SpongeBob SquarePants

@Yeow 95 - Interesting. I still watch this show (post-first movie episodes) even if its quality degraded over the years, and I'm still seeing the second movie out of curiosity. The fact that Stephen Hillenburg will be working on it makes it worth watching.

Speaking of which, any word on what the main plot will be?

Seasons 1-3 of Spongebob are the best stuff I've seen from Nickelodeon (Keep in mind that I haven't seen much of Avatar), post-movie seasons I have no interest in seeing/seeing again.

I've heard that Seasons 7, 8, and 9 are improvements over the other post-movie seasons. Is this true?

I've seen odd episodes of Season Eight and thought they were decent enough (then again I know not a lot of people liked Face Freeze while I laughed through it, so maybe I'm the best source for this).

@anonymous 1224: I'm not sure if Everyman is the most accurate term (though maybe because I tend to link 'everyman' with 'generic blank character'), but he had that sort of lucidity and pathos to him at least that made him relatable, even if it was still expressed in an eccentric manner (eg. him trying to awkwardly hammer his stall despite Squidward's complaints of noise in 'Bubble Stand'). In a lot of later episodes he feels more like just this crazy vaccuous prop that comes in and enflicts misery for others.

edited 1st May '14 5:56:53 PM by Psi001

Feh, what do they know? Those people are so sensitive they'd get bruised by a grasshopper...

Wait, weren't you the guy who said the live-action Grinch had good qualities? YOU ARE NO LONGER AUTHORITATIVE AS A SOURCE.

Stephen Hillenburg apparently wanted Sponge Bob to be sort of a naive, childlike character - look at his reaction to discovering swearing: exactly like a child's! (Interesting fact: the inspirations for Sponge Bob's character were Jerry Lewis, Pee Wee Herman and Charlie Chaplin!)

edited 1st May '14 5:57:29 PM by Aldo930

Well I might just watch the live action Cat In The Hat and find something good about too.

I guess it's that the later episodes tend to fixate on the 'annoying destructive brat' aspects of the child bit, more or less a curmudgeonly adult's straw interpretation of a kid (likely why Squidward comes off so sympathetic, Spongebob is simplified to acting exactly how he complains he does). In early episodes there was more focus on the goings on of the actual kid's point of view, eg. the naivete or fear towards new things, the pretentious assurance of knowing as much as a grown up. Other characters also acted as more developed foils to this aspect before being simplified as well (eg. Sandy was sorta the competitive jock playmate before being put Out of Focus and turned into another Straight Man).

edited 1st May '14 6:04:13 PM by Psi001

You wouldn't be wrong. It's So Bad, It's Good for me, at least.

I do kind of find that sort of a simplification of things. There are many later episodes where Sponge Bob does not act like that.

Knowing that a major influence on the show's comedy was Laurel and Hardy is sort of an interesting look in the show's dynamics: Sponge Bob is Laurel, and Squidward is Hardy.

edited 1st May '14 6:05:39 PM by Aldo930

It's not a full on case, but a lot of episodes tend to do the whole 'Spongebob acts stupid and harasses a Butt-Monkey' formula than before, and to a lot more extensive and simplified degree (eg. rather than cases Spongebob just bothers Squidward and the latter makes it worse by trying to get rid of him, it's just Spongebob driving the entire dilemma).

edited 1st May '14 6:07:32 PM by Psi001

Spongebob Squarepants and Patrick Star is one of the best cartoon couple. They are the real best friends. They are the exemplar when we talk about friendship.

I added this to the Fridge Brilliance Spongebob page, and I wanted to see if it was accurate;

Squidward's nasty asocial attitude makes sense when you realize he brings it almost entirely on himself; he's far too narrow minded, intellectual and egotistical to put himself on the level of anyone else he considers below him or confront his faults, and he un-em pathetically expects everyone else to live up to unrealistic high standards that even he can't reach, which is an automatic social brick wall. This would also explain why he's such a lousy clarinet player and tacky painter; he simply refuses to take criticism or supplant his ego so he can learn from others, and his refusal to admit his flaws and learn from his mistakes also keeps him from doing anything practical or rational with his art, and this is his downfall that keeps him from progressing—and it may also be because he's just doing the craft to reinforce his delusions that he's a highbrow cultured personality rather than having any genuine love or respect for the art form (consider that all of his paintings are self portraits, an immediate red flag that he's a narcissist), when a real "cultured" personality (I.e. Squilliam) is savvy enough to instantly see through his self-serving sham like the plate of glass it is, and wouldn't be caught dead hanging around an opportunistic, pseudo-intellectual bottomfeeder like him. And the reason most of Bikini Bottom treat him so poorly is because, despite not being very cultured or smart themselves, they are much more practical, street smart and level headed than he is, and they're well aware how insufferable he is and have no patience with his all talk and no show attitude. This social pariah status In turn also guarantees that Squidward won't be able to change or benefit from changing anyway, since he's already left a long lasting bad impression on everyone around him, thus reinforcing his cynicism and lack of passion. This can likewise apply to Plankton.

edited 17th Jun '14 6:42:26 PM by TheBeanerItWas

This is actually a very good thesis as to why Squidward is the Butt-Monkey.

After all, put yourself in the minds of a resident of Bikini Bottom: why would you willingly want to associate with this egotistical, untalented annoyance?

Of course, certain people consider Sponge Bob himself a servant of Satan.

Looking back on it, I realize there was a huge joke that passed over my head when I was young. In "Help Wanted" (the pilot), it is established that Spongebob always wanted to be a fry cook. His dream job was to be in a position that most people would find embarrassing or a starting job. Now, the Krusty Krab is a local establishment and not a franchise but it clearly has qualities of a Burger Fool and Squidward clearly hates working there.

Out of curiosity, have you guys seen Mysterious Mr Enter's reviews of post-movie Spongebob episodes? I think that post-movie Spongebob has so many episodes that are considered abominations is why most of his reviews on "Animated Atrocities" are post-movie Spongebob (and a a [[Western Animation/Breadwinners few]] other [[Creator/Nickelodeon Nick]] shows}.

At times, but the guy can be so sensitive and serious when he reviews shows that it comes off as whiny and annoying.

edited 21st Sep '14 10:19:16 AM by AfroWarrior27

I actually really liked Spongebob, You're Fired.

That special was so...predictable for lack of better words.

Guess who is coming back!

edited 13th Dec '14 1:09:35 AM by DS9guy

Does this mean we can have good Spongebob again?

He was never really gone in the first place: he still had to approve every episode, according to Vincent Waller.

Oh.

Well... that makes me a little less excited. :/

Another thing I think post-movie episodes missed was the episodic nature of the episodes, short as they are. Many of the jokes came from a broad setup, which mostly acted as a vehicle for interconnected little routines.

For instance, when Spongebob has a freakout over not knowing how to tie is shoes, he looks for any possible candidate which progresses from Patrick, to Mr Crabs, to more random characters until he jumps onto the fourth wall painting in the title sequence. None of that specifically was necessary to the premise, but provided enough diverting gags that your attention was kept while still addressing said conflict. Then there's the memorable climax where the Flying Dutchman provides even more rapid-fire gags with all the knots and shapes he's contorting himself and Spongebob into.

And the ending, where he's defeated and climbs into his bed exactly where he started. Only to realize the one person he forgot to ask was Gary.

We don't remember entire plots when we think of classic Spongebob, we think of the numerous little clever jabs that frequently played with the underwater setting and exploiting cartoon physics for all it was worth.

By contrast, the later episodes treat themselves pretty seriously and simply. A potentially amusing conflict like Gary being upstaged by another pet was turned into a borderline horror story as the same joke of Spongebob being blissfully unaware of his pet's well-being was done over and over again, losing any subversive qualities. Thus, we're left to take things at face value, and it's now tragic and depressing instead.

There's nothing to distract viewers from that simple premise, so when it's flawed we're forced to notice it more out of a lack of anything to watch.

The slowness of the show is one of its biggest problems.There are so many episodes where little to nothing funny happens.There aren't that many jokes in some episodes.If there are jokes,they just drag on and on.It can be so slow and boring.

I haven't watched ModernBob in years. All I remember is Patrick's a dick and Spongebob is dumber than a sack of bricks; nothing about pacing.

Agree. I was watching a newer episode with my young sister a couple days ago, and dragged for so long. It was practically at a snail's rate. With the attention span most young kids have, you'll think theyll change the channel quick. The fact that it's still number one shocks me.

edited 14th Dec '14 6:41:19 PM by teddy