EmployeeAMillion
Season 12 Time!
For if you want to skip to a particular episode of interest
Season 1: Page 1-5
Season 2: Page 5-13
Season 3: Page 15-18
Season 4: Page 18-24
Season 5: Page 25-29
Season 6: Page 29-36
Season 7: Page 37-44
Season 8: Page 44-54
Season 9: Page 55-66
Season 10: Page 66-69
Season 11: Page 69-73
Season 12: Page 73-present
Hello my dear friends. Well, here I am in the Fan Favourites section at last, and it feels so wonderful to be here with you in my first review.
Yes, I'm going to be reviewing every single episode of SpongeBob SquarePants. However, unlike PieGuyRulz, I'm not going to be doing it in video form. Instead, I feel comfortable just doing it right here on SBM. The reason I'm doing this is because I tend to look at my ratings for certain episodes (back when I did it on a scale of 1-10) poorly, like I wasn't enough of a critic back then. "An 8/10 for Porous Pockets? What was I thinking!?", I would usually say to myself.
With that out of the way, let's dive into the first season!
Current Season: Season 1
Original airdates: May 1 1999-April 8 2000
Episode Count: 20
Segment Count: 41
Additional Information: The first/only SpongeBob season to air in the 1990s decade, The first/only SpongeBob season to be entirely animated using traditional cel animation
Before we begin, I'd like to introduce my Rating System:
Scummy: Among the worst of the whole series (equivalent to a 1-2)
Bad: It doesn't represent what SpongeBob stands for (equivalent to a 3-4)
Average: It's somewhere in the middle (equivalent to a 5-6)
Good: It represents what SpongeBob stands for (equivalent to a 7-8)
Spongey: Among the best of the whole series (equivalent to a 9-10)
Help Wanted (Season 1, Episode 1a)
Airdate: May 1 1999 (Episode 1)
Plot: SpongeBob applies for a job at the Krusty Krab
Written by Stephen Hillenburg, Derek Drymon and Tim Hill
[titlecard]1A[/titlecard]
Title Card Music: Hawaiian Train
This episode is often seen as an absolute classic. However, being the pilot episode and all, some of the jokes it makes are elements of the show that we nowadays take for granted. For instance, Gary being a snail that meows like a cat would've been gut busting back in 1999, but nowadays, this would be seen as the most basic way of characterizing Gary (he doesn't even move anything other than his mouth). That's really the only example I could think of from the top of my head.
One of the best things about this episode is that it knows what it wants to be; SpongeBob applying for a job, going out to acquire something completely oblivious to what's actually going on back at the Krusty Krab, a full-scale anchovy invasion! The invasion starts off as just a group of mindless customers with no patience, but it soon becomes a high tide of angry anchovies wanting their Krabby Patties. It really puts the nautical style of the Krusty Krab's interior to good use, and really shows the sea vibe that Stephen Hillenburg envisioned for the franchise.
One thing that I love about this episode is the little things about it. SpongeBob's exercise room has a banner reading "I HEART PAIN", even though, seeing how SpongeBob takes carrying something as light as two plush toys on a stick, it's very clear that he doesn't. Later on, the buses containing anchovies circling the Krusty Krab exhibits a pre-emptive state of fear and claustrophobia (no, not being afraid of Santa Claus) that would overtake the Krusty Krew in the second part of the story, before SpongeBob returns. Not only that, but the very first time we see Squidward in this episode, he's cleaning up a picture of himself with the word "loser" painted next to it, which let's the audience know that Squidward is not as cool or happy with his job as SpongeBob is about to be. Now that's an establishing character moment!
Now let's move onto the best part of the episode, which is SpongeBob making his first Krabby Patties. I always found it wierd that he was already so fantastic at making them, even satisfying the anchovies, but then I remembered 3 things:
A) The anchovies are treated in the show as dumber (or at least, less like actual citizens) than regular fish, and as such, they'd probably be satisfied by anything.
B) Having Tiny Tim's "Livin' in the Sunlight" play in the background could easily make you forget that, as it's just so catchy.
C) It's a cartoon!
Not only that, but it would probably be his hydro-dynamic spatula with port and starboard attatchments and turbo drive being so good at crafting the patties. Speaking of which, a joke that will always stick out to me, and will always be one of the best of this season is SpongeBob saying to Squidward and Mr Krabs "Could you believe they only had one in stock?", implying that this completely stupid-sounding contraption that Mr Krabs made up on the spot not only exists, but has almost sold out at Bikini Bottom's local Barg-'n-Mart! It's so subtle yet so funny at the same time.
Now let's move onto the negatives. To be honest, I couldn't find too much bad to talk about. I guess SpongeBob not even reacting to the anchovy crowd below him when he gets back to the Krusty Krab could be seen as a bit of a waste of Squidward and Mr Krabs' contributions to the story, but then again, SpongeBob interacts with the crowd by feeding them Krabby Patties during the musical number, so it's not like anything is pointless story-wise. Also of note is the animation looking much more rough compared to the rest of the series, due to being animated in 1997 using very basic model sheets, while the rest of Season 1 was done from 1998-1999, not to mention many of the jokes are so subtle that I had to look deep to find a lot of them (the "one in stock" one I mentioned above being a good example). It's a little distracting seeing the characters with such primitive models, and the bigger reliance on an automatically comedic story rather than a comedic story with comedy thrown in, but you've got to see this as the pilot to truly enjoy it.
My rating for this episode on my personal scale would be "Good".
On a scale of 1-10, it would be an 8/10.
Currently, there are no episodes to compare it to when it comes to scale.
Next time, we're looking at an episode that does it's job in scilence. Until then, play me out, Tiny Tim.
:sbthumbs:
Season 1: Page 1-5
Season 2: Page 5-13
Season 3: Page 15-18
Season 4: Page 18-24
Season 5: Page 25-29
Season 6: Page 29-36
Season 7: Page 37-44
Season 8: Page 44-54
Season 9: Page 55-66
Season 10: Page 66-69
Season 11: Page 69-73
Season 12: Page 73-present
Hello my dear friends. Well, here I am in the Fan Favourites section at last, and it feels so wonderful to be here with you in my first review.
Yes, I'm going to be reviewing every single episode of SpongeBob SquarePants. However, unlike PieGuyRulz, I'm not going to be doing it in video form. Instead, I feel comfortable just doing it right here on SBM. The reason I'm doing this is because I tend to look at my ratings for certain episodes (back when I did it on a scale of 1-10) poorly, like I wasn't enough of a critic back then. "An 8/10 for Porous Pockets? What was I thinking!?", I would usually say to myself.
With that out of the way, let's dive into the first season!
Current Season: Season 1
Original airdates: May 1 1999-April 8 2000
Episode Count: 20
Segment Count: 41
Additional Information: The first/only SpongeBob season to air in the 1990s decade, The first/only SpongeBob season to be entirely animated using traditional cel animation
Before we begin, I'd like to introduce my Rating System:
Scummy: Among the worst of the whole series (equivalent to a 1-2)
Bad: It doesn't represent what SpongeBob stands for (equivalent to a 3-4)
Average: It's somewhere in the middle (equivalent to a 5-6)
Good: It represents what SpongeBob stands for (equivalent to a 7-8)
Spongey: Among the best of the whole series (equivalent to a 9-10)
Help Wanted (Season 1, Episode 1a)
Airdate: May 1 1999 (Episode 1)
Plot: SpongeBob applies for a job at the Krusty Krab
Written by Stephen Hillenburg, Derek Drymon and Tim Hill
[titlecard]1A[/titlecard]
Title Card Music: Hawaiian Train
This episode is often seen as an absolute classic. However, being the pilot episode and all, some of the jokes it makes are elements of the show that we nowadays take for granted. For instance, Gary being a snail that meows like a cat would've been gut busting back in 1999, but nowadays, this would be seen as the most basic way of characterizing Gary (he doesn't even move anything other than his mouth). That's really the only example I could think of from the top of my head.
One of the best things about this episode is that it knows what it wants to be; SpongeBob applying for a job, going out to acquire something completely oblivious to what's actually going on back at the Krusty Krab, a full-scale anchovy invasion! The invasion starts off as just a group of mindless customers with no patience, but it soon becomes a high tide of angry anchovies wanting their Krabby Patties. It really puts the nautical style of the Krusty Krab's interior to good use, and really shows the sea vibe that Stephen Hillenburg envisioned for the franchise.
One thing that I love about this episode is the little things about it. SpongeBob's exercise room has a banner reading "I HEART PAIN", even though, seeing how SpongeBob takes carrying something as light as two plush toys on a stick, it's very clear that he doesn't. Later on, the buses containing anchovies circling the Krusty Krab exhibits a pre-emptive state of fear and claustrophobia (no, not being afraid of Santa Claus) that would overtake the Krusty Krew in the second part of the story, before SpongeBob returns. Not only that, but the very first time we see Squidward in this episode, he's cleaning up a picture of himself with the word "loser" painted next to it, which let's the audience know that Squidward is not as cool or happy with his job as SpongeBob is about to be. Now that's an establishing character moment!
Now let's move onto the best part of the episode, which is SpongeBob making his first Krabby Patties. I always found it wierd that he was already so fantastic at making them, even satisfying the anchovies, but then I remembered 3 things:
A) The anchovies are treated in the show as dumber (or at least, less like actual citizens) than regular fish, and as such, they'd probably be satisfied by anything.
B) Having Tiny Tim's "Livin' in the Sunlight" play in the background could easily make you forget that, as it's just so catchy.
C) It's a cartoon!
Not only that, but it would probably be his hydro-dynamic spatula with port and starboard attatchments and turbo drive being so good at crafting the patties. Speaking of which, a joke that will always stick out to me, and will always be one of the best of this season is SpongeBob saying to Squidward and Mr Krabs "Could you believe they only had one in stock?", implying that this completely stupid-sounding contraption that Mr Krabs made up on the spot not only exists, but has almost sold out at Bikini Bottom's local Barg-'n-Mart! It's so subtle yet so funny at the same time.
Now let's move onto the negatives. To be honest, I couldn't find too much bad to talk about. I guess SpongeBob not even reacting to the anchovy crowd below him when he gets back to the Krusty Krab could be seen as a bit of a waste of Squidward and Mr Krabs' contributions to the story, but then again, SpongeBob interacts with the crowd by feeding them Krabby Patties during the musical number, so it's not like anything is pointless story-wise. Also of note is the animation looking much more rough compared to the rest of the series, due to being animated in 1997 using very basic model sheets, while the rest of Season 1 was done from 1998-1999, not to mention many of the jokes are so subtle that I had to look deep to find a lot of them (the "one in stock" one I mentioned above being a good example). It's a little distracting seeing the characters with such primitive models, and the bigger reliance on an automatically comedic story rather than a comedic story with comedy thrown in, but you've got to see this as the pilot to truly enjoy it.
My rating for this episode on my personal scale would be "Good".
On a scale of 1-10, it would be an 8/10.
Currently, there are no episodes to compare it to when it comes to scale.
Next time, we're looking at an episode that does it's job in scilence. Until then, play me out, Tiny Tim.
:sbthumbs:
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