Boating Buddies:
After trying to get away from an insidiously annoying SpongeBob, Squidward uses his boat as an escape route. When he gets pulled over for speeding however, he's forced to go back to boating school. To his horror, he discovers that a certain yellow menace goes there too...
While not unwatchable to the same degree as Slide Whistle Stooges, this is still an awful episode. Once again SpongeBob is being obnoxious more than endearing, and we just get to see Squidward being tormented to the point going nuts with no clever jokes or anything to make up for it. If anything it's simply depressing. When he sees that SpongeBob attends boating school too, he literally gets so stressed out about it that he cries.
In the classrom everything moves at a really slow pace for some reason, where we get a lengthy scene with Squidward explaining in detail why he has to go to boating school, and then SpongeBob being offered to give his own side of the story. The punchline is amusing to be fair, but not enough so to warrant being dragged out this much.
The worst thing however is how SpongeBob has now made the full-fledged transformation into stalker. The quick joke where he was standing outside of Squidward's house for 3 days in House Fancy or "I like Squidward" in 20,000 Patties Under The Sea was fine and amusing since it didn't take up the whole plot.
When they base a whole episode around that however, it becomes creepy and annoying really fast. SpongeBob staring at Squidward in an obsessed manner while breathing in the most unsettling manner possible not just once, but *thrice* has to be one of the worst jokes of the series. One of the few times I actually shuddered instead of laughing at something that apparently was supposed to be funny.
And when it's lunchtime Squidward can't even eat his lunch without being bothered. He has to get into a misunderstanding which results in him getting beat up by a muscular brute. Maybe in the right context this might have been chuckleworthy, but after how much he has suffered already this just becomes another annoyance.
When SpongeBob, Mrs. Puff and Squidward start driving together we finally get something else in terms of humor, such as the very random but still amusing scene of a scientist strapping a test subject crazy for potato chips while planning to shrink him. The boating trio get shrunk down instead when they accidentally crash into the lab, though once they fall into a drain and out of a drinking fountain everyone are back to their normal sizes. What a shame. While not original, that could at least have been more enjoyable to watch than what most of the story consists of.
When it's time for the big test, Squidward demands that SpongeBob leaves him the hell alone and for ONCE he finally listens. Unfortunately Squid has no idea what to answer on the questions though, so he begrudgingly asks for help. But since he told him they are no longer "boating buddies" he *of course* has to waste time convincing him they now are.
And just when the bell rings and he had no time to fill out any answers, Mrs. Puff tells him he has to spend another week in boating school. Jesus, you feel so bad for this guy it's painful.
The Krabby Kronicle:
After seeing people line up to buy a tabloid magazine, Mr. Krabs decides to start his own sensationalist newspaper. When the first story SpongeBob brings in is boring though, he forces him to use his "imagination" in order to create articles that bring in the money. Thankfully this segment is much better written than Boating Buddies. It teaches a good lesson about how it's more important to print the truth than coming up with colorful lies.
SpongeBob's first report involving Patrick staring at a lamp post is funny. Mr. Krabs changing it to say Patrick marries the lamp post is even funnier. When Krabs demands that SpongeBob writes the stories to be more interesting, he cleverly phrases it as coming up with practical jokes that everyone will have a good laugh at.
The scenes of everyone partaking in normal activities getting twisted into looking like something else are all pretty clever and enjoyable. My favorite has to be the weird fish in a trenchcoat who for some reason wants to punch Larry The Lobster just once to get to know how it feels like. Obviously this gets subverted into making it look like someone actually beats Larry up. I gotta say though, what a meanspirited gym instructor who kicks a giant muscle mountain out just for getting beaten one single time. Maybe Mr. Krabs is not the only monster here.
Sandy somehow being declared dumb because of a picture where she gleefully chomps into a nut has to be the most hilariously big stretch. The Neptunian Science Committee thinking she doesn't even know how to read made me laugh out loud.
Plankton gets his business closed down after an article says his chum consists of chum from real people. Unlike in Plankton's Regular where he also gets punished unfairly, this instance is amusingly silly in its execution.
After getting fed up with being pressured to make up life-destroying lies, SpongeBob comes up with the biggest story yet: an exposé of his boss's poor treatment of his employee while forcing him to create rumors! Considering how often he blindly follows along on Krabs' plans, it's very satisfying to see him stand up for himself for once. SpongeBob might love his job and devoted to Mr. Krabs like no other, but he still knows right from wrong.
Getting yelled at by all the customers and losing his cash, Krabs is down in the dumps. Until he gets the idea of printing new money using the newspaper press.
Okay, so he didn't learn anything and continues to act like a greedy maniac, but sometimes it's funny to see just how desperate he can get trying to stay on top. My only issue is that SpongeBob should have called out him and say this is wrong too. Patrick showing up having married a lamp post was a good joke to end on though. He's so dumb that he fell for a rumor about himself and made it a reality.
After trying to get away from an insidiously annoying SpongeBob, Squidward uses his boat as an escape route. When he gets pulled over for speeding however, he's forced to go back to boating school. To his horror, he discovers that a certain yellow menace goes there too...
While not unwatchable to the same degree as Slide Whistle Stooges, this is still an awful episode. Once again SpongeBob is being obnoxious more than endearing, and we just get to see Squidward being tormented to the point going nuts with no clever jokes or anything to make up for it. If anything it's simply depressing. When he sees that SpongeBob attends boating school too, he literally gets so stressed out about it that he cries.
In the classrom everything moves at a really slow pace for some reason, where we get a lengthy scene with Squidward explaining in detail why he has to go to boating school, and then SpongeBob being offered to give his own side of the story. The punchline is amusing to be fair, but not enough so to warrant being dragged out this much.
The worst thing however is how SpongeBob has now made the full-fledged transformation into stalker. The quick joke where he was standing outside of Squidward's house for 3 days in House Fancy or "I like Squidward" in 20,000 Patties Under The Sea was fine and amusing since it didn't take up the whole plot.
When they base a whole episode around that however, it becomes creepy and annoying really fast. SpongeBob staring at Squidward in an obsessed manner while breathing in the most unsettling manner possible not just once, but *thrice* has to be one of the worst jokes of the series. One of the few times I actually shuddered instead of laughing at something that apparently was supposed to be funny.
And when it's lunchtime Squidward can't even eat his lunch without being bothered. He has to get into a misunderstanding which results in him getting beat up by a muscular brute. Maybe in the right context this might have been chuckleworthy, but after how much he has suffered already this just becomes another annoyance.
When SpongeBob, Mrs. Puff and Squidward start driving together we finally get something else in terms of humor, such as the very random but still amusing scene of a scientist strapping a test subject crazy for potato chips while planning to shrink him. The boating trio get shrunk down instead when they accidentally crash into the lab, though once they fall into a drain and out of a drinking fountain everyone are back to their normal sizes. What a shame. While not original, that could at least have been more enjoyable to watch than what most of the story consists of.
When it's time for the big test, Squidward demands that SpongeBob leaves him the hell alone and for ONCE he finally listens. Unfortunately Squid has no idea what to answer on the questions though, so he begrudgingly asks for help. But since he told him they are no longer "boating buddies" he *of course* has to waste time convincing him they now are.
And just when the bell rings and he had no time to fill out any answers, Mrs. Puff tells him he has to spend another week in boating school. Jesus, you feel so bad for this guy it's painful.
The Krabby Kronicle:
After seeing people line up to buy a tabloid magazine, Mr. Krabs decides to start his own sensationalist newspaper. When the first story SpongeBob brings in is boring though, he forces him to use his "imagination" in order to create articles that bring in the money. Thankfully this segment is much better written than Boating Buddies. It teaches a good lesson about how it's more important to print the truth than coming up with colorful lies.
SpongeBob's first report involving Patrick staring at a lamp post is funny. Mr. Krabs changing it to say Patrick marries the lamp post is even funnier. When Krabs demands that SpongeBob writes the stories to be more interesting, he cleverly phrases it as coming up with practical jokes that everyone will have a good laugh at.
The scenes of everyone partaking in normal activities getting twisted into looking like something else are all pretty clever and enjoyable. My favorite has to be the weird fish in a trenchcoat who for some reason wants to punch Larry The Lobster just once to get to know how it feels like. Obviously this gets subverted into making it look like someone actually beats Larry up. I gotta say though, what a meanspirited gym instructor who kicks a giant muscle mountain out just for getting beaten one single time. Maybe Mr. Krabs is not the only monster here.
Sandy somehow being declared dumb because of a picture where she gleefully chomps into a nut has to be the most hilariously big stretch. The Neptunian Science Committee thinking she doesn't even know how to read made me laugh out loud.
Plankton gets his business closed down after an article says his chum consists of chum from real people. Unlike in Plankton's Regular where he also gets punished unfairly, this instance is amusingly silly in its execution.
After getting fed up with being pressured to make up life-destroying lies, SpongeBob comes up with the biggest story yet: an exposé of his boss's poor treatment of his employee while forcing him to create rumors! Considering how often he blindly follows along on Krabs' plans, it's very satisfying to see him stand up for himself for once. SpongeBob might love his job and devoted to Mr. Krabs like no other, but he still knows right from wrong.
Getting yelled at by all the customers and losing his cash, Krabs is down in the dumps. Until he gets the idea of printing new money using the newspaper press.
Okay, so he didn't learn anything and continues to act like a greedy maniac, but sometimes it's funny to see just how desperate he can get trying to stay on top. My only issue is that SpongeBob should have called out him and say this is wrong too. Patrick showing up having married a lamp post was a good joke to end on though. He's so dumb that he fell for a rumor about himself and made it a reality.
