The Spongesons 138th Episode Spectacular!

The Spongesons 138th Episode Spectacular!

Plot: The big 138th episode, hosted by Squilliam Fancyson.

Season: 7 Episode: 10

Total Episode Count: 138

Production code: 3F31

Plot
Squilliam Fancyson hosts this episode, which highlights individual scenes and sequences from throughout the show and offers never-before-seen outtakes. Squilliam starts the episode by showing a brief presentation of how The Spongesons series was conceived. He goes on to present some clips of the original shorts that aired on The Fishman Show, including the first one, "Good Night", in its entirety. Next, a presumed commercial break is introduced with a trivia question about the message that appears when Plankton is scanned by the cash register during the show's opening sequence; the answer is revealed (falsely) to be "NRA4EVER." The show then returns to Squilliam, who responds to questions from fan mail by showing clips that contain the answers. The letters include questions on SpongeBob's growing stupidity, how the cast and crew can create an episode per week, and hints of Jim Fisch's homosexuality.

Another commercial break is then introduced with a trivia question, this time concerning which two popular characters have died within the past year; the answer is revealed to be Bleeding Gums Fishley and Dr. Gill Gilliam, although neither of them were ever popular (and the latter wasn't actually dead, as revleaed in Diatribe of a Mad Housewife). Squilliam then shows deleted scenes from Spongesons episodes, "Clownfish Gets Kancelled", "Bikini Bottom (Or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling", "Mother Spongeson", "Pineapple of Horror IV", "SpongeBob and Larry", and "Krabs' Heir".

Squilliam also reveals that alternate endings to part two of "Who Shot Mr. Krabs?" were created to prevent the staff on The Spongesons from spoiling the mystery that "all of America was trying to solve [...] this past summer". These alternate endings, most of which consist of random characters shooting Mr. Krabs, conclude with a more elaborate ending in which Jim is revealed to be the assailant. Squilliam ends the episode by showing a montage of "hardcore nudity" (scenes of The Spongesons characters naked), set to the KC and the Sunshine Band song "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty".

Reception
The episode ranked among the ten most heavily viewed episodes of the seventh season. After its initial American airing, the episode received a Nielsen rating of 9.5, and a Nielsen rank of 48. The episode has become study material for sociology courses at University of California, Berkeley where it is used to "examine issues of the production and reception of cultural objects, in this case, a satirical cartoon show", and to figure out what it is "trying to tell audiences about aspects primarily of American society, and, to a lesser extent, about other societies." Some questions asked in the courses include: "What aspects of American society are being addressed in the episode? What aspects of them are used to make the points? How is the satire conveyed: through language? Drawing? Music? Is the behavior of each character consistent with his/her character as developed over the years? Can we identify elements of the historical/political context that the writers are satirizing? What is the difference between satire and parody?" Considered a spoof of television clip shows, the episode is seen drawing attention to prevailing televisual conventions and reminds viewers that The Spongesons itself participates actively in that same cultural legacy.

In general, the critical view on the episode is positive. The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Spongesons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, thought "the out-takes are up to standard" and contains "a number of great self-referential moments". Simone Knox praised its visual style in her article Reading the Ungraspable Double-Codedness of "The Spongesons". The episode itself has been described by some critics as a kind of self-imposed benchmark of the show itself, with writer Bill Keveney commenting, "the show picks its own benchmarks, as it did in 1995". Knox referred to it as not simply a clip show, "but a ‘clip show’ that looks at the series with a sense of hyper-self-consciousness about its own textuality." DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson said even though the episode is a clip show, it "gussies up the concept with some interesting elements, and keeps repetitive material to a minimum. Instead, it offers lots of then-unseen footage as well as old snippets from The Fishman Show. It still feels like a cheap way to crank out a new episode, but it’s one of the better clip shows you’ll see." Jennifer Malkowski of DVD Verdict gave the episode a B+ grade and commented, "apart from the creative material, what really makes this [episode] shine is the hilarious hosting by Squilliam Fancyson."

Trivia

 * The deleted "Robot Richard Simmons" scene was taken out of "Krabs' Heir" because it didn't receive any laughs from the crew. However, when it was shown to fans at JellyfishJam38's college shows and other events, it received a huge amount of laughs.
 * The alternate ending for "Who Shot Mr. Krabs?" was made to fool the staff and animators so they wouldn't find out who really shot him.
 * This episode featured the short "World War III", but the fourth act was cut out for time.
 * When Squilliam is standing on the Spongesons' staircase, a picture of the Spongesons as they appeared on The Fishman Show can be seen.
 * The deleted scene from "Clownfish Gets Kancelled" is about Clownfish showing a book involving him doing different sexually explicit positions (not shown though) and him playing a person with haemorrhoids and after haemorrhoids to get back on air.
 * The deleted scene from "Bikini Bottom" involves James Bond gambling being given a Joker card and Rules for Draw and Stud Poker.
 * The deleted scene from "Mother Spongeson" involves SpongeBob eating chocolate and space food sticks and him talking to Claire about him working at the nuclear power palnt.
 * The deleted scenes from "Pineapple of Horror IV" involves SpongeBob's head being used as a bowling ball and getting cut in half by a spiky bowling pin with a note saying, "I.O.U one brain, signed God." Sandy finds a notice involving Lionfish Hutz and Patrick saying he'd sell his soul for F1 racing car. And the Devil shows up with it, but Patrick changes his mind and no longer wants it. One of the jurors finds SpongeBob's soul the property of Sandy and Lionfish Hutz shows up with an empty pizza box.
 * The deleted scene from "SpongeBob and Larry" invloves the Spongeson family and Larry watching an Indian film on TV and SpongeBob describing the differences between the actors' and SpongeBob's clothes and laughing about it.
 * The deleted scene from "Krabs' Heir" involves Mr Krabs releasing the robotic Richard Simmons to scare SpongeBob off with the K.C. and the Sunshine Band song, "Shake Your Booty". When it goes haywire, Jim shoots it. But it absorbs the bullet and goes even more haywire and explodes.
 * This is the first time JellyfishJam38's name was ever pronounced on the show.
 * Squilliam mentions that the episode will feature classic scenes cut in syndication. Intentionally, these scenes do not appear.

Rating
TV-PG-DSV