Would A Change Of Style Benefit SpongeBob?

SpongeRoadie UK

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First off, a bit of back story. That inspired me to build this topic.

A couple of months ago, I started watching Teen Titans Go!

It's a kind of spin-off of the original Teen Titans show. The original show was one of my favourite shows ever. It had a kickarse concept, kickarse characters with dark, edgy stories. And although it is always able to have some fun once in a while, the show's main strength is at being serious.

This new show is 97% comedy. 2,5% plot, 0,5% dark and edginess. That half percent being an edgy part of a black table I saw in of the episodes. It's strength lies at having fun. Certainly it's not as good as the old show, but it being a rapid-fire comedy show, it is bound to be funny at times. And it is. So, on an off day where you just have to relax and stretch out a little bit, this show can bring some laughs. I like it.

A couple of weeks ago, I started watching The New Looney Tunes Show.

Again, it's a spin-off. Kinda. The original show is as basic a cartoon can get. Which is fine, since it's the 40's. 1 episode is 7 minutes long and it tells the slapstick-filled stories of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and other characters running into all kinds of troubles. It's as simple as a nose hair but it's really funny. It's a legendary comedy. One that produced a lot of spin-offs and movies adapting the same tactics. Think about some funny gags, then make an episode out of it.

Then this show arrived. It put Bugs, Daffy and all the other LT members in a sitcom-esque sets, with sitcom-esque stories. Predictably, it feels like an animated sitcom. To the point where an episode actually contains 2 plots. The more complicated sets and stories means that the humour had to be sacrificed. Not that the show has no jokes in it, far from it. It's just not as comedy-focused as it's predecessor. Still, I like it.
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Imagine it happens to SpongeBob. Would it be beneficial to change SpongeBob's style?

SpongeBob (at it's best, at least) resembles The Looney Tunes more than Teen Titans, but it had more complicated storylines. So if it were to change style, it would probably take the serious road. Kinda like the Looney Tunes. Which is good because that's what I prefer. Making the plot the centre of the attention. But would it be beneficial?

I think it could. Although one type of components must stay the same: The characters.

You see, we most likely fell in love with SpongeBob's cast members instead of the storylines. The characters are the ones who make the show. The chemistry between them produce hilarious moments and funny quotes. The story is just there to hold everything together. It's the cohesive that let the characters to gel together.

With that, there shouldn't be any problems if we change the style of the plot. Where, it's usually 11 minutes of simple lines of storytelling. Into a more complex, full 22 minutes of edginess. As long as the characters are still in character, they should play-off each other neatly to continue producing comedy, right? Changing the environment, but not the personalities.

It should lead to more interesting premises. New style conflicts, putting the characters to more complicated situations that can lead to many things. But more importantly, we are invited to enjoy an complicated, yet intriguing story. While waiting for jokes to pop out. It's just a totally new, prospectively promising, refreshing experience with a taste of the older touches.
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The reason why I'm thinking about this is because of the move that cartoons seem to make for the past few years.

With deeper, more intricate shows like Avatar, Korra, Gravity Falls and Adventure Time gaining massive success through the story-telling system I've explained. Complex storylines accompanied with some nice touches of comedy from the characters' chemistry, rather than the usual slapstick.

While shows like Sanjay and Craig, Fanboy and Chum Chum, Teen Titans Go! and Breadwinners (traditional rapid-fire comedy shows) get hate. While FOP and SpongeBob are deteriorating.

Not saying rapid fire comedy cartoons are extinct (Wander Over Yonder, anyone?), it's just that game-changing shows like Avatar tend to help people evolve their interests. And shows must adapt to the newly favoured ideology to compete.
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Also, perhaps that's also the reason why the new writers of SpongeBob "sucked". Maybe they're not able to write comedy, but who knows? Maybe they're good in making complex storylines? One Coarse Meal had a great concept for a complex story. Make it shorter and add too much comedy to it, and we have a stinker. But it's still a great concept.

Remember when PIEGUY said "season 4 had plenty of great plots that aren't funny"? That's what I'm trying to say.
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With all that said, though, there is one massive problematic hole in this plan to revamp the style of SpongeBob.There's a reason why the 2 shows I've mentioned before got loads of backlash from fans of the originals.

Identity.

SpongeBob is comedy. We come to laugh, not to enjoy the story. And that is it's original identity. To revamp that and make it a deeper and a more complex show, would probably increase it's quality, but it would destroy the original identity of the show.

It's like finding out your wife that you've been married to for 15 years decides to do plastic surgery and change her personality. It doesn't matter if it's for the better, it's just not her anymore.

Would you sacrifice a 15 year old identity for new, refreshing premises?

Well, I would. But I'm 100% sure, that the majority of this fandom wouldn't. And with many people already giving up on the show, this fandom is helping it stand, and the last thing the show should do is to upset them.

Therefore, I must conclude that changing the style of SpongeBob wouldn't be such a good idea.
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Popeyes Haunted Barnacles

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Interesting idea. I never thought of it that way but there's always a chance it could really suck like what happened to Loonatics Unleashed. Also, I'm not really a fan of Teen Titans Go at all and don't really care about The Looney Tunes Show either.
 

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You are correct. A reboot of Spongebob wouldn't benefit either its audience or its creators. 15 years of establishment would go down the drain. But it can work.

MLP, for example. The franchise itself dates back to the 70's. But nobody cared about it back in the day, as its previous incarnations were impossibly girly. It took some inspiration and care to transform it into what it currently is; MLP:FiM.

Which leads me to the true reason it won't function for Spongebob. People are fine with how it is. Don't let Master Entrance fool you, the series has millions of followers who would be confused about the sudden change.

Just my two cents.
 
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Honestly, SPongeBob has sort of become what it is today, so for it to change it's style to conform is kind of silly, especially considering this show has been running for 15 years. If they were to have done this, they should have done this when they brought the show back after the movie.
 

SpongeRoadie UK

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E.V.I.L said:
Honestly, SPongeBob has sort of become what it is today, so for it to change it's style to conform is kind of silly, especially considering this show has been running for 15 years. If they were to have done this, they should have done this when they brought the show back after the movie.
I feel like that's what the new writer are trying to do. With new episodes that have soap opera feels to them but lacking in humour.
 
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Roadie said:
I feel like that's what the new writer are trying to do. With new episodes that have soap opera feels to them but lacking in humour.
They are failing really badly if that's what they're trying to do 0_o
 

Supmandude

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I feel like that's what the new writer are trying to do. With new episodes that have soap opera feels to them but lacking in humour.

What episode is like a soap opera outside of All That Glitters which was obviously completely tongue-in-cheek and not meant to be taken seriously at all?
 

Popeyes Haunted Barnacles

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Supmandude said:
What episode is like a soap opera outside of All That Glitters which was obviously completely tongue-in-cheek and not meant to be taken seriously at all?
It had more humor than "A Day Without Tears" at least and that's not saying much.
 

SpongeRoadie UK

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Supmandude said:
What episode is like a soap opera outside of All That Glitters which was obviously completely tongue-in-cheek and not meant to be taken seriously at all?
What I meant was that the new episodes were better at executing a narrative story than the older ones. Probably because they didn't put so much focus on comedy.
 

That One Random Boss

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I've always wanted the show to take more plot into account. I love the nonsensical comedic episodes as much as everybody else, but the lack of continuity and predictability of much of the humor has their positives and negatives. It gets to the point where I wish for at least a season or two that take at least a slightly more serious turn just to develop the characters as more relatable, more intense, more heroic, more epic, etc. I've always though of trailers for these seasons with epic fight scenes and epic orchestral music in the background. I don't know why, but it would be REALLY cool.

But nevertheless, I also agree with many others that already applied. As much as I would like the show to be more plot-based and more storyline based, SpongeBob is renowned for its nonsense and comedy, and as a kids show, plot-based episodes will confuse them or get bored since the more plot-based episodes are more for pre-teens and teenagers. Unfortunately, since this is the case, we will most likely never see SpongeBob take a serious turn, even when it's for a brief time period.
 

Pieguyrulz

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Supmandude said:
What episode is like a soap opera outside of All That Glitters which was obviously completely tongue-in-cheek and not meant to be taken seriously at all?
Enemy in Law to name one example. It's not that it's literally like a soap opera, more that it attempts to be dramatic and serious, yet fails because it lacks substance and the kind of writers it takes to tell a truly complex and interesting story.

Could a total format change for SpongeBob work? Absolutely. Take characters we know and love and take them to more mature situations. The problem is that it would take stupendous writers to pull that off.... and I'm talking crazy good writers. This would never happen though, for a number of reasons.
 
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It had more humor than "A Day Without Tears" at least and that's not saying much.
I respect your opinion but I always thought ADWT had more humor than All That Glitter had. The only humor ATG has Le Spatula being a jerk, SpongeBob being naked and crying for half of the episode. In ADWT, Squidward tries to make SpongeBob cry with diffierent styles and that works for me and It also had a decent chalkboard joke. At least we only get to see SpongeBob crying for only 2 minutes in ADWT.
 

Supmandude

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Enemy in Law to name one example. It's not that it's literally like a soap opera, more that it attempts to be dramatic and serious, yet fails because it lacks substance and the kind of writers it takes to tell a truly complex and interesting story.

Could a total format change for SpongeBob work? Absolutely. Take characters we know and love and take them to more mature situations. The problem is that it would take stupendous writers to pull that off.... and I'm talking crazy good writers. This would never happen though, for a number of reasons.

Enemy in Law didn't attempt to be dramatic and serious whatsoever.
 

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I think a change of style would be way too late at this point, but why must rapid-fire comedies get so much hate? Well, because they stink. But there are some that can be truly great, such as Wander Over Yonder or Robot and Monster. Honestly, when a show gets really story-based, I can't form an interest in it. Of course when the show has a story small enough to still enjoy an episode as is, and still has a very noticeable amount of humor, like in Gravity Falls and Adventure Time, two shows I love more than SpongeBob, I can, uh, love the show more than SpongeBob. But when it has giant story arc, it can be the highest quality cartoon ever, that being Avatar the Last Airbender, but I can't like it because I can't enjoy the show for the episodes themselves. I'll need to watch all three seasons to understand virtually ANY of it, and without a notable amount humor to fall back on there's nothing to keep my interest. There's also the fact that it's anime-based and I was never into anime, but the first reason is my main problem with the show. No, that show still critically gets a 10/10, but my actual enjoyment of the show is like, a 4.
 
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