Editor's Note

Our reviews of Spongebob Squarepants: Season 5, Volume 1 (published December 12th, 2007), SpongeBob SquarePants: The Complete First Season (published November 10th, 2003), Spongebob Squarepants: Season 5, Volume 2 (published November 27th, 2008), Spongebob Squarepants: The Complete Third Season (published February 8th, 2006), Spongebob Squarepants: Fear Of A Krabby Patty (published August 31st, 2005), Spongebob Squarepants: Friend Or Foe? (published August 29th, 2007), Spongebob Squarepants: Home Sweet Pineapple (published January 19th, 2005), Spongebob Squarepants: Nautical Nonsense / Sponge Buddies (published March 19th, 2002), Spongebob Squarepants: Sponge For Hire (published February 9th, 2005), Spongebob Squarepants: Spongebob Vs. The Big One (published March 16th, 2009), Spongebob Squarepants: Spongebob's Pest Of The West (published April 25th, 2008), Spongebob Squarepants: Spongicus (published April 9th, 2009), SpongeBob SquarePants: The Seaside Capers (published March 13th, 2004), Spongebob Squarepants: To Love A Patty (published February 6th, 2008), Spongebob Squarepants: To Squarepants Or Not To Squarepants (published July 27th, 2009), Spongebob Squarepants: Where's Gary? (published December 14th, 2005), Spongebob Squarepants: Who Bob What Pants? (published November 13th, 2008), and The Spongebob Squarepants Movie (published March 1st, 2005) are also available.

The Charge

"Don't make me have a flashback."

The Case

SpongeBob SquarePants: Truth Or Square compiles five episodes from Season 7…

• "Truth Or Square"
This hour-long 10th Anniversary episode is set on the day of the Krusty Krab's Eleventy Seventh anniversary. However, before the restaurant opens, Mr. Krabs, SpongeBob, Squidward, and Patrick manage to get themselves trapped in the bowels of the building and have to find their way out. As they crawl their way through pipes and vents, the characters have "never-before-seen" flashbacks to earlier times. Meanwhile, breaking up the animated storyline is a side-plot involving Patchy the Pirate trying to organize a 10th Anniversary extravaganza television special for SpongeBob. A bunch of celebrities make cameos during these intervals, including Rosario Dawson (Seven Pounds), LeBron James, Tina Fey (Baby Mama), Will Ferrell (Zoolander), Craig Ferguson (The Big Tease), Robin Williams (Insomnia), and Pink.

Wow…This is without a doubt the lamest SpongeBob episode I have ever seen. It's pretty much all filler, extremely boring, the story goes nowhere, with little action or mania. In fact, nothing interesting happens at all. The Patchy interludes and reliance on cameos merely draws attention to the episode's lack of substance.

• "Porous Pockets"
SpongeBob inadvertently strikes it rich, but a fool and his money are easily parted.

• "Choir Boys"
Squidward wants to audition for the Bikini Bottom Men's Choir. Unfortunately, he tells SpongeBob about it. Non-hilarious results ensue.

• "Krusty Krushers"
Mr. Krabs signs Patrick and SpongeBob into a tag-team wrestling match with a $1 million prize. This is essentially a poor remake of the Merrie Melodies wrestling episode "Bunny Hugged" that featured Bugs Bunny battling The Crusher.

• "The Card"
SpongeBob spends everything he has trying to get a special Mermaidman and Barnacleboy trading card, but is unsuccessful. However, Patrick ends up with one and doesn't seem to value it as much as his friend. Can SpongeBob convince Patrick to give him the card?

I've been harping about the decline of SpongeBob in my reviews of previous releases. However, without a doubt, the episodes here are the weakest I've seen. The show has lost not just its sense of humor, but the manic and hyperactive energy as well. Now it's simply tired and boring.

As is typical with SpongeBob releases, the full screen video is flawless, rich, and colourful. The stereo audio is clear and crisp.

There are two extras: "Behind-the-Scenes of the SpongeBob Opening" featurette which describes the creation of the special 3-dimensional opening sequence for "Truth or Square," and karaoke music videos for "We've Got Scurvy" (by Pink), "Campfire Sing Song," and "F.U.N."

That's all I've got to say. The End.

The Verdict

Guilty.

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