Been a Spongebob Squarepants fan since 1999, and quite frankly, I am very disappointed of how much this show has changed over the years.
Here's a brief summery of it:
Season 1 (1999–2000) — The early classic episode years: When the show first started, it wasn't bad. Yes, there was less humor, and the stories were slower-paced, but they were strong stories, and (crucially) the characters were funny, likable, and identifiable. (Despite being roughly drawn.)
Seasons 2 and 3 (2000–2004) — The later classic episode years: Pretty much all Spongebob fans would agree that you can't get better than these years. The writing team was at its absolute best and the stories were all fresh. Most, if not all, of the greatest episodes came from this period ("Band Geeks" "Chocolate With Nuts", "Wet Painters", etc). In these days there was no such thing as a bad episode. There wasn't a single episode that did not make you laugh non-stop for 11 minutes.
Seasons 4–5 (2005–2007) — The poor episode years: Season 4 marked the beginning of the gradual decline of Spongebob Squarepants. It was the first ever season to have bad episodes. Yes, there were still some goodies (such as "Skill Crane" or "Krusty Towers") but some really poor ones were there in the mix, too ("Good Neighbors", "Funny Pants", "All That Glitters", and — worst of all — "Karate Island"). And by season 5 (when most of the original writing team had left), we had episodes that weren't just poor, they felt like a completely different TV show. (Episodes such as "Ghost Host", "SpongeHenge", "Banned in Bikini Bottom", etc). We were all thinking that the show was going through a rough patch, but this was only the beginning of what was yet to come
Seasons 6–now (2008–present) — The crap episode years: Ever since seasons 4–5, Spongebob Squarepants episodes had always been somewhere between excellent and occasionally poor. Then, in season 6, they began making absolute crap. The Spongebob as we've known and loved was all but dead. Some of the worst offenders were: "The Splinter", "Professor Squidward", "Pets or Pests", "Dear Vikings", and many others. But probably the one moment when every Spongebob fan realized — for certain — it was no longer the same show, was when Mr. Krabs becomes obsessed over a penny that SpongeBob finds in "Penny Foolish". This episode had absolutely no humor or plot. It concluded with Mr. Krabs selling out thousands of dollars he had just to receive one darn penny. The writers might as well of had him selling out the entire show's fanbase, while at it. From here on, the crap episodes just kept coming more and more and these days you can go almost an entire season without finding a good one.
So in conclusion, I'm rating the show 5 stars for the first 3 seasons and the semi-decent 4-5 Seasons. However, I can't give the more recent episodes even the slightest praise.
36 out of 46 found this helpful