SBC's Top 50 Worst Episodes Ever 2018 Edition

[4EverGreen]

Unpopular opinion time, I actually LIKE watching "The Thing" and "Gone"!  I don't find them bad by any REAL stretch of the imagination, but perhaps, that's just me. After all, as it says in my own profile, Everyone has a right to their own opinion. That doesn't necessarily mean that I think you're right, but I'll STILL defend your right to HAVE that opinion!

[Jjs Goodman]

44. Good Neighbors

56 points. 4 out of 25 lists. Highest Ranking: #1 - @crushingmayhem

Summary:

Spoiler

SpongeBob wakes up Squidward for work one morning, trying to be a good neighbor, but Squidward angrily tells him that it is Sunday and that a good neighbor does not bother him on Sunday. SpongeBob believes that Squidward is grouchy because he has not gotten his Sunday Paper, and tries to give it to him. He bumps into Patrick who is startled by the "newspaper monster." Upon hearing of the monster, SpongeBob and Patrick start to panic and scatter the paper into the air as they run around, causing Squidward to yell angrily again.

Squidward begins his Sunday relaxation when SpongeBob and Patrick suddenly appear behind him wearing cultist-style fezzes and initiate him as president of the Secret Royal Order of the Good Neighbor Lodge, which SpongeBob and Patrick have just made up. Squidward tells SpongeBob and Patrick to paint all of the tree leaves around town with polka dots to get rid of SpongeBob and Patrick. Outside, SpongeBob absorbs a can of red paint; Patrick pulls his arm like a lever, causing him to shoot specks of paint onto all the trees. At noon, SpongeBob and Patrick return to Squidward to tell him that they are almost done with their task, and SpongeBob accidentally shoots paint on Squidward's face and in his eyes. Squidward runs outside, screaming in pain, and is almost hit by a car that Debbie Rechid and Ralph turn out to be driving. They think that he is sick with chicken pox and take him to the hospital.

Later, SpongeBob and Patrick hold a club meeting and notice that Squidward is gone. They go inside his house to look for him when a foot massager arrives to give Squidward a pedicure. When Squidward comes home, he finds SpongeBob and Patrick getting a pedicure to make sure that he "really is a certified foot masseur and not some sort of assassin." Squidward pushes them aside and angrily demands the man to massage his feet, but he tells him that his hour is over and leaves. Furious, he angrily makes SpongeBob and Patrick leave, telling them never to bother him again.

Unable to understand that Squidward hates them, SpongeBob thinks Squidward was trying to tell them something. Upon hearing this, Squidward literally breaks his head through the front door and angrily screams to them that they are the worst neighbors in history and to stop calling him president before taking their fezzes and furiously stomping them onto the ground. Inside his house, Squidward sees his Sunday paper in a messy pile on the floor with a note from SpongeBob presenting it to him. Furious about this, he kicks the paper until he sees an ad in the newspaper for a high-tech security system, which he gets and installs into his house. Squidward believes that the security will stop SpongeBob and Patrick from entering his house, but they suddenly come up behind him with an apology cake and their fezzes back on. Squidward demands the security system to destroy them, but the machine says, "No threat detected". Squidward then punches the machine in frustration, and the machine says, "Threat detected". When the apology cake falls on top of the machine, it then begins malfunctioning and declares a "code red" situation, literally kicking Squidward out of the building. The house then grows arms and legs and walks away with SpongeBob and Patrick still inside. Squidward then realizes that they can now no longer bother him and tells himself "That he’s going to relax even if it kills him."

Meanwhile, Squidward's house rampages through downtown Bikini Bottom and SpongeBob and Patrick turn the security system off just as the house returns to its original position, causing it to fall on top of Squidward. His Sunday relaxation time is over, he calmly has SpongeBob and Patrick leave so he can get ready for work the next day. However, he finds an angry mob outside of his house, and a man gives him a jury summon that has him doing community service every Sunday for the rest of his life to pay off for the damages to the city. SpongeBob and Patrick each get a jury summon as well. They look forward to cleaning up Bikini Bottom together and say that they will see him again next Sunday, which makes Squidward twitch nervously.

Jjs: It should come as a shock to nobody that this made the list...but what may be surprising is how low it made it. This is the lowest Good Neighbors has ever made it on a worst list, which could mean, much like the past batch of episodes, the hate for this one might be fizzling out in favor of other certain Squidward sabotage episodes. That's not to undermine this one is problematic, and a definite unfortunate omen of some things to come for future seasons. I totally get why people still dislike it. SpongeBob and Patrick, while not too bad imo, can maybe still be annoying at parts in this one, and yeah, there are some pretty awkward jokes scattered throughout. However, I could never really bring myself to hate this one. It's not necessarily good, but there's some weird charm this one had to me. I don't know how to describe it, but it's never really bothered me much, and I know some others think this isn't that bad either. I guess you can count in me that group, although I do concede this one does present some unfortunate foreshadowing for the future. If there is one thing that does bug me about it at all, I will admit the ending is kind of lame.

JCM: Since I've been a part of SpongeBob's fan community, the conversation around episodes like this one have centered on Squidward abuse, which is a common element in many of the most hated episodes of SpongeBob and many of the episodes on my list, including this one. I don't think Squidward abuse in and of itself is bad, and there are episodes like Shanghaied and Club SpongeBob that use it in a way that's funny and effective. Squidward is meant to be the punching bag of the show, and I can't criticize the show for using him for his intended purpose, but Good Neighbors doesn't just lean on Squidward abuse for its comedy but for almost all of its story beats, which is the type of lazy writing I hate coming out of the show. SpongeBob and Patrick aren't used as actual characters with individual personalities but vehicles through which the show can torture Squidward, and if any of the torture was actually funny, it would be easy to forgive, but none of it is funny, making it grating and tiring instead. I get it: bad stuff happening to Squidward is an easy formula to exploit, which is why it would be exploited much more over the coming years. It shouldn't be too much to ask for the show to put some effort into actually making it entertaining, however, and none of the bad stuff that happens to Squidward in this episode is anything close to entertaining, making it one of my least favorite of the series.

 

43. Sun Bleached

60 points. 5 out of 25 lists. Highest Ranking: #7 -  @crushingmayhem

Summary:

Spoiler

SpongeBob and Patrick are playing at the beach, where all the other beachgoers are tanning. Craig Mammalton, the tannest man on TV, then shows up and announces to a crowd that he is having the hottest party of the summer. Everyone is invited except for SpongeBob and Patrick, who are not tanned. Craig says that they cannot come if they do not get to the tan minimum and mocks them for having smooth skin. Patrick converts his house into a tanning machine, able to  give them the minimum tan in just 15 seconds. Patrick goes first and gets a perfect tan. But during SpongeBob's turn, Patrick forgets to watch over SpongeBob and leaves him in for 2 hours while he goes off with a group of girls. SpongeBob ends up with a white "Sun Bleached" tan that makes him look hideous. SpongeBob suggests asking Squidward for help, who ridicules him. SpongeBob feels sad because he will not be able to go to the party, but Patrick offers to help him anyway he can. Patrick first gives him a "makeover" by covering him in mud, placing kelp jerky over his teeth, and putting hair on SpongeBob's head that was ripped from his own armpits. While walking through town, a woman mistakes SpongeBob for a monster and attacks him to protect her baby. While having an ice cream break, Patrick gets an idea while eating his caramel sundae. 

He covers SpongeBob in the caramel giving him a "tan." They are let into the party, where portable tanning lamps shine on the dancing partygoers, causing SpongeBob's caramel to harden and crack, revealing his bleached skin. The partygoers start to complain and make fun of him until Craig reveals sun bleached is the ultimate tan and calls SpongeBob a hero, thus making the partygoers praise SpongeBob. The tanning lamps are cranked to maximum "Sun Bleach" level and everyone is dried up to dust. SpongeBob asks Patrick if too much sun is bad for them, to which he replies, "Whatever. I just go with the flow."

Jjs: When this episode appeared on the 2016 countdown, I was a bit surprised since I never really saw this one talked about much, like at all. Now, two years later, I understand why people dislike this one. I personally don't, but it's very flawed and lacking. Whatever "tanning is bad" moral they were going for here is kind of backwards and extremely vague, making the episode give off some confusing vibes. Craig is honestly one of the most pompous and unlikable one-off characters in the entire series to me. Worst of all though, outside of the soda gag, I can't even remember any actual jokes or wit in this episode. I think it's telling when the Family Guy-esque X-Treme Soda gag is the only memorable part of the episode to me. While I can name much worse S6 episodes over this one, I don't mind seeing it on here.

Steel: So, the episode is on the list again, so I'll have to end up repeating some things. I've made it clear so many times as to why I dislike the episode: the moral is two-faced - it had to teach the audience that too much exposure to UV rays is a bad thing by dropping that message like an anvil, but it also glorifies the fondness of having a perfect tan. Craig Mammalton is close to being one of the worst one off characters. He was clinically designed to be such an uptight character, but I could've done without the particular scene with him throwing a child in a dumpster filled with light-skinned fish because he didn't have the proper tan all the way (Also the line "Tyler, how could you!?"). Then there's the mean-spirited tone of the episode, the way that most of the characters are so judgmental about SpongeBob and Patrick being light-skinned (and later SpongeBob being sun bleached) make the whole idea about getting the most proper tan seem like the coolest thing ever. It's also weird to see Squidward making fun of SpongeBob for being too sun bleached to go to the party since he's clearly not going to it and doesn't have a tan himself. Then there's the conflict in which SpongeBob gets sun bleached from the result of the 30 seconds of when Patrick forgets to turn off the tanning bed in his rock as he's suddenly wearing headphones on his head before hitching a ride with a group of lady fish. Besides one of the worst 30 seconds I've seen from any episode, the end is also a big shark jumper, in which 'sun bleached' turns out to be the ultimate tan. ...You know, because a skin tone that's very distant from the preferred skin tones is the ultimate tan. The soda commercial bit saves the episode from being any lower on my list, but it's not enough to be saved from being one of the most frustrating segments I've watched.

Edited May 13, 2018 by jjsthekid

[Less_SpongeBob]

Yeah, while Good Neighbors did set a precedent for the future of the Squidward Temper Plotline, the episode itself isn't that bad. SpongeBob and Patrick are comparatively innocent and there are good jokes. Sun Bleached, however, did make my list (at #15) and I'm glad its here. Completely agree with Steel as to why: I absolutely hate botched morals as that can have a long-term impact on the viewers.

Episodes on my list that made it:

1. ???

2. ???

3. ???

4. ???

5. ???

6. ???

7. ???

8. ???

9. ???

10. ???

11. ???

12. ???

13. ???

14. ???

15. Sun Bleached (#43)

16. ???

17. ???

18. ???

19. ???

20. ???

21. ???

22. ???

23. ???

24. ???

25. ???

[/spoiler]

[So Sejima]

44: For Good Neighbors, the episode actually has some humorous moments which work pretty well such as the entire sequence with the door and stomping on the fezzes, seeing the house go giant monster movie on the town was fun to see, and Squidward did go overboard, understandably so, while SpongeBob and Patrick felt actual, clearly defined remorse and made an honest to god earnest attempt to make it up to him with things like the cake. Of all the infamous "Squid abuse" episodes, this one always bothered me the least, even though the ending was a slap in the face, I still say it's not bad enough to derail the episode as it at least makes sense from the citizens point of view to hate Squidward and force them all into community service, unlike other episodes such as Little Yellow Book where he's hated for no logical reason whatsoever while others have done just as bad leaving him alone out to dry.

43: I honestly want to call this choice crazy as I've never thought that anyone could seriously think positively or negatively of this episode, and that it'd just be yet another extremely forgettable post movie episode that always gets glossed over...but Steel makes some solid points that I never bothered to think about as I was always too bored to really dig into this one. I don't think I could ever hate it enough to put it in my bottom 25, but in retrospect the moral is pretty horrendous and I'll need to re-watch it to see if it'll actually bother me that much, and I'll definitely have to look at Craig Mammalton as he never annoyed me too much in particular.

[WinterArcanine]

Good Neighbors: This episode wasn't on my list but deserved a spot in this bottom 50. Bad squid abuse and the ending was horrible.

Sun Bleached: This episode was actually on my list no joke. I hate it. The moral of that being tan is important and you suck if you aren't tan is stupid, the new character here is pretty unlikeable, only good joke is the soda commercial, Patrick leaving Spongebob in the tanning machine is terrible, it's boring, all the characters except Spongebob and sorta Patrick are jerks, it's gross at times, and when Spongebob finally wins at the end, it's for the wrong reason. Terrible underhated episode.

Episodes on my bottom 50 to show up so far:

50: ??? 

49: ??? 

48: ??? 

47: ???

46: ???

45: ???

44: ???

43: ???

43: ???

42: ???

41: Plankton's Regular

40: ???

39: ???

38: ???

37: ???

36: ???

35: ???

34: ???

33: ???

32: ???

31: ???

30: Good Neighbors

29: ???

28: The Thing

27: ???

26: ???

25: ???

24: Sun Bleached

23: ???

22: ???

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20: ???

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1: ???

[WhoBibbles]

honestly I feel like Good Neighbours always got too much hatred. Even though I can understand that and I can agree that this set the tone of many mediocre to awful Squidward getting hurt episodes but I always liked this one. I found the whole secret society SpongeBob and Patrick built up was funny and some of gags of hurting Squidward weren't really bad either. But I'll say that Squidward might have deserved that shitty ending. It's true that the whole robot thing came out of nowehre and the whole purpose of it was to punish Squidward and I can see why Squidward would lash out to SpongeBob and Patrick but SpongeBob and Patrick did feel sorry for him and they wanted to make up for their mistake, which isn't that common in most of season 6-8 Squidward episodes. And what did Squidward do? Just went angry and overloaded his security system. It was obvious that SpongeBob and Patrick weren't causing harm in Squidward's house, that was why the security didn't see any harm. Squidward showed real harm to the house and that was why the house turned against him for his overreaction. As for the end of Squidward losing his free Sundays, well, I'm mixed on that one. On one hand, Squidward kind of deserved it and I was happy SpongeBob and Patrick got the sae punishment but at the same time, the robot thing was trhe fault of whoever designed that security system. Where are they and why they didn't get punishment for this? Save for the ending, I do think this episode was good, even if it could have been handled much better.

I never liked Sun Bleached and I still find it to be just a mean-sprited and a boredom. There are worse episodes than this, which was why this episode was excluded from my list but it was still season 6 badness. Craig was one of the worst characters of this show. Throwing a kid in a can for not being tan enough? That is just cruel. And SpongeBob's tan was just disturbing. Not the mention whatever this episode was telling about tanning was so weird. Soda commercial gag was good but other than that, this episode was so forgettable and pretty lame.

[BeachBob95]

I like both episodes.. Although Sun Bleached was a little awkward at times.

Edited May 13, 2018 by BeachBob95

[Patty Rose]

I still have a soft spot for Good Neighbors which "being one of the first episodes I remember" aside, still has some genuinely funny moments in it.

Sun Bleached is mediocre at best, and isn't that memorable apart from the radical soda scene, that was brilliant.

[RD Rockruff]

Good Neighbors isn't that bad in my opinion. While I still consider it a bad episode (mainly due to the ending), it's not AS bad as how everyone 3-4 years ago thought it was. The scene with Squidward yelling at Spongebob and Patrick is great and while some parts of the episode were out of nowhere, it's not bad enough to rank anywhere close to being on my list.

Sun Bleached has... problems. Other than the bad moral, it's mostly boring and borderline unfunny. The only funny part in it was the strange cutaway gag with the old man in the soda commercial, which saved the episode from being a 3/10.

[Wumbo]

Good Neighbors is an interesting one for me because I think I fell into the crowd of hating it without really understanding why. The throngs of people cried "Squidward abuse" and I was right there with them, even though compared to other episodes, this is positively tame. But it's still an episode with an obscene lack of ambition. This is basically every "Squidward gets annoyed by his neighbours" plot with no special sauce added to ground it in anything interesting or funny. Squidward hates his neighbours. That's the plot. Oh, and some stupid thing with his house security system coming to life at the end, because that's the same as a coherent narrative. It's a boring, unfunny mess, and while it didn't make my list, it is worse than you remember and I'm not exactly crying that it's here.

Sun Bleached is just there. I really don't remember a thing about it.

[Honest Slug]

Gone made my list at #21. I already said my do on it.

The Thing is probably one of my least-favorite season 4 episodes. Nothing was funny and their treatment of Smelly was just really annoying.

Good Neighbors on the other hand is a hard one for me to hate. It's still a bad episode, but compared to all the episodes of Squidward getting annoyed later on I honestly think it's one of the better ones. There are a couple of jokes that work, SpongeBob and Patrick actually recognize that they were wrong and they get punished to an extent even if Squidward has to suffer through it as well. I don't like the episode but I really don't think it's still worth hating any more, even if it was a bad omen there's been far worse episodes since that deserve more hate imo. Even within season 4 The Thing and Squid Wood are worse.

Sun Bleached is one that I agree with. It didn't make my list but the plot is beyond stupid, not a single joke works and just has an annoying vibe. Most of the episode can be used as an advertisement for tanning beds.

[SpongeOddFan]

Good Neighbors: This episode isn't that awful to me. I find the army scene was at least entertaining, and there isn't much to dislike as been told so many time how this episode from s4 was hated back since 2005? wow almost 10 years, but STILL hated? Honestly o don't hate at all, I think at least bad IMO but there are much worse than that, so i don''t see that still there. Otherwise,  I just don't hate it a lot, just some parts that i do liked.

Sun Bleached: While this is awkawrd episose ro me, but it's also mean-spiruted to Cragig, an one-off character that kind of made even worse to this point, for this eoisode however, it still sucks even Patrick didn't help it out from distracted leaving SB to get tanned for 30 seconds...yeah that's just weird. Honestly, the only saving grace from me is that soda gag which i was chuckled from it But yeah, not major to hate and minor problem with this episode.

[4EverGreen]

I put "Good Neighbor's" on my list because I personally don't find any episode of "Squidward Gets Deliberately Sabotaged for No Good Reason", funny. Admittedly, I think it was lower on my list this year, than in year's past, because I was trying to think of newer episodes that might have been worse than that one. Also, I'm probably the only person I know of, who managed to, as TV Tropes would call it, to have Craig Mammalton "Rescued from the Scrappy Heap", by making him a likable, three-dimensional character with flaws. After all, if Bubble Bass can eventually come back to this show and prove to be a compelling character, why not have the same thing happen for a character that I managed to create an interesting history for? Just putting it out there. But that's just MY personal opinion!  I wonder what other episodes will make this list? That remains to be seen! 

[Clappy]

Glad to see the Good Neighbors hate slowly dying.  There are so many worse episodes if people want to use “Squidward Sabotage” as a reason to hate an episode.

Sun Bleached is such a stupid episode, but I don’t hate it.  That tanning moral is stupid, that Family Guyesque soda advertisement is so many levels of “huh?”, and Craig Mammalton is one of the lamest one off characters in existence.  Don’t think it’s Bottom 50 bad because some of the jokes do get a legit smirk out of me, but man this episode sure is dumb.

 

[Jjs Goodman]

42. Whatever Happened to SpongeBob?

61 points. 4 out of 25 lists. Highest Ranking: #3 - @jjsthekid

Summary:

Spoiler

SpongeBob wakes up on a normal day, as usual. He looks out his window and sees the mailman riding by on his bike. He says "Hi" to the mailman. This greeting causes the mailman to get distracted, and a truck crashes into him. After that, SpongeBob wants to spend time with his friends; however, he ends up upsetting them: He accidentally breaks Gary's shell, crushes Patrick's cake, disturbs Squidward's beauty sleep, destroys Sandy's robot, and deep fries Mr. Krabs' money (and himself). SpongeBob decides to leave Bikini Bottom, believing all his friends hate him (and cruelly call him "idiot boy"). As he leaves, he is scared by mysterious figures in the shadows. While he runs from the creatures, he falls off a cliff and bumps his head, and he gets a lump, and then his bundle hits him on the head, knocking him unconscious.

Back in Bikini Bottom, Patrick, who knocks on SpongeBob's door wants to borrow some sauce for his milkshake, is approached by Sandy (who presumably came to apologize). The two enter the house where they find Gary who is huge and overweight and a note from SpongeBob, explaining that he has run away. They go to Mr. Krabs and Squidward who deal with a mob of angry and hungry customers to tell them that SpongeBob has left town due to causing trouble. After reading the note, Mr. Krabs confirms that SpongeBob wrote it and everybody is upset and guilty that SpongeBob is gone, with the obvious exception of Squidward, who is delighted and laughs cruelly and remorselessly. Mr. Krabs closes off the Krusty Krab until the group can find SpongeBob and bring him back to Bikini Bottom.

Meanwhile, SpongeBob wakes up with amnesia where he finds a couple of fish (who thought he was taking a "dirt nap"), give him a new name, "CheeseHead BrownPants," and take advantage of his amnesia so that they can steal his possessions. All SpongeBob has left is a bottle of bubble soap which causes the couple to run off for some reason. SpongeBob then wanders around until he ends up in New Kelp City, where he attempts to get a job. Each time he gets a job he uses his bubble blowing ability to help him, though, like the couple he encountered, this strikes fear into all the residents of the city, all resulting in him being fired.

Eventually, this activity attracts the attention of the Bubble Poppin' Boys, a menacing street gang who have scared the city into never blowing bubbles ever again since the bubbles burn their eyes. They decide to show him what they do to rule breakers by beating up SpongeBob, who quickly runs off as the gang chases him until he is cornered. SpongeBob then uses his bubble blowing ability to trap them in a large bubble and gets rid of the gang sending them out the city, which frees the town of their reign. As a result, SpongeBob is rewarded the position of mayor of New Kelp City by its previous owner who immediately retires.

Back in Bikini Bottom, Mr. Krabs is hoping for the return of SpongeBob so he can prepare his station, while Patrick and Sandy want their friend back. Sandy has invented a Sponge-Tracker device to help them track SpongeBob, but Squidward, not wanting SpongeBob to come back, purposefully destroys the device with a hammer, claiming he dropped it, but nobody buys his blatant lie. Furious, Mr. Krabs demands Squidward to find SpongeBob, but Squidward still refuses, even being unfazed when Mr. Krabs threatens to fire him. Then Mr. Krabs comes up with the perfect method to get Squidward to cooperate with the search for SpongeBob. With some quick and clever thinking, he offers Squidward a jeweled Fabergé egg which the latter notes will complete his collection. However, Mr. Krabs tells him that if he wants it, he'll have to bring SpongeBob back to Bikini Bottom. This offer finally convinces Squidward to help with the search party, and he chooses his love of art over his hatred of SpongeBob. With that, Patrick, Sandy, and Squidward then set out to locate SpongeBob before stopping at a gas station. The trio are shocked to see a newspaper stand showing news of SpongeBob's position as mayor of New Kelp City.

With this, they go to New Kelp City to retrieve him just as he is giving a speech. However, he can't remember them, due to his amnesia which causes Sandy to say he'll have to come home to regain his memory but he refuses. When SpongeBob gets into a limo to attend a meeting, Squidward manages to hijack it allowing them to take SpongeBob and return him to Bikini Bottom.

They take him back to the Krusty Krab, but he is still unable to recall anything and wants to return to NKC. Squidward, who doesn't care if SpongeBob stays or not, demands the Fabergé egg from Mr. Krabs since he brought back SpongeBob (on a technicality). Mr. Krabs sadly agrees and reluctantly hands Squidward the jeweled egg. As Squidward marvels on his new jeweled egg, he slips on a greasy spatula, causing the egg to fly out of his hands and hit SpongeBob on the head, shattering it--but the impact gives SpongeBob his memory back. Overjoyed that their friend is back to normal, Patrick, Sandy and Mr. Krabs, apologize for running him out of town. But even so, SpongeBob still wants to return to his position as mayor, because he feels bubble blowing needs to be commonplace in New Kelp City society. Everyone is distraught that SpongeBob would leave again, except Squidward who is delighted at this to replace the loss of his Fabergé egg.

At that moment, a news report comes on the TV saying that the bubbles in New Kelp City are causing mayhem. A thug then threatens him. Upon hearing this, SpongeBob has second thoughts about going back to NKC and decides to stay in Bikini Bottom forever. A dismayed Squidward opens his head, and he throws his brain in a trash bin.

Jjs: For those who don't know or forgot, this episode was once my most hated episode on the 2015 and 2016 lists. It's not my number one anymore, as the highest ranking shows, but I still find this one pretty awful. My biggest problem is this one's pacing and structure are both complete shit, which results in an obvious mess. Although amnesia is a pretty overdone plot point, SpongeBob having to live in a new city could've been an interesting "what if". Too bad it's botched in every way possible. The "conflict" of the episode is also not engaging at all. SpongeBob getting called "Idiot Boy" (lol really) by his friends for mundane and stupid reasons is a terrible way to start the plot, and sets off the major mean-spirited tone this one carries throughout. I felt so bad for SpongeBob throughout this entire special. At least his friends did try to look for him, but that's kind of undermined by how Squidward acts (which isn't unjustified I suppose, but it makes it a bit hard to care about SpongeBob's friends looking for him when one of them doesn't care himself). Another big problem is that the episode throws so much at you in little time (SpongeBob leaves Bikini Bottom after being called Idiot Boy, getting amnesia, trying to explore New Kelp City, then the Bubble Poppin' Boys appear who were pointless, then SpongeBob becomes mayor, and while that goes on his friends look for him, then he returns to Bikini Bottom, but then New Kelp City is in chaos due to bubbles, then SpongeBob tries to return, but it's okay he doesn't because an egg hits him in the head...see what I mean?) for you to even care about what's happening that it was bound to be a mess of a special. They really wasted Ray Liotta's guest spot too (and the Bubble Poppin' Boys as a whole), definitely one of the biggest wastes of a guest star ever on the show. New Kelp City could've been an interesting new location to explore, but given what a rushed mess this one is, it doesn't get its proper time to breathe and let you explore the location along with SpongeBob. There's also the fact that most of the city's identity is "the citizens are jerks, haha", which isn't exactly interesting or fun at this point in the series either. And man, that 10/10 sloppily rushed ending is just masterful. Definitely up there as one of the worst endings to any SpongeBob episode. I understand if people don't hate this one that much and I'm fine with it getting this low, as there are worse specials that do its problems worse. To me personally though, this one's many problems represent many issues of modern SpongeBob specials and episodes of the S5-9A era (and still some to this day unfortunately), and it's depressing to watch.

SOF: While this ep didn't make my list, I still find it pretty bad. I don't hate it, but there are A LOT of major problems with this one that I can see why people would put it on their lists. I felt very bad when SpongeBob was called "Idiot Boy" (seriously wat?) for no real reason and leaves. Squidward also annoyed me a lot in this episode, I know he doesn't like SpongeBob that much but other episodes show he does care for him deep down, so him not caring if SpongeBob leaves forever puts a bad taste in my mouth. It does feel like a waste of potential since they could've explored New Kelp City a lot better than they did. The episode is pretty badly paced too, feels like this could've actually been a tv movie over Atlantis SquarePantis. Also, that face SpongeBob makes to the guy on the street is just...ugh why. I did like the theme song change though, but that's the only thing I liked about this mess at all. I will admit though, I have some strange nostalgia for this one, as it was the only time where Canada premiered an episode the same day it was airing in the US (in fact, we got it early three hours ahead lol). But yeah, still a very stupid episode, definitely one of the weakest specials.

 

41. Pet Sitter Pat

70 points. 5 out of 25 lists. Highest Ranking: #6 - @More

Summary:

Spoiler

SpongeBob gets an invitation to his grandma's birthday party, so he decides to go, but then, he remembers that he needs to take care of Gary. First, he asks Squidward to watch Gary, but he refuses because Gary ate his kelp garden. Later on, SpongeBob asks his best friend Patrick to watch him while he is at his grandma's birthday party, and Patrick accepts. SpongeBob shows him a schedule of all the things he needs to do that involve Gary, which Patrick acknowledges and agrees to follow.

With the two now alone, Patrick does the first thing on the schedule: feed Gary. He grabs a bag of snail and checks if it is okay for him to eat by chugging down on all the food inside, much to Gary's displeasure.

While SpongeBob is at his grandmother's house, he gets distracting visions about Patrick doing bad things to Gary. Once SpongeBob is anxious enough, he calls home numerous amounts of times to check and see how the two are doing. A couple of times, Gary was being put in mortal danger by Patrick, but SpongeBob "thought" they were fine (laughing and having fun).

Later, Patrick attempts to give Gary a bath, though the latter, immune to water, strongly refuses. After this attempt fails, Patrick tries to give Gary a "bath" that involves the opposite of water: burning him alive with a flamethrower, but the next time SpongeBob calls, they are actually having fun, thanks to a flood that Patrick caused by spraying a running hose at him previoisly, but SpongeBob mistakes them for being in "danger."

SpongeBob quickly ends his grandmother's birthday and rushes home to see what the fuss is about, so he arrives home after a long, tiring run and sees that his house is destroyed and filled with water when he opens the door. He walks upstairs to the sound of Gary's meowing and sees Gary reading Snail Tails to Patrick. SpongeBob said how nice it was for Gary reading Patrick the book but Patrick said he thought the book was actually called "Meow, meow, meow." The episode ends after this.

Jjs: Yes, now this episode's position may actually surprise a lot of you. The dreaded Pet Sitter Pat, aka A Pal for Gary's cousin...only made it on 5 lists and is at #41 on the countdown. I was very surprised myself, but the highest ranker herself was actually not surprised it did so badly this year. Admittedly, most of the episode's hate that it had years ago did come from Mr. Enter, who has kinda became irrelevant to the fandom as the years went by. That's not to say this episode's dislike is undeserved though. Is this episode bad? Oh yeah, without a doubt. It is literally diet A Pal for Gary (though I know some find it worse than APFG which is debatable). Very problematic, awkwardly paced and another example that Patrick being a protagonist is a hit or miss idea. Also combines some pretty unfunny Gary treatment into the mix, and for whatever reason, throws a subplot at us, as if the episode knew Patrick's shenanigans were shit too. Despite all of that though, I could never actually bring myself to actually hate it. I'm very apathetic towards this one. When I first saw this episode's premiere in 2011, it just struck me as "well, that was kind of mediocre and stupid, hopefully next week is better guys!" I never had a stronger reaction to it other than that, and that's probably still my reaction to this very day. I don't know...outside of the controversial flamethrower scene, which I'll admit is pretty stupid and the closest to this episode's version of "Gary, you put Fluffy down!", I find the rest just really "meh" at worst. Patrick is pretty stupid in this episode, yes, but personally I've found him worse in others (which you'll see soon...). I don't know, I guess when you put Patrick in this position, I expected he was going to be as stupid as he was for this premise, so my expectations for it were below zero. Therefore, I pretty much got what I expected with this one. I will also say that while the decision to have a subplot in this episode was iffy, I did like the parts with SpongeBob at his grandma's. They weren't that great or anything, but they helped deviate away from Patrick's plot, and that might've helped me not hate this one. As More says below however, if there is one big issue I have with the episode at all, it's that it can be very slow and dull at points due to Patrick being the protagonist. Yeah, "boring" is honestly the biggest problem this episode commits to me over how Patrick acts. Otherwise, for whatever reason, this episode has just failed to make me really hate it. It's bad, and I'm fine with it making it this low on the list, but really, if it wasn't talked about as much as it was in 2014-2017, I honestly probably would've forgot it existed. Even with how Patrick acts, the whole episode is completely unremarkable to me, and I feel its issues are done worse in others in my own personal opinion. 

That being said, some of the episodes that beat out Pet Sitter Pat might piss a few people off lmao

More: I'll be blunt and and say that I'm 100% not shocked that this tanked so hard this year. In fact, this year I knocked it down to #6 and it could easily get lower with time. Don't get me wrong, I still want to burn it with Patrick's flamethrower, but compared to a particular few of his recently... Patrick seems less malicious and more like a deadbeat dad in this episode. The jokes seem slow-paced and very standard showing a passive-aggressive person who'll turn his back after assuring his friend before doing nothing but eat junk food and lollygag. Seeing Gary suffer was still heartbreaking to watch, but at least the focus is diverted away from him and he has the opportunity to at least lash out and attack his sitter occasionally. I think what makes this episode such a slog is that there's never really much of a resolution or a rising conflict. It begins with a decent but non-distinct subplot of SpongeBob leaving for Grandma... then it gets dark outside while Patrick acts lazy... then it ends without Patrick's collateral house damage getting any consequences. While the implications were still atrocious I can't say that this episode was anything worse than boring. Skip it and don't bother with you-know-who.

WhoBob: It hurts me to say this but Mr. Enter was right about this episode. Why did I mention him? Because he's the reason why this episode was turned into one of the most despised episodes among many fans, including yours truly WhoBob. And I'd "happily" say that, if he wasn't such a loud, nitpicky and asshole person that caused bullying towards one of the writers of this episode, Casey Alexander. Even his apology was half-assed. However I think every writer should get a fair and calm criticism, so I have to criticize the writers' attempts to make this episode work without bashing them all. I don't find this to be a horrible episode. It's on my list for a reason but It's not that bad. I can see what they were trying to do. I don't know If this was supposed to be a better version of A Pal for Gary because both had similarities. SpongeBob feels like Gary needed a company but things don't go well for Gary. The problem with APFG was that SpongeBob was so oblivious to Gary being perfectly fine with being alone.  He got a friend but it turned out to be a disaster. It's not a bad premise but SpongeBob blaming Gary for Puffy Fluffy's action made it bad, as well as disgusting and cruel scenes of Gary being terrified. In Pet Sitter Pat, SpongeBob worried for Gary and that was the highlight of the episode. He was in his character throughout and I actually liked his scenes with his grandma. Another thing they fixed it was giving Gary a happy ending. Tho I have criticism about it but I'll get to that soon. It seemed like this episode was trying to be a better version of APFG and it was but during that process, it made same mistakes with different results. Instead of a monster, we got Patrick, who was supposed to be Gary's petsitter. Again, this isn't a bad premise. Patrick isn't good at anything, so obviously he's gonna fail hard at his job. This episode would have been maybe good If it had been like that without causing Gary to feel pain more than himself. This was a Patrick centric episode and we were supposed to root for Patrick but all Patrick does is causing damage. I'll say this that I didn't find Patrick a jerk here. But he was such an oblivious idiot. I'm okay with Patrick's stupidity, as long as it's not a ticking time bomb to other characters. And that exploded on Gary so badly. That flamethrower gag was so unfunny, as well as an awkwardly dark joke of giving Gary a salt bath and Gary being dried up. And here it comes the ending. SpongeBob running towards home but everything is okay! Patrick and Gary were floating on water (in sea?), it's not like they are gonna drown up! When SpongeBob arrived Gary was reading a bedtime story for Patrick. One thing I'm glad is that they have Gary a happy ending but story wise, this was a big issue. I didn't buy this happy ending at all. Why would Gary be fine with after leaving him hungry, scared and dried up? I get this show is nonsensical but characters still have to act properly to the situation they are in. Gary should have been afraid of Patrick and quickly hopped into SpongeBob's arms or escaped from the home. Not reading a bedtime story. This episode was on my list simply because while it improved upon APFG for certain aspects, it made the same mistakes (replace Fluffy/SpongeBob with Patrick and give Gary a bad day for no reason), as well as some illogical character actions. 

Edited May 14, 2018 by jjsthekid

[WinterArcanine]

Whatever Happened to SpongeBob: This episode is bad but didn't make my list. Regardless, the episode is wasted potential. The plot is bad, poor pacing, the infamous gross scene, fairly boring a lot of the time, poor charatization for some characters such as Squidward, and probably some other things but honestly I don't remember this episode that much compared to most other ones lol. It did at least have a sorta good atmosphere and the bubble poppin boys scene was fun to watch (too bad it's so short)

Pet Sitter Pat: I'm shocked this is so high on the list, considering how hated it is. Though I don't disagree with the placement. At least  Spongebob cares for Gary in this episode (and that whole sideplot has good jokes in it) and at least Patrick has the excuse of being stupid and not realizing he's doing something bad, unlike a certain episode (you all know which one I'm talking about)

Episodes on my bottom 50 to show up so far:

50: ??? 

49: Whatever Happened to Spongebob

48: ??? 

47: ???

46: ???

45: ???

44: ???

43: ???

43: ???

42: ???

41: Plankton's Regular

40: ???

39: Pet Sitter Pat

38: ???

37: ???

36: ???

35: ???

34: ???

33: ???

32: ???

31: ???

30: Good Neighbors

29: ???

28: The Thing

27: ???

26: ???

25: ???

24: Sun Bleached

23: ???

22: ???

21: ???

20: ???

19: ???

18: ???

17: ???

16: ???

15: ???

14: ???

13: ???

12: ???

11: ???

10: ???

9: ???

8: ???

7: ???

6: ???

5: ???

4: ???

3: ???

2: ???

1: ???

[WhoBibbles]

WhoBob WhatPants/Whatever Happened to SpongeBob can go to hell for all I care. Aside from Bubble Popping Boys, there was nothing great about it. SpongeBob going to New York parody city is great but everything led up to it was cruel and rushed. There were too many things happened in this episode that I didn't care as much for the conflict. What a shame because this had so much potential to be good but it ended up being a really terrible special.

[Wumbo]

idiot boi

[Steel Sponge]

The Thing: This is a Squid Abuse episode that has had me feeling divided in some areas. I could forgive the painfully unfunny and unmerited abuse as the episode ends with Squidward winding up in a jungle and seeing Kelpy G in the flesh. I could also somewhat forgive the scene with Patrick trying to play with Squidward (as Smelly) that results into him calling Animal Control with part of the plot centering around SpongeBob and Patrick trying to free him as they felt the zoo that he ends up getting sent to is mistreating him.

Gone: I'll be blunt when I say that my thoughts have softened towards the episode when Claps made some very solid points as to why he considers it as one of the best Season 6 episodes. What it does right is the plot of SpongeBob being driven to insanity (no pun intended considering that he gets surrounded by boats near the end). However, after several minutes of wondering why the rest of Bikini Bottom have all suddenly disappeared, the end of the episode kills all that momentum as it reveals that they were celebrating an event dedicated to SpongeBob, known as "National No SpongeBob Day."

The idea of celebrating a day without one particular character just feels so mean-spirited. I can't even forgive the fact that SpongeBob was left all by himself in Bikini Bottom for a week, that in which made the surprise outcome feel so problematic

Good Neighbors: I can't get myself to hate this episode like I feel like I should. I'm just so amused how this is the episode that led up to a whole lot of other poorly received Squid Abuse episodes, let alone some that are a lot worse than this. (Then again, I think the abuse in "The Lost Mattress" might've started the trend.)

Sun Bleached: Copy and paste my commentary here, but I'll add that I'm happy enough to see that the episode is not sitting around on a fence so much like it used to.

Whatever Happened to SpongeBob?: Now, this episode has moved up from being a lackluster 22-minute special in my eyes to an episode that has since earned itself a spot in my bottom 25. Jjs was spot-on with his commentary. The episode suffers from serious pacing and structure issues with the plot and the characters. Also, when you have an episode dealing with SpongeBob's friends being so upset with him that SpongeBob decides to run away before ending up in another town with amnesia, the special could've worked a lot better if it was longer. It's no wonder, back in my TV.com days, that several other fans were disappointed to know that the DVD runtime containing the episode wasn't the exact runtime for the episode itself (I also had this "I hate to say I told you so" moment, but that's not important to discuss).

Also, given how the episode centers on SpongeBob having amnesia, I can't help but feel bothered by the fact that there are a good chunk of scenes in which SB doesn't sound like he has amnesia. I did like the entire scene with the Bubble Poppin' Boys (alongside guest actor Ray Liotta). This special would've been a major disappointment without them.

Pet Sitter Pat: It's funny how most people can't seem to talk about this episode without talking about the infamous internet reviewer. I can't see myself hating this episode as much as I think I'd be required to, because I felt that Mr. Enter took this episode WAY too seriously (so seriously that some people developed a mindset in which writers who've only committed the crime of writing bad episodes are human scum irl.Thank god we've moved on past that).

Compared to "A Pal for Gary," SpongeBob at least shows that he cares about his pet snail. Sure, Patrick's stupidly is painfully unfunny, but it's painfully unfunny in an over-exaggerated sense than in a type of way where I could see Patrick's actions as malicious.

[JCM]

46. I don't remember The Thing being too bad, but my opinion might change on a rewatch

45. While Plankton's Regular was an already-bad episode made worse by its ending, Gone was an actually pretty decent up until its twist ending. Despite the bad taste it left in my mouth, I can't really hate it too much, because it at least makes an effort to be entertaining and doesn't totally retcon everything that came before it

44. Already gave my opinion of Good Neighbors in the commentary

43. I haven't seen Sun Bleached in a while, but I didn't think it was that mean-spirited. Mostly, I thought it was boring, and like everybody else, I hated the character of Craig Mammalton

42. Whatever Happened to SpongeBob had some good moments, but the problems with pacing were pretty hard to ignore, and they probably could have thought up a better insult than "Idiot Boy"

41. I liked Pet Sitter Pat when I first watched it, and while I haven't watched it since, I feel like comparisons to APFG are super overblown. Yeah, Patrick acts stupid, but Patrick always acts stupid, and I don't recall the episode having any of the major problems APFG had. Plus, they brought back Grandma SquarePants for the first time in ages, and I always have a soft spot for episodes that bring back old characters.