I'll admit I love SpongeBob SquarePants. I'll also then admit that I had no idea about this episode or David Bowie's involvement, so when it finally aired on Nickelodeon... I missed it. Luckily I wasn't at work or anything, and was browsing the TV channels when I noticed it was on an hour later. I watched it then, and was a little horrified to see the title card declaring "Special Guest Voice - David Bowie as Lord Royal Highness". My first thought was 'You know, the only people psyched about that are probably the animators, a handful of the voice actors, some of the parents of the older viewers and David Bowie.' And, admittedly, me. I couldn't wait to hear it. And so I sat through the first few songs.
And actually, the songs are not that bad. The only real problem with them is they dominate a lot of the episode, and Bowie doesn't even have a song. Probably Bowie didn't want to have a song, and I can understand that, but for a musical episode guest starring a musical genius it really should have given him a song. Also, while Plankton's song's animation is a perfect nod to (rather heavy) political satire the song itself is ruined by half-assed cringe-inducing lyrics and a spoken word rhythm to rival William Shatner. Krabs' song suffers the same kind of fate - if just one line is changed, it wouldn't be quite so bad. My guess is that these song lyrics were not written by people who actually wrote music. However, the Bubble song from the start of the episode is a fun song to listen to (and sing along with), but is badly misplaced; I feel it would have gone better later on in the film when SpongeBob and Patrick do the unthinkable, with a different song at the start. Squidward's song is packed with references, words and puns most younger kids will not get without a large dictionary or maybe an older sibling studying art to explain to them.
However, there are a lot of positives about this episode, too. Staying with the music, Sandy's song and animation is absolutely my favourite. It's a very distinctive song, sounding a little like a style parody, though the actual song it reminds me of escapes me. Videogames + good music = brilliance.
What of Lord Royal Highness? I have to say, I adore Lord Royal Highness. His voice is nothing like Bowie's own, but that is of course the idea of acting. Some people have been complaining because the voice is so different, but he's not playing David Bowie. He's playing Lord Royal Highness, and I'm sorry Bowie fans who only wanted to hear him talking over an animation for 45 minutes, but that is the idea of acting. Can't you be pleased that he's such a great actor? I certainly am! Lord Royal Highness is so wonderfully whimsical, and not at all creepy. No, really. His character design is perfect to the smallest detail - fairly simple but utterly... Bowie-ish, actually. Especially the eyes - one is green and one is blue. Even though Bowie himself does not have heterochromia (one pupil is permanently dilated which gives the illusion that it is darker than the other), this is quite obviously a cheeky nod to the assumption that he does.
The story is a very good one; the gang go to Atlantis which is so wonderful that they don't want to leave, SpongeBob and Patrick are their usual selves and it all turns out hilarious. Unfortunately, the effort seems rushed, the songs awfully spaced (way too many songs for an episode so short). If the script had been actually feature length (like the actual Movie) it would probably have been a lot better, with more of a reason for Lord Royal Highness to not want any more tourists at the end. Also, the ending is a bit of a cop-out, almost like someone went "So... more ice-cream and Plankton is foiled, k?".
Despite that... I did like this episode enough to buy the DVD. I'm not sure if it's just for the beautiful animation, the character of Lord Royal Highness or the other Atlanteans, but I like the episode. A lot. The animation is just gorgeous, and though I don't really like either Plankton's or Mr Krabs' songs, the animation for them is just beautiful (with a great fondness of Plankton's).
I didn't mention Patchy's parts because to be honest... that whole side story could have been left out - though I did like "Back in Encino". Fun ditty.
Overall, good episode, but so very rushed. A big round of applause to David Bowie for his amazing voice talents, and certainly to Tom Kenny for the singing he had to do. I would give this a watch, but it's not for everyone.
And actually, the songs are not that bad. The only real problem with them is they dominate a lot of the episode, and Bowie doesn't even have a song. Probably Bowie didn't want to have a song, and I can understand that, but for a musical episode guest starring a musical genius it really should have given him a song. Also, while Plankton's song's animation is a perfect nod to (rather heavy) political satire the song itself is ruined by half-assed cringe-inducing lyrics and a spoken word rhythm to rival William Shatner. Krabs' song suffers the same kind of fate - if just one line is changed, it wouldn't be quite so bad. My guess is that these song lyrics were not written by people who actually wrote music. However, the Bubble song from the start of the episode is a fun song to listen to (and sing along with), but is badly misplaced; I feel it would have gone better later on in the film when SpongeBob and Patrick do the unthinkable, with a different song at the start. Squidward's song is packed with references, words and puns most younger kids will not get without a large dictionary or maybe an older sibling studying art to explain to them.
However, there are a lot of positives about this episode, too. Staying with the music, Sandy's song and animation is absolutely my favourite. It's a very distinctive song, sounding a little like a style parody, though the actual song it reminds me of escapes me. Videogames + good music = brilliance.
What of Lord Royal Highness? I have to say, I adore Lord Royal Highness. His voice is nothing like Bowie's own, but that is of course the idea of acting. Some people have been complaining because the voice is so different, but he's not playing David Bowie. He's playing Lord Royal Highness, and I'm sorry Bowie fans who only wanted to hear him talking over an animation for 45 minutes, but that is the idea of acting. Can't you be pleased that he's such a great actor? I certainly am! Lord Royal Highness is so wonderfully whimsical, and not at all creepy. No, really. His character design is perfect to the smallest detail - fairly simple but utterly... Bowie-ish, actually. Especially the eyes - one is green and one is blue. Even though Bowie himself does not have heterochromia (one pupil is permanently dilated which gives the illusion that it is darker than the other), this is quite obviously a cheeky nod to the assumption that he does.
The story is a very good one; the gang go to Atlantis which is so wonderful that they don't want to leave, SpongeBob and Patrick are their usual selves and it all turns out hilarious. Unfortunately, the effort seems rushed, the songs awfully spaced (way too many songs for an episode so short). If the script had been actually feature length (like the actual Movie) it would probably have been a lot better, with more of a reason for Lord Royal Highness to not want any more tourists at the end. Also, the ending is a bit of a cop-out, almost like someone went "So... more ice-cream and Plankton is foiled, k?".
Despite that... I did like this episode enough to buy the DVD. I'm not sure if it's just for the beautiful animation, the character of Lord Royal Highness or the other Atlanteans, but I like the episode. A lot. The animation is just gorgeous, and though I don't really like either Plankton's or Mr Krabs' songs, the animation for them is just beautiful (with a great fondness of Plankton's).
I didn't mention Patchy's parts because to be honest... that whole side story could have been left out - though I did like "Back in Encino". Fun ditty.
Overall, good episode, but so very rushed. A big round of applause to David Bowie for his amazing voice talents, and certainly to Tom Kenny for the singing he had to do. I would give this a watch, but it's not for everyone.