SpongeBob SquarePants Cleanup

This is on Spongebob Squarepants Season 9^note I came across it while removing a reference to the page image, which is no longer there:

• As revilled (mostly for the hypocrisy and Patrick's performance) as this episode is, it surprisingly has a lot.

This is one of those "Even though this episode is hated, there are still these funny/awesome/heartwarming moments" lines that has no bearing on the "moments" in the episode. Permission to cut?

Nothing of value will be lost if you cut it.

I've cut it. There are several other episodes that had the "As reviled as this episode is..." line, and I've cut them too. How poorly-received an episode is shouldn't make a difference as to whether or not there are still funny/awesome/heartwarming moments in them. The only possible exception I can think of is if something turns a scene into a genuine case of "Funny Aneurysm" Moment or Harsher in Hindsight (and neither of those apply here).

Edited by Shadow8411 on May 31st 2021 at 11:22:34 AM

(x6, SpongeBob's Jerkass Ball)

Ugh... "A Pal for Gary" and "Great Snail Race" can probably stay, just torch everything else.

Why not "Waiting" and "Have You Seen This Snail?" which required Spongebob acting ruder than usual to advance the plot? Or the bit in "Choir Boys" which seemed uncharacteristically callous?

Edited by mightymewtron on May 31st 2021 at 8:38:42 AM

Now that I think about it, "Waiting" would actually count.

I think I only saw "Choir Boys" once and then never again, so I don't really know if it's an example.

For "Have You Seen This Snail", I wouldn't go as far as to say he's a jerk, but he's stupid and neglectful, and even then only during the beginning.

Edited by SpongeBat1 on May 31st 2021 at 7:33:50 AM

In "Have You Seen This Snail", SpongeBob being stupid and neglectful is pretty much what kicks off the whole plot of the episode.

Don't remember much about "Choir Boys", but it sounds like it can stay.

"Have You Seen This Snail?" I think is more of an Idiot Ball moment, since while he was definitely stupid, he wasn't neglecting Gary on purpose.

He actually does snap at Gary for distracting him from his paddleball game, which I think crosses him from just being stupid into being mean as well, even if he didn't realize it was became Gary was hungry.

Just so the participants in this cleanup know, I am planning to plug this cleanup in the next Trope Report. Hopefully that will help get some more people involved.

Oh, I must've forgotten about that. Maybe rewrite the entry to focus solely on the snapping, since that seems to be the only mean thing he did.

Super Equality 07 has been going through the recap pages and changing the release dates to include the years each episode was produced, removing the Canadian air dates as well. Is this necessary?

~LMS 2020 uncommented out a ZCE in YMMV.Sponge Bob Square Pants S 7 E 131 Keep Bikini Bottom Beautiful A Pal For Gary:

• Fanon Discontinuity: If you viewed the main article of this episode, you get the basic idea why it's so immensely hated.

Since when did SpongeBob follow a continuity?

There's actually continuity in Spongebob. Look up any theory video for proof. It's loose and subtle, but it does exist.

The example is still bad though.

The continuity mostly came in during later seasons. But this episode isn't really a part of it anyway. Nevertheless, it'd be a badly written example even if it did count.

Bringing this thread back up; how to rewrite Seasonal Rot under YMMV so it makes some sense to people.

Not seen it for years, only really occasionally, so can't comment on continuity in the show.

Two examples from Sponge Bob Square Pants S 8 E 24:

"Super Evil Aquatic Villain Team Up is Go!"

• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: A Villain Team-Up between Plankton and Man Ray? Awesome! What did they do with it? Nothing... Could do with more context and/or be worded to be less complainy.

"Chum Fricasse"

• Harsher in Hindsight: Squidward once made fun of SpongeBob having a doting grandmother in "Grandma's Kisses" in Season Two. Here, you find that Squidward's own grandmother is an absolute Foil to Grandma Squarepants. Not sure how this is an example.

According to the wiki, Squidward's mother is a Gruesome Grandparent, so I can see how that example works. It just needs that context.

This is on Sponge Bob Square Pants S 4 E 7

• An Aesop: Don’t try to pass off low-budget home movies as big blockbusters.
  • Just because a movie about real people doesn’t have them being played by themselves doesn’t make it bad.
  • Even if a movie doesn’t turn out right and nobody likes it, be proud of it if your family and friends, the cast and crew, or the person you made it for likes it.

All of that is Accidental Aesop. I don't think the episode has an actual aesop at all.

On CowboyBebopAtHisComputer.Sponge Bob Square Pants I found a few examples that seem like misuse. In general, there seems to be a lot of nitpicking:

• When Bob Kulick died, articles claimed that he wrote the song "Sweet Victory" specifically for the episode "Band Geeks". It's actually a stock track from the APM library where the show gets much of its background music. This is understandable, as most stock music and sound effect libraries don't generally get released to the public and are only for professional use. Seems like a pretty minor error, the example even says it's understandable to make.
• The back cover of the official season 10 DVD says that it has an episode starring "Sandy's nutty nieces." Sandy's nieces appear in season 11, not 10. Can errors in official sources count?
• The "Lost at Sea" DVD uses an image from "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy III" associated with "II." "III" isn't even on the DVD. While this is an error, it's a pretty minor one.

• This article is about a cartoonist, Troy Walker, suing Viacom for supposedly copying his character "Bob Spongee" for SpongeBob. The article also claims there was an episode that aired in 2004 called "Sponge for Hire!". In reality, there has never been an episode called "Sponge for Hire!". However, the writers may have been referring to the VHS/DVD release, Sponge for Hire^note which did release in 2004, and confused it for the episode from 1999, "Help Wanted"^note which never appeared on the Sponge for Hire DVD/VHS . The article is quoting the cartoonist. And obviously the cartoonist is going to lie, they're suing Viacom.

• IMDB claims that younger versions of the cast of South Park, voiced by actual kids, appeared in SpongeBob SquarePants 4-D, with Kenny's role being a Retroactive Recognition role for Noah Cyrus. This didn't happen, and Noah Cyrus didn't play a role in it either, with her first animated role being the titular character of Ponyo. It's likely this is the end result of vandalism. Vandalism doesn't count.

Edited by Blegh on Jul 5th 2021 at 3:34:58 PM

About that last one, how do people see stuff like that and even think for a second it might be real?

It's a mystery for the ages.

Over at Flanderization.Western Animation, there's an entire folder for SpongeBob. It contains "gems" like this bolded portion:

• In the pre-Season 4 episodes, SpongeBob was characterized as a playful, naive, eccentric and happy-go-lucky Manchild who was optimistic, energetic and childlike to a fault. He would make most decisions on a whim and was mostly oblivious to how annoying and at times disruptive his unorthodox shenanigans were to his nextdoor neighbour Squidward and the Bikini Bottom public at large. He always wanted to make friends with and help out everyone in Bikini Bottom - regardless of whether they liked it or not - with varying results. To some Bikini Bottom citizens, he came across as a caring and generous Nice Guy with a heart of gold, and to others an over-the-top, clownish nuisance. Despite his actions often having chaotic consequences, SpongeBob always had good intentions and was very eager to please.
  • And then came his Flanderization, which exaggerated every aspect of his personality and turned him into a gratuitously obnoxious, moronic, deranged toddler as opposed to the zany, enthusiastic Cloudcuckoolander he was in the first three seasons. He became extremely hyperactive and over-emotional, with a higher-pitched voice, a more shrill laugh and a tendency to burst into tears far more often, and for longer. His treatment of Squidward became stalker-level creepy, his antics crazier and more dangerous and his mindset considerably more ignorant and childish to the point where any remaining trace of his adulthood vanished entirely.
    • The reason he can't drive was changed as well. When it's first revealed that he failed the test 38 times, it's apparently because he gets nervous behind the wheel and panics. In newer episodes, he's a Giftedly Bad driver who puts everyone in danger behind the wheel to the point where he's a Sponge of Mass Destruction.
    • Furthermore, the number of driving tests he's failed was bumped up from 38 times in the first season to over a million later on; even the plot details have exhibited a strange combination of Flanderization and Retcon.
    • And then there are episodes like "A Pal for Gary" and "Choir Boys", where he's portrayed as actually cruel to Gary (due to his obliviousness) and Squidward (whom he attacked on purpose) respectively.

He didn't "attack" Squidward in "Choir Boys," he was selfishly negligent at best, which was a Jerkass Ball moment even for the episode.

SB was definitely flanderized but that can definitely be condensed.