Visual Artifacts Found in SpongeBob

[spongebranch]

Apparently nearly every episode from "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy IV/Doing Time" in Season 3 to "Hello Bikini Bottom" in Season 8 appears oversaturated on Nickelodeon USA, for example, the top of the sky appears aqua green instead of aquamarine. You can tell the Season 3 DVD episodes look different from Nickelodeon USA.

Why can't Nickelodeon USA replace these masters with the base international prints and call it a day? Easier than rerequesting prints from the studios because I think that would be harder. Base international prints are easier to get from their distribution company. The TV Nickelodeon uses to transfer their studio masters of shows still has the contrast and color settings off today and it's amazing how they haven't bothered to fix this.

 

[Original Raw and Uncut]

Apparently nearly every episode from "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy IV/Doing Time" in Season 3 to "Hello Bikini Bottom" in Season 8 appears oversaturated on Nickelodeon USA, for example, the top of the sky appears aqua green instead of aquamarine. You can tell the Season 3 DVD episodes look different from Nickelodeon USA.

Why can't Nickelodeon USA replace these masters with the base international prints and call it a day? Easier than rerequesting prints from the studios because I think that would be harder. Base international prints are easier to get from their distribution company. The TV Nickelodeon uses to transfer their studio masters of shows still has the contrast and color settings off today and it's amazing how they haven't bothered to fix this.

No, not every episode. There a few episodes in Season 7 & 8 that have dull colors

 

[spongebranch]

No, not every episode. There a few episodes in Season 7 & 8 that have dull colors

well yes, there's The Abrasive Side/Earworm, The Monster Who Came To Bikini Bottom/Welcome to the Bikini Bottom Triangle, The Curse of the Hex/The Main Drain, Trenchbillies/Sponge-Cano!, Super Evil Aquatic Villain Team Up is Go!/Chum Fricassee, what else are there again?

 

[LARRY22]

I know this isn't about any visual artifacts, but who else notices that the paintings in in real life look very different color-wise than what we see in the show? Here's an image from Adam Paloian's Twitter:

And here's how it looks in Karen's Virus:

 

[Original Raw and Uncut]

well yes, there's The Abrasive Side/Earworm, The Monster Who Came To Bikini Bottom/Welcome to the Bikini Bottom Triangle, The Curse of the Hex/The Main Drain, Trenchbillies/Sponge-Cano!, Super Evil Aquatic Villain Team Up is Go!/Chum Fricassee, what else are there again?

The enire early season four stretch, From Fear of a Krabby Patty until Krusty Towers. Have You Seen This Snail, Funny Pants, and Dunces and Dragons are the only early-S4 episodes not to have palebob. The colors in Hello Bikini Bottom are also a bit dull compared to the rest of season eight.

 

[spongebranch]

The enire early season four stretch, From Fear of a Krabby Patty until Krusty Towers. Have You Seen This Snail, Funny Pants, and Dunces and Dragons are the only early-S4 episodes not to have palebob. The colors in Hello Bikini Bottom are also a bit dull compared to the rest of season eight.

Lots of episodes from early Season 3 onwards have noticeably oversaturated colors compared to the international prints like I've said before (even the HD episodes have the aqua green sky calibration)

 

[LARRY22]

Lots of episodes from early Season 3 onwards have noticeably oversaturated colors compared to the international prints like I've said before (even the HD episodes have the aqua green sky calibration)

I noticed that for Season 3 too, for example, here's how the title card for 'Wet Painters' looks on Amazon Instant Video (On the ESB Wikia).

And this is how it looks on televsion/The Complete Season Third Season set.

 

[spongebranch]

I noticed that for Season 3 too, for example, here's how the title card for 'Wet Painters' looks on Amazon Instant Video (On the ESB Wikia).

And this is how it looks on televsion/The Complete Season Third Season set.

speaking of which, I heard there is at least one episode on Amazon Instant Video that has the end credits cut out. It was in Season 5. What exactly was that again?

 

[LARRY22]

speaking of which, I heard there is at least one episode on Amazon Instant Video that has the end credits cut out. It was in Season 5. What exactly was that again?

I haven't checked yet, but I feel like it might be one of those Season 5 segments with 3 episodes each (2 shorts and one normal-length episode). But I'll definitely check that out

 

[spongebranch]

I noticed that for Season 3 too, for example, here's how the title card for 'Wet Painters' looks on Amazon Instant Video (On the ESB Wikia).

And this is how it looks on televsion/The Complete Season Third Season set.

I know I quoted this already, but I wonder why Nickelodeon hasn't changed the color contrast settings on the computer or TV screen they use to transfer stuff.

 

[spongebranch]

Bubblestand/Ripped Pants have hard to notice dot crawl on Nickelodeon USA

Have You Seen This Snail with dot crawl on Nickelodeon Germany

Spoiler

It's official, this episode doesn't exist without the VHS effect

 

[spongebranch]

sadly I can declare that Have You Seen This Snail doesn't exist without the VHS effect according to the post above.
Hell, the fact that even Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy III, Sailor Mouth/Artist Unknown, the Patchy scenes in Christmas Who?, and the uncut version of Just One Bite (in Korea and Serbia) can exist without the VHS effect, yet this episode and Dumped officially don't, is just sad. You'd think they would fix this issue in international prints, but they must've had the analog effects hard burned into the raw studio masters in a post-production accident. Especially bad as this is a SEASON 4 episode and you'd think they would stop using analog transferring in the USA by then. The dot crawl looks extremely bad here too as it moves way too fast compared to other examples I've seen.

I find it interesting how the international prints of Season 1 reduce the film grain down to near invisibility yet every single detail survives so well and isn't erased or smeared by DVNR.

 

[LARRY22]

sadly I can declare that Have You Seen This Snail doesn't exist without the VHS effect according to the post above.
Hell, the fact that even Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy III, Sailor Mouth/Artist Unknown, the Patchy scenes in Christmas Who?, and the uncut version of Just One Bite (in Korea and Serbia) can exist without the VHS effect, yet this episode and Dumped officially don't, is just sad. You'd think they would fix this issue in international prints, but they must've had the analog effects hard burned into the raw studio masters in a post-production accident. Especially bad as this is a SEASON 4 episode and you'd think they would stop using analog transferring in the USA by then. The dot crawl looks extremely bad here too as it moves way too fast compared to other examples I've seen.

I find it interesting how the international prints of Season 1 reduce the film grain down to near invisibility yet every single detail survives so well and isn't erased or smeared by DVNR.

Yeah I agree, it's really sad that some of these episodes have dot crawl that was transfered to the raw studio prints. Thankfully, hope isn't all lost :) mainly because this morning on Nickelodeon USA, I saw the "25 Ways to Holiday" promo which showed a clip of 'Christmas Who?', and I'll tell you, it looks absolutely amazing. SpongeBob is his normal yellow color, there doesn't seem to be any color calibration issues (The whites are nice and pasty without being too blueish or too gray, and the blacks look deep and crisp), it has no CRT artifacts, there's no gross white alias around the edges of the environment, it all looks perfect. If you don't know which clip it is it's the one with SpongeBob saying "Christmas...". I also saw a clip of SpongeBob saying "San..ta.. *faints*" and it looks like it was actually remastered in 1440×1080p, or they used the original print. It looks very high quality, almost as if they went back to the Toonz Premium files and re-rendered the episode in HD, but who knows?

 

[Original Raw and Uncut]

Yeah I agree, it's really sad that some of these episodes have dot crawl that was transfered to the raw studio prints. Thankfully, hope isn't all lost :) mainly because this morning on Nickelodeon USA, I saw the "25 Ways to Holiday" promo which showed a clip of 'Christmas Who?', and I'll tell you, it looks absolutely amazing. SpongeBob is his normal yellow color, there doesn't seem to be any color calibration issues (The whites are nice and pasty without being too blueish or too gray, and the blacks look deep and crisp), it has no CRT artifacts, there's no gross white alias around the edges of the environment, it all looks perfect. If you don't know which clip it is it's the one with SpongeBob saying "Christmas...". I also saw a clip of SpongeBob saying "San..ta.. *faints*" and it looks like it was actually remastered in 1440×1080p, or they used the original print. It looks very high quality, almost as if they went back to the Toonz Premium files and re-rendered the episode in HD, but who knows?

Nick is really dumb for still airing the VHS copies of the episodes

 

[spongebranch]

Nick is really dumb for still airing the VHS copies of the episodes

[sbmpic]*facepalm*
[sbmpic]How many times must I say it.
[sbmpic]They’ve never broadcast using home video VHS.
[sbmpic]They’ve never transferred off of home video VHS
[sbmpic]They don’t use cheap 4ss magnetic materials like home video VHS
[sbmpic]https://www.sbmania.net/pictures.php?img=kiff8rZTkDx/OqhtMsAQZOnb4kWeWog5jTjPrv3gAYA=[/sbmpic]
And tapes DON’T GRADUALLY PRODUCE DOT CRAWL AND ANALOG EFFECTS OVER TIME!!!
[sbmpic]https://www.sbmania.net/pictures.php?img=tiX9q/EbcmkPoVdSKQ4G+sQPc/EhouoftwSLaumDfPk=[/sbmpic]
It doesn’t even make any sense when you know that the dot crawl and rainbow effects are a luminance/chrominance thing!
Apologies if I was mean but I was explaining how these VHS copies are actually “analog copies” and that what makes them bad is that they look *&#$ing bootlegged.

 

[Original Raw and Uncut]

[sbmpic]*facepalm*
[sbmpic]How many times must I say it.
[sbmpic]They’ve never broadcast using home video VHS.
[sbmpic]They’ve never transferred off of home video VHS
[sbmpic]They don’t use cheap 4ss magnetic materials like home video VHS
[sbmpic]https://www.sbmania.net/pictures.php?img=kiff8rZTkDx/OqhtMsAQZOnb4kWeWog5jTjPrv3gAYA=[/sbmpic]
And tapes DON’T GRADUALLY PRODUCE DOT CRAWL AND ANALOG EFFECTS OVER TIME!!!
[sbmpic]https://www.sbmania.net/pictures.php?img=tiX9q/EbcmkPoVdSKQ4G+sQPc/EhouoftwSLaumDfPk=[/sbmpic]
It doesn’t even make any sense when you know that the dot crawl and rainbow effects are a luminance/chrominance thing!
Apologies if I was mean but I was explaining how these VHS copies are actually “analog copies” and that what makes them bad is that they look *&#$ing bootlegged.

I'm aware they don't use actual VHS tapes, I say "VHS" because that's the nickname I use for episodes that have dot crawl

 

[spongebranch]

Spoiler

apparently this scene in the SpongeBob episode "Patty Hype" has extremely bad CRT effects even on the Season 2 DVD and I just remembered it this morning. Even made more apparent when the screen with the footage zooms in and the newsroom and Johnny Elaine don't have dot crawl or analog effects at all. I feel they might have done this on purpose in post-production to represent an analog TV screen.

 

[Original Raw and Uncut]

Anyone notice how early season 4 and late season 4 have a very drastic difference:


The Lost Matress (Episode 62b)

Squid Wood (Episode 79b)

Squid Wood looks like it can easily pass for a season seven episode, while the lost matress (If it didn't have palebob), looks like it could be a season three holdover

 

[The Red Lizard]

I know this has nothing to do with Spongebob, but I still wanted to post this:

The Space Goofs season 2 episode, "24H", has a really bad example of vhs dot crawl. Look at the certains in the background and Bud's shoulder outline. Eek!

A ton of season 2 episodes actually have this same problem; watch them on YouTube and see for yourself.

 

[Original Raw and Uncut]

I know this has nothing to do with Spongebob, but I still wanted to post this:

IMG_2362.PNG
The Space Goofs season 2 episode, "24H", has a really bad example of vhs dot crawl. Look at the certains in the background and Bud's shoulder outline. Eek!

A ton of season 2 episodes actually have this same problem; watch them on YouTube and see for yourself.

Is it cel or digital ink, sometimes the dot crawl effect can disort the picture making the animation technique indistinguishable