DVD Review: To SquarePants or Not to SquarePants
Paramount Home Video, Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants
Jul 15, 2009
Nickelodeon's SpongeBob Squarepants must be an acquired taste, or perhaps the show received a creative shot in the arm for its 7th season.
Although Season 5 showed signs of creative drought, or a possible jumping of the shark, the episodes in the DVD collection To SquarePants or Not to SquarePants are a pleasant surprise: still formulaic as hell, but good for a surprising number of laughs.
Paramount Home Video, Nickelodeon Release SpongeBob SquarePants: To SquarePants or Not to SquarePants DVD
For those not already in the know, SpongeBob SquarePants follows the ambulatory sponge as he goes through life in Bikini Bottom: cooking burgers at Krusty Krab restaurant, tormenting pretentious Squidward, and having fun with the dimwitted starfish Patrick. No overriding story arc, no pretention to be anything other than random lunacy. And it works.
What happens in the 8 episodes in this DVD?
- "To SquarePants or Not to SquarePants": SpongeBob suffers an existential crisis when he loses all his squarepants.
- "Squid's Visit": When Squidward refuses to leave the comforts of his home, SpongeBob redecorates his place to look just like his neighbor's.
- "The Splinter": SpongeBob battles a stubborn splinter.
- "Slide Whistle Stooges": SpongeBob and Patrick torment Squid with their slide whistles. But all hell truly breaks loose when Squid decides, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
- "Boating Buddies": After Squidward gets a ticket, he has to attend boating school. Guess who his classmate is . . .
- "The Krabby Kronicle:" Krabby's latest get-rich scheme involves turning SpongeBob into a tabloid reporter. But what happens when his stories start hurting his neighbors?
- "The Slumber Party": Krabby's daughter Pearl banishes her father when she hosts a slumber party for her friends. But a paranoid Krabby orders SpongeBob to crash the party.
- "Grooming Gary": SpongeBob enters his snail Gary into a pet show. But Gary doesn't like what's involved, and neither do any of the other snails . . .
If you've seen one SpongeBob SquarePants episode, you pretty much know how they're going to turn out. But, to give the show's writers credit, the humour doesn't seem to suffer from the "been there, done that a million times before" malaise that usually strikes shows as they get past their 3rd or 4th season.
Although you can pretty much guess how an episode will play out (Krabby's moneymaking scheme will collapse, Squidward will either lose his temper or end up in stitches), there are plenty of little twists along the way that the on-screen mayhem never gets boring.
DVD Extras
Nickelodeon isn't exactly generous with the extras on these short-form DVD's (or they figure that kids aren't really interested in them, anyway). You get an Animation Art Gallery with storyboard panels and character art . . . and that's it.
The Final Analysis
No one's expecting high art from SpongeBob SquarePants. Much like Looney Tunes or Tom and Jerry, it's all about familiar characters getting into familiar situations and then watch as the hijinks ensue. However, it fulfills the ultimate test of any comedy: it's funny.
SpongBob SquarePants: To SquarePants or Not to SquarePants gets a 7/10.
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