SpongeBob Amazon Prime Remastering

[toadmario64]

I've found this to be quite weird but also quite good at the same time. For a while now, the SpongeBob episodes in Standard Definition (Seasons 1-8) have all been either upscaled or rereleased from a higher quality source. I find it interesting they took this effort on the entire series, including season 1 which was done on film. It all looks really nice and it makes me wonder what the process was. Even some live action clips are bumped to full HD native or get the same treatment. I'd guess most of it is an upscale considering that the close up scenes look the best. Still, funny how Nick can spend all this time remastering their SB catalog for amazon yet official releases are still stuck with blurry old palebob.

 

[Pugs4Thugs]

Now you're making me wish I actually paid for SpongeBob on Prime. I have Prime, but I'm not paying extra to watch SpongeBob (not when I have all the DVDs, at least).

 

[toadmario64]

Now you're making me wish I actually paid for SpongeBob on Prime. I have Prime, but I'm not paying extra to watch SpongeBob (not when I have all the DVDs, at least).

I thought seasons 1-5 were free with prime. 6-8 require an extra pass called "NickHits" and 9-12 have to be paid for

 

[Original Raw and Uncut]

Did season 2/3 have bad image quality when they first aired

 

[Grass-Skirt-Chase]

I thought seasons 1-5 were free with prime. 6-8 require an extra pass called "NickHits" and 9-12 have to be paid for

I have Amazon Prime, and yeah, it’s seasons 1-5 that are free. (I think Season 5 is a recent addition to the free seasons. It used to just be 1-4, if I remember correctly.)

Isn’t it funny how the best/better seasons are free, the poor quality seasons require a pass, and the newer, not as good seasons cost money? Don’t get me wrong, I love having the good seasons free, but no way would I ever want to pay for the poorly made episodes. I’d much rather spend money on quality content and have the junky stuff be free. You get what I’m saying?

(Lol, I’m talking like I’m the one paying for Prime when it’s my parents who bought it.)

 

[Pugs4Thugs]

I thought seasons 1-5 were free with prime. 6-8 require an extra pass called "NickHits" and 9-12 have to be paid for

Oh really? Then catch me watching some episodes on Prime

 

[TattleTale Strangler]

Did season 2/3 have bad image quality when they first aired

I wouldn't say these seasons had bad image quality to them. TVs weren't HD in 2001-2004, so the episodes from those seasons were not made to look good on a HD TV. TVs are bigger now and are capable of handling HD, so new episodes of SpongeBob are now HD. Upscaling the older episodes to be HD is probably done so the episodes look better on HD TVs.

When I watched the debut of SpongeBob in 1999, my TV looked like this:

 

[SpongeSebastian]

One disappointment about the upscales is that some of the live-action sequences that were in 60fps are now in 24fps, in line with the rest of the show, although I don't think any streaming service supported the high frame rate prior.

Also, I'm curious if for season 1 they rescanned the original negatives or they just upscaled it, since they used cel animation and probably could get higher resolution (assuming they didn't just throw the film away). I know for The Simpsons they just upscaled it. Thank goodness they didn't crop the aspect ratio for SpongeBob.

 

[Original Raw and Uncut]

I wouldn't say these seasons had bad image quality to them. TVs weren't HD in 2001-2004, so the episodes from those seasons were not made to look good on a HD TV. TVs are bigger now and are capable of handling HD, so new episodes of SpongeBob are now HD. Upscaling the older episodes to be HD is probably done so the episodes look better on HD TVs.

When I watched the debut of SpongeBob in 1999, my TV looked like this:

They did have HDTVs in the early 2000s, but most people had the time still had standard def tvs

 

[SpongeyMind]

I've found this to be quite weird but also quite good at the same time. For a while now, the SpongeBob episodes in Standard Definition (Seasons 1-8) have all been either upscaled or rereleased from a higher quality source. I find it interesting they took this effort on the entire series, including season 1 which was done on film. It all looks really nice and it makes me wonder what the process was. Even some live action clips are bumped to full HD native or get the same treatment. I'd guess most of it is an upscale considering that the close up scenes look the best. Still, funny how Nick can spend all this time remastering their SB catalog for amazon yet official releases are still stuck with blurry old palebob.

season 1 was upscaled differently

 

[SpongeSebastian]

Also, apparently Disney and Cartoon Network were producing a lot of their cartoons in HD, long before they even had HD channels, which is why you can now watch shows like Kim Possible, Teen Titans, and Chowder in their crisp wide-screen glory.
The same can't be said for Nickelodeon, unfortunately. In fact, SpongeBob was very late to the game when it made the permanent switch to HD in 2012.