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| "Choir Boys" | ||||||||||||||||
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Really, SpongeBob? Just because Squidward didn't have time to hear your singing that automatically gives you the right to pester him to keep him from joining a choir!
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"What a lucky break! Now, I have a captive audience!"
— SpongeBob's infamous quote from the episode
"Choir Boys" is an episode from season six of SpongeBob SquarePants.
Plot
Wanting to get Squidward to listen to his singing, SpongeBob follows him to choir practice.
Why It Should Not Have a Captive Audience
- It's just another 11-minute Richard Pursel's Squidward torture episode, as he gets abused too far just for a petty reason: he refuses to listen to SpongeBob's song.
- In the beginning, Squidward sees SpongeBob lying on the ground, depressed, and jokes about his loneliness. Though to be fair, it does show he is arrogant there, but it just doesn't feel that funny.
- Plot hole: Also, the reason SpongeBob is lying on the ground looking depressed is that Patrick is away at a family reunion as if Patrick is his only friend. But why couldn't he just hang out with anyone else like Sandy for example?
- SpongeBob is at his absolute worst in this episode, next to A Pal for Gary, as his stalking has gone too far this time. This is evident when he intentionally puts Squidward in harm's way. In contrast to other episodes of the series where he puts Squidward through a lot of harm unintentionally, he is harming Squidward through malicious intent.
- These two unnecessary long gags come off as gags that only exist for filler's sake:
- Squidward clearing his throat, which is done three times. The throat-clearing gets annoying fast and goes on for too long If it happened once, it would be just annoying, but the fact that it happens three times is just infuriating.
- Squidward spraying his breath spray.
- Speaking of running gags, the story is also annoying and predictable. It is annoying, because of the fact SpongeBob was refusing to stop pestering Squidward to join in the choir, and predictable because SpongeBob, out of contrived favoritism, would win in the end, even though he shouldn't have despite giving out a better attempt at singing.
- The things that SpongeBob does in this episode go right into the stalker territory. In real life, doing something like that is considered illegal, and that can get you arrested for it.
- This episode has some of the most annoying voice acting in terms of Squidward and SpongeBob's singing voices:
- SpongeBob’s singing voice is kind of annoying.
- Squidward's singing isn't any better, as he just sounds alright in some areas, but at the very last moment, he is just screaming at the top of his lungs rather than singing.
- In general, the whole episode relies on making Tom Kenny and Rodger Bumpass give out some of the most annoying performances while screaming out or making the singing sound grating while recording dialogue for SpongeBob and Squidward during the production of the episode.
- "What a lucky break! Now I have a captive audience!" is what SpongeBob says during when Squidward gets zapped by jellyfish.
- Just like most of the animation and designs by Robertryan Cory in season six, there is some disturbing imagery (by Robertryan Cory) shown here, such as Squidward's arm, after being stung by the jellyfish, and SpongeBob's face, when being flown up by the jellyfish.
- Even without the disturbing imagery, the animation is still rather weak in terms of Season 6.
- Predictably unfair ending: SpongeBob takes Squidward's place in the men's choir, due to his "good" singing voice, causing Squidward to become the conductor, which he doesn't like.
- As usual, SpongeBob gets away scot-free for abusing and pestering Squidward, gets rewarded for what he does, and has no comeuppances for his actions.
Qualities That Should Have a Captive Audience
- It makes sense why Squidward isn't in the men's choir due to his bad singing voice, but that still doesn't justify SpongeBob’s actions for pestering him on his way.
- It has a great concept that, unfortunately, was poorly executed.
- SpongeBob’s singing voice is beautiful when he isn't singing in an ear-grating way.
- For the most part, Squidward is likable.
- The scene with Squidward’s toilet and toilet paper coming to life is pretty funny.
- SpongeBob got his karma in "Gullible Pants" when he was convinced to trash the Krusty Krab by Squidward.
- The scene when SpongeBob started flying with the jellyfish with that memeable face is amusing.
Reception
"Choir Boys" drew fiercely negative reviews from fans and critics alike and is regularly considered among the series' worst episodes. It has a 5.8 rating on IMDb along with its sister episode, "Porous Pockets".
It is ranked number 5 on MoBrosStudios' worst SpongeBob episodes. Jem Reviews ranks this episode at #3 on his "ANOTHER Top 10 Worst Spongebob Episodes" video.
PIEGUYRULZ extensively panned this episode due to his annoyance while watching the episode and the character derailment that occurred in the episode. He has also stated that this episode is truly damaging to the rest of the series and considers it not only the epitome of a frustrating episode but worse than any other episode in the series, including Truth or Square. He has alluded to this by stating his "burning hatred" for the episode and through his famous quote, "Scumbob!, Scumbob!, SCUMBOB!" Similarly, A.S.K. Air considers it his worst episode as he ranked it at the bottom of his "Ranking Every Spongebob Episode in 10 Words or Less" video.