Spongebob Squarepants Discussion Thread

Birds858

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This thread is to discuss about Spongebob Squarepants, the main character of the show.
 

FinnDinner

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SpongeBob SquarePants was one of the best most balanced characters on television. He had a charming optimism to lure in viewers. He was a very happy sponge. However, the thing I really admire is how he has a very mature side to him as well. He isn't all giggles and laughs (at least in pre-movie) he had a serious side to him. He's a pretty smart person, he's just very naive. He will get mad if he is pushed to his limit (like Krusty Love or Can You Spare a Dime) it happens. That makes him very balanced because, yes he is mostly happy, but he does have logic. That's what I really love about him, he's good enough to appeal to wide range on audiences, but he isn't a tottler. He can be serious, and he is actually aged an adult in some episodes. Patrick as his best friend can frequently misguide him, but it makes sense, because like I said, he's very naive, and it fits. Mr. Krabs can serve as a good father figure to him, because yes he can be an adult, but he is still on the young side. Squidward is just a pessimist to his optimism, which is one of the best balances of characters in the show's run, and Sandy serves as more of a fun straight man (or woman) to SpongeBob, same can go for Plankton except he is evil. SpongeBob SquarePants in the first three seasons worked very well, and there's a reason why he has such a high status by millions of people are around the world.
 

McSponge

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SpongeBob as a character has been highly misused in past years, though arguably he's the best treated character of the show as of now. The First Season SpongeBob was the lovable pal we all know and love, he was selfless, caring about friends, but at the same time had enough assertion (Ironic, isn't it?) to not get pushed around (Ex. Arrgh!, Naughty Nautical Neighbors).

Season 2 took the character in a more comedic fashion, his personality tends to play into not only the plot more (Ex. Band Geeks), but also tends to play a role in an episode's comedy (Ex. Something Smells), and I noticed his anger often plays off more for comedic effect (Ex. Big Pink Loser, I'm with Stupid).

Season 3's SpongeBob is where we really start to notice flaws in his character. Well, mostly in Party Pooper Pants, he is portrayed as a control freak to such an extreme the comedy isn't remotely funny. Honestly, the rest of the Season, SpongeBob's character is pretty much perfect, it's exactly the SpongeBob you know and love. Not much different from Season 2, I guess he may be a little more extreme at times (MM&BB IV, The Algae's Always Greener, As Seen On TV, etc.).

I tend to notice his character feels a little less balanced in Season 3, he's generally a much goofier character, even when he's frustrated like in Can You Spare a Dime? Still, the core values and beliefs of the Sponge is portrayed through his acts of kindness, which does, in my opinion, keep his character well rounded.

Season 4 is (obviously) when he starts to slip as a character. Obviously he's not as funny as he is in Season 3 (I'm sorry, save for those first few episodes, Season 4 is one of the unfunniest Seasons in the series), but I notice his character does seem to calm down a bit compared to his Season 3 self. His ignorance is often raised more frequently for the sake of the plot (Particularly in bad episodes like Good Neighbors, The Thing, and of course, Funny Pants). He tends to be a little more shallow, too, his values are generally overlooked in certain episodes (This problem isn't exclusive to Season 4, it happened previously in Season 3 as well). Season 4's SpongeBob is typically less of a realistic character compared to the previous Seasons, but he still has the same ol' blissful giddiness that embodies his character. He still gets frustrated with certain things (The Gift of Gum, Ghost Host), so he's not entirely a brainless zombie.

Season 5's SpongeBob is interesting, because he feels like an odd mixture of a lot of different character traits. For one, I've noticed he seems to be the most irritated he's ever been, specifically demonstrated in such episodes as Stanely S. SquarePants & Breath of Fresh Squidward. As for his ignorance, well it's not necessarily as played up as it was in Season 4. I guess this is the "Jerk-::dolphin noise:: Homer" of SpongeBob's, demonstrated at its worst in Waiting. His core values is kind of given up for the most part, I've noticed he's usually just the happy-go-lucky guy, only in this case, he doesn't have much of a real reason to be this way.

Season 6 SpongeBob is of course the worst incarnation of the Sponge. I don't have to go too much into detail, as it's pretty much well known what this iteration's main problem is. SpongeBob is often a tool to inflict suffering onto Squidward, his foil, for the sake of comedy. This gives us the most unnerving and uncomfortable version of SpongeBob, the "Creepy Stalker SpongeBob" if you will. Staring at Squidward through his window, chasing Squidward on more than one occasion, staring at Squidward while breathing heavily, just staring at Squidward in general. His obtrusive nature is generally a cheap way to write the character into a Squidward themed episode, with a lack of any legitimate motivation for the character. His blinding ignorance also tends to play a huge role in his character, heck all the elements of Season 6 SpongeBob are pretty much portrayed in the Season premiere, House Fancy. He's a shell of his former self, no more is he the well rounded character with a positive outlook on life, though with his own likes/dislikes blended in to make him a fun, but flawed protagonist. Instead, SpongeBob is a mindless tool used to simply provide some kind of abusive foil to Squidward. There are episodes of course where we see SpongeBob more like his general Season 4 self, like in Nautical Novice, Sun Bleached, and Krabby Road, but a good chunk of the season essentially has him on "Cruise Control" when he's not a maniac towards Squidward. This is demonstrated in typical episodes such as Pineapple Fever, To SquarePants Or Not To, even the most shallowest of performances, Truth Or Square. Yes, his anger and irritation is heavily toned down in this Season, but he's practically lifeless in several of this Season's episodes.

Season 7 drastically cuts back on "Stalker Sponge", but a lot of this Season tends to rely on SpongeBob's flaming ignorance. From good episodes (Gary in Love, The Inside Job) to terrible episodes (Someone's in the Kitchen With Sandy, A Pal For Gary, etc.) the writers use SpongeBob's ignorance as a means to give the episodes some character conflict. This is essentially his role in most episodes of the Season, the few times he isn't necessarily blinded (Ex. Tentacle Vision) he plays the typical foil to Squidward, Plankton, whatever.

Season 8's SpongeBob is an interesting watered down Season 6 SpongeBob. Minus of course the stalker elements, I noticed SpongeBob's bland "Cruise Control" personality (That popped up once in a while in Season 7, too) tends to make him a subpar protagonist. A much better improvement over his previous two incarnations, he finally has some proper motivation for the first time since Season 5 (Heck, even some of his values return, his "helping hand" attitude is portrayed in such episodes as 'Smooth Jazz' and Are You Happy Now?). He's a standard, somewhat boring and lame protagonist who doesn't cause much harm in these episodes. There are times when he generally screws up (Like in Restraining Sponge & The Play's the Thing), a general well meaning goof up that popped up quite a few times in Season 7 (Tentacle Vision, Enchanted Tiki Dreams).

Season 9's SpongeBob is of course two separate beasts. 9A'S SpongeBob is pretty much a better developed Season 8 SpongeBob. I noticed by this point, he's not really the direct cause of problems, at the result of ignorance anymore, which is a huge plus. He's a more likable protagonist, one with a little more proper motivation (Like in Squirrel Record or Seance Schmeance). "Cruise Control" SpongeBob is around sometimes, particularly during filler scenes in an episode when not much is generally going on (Ex. It Came From Goo Lagoon had this Sponge for a good chunk of the episode). As a character, he's more tolerable of a protagonist. Not that interesting or in-depth, but he is a fairly likable character by this point.

9B's SpongeBob is a whole other animal. The series takes a reset, as SpongeBob's now pretty much the embodiment of early Season 4 SpongeBob. He's no longer just a salvageable main character who isn't perfect, but certainly not the worst, he's SpongeBob again, the SpongeBob we all know and love. Pretty much an early Season 4 version of the character, where he's that same ol' lovable, charming character with good intents and motivation. He's a lot more positive as a character compared to his Season 4B-9A self, though he's not exactly as well rounded as his Pre-Movie iteration was. He's not generally too negative much of the time, and typically is the more upbeat/positive version of the character. Also, he isn't usually that funny compared to Seasons 1-3.

Season 10 SpongeBob is pretty much 9B SpongeBob. Barely any difference in his character, maybe he has a little more personality, I noticed he's not always as happy as he was around the time of 9B, but otherwise I see no difference.

Season 11 SpongeBob is about the same, too. He's just SpongeBob, there's no specific character trait that tends to stand out, he's the same ol' positive pushover we've all come to know and enjoy. Really likable protagonist, well-rounded (Not as perfected as his Season 1 self, but still pretty good).
 

EmployeeAMillion

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One of my favourite characters in all of fiction. He manages to be versatile, while still having a personality, hobbies, friends and occasional barriers.
 
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