How Much SpongeBob SquarePants has been nitpicked

Very few shows have spawned a lot of memes. While almost every show, game, movie, book, or whatever has a few memes based on it, SpongeBob SquarePants is one show that has become a fountain of memes. On TV Tropes, it has the most video examples out of any works of art (movies, shows, video games, and YouTube videos). It’s at the point where almost every aspect of the show, at least in the first three seasons, has been discussed, memed about, and homaged. Just like how Star Wars became a source of pop culture references in many media in the 80’s to 2000’s, SpongeBob has become this in the 2010’s and 2020’s. You can see it almost anywhere. In A Hat in Time, one of the Snatcher’s quotes about the Death Wish challenges is “these aren’t your average everyday contracts, these are advanced contracts”, alluding to the SpongeBob episode “Rock Bottom”. In The Ghost and Molly McGee, there was a scene where Scratch was holding a gravestone prop that says “here lies my hopes and dreams”, alluding to the SpongeBob episode “One Krabs Trash”. The discussion of aspects goes as far as even discussing the soundtrack. The song “The Rake Hornpipe” was one of the lesser-known songs from England that isn’t known well by people from outside. Now it’s widely known as the Krusty Krab Theme.

I’m going to go over a few examples of how nitpicked the early SpongeBob episodes have. If you do this to any TV show in general, or a movie or video game, people will think you are an overly obsessive weirdo and is not to be trusted. But if you do this to SpongeBob, you’re not alone. The show has so many memes that it wouldn’t be surprising if you did it for SpongeBob.

Example 1 – Ripped Pants:

The first example in today’s entry is about the Season 1 episode “Ripped Pants”, where SpongeBob became a clown after accidentally splitting his pants when lifting weights. He eventually repeated the joke until it got old and went too far. As an example of how every aspect of the show is nitpicked, I’m going to discuss every bit of it like the fool who ripped his pants:

1. Jokes about being some else and sand pizzas may be funny, but underwear jokes like the ripped pants joke are funnier than that.
2. It was rather impressive that Larry could lift a barbell with two bleachers as the weights. But lifting a stick as a weight is anything but impressive.
3. When SpongeBob split his pants from lifting weights and playing volleyball, this shows that he couldn’t do any athletic activities like this without embarrassing himself.
4. The first two times he ripped his pants were accidental. But starting the third time, it becomes intentional, which is what eventually led to the joke being ruined.
5. It would be better to have a banana split than to split your pants, because nobody wants that to happen to them. I don’t mind ripples either, just not that kind of ripples.
6. Personally, I found others getting disgusted as SpongeBob to be funnier than SpongeBob actually ripping his pants.
7. If you ordered 20 cases of ripped pants, you wasted your money. Or it could be a fault with the retailer.
8. I’m not sure if SpongeBob was surfing on a wave, or surfing on a rip tide.
9. If you think jokes about someone splitting their pants is funny, the one thing that will ruin the joke is if you joke about drowning.
10. The scene transition from the surfboarding scene and the tent scene shows that even this episode was ripped.
11. You could generate laughs if jokes came with lifting weights, frisbee in face, and surfing, but never joke about pretending to drown. Joking about serious stuff like that isn’t funny at all.
12. As creative SpongeBob’s “pants rip off” is, the problem is that the joke was already dead. And nobody wants to be around him anymore. His pants didn’t blow it. SpongeBob did.
13. It would be better to get a sunburn or to have sand in your buns than to be alone with no friends, not so much about being buried in the sand and forgotten.
14. Underwear jokes are funny when you’re a kid, but as an adult, they’re not funny anymore. But this episode still holds up because it comes with a valuable lesson on not repeating the joke.
15. In the 2000’s, the famous picture of the episode was the first shot of SpongeBob looking behind after ripping his pants. Now it’s the disgusted lifeguard meme.
16. Above all, this episode comes with three different lessons:
    1. If you repeat the same joke over and over again, it’s no longer funny anymore.
    2. Serious stuff (like about dying) should never be joked about.
    3. Not everybody will find a joke funny.

Example 2 – Life of Crime:

The next example covers the Season 2 episode “Life of Crime”, where SpongeBob and Patrick believed that they stole a balloon, so they live as outcasts. They eventually confessed to the police that they stole a balloon, only to realize that they never committed a crime. Like last time, I’m going to discuss every aspect of this episode, but not in a way that is worse than stealing a balloon:

1. Mr. Krabs’ comment about wanting thieves to be forced to breathe air is a reference to how sea creatures can’t survive without water.
2. Mr. Krabs actually stole a lot of things. He also lied to SpongeBob and Patrick that he borrowed that stuff, showing that he is both a liar, liar, plants for hire, and a hypocrite.
3. Why would SpongeBob and Patrick want to borrow money from Squidward? He hates his neighbors, and doing that would be one more thing that would annoy Squidward.
4. Mail fraud and hijackings are actually worse than stealing a balloon. At worst, stealing a balloon is petty theft.
5. Another way to tell that SpongeBob and Patrick aren’t guilty of theft: aside to it being Free Balloon Day, this was accidental.
6. You can’t fix a balloon once it pops, but you definitely need the air.
7. Covering your tracks with a paintbrush would actually leave a trail that is much easier to find you.
8. If you have to leave town, you can’t take your house with you.
9. Patrick is right that a fire can’t last underwater because water puts out fire.
10. Even if you’re free to do whatever you want, you still can’t fly.
11. Had Patrick not forgotten that he ate his candy bar, he wouldn’t have accused SpongeBob of stealing his candy bar.
12. SpongeBob couldn’t have stolen Patrick’s candy bar anyways. Patrick only got a candy bar because SpongeBob given him his candy bar.
13. The reason why SpongeBob and Patrick were released from jail early was because they never really stolen a balloon. The balloon was free, so simply taking it isn’t theft.
14. In the end, Patrick once again eats his candy and forgets. Nobody stole his lollipop.
15. SpongeBob and Patrick are actually innocent since it was Free Balloon Day. Mr. Krabs, however is guilty of theft and he never got punished for it.
16. Despite not being one of the most popular episodes, it has some of the most memorable quotes. Examples:
    1. “Hey, if we’re underwater, how could” (the fire burns out).
    2. “You took my only food. Now I’m gonna starve.”
    3. “Liar, liar! Plants for hire!”

Example 3 – One Krabs Trash:

The last example is about the Season 3 episode “One Krabs Trash”, where Mr. Krabs sold a soda drinking hat to SpongeBob, then tries to get it back because he was offered more money than what SpongeBob bought it for. He tried every attempt to get it, and once he did, it was too late. Like the last two times, I’m going to discuss each aspect of it, for that this episode is #1:

1. An umbrella filled with holes wouldn’t be used by anyone, especially if they were in royalty. At the same time, the episode accurately stated that Switzerland isn’t a monarchy, proving that Mr. Krabs is trying to scam that poor fish.
2. Toilet plungers could never be used as soup ladles. Even though Patrick is dumb, he was using his correctly.
3. For how much the soda-drinking hat is worth, it’s not worth a million dollars unless if it’s made of gold. So a $10 price would’ve worked anyways. But then again, people do spend lots of money to collect something that really isn’t worth the money.
4. Out of all the attempts Mr. Krabs tried to do to get back the hat, telling SpongeBob that it makes him look like a girl would be the weakest. Telling a guy that years ago would be a big insult then, not so much now.
5. SpongeBob may not be a pretty girl, but at least he’s nice on the inside.
6. Personally, I would take the conditioner hat. The juicer hat would leave a lot of mess, and there’s nothing that exciting about the Foxy Grandpa hat.
7. In real life, a floating list is scarier than ghosts since ghosts aren’t real, but having lots of reminders would add burden.
8. Mr. Krabs tried to make up Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen to force SpongeBob to give up the hat. What didn’t realize is that Smitty was real, and the hat that Mr. Krabs sold SpongeBob’s actually belonged to him when he was alive.
9. The name Floaters Cemetery may seem like a weird name, but if you think about it, fish float to the surface when they die, making this name black comedy.
10. Squidward has the right to mourn his hopes and dreams. The kind of life he has (a minimum wage worker with no chance of becoming an artist or a musician) is a miserable life to live in, and there’s no way out for him.
11. Licking doorknobs is actually illegal on Earth too since doing that makes you look like a fool. It’s also a health hazard since there’s a chance that it was touched by someone with germs.
12. Mr. Krabs didn’t just rob a grave. He destroyed every skeleton in the cemetery, which is disrespectful to the dead.
13. For all the hell that Mr. Krabs went through to get back the hat, it was all for nothing since the hat turned out to be worthless.
14. A hand-clapping hat may be cool, but it’s not really practical since there’s hardly any use for it.
15. Squidward is right that Mr. Krabs acted like a baby since he really wanted to be super rich. But Mr. Krabs was wrong that Squidward acted like a baby since he wanted to have a life that he could actually enjoy.
16. Mr. Krabs seems to be the villain protagonist since he was technically the main character, but he committed several crimes, which include, but not limited to:
    1. Scamming
    2. Harassment
    3. Graverobbing

The Price of Overanalyzing:

Yes, this is exactly how much the show has been nitpicked. In fact, I sometimes discuss with my friends about almost anything I see or hear from SpongeBob. If you nitpick or overanalyze an episode like this, people would think you are weird. It’s very obsessive and odd, even if you’re doing it to a SpongeBob episode. But, given the nature of the show being heavily referenced in internet memes, this doesn’t come off as surprising. I could do this for almost every other episode from the show, but I think three examples is enough.

Another problem with overanalyzing is that it may ruin the episode or show. They were meant to be enjoyed, but if someone (or a whole group of people) get so obsessive that they nitpicked something like that, the magic behind the show will wear out. Part of the reason why SpongeBob is good was not just because of nostalgia or because of the memes, but rather because of what the episodes were about. SB-129 was about Squidward traveling through time. Graveyard Shift was about a scary story coming to life. Club SpongeBob had a few scenes centering on the picnic with all that food.

So what are your ways of nitpicking the show like this? I’m sure you have more than what I presented.