Steel Sponge Posted September 3, 2014 Share Posted September 3, 2014 With every gimmick that makes us build mountains over molehills comes another typical complaint in a thread like this. And I think these "rip-off episode" interpretations are getting out of hand. You know, call the writers "lazy," call certain episodes shameful/shameless rip-offs of other episodes, I don't care while I just shout aloud "how does Spongebob rip itself off!?" Goodness, I mean, the term "rip-off" could be interpreted for anything that shares a similarity with anything else, but 'rehash' is a stronger word that other people would use, even though I wouldn't use that term myself. First off, this is what a rip-off would be defined as I take the words from an internet dictionary, unless I'm better off paraphrasing: rip-off noun. informal. -an inferior imitation of something. For an example of why I wouldn't call a newer episode of Spongebob a rip-off compared to an older one, let's give a couple of descriptions on two episodes that are easily compared to each other. I guess I am going with these two episodes i.e.: A Pal For Gary: Spongebob feels that Gary is lonely at home, so he decides to buy a friend for him, a ferocious nudibranch that is murderous in front of other house pets. Gary gets injured throughout with Spongebob failing to notice that Puffy Fluffy is to blame, even when it becomes a scarier image of itself. Pet Sitter Pat: Spongebob is visiting Grandma Squarepants for her birthday and he needs somebody to take care of Gary while he's away, so he enlists Patrick for the job. Outside of Patrick's self-confidence, he takes care of Gary in a very much different direction rather than listening to the snail. Gary results into some injuries. Now, when people describe episodes as rip-offs, I can see what they're getting at, but at times, I would usually disagree. Either way you cut it, they do have similarities, but play out like different episodes. On Pet Sitter Pat's side, I can also feel an "I Was a Teenage Gary" vibe rather than what most people are interpreting as the original contrast to the rip-off. Now, hypothetically speaking, let's rearrange the plot for Pet Sitter Pat for my next example of what I would see in a "rip-off episode:" A Pal For Gary: Spongebob feels that Gary is lonely at home, so he decides to buy a friend for him, a ferocious nudibranch that is murderous in front of other house pets. Gary gets injured throughout with Spongebob failing to notice that Puffy Fluffy is to blame, even when it becomes a scarier image of itself. Pet Sitter Pat: Spongebob feels that Gary is lonely at home, so he decides to have his friend Patrick hang around with him. Apparently, Patrick is ferocious/murderous in front of other house pets. Gary gets injured throughout with Spongebob failing to notice that Patrick is to blame, even when he becomes of a scarier image of himself. That's practically a literal example, though. In retrospect, I don't find "Pet Sitter Pat" as an original concept, but I can still see it as a different episode in a way. Let's face it - like I said once, do we expect the writers to look into like, over 350 episodes in order to insure that their newest episode concept is completely original? It can't be hard to make an episode plotline different from all the rest, but the fact that episodes usually have deadlines makes me think. There's probably another reason to theorize on these "rehashes." Any thoughts or a way of answering my own question, or even to argue with it? Feel free to discuss. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
President Squidward Posted September 3, 2014 Share Posted September 3, 2014 I find it annoying of how people find something that has ONE LITTLE similarity from another thing automatically counts as a rip-off. Those people need to loosen up and tell the difference between similarities and an actual rip-off. I didn't even know a show can rip-off itself. The only way it could do that is take a plot from another episode, change it with different charcaters, and then execute it the exact same way...which Pet Sitter Pat didn't even do in the first place. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I'M A TRASH CAN Posted September 3, 2014 Share Posted September 3, 2014 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steel Sponge Posted September 4, 2014 Author Share Posted September 4, 2014 . What? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cha Posted September 4, 2014 Share Posted September 4, 2014 Yeah it's hard to keep tract of what plot has been done before when you've been making episodes for almost 15 years. I wouldn't even consider those two examples as being "rip-offs". Despite everything, I still feel like The Other Patty is just a rehash of Best Frenemies. The plot is literally the same. "Mr. Krabs and Plankton put their differences aside so they can take the formula of a new, competing restaurant." Except they don't work together until towards the end and SpongeBob has a bigger role in it than Best Frenemies. So yeah some episodes are really similar to each other, but you can't always blame the writers for it. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crushingmayhem Posted September 4, 2014 Share Posted September 4, 2014 There are lots of references in the show that tell something about another episode. But I wouldn't say they are ripoffs, more like recycled ideas or similar storylines. Despite the similarities, the episodes aren't completely alike at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I'M A TRASH CAN Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 What? Just don't like people just calling them rip-offs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomeCanadian6 Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 SpongeBob, You're Fired ripped itself off so many times that I can't even think about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
President Squidward Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 How can an episode rip itself off? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popeye Q. Krabs Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 Yeah it's hard to keep tract of what plot has been done before when you've been making episodes for almost 15 years. I wouldn't even consider those two examples as being "rip-offs". Despite everything, I still feel like The Other Patty is just a rehash of Best Frenemies. The plot is literally the same. "Mr. Krabs and Plankton put their differences aside so they can take the formula of a new, competing restaurant." Except they don't work together until towards the end and SpongeBob has a bigger role in it than Best Frenemies. So yeah some episodes are really similar to each other, but you can't always blame the writers for it. Thank you! Exactly. I wouldn't blame them if they kinda lost track of what ideas have already been done with all those episodes that have been made before. It must be a pain trying to come up with new stuff that hasn't been done on the show which they still do from time to time and also taking in account for how long the show has been on and what kinds of tight deadlines they probably have to put up with too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhoBibbles Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 SpongeBob, You're Fired ripped itself off so many times that I can't even think about it. you mean it ripped off so many episodes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomeCanadian6 Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 you mean it ripped off so many episodes? Oh yeah, that. I mis-said it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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