As a kid, I was always a huge fan of Spongebob, with it's wacky setting and wacky plots, owning the Season 3 boxset and always watching it on Toonatik. And hey, with such widespread popularity, who doesn't love the yellow goofball? At least Good Spongebob (what season it comes from doesn't matter), but Bad Spongebob is a completly different beast, with one dimentional characters, mean-spirited jokes and expecting us to root for the wrong character, and no episode illistrates Bad Spongebob like One Coarse Meal.
One of the more infamous episodes of the show, the plot is that Mr Krabs finds out Plankton's secret fear, and exploits it to no end, to the point where Plankton does something no sane person wouldn't greenlight. This is a suprisingly decent conflict, and with less depressing themes inserted into it, it could have worked. Mr Krabs had a good reason to scare Plankton, instead of the cliche 'Friend Pranks Friend 4 D LULZ!!!!111!'. It is made clear that had Mr Krabs not scared Plankton, he would have stolen the formula, resorting Mr Krabs to take drastic measures so he would never get so close as he did to the formula ever again. Heck, Spongebob rats out Mr Krabs to Plankton and talks Plankton out of suicide! So, my first positiveis the basic plot is solid.
1. The Plot
A common problem with most Bad Spongebob episodes is filler. Although the episodes are only 11 minutes long (minus a few shorts and specials), the episodes have scenes which drag on for a lot longer than need to, or get the plot started 5 minutes into the episode. Luckily, in this episode they don't have this problem. The episode starts off quite quickly, it establishes the conflict quickly and it does feel like an 11 minute episode, not a 4 minute episode with 7 minutes of filler. Also,there's a joke in whichPlankton runs into the freezer instead of outside - that's quite funny. Not the best joke in the world but nicely set up. My second positive is the pacing is quite good.
2. The Pacing
O.K, although Blu3Danny commented this in his review of the episode, but I will say it anyway.
The opening fight scene is great, and it is a great way of starting the episode. It's got good jokes in it, explosions, creativity, it doesn't overstay it's welcome, and despite it's short lengh, it's got a few twists to it, like Plankton's 'dud' rocket turns out to be a crane. It might seem nonsensical, but it's a cartoon, it can do what it wants. Whoever wrote the opening did quite a good job on it, but after that it goes down realllllllllly qickllllllllllly.
3. The Opening Fight Scene
During the nightmare sequence, which is one of the main problems with the episode as the imagery is above and beyond scary, we get to see Plankton's family again, for the first time since Plankton's Army (or Pest of the West if you count Dead Eye Plankton) with some new editions like Plankton's Grandpa, and old ones, like Clem.
I know that this might not seem like much, since anybody can just insert Clem into a fanfic, but in this episode, they know how to reference something without it coming across as pandering. A pandering example would be Robo-Krabs cameo in New Leaf, even though Robo-Krabs EXPLODED when Spongebob inserted a penny into him, even though he is seen fully intact in New Leaf. In this episode, however their cameo makes sence, since it is in a dream, and anything can happen in a dream. It's a nice little touch and a nice little reference
4. Plankton's Family
So, there you have it, four positives of one of the worst episodes of the show. And hey, maby if you got rid of Mr Krabs stalking Plankton, Plankton trying to commit suicide, Mr Krabs happy about Plankton's suicide, Pearl only saving her father because of money and Spongebob backstabbing Plankton, maby this episode could have been good. Not the best episode ever, but having enough features to make it tolerable.
SUPREME SOMARI OUT!
Next Entry: Johnny's Royal Flush- Jonny Test
