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Nosferatu's Fave 50

#34 - Rock-a-Bye Bivalve

"Ha ha! That guy got hit in the head with a coconut!"

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In this episode, SpongeBob and Patrick take on their toughest challenge yet: parenthood. After coming upon an abandoned scallop, they decide to raise the critter as their own, and while they do so, we get some cleverly-disguised commentary on the nature of marriage today (or in 2002, at least). Patrick nails the role of the neglectful father, as we all knew he would, since he can barely take care of himself. SpongeBob plays the overworked mother who, though happy to take care of the baby, really just wants a break. Speaking of breaks, how did he get the time off work necessary to rear a child for several days in a row? I doubt that Mr. Krabs would buy that he was on maternity leave, but that's another discussion for another day.

Overall, this episode was pretty great satire. It took the "Parents for a Day" trope and gave it its own SB spin. I don't know what became of Junior after that, but I'm certain that he hasn't forgotten his experiences with the duo and that he won't forget them anytime soon.

#33 - As Seen on TV

"The Krusty Krab! Come spend your money here!"

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In this episode, SpongeBob (or rather, some of SpongeBob) makes a cameo in a so-bad-it's-good commercial for the Krusty Krab, and surprise surprise, he lets his three seconds on the boob tube go to his head. After getting mistaken for a cereal box, he starts to believe that he's a household name, and before long, we have him signing napkins out to people's tail fins and singing about the wonders of striped sweaters. SpongeBob was great in this episode, mocking the insecurity as well as the arrogance that so pervades our celebrity culture. Though he may not be the kind of entertainer that he thought the commercial made him, he entertains us on a weekly basis, and he doesn't even need to juggle Krabby Patties to do it.
 
Again, great choices. What else can I say? :thumbsup: Both are great Season 3 episodes.
 
Wow. ASOTV better than Krab Borg or Rock-A-Bye Bivalve? Boo. :p
 
#32 - Shanghaied

"No, no, wait, it was his mother you said was dirty, not his ship."

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This is the only Flying Dutchman episode on the list, and boy, is it a doozy. When SpongeBob, Patrick, and Squidward climb onto the Dutchman's ship, they're forced into an eternity of servitude under him. Squidward gets dumped into a horrible vortex after mouthing off to his captor, and to prevent the same from happening to them, SpongeBob and Patrick try their best to please the ghost. Of course, their actions end up having the opposite effect, and the Flying Dutchman decides that it'll be much less of a hassle just to eat them. SpongeBob and Patrick aren't too fond of that plan, so they attempt to escape the ship through the *gulp* perfume department. That doesn't work, so they hold the Dutchman's sock hostage, and in exchange for his footwear, he promises to grant three of their wishes. The first wish makes the episode a minute longer, and the second one brings Squidward back. The outcome of the third wish depends on the version of the episode you're watching, but I can assure you that they all end poorly for our heroes.

This episode managed to stay funny despite a bloated running time, and that's not easy to do for the show, hence the fact that there are only two specials on this list. Also, this was the first episode in which the Flying Dutchman played a main role, and he shined bright, both figuratively and literally,

#31 - Fear of a Krabby Patty

"I'll always be with you right here." / "In my heart?" / "Actually, in your arteries."

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This Season 4 episode felt more like a holdover from Season 3. It had non-stop hilarity, wacky visuals, and a creative storyline that didn't leave me bored for a second. It starts out with Mr. Krabs, upon seeing that the Chum Bucket is now open for 23 hours, staving off the nonexistent competition by opening his own restuarant for 24 hours. This excites SpongeBob to no end, and Plankton, noticing the excitement, sends out an anonymous order of 10,000 Krabby Patties to crush the yellow guy's spirit. It works, and SpongeBob ends up in the office of Dr. P Lankton in search of a cure to his hallucinations of killer sandwiches. Though Plankton tries to extract the formula from SpongeBob's fragile mind, the only thing he ends up getting is bruises from being smashed by heavy instruments. (Wait, how does SpongeBob pick up the piano so easily here when he can't even lift a straw in MuscleBob BuffPants? Must be the lack of continuity again.) As a last resort, Plankton hypnotizes SpongeBob, and under his hypnosis, he has a conversation with a talking burger that cures him of his paranoia. The end. Bring out the dancing lobsters.

Like I said at the beginning of the review, FOAKB had all the qualities of your average season three episode with about five times the randomness. This will always be known as the episode that started the "post-movie" era, but if the rest of the era followed this episode's example, we'd have much fewer people complaining about it, imo.

Join me again on Monday when I start on the next ten! Or don't join me and make all the children of the world cry. The choice is up to you.
 
I would have made Shanghaied much higher, but whatever it is your list. Love both of the episodes, though.
 
Sorry for not doing this on Monday and Tuesday. I'll make up for it by doing three a day from now on.

#30 - New Student Starfish

"Hey, what'd I miss?"

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In this episode, Patrick goes to boating school with SpongeBob, and unsurprisingly, the starfish turns out to be a horrible student. I like how the episode explored SpongeBob and Patrick's relationship by putting them in a setting where the differences in their personalities would really show. SpongeBob loves school, and he has 74 good noodle stars to show for it. Patrick couldn't care less about school, and he acts like your typical underachiever, drawing unflattering pictures of his teacher and shooting spitballs at the nerd in the back. When these personalities clash, they go from being friends to being enemies, and their differences culminate in what is probably the least exciting fight scene in history. Overall, it's a solid episode, and my only complaint is that Mrs. Puff wasn't as interesting here as she was in No Free Rides and Krusty Love. But, since she didn't play as big of a role in this episode, it didn't really affect the episode's ranking.

#29 - The Smoking Peanut

"SpongeBob doesn’t have hair… or does he?"

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I've always been a fan of a good detective story. In fact, I wrote one myself not too long ago. But enough shameless plugging. This episode had everything that made Season 2 so exceptional in my eyes. Great plot, great humor, and great use of the characters. SpongeBob in particular was brilliant in this episode, which is important because it revolved mostly around his guilt and fear after causing a citywide disturbance. Then, of course, there's Patrick, who plays a Sherlock Holmes with a familiar-looking yellow popsicle in place of a pipe. Both of these characters make the episode for me, and as they take the fruits (or nuts) of the town's hatred in stride near the end of it, I keep thinking that the series just can't get better from there, but as we all know, it does. Oh boy, it does.

#28 - Dying for Pie

"GARY! YOU ARE GONNA FINISH YOUR DESSERT AND YOU ARE GONNA LIKE IT!"

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The thing I love most about the relationship between SpongeBob and Squidward is that there are so many places you can take it. In this episode, Mr. Krabs forces Squidward to get SpongeBob a present for Employee Brotherhood Day. Squidward, who never liked being an employee or a brother, decides to buy him a pie from a group of pirates and call it a day. Unfortunately, it turns out that the pie is actually a bomb, and when it seems like SpongeBob ate the pastry of mass destruction, a remorseful Squidward tries to make it up to him by ensuring that his last moments are the best he's ever had. This episode was both heartwarming and hilarious, and it showed that despite his abrasive personality, Squidward really does have a kind and caring soul.
 
These are all great episodes. Dying for Pie is probably my favorite out of the three you just posted.
 
Not sure I would put The Smoking Peanut at #29. Perhaps 30-39 list.

Dying for Pie at #28? BAN
 
Although I wouldn't put these episodes in these exact spots, I like your arguments and can't wait for more! :D
 
-.-

I shall get you all for this!
 
My legacy of pissing people off with my opinions continues tonight!

#27 - Sing a Song of Patrick

"Those X-Ray specs I ordered couldn't see through people's skin at all...only their clothes."

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I know this one seems like it came out of left field, but just bear with me. I stopped watching SpongeBob regularly near the end of Season 4, not because of the drop in quality, but because I simply lost interest in the series. During my hiatus, I missed what I consider to be just one of the funniest episodes of post-movie SpongeBob, hands down. It starts off relatively slow with a scene at the comic book store (notable highlights are the quote used above and the cameo by that nerd from No Weenies Allowed). Patrick goes to SpongeBob's house to write the poem, and while doing so, he uses his brain for the first time in centuries. Despite this, the poem turns out horribly, and when he sends it to musicians to make into a song, it kills them. No, it literally kills them. This kind of dark humor is something I'd expect from Season 3, and it came as a bit of a shock when I first saw this episode, but once I got over it, I was hitting the floor laughing, and the episode only got better from there. They listen to the song itself, and holy crap, is it bad. But it's a hilarious bad. SpongeBob and Patrick decide that all of Bikini Bottom need to listen to the song, and the reactions of citizens when they listen to it on the radio or in the air are priceless. This episode was pure gold, and coming from a season that's among the show's worst, it was a pleasant surprise.

#26 - The Algae's Always Greener

"Goodbye everyone, I'll remember you all in therapy."

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This was the first episode of Season 3, and it was also the first episode to really develop Plankton as a character. Before now, he was nothing but your run-of-the-mill bad guy, who only desired the Krabby Patty secret formula and the power it would bring him. There were some glimpses of Plankton's soft side in the Season 1 episode F.U.N., but it didn't go nearly as deep into his psyche as this episode did. It starts out with Plankton failing at yet another burger-swiping scheme, and after getting flicked home, he despairs about how he can't live the life of luxury that Mr. Krabs does. Karen points to a contraption that would let him do just that (how convenient!), and when Plankton uses it, it sends him to an alternate universe where he runs the Krusty Krab. Though things could have very well been peachy keen after that, it wouldn't have made for very good television, so we get an extra-annoying SpongeBob and an extra-bratty Pearl to push Plankton's buttons during his experiment. Then, of course, there's naked Krabs, whose goal in life is to steal a Krabby Patty and ruin the restaurant (sound familiar?). All of this drives Plankton over the edge, and he buzzers out of the crazy dimension with what is probably his best line in the entire series.

The episode was the best start to any season of SpongeBob, with a creative plot, memorable characters, and an energy that can leave one breathless.

#25 - Big Pink Loser

"I'm not a Krusty Krab."

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Patrick Star has always been my favorite character on the show, as his simplistic view of the world around him makes him funny and endearing. In this particular episode, Patrick starts to develop an inferiority complex when he sees that SpongeBob has hundreds of awards in his collection (for what, exactly? I have no idea) while he has none. SpongeBob tells Patrick that he has to, well, do something in order to win an award, and to give him a head start in his quest for notoriety, he signs Patrick up for a job at the Krusty Krab. Patrick turns out to be an even worse employee than Squidward, and he doesn't get his first major breakthrough until SpongeBob teaches him how to open a jar by doing "exactly what I do". Unfortunately, Patrick begins to apply that philosophy to everything he does, from the way he walks to the clothes he wear, and it annoys SpongeBob to no end. However, in an ironic turn of events, Patrick finally does win an award "for doing nothing longer than anyone else", invalidating SpongeBob's original claim and returning the series to its wonderful status quo.

There are way fewer Patrick-centered episodes in the top 25 than I had originally predicted (in fact, this might be the only one). I guess I like Patrick better in secondary roles because there isn't as much of a chance of his stupidity getting tiresome or of him dwelling into jerk territory. Fortunately, neither happened in this episode, so I'll give it additional props for that.
 
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