Hi, everyone! It's me, Doctor Patrick, and today, I am going to review the 4th season of the show SpongeBob SquarePants. Now Season 4 has always had a very interesting history within the series. Nowadays, it often feels like that this season's reception is not as mixed as Season 1's, and it's more similar to Season 2's and 3's, since even though people don't love it as much as those seasons, they still really appreciate this season and find some very good qualities in it that can even rival the good qualities of Season 2 and 3, the two most popular seasons of the show. However, believe it or not, this actually wasn't always the case. There was a time when this season was VERY mixed reception with some people stating that it was actually on the levels of the first three seasons, maybe even better than some of them, but at the same time, others stating that this was actually the start of the DOWNFALL of the show. That this was the point when SpongeBob stopped being entertaining for everyone and just became a cash cow for Nickelodeon with all of the fun and the energy sucked out of it. While barely anyone thinks that nowadays, this actually used to be VERY common once, and it is still interesting to think about why people used to think that. So today, we are going to take a look at this season and see whether that opinion was actually very accurate and that more people should think like that nowadays or it's better that people appreciate this season more recently. With that said, though, let's get to it!
Review[]
So, before we actually start this review, I would like to state that I know that my rewatch for this season honestly took up a lot of time, especially compared to my Seasons 1-3 rewatches. I am sorta apologising for that as even though I have excuses here, mostly that there was a lot of schoolwork that I needed to do in this time period, I could have still finished my rewatches a lot earlier, and I admit that I did somewhat drag this out, so I am apologising for that. But now to get to the actual season itself for real, I have to answer the question I previously asked: was Season 4 actually a downfall compared to the first three seasons? Keep in mind that I cannot answer this question in an objective way, so if you expect me to say an answer which everyone will agree with and isn't just my opinion, but instead a fact, then you might be disappointed, because that's certainly not the case here. I will only say what my opinion on this subject is, and much like with all of my others, it's okay if you think otherwise and I can definitely respect that. But according to my own opinion, my own way of thinking about this series, I must say my answer to that question is: no. No, it wasn't.
And now that I finally said my answer to this question, I guess it is sorta ironic that even though I said that Season 4 was not a downfall compared to the first three seasons, I will start with talking about a thing which is in fact somewhat of a downfall compared to the first three seasons. And that thing is the animation. The animation in this season just doesn't look that special to me. And before all of you attack me here, I would like to say that I still really like this animation. It looks just nice enough for me to consider it good and even though a lot of other seasons have animation which is way better than the animation of this season, I still don't mind it here at all. But if we compare this animation to something like the amazingly done animation of Season 3 or the very nostalgic and beautiful looking cell animation of Season 1, it is definitely lacking. Let's just get to my biggest problem with this season's animation: the colours look kinda off for me here. Now, don't get me wrong, the colouring in this season is nowhere near as bad as the colouring in Season 2 (thank you so much, PaleBob), but honestly, there are some cases when similar problems occur. I will give this season credit for trying to create brighter colours than the honestly rather dark looking colours of Season 1 and 2 (except when PaleBob existed in that season, obviously), because I think a brighter style of colouring fits this show a lot more, but this somewhat caused the colours to look a bit washed out in a few places. This is similar to my problems with PaleBob in Season 2, but still better, because it's more pleasant to look at. However, the colours still get too bright and off sometimes, and this is a recurring problem about the season's animation. The worst offender to this is hands down Bummer Vacation, which, despite being one of my favourite episodes of the whole season, undeniably looks rather dull in terms of colouring. It has this weird sense of bright colouring when the colours look like they don't really fit the characters and just look a bit too pale for me (but luckily nowhere near Gary Takes a Bath or Procrastination levels). This is a problem which also occurs in Fear of a Krabby Patty, but I am more forgiving to that episode, as it was the first episode of the season and it was a bit more expected there for the animation to look a little bit weird. So, the colours in this season honestly look a bit too weird for me, and this just gives the season this rather dull feeling, which is actually a feeling this season doesn't give me a lot.
Another problem with the animation is that thanks to the weirder style of colouring, the character animation can look a bit off too. The designs sometimes look a little too strange for me in this season and even though this is not a huge problem, they somewhat keep me from enjoying the episodes more. I cannot really put into words why that bothers me so much, but I guess the more pale colours (not really that pale, but still rather pale compared to the show's usual animation) and the more dull atmosphere of the animation gives them this more uninteresting feeling. But if there is something that S4's animation actually SUCCEEDS in, and I mean, succeeds in a lot, it is THE FACES. Now, I made it no secret before that I think wackier and more expressive faces are actually really necessary for the show because they help enhance the zany style of comedy more. Whether you love or hate the exaggerations the show has brought, I think that as long as they don't completely stop the stories of the episodes just because of wacky expressions or as long as they don't overuse them so much that you get the feeling that the episode almost completely relies on them, they are actually more good than bad for the show. And oh boy, this season utilised them PERFECTLY. Even though this more washed out feeling of the colours made the season very strange to look at, it is just FANTASTIC for exaggerated faces, mostly because the designs already look a little stretched out, so giving the characters wacky expressions just feels natural here. It is not Season 8, where the animation is, while admittedly pretty good, is still too stiff for wacky faces, so when they actually try exaggerations, they start looking nightmarish (looking at you, Face Freeze!), or Season 11, which, even though is designed for wacky faces, still looks rather weird when they go WAY TOO FAR with them, it just feels rather natural here, and because the season perfectly knows its limits and never goes too far with them, it is just a blast to see. But what makes this season's faces even better is the fact that unlike S11, where they sometimes interrupt the actual story just for SpongeBob to scream "The grill is gone!" for an awful amount of seconds, they blend together with the story perfectly. Fear of a Krabby Patty is an episode about SpongeBob being scared and afraid because he thinks that there are giant krabby patties which want to eat him. A zany episode like that almost instantly requires exaggerated expressions, and this episode delivers in that regard perfectly. Or just look at Krabs vs. Plankton. It perfectly knows when to pull off exaggerations and when not, so it usually keeps itself calm in scenes which are supposed to be more serious, but goes all out with its expressions in scenes where it is needed, like when Plankton overreacts about him tripping or when it is shown how much of a wacky and zany lawyer SpongeBob is. Krabs vs. Plankton is already my favourite of the season for reeasons I will explain more later, but the fact that they came up with faces in such an amazing way is just astounding to me. So yeah. This season's animation obviously has its problems. Its designs and colouring are weird and it sometimes feels a bit out of the show, but honestly, when it works, IT REALLY WORKS, and that makes the artstyle still somewhat enjoyable to look at. It is nowhere near the levels of Season 1 and Season 3, but honestly on par with Season 2, and I think it is even better than it overall. It has its flaws, sure, but just like the rest of the season, it is still somewhat genius.
And now that I mentioned being genius, you might notice that the plots of this season feel like they are written by a highly advanced immortal species who are far above humans in terms of intelligence. And that is because I am pretty sure that this season was written by a highly advanced immortal species who are far above humans in terms of intelligence, because us, normal beings cannot ever even drame of writing such amazing stories. I mean, like, wow. Wow. 20,000 wows under the sea. Season 3's stories might be masterful, but THIS. THIS takes the cake for everything. And I mean EVERYTHING. This season literally used plots that we have never even seen before in the show, plots that could have never, ever come out of Seasons 1-3. Season 1 especially, like, is there even any question about whether this season's or Season 1's plots are better? Season 2 is a better comparison there, I mean, it does have some truly amazingly written episodes like Squidville or The Smoking Peanut, but while those feel more like the occassional TRULY GENIUSLY WRITTEN episodes in Season 2 (most Season 2 episodes are still geniusly written, I mean, just not as much as those episodes and most episodes of Season 4, before people like Louis and Mavnol attack me), Season 4 feels like it is full of episodes like that. Who would have ever thought of an episode set in the medieval ages where we are introduced to ancestors of various characters who have just different enough personalities to be considered very unique and outstanding but still resemble the characters we all know and love, while also having a really intense and exciting conflict along with one of the best atmospheres of the show? Or who would have thought about an episode which is LEGIT A SATIRE of real life courtroom trials where the characters of the show resemble all of the different people in these situations? A lot of people were surprised when I said that Krabs vs. Plankton was the best of Season 4. But personally, I just cannot not consider it the best of Season 4. It has one of the greatest ideas for any episode ever, literally a parody of real life instances of trials like this, where the characters are mostly just there to parody people in those types of cases, while still being in character and still feeling like they are the same characters we truly love, and the episode also ties its jokes and its plot together more perfectly than any other Season 4 episode. While Season 4 often ties its plots and its jokes well, I think that the jokes in this episode are so incredibly hilarious and the concept of this episode is so genius that it just beats every single episode. But if you think I am only praising the episode for its concept here, then no. The execution is also top notch. Just like The Camping Episode with camping, this episode wraps up every single possible thing which can happen in a trial, and making those scenes just long enough to have a whole point in the episode, but short enough to also let the other scenes in, and not make the episode a jumbled mess of just a lot of scenes which barely relate to each other. Their pacing is perfect, and all of the things, like interrogating Squidward, bringing in an actual lawyer as a contrast to SpongeBob or even INTERROGATING A MOP are so creative and funny that it is jut a blast to see. I cannot not love this episode, and it is easily my favourite episode of Season 4 by far.
But of course, when talking about amazing stories in Season 4, I shall never forget the most obvious episode here, the one that EVERYONE WAS WAITING FOR..... Wigstruck. Nah, in all seriousness, Have You Seen This Snail?, duh. Oh, wait? So, you mean to tell me that Wigstruck also has a very amazing story that people just overlook and it is also written just almost as well as that episode? Well, okay then. Wigstruck is hands down, one of the most underrated episodes of not just Season 4, but also the entire series. The way it tells its story is just nothing sort of amazing, and its message is honestly one of the most admirable things I have ever seen from a show. But why is that? Why do I love that episode so much when people usually seem to regard it as one of the worst of Season 4? Well, I think the answer to that question is rather simple. I think that one of my favourite things about that episode is the same thing that people hate about the episode: SpongeBob's obliviousness. While I do agree with people who say that SpongeBob being oblivious can be rather annoying sometimes (looking at you, Jellyfishing), I think that this episode just did it absolutely perfectly. It makes perfect sense why SpongeBob thinks that the people were amused by the wig, because he simply fails to see that the insults people said IRONICALLY were actually not meant in the same way he thinks they are meant. It is not Jellyfishing, when he fails to notice that Squidward is in serious pain, something which should be completely obvious by him just looking at the poor guy, it gives a perfect explanation for his obliviousness. He is simply gullible and takes everything literally, which fits his character perfectly and doesn't make him look too much like a buffoon, but instead, just him in a more exaggerated, but still in-character-fashion. And the moral of the episode is just..... wow, I am actually amazed there. Like, I am legit amazed there. I legit don't get why people hate that moral so much when in my opinion at least, it is one of the best things the whole show has done. I mean, just think about it. Every other similar episode would say something like "don't care about what other people say about you". Or "Follow your dreams and everything will be okay". While that way would be very easy for the episode to take and it wouldn't even be a really bad thing to do, this episode instead decides to face the harsh reality and be actually brave enough to state that sometimes, you need to let things go, even the things that you really love, if it's for a better reason. I know that it sounds like a simple message now, but the fact that barely any kids show would say something like this in this situation, yet it is easily the more accurate and realistic message in this scenario makes the moral of the episode amaze me all the more. I will admit that this episode is not perfect, like the ending, despite being somewhat of a joke, is still a bit lame because it sorta defeats the purpose of the episode, but holy cow, the things that this episode managed to accomplish were still nothing sort of amazing. But of course, we should talk about the obvious one here. Have You Seen This Snail? does indeed have a phenomenal story. While it isn't my absolute favourite of the season because the jokes can kill the story a bit sometimes, you cannot deny that it just did a fantastic job at making you emotional. It really made me relate to SpongeBob's situation in the episode and the way the episode still accomplished its goal of being more emotional and serious, but still feeling like the show makes this one of the best episodes of the whole show, honestly. Gary Come Home is easily the best moment of the season, and while this episode is not the best of the season critically, I think we all shed at least a singular tear while watching this masterpiece.....
But of course, what would be this show without the jokes. According to Pieguy, it would apparently be meh, because no matter how absolutely amazing the stories are, no matter how well written the episodes are, if the episodes are not as funny as they were in Seasons 1-3, the show is meh. And in all seriousness, while I definitely wouldn't go that far, I will admit that this season's comedy is in fact not as strong as the comedy in Seasons 1-3. Now don't get me wrong, there are still a couple of episodes which really make me die of laughter. The best example for that is probably Selling Out, an episode I don't really get why is considered to be light on jokes, when at least in my opinion, it is one of the funniest episodes of not just Season 4, but also the entire show. But as a whole, the jokes do feel more toned down than the jokes of the previous seasons. And this might actually not be a bad thing because in all honesty, a lot of these episodes don't even try to attempt jokes all that much. Episodes like Dunces and Dragons or Have You Seen This Snail? put atmosphere or emotions before the comedy, and I think that as long as the episodes still work and entertain me, it is not a problem at all. What is a problem however is either when episodes try to make great stories but the jokes sorta kill them or when the episodes really feel like they need more jokes, which just never come. A good example for the latter is SquidBob TentaclePants. That episode's story feels like a wasted potential alone, but the fact that they barely even make any jokes out of SpongeBob being stuck to Squidward, a concept that you could make so many jokes out of is just laughable, and not in the way the episode intended funniness, if it even intended any in the first place. And the best example for the former is by far Funny Pants, an episode that I consider to be truly underhated and honestly the worst of the whole season. That episode thinks that just forcing in lame jokes in an attempt to parody typical humor tropes would excuse the episode not having a normal structure and constantly having random plot changes and no clear direction. Thanks to that, even the humor in the episode feels like an afterthought, because no matter how great those parodies could be, the fact that the episode isn't written cleverly at all defeats the purpose of them and therefore, I cannot really laugh at most of the comedy in the episode. However, for the most part, I think this season still has pretty neat comedy. This season tries to utilise absurd humor a lot, like the jokes about the giant killer krabby patties in Fear of a Krabby Patty, a lot of Patrick's smart actions in Patrick SmartPants or all the weird fighters in Karate Island, but it also has a lot of more meta and satirical jokes, like the piano gags in the aforementioned Fear of a Krabby Patty, the lawyer parodies in Krabs vs. Plankton and even some of the admittedly better parodies of humor tropes in Funny Pants. These jokes work a lot because they feel very experimental for the show, so they assure you that you won't watch literally the same thing as you did before in pre.movie, but still make you feel that you are watching the same SHOW, so that these jokes do belong in this series, despite being fresh and new. And of course, the comedy similar to the comedy of pre-movie episodes is still there: Krusty Towers is full of humor reminiscent to Season 3's comedy and even though the episode is sorta a jokefest, I don't even mind that because of how much the jokes fits. The comedy in this season is not as short as it is in Seasons 2 and 3, but I would say that it is still above Season 1, just by its more clever usages of it alone.
And to finish off the season, it is important to mention characterization. And of course, as you most likely can tell by the stories, this season succeeds at it a lot. This season manages to portray the characters in a similar manner as we have seen them in the previous seasons, but still making them feel more mature and three dimensional, fitting the more serious stories a lot better. Episodes like The Pink Purloiner or Patrick SmartPants, which give you a really great view of the relationship of Patrick and SpongeBob, making it feel really heartfelt and emotional, but still retain that zany and charming style of Seasons 1-3 work perfectly, and of course, episodes like HYSTS portray SpongeBob and the rest of the characters really well, making them feel very relatable but not too far from their usual personalities. I noticed that I have less to say about the characterization than about the other qualities in seasons, but I think that because the stories can relate to the characters a lot, you can most likely get what I am trying to say. This season's characterization wasn't absolutely flawless, it still had episodes like Squid Wood, where even me, a person who is not that bothered by these so called Squidward torture episodes, couldn't stand watching how Squidward was treated, but I think that making the characters more three dimensional and mature to fit the more three dimensional and mature stories is an awesome idea, and for the most part, it pays off a lot. Sure, it is not perfect, but nothing is, and the fact that this season made the characters really relatable, which is a really great thing, especially for younger viewers, is an achievement worth admiring alone. While Season 5 comes close and maybe even beat S4 in terms of stories and characters, it couldn't have gotten that far without this season, and this is really amazing to see.
So, as you can see, I don't think that this season was a downfall compared to the first three seasons at all. While it admittedly had a few issues in terms of its animation and somewhat in terms of its jokes, it made all up for it by creating absolutely glorious and amazing stories, experimenting with a lot of new things that we haven't seen before, making absolutely iconic and well rounded characters and making the most out of its limited animation, so even if it isn't absolutely flawless, it is still an astounding way to continue the show. Like you can tell, I prefer Season 2 and Season 3. They tie the stories with the comedy a lot better than this season does and they have this amount of charm that this season just somewhat lacks. But still, calling this season the start of the downfall of the show is absolutely insane, and the fact that this season is the one which helped to create an absolutely amazing and underrated season, Season 5, is worth admiring alone. While my mean rating would say that this is on the same level as Season 1, considering how much I praised this season compared to that one and considering that the worst episodes of this season are nowhere near as bad as the worst episodes of that season, I will go by the median here and say that this season is indeed a Tremendous (4.25/5) season. Stay tuned for next time when I will review Season 5 in a similar style, and until then, take care of yourselves.
Bottom 5[]
#5. Best Day Ever
I was expecting a lot more from this episode. The song that they used in this one is honestly pretty great and one of my favourite SpongeBob songs and this episode had a few funny moments, especially in this scene when SpongeBob tried to sneak in Squidward's concert, but most if it is ruined by a really repetitive plot that makes me feel very sorry for SpongeBob in a way that isn't good at all, and a message that feels very hypocritical and hammered in. Overall, this episode is not too bad, but honestly, thanks to how repetitive and cruel it is, I still feel like I have to rate it bad. Sorry, the song and a few jokes were good, but nothing else really works out for me in this one.
#4. Once Bitten
Be glad AlternativeHuman93, because this one sucks. Its first half is so dragged out and boring that not even some pretty good foreshadowing can save it, and the second half is basically the most tedious way to make a zombie plot where everything all boils down to the characters thinking they are zombies in the most lame and uninteresting ways imaginable, which all just make me question what the point of this whole thing was.
#3. The Thing
While this is certainly a better version of Jellyfishing, it still cannot avoid to be bad. Similarly to Once Bitten, its first half is extremely dragged out and stupid, but unlike that episode, it also has an absolutely horrible second half where all that happens is just Squidward getting tortured in the most forced ways possible. I do appreciate how SpongeBob and Patrick's obliviousness here is more believable than in Jellyfishing and there are a few kinda decent jokes there, but when your best achievement is being better than one of the worst episodes of the show, sorry, I cannot call you good.
#2. Squid Wood
I really wanted to like this one as I normally like Squidward torture episodes, but unfortunately, this one just fails, even for me. The idea of people appreciating a puppet version of Squidward more than him sounds like it would make for some great irony, but it is done in the most repetitive and unfunny ways possible, where all this episode manages to do is just make me feel sorry for Squidward, when it is clearly not the case I wanted to have with this one. It is kinda sad that I dislike this one, because it has such a cool idea behind it, but yeah, I cannot defend it whatsoever.
#1. Funny Pants
Imagine making an episode where the setup boils down to two minutes of SpongeBob laughing at the same unfunny thing in the most aggravating and obnoxious ways possible, and then have a plot which has no idea what it even wants to be, so it just keeps completely changing to things that were barely even supposed to be the point of it in the first place and throwing in some jokes that clearly should work, but because the episode executes them so badly, they just completely fall flat on their face. Yeah, this one is really terrible, and easily the worst of this season.
Top 5[]
#5. Krusty Towers
One of the funniest episodes in the whole season which takes a really unique and interesting plot and somehow executes it in an even better way with some hilarious jokes that never fail to make me laugh and some of the most well done character interractions in the entire series.
#4. Dunces and Dragons
This episode simply has one of the most creative and interesting plots I have ever seen. The idea of SpongeBob and Patrick time travelling to the medieval ages where typical characters of that age are presented by the ancestors of the main characters, while also serving as a parody of these type of stories is absolutely phenomenal, and the way the episode executes it is even better by being one of the most creative and outright EPIC episodes of all time.
#3. Have You Seen This Snail?
I am not sure whether the writers of this one actually realised how bad Dumped was or this is just all accidental, but this episode clearly feels like it is an apology letter for that horrendous Season 2 episode. It surprisingly manages to be really emotional and heartwarming while also keeping the show's usual charm and having jokes that, for the most part, are still well timed and don't feel like they kill the tone whatsoever, so unlike Dumped, I can perfectly know what this one is trying to be, and it also executes it well. Brilliant episode.
#2. Selling Out
This episode has one of the best plots I have ever seen. The idea of making a parody of typical businessmen through Mr. Krabs is amazing, and this one did it exceptionally well by having some of the best pacing in the entire show and also being probably the funniest episode in Season 4, with some absolutely unforgettable jokes that I always laugh at whenever I see this one. Sorry Pieguy, but I cannot understand how this masterpiece can be called meh.
#1. Krabs vs. Plankton
For a season which had a rather hard time mixing funny jokes and excellent plots together, I was astounded by just simply how well this episode did that. Similarly to Selling Out, this episode has some absolutely phenomenal humor which, while might not be as great as the humor of that episode, is still extremely hilarious. It also has a plot that even outdoes the plot of Selling Out with it being one of the most creative and well done concepts of the entire show. I love this one so much, and it honestly deserves way more recognition than it gets.
Season ranking[]
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