289b. FUN-Believable

[Jjs Goodman]

Premieres: Wednesday, July 19th at 5pm ET/PT

Plot: Rube hosts an episode of "FUN-Believable! With Rube" where he explores little known oddities and attractions around Bikini Bottom.

[4EverGreen]

It NEVER ceases to amaze me, just how UTTERLY clueless the writers can sometimes be when it comes time to craft episodes around newer characters (and even long-time main characters can sometimes get hit with this as well!) In any case, I think the beginning and ending of this episode was Nickelodeon trying to explain WHY Squidward didn't get HIS own spin-off show; all he DID was to COMPLAIN about everyone who got on his nerves (Bubble Bass, Spongebob, Rube, and 44 OTHERS he didn't get the time to mention!) In any case, Mr. Lawrence has an AMAZING opportunity to showcase the eccentricity of Rube Goldfish, and instead, he WASTES it by having Rube observe Sandy Cheeks break the world record for holding acorns in her mouth (and could the writers PLEASE stop TRYING to make characters get devoured by OTHER characters a THING?! It's never going to BE a thing, let alone a GOOD thing!) Next, Rube observes Nosferatu bat Slappy's head around in a "Chain Pain Reaction" device, which while KIND of interesting, felt like just a WASTE of time for something that would've been a lot MORE interesting! Finally, Rube visits Mary, and the CREEPY old fish, who is FINALLY given a name, of Baby Prunes. (I'm probably one of the FEW people who know that it's probably a reference to "Baby Jane", the title character played by Bette Davis in the 1962 movie "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane"? In any case, Baby Prunes CLAIMS to be the oldest citizen of Bikini Bottom at 115 years old, and that she was really WILD 70 years ago. To prove it, she PILOTS a helicopter around town, making even RUBE nervous for his life! But when Perch Perkins' grandmother claims to be 116 years old, the two old ladies decide to get into a chopper fight, causing Perch to abandon his helicopter! The two helicopters SMASH into each other, but thankfully land safely onto a roller coaster, that takes them to the ground. And as if "Skewed Priorities" weren't enough, Perch Perkins' grandmother WINS the argument, by dying and evaporating into dust. R.I.P. Perch Perkins' Grandmother. At least Spongebob and Patrick got a chance to shine, by contorting their bodies to spell the word "Fun-believeable!" While I wouldn't agree with Squidward that it was "Horrible!"; it was MISGUIDED at best! I'd give it a 6.5 out of 10. Enough said, true believers!