As a (mostly) full grown adult, what is it about Spongebob Squarepants that still attracts me and draws me in? Is it his childlike innocence, the pirate-led singalong themesong, or Spongebob and Patrick’s infectious laughter? I’d say probably a combination of the three. Now, I won’t necessarily go out of my way to watch it most days, but every once in awhile, flipping past Nickelodeon will cause me to stop for awhile and laugh along with one of the few good cartoons that is still on these days.
Hearkening back to other slightly disturbed cartoons like Ren and Stimpy, Spongebob has always been a cartoon that both adults and kids could enjoy. While you may have to turn your brain off for awhile, the show has always been at least creative and entertaining. Its humor is mostly based around overly dramatic and perpetually positive Spongebob, and his best friend, Patrick, who is dumber then the rock house he lives under. Most gags are played out over and over until they are hilariously annoying. I’m sure I lost more than a few brain cells watching all sixty-eight minutes straight through, but curled up on the couch with some sugar cereal sure made me forget the drama of being an adult for a while.
Legends of Bikini Bottom consists of six previously unaired episodes, all centered around mythological events or stories that happened in the undersea city of Bikini Bottom. It all starts with “The Monster Who Came to Bikini Bottom,” which begins when Patrick innocently unplugs a barrel of toxic waste for his “plug collection.” This creates a gigantic toxic monster nicknamed “Rawrg,” who becomes Patrick’s new friend. Since Tag is too tough to teach him, they laugh for hours at a snowglobe, play hide and seek, and then get into trouble with the police when the game turns to throwing houses.
In “The Main Drain,” a clogged sink at the Krusty Krab restaurant leads Mr. Krabs and Plankton to warn Spongebob and Patrick about a drain that could cause the end of Bikini Bottom as they know it. Determined to find the drain to save it from people like them, they go off in search of it in an Up-inspired house with water bubbles attached to it. “Trenchbillies” sees our heroes Jelly-fishing and stumbling upon a secret community of deep-sea fish, straight out of Deliverance. The trenchbillies challenge Patrick and Spongebob to fiddling and yodeling contests, followed by wrasslin’, to see if they are worthy of sparing their lives.
The only episode with much of a moral to the story is “Sponge-Cano” in which Spongebob’s “Attitude of Gratitude” song, along with customers at the Krabby Patty, push Squidward to the edge. Just as he is about to erupt, volcano, Mt. Bikini Bottom beats him to the punch. In order to stop the volcano, the citizens of the town must sacrifice the most miserable person in Bikini Bottom, which leads Squidward to some reflection…or not. It’s a fun collection of Saturday-morning cartoons, and probably won’t inspire too much deep thinking, but will get a few laughs along the way.
