kids would look at this and friend groups on social media would come to their minds. Disregarding my techno-babble, it’s eerily (keyword: lazily) convenient that he opens on the page Plankton would dig the most.
The one number that catches Plankton’s eye is Man Ray’s and he calls him, then visits him at his job- stacking canned bread into a vending machine. Given the way Man Ray just stared blankly and never makes eye contact with his new partner, I was expecting the whole joke to be that he couldn’t see Plankton at first. Instead, there’s not much of a joke except “Man Ray lives a normal life”, which was already made in Shuffle-Boarding. Needless to say, for one of the most anticipated team-ups in the series, their introduction to one another’s pretty lame.
They head off to the Krusty Krab, effortlessly taking it over. The Krusty Krew takes one look at Man Ray, and instead of standing up to him for the greater good like in MM/BB V, they immediately act like they’re captured. Mr Krabs and Squidward try to stall them, while SpongeBob’s sent to get Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy’s attention. Since the bat signal doesn’t work in pure daylight, he has to go over to Shady Shoals retirement home and inform them, but it comically sidetracked or set back in different ways. Some of them are a little entertaining, like a lady’s choice dance that SpongeBob gets stuck in, but given what the episode should be about, it sadly feels like padding.
That’s not to say the A plot’s any better. In fact, it’s much worse. Man Ray wonders why he and Plankton are taking over a fast food joint, and orders some food to see what makes it worth it. He immediately falls in love with Krabby Patties, and gets addicted to them quickly, fattening up to the point of becoming immobile. I’ll talk more about this with the characters, but it’s agrivating seeing Man Ray as a belching idiot who can’t carry out an evil plan. The burgers don’t even go to his thighs, I mean come on! What should be Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy’s arch enemy’s arrested within minutes, and while it’s a neat ending that Plankton has to pay for all the burgers, I still don’t like what they did to Man Ray here.
There are a couple jokes here that work, like Plankton having a broken doomsday device, and SpongeBob pretending to be old to get into Shady Shoals by inhaling, but they’re not as frequent as the bad jokes. One joke that isn’t horrible, but doesn’t make sense, is when SpongeBob mentions the bat signal doesn’t work at daytime. I thought its use depended on whether the sky was cloudy, not light. There are other jokes like this which get lost in translation, like the aforementioned stuff with Man Ray meeting Plankton. They’re just a couple examples, but I feel like the writers wanted different punchlines, and couldn’t make their minds up before the episode was sent overseas for animation.
There isn’t much to say about the animation, other than that it leans into the red. It’s another Springer-boarded episode, and although I’ll come to miss them when he leaves at the end of this season, his art style’s getting pretty tired now. SpongeBob continues to be drawn like a wierdo, when the episode gets gross, it’s an awkward, campy kind of gross. They’re typical drawbacks at this point, but I can’t help but feel that an extra flavour of the show’s going to leave rather soon, which only makes this episode a little harder to watch.
Moving on to the characters, there isn’t enough to them to hold the story up. The alliance between Plankton and Man Ray feels too casual. If it weren’t for Plankton’s ramblings about taking over the world, this would all be useless, and newcomers wouldn’t be able to tell they’re villains. As individuals, Plankton’s pretty weak here, not getting a lot to do. It doesn’t help that the only villainous thing happening in the whole episode is Man Ray shooting a laser at the Krusty Krab’s doors. Other than that, Man Ray’s a complete joke, and an unfunny one to boot. He can’t be taken as seriously as in his previous appearances, where he was supposed to be Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy’s biggest rival. Speaking of them, they don’t do much except ignore SpongeBob throughout their time at Shady Shoals. There’s a reason I still consider Mermaid Man Begins to be their last major episode. The Krusty Krew aside SpongeBob don’t do much except for stand around being hostages, but SpongeBob’s mission to get his heroes’ attention is fun. He might be the best character here because of it.
As the last standard definition superhero episode, it’s really disappointing. The story could’ve been so much better, but it’s mostly just goofing around and wasting time until the terrible ending. There aren’t many jokes, unless you count the characters as jokes. I’d expect that since tertiary characters don’t have as much time to be milked as the main ones, they’d be fresher for later outings, but this episode proves that, if you don’t use them often, they can rot. It’s not all bad though, as there are some jokes that I found creative, and fewer that I found funny, but alas, it needs more than Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy to save it.
Final Verdict: Bad 4/10 (not worth your time)
Fiasco! < Super Evil Aquatic Villain Team Up Is Go! < Buried in Time
Question of the Day: What do you consider the “last” MM/BB episode?
Just four more episodes left, so get friccin’ ready. Until then, more music that’s the best thing in the episode.
:sbthumbs:
Original Airdate: October 14 2012
Episode 336 in standard order, Episode 341 in airing order
Plot: Plankton and Man Ray team up to dominate the Krusty Krab, then the world
Written by Aaron Springer and Dani Michaeli
[titlecard]176A[/titlecard]
Title Card Music: Man, Go Man!
Plankton and Man Ray? That’s a match made in Heaven! Given just how great yesterday’s episode was, I found myself thinking barely anything of this one when it came time for viewing. It’s a shame too, because some fans could’ve been waiting 12 years for this episode, only to get something that was...pretty bad. I guess the brief transition back into standard episodes could’ve gone a little smoother. This is one of the last 4 standard length episodes of Season 8, so yeah, they’re episodes that are all-around mediocre and squeezed between too classic specials, so of course they get buried in the mix. Is there anything too them though? After all, this is 44 minutes worth of content that’s often overlooked, and I want to know more about why.
The story starts with SpongeBob heading through the city to work, a route that’s never been referenced, but okay. He sings about how he’s going to work until he hears Plankton crying in an alley, and tries to comfort him. It’s hard to tell if he’s genuinely sad here, or was just baiting SpongeBob like in Walking Small, but the point this opening conveys is that he’s miserable and needs help. SpongeBob recommends getting a friend and going through the phone book, accidentally opening to the “fiends” page. You can tell this is one of those hurdles the show had to get over so it didn’t have to reference the internet, as modern kids would look at this and friend groups on social media would come to their minds. Disregarding my techno-babble, it’s eerily (keyword: lazily) convenient that he opens on the page Plankton would dig the most.
The one number that catches Plankton’s eye is Man Ray’s and he calls him, then visits him at his job- stacking canned bread into a vending machine. Given the way Man Ray just stared blankly and never makes eye contact with his new partner, I was expecting the whole joke to be that he couldn’t see Plankton at first. Instead, there’s not much of a joke except “Man Ray lives a normal life”, which was already made in Shuffle-Boarding. Needless to say, for one of the most anticipated team-ups in the series, their introduction to one another’s pretty lame.
They head off to the Krusty Krab, effortlessly taking it over. The Krusty Krew takes one look at Man Ray, and instead of standing up to him for the greater good like in MM/BB V, they immediately act like they’re captured. Mr Krabs and Squidward try to stall them, while SpongeBob’s sent to get Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy’s attention. Since the bat signal doesn’t work in pure daylight, he has to go over to Shady Shoals retirement home and inform them, but it comically sidetracked or set back in different ways. Some of them are a little entertaining, like a lady’s choice dance that SpongeBob gets stuck in, but given what the episode should be about, it sadly feels like padding.
That’s not to say the A plot’s any better. In fact, it’s much worse. Man Ray wonders why he and Plankton are taking over a fast food joint, and orders some food to see what makes it worth it. He immediately falls in love with Krabby Patties, and gets addicted to them quickly, fattening up to the point of becoming immobile. I’ll talk more about this with the characters, but it’s agrivating seeing Man Ray as a belching idiot who can’t carry out an evil plan. The burgers don’t even go to his thighs, I mean come on! What should be Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy’s arch enemy’s arrested within minutes, and while it’s a neat ending that Plankton has to pay for all the burgers, I still don’t like what they did to Man Ray here.
There are a couple jokes here that work, like Plankton having a broken doomsday device, and SpongeBob pretending to be old to get into Shady Shoals by inhaling, but they’re not as frequent as the bad jokes. One joke that isn’t horrible, but doesn’t make sense, is when SpongeBob mentions the bat signal doesn’t work at daytime. I thought its use depended on whether the sky was cloudy, not light. There are other jokes like this which get lost in translation, like the aforementioned stuff with Man Ray meeting Plankton. They’re just a couple examples, but I feel like the writers wanted different punchlines, and couldn’t make their minds up before the episode was sent overseas for animation.
There isn’t much to say about the animation, other than that it leans into the red. It’s another Springer-boarded episode, and although I’ll come to miss them when he leaves at the end of this season, his art style’s getting pretty tired now. SpongeBob continues to be drawn like a wierdo, when the episode gets gross, it’s an awkward, campy kind of gross. They’re typical drawbacks at this point, but I can’t help but feel that an extra flavour of the show’s going to leave rather soon, which only makes this episode a little harder to watch.
Moving on to the characters, there isn’t enough to them to hold the story up. The alliance between Plankton and Man Ray feels too casual. If it weren’t for Plankton’s ramblings about taking over the world, this would all be useless, and newcomers wouldn’t be able to tell they’re villains. As individuals, Plankton’s pretty weak here, not getting a lot to do. It doesn’t help that the only villainous thing happening in the whole episode is Man Ray shooting a laser at the Krusty Krab’s doors. Other than that, Man Ray’s a complete joke, and an unfunny one to boot. He can’t be taken as seriously as in his previous appearances, where he was supposed to be Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy’s biggest rival. Speaking of them, they don’t do much except ignore SpongeBob throughout their time at Shady Shoals. There’s a reason I still consider Mermaid Man Begins to be their last major episode. The Krusty Krew aside SpongeBob don’t do much except for stand around being hostages, but SpongeBob’s mission to get his heroes’ attention is fun. He might be the best character here because of it.
As the last standard definition superhero episode, it’s really disappointing. The story could’ve been so much better, but it’s mostly just goofing around and wasting time until the terrible ending. There aren’t many jokes, unless you count the characters as jokes. I’d expect that since tertiary characters don’t have as much time to be milked as the main ones, they’d be fresher for later outings, but this episode proves that, if you don’t use them often, they can rot. It’s not all bad though, as there are some jokes that I found creative, and fewer that I found funny, but alas, it needs more than Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy to save it.
Final Verdict: Bad 4/10 (not worth your time)
Fiasco! < Super Evil Aquatic Villain Team Up Is Go! < Buried in Time
Question of the Day: What do you consider the “last” MM/BB episode?
Just four more episodes left, so get friccin’ ready. Until then, more music that’s the best thing in the episode.
:sbthumbs:
hippythehippo
Banished
This episode sucks. At least we can all agree that Man Ray was used better in Man Ray Returns than he was here.
Also isn't Chum Fricasse in this last batch? I always remembered that episode to be decent.
qotd Mermaid Man Begins. I consider the Mermaid Pants genre different from the classic super hero parody.
Also isn't Chum Fricasse in this last batch? I always remembered that episode to be decent.
qotd Mermaid Man Begins. I consider the Mermaid Pants genre different from the classic super hero parody.
EmployeeAMillion
Season 13 Time!
Um, well...just wait until tomorrow.
SpongeBronyPH
Giant Clam
That episode is pretty decent to me.
This episode before Ernest Borgnine's death.EmployeeAMillion said:
spongebranch
Banished
Super Evil Aquatic Villain Team Up is Go! is pretty weak.
qotd: Patrick-Man!
qotd: Patrick-Man!
EmployeeAMillion
Season 13 Time!
Chum Fricassee (Season 8, Episode 24b)
Original Airdate: October 21 2012
Episode 337 in standard order, Episode 343 in airing order
Plot: Squidward gets hired at the Chum Bucket, and makes a dish that skyrockets its popularity
Written by Casey Alexander, Zeus Cervas and Richard Pursel
[titlecard]176B[/titlecard]
Title Card Music: Salty Squid Jig
Another day, another Plankton team-up. I wonder if it’s a coincidence that both this and Super Evil Aquatic Villain Team Up Is Go! are in the same package. Regardless, it’s worrying that the same sort of plotline is used twice in a season in two ways. We already had Plankton and Squidward become friends in Sweet and Sour Squid. I don’t know if I should be so harsh though, since this episode gets a lot of love. Personally, I never saw the appeal in it. It always reminds me of another episode, whether it be Sweet and Sour Squid, or even Bucket Sweet Bucket and Chum Caverns for various reasons. Is there more to this episode than just being derivative? I hate to say it, but not really.
The story starts at the end of a work shift at the Krusty Krab, with SpongeBob and Squidward checking out. SpongeBob’s too sad to want to leave, but Squidward’s glad to go home, criticising the place for looking like a dump. It doesn’t even have a doormat, and food’s still littered across the floor and walls. Considering how good of a cleaner SpongeBob is, shouldn’t he have taken care of the mess before checking out? Mr Krabs, Squidward’s boss isn’t much better, being particularly mean to him here, barely listening to his criticisms and suggestions to clean the place up. This is just a horrible start, and it’ll only improve if Krabs is either knocked down a peg or gets something he deserves, and at least they try to go in that direction.
On his way home, Squidward brags about how he can even turn the Chum Bucket around, which grabs Plankton’s attention. He has the giant telescope out and everything, and was presumably spying on him. It makes less sense than in Sweet and Sour Squid, where at least Squidward was doing something loud and stupid to get Plankton’s attention. Here, Plankton’s shoehorned in for the sake of the plot moving forward. After being insulted by Mr Krabs one more time, Squidward joins the Chum Chrew and tries to renovate it, immediately becoming a jerk to Plankton about it. Sure his ego’s what kills him, but he should at least ease into it. This is coming off the heels of scenes where he’s insulted just for existing, and we can’t even trust him to be likeable. Seeing why I don’t like this episode yet?
Squidward decides to convert chum into something edible- a fricassee. It still looks like mince, and later it looks like meatballs, but you have to take the episode’s word that it’s a fricassee, not just chum, but now even more mass-produced. A key plot point that opens up here is that it has to cook for exactly 24 hours, which seems horribly long for meat, but knowing what chum’s made of, this may be efficient for getting the taste out. The Chum Bucket eventually becomes a big success, stealing all the Krusty Krab’s customers and propelling Plankton into the news, my least favourite Post-Movie trope bar none as I’ve explained before. The only difference here is Squidward being on a couple magazines. You could argue that these customers are going to ”Le Chum Bucket”, but it’s just a rebrand.
If it weren’t for this next event, this would’ve just been another mediocre Plankton episode. This just makes it all-around frustrating for me as a viewer. SpongeBob and Mr Krabs try to sneak in reservations, but there’s a two year wait, so Squidward embarrasses them by giving them a toilet for a table, in front of the whole restaurant. He leaves the bathroom door open, with everyone free to view in. That’s definitely the makings of a famous chef. That’s not even the worst part though. The next day, a stranger takes pity on them and offers some fricassee, they taste it, and immediately admit to the Krusty Krab being doomed, barely remembering what Krabby Patties are. This ticks me off because the fricassee still looks like chum. I already hate the “Krusty Krab is totally going to go out of business this time” plot, but the only proof of this is chum that they’re eating out of Mr Krabs’ hand, and it’s disgusting.
As the dish gets too successful for Le Chum Bucket to handle, Squidward forces Plankton to undercook the fricassee to meet demand. Soon after, his mother walks in and scolds him for it, as doing so causes tummy problems. Upon hearing this, everyone in the restaurant storms out or breaks everything out of rage, Squidward’s empire falling within seconds. He gets his old job at the Krusty Krab back, but is “promoted” to being the doormat he so dearly wanted. Like Good Neighbours, I see this episode taking advantage of Squidward’s arrogance and making it his main character flaw, but it doesn’t work when he’s a complete jerk and the rest of the world around him is just as mean or downright stupid.
Like yesterday’s episode, there are a couple jokes that I find amusing. I like how SpongeBob plays out a day at the Krusty Krab at home with “Garward”. It’s cute knowing that’s how much he likes his job. I also think that Plankton having antenna-straighteners is silly, but it has to be paired with the joke of Squidward messing with the Chum Bucket. Many of his jokes are so mean that they drag the episode down. Whether they be towards him, like Mr Krabs unironically saying “I don’t value you as a worker”, or him cracking a joke like the whole toilet thing, it’s sad when a main character drags the episode down, and this is one of those occasions.
One of my biggest gripes with the animation is how the chum fricassee looks. It’s generally when meat is cooked a certain way with its sauce, not when it just looks like a loaf of chum, maybe a bit more consistent than usual. There are some news visuals that feel like real broadcast, with the same editing style, but it doesn’t feel right to linger on them for a whole sequence. The rest of the visuals just feel average, like the interior of Le Chum Bucket which Squidward should’ve completely done up. Taking the twist into account, that undercooked chum fricassee causes tummy problems, I was expecting the customers to stumble about and hold their stomachs or something. Instead, they’re just mad. At least one person clenching would’ve been funny, or just drive home how Squidward’s poor cooking affects their health. This is also an episode where SpongeBob’s cheeks are obnoxious to look at, and that should say something when it’s at the bottom of my notes.
If there are characters here that you’re meant to route for, chances are they’re unlikeable. This is another terrible outing for Squidward, because despite his good ideas, he seems like a jerk who cares more about fame than his fans or even friends. I understand he’s vain, but making him famous and making his only challenge caused by his own ignorance is a bridge too far for me. Mr Krabs is the other character that should be sympathetic, with the Krusty Krab’s business being in jeoprady again, but given how he flat-out states that he doesn’t value Squidward, and hired him back to be a doormat, it really makes you wonder if he deserves any more than SpongeBob. SpongeBob himself and Plankton generally play the role of sidekicks, piggybacking their superiors and not doing much else.
When SpongeBob, Patrick and Sandy each had their share of work at the Chum Bucket, it was pretty funny. It’s poetic that Squidward’s time there was far more sour. It could’ve just been forgettable, but I feel the story and jokes got too mean for their own good, when they weren’t just clichéd. The more I think about the themes in this episode though, I wonder if it was trying to do the same thing as The Krusty Sponge. They’re both satires of business and how churning out a product only makes it worse, and both can be applied to the show itself. I just think that the ideas are sneakier here, as it’s more about the fame of the producers than the quality of the product. Whether that’s the message or not is up to interpretation, but it doesn’t help the feeling I get here.
Final Verdict: Bad 4/10 (not worth your time)
Love That Squid < Chum Fricassee < Nauticall Novice
Question of the Day: What’s an episode you don’t like that everyone else does? It can be from any era, just offer an explanation.
There are a mere three episodes left for the season to clear its name. Until then, living the dream.
:sbthumbs:
Original Airdate: October 21 2012
Episode 337 in standard order, Episode 343 in airing order
Plot: Squidward gets hired at the Chum Bucket, and makes a dish that skyrockets its popularity
Written by Casey Alexander, Zeus Cervas and Richard Pursel
[titlecard]176B[/titlecard]
Title Card Music: Salty Squid Jig
Another day, another Plankton team-up. I wonder if it’s a coincidence that both this and Super Evil Aquatic Villain Team Up Is Go! are in the same package. Regardless, it’s worrying that the same sort of plotline is used twice in a season in two ways. We already had Plankton and Squidward become friends in Sweet and Sour Squid. I don’t know if I should be so harsh though, since this episode gets a lot of love. Personally, I never saw the appeal in it. It always reminds me of another episode, whether it be Sweet and Sour Squid, or even Bucket Sweet Bucket and Chum Caverns for various reasons. Is there more to this episode than just being derivative? I hate to say it, but not really.
The story starts at the end of a work shift at the Krusty Krab, with SpongeBob and Squidward checking out. SpongeBob’s too sad to want to leave, but Squidward’s glad to go home, criticising the place for looking like a dump. It doesn’t even have a doormat, and food’s still littered across the floor and walls. Considering how good of a cleaner SpongeBob is, shouldn’t he have taken care of the mess before checking out? Mr Krabs, Squidward’s boss isn’t much better, being particularly mean to him here, barely listening to his criticisms and suggestions to clean the place up. This is just a horrible start, and it’ll only improve if Krabs is either knocked down a peg or gets something he deserves, and at least they try to go in that direction.
On his way home, Squidward brags about how he can even turn the Chum Bucket around, which grabs Plankton’s attention. He has the giant telescope out and everything, and was presumably spying on him. It makes less sense than in Sweet and Sour Squid, where at least Squidward was doing something loud and stupid to get Plankton’s attention. Here, Plankton’s shoehorned in for the sake of the plot moving forward. After being insulted by Mr Krabs one more time, Squidward joins the Chum Chrew and tries to renovate it, immediately becoming a jerk to Plankton about it. Sure his ego’s what kills him, but he should at least ease into it. This is coming off the heels of scenes where he’s insulted just for existing, and we can’t even trust him to be likeable. Seeing why I don’t like this episode yet?
Squidward decides to convert chum into something edible- a fricassee. It still looks like mince, and later it looks like meatballs, but you have to take the episode’s word that it’s a fricassee, not just chum, but now even more mass-produced. A key plot point that opens up here is that it has to cook for exactly 24 hours, which seems horribly long for meat, but knowing what chum’s made of, this may be efficient for getting the taste out. The Chum Bucket eventually becomes a big success, stealing all the Krusty Krab’s customers and propelling Plankton into the news, my least favourite Post-Movie trope bar none as I’ve explained before. The only difference here is Squidward being on a couple magazines. You could argue that these customers are going to ”Le Chum Bucket”, but it’s just a rebrand.
If it weren’t for this next event, this would’ve just been another mediocre Plankton episode. This just makes it all-around frustrating for me as a viewer. SpongeBob and Mr Krabs try to sneak in reservations, but there’s a two year wait, so Squidward embarrasses them by giving them a toilet for a table, in front of the whole restaurant. He leaves the bathroom door open, with everyone free to view in. That’s definitely the makings of a famous chef. That’s not even the worst part though. The next day, a stranger takes pity on them and offers some fricassee, they taste it, and immediately admit to the Krusty Krab being doomed, barely remembering what Krabby Patties are. This ticks me off because the fricassee still looks like chum. I already hate the “Krusty Krab is totally going to go out of business this time” plot, but the only proof of this is chum that they’re eating out of Mr Krabs’ hand, and it’s disgusting.
As the dish gets too successful for Le Chum Bucket to handle, Squidward forces Plankton to undercook the fricassee to meet demand. Soon after, his mother walks in and scolds him for it, as doing so causes tummy problems. Upon hearing this, everyone in the restaurant storms out or breaks everything out of rage, Squidward’s empire falling within seconds. He gets his old job at the Krusty Krab back, but is “promoted” to being the doormat he so dearly wanted. Like Good Neighbours, I see this episode taking advantage of Squidward’s arrogance and making it his main character flaw, but it doesn’t work when he’s a complete jerk and the rest of the world around him is just as mean or downright stupid.
Like yesterday’s episode, there are a couple jokes that I find amusing. I like how SpongeBob plays out a day at the Krusty Krab at home with “Garward”. It’s cute knowing that’s how much he likes his job. I also think that Plankton having antenna-straighteners is silly, but it has to be paired with the joke of Squidward messing with the Chum Bucket. Many of his jokes are so mean that they drag the episode down. Whether they be towards him, like Mr Krabs unironically saying “I don’t value you as a worker”, or him cracking a joke like the whole toilet thing, it’s sad when a main character drags the episode down, and this is one of those occasions.
One of my biggest gripes with the animation is how the chum fricassee looks. It’s generally when meat is cooked a certain way with its sauce, not when it just looks like a loaf of chum, maybe a bit more consistent than usual. There are some news visuals that feel like real broadcast, with the same editing style, but it doesn’t feel right to linger on them for a whole sequence. The rest of the visuals just feel average, like the interior of Le Chum Bucket which Squidward should’ve completely done up. Taking the twist into account, that undercooked chum fricassee causes tummy problems, I was expecting the customers to stumble about and hold their stomachs or something. Instead, they’re just mad. At least one person clenching would’ve been funny, or just drive home how Squidward’s poor cooking affects their health. This is also an episode where SpongeBob’s cheeks are obnoxious to look at, and that should say something when it’s at the bottom of my notes.
If there are characters here that you’re meant to route for, chances are they’re unlikeable. This is another terrible outing for Squidward, because despite his good ideas, he seems like a jerk who cares more about fame than his fans or even friends. I understand he’s vain, but making him famous and making his only challenge caused by his own ignorance is a bridge too far for me. Mr Krabs is the other character that should be sympathetic, with the Krusty Krab’s business being in jeoprady again, but given how he flat-out states that he doesn’t value Squidward, and hired him back to be a doormat, it really makes you wonder if he deserves any more than SpongeBob. SpongeBob himself and Plankton generally play the role of sidekicks, piggybacking their superiors and not doing much else.
When SpongeBob, Patrick and Sandy each had their share of work at the Chum Bucket, it was pretty funny. It’s poetic that Squidward’s time there was far more sour. It could’ve just been forgettable, but I feel the story and jokes got too mean for their own good, when they weren’t just clichéd. The more I think about the themes in this episode though, I wonder if it was trying to do the same thing as The Krusty Sponge. They’re both satires of business and how churning out a product only makes it worse, and both can be applied to the show itself. I just think that the ideas are sneakier here, as it’s more about the fame of the producers than the quality of the product. Whether that’s the message or not is up to interpretation, but it doesn’t help the feeling I get here.
Final Verdict: Bad 4/10 (not worth your time)
Love That Squid < Chum Fricassee < Nauticall Novice
Question of the Day: What’s an episode you don’t like that everyone else does? It can be from any era, just offer an explanation.
There are a mere three episodes left for the season to clear its name. Until then, living the dream.
:sbthumbs:
hippythehippo
Banished
I still don't quite get what you mean by the characters being mean. For comparison, Spongebob nearly dies in MMBB4, this seems rather tame. I feel you were more harsh here than you were in Season 4 eps, which imo were more loud, dumb, and stupid than this was. I also found the team up to be better done here than Sweet and Sour Squid. I'll admit that the dynamic feels a bit underdeveloped, but they do a better job here than other episodes. I also think that Krabs was portrayed fine here. He was a jerk, and got comeuppance. I feel the vibe here was better, and the story was better paced than a lot of Season 4. Does it elevate the Season from anything but mediocre? No, but I do think it's a fun episode, and I wish more stories were as well told as this one.
RDSP
Banished
Chem Fricasee is pretty good I'd say, although it IS still yet another Season 8 Krusty Krab-centric episode.
QotD: There are several contenders, including:
*Bubblestand (I'm sorry; I just find it boring)
*Have You Seen This Snail (oh no, I'm doomed for saying that out loud... well anyways, I find this one boring also)
*Perfect Chemistry (the humour here isn't all that funny in my opinion; it was rather boring as a whole)
*Patrick! The Game (I find this episode more tedious than anything)
Don't ask about episodes that I like which everyone dislikes, you'd be surprised at a few choices.
also someone dislikes season 4
QotD: There are several contenders, including:
*Bubblestand (I'm sorry; I just find it boring)
*Have You Seen This Snail (oh no, I'm doomed for saying that out loud... well anyways, I find this one boring also)
*Perfect Chemistry (the humour here isn't all that funny in my opinion; it was rather boring as a whole)
*Patrick! The Game (I find this episode more tedious than anything)
Don't ask about episodes that I like which everyone dislikes, you'd be surprised at a few choices.
also someone dislikes season 4
EmployeeAMillion
Season 13 Time!
There were more problems than just it being mean, namely the forced character motivations, but I can see the reasons you like it. I also don’t have a bias towards Season 4 despite its loudness and stupidity, as there are some comparitively laid-back Season 8 episodes like Walking the Plankton and Home Sweet Rubble that I liked. At least you offered your rebuttal, and that’s all I could ask for.
hippythehippo
Banished
@RDSP I don't dislike Season 4. It's pretty mediocre overall, with a lot of bad episodes, but it has a decent number of great ones. Still would place it under 5, 9, and 11. Possibly 10, still haven't decided.
@EmployeeAMillion Sorry if it seemed like I attacked you. It's hard to express emotions on the internet. =/
QOTD (gonna list a few)
MMBB4 The ending is horrible, nearly kills the whole episode, and pacing is awkward, but I still find it meh. First 9 minutes are good though.
Salsa Imbecilicus Why anyone likes this garbage is beyond me. Wow, predictable dumb jokes, and full on wacky animation. 20 second team up, and interesting premise is wasted. Prob in bottom 3 of all post sequel (only Sportz and Pat the Horse infuriate me more).
Bunny Hunt Meme or not, Spongebob and Patrick act as obnoxiously, if not more, than they were in Whirly Brains. Most of the slapstick is loud and in your face, and wacky animation is awful.
Sing a Song of Patrick Still don't get the appeal. The episode itself is okay, and the song is humorous enough, but most of the jokes fall flat for me, and seems to revolve around the song for most of it's comedy.
This doesn't count to your qotd, but I will put it anyway:
Bottle Burglars I like it, it's pretty decent, but I don't get how this is the best of the Season. Spin the Bottle, Teachers Pests, and TASIMS are funnier, and The Checkup does everything this does, but better. Still like it, but there are better out there.
@EmployeeAMillion Sorry if it seemed like I attacked you. It's hard to express emotions on the internet. =/
QOTD (gonna list a few)
MMBB4 The ending is horrible, nearly kills the whole episode, and pacing is awkward, but I still find it meh. First 9 minutes are good though.
Salsa Imbecilicus Why anyone likes this garbage is beyond me. Wow, predictable dumb jokes, and full on wacky animation. 20 second team up, and interesting premise is wasted. Prob in bottom 3 of all post sequel (only Sportz and Pat the Horse infuriate me more).
Bunny Hunt Meme or not, Spongebob and Patrick act as obnoxiously, if not more, than they were in Whirly Brains. Most of the slapstick is loud and in your face, and wacky animation is awful.
Sing a Song of Patrick Still don't get the appeal. The episode itself is okay, and the song is humorous enough, but most of the jokes fall flat for me, and seems to revolve around the song for most of it's comedy.
This doesn't count to your qotd, but I will put it anyway:
Bottle Burglars I like it, it's pretty decent, but I don't get how this is the best of the Season. Spin the Bottle, Teachers Pests, and TASIMS are funnier, and The Checkup does everything this does, but better. Still like it, but there are better out there.
SpongeBronyPH
Giant Clam
Chum Fricasee is a petty good episode to me.
I think the episode, Gary takes a bath.EmployeeAMillion said:
spongebranch
Banished
Chum Fricassee was OK.
qotd:
Love That Squid: I'm sorry, very boring. Also embarrasing when you know that we never see Squilva again.
Bumper to Bumper: Can't forgive Nick for making the promos so misleading, even worse then you know the Xfinity description spoils the ending. Also the abandoned road scene wouldn't surprise me if it actually scared some younger viewers.
I Was a Teenage Gary: Meh. Very cliched ending, and after that whole deleted scene creepy pasta I refuse to look at this episode the same way again.
Planet of the Jellyfish: It was good, but felt very generic casting-wise, and why didn't we get more characters in Jellien Clones? Like Larry? Mrs. Puff? Pearl? Some of the more unique, less used background fish?
Patrick! The Game: People call Ink Lemonade the first post-sequel STP yet Squidward gets arrested for no reason here and Patrick acts like an aggressive sociopath at some points.
SpongeBob, You're Fired: I'm adding this because Wintermelon43 and Honest Slug are clearly joking about liking this. (I don't blame mythix and i'm honestly OK with him liking it) Mr. Krabs firing SpongeBob to save one simple Nickel is just unforgiveable in every way as a SpongeBob fan (even when this has been done before) and unlike in episodes like Pickles and SpongeBob's Place, he is unusually oblivious to how his restaurant's going to go down the toilet without him until the ending. Also, tons of tedious filler, SpongeBob's disgusting 05:00 shadow being onscreen for- what? 5 minutes unlike most gross faces (even in Season 6 and 11)?, all the other characters being overly simplified (especially SpongeBob's character), awful, slow and lazy animation, one of Patrick's worst appearances (having a mischievous look on Squidward's garden when he is angry), and the wound salting fact that this was the last episode to actually get finished in production for 2 whole years (sorry SpaceBob InvaderPants and Krabs' Army) make me grateful that Marc Ceccarelli left the writing team after the 2nd movie so an episode this bad wouldn't happen again.
Fear of a Krabby Patty: The Plankton plot is completely pointless when you know this was the first episode to be made after The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie and there he successfully gets the formula.
qotd:
Love That Squid: I'm sorry, very boring. Also embarrasing when you know that we never see Squilva again.
Bumper to Bumper: Can't forgive Nick for making the promos so misleading, even worse then you know the Xfinity description spoils the ending. Also the abandoned road scene wouldn't surprise me if it actually scared some younger viewers.
I Was a Teenage Gary: Meh. Very cliched ending, and after that whole deleted scene creepy pasta I refuse to look at this episode the same way again.
Planet of the Jellyfish: It was good, but felt very generic casting-wise, and why didn't we get more characters in Jellien Clones? Like Larry? Mrs. Puff? Pearl? Some of the more unique, less used background fish?
Patrick! The Game: People call Ink Lemonade the first post-sequel STP yet Squidward gets arrested for no reason here and Patrick acts like an aggressive sociopath at some points.
SpongeBob, You're Fired: I'm adding this because Wintermelon43 and Honest Slug are clearly joking about liking this. (I don't blame mythix and i'm honestly OK with him liking it) Mr. Krabs firing SpongeBob to save one simple Nickel is just unforgiveable in every way as a SpongeBob fan (even when this has been done before) and unlike in episodes like Pickles and SpongeBob's Place, he is unusually oblivious to how his restaurant's going to go down the toilet without him until the ending. Also, tons of tedious filler, SpongeBob's disgusting 05:00 shadow being onscreen for- what? 5 minutes unlike most gross faces (even in Season 6 and 11)?, all the other characters being overly simplified (especially SpongeBob's character), awful, slow and lazy animation, one of Patrick's worst appearances (having a mischievous look on Squidward's garden when he is angry), and the wound salting fact that this was the last episode to actually get finished in production for 2 whole years (sorry SpaceBob InvaderPants and Krabs' Army) make me grateful that Marc Ceccarelli left the writing team after the 2nd movie so an episode this bad wouldn't happen again.
Fear of a Krabby Patty: The Plankton plot is completely pointless when you know this was the first episode to be made after The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie and there he successfully gets the formula.
spongebranch
Banished
sorry for double post but can you post the The Good Krabby Name review now that it's (presumably) done?