327a. The Haunted Bucket

[Jjs Goodman]

Premieres: Friday, October 3rd at 5:30pm ET/PT

Plot: SpongeBob and Patrick have a spirited Halloween night at the Chum Bucket.

[WhoBibbles]

So...

I stopped reviewing SpongeBob early in 2023. Mainly because I lost my interest in covering the show. When post-sequel era is mostly an inoffensive era with not exactly having much to say, I decided to quit for good. And the fact that this community no longer watch new episodes of the show regularly which I can sympathize. Now I kept up with the show for a while and talked about it on Discord but after season 13, I decided it was enough for me. I stopped watching the show with the exception of like a few season 15 episodes and two season 16 episodes out of interest. It's hard to capture the same excitement I had for this franchise all those years back. There were couple of exceptions though. Cosmic Shake, The Patrick Star Show and Plankton: The Movie.

Cosmic Shake brought a new life into SpongeBob games and it helped me cope with tragedy of 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquakes. The Patrick Star Show was a genuinely creative and insane show with its own style and tone and loveable cast. It did something new with the franchise unlike Kamp Koral. And Plankton: The Movie was a great movie exploring the chemistry between Plankton and Karen, it was Mr. Lawrence's magnum opus with him celebrating his character. Unfortunately, even I had to stop watching The Patrick Star Show because while it is such a fun show, I realized there is not much to talk about and while it is a comforting show, I'd rather watch something that makes me wanna yap all day. So my interest for the franchise has mostly vanished this year with the exception of upcoming Titans of the Tide game.

But yesterday, two new episodes premieres. The Haunted Bucket and Go Fetch. And I was only gonna watch Go Fetch but I decided to give The Haunted Bucket a shot due to it being a 16 minute Halloween special. And I honestly did not regret one bit.

SpongeBob Halloween/horror episodes tend to be hit or miss. Scaredy Pants is a hilarious episode but it wouldn't crack my top 10 season 1 episodes list. Ghoul's Fools is a season 8 episode and most of SpongeBob fandom was so hyped about season 8 until we realized it wasn't actually good. It's not a bad episode but it's kinda just not energetic. Some funny jokes here and there but it's a slog. The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom is a sick stop-motion Halloween special but I don't think it was as strong or memorable as It's A SpongeBob Christmas. Krabby Patty Creature Feature was okay I suppose. The Haunted Bucket tho? It definitely is one of the better ones out there.

One thing I'll give post-sequel era is that for the most part, the animation looks superb. I was disappointed when they went from storyboary stroytelling to script storytelling but at least animation was something to give credit for after the lifeless and ugly animation of post-movie. And this episode was probably one of the best animated episodes of post-sequel out there. It has such cool visuals and kickass backgrounds to set the tone of this episode. It's a Halloween episode, so it has to look dark, gothy and scary. I enjoyed what they did here. The inside of Chum Bucket looks pretty damn cool with Plankton putting extra security in it. It has a unique Haunted House style. With some sci-fi atmosphere but spooky. And ofc when this episode reaches climax with ghosts appearing from the ground of Chum Bucket, ghosts look so cool and I love that they keep topping themselves with Plankton listing out every single cemetery he constructed Chum Bucket underneath.

This episode is really exciting with fast paced action and comedy. Jokes really hit for the most part. I love that Patrick pulls Squidward out of his pants, dragging him into this mess Squidward put SpongeBob and Patrick in the first place. Plankton and Karen deciding to scare our trio has some funny slapstick, particularly loved when trio sucked their thumb after seeing Plankton and Karen in their costume. Squidward having no rush to push the button of the device that will make SpongeBob absorb the ghosts and possibly kill him was one of the better "Squidward hates SpongeBob" jokes, it goes so quick and it is nothing but pure silly, I can't help but laugh at it. The twist of ghosts only wanting to do trick or treat was impressive of itself and I love the jokes with possessed SpongeBob being okay with carrying the ghost and making them trick or treat with Patrick, Squidward, Karen and Plankton. The ending with Squidward wanting to go to Hell with ghosts but instead being stuck in the ground was a neat way to cap off this episode, although I wish it had more of a breather instead of cutting the ep right there.

Another positive thing I can say about this episode is that I love how much of a roster SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward, Plankton and Karen make in this episode. When they all come together to stop the ghosts, it becomes so much entertaining and I like when the show switches up its dynamics. Surprisingly there was no Mr. Krabs in this episode but I don't think he needed to be here anyways. Fun to watch a Plankton and Karen episode that has nothing to do with Krabby Patty Formula. It made for an entertaining episode with cool dynamics.

I don't have to many complaints, this episode rocked. Brilliant animation with a cool scary tone setting. Hilarious jokes. Fun roster. Now I won't follow this franchise religiously as I did before but It's cool to see them making cool stuff like this alongside Go Fetch to make me tuned in from time to time. It shows me that you can still put life into a franchise that has been going for this long.

Grade: 9/10