220. The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom

[Jjs Goodman]

Premieres: 

Friday, October 13th @ 7:00pm ET/PT

Encores:

Saturday, October 14th @ 10:00am ET/PT

Sunday, October 15th @ 11:30am ET/PT

Plot:

It's Halloween in Bikini Bottom, and the Flying Dutchman is going to make sure everyone's scared - including SpongeBob

Clips:

1.) http://www.nick.com/spongebob-squarepants/videos/220-legend-of-boo-kini-bottom-clip-cutest-halloween/

2.) 

This is the second stop-motion special in the series done by Screen Novelties. 

Edited October 13, 2017 by The Lich

[Jjs Goodman]

Clip:

http://www.nick.com/spongebob-squarepants/videos/220-legend-of-boo-kini-bottom-clip-cutest-halloween/

[SpongeOddFan]

I thought it was good, but i wasn't great as GF vibe or IASBC.

Really liked the animation, seeing interacting between Plnkton/Flying Dutchman is cool. Overall, just a generic Halloween special. my favorite scene is Sandy;s part and the roller coaster song reminds me of "This is Halloween" a bit

Final Grade: B+ 

[Jjs Goodman]

Pretty great special. Not as great as its brother It's a SpongeBob Christmas!, or even Ghoul Fools, but still pretty nice on its own. While I didn't find all that much to be super hilarious, the gags there were were nice, and I felt it managed to have a decent balance with trippy humor without it going onboard (especially with The Dutchman entering SpongeBob's mind, which reminded me of The Inside Job & the second movie). The visuals were all pretty on point, as expected from Screen Novelties. I got some serious The Nightmare Before Christmas vibes from it, especially during the musical, which had visuals reminisce of "This is Halloween", which is a plus in my book. The Dutchman's return after six years was nice, and he felt just as entertaining as ever. I didn't mind him not seeming to recognize SpongeBob and Patrick, since it's clear the stop-motion specials are most likely set in a separate continuity. It was also pretty cool finally having Plankton and Flying Dutchman interact with each other and sort of briefly team-up, which was an idea I had in the back of my head for many years, and I'm glad to see it finally kind of happen. The ending with Plankton getting eaten was darkly amusing; it kind of reminded me of F.U.N.'s ending with Plankton being mistaken for candy. Overall, another worthy Halloween episode.

Grade: A-

Edited October 13, 2017 by The Lich

[So Sejima]

Even though this did go in the direction that the show should be later on in terms of calming down hyperactivity while also being an energetically fun experience, the episode just falls a bit short. It's honestly not what it did but it just doesn't hold up a candle to other episodes. Fun, nothing really wrong with it at all, but somehow still not the best is the way to describe this episode and it's a little bizarre.

 

[NegiSpongie]

I thought it was a really great special. I really liked the visuals in the episode, and I liked it had a lot of continuity in it like SpongeBob being a "scaredy pants" on Halloween and Plankton remembering how he entered SpongeBob's mind in "The Inside Job" and Movie 2.  The humor was funny most of the time too like with the Haunted Krusty Krab and Chum Bucket ("You're eating people patties!") and the ride that kinda reminded me of the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland, and the 2D animation in SpongeBob's mind. I was also surprised that the Dutchman essentially killed SpongeBob's friends- it was darkly funny.  While it got weird at times, it was still a great episode.

[FAS]

I thought this was a very great episode. Season 11 is already looking to be better than the rather sugar-rush mess that was season 10 and this episode as well as Spin the Bottle and Spot Returns proves it. This is another great piece of scriptwriting I've seen from Doug Lawrence himself. Unlike a certain someone, he knows how to write everyone in character without resorting to melodramatic reactions. While it does feel like a typical Halloween special you see in other cartoons, I still think it was well-done, SpongeBob style. Sandy and Krabs' costume are pretty predictable for today's standards, but all of the costumes were good, especially Karen as a cat. But the best thing of all, it was nice seeing The Flying Dutchman again. Brian Doyle-Murray might sound a little older the last time he voiced him, but he still puts on a good performance. The Scare Song was great piece of music for a rather generic spooky sounding song. While the comedy hit most of the time, the pacing did felt a little too fast paced at times, but that's just me. my favorite part of the episode was easily the brain sequence which was animated and storyboarded by Sally Cruikshank. It was very trippy and a wild experience. What's even funnier is that, like in Scaredy Pants, the Flying Dutchman got scared by SpongeBob's brain. So the moral for this episode is...scary does equals funny, which can be true, unless you don't go too far with your pranks. Overall, this was such an awesome Halloween stop motion special. It's almost as great as It's A SpongeBob Christmas! 10/10

[Guest hilaryfan80]

I really did enjoy this episode! Even though there was only one instance of continuity (Plankton references that he has been in SpongeBob's brain before), I agree with @The Lich that this episode takes place in an AU (alternate universe), perhaps in the same one that "It's a SpongeBob Christmas" happened. I did notice that SpongeBob's Halloween decorations parallel the ones that he made in "Christmas Who?", so it was perhaps a homage to that episode. Other than that, the musical number in the Dutchman's ship was heavily influenced by the song "This is Halloween" and, oddly enough, the Haunted Mansion attraction in Disney World. I thought this was an interesting twist.

Overall, I really did enjoy the special. It's obvious that the writers took the time to make this really good.

10/10

[WhoBibbles]

Wonderful special that is my favorite episode of the whole season. Just like with It's A SpongeBob Christmas, the special had a fantastic stopmotion animation, as well as a great 2D animated sequence of SpongeBob's brain (great callback to Plankton entering SponeBob's brain in the second movie). The humor was pretty good, a lot of slapstick actually worked for stopmotion animation and it didn't go too zany with it either. All of characters were 100% in character, yet they didn't flanderize them. Especially Squidward. He wasn't zany nor got undeserved pain, he was actually a prankster and I found it very funny. The musical number cheered me so much and it was the highlight of the episode. The pacing was well balanced, it didn't feel too fast or too slow. The story was nothing too special but simplicity is what SpongeBob does best and it worked here. It entertained me throughout. At first I thought it'd go with Scary Pants direction but it didn't and I loved it. I still prefer It's A SpongeBob Christmas but one thing I'll say better about this story than It's A SpongeBob Christmas is that there are no plot holes I can think of. Thanks Mr. Lawrence for another masterpiece. I think so far he's my favorite writer of this new era.

Grade: A

[4EverGreen]

I thought this was an even BETTER Stop-Motion animated special than than the Christmas one was!  First off, this seemed to be a lot better paced, and the animation looked a lot more fluid. Also, was not expecting

that "Yellow Submarine" homage for when the Flying Dutchman entered Spongebob's brain.

Also, this isn't the FIRST time that a "Soylent Green" reference has been used. Ironically, "Robot Chicken" actually USED "Spongebob Squarepants" to parody the (in)famous film! But it was TOTALLY unexpected to actually SEE a reference in "Spongebob Squarepants" itself, even as a joke!  I totally loved the song, and the overall feeling of this special; they seemed to be really trying to emulate "The Nightmare Before Christmas," and they made a solid episode in the process!  I'd give it a 10/10!  Enough said!

[Hayden]

Well that was a goofy half hour. I do prefer when things are just the funny kind of scary because the other kind of horror genre just comes off as cheap shock value to me. Squidward's giant onion prank was unorthodox. Patrick's knight costume was a great stop-motion design choice and I liked how Krabs/Plankton incorporated some creativity to take jabs at each other. I haven't really felt Dutchman's 6 year absence but he was super ace here with his characterization. Song was modern classic in how it had an old special vibe to it. They got decently dark with the lifeless bodies, even though I'm not sure how that butt itch was felt. Sandy's nut puppet was a derpy take on Frankenstein. Plankton inadvertently saved the day even if he was a dip and became Dutchman's slave. Speaking of which, what follows was stranger than the 2nd movie. Penguins with umbrellas. A frog jump-roping with a rainbow. Baby Spongebob gripping Dutchman in a bear hug. I couldn't follow the logic of what Spongebob said they took away from the experience but I hope everyone on SBC can embrace the terror all around you.

Grade: B+

[WinterArcanine]

This episode is great and one of the best of season 11. I love the stop-motion animation here, it looks amazing, this episode probably has the best animation out of any episode, and the atmosphere is amazing too as a result. The episode is also funny too (such as the scenes in the krusty krab and chum bucket and spongebob's brain), and the plot is good at the second half (the first half barely has a plot though). The characters are good too, espicially The Flying Dutchman, who was great here.

 

10/10.

[SI-LLY]

2/10

BAD episode. It lacks any substance and barely lacks a plot

The stop-motion animation is very nice though

[McSponge]

Originally written: October 14th, 2017

Well, The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom has become one of my favorite specials released within the past several years. Of course, that isn't hard to do when the only special from this decade I like is Hello Bikini Bottom!

The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom is a nice surprise. Did we ever need a stop-motion Halloween special? Not at all. But the crew that worked on this episode put in a lot, and I mean A LOT of effort into this special. First off, the animation in this special is incredible. I'm personally not a fan of It's a SpongeBob Christmas! I find it to be a mediocre special with very ugly set pieces, and forgettable jokes that fall flat on their face.Thankfully, this special seems to fix all of the problems that It's a SpongeBob Christmas! had.

First off, let's talk about the plot (Yeah, yeah, I never gave my full two cents on the animation). The plot of this special is fairly simple, and I do give it credit for being quite original. Sure, we've already explored SpongeBob being scared around Halloween, but this special seems to turn the scenario around, focusing much more SpongeBob's overall Halloween experience, highlighting different ways his friends celebrate Halloween. The episode takes an interesting direction this way, and we get a lot of cool and interesting visuals, as well as some funny gags. Plus, a lot of moments in this episode actually serve a purpose in the plot. Yeah, Sandy's puppet she uses returns during the climax of the episode, which was something I honestly wasn't expecting. The cheap decorations on the Krusty Krab and Chum Bucket motivate The Flying Dutchman to show SpongeBob what true fear is like. I feel as though the pacing in this special comes off really smoothly, some scenes aren't faster than others, some aren't slower than others, they all seem to last an appropriate amount of time. Also, the conflict between the Flying Dutchman and SpongeBob is played out very interestingly. I really like the interaction between the two. Sure, we've seen them both interact before, but never really like this. Dutchy IS the antagonist of this episode. Sure, he's been the antagonist before, but he never really was the main antagonist. Sure, he was a pretty big foe in Ghoul Fools, but that was for just the last few minutes. He's an antihero in Ghost Host, a plot device in Money Talks, and only appears during the climax of Scaredy Pants. He finally gets his big break in this episode, and I feel as though him trying to one-up SpongeBob is a pretty interesting premise, tied in with the overall theme of SpongeBob looking at scary things in a whole different light.

As for the jokes, this is definitely one of the funnier episodes of recent time. There's plenty of good gags in this episode, especially Plankton and Krabs decorating their restaurants as the opposing restaurant across the street. I felt that was VERY creative, and quite original. Not to mention, SpongeBob's dream sequence had some chuckles, and there were some good visual gags (Especially the bowling pins one). I think the funniest part of the episode is probably the "WE ONLY HAVE ONIONS!" line. The absurdity of this joke, and sheer randomness of it is absolutely priceless. Seeing those giant onions roll out of Squid's house was definitely a highlight! Overall, I think this episode had it's humor down.

Now let's talk about the characters, I think they were really well written in this episode. I already discussed how much I enjoyed The Flying Dutchman's grand return in this episode, and how he plays off of SpongeBob. Now let's talk about the rest of the gang. Pretty much, they're all in character. No real flaws with their personality, or how they act, they're portrayed perfectly in this special. Not to mention, they're not useless. All of the main characters have some sort of impact on the episode's climax. Having The Flying Dutchman scare SpongeBob by trapping his friends in ghost form was genius! I felt that was a very clever push for SpongeBob to have a change in character. Overall, the characters are definitely one of this episode's strengths.

Now let's talk about the best part of the episode, the animation. I wasn't fond of It's a SpongeBob Christmas!'s animation. I felt as though it was a little too choppy at times, not to mention the setting was unusually drab. Thankfully, the animation is really improved in this episode, it is incredible at times! The sequence where SpongeBob and Patrick first go into the Dutchman's ship was very incredible to see in stop-motion (Of course there were obviously effects to make the ramp disappear, but I felt as though it was an impressive shot). The character designs feel a little more improved over the Christmas special, despite being pretty much the same. I don't know, maybe it's just the fact that this is in HD. Of course, there still remains the fault with SpongeBob and Patrick not having helmets in Sandy's dome, but I can forgive that for all the other massive amounts of effort poured into this episode. The Flying Dutchman is incredible in this episode, I think I like this design more than his 2D design! The episode seems a lot more colorful than the Christmas episode, and the atmosphere is appropriately lightened at various parts of the episode. I especially like the ghost counterparts of SpongeBob's friends. Those designs were pretty impressive.

I think the most baffling part of the episode was SpongeBob's brain sequence. First off, Plankton pretty much confirms this episode takes place after Sponge Out of Water, saying he's been in SpongeBob's brain before, and it's a frightening site. Meaning Sponge Out of Water is definitely a prequel. I think we all knew that at this point, but I just thought it was cool that the series was referencing one of their movies (Aside from the Goofy Goober references in past episodes). But the most interesting part about this surprising turn of events is that a completely different animation style is used in this scene! It's like if SpongeBob Comics was adapted onto TV, it's incredible! This odder, more modern-like style of animation (Which feels like a mix of Steven Universe and Clarence) is a perfect representation of SpongeBob's imagination, with bright colorful creatures of happiness, and all sorts of imaginative creatures of love. This was definitely a shocking turn of events which was a very creative way to finish the conflict.

While I do think the ending was kind of lazy, primarily Sandy and Krabs' dialogue, I think this is a very solid special. It seems to get just about everything right, great animation, funny jokes, a fairly original plot, it's definitely a Great Episode. I tell you, Season 11 keeps getting better and better. If we have more of these types of episodes with the amount of effort pushed to the max, and less episodes like Cave Dwelling Sponge, I think we're in for a really good Season. I give it a 9.4/10.

[josemiguex]

TBH I didn't really liked this episode, I chuckled a few times but that's it, it was really boring in my opinion, the stop motion animation was pretty well done but this episode didn't do anything for me.

Edited October 29, 2019 by josemiguex