Spongebob Complete Season 4

In this review, I'll be talking about my favourite episodes from this season. I think Plankton episodes are often my favourite. In "Fear of a Krabby Patty", Mr. Krabs opens the Krusty Krab 24 hours a day which causes Spongebob to become unhinged and scared of making Krabby Patties.

Though ostensibly a show for children, I think there's plenty of humour for adults to enjoy too. I love the episode called "New Leaf" where Plankton becomes much nicer and throws in the towel, and he actually befriends Mr. Krabs... or does he? Perhaps much of the comedy comes from anticipation - you know Plankton will always lose even when he appears to win, but you're never quite sure how.

But sometimes this show can do sadness, even pathos as well as goofy humour and parody. "Have You Seen This Snail" is the episode where Spongebob unwittingly neglects to feed Gary (his pet snail), so Gary runs away, and winds up staying with a grandmotherly figure who thinks he's her long lost cat. This episode is both funny and also very touching, especially the sad song "Gary Come Home" with a heartbroken Spongebob looking for Gary (though even that isn't immune from 4th wall humour - the song appears to be playing on an old fashioned record, and Spongebob tries sky-writing) and a scene where Gary finds out he must escape from his Grandma captor, or else die like the other snails he finds that have been overfed. I got misty eyed during that song. When Grandma gives Gary a stack of fliers, he sees they are from Spongebob, and realises he does care about him.

On the face of it, the show repeats it's stories which often seem the same when you boil them down - Spongebob and Patrick annoy their eternally grumpy neighbour Squidward, Mr. Krabs wants more money, Plankton wants to steal the Krabby Patty formula, or they show farce/misunderstanding, but it's funny how they're done.

For example in the episode "The Thing" Squidward gets covered in cement, and Spongebob adopts him like a pet. In another episode, Patrick disguises himself as a girl called "Patricia" in order to avoid trouble... only for his new persona to catch the eye of Mr. Krabs.

"Karate Island" is a spoof of the Bruce Lee film Game of Death, in which Sandy the squirrel (Carolyn Lawrence) has to fight different opponents, to get to a top of a tower.

In the "Hocus Pocus" episode Spongebob receives a magic kit and tries to practice magic on Squidward - however, Squidward just wants to be left alone. He gets on a bus to take him far away when Spongebob's back is turned, just at the moment a kid throws a pistachio ice cream onto Squidward's chair.

Spongebob comes back out and thinks he has turned Squidward into an ice cream cone! There's a funny reference to The Wizard of Oz in this episode, where Spongebob and Patrick decide they have to visit "The Wizard" to change Squidward back (after following the Brown Tile road).

I like the Good Neighbours episode where Spongebob and Patrick annoy Squidward when he just wants to relax on a Sunday, so to stop intruders getting in his house, he installs a computer in his home that winds up destroying the town.

Selling Out is also good, where Mr. Krabs sells The Krusty Krab to a conglomerate who plans to turn it into a big corporate chain called Krabby O' Mondays. What I like most about this episode is the satirical way it shows corporate culture and those types of homogenised restaurants - Squidward is forced to keep to the "happy" image sold by the Krabby O' Mondays and go round with a fixed smile on his face, and instead of being freshly cooked by Spongebob, Krabby Patties are disgusting processed monstrosities literally made from grey goo. I think this sort of joke shows the cartoon can do more grown up humour, and it may be missed by a young child.

The "Krusty Towers" episode (where Mr Krabs turns The Krusty Krab into a posh hotel) is hilarious. Patrick comes in and asks for a Krabby Patty but Mr. Krabs says he has to order a room too which leads to Squidward acting as Patrick's porter and getting so annoyed. But the tables are turned when Squidward enters as a guest himself....

"Best Frenemies" is another great episode with Plankton, in this episode Mr. Krabs enlists Plankton's help to find out just what is in a new popular drink, the Kelpshake.
In "Squidbob Tentaclepants", an accident with one of Sandy's inventions leads to Spongebob and Squidward being melded together in the same body, Fly-style.

Sometimes I'm not quite sure why but I enjoy the series a lot, it can be very funny.