Season 1

**Season 1** is the first season of *SpongeBob SquarePants Series.*

* Doc's
* Egor's
* 9/17's
* BSponge's
* Suprem's

Hi, everyone! It's me, Doctor Patrick and today, I am making something I technically already made before. As I previously said, I stopped making episode reviews and started to focus more on being active in the wiki itself than just stating opinions on episodes. However, I thought that the best way not to change opinions out of nowhere would be to actually rewatch the series from start to finish and form my actual opinions on the episodes. Sure, I won't focus on my opinions as much as before, but since I still really love reviewing and since talking about SpongeBob in a SpongeBob wiki is kinda inevitable, I thought that if I really want to go with this, I will review the seasons again, just in a different way. Now, as I said, I won't review episodes as much as I used to, but since rewatching the series was a very interesting idea and I think it fixes one of my most major problems I previously had on the wiki (changing opinions just for fun but not because I actually have new opinions), I can still tell my new opinions on the episodes and the seasons themselves in my season reviews. Another thing that I would want to make clear is that I changed my ratings scale. Now before all of you attack me here, I would like to clarify that I perfectly know that I stated in my blog post that I won't change my ratings scale to anything different. But since I decided to actually rewatch the series, I thought that rating the episode in a different way would make it more interesting. I am sorry that I couldn't really keep my word there but I actually do promise that this will be the only time when I will contradict my blog post and that I am still mostly trying to keep what I said there. With that said, though, let's get to it!

## Review

But now to actually see Season 1 itself, let's get to the actual review. Season 1 is a very interesting season for this entire show. Even if we exclude the otherwise very major and very important fact that this was the first season of the entire show and this was the season which actually started everything for this insanely popular and beloved series, this season is still incredibly interesting for so many different reasons. Let's start with the fact that this season has a very interesting reception, especially compared to the other pre-movie seasons. When we look at the pre-movie seasons in general, there are not a lot of varying opinions on the seasons. Most people really love Season 2 and even the ones who don't love it as much as others, still appreciate and like the season for its great comedy, well executed simple stories and enjoyable characterization. Season 3 seems to be a similar case, some people really adore it and consider the ebst of not just pre-movie but the whole show and even the ones who like it less than those people still really enjoy it for the most time. Season 1, however, has a reception which is all over the place. Some people think it is the best of the era, some peopel think it is the worst of the era. Some people say that this season is really overrated and just okay or even bad, some people say that it is very underrated and actually amazing. The opinions on this season are so vastly different, and today, we are going to find out where I actually fit here.

I would personally say that I am somewhere in the middle with this. Season 1, to me, is nowhere even near a meh or a bad season. I consider the season a really great start for the show which did a spectacular job at introducing the characters we all know and love, setting up the main form of comedy and the main style of the show and just providing a very nice charm throughout the whole season in general. However, I wouldn't really call this season an underrated masterpiece which is one of the best of the whole show, either. Let's start off with probably the thing I love the most about this season: the animation. The animation in this season is just simply PHENOMENAL. Now sure, my favourite type of animation for this entire show, as I stated a lot previously, is the animation of Season 10 and 12, mostly because I feel like the rather bright and really nice looking colours fit this rather crazy and wacky show very well. But despite that, this type of animation is still classic. The animation here looks way less wacky and more smooth than in the later seasons, thanks to the fact that this is the only animation of the show which is not made by a computer. But here's the thing: it really works in favour of the season. This rather calm and relaxed animation brings out probably the best underwater atmosphere the show has ever had. It makes the episodes actually feel like they take place undersea despite all of the unrealistic things the characters do there. This is stengthened by the heavy usage of Hawaiian music which this season uses heavily and this is just a treat. Some of my favourite background tracks, such as Honolulu March, Sunny Samoa and Nostalgic Hawaii play a lot in the season and it just gives an astounding atmosphere and charm, fully making the whole watches feel very relaxing. The character designs here are also very smooth which rather prevents the episodes from using a lot of exaggerations in the character animation like the later episodes but for a season setting up a cartoon like this, it really works. I mean, just look at it this way. If the first season already was very wacky and exaggerated - would it really win the hearts of so many people? Now, don't get me wrong, I personally like the wackiness and the exaggerations in the later episodes when they are done well. But no one can deny that this style is rather controversial thanks to the fact that some people (understandably) think that a style like this is more directed towards kids and just feels very stupid. If the first season was actually like this... would so many adults also be a fan of the show? You can criticise this animation all you want. But you cannot deny that it was just the best idea to start this series with as it allowed kids to really laugh at the actual dialogue humor, not getting distracted by visuals and adults to enjoy the calm and relaxing nature of the episodes. I admit that the animation has problems sometimes as the colours do feel a bit too dark for me here, but for the most part, the animation here is one of the best I have seen in any cartoon's first season.

And to continue the conversation, let's talk about the plots and the writing of this season. And not gonna lie.... this season definitely gets mixed there. From what I have mostly seen, this season mostly tends to have on simpler plots which are very basic and focus more on the creative and funny execution of its concepts. This best can be seen in episodes like Reef Blower, Bubblestand and The Paper, which all have relatively simple plots such as SpongeBob playing with a reef blower, him and Patrick blowing bubbles and him playing with a piece of paper, but get insanely creative and exciting with their execution. Reef Blower, for example, also has the disadvantage to not have any dialogue humor next to its basic plot, but it tries to be as fun as possible with providing a lot of great visual gags to make the audience really entertained by watching it. Sure, the visual gags in this season are not as wacky and zany as later, but this episode still does a great job with seemingly make the visual gags more realistic and play with the different things which can happen underater really well while still somewhat exaggerating the characters and the backgrounds for some extra touch, and also making very great characterization along the way to make the most out of a 3 minute short with no dialogue. Bubblestand tries out its very creative and very interesting pacing and manages to do an astounding job at actually setting up the main conflict and the main plot of the episode smoothly. In the beginning, after tarting off with a very great joke, demonstrating what the style of comedy will be in the episode, it shows SpongeBob and Patrick starting to blow bubbles and SpongeBob having to teach Patrick how to do that. This part excels at almost everything: it successfully makes us understand why bubble blowing is so important and fun for the two characters, it makes us really feel their personalities and what they are truly like so even people who didn't watch any episode before it will understand that, it manages to explain why Squidward is annoyed by that and makes us understand his side while still making SpongeBob and Patrick pleasant enough not to make us annyoed by them and it sucessfully introduces the formula of SpongeBob and Patrick doing something which first annoys Squidward but then he actually wants to go along that as well and takes it too far. Without Bubblestand, there would be no episodes like Idiot Box or Snowball Effect, episodes which all use similar plots and are regarded as gigantic classics. But by far, the episode that succeeds the most out of those three is The Paper. It really manages to set up a nice dynamic between SpongeBob and Squidward in the beginning, making us see what the two are like and how they interract with each other and really does a nice and funny job at showing us that Squidward does not need the paper. However, the rest of the episode demonstrates us PERFECTLY why Squidward actually starts to like the paper unlike in Bubblestand, where I did feel like the part with Squidward starting to like bubble blowing was just a bit too quick. This one, however, shows why he wants to have the paper astoundingly and also manages to show SpongeBob's crazy shenanigans along the way therefore making the audience entertained by funny jokes and showing SpongeBob's character along with Squidwad's. It is full 11 minutes of great characterization literally just centering around something as small as a piece of paper, which is just.... wow. Certainly a magnificent job.

The other thing I noticed is that the episodes tend to bring in more emotions when the plot is kept rather simple. This is the most noticeable in episodes like Nature Pants or Texas, which at first glance, seem to suffer from some story problems, like the chase in Texas being a bit too long and taking up a lot of time or the plot in Nature Pants about SpongeBob wanting to go to the wild because he wants to live a free life amongst the jellyfish seeming rather stupid at first. What both episodes excel at, however, is showing us the perfect amount of emotion to make us really invested in the characters and root for them to succeed in what they want and be happy. Texas perfectly shows in the beginning why Sandy misses Texas so much and why it is important for her to go away and in the end, it also shows how much the other characters care about her and why it is important for THEM to make HER stay. It is a really heartwarming moment and creates really nice opposite motivations for the different characters while still respecting the others' side and understanding why they want to make their own decision. Nature Pants does an even better job at this: it makes it PERFECTLY clear how the others feel about SpongeBob leaving and why Patrick misses him. We rarely ever see Patrick worrying about his best friend so much since the show mostly focuses on his stupidity, but actually seeing him like that in this episode is perfectly understandable since the episode makes it entirely clear why he misses his buddy. The episode also goes into extreme lengths to make us see that very well, so much that it actually feels rather dark for the season. Patrick going insane in this episode is a lot more insane than for example, Mr. Krabs going insane in Squeaky Boots, since unlike that episode when it was treated more comedically and there was a more stupid and exaggerated reason for that, here, the reason for Patrick going insane is actually VERY realistic. Losing your best friend forever is something actually very worrying and it is a pretty big and relatable problem which can happen to all of us, so the fact that he goes insane there does not feel cartoonish or comedic: it feels like the episode succeeds in its writing very well and truly makes us feel the emotions between the characters. I do see why the episode is sometimes bashed because of SpongeBob getting a lot of misfortune here, but to me, it is actually done excellently because it is here to show how much SpongeBob needs his friends and his usual life to truly be happy, so the ending when it all comes together just feels incredibly satisfying to see. Him actually reuniting with his friends and Patrick after all of the bad things which happened to him in the episode is outright amazing and honestly, one of my favourite moments of not just the season, but the whole series. It is just that amazing to see.

However, and I am pretty sad to say this.... not all of the plots really work in the season. In fact, the ones that don't work REALLY don't work. And I don't only mean the concepts here. I also mean the episodes' execution and the pacing. One of the biggest problems with this season is that sometimes, it tries focusing so much on humor that it completely ditches its plots so the actual pacing becomes incredibly bad. This is more of a problem with Season 2, but unlike in that season, when the gags still worked for the most part, here, it's not even always the case. Let's take a look at probably one of the worst examples of this here: Jellyfishing. This is an episode which focuses so much on its comedy and trying to be funny that after 2 minutes of setting it up, it completely forgets about its main plot so SpongeBob and Patrick literally don't even go jellyfishing until already SEVEN MINUTES IN and to somehow make it even worse... it only lasts for about 2 or 3 minutes and it quickly ends after that. It just feels incredibly pathetic and the fact that they try to cover it up with jokes is even worse, since the comedy in this episode FAILS VERY HARD. It is literally mostly just Squidward suffering more and more and SpongeBob and Patrick being as oblivious for that and causing as much accidental harm to him as possible, which does not work at all, and just makes the audience root for Squidward instead of those two annoying idiots. I don't want to be the generic "Squidward torture sucks" person here, but the fact that his torture really goes into extreme lenghts such as him literally ending in full life support and literally making the audience afraid that his torment goes so far that he can literally die in the end is just too much and seeing how it is the main form of comedy in this episode aside from a few exceptions like the "Welcome home, Squidward" gag just makes us see how bad the story is since it is not funny at all. But an even worse example of that is Neptune's Spatula. That episode tries to be so incredibly epic and intense that it completely forgets about its main plot and drags itself on forever so the actual contest, the main plot of the episode only starts SEVEN MINUTES IN, and even that feels dragged out to the point when the resolution just makes no sense and comes out of nowhere. I mean, that is literally the episode. Every single part such as Neptune not believing that SpongeBob pulled out the spatula even though everyone says that he did or him zapping Patrick goes on FOREVER to the point when you become INCREASINGLY angry that the main plot is not even starting because of pointless trash like that which desperately tries to be funny, but cannot because it is too repetitive. I consider that episode to be the worst of the season since unlike Jellyfishing when you can at least get angry for a lot of different reasons, it is so bland and lifeless that you don't even care about anything which happens in the episode. There are also some cases when the episode itself can be entertaining but it still feels rather repetitive such as Karate Choppers or Tea at the Treedome, where they repeat Sandy and SpongeBob playing karate or SpongeBob wanting water in, I'll admit, a way creative enough to make the episodes still good but it still feels like the episodes could be more.

But now that we are done with the story and the pacing, let's talk about the comedy. And oh boy, the comedy in this season is just incredibly, just undeniably, just perfectly.... enjoyable. One of the main sources of comedy that this season really likes to use is ironic humor, when a character says something which is actually very ironic considering the situation he says it in, but for the joke to truly work, the characters don't really react to it to make the audience enjoy it more. Jokes like that include SpongeBob walking away hapily thinking that he did good to the town and the town showing to be in ruins in the background in Hall Monitor, Patrick asking SpongeBob if he would listen to a big dummy or him in Hooky or Patrick saying that he knows a lot about head injuries in Squidward the Unfriendly Ghost. These jokes do work and they are rather amusing, but the later seasons, especially in pre-movie, do feel like they utilise them better because they make more out of the situation and exaggerate the gags more to work, such as the "Get out of here, you stupid, dumb animal" joke from My Pretty Seahorse, which is one of my favourite gags from the show and one of the best examples of characters not reacting to a gag making it better. Another type of comedy here is random humor when rather quick things happen out of nowhere and surprise the audience for that alone like the hot sauce from Karate Choppers or the getting dark gag from Hall Monitor, which are a similar case, they mostly work, but like the season's comedy most of the time, the style of the episodes is a little bit too calm for us to truly feel the weight of the gags so they are more amusing than laugh out loud hilarious. The funniest and overall best episode of the season to me is easily Hall Monitor, since it manages to really exaggerate its humor and go into extreme lenghts to make the jokes funny such as SpongeBob literally running away from himself or him jumping into a couple's house just to prove that burglars are dangerous and that they should close the windows. And thanks to the fact that the episode is more action packed and doesn't feel as calm as other episodes so not even the style distracts us from the humor. It isn't as emotional as some other episodes, but the fact that it toes its style, atmosphere, story and humor together, so that all of these really work is astounding enough for me to consider it the best of the season. The sytle of this episode helps the comedy to succeed thanks to its more action packed nature, the atmosphere makes us feel the general style more, the story progresses very well while still being very atmospheric and throwing a lot of gags at us and the humor ties into all of these amazingly. There are also some jokefests in the season such as Culture Shock, an episode which feels more like a montage of funny gags then an actual episode with a really great and thought provoking story, but these are not really as common in this season than in the season which comes after it. Overall, the comedy in this season is good, not really anything special.

And what else could we finish this off with talking about the characterization. And believe it or not, the characterization of this season is actually my second favourite thing about it after its animation. Now sure, as I said, it isn't flawless as it can go a bit too far sometimes, especially when portraying SpongeBob and Patrick as rather dumb and gullible, since sometimes, the episodes just make them completely oblivious to the world for the story to progress which is more annoying than funny, but as a whole, I love the characterization here. This season does a great job at character interractions for sure. one of my favourite things, as I mentioned, is the Sponge-Pat-Squid formula, where SpongeBob, Patrick and Squidward are together in an episode and their different personalities really make the episode worth watching. It also creates some greta character development, particularly for Squidward who is normally very grumpy but can be fun loving in those episodes and while they mostly portray SpongeBob and Patrick as they do in other episodes, they still portray them so incredibly well for the episode that this formula just becomes very great. And their characters can also have some development sometimes, such as Patrick actually being the one to help SpongeBob because he is on top of the situation, like in Boating School or having SpongeBob assomeone who can stand up for himself like in Arrgh! or Rock Bottom. But by far, my favourite character in this season is Plankton. This is possibly the only season which shows him as both someone really menacing and intimidating and someone who can also be goofy and mess up sometimes. The later seasons tend to focus more on his goofy side, with nothing really that much intimidating about him, but when they do make him menacing, he is barely funny. However, episodes like Plankton! and Walking Small create such a nice balance between these two things that I love watching every second of him. The characters are also introduced very well, since their introductions do a great job at setting up their personalities and making the audienfce truly know what they are like, but also focus on the story and comedy to still make the episodes fantastic. The characterization can be a bit rough but only a few times, and in the majority of ths season, it is excellent.

Now, I have talked about a lot of bad and a lot of good things regarding the season, but in the end, this season is definitely on the good side for me. While it can have episodes which focus too much on comedy so they have weaker stories and pacing and the comedy can be a bit less interesting sometimes, but it still does an amazing job at setting up the style, tone, form of comedy and characters in the show, even if some of the later seasons excel at this better. In any other show, this season would be a marvelous achievement, but since it is in a fabulous show like this, it does have some lesser things to offer compared to some of the later seasons. However, at the end of this day, this is still a season I really like and I still somewhat consider it underrated despite all of the problems it has. While the median barely managed to make it to a Tremendous rating, considering that I enjoy this one less than some others, I don't think I should give it that much of a rating, and the fact that the mean is just a rating lower seems reasonable enough for me to use it. So since I think that a low great which has a few things holding it back but still really works for the most time describes this season the best, Season 1 is a clear cut **Neat (4/5)** season. Stay tuned for next time when I will review Season 2 in a similar style, and until then, take care of yourselves.

## Bottom 5

But hey, it's not over yet! Because now, it is time for me to talk about my Top 5 and my Bottom 5 episodes in this season with a little explanation, starting with my Bottom 5. After that, I will rank every episode from Season 1 best to worst.

**#5. MuscleBob BuffPants**

A completely boring and stale episode where every single joke comes from SpongeBob being weak, which is completely exaggerated to the point that it barely even feels funny. The episode is also lacking of a normal structure, and that combined with the general tediousness of it makes this one a real slog to get through.

**#4. Sandy's Rocket**

An episode that spends way too much time with the setup to the point that when the actual plot progresses, there is barely any sort of fun that you can have with it. The actual plot itself also just boils down to SpongeBob and Patrick capturing everyone in Bikini Bottom in a really repetitive way that feels more dumb than humorous. Not even some good jokes can save this one from sucking.

**#3. I Was a Teenage Gary**

Hey, I have an idea! Let's have an episode with almost no sort of plot whatsoever which has zero substance and doesn't have any idea what it even wants to be! Sounds great, right? Well, guess what, no. Instead, it just becomes this gigantic mess of an episode where I cannot even tell what the writers even wanted to achieve with this.

**#2. Jellyfishing**

An episode where almost every single joke comes from Squidward being brutally and painfully tormented over and over and SpongeBob and Patrick being as oblivious as dumb as they can possibly be. Top that with bad pacing, and you get an episode which just entirely pains me to sit through.

**#1. Neptune's Spatula**

Oh my goodness, this episode is horrendous. Every single scene is painfully dragged out to the point when it loses all potential charm that it could have had, the setup lasts for 7 minutes and almost nothing in it is entertaining in the slightest, and the actual contest itself barely feels epic and similarly to the rest of the episode, feels so dragged out and devoid of any sort of entertainment that this is easily one of the worst episodes of the entire series, just for how absolutely stale and lifeless it is.

## Top 5

**#5. Ripped Pants**

An episode that actually really knows how to put good variation to its jokes so that instead of it feeling repetitive, it actually becomes really funny. Top that off with some fantastic characterization, a cool song and a well executed moral about how you shouldn't try to be something you are not in order to impress others, and you get a masterpiece which deserves to be remembered.

**#4. Naughty Nautical Neighbors**

Some of the best characterization in the entire show with an amazing way of handling the main friendship of it, making it feel really sweet and emotional, but also incredibly funny, making us sure that we are still watching the same show that we love so much.

**#3. SB-129**

One of the most creative and unique episodes I have seen. The idea of time travelling in SpongeBob sounds really amazing and the way the episode executes it is somehow even better. Definitely deserves its praise.

**#2. Opposite Day**

Probably the best example of how you can take a really simple plot but still make it so incredibly hilarious that it can easily be remembered as one of the funniest episodes of the whole show.

**#1. Hall Monitor**

Let's take the really unique and fresh storytelling of SB-129 and the completely hilarious comedy of Opposite Day and make an episode where the two feel perfectly balanced and somehow even better than they were in the episodes I mentioned. This is essentially Hall Monitor in a nutshell, and man, is it truly a masterpiece.

## Season ranking

**8/9 - Great**

 #11
 #16
 #21
 #26
 #31
 #36
 #41

## Review

So, in general, season 1 is a really good start to the show. It definitely has its own unique feel from the seasons afterwards. The cel animation gives this season its own unique identity, and the episodes here feel quite different from the ones later in the series as a result. The usage of a lot of Hawaiian music in this season also really adds to the atmosphere.

A lot of this season's plots are quite simple, though understandable being the first season. However, some episodes execute these simple plots really effectively. Episodes such as Naughty Nautical Neighbors, Pizza Delivery, and Opposite Day sound extremely simplistic, but due to character interactions, humor, and atmosphere, these episodes really shine as some of this season's best. There are also episodes that go all-out with their atmosphere, such as SB-129 and Sleepy Time, making use of the future and the past, and the diversity of every character's dream, respectively. The humor is also really solid in this season. There are some laugh-out-loud episodes such as Naughty Nautical Neighbors, Opposite Day, and Culture Shock, and there are great jokes that are present in most other episodes as well.

Of course, not every plot works well. There are certain episodes that focus too much on humor so the plot isn't good as a result. An example of this is Sandy's Rocket. I feel that the plot there mostly amounts to SpongeBob and Patrick being stupid, and I usually don't find characters being overly stupid to be funny. And then there's Neptune's Spatula, the episode that takes six minutes for its plot to actually start. The first half of this episode goes for jokes, but the problem is that these jokes are extremely repetitive and drag on, so I don't find them funny. It's really annoying considering that the actual plot of the fry cook competition ends up only being 2-3 minutes long.

Overall, though, the positives are much more present than the negatives in this season. This season does a great job at introducing characters, as well as setting up a basis for the show in general. While it's not the best season by any means, this season is quite enjoyable. Now it's time to give it a rating.

The mean rating for this season is **Solid (14/20)**, while the median rating for this season is **Great (15/20)**. Since over half the season is at least Great, as well as only two episodes in this season that are bad, I think it's perfectly fair to give this season the latter rating. Therefore, I consider season 1 to be **Great (15/20)**.

## Top 5

### 5. Hall Monitor

The plot is good, the humor is amazing, and basically everything is good, but the reason why it is on the #5 and not higher is becuase i find a little nonsensical that Mrs. Puff got arrested, but anyway.

### 4. Hooky

It has a lot of funny jokes, good pacing, and interesting plot, but the ending made me rate it a little lower.

### 3. Arrgh!

Personally the plot is sorta interesting, but imo, what makes this episode amazing is the humor and the final minutes.

### 2. Naughty Nautical Neighbors

This episode has everything an amazing episode needs. Great plot, funny jokes, good pacing and a satisfying ending.

### 1. SB-129

Basically this episode is really funny, creative and it has amazing visuals and pacing.

## Bottom 5

### 5. MuscleBob BuffPants

Ok, this one just exists. Out of jokes, it's just a bunch of jokes about SpongeBob being weak, and it's just really boring.

### 4. Jellyfishing

This one barely has a plot, it's boring, and really slow-paced.

### 3. Fools in April

Meh first half, boring second half. That's bassically all this boring episode.

### 2. I Was a Teenage Gary

Does this episode knows what good pacing and a plot are? I think not, since it takes like 8 minutes to settle dowm a plot.

### 1. Neptune's Spatula

I expected to find something good on this, but this is an unfunny snoozefest for like 7 minutes, the other 3 are ok, but aren't enough to redeem this.

## Overall Toughts

This season is normally called a classic, and i understand why it is like this, this season has probably one of the best comedy of the entire series (no, not becuase is only premovie) but also has good experimentation, plots and characterization. By the way, not everything is perfect, this season has some baddies, like every season, but the episodes i linked are basically all the episodes i dislike from the season. About the ratings (i told you i wasn't good at making long reviews) the mean rating was , the median (**Boating School**) was rated , so Season 1 Overall was .