Return of the SBC Episode Club!

[Wumbo]

 

Beautiful graphic courtesy of the beautiful Nuggets.

 

So, The Episode Club was something we tried having before but unfortunately, things didn't quite work out. But now that we have new users and new opinions, the staff has agreed to bring it back!

 

Essentially, The Episode Club will be held bi-weekly, with a new SpongeBob episode for members to discuss. The episode chosen will rotate among the members of the club, and there will be opinions, opinions, opinions!

 

Get your arguments ready for why you like or why you dislike an episode, because this isn't your average Episode Discussion rodeo: You need to try as hard as you can to make your reviews or comments thoughtful and thorough. You don't need to write like the Dickens, but we want more than "good ep" and "7/10", basically.

 

The details will be ironed out soon enough, but get excited for this summer!!!11

 

Episode pick sign-up sheet:

 

Nuggets - The Clash of Triton

Wumbo - Bubble Buddy Returns

EvSpongeFan - Party Pooper Pants

More_SpongeBob_Sandy - Fear of a Krabby Patty

SOF - The Great Snail Race

SB_DW_Fan - Demolition Doofus

Trophy - Squidward, the Unfriendly Ghost

Clappy - The Smoking Peanut

Jjsthekid - Enchanted Tiki Dreams

ZaidCatDog - Good Neighbors

Milkmaidman - The Algae's Always Greener

Jjsthekid - Tea at the Treedome

SB_DW_Fan - The Donut of Shame

BobSponge PantsSquare - Greasy Buffoons

SOF - SpongeGuard on Duty

Patty Sponge - Funny Pants

Jjsthekid - Scaredy Pants

SB_DW_Fan - The Curse of Bikini Bottom

SOF - Have You Seen This Snail?

Jjsthekid - Artist Unknown

JCM - Sing a Song of Patrick

ClassicNickelodeonFan1 - Christmas Who?

[Clappy]

Ah yes this brings back some good times from 2011-2012.  I'm definitely in on this.

[SpongeOddFan]

heh, i rember this club, good times.

[terminoob]

Good update 7/10

[Cha]

Yyeeeeees.

[crushingmayhem]

I'm open for this. As long as people like it I approve it.

[EVSPONGEFAN]

I'm in!

[William Leonard]

Sign me up bro.

[Young Nug]

And now, to kick this off, I will reveal the first episode we'll all discuss! Prepare to discuss....

 

Spoiler

 

Clash Of Triton, Season 6's finale!

 

And enclosed is my review!

 

Spoiler

A Nuggets™ Review

 

Clash Of Triton, written by Casey Alexander, Zeus Cervas, Aaron Springer, Paul Tibbitt, & Steven Banks

 

Alright, so imagine this. After a Season where most episodes have varied from mediocre to trash, the final few episodes have taken a small upturn in quality. Suddenly, info releases about a special as the season finale. That's kind of cool. Then, more info is released- this special revolves around Neptune, a character who hasn't been seen since Season 1 in the series, and it's been 5 years since his appearance in the movie. Ideas start popping up- "Will this episode reference the movie?" "Will they use movie Neptune or series Neptune?" Nick promoted this as an "epic" kind of special, and with SpongeBob cracking a reference to "Gooberry Sundaes" (and therefore the movie), people (and especially me) believed this could have been a movie-referencing tale on a deeper scale than what SpongeBob normally goes to.

 

...And we didn't really get that. 

 

To be fair, I can at the very least, appreciate the general idea behind "Clash" and what it was trying to do.  Instead of being a regular special focusing on SpongeBob doing...something, "Clash" serves as more of an expansion of King Neptune's backstory, elaborating on his relationship between him and his son, Triton. This allowed for a backstory that was a lot more emotionally poignant than what the show usually writes. It's yet another Krusty Krab episode, but it later escalates and we see new places, like Triton's island. When SpongeBob and Patrick return to a destroyed Bikini Bottom, it does envoke kind of an epic feel. There are parts of "Clash" that do feel like a deeper, more epic tale from the SpongeBob writers.

 

However, these are only parts. "Clash" as a whole is plagued by poor pacing, and the pacing is bad in one of the strangest ways- The opening half of the episode moves incredibly slow and a lot of time is wasted at the beginning with Mr. Krabs setting up the Krusty Krab for Neptune's arrival, and Triton's backstory takes up the rest of the first half. It's moving at almost a snail's pace (no pun intended). Then, suddenly, once SpongeBob finds Triton, the episode speeds up and concludes in a rushed ending that doesn't really make any sense. The main conflict between Triton and Neptune was that his son was more interested in the world of the mortals than he was in being a God. Neptune put him in a cage to make him think about this (which also doesn't make much sense) and when Triton is released, he tells his father that he realized "mortals are lame". He destroys Bikini Bottom and imprisons his father, but when Neptune escapes and sees the carnage, he forgives his son, because he sees Triton finally saw his side of things. That makes sense, from Neptune's perspective. But it brings up the question- Why does Triton forgive his father? Yeah, it's a cartoon, and yeah, there are like two minutes left in the episode, so I get that they were low on time, but there's absolutely no reason for Triton to forgive his father, and yet he does anyway. I could also bring up how Neptune's character has gone from a light jerk to that of an all-out tyrant, and how the animation is decidedly average for a special, but this review is running a bit long, so I'll save it. At the very least, everyone was mostly in character and subplot with the citizens watching was kind of funny.

 

"Clash"'s biggest problems are it's pacing and lack of humor, which is probably the result of it being one of the few episodes to have a whopping total of five writers (which is one writer short of the amount of writers on the movie), and as the saying goes, too many cooks spoil the broth. I can count on one hand the times I laughed at the episode, and in a 22 minute episode, that's really bad. "Clash" would have greatly benefitted from the 45 minutes of storytime that "Truth Or Square" got, because "Clash" does have some genuinely good ideas behind it, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. Although, on a positive note, Sebastian Bach was wonderful as Triton, and I feel that if the crew had more time to work with, he could've been a truly wonderful character. His surfer voice and overuse of "man" was just great. 

 

So, in short, while SpongeBob's attempt at a deeper backstory and scale ala later Adventure Time wasn't entirely successful due to poor plotting and being generally devoid of humor, the basic concept and what they were going for redeem ita bit. "Clash" was a big disappointment, an even bigger missed opportunity, and one of the show's biggest cases of "what could have been", and alone is just a lackluster special. But the ideas behind it hint at something much better, and I really wish the execution hadn't been botched, because this could have been so much better.

 

5/10.

 

note: also, is it me, or were they trying to sneak in some social commentary with that chick at the opening talking about how she loved the royal family and everything they did? Seemed like it was some sort of vague reference to the actual royal family. Speaking of them, was anyone else bothered at how Neptune's home was referred to as "Atlantis" when SpongeBob visited there just a season ago? Just further confusing continuity. ugh.

 

Get discussing!

[So Sejima]

I probably don't hate this episode as much as others, due to not remembering the hype for it. Same goes with Best Day Ever for me. It could've been way better. Mainly I didn't like it because it was boring. Plus I don't get Neptune: Why stop your son from protecting the people you rule over? Even if it just is the movie one that rules over, without the mortals, there'd be nothing to do much for the gods anyway. Neptune, stop being confusing to me.

[Sweat]

This episode was overhyped. I was disappointed when watching, and if anything, it was just mediocre throughout. On the bad side, the story of Neptune and Triton along with the resolution were very underwhelming. On the plus side, the humor is not half bad and the party in the Krusty Krab had good scenes. Overall, I give this episode a 6/10. Mediocre, but it does have a few plus sides.

[Cha]

Spoiler

You go from a season such as season 6 to this. We've gone from Truth or Square to Clash of Triton. Both are unique in a sense but also have their faults here and there. (I like are based around a big event at the Krusty Krab. And the story reminds me of that SpongeBob Meets A Princess book or whatever it was called.)

To answer Nuggets, this episode has original Atlantis showed Neptune's Spatula. So the writers get a pass to make that reference because it was in S1, compared to S5 in the other Atlantis. There's a quick point I'd like to make too... This makes a lovely continuing reference, maybe there's two different Atlantises. Or maybe the Atlanteans from Atlantis SquarePantis divided it up their kingdom with the gods? Don't get me wrong, would get more into it but I've got to get more into the actual episode.

Humor wise, I thought this episode was exceptional. There were a couple jokes that stood out for me. Like SpongeBob dressing up as a girl, Mr. Krabs constantly being fried by Queen Amphitrite (reminds me of the movie) to Squidward setting up the decorations or the Heman reference.

Now let's look at the references to previous episodes. *squeals* We have their tuxedos and a beautiful Triple Goobberry Sunrise reference.

That being said, let's look at the episode. I remember hearing about CoT for the first time and wondering if Mindy would be on it. Of course it didn't happen though because of the different Neptunes issue. But I won't get into that. We do however get to see a bunch load of different friends and family of Neptune. Yay character development you would might think. But let's not go too far yet.

(how did Neptune get slides of past events, did he use his mermaid magic to see into the past)

So moving on later in the episode Triton gets free yadda yadda and comes to Bikini Bottom. His visit felt rushed (the episode only had a few minutes of it before it ended.)

I use to watch this episode and whenever I saw Triton being praised from his father for destroying the city I was kinda upset. It's like no one cares that Triton spent nearly a 1,000 years locked up in a cage (which is like a 5th of Neptune's life so even as a god that's a really long time). He had his personality change from being a awesome member of society to a total jerk. No one stops this and Triton will forever be this new terrible person. I mean Neptune just told Triton he's proud of him for "using his god powers" but he's totally cool with him acting this way now. It irks me but at the same time I can't help but laugh. Because that truly is Neptune's personality in the show. He loves to show off his ego (Neptune's Spatula for example) and his powers. I wonder of Triton ever reverted to his old personality after finally set free... Probably not.

Scooter is that you from Bubble Buddy?

[WhoBibbles]

The Clash of Triton is a poorly-executed special and It's very high on my list. It could have been an awesome episode that has a really awesome fight between SpongeBob and Trition but no. The episode was boring as hell. The backstory was interesting but that's the only positive thing I can say about this episode. There was no fights at all and there's no humor in this episode. Also SpongeBob and Patrick didn't deserve to have a terrible ending. A really boring special that makes SpongeBob, You're Fired look like Band Geeks (I find a few good things about SYF honesty.) WORST SPECIAL EVER!!! 0/10

[So Sejima]

I probably don't hate this episode as much as others, due to not remembering the hype for it. Same goes with Best Day Ever for me. It could've been way better. Mainly I didn't like it because it was boring. Plus I don't get Neptune: Why stop your son from protecting the people you rule over? Even if it just is the movie one that rules over, without the mortals, there'd be nothing to do much for the gods anyway. Neptune, stop being confusing to me.

Oh I forgot to add the movie reference at the end, even though technically the events of the movie haven't happened yet at all.

[EVSPONGEFAN]

Well let's get started!!

The Clash Of Triton is really not a good episode (or in other words, bad) The episode was bad to me because it didn't have much gags or jokes. The first time watched it, I just sat there and just got bored with the episode. The special isn't terrible, but the writers could have made it a great episode. Some of the jokes did get a laugh out of me. This episode doesn't really leave a good taste in my mouth.

4/10

(EXCITED FOR MORE!)

[Less_SpongeBob]

The Clash of Triton was a really bad idea. As far as I remember, this was the only special I even remotely disliked at first sight, to to mention hating it. They advertised it as "SpongeBob's biggest blunder" when really it wasn't. Forget the advertising, there was no "Clash" at all. Just Triton destroying the city. There were too many subplots going on. The jokes fall flat on their face. The special had 5 writers and didn't manage to get anything right. What else had 5 writers? Friend or Foe and Frozen Face-Off. So that's the right way to use 5 writers, and this is the worst way possible. I'll still say Atlantis SquarePantis was worse, but this comes close. I was so bored with it. And how cruel was Neptune to send away Triton for what, curing diseases!? And then Triton decides to be bad, and Neptune forgives him for destroying town. Mr. Krabs just used it to make money. Moving the stickers can't unlock something, even with Patrick's stupidity. When I saw it end, I honestly thought, there has to be more, there just has to, it's not where it ends!!! They just went so wrong. 

 

But that's not my main problem. My biggest concern is the absence of Mindy. Yeah, they can't even remember someone that important. If she was present, the special might have had potential. But the writers didn't even show a SIGN that they know she EXISTS!!! Seriously, I know that continuity hangs on a thread, but you have the opportunity to use an ICONIC character, and you blew it. That's something.

 

Overall, this special sucks hard, and is easily on my bottom 20. 

 

Atrocity Points: Last time I checked, it tallied 46. But Atlantis SquarePantis beats it at 50. 

 

In other words, 0/10. 

[Burgerpants]

...

It's "average", to say the least.

6/10

[terminoob]

...

It's "average", to say the least.

6/10

 

Wanna tl;dr that, Tolstoy?

[Wumbo]

...

It's "average", to say the least.

6/10

And say the least you did, sir.

 

(Review from me coming if I can find it anywhere on the interwebz)

[Cha]

The Clash of Triton was a really bad idea. As far as I remember, this was the only special I even remotely disliked at first sight, to to mention hating it. They advertised it as "SpongeBob's biggest blunder" when really it wasn't. Forget the advertising, there was no "Clash" at all. Just Triton destroying the city. There were too many subplots going on. The jokes fall flat on their face. The special had 5 writers and didn't manage to get anything right. What else had 5 writers? Friend or Foe and Frozen Face-Off. So that's the right way to use 5 writers, and this is the worst way possible. I'll still say Atlantis SquarePantis was worse, but this comes close. I was so bored with it. And how cruel was Neptune to send away Triton for what, curing diseases!? And then Triton decides to be bad, and Neptune forgives him for destroying town. Mr. Krabs just used it to make money. Moving the stickers can't unlock something, even with Patrick's stupidity. When I saw it end, I honestly thought, there has to be more, there just has to, it's not where it ends!!! They just went so wrong. 

 

But that's not my main problem. My biggest concern is the absence of Mindy. Yeah, they can't even remember someone that important. If she was present, the special might have had potential. But the writers didn't even show a SIGN that they know she EXISTS!!! Seriously, I know that continuity hangs on a thread, but you have the opportunity to use an ICONIC character, and you blew it. That's something.

 

Overall, this special sucks hard, and is easily on my bottom 20. 

 

Atrocity Points: Last time I checked, it tallied 46. But Atlantis SquarePantis beats it at 50. 

 

In other words, 0/10.

To be far it's possible that her father from the movie is a completely different Neptune. Like they could be brothers who use Neptune as a last name.