I used to love Spongebob as a kid, and even today I still enjoy watching the old episodes from the first three seasons. But now... I just don't what the heck has happened to the show.
When the show Spongebob Squarepants first came on Nickelodeon it was about a cheery and optimistic yellow sea-sponge who had adorable quirky habbits like his love of jellyfishing, being enthusiastic about his job as a frycook, and being a terrible driver despite how desperately he wants to get his license. Spongebob was always doing his best to help his friends even though he got a little annoying sometimes (and I do mean a little). Also his friends were all interesting and had their own likable quirks like Patrick the lazy starfish who was his best friend, Squidward the grumpy squid who openly hated Spongebob but sometimes showed a softer side, Mr. Krabs his greedy boss, and Sandy the squirl from Texas who's a genius and expert at karate.
Now I want to point out how terrible this show has gotten lately. I don't know if it's because there's new people working on the show or because the creators are just fed up with Nick and ruining the show on purpose, but all these things I've seen in the new episodes tell me that something is seriously wrong.
For starters one of the most important things I've noticed is the change in Spongebob's character. They now try to potray Spongebob as just as big an idiot as Patrick. In the older episodes I never got the impression that Spongebob was stupid like his best friend, he just got a little annoying unintentionally sometimes which was usually due to his niavity and eagerness to help others. Far from being stupid, I always thought of Spongebob as having insight when it came to each character. He saw the good in everybody, even someone as cynical as Squidward or as greedy as Mr. Krabs. He was also good at giving advice for problems and was usually always right about them, and he just genuinely wanted to make everybody happy. Now like I said, Spongebob is just as big an idiot as Patrick and rather than being innocently annoying, he now seems to be intentionally annoying as he tries his damnest to ruin every character's life on the show even when they make it clear they don't want him to. It kind if reminds me of the character Billy from The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, a character who like the new Spongebob is so happy and carefree that he's completely manical and causes all kinds of destruction and misery for those around him without even caring about the consequences or that he's hurt people he claims to love. That is NOT the way Spongebob was in the original episodes, I can tell you that much!
There's also the fact that the show no longer has it's underwater charm. In the beginning of the show everything was made out to let you know it took place under the ocean. Buildings and Houses were inside objects from the dry land that had fallen into the water, things like shells, bamboo, and fish hooks were used as tools and building material, boats were used as cars, and all the pets and animals were sea creatures like snails were cats, worms were dogs, scallops were birds, jellyfish were bees, etc. But now we have normal human houses like on dry land, normal-shaped buildings made of brick, trees instead of underwater plants, actual birds instead of scallops, and all kinds of stuff that leads me to believe that the creators have forgotten the show is supposed to be set under water.
And there's also the gross-out humor, which I don't think anyone really likes anymore. These days the show's idea of "funny" is things like seeing Patrick drop a donut in a toilet and then sharing half of it with Spongebob, or seeing Spongebob drop a coutch on Squidward's toe and rip his entire toenail off for the viewers to see. Who really comes up with this and thinks it's funny? I'm know the old episodes had their share of gross-out humor too, but it was never the main focus of the show like it is now. What made the original episodes funny was Spongebob's genuine goofiness like pointing out that he was a sponge by shape shifting, absorbing his own tears, or bodybuilding using stuffed toys as weights because he can't lift anything heavy.
And last but not least, there's the fact that just about every episode is now about Plankton stealing the Krabby Patty secret formula. That's literally what the show is all about now, because they can't come up with any new ideas. The first few seasons featured Spongebob on all kinds of adventures that didn't relate to his job at the Krusty Krab, but now everything is about him working there and trying to stop Plankton who in my opinion deserves the recipe more than Krabs, because lately Krabs has been painted out to be a complete selfish jerk and it makes you wonder why Spongebob idolizes him so much.
I know what a lot of you are going to say, this is an old cartoon and it's getting close to the end of it's lifespan which is to be expected. I guess it's a general rule that every successful TV show that lasts a long time will start to suck during it's last seasons before it gets cancelled. I guess Spongebob should have been put out oif his misery a long time ago, but Nickelodeon is keeping him around because there's really nothing else as good on their channel anymore. I mean they got rid of all the great cartoons and TV shows like The Rugrats, Hey Arnold, and Are You Afraid of the Dark? and none of their new shows have been as big a hit, except for Avatar: The Last Airbender (which only seems to show on Nick Toons now).
I personally think Nickelodeon should do like Cartoon Network is doing now and bring back reruns of their old cartoons. They were better and more enjoyable, and I'm sure that even though they're considered old cartoons that the kids of this generation would enjoy them greatly.
That's just my opinion though.
17 Apr 2011, 11:44 am
, but from what year would you consider the show as "the new ones"? I watched it from it's 2005 return (after the movie) until 2008, I reckon, but anyways, I absolutely loved it! The one where they get launched into medieval times was one of my favorite episodes ever.
