Truth or Square (SpongeBob SquarePants)

Truth or Square (SpongeBob SquarePants)
All square, no truth.
Series: SpongeBob SquarePants Part of Season: 6 Episode Number: 123-124 Air Date: November 6, 2009 Writer: Luke Brookshier Nate Cash Steven Banks Paul Tibbitt Director: Alan Smart Previous episode: Single Cell Anniversary Next episode: Pineapple Fever

”Truth or Square” is an episode in the sixth season of SpongeBob SquarePants, serving as the tenth anniversary special of the series. It is the second SpongeBob TV film after "Atlantis SquarePantis" and was the last TV movie of the series until 2019's "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout!".

Plot

During a Krusty Krab anniversary celebration, SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward, and Mr. Krabs accidentally get locked in the freezer.

Why It's Not The Greatest That's Ever Been (Bad Qualities)

1. While Cee-Lo Green's cover of the SpongeBob SquarePants Theme is okay, it doesn't sound as good as the original and also sounds like a rejected “Weird Al” Yankovic parody song.
   • Adding on to that, the fortune teller pirate dummy in the stop motion introduction looks horrifying, especially to young viewers, compared to Painty in the original.
2. Over half of the special is focused on Patchy, which feels like unnecessary filler, and only serves as an excuse to get brief cameos from various celebrities which caused SpongeBob to get less focus despite being the main protagonist of the show.
3. This story is very unoriginal where SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward, and Mr. Krabs are celebrating the Krusty Krab's anniversary and they accidentally get locked in the freezer and had to go inside the air ducts where they talk about lives.
   • Just like "Atlantis SquarePantis", the Patchy the Pirate segments can also come with very bad timing; one very important example is after the scene where SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward, and Mr. Krabs fall after the dead-end broke off. We get commercials, which seems fine at first, but instead of going to the SpongeBob segment, we get a continuation of the Patchy segment. Considering the fact that The Patchy the Pirate segments are just filler, combined with the fact that the commercials are over 11 minutes long, that means it's literally several minutes of filler before we get to see what the main characters land into.
   • Speaking of, the animated SpongeBob parts don't fare any better, as it has a plot that’s loaded with filler. It does not help that it is literally only 22 minutes long if you exclude all the live-action segments which are 38 minutes.
4. The so-called "clip show" in this episode doesn't show any clips from the older episodes. Instead, we get clips that feel like DVD extras that didn't need to be here to make it 45 minutes (TV version) or an hour in a half (the extended version).
5. The special was infamous for the false advertising in trailers, such as showing a scene where SpongeBob and Sandy get married (which was actually a play) and that Mr. Krabs would reveal what the secret formula for the Krabby Patty truly is (he ultimately didn't), and it didn't show any of the Patchy scenes (which overshadowed the focus on SpongeBob in this special).
   • It also shows that the crew (and by proxy, Nickelodeon) lied to their fans and audience.
6. Most flashbacks are pointless and are only used as filler, such as the "Sleeping Squidward" flashbacks, or the flashback where SpongeBob and Sandy act in a marriage play.
   • Sandy barely has any purpose in this special aside from filler in a few scenes.
7. Some celebrities either feel pointless or have their talents wasted such as Robin Williams. Robin Williams for instance feels he is left to the shaft, and we don't even get a couple of comedic scenarios or jokes from him, which is very sad and unfair because he is a really funny guy. "This is where careers come to die!" indeed.
8. Just like "Atlantis SquarePantis", this episode tries so hard to get the audience’s attention by trying different art styles, but they come up as trying to hide the lack of effort into the writing.
   • The special altogether feels like a big rating trap and was a bad way to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the series.
9. Mr. Krabs revealed that he buys cameras around Bikini Bottom to place them around SpongeBob, Squidward, Patrick, and even Sandy's houses for no reason at all. What does that mean? So he has been watching them? Or is this supposed to be an inside joke where he has a stalker-ish side?!

Good Qualities

1. There are some funny parts, like Triumph the Insult Comic Dog insulting Patchy over the phone, offending the latter, and the versions of the SpongeBob SquarePants Theme in which SpongeBob is replaced by Squidward, Patrick (which is the best one out of three), then Mr. Krabs.
2. Some of the characters are likable, notably SpongeBob, whose optimism in escaping from the freezer and refusing to give up shows his true character traits.
3. Some good songs like "We've Got Scurvy" and "A Day Like This".
4. We finally got a clip from the same episodes where it shows how and why SpongeBob got his very own pineapple for a home.
5. Despite season six as a whole having some of the worst animations in the series for very good reasons, the animation here is passable in some areas. The colors can feel vibrant and energetic for once in Season 6 like the great-looking stop motion intro. Also, the song "A Day Like This" has one of the most creative animations the show had to offer.
6. The voice acting is still good. In fact, it won an Annie for Tom Kenny in this episode.
7. Sweet and Heartwarming Ending: SpongeBob sings "O Krusty Krab", which is a sweet scene, especially considering Squidward comforting Krabs.

Reception

Like "Atlantis SquarePantis", it received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics and fans. The Mysterious Mr. Enter ranked this episode as #3 on his Top 10 WORST Episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants list, criticizing the special for its false advertising, lack of plot for the animated segment, and the awkward live-action segments. PIEGUYRULZ hated this episode and reviewed it 3 times, one with Mr. Enter, another in his Patchy Shorts Reviews Video, and another in his Season 6 Review Video. It's mostly the Patchy segments he hated, but he also rated the SpongeBob segments ScumBob (the bad rating).

The episode did win an Annie for Best Voice Acting 2010.

Trivia

• This was the only season 6 episode to be presented in widescreen for the first time since the 2004 theatrical movie. The show went widescreen again in season 9.
• In some countries, such as Latin America and Russia, this episode is known as "Stuck in the Freezer".
• Most of the live-action segments are cut during re-runs.

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