What used to be, is no longer.
6.5
Okay, let's face it. No matter what we all think of this show now, we all have grown up with Spongebob Squarepants, the zany underwater adventures of a lovable sponge and his buddies, Patrick, Squidward, Mr. Krabs, Sandy, and other wonderful characters. It was a fantastic show at the time, but I'm afraid that this is no longer the case. Here's why...
The first three seasons of the show (as literally everyone can tell you) were nothing short of excellent. Amazing writing, the funniest jokes, hidden double entendres for the adults (even I'm now getting these jokes 15 years later!), even the animation and the art itself was nice; it wasn't overly saturated and was nice to look at. Many of my favorite episodes of the series come from these three seasons, naturally.
The fourth season, however, doesn't quite match up with the first three in terms of quality. Taking place after the movie was released in 2004 (which by the way was supposed to be the series finale but Nickelodeon wanted another season; nothing wrong with that), the entire season, in my personal opinion, is a "hit-or-miss". Some of the episodes are fresh with the humor from the first three seasons, while some are just okay at best, if not unfunny; rather ridiculous. It is after the fourth season that things started getting nasty...
From Season 5 onward, it's been a mess. For example, EVERY character you know has been flanderized to the point of no return.
Spongebob, the titular character who, albeit a little childish, has a good heart and loves his job at the Krusty Krab and everyone in Bikini Bottom. He is now the world's biggest frickin crybaby and I feel that his purpose on the show is to just annoy the living mess out of Squidward, to the point of stalking him. Did I mention he's become extremely babyish? It's to the point where I want to reach into the TV and punch him in his face.
Patrick is the typical idiot character who offered wise words of wisdom and good advice to Spongebob and friends without even knowing it. Sure, he was stupid, but he was lovable at the same time, thanks to the (now former) writers of the show who gave him a rather unique personality. What these new writers have done to him is unforgivable. They have reduced poor Patrick's IQ to that of a blade of grass. Now he is completely and utterly stupid, enough that he cannot understand the simple concept of the game of hide and seek (I mean really?).
Squidward was the character that hated his neighbors and his job, but loved the heck out of playing the clarinet, the arts, and being away from his neighbors and his job. Though he showed disdain for Spongebob and Patrick, he was nice to them sometimes, even helping them in their times of need. You know how we used to say "Come on Squidward, lighten up!"? Now I feel sorry for him because Spongebob and Patrick annoy him to a point of suicide, or even can't blame him. Hang in there, buddy.
Sandy used to be this kickass karate-choppin', worm wranglin' babe from Texas who was the smartest of the sea. All she is now is, well, the smartest of the sea. She just does science-related things now and she's almost never there anymore. She was one of my favorite characters, but now if she's no longer a recurring character, they may as well just write her off completely.
Mr. Krabs, the boss of the Krusty Krab, was an old man who loved money. Regardless of this, he was wise, giving advice to his employees; and even generous; caring about his family and his employees. He only cares about money now, and doesn't give a hoot about anyone or anything else.
Plankton is the antagonist of the show, spending years trying to get the Krabby Patty secret formula but always failing in the end. Seeing the way Mr. Krabs is so harsh to Plankton nowadays, you'd actually WANT him to just get the formula already. Not to mention the plot lines centering him and the formula are very trite now.
The less I say about the rest of the better.
The plotlines are mediocre. The new writers are just awful. I feel like as soon as Stephen Hillenberg left as showrunner and Paul Tibbitt took over, Tibbitt picked up some random people off the street and said "Hey you guys wanna write for Spongebob lol" and they said "Yeah!" Everything after Season 4 just seems rushed, already done in other episodes, or made because they were running out of ideas. For example, "The the most disgusting episode I've ever seen, next to the part with Squidward's toenail (???). Nothing more needs to be said, just that if you haven't seen this episode yet, don't bother wasting your time.
The animation of the show has gone from unique and exceptional to just plain crude. To me, it feels like they turned up the Saturation slider in Photoshop. The music has gone from wonderfully island inspired to generic babyish nonsense. I could write some more but I honestly don't feel like writing an entire essay on it, so I will wrap it up here.
Seasons 1-3 were legendary, Season 4 was alright, everything after that is absolute garbage (with, admittedly, a few decent episodes in my opinion). This does not mean that I hate the show at all because I don't. I still have a lot of love for Spongebob, hell, I can find myself relating to Squidward as I get older (not in the wanting to murder my neighbors sense but more sarcastic and having a disdain for people in general). I just believe that the show has seen better days and is way past its prime. It's like a squirrel that was run over and is still twitching, searching for a will to show is appalling now and may as well be put out of its sadly Nickelodeon needs that money and this is their highest-rated show so I don't see it going anywhere any time soon. But for the first 4 seasons and the decent episodes found after those seasons, I will give this show a 6.5.
