Nickelodeon // 2008 // 88 Minutes // Not Rated
Reviewed by Judge Roy Hrab // April 9th, 2009
"I do need to defragment my hard drive. Would you like to help?"
SpongeBob SquarePants: Spongicus compiles the first eight episodes from Season 6 of the cash machine known as SpongeBob SquarePants.
"Spongicus": Once again, Plankton attempts to attract customers to the Chum Bucket. This time around, his plan is to tear the place down and put up a Roman coliseum in its place, offering free gladiatorial entertainment to patrons. Much to the consternation of SpongeBob, the first fight is between a sea lion and Patrick. SpongeBob intervenes to save his friend. This is standard children's stuff.
"Suction Cup Symphony": Squidward learns that the deadline for the Bikini Bottom Symphony Orchestra music composition contest is tomorrow. He frantically tries to come up with an inspired work. Meanwhile, outside his window, SpongeBob and Patrick are fooling around, resulting in Patrick breaking his butt. The resulting noisy reconstructive surgery performed by SpongeBob provides no small distraction to the manic Squidward. I found this marginally better than "Spongicus" because it somewhat reminded me of the use of music in classic Looney Tunes cartoons.
"House Fancy": Squidward is annoyed to learn that the upscale house of his wealthy rival, Squilliam Fancyson, is being featured on the television show "House Fancy." As a result, Squidward makes a call to the show claiming that his house is superior to Squilliam's. They believe him and dispatch a camera crew. With two hours to make his home look great, Squidward enlists the help of SpongeBob. Does that sound like a good idea? The episode has one inspired moment involving Patrick using Squidward's washroom.
"Krabby Road": Plankton breaks out of prison and runs into SpongeBob singing a song about the Krabby Patty recipe. However, Mr. Krabs has ordered SpongeBob to not mention the ingredients to the patties when he sings. Plankton thinks that he can get the recipe out of SpongeBob by starting a rock band. This one is boring.
"Penny Foolish": The miserly Mr. Krabs thinks he sees SpongeBob find a penny on the ground. Krabs becomes obsessed with trying to extract the penny from SpongeBob. Yawn.
"Nautical Novice": SpongeBob is going on a field trip to the Nautical Museum as part of Mrs. Puff's driving school. The yellow, porous and absorbent fellow decides to pull an all-nighter studying the complete history of boating in an attempt to impress Mrs. Puff and finally earn his license. Things don't work out as planned. Zzzzzzzz.
"Not Normal": SpongeBob watches a 1950s style school film "How To Be Normal For Beginners" after Squidward tells him to be more normal. A new, normal SpongeBob emerges. His rough edges are literally smoothed out and he turns into a very plain, model conformist. Not bad, this is the best episode on the disc.
"Gone": SpongeBob awakes one day to find himself the sole entity in Bikini Bottom. It's not too long before the isolation begins to take a toll on the sponge as he becomes obsessed and paranoid in this Twilight Zone inspired episode. It's a decent episode.
As is typical with SpongeBob releases, the full screen video is flawless, rich and colourful. The stereo audio is clear and crisp.
The extras are a couple of lacklustre galleries of story board panels and character art.
In my previous SpongeBob reviews I have commented that series has lost its edge. This offering does nothing to change my opinion. But what the heck do I know? Clearly, the show continues to maintain a large following and the franchise is a license to print money for Nickelodeon. The only advice I can give you is teach your kids a lesson about delayed gratification by waiting for the Season Six collection, rather than buying this release.
Guilty.
Review content copyright © 2009 Roy Hrab; Site layout and review format copyright © 1998 - 2012 HipClick Designs LLC
Scales of Justice
Judgment: 70
Perp Profile
Studio: Nickelodeon
Video Formats:
* Full Frame
Audio Formats:
* Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo (English)
Subtitles:
* None
Running Time: 88 Minutes
Release Year: 2008
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Distinguishing Marks
* Storyboard Panels
* Character Art
Accomplices
* IMDb
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0206512/combined
* Official Site
http://www.nick.com/shows/spongebob_squarepants/index.jhtml