Truth or Square (SpongeBob SquarePants)
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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.
No Truth, Only Square Qualities
- 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 somewhat creepy for young viewers.
- 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.
- Title error: The episode was planned to be called "Stuck in the Freezer", but in the episode, they were in the air vents of the freezer for the majority of it.
- 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 which, 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.
- They called this episode as a "parody" of the clip show, that already sounds stupid; this episode doesn't even show any clips from the older episodes. Most flashbacks are just faux episodes with wasted potential, such as a flashback of Squidward sleeping, or the one of SpongeBob and Sandy acting in a marriage play.
- Speaking of which, Sandy (as well as other main characters including Pearl, Mrs. Puff) barely has any purpose in this special aside from filler in a few scenes.
- Not to mention, it feels like they used "parody" to cover up their laziness. If there actually were some actual, funny, and memorable clips from the older episodes in this special, then it would've been good, and just made you feel how important the special is for the show. But nope, as mentioned above, there's not even any clip from the older episodes here at all!
- 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).
- Some of the celebrity appearances either feel pointless or like wasted protentional such as Robin Williams' appearance. He, 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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? It's out of character for him as well. He's supposed to be a funny cheapy cheapskate, but that fact might make you think he's actually a creepy stalker, and it's not funny at all.
- Last but not least, the title itself is a pun on "Truth or dare?" even though it doesn't have a question mark. But it still makes the title feel like a question, and it's weirdly punctuated. Seriously, why not just officially called the episode "Stuck in the Freezer", which would've been more fitting to the episode?
We've Got Scurvy Qualities
- There are some funny parts depending on your view, like Triumph the Insult Comic Dog insulting Patchy over the phone, offending the latter, and the alternate 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.
- 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.
- One of the titles for the episode, "10th anniversary", was surprisingly faithful to the airdate.
- All the songs were very good, like "We've Got Scurvy", "A Day Like This", "Rubber Hose Rag", "Beautiful Dreamer", and most famously, "Oh Krusty Krab".
- We finally got a clip from the same episodes where it shows how and why SpongeBob got his very own pineapple for a home.
- 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.
- The colors can feel vibrant and energetic for once in Season 6 like the great-looking stop motion intro.
- The voice acting is still great. In fact, it won an Annie for Tom Kenny in this episode.
- Has some good jokes, and there is a good use of absurdity.
- Sweet and heartwarming ending: SpongeBob sings "Oh Krusty Krab", which is a sweet scene, especially considering Squidward comforting Krabs.
- The tie-in video game, with the exception of the DS version is actually good and had an even better story too.
- If there had been no Patchy the Pirate segments and no false advertising in trailers, it would have been a decent way to celebrate tenth anniversary of the series.
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).
Despite this, it received a relatively high rating of 5.35/10 based on 97 ratings, making it one of the highest-rated ULTRA-infamous episodes on SpongeBuddy Mania.
The episode did win an Annie for Best Voice Acting in 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 for a special episode in season 8, and then permanently as of season 9.
- In some countries, such as Latin America and Russia, this episode is known as "Stuck in the Freezer"
- In Brazil, the episode is called "Entrando numa fria" (Rough translation: Getting in trouble).
- Most of the live-action segments are cut during re-runs.
- The intro was reused in Season 11's "The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom" now with original theme song.
Videos
NICKtendo's opinion to how why he like the special.
Comments
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