Top 10 Best SpongeBob SquarePants Seasons

The Top Ten
1 Season 2

This is by far my favorite season! All of the episodes are well written and hilarious. Highlights include Dying for Pie, Gary Takes a Bath, Bubble Buddy, Survival of the Idiots, Grandma's Kisses, Band Geeks, and just about every episode aired. The only seasons I feel that come very close to comparing to this are Seasons 3 and 1.

If you haven't watched a single episode, then you must be crazy, because this is Nickelodeon at the height of their "golden age," along with one of the closing chapters of the cartoon renaissance of the 90s and early 00s.

My favorite season by far. The only episodes here I don't like much are Survival of the Idiots, Bubble Buddy, and The Fry Cook Games, which I just find a bit meh. Every other episode is amazing here, and the humor is at its best. My second and third favorites are Seasons 3 and 1, respectively. Nowadays, SpongeBob isn't near its original heights.

I have watched the whole series of SpongeBob, and many have said that Season 3 is the best, but I have to say the season I enjoyed the most was Season 2. It had all my favorites like Dying For Pie, Band Geeks, Welcome to the Chum Bucket, Something Smells, The Graveyard Shift, and many more!

2 Season 3

Season 3 was phenomenal. I mean that literally. Everyone says they prefer Season 2 over Season 3. I can understand why people think that, but Season 3 had more creative episodes. It had funnier and better episodes. This is just my opinion.

Yes, in the second season we got Band Geeks, Sailor Mouth, Frankendoodle, Graveyard Shift, Shanghaied, and Christmas Who?. I feel like those episodes I just listed were the best of the best of the second season.

Think about Season 3. It had fantastic episodes: The Camping Episode, Chocolate with Nuts, Just One Bite, Club SpongeBob, Nasty Patty, Idiot Box, Snowball Effect, No Weenies Allowed, Wet Painters, and the Krusty Krab Training Video. And so much more. Season 3 was definitely the most nostalgic for me. It was so good. For me, it was the best pre-movie season.

But if you look at the criteria and creative, laughable, entertaining episodes, Season 3 would be all that. I love all seasons except Season 5-7. It's hard to pick between Season 2 and Season 3 at some points. They're both my favorite seasons. Nothing can beat Seasons 1-3.

3 Season 1

This season was my favorite. Back when Stephen Hillenburg was still on the show and back when the comedy was hilarious. I'm still laughing at some of the jokes many years later. Plus, the episodes were more creative and well thought out. I also like the old school animation and voice acting feel of season 1.

Season 2 is practically the same, and season 3 is when they started improving the animation more. But this season will always remain in my heart as my favorite season from any cartoon. I miss my childhood. Half of it was watching this show.

This season had some of my favorite episodes of the entire show. Also, there wasn't a single episode I disliked from this season. Season Two had I'm with Stupid, the episode that ruined the character of Patrick, and Season Three had Party Pooper Pants, an episode in which I was on nobody's side. Perfect season with hilarious episodes.

4 Season 4

Season 4 is great. It contains both good and bad episodes, but there are mostly good ones, including Have You Seen This Snail?, Krusty Towers, Best Day Ever, Fear of a Krabby Patty, and lots more. The bad episodes are All That Glitters and Squidwood. SpongeBob is really funny in this season, but I keep hearing he is the most funny in the third season. However, SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward, and Sandy are the four best characters, including Plankton.

The reason I like Best Day Ever is because of the song and transcript. It's awesome. Krusty Towers is even better because of both SpongeBob and Squidward. They were both so darn funny. I recommend this episode to everyone who likes SpongeBob.

Season 1 was not good at all, and that's because of the graphics. In Season 2, the graphics improved a bit, and in the third season, it showed SpongeBob in his best quality. Season 4 is a mix between late second season and late third season, which has good graphics. Seasons 5 and 9 are both great seasons too. Season 9 was the beginning where SpongeBob started getting better (he actually started doing well again in Season 8).

All the seasons of SpongeBob are great except for Seasons 1, 6, and 7. Here are my top 5 favorite characters:

1. SpongeBob
2. Patrick
3. Squidward
4. Sandy
5. Plankton

My favorite season is either Season 3 or 4. But anyway, Season 4 of SpongeBob should be number 2 or 3.

5 Season 9

I would vote for Seasons 1-3 and early Season 4 any day over this, but I think Nickelodeon has taken the right steps to bringing SpongeBob back. The first episodes were horrible, like Squid Baby and Little Yellow Book, but the newer ones from 2015 and 2016 were better with the addition of more Plankton-themed episodes and more minor character importance (like the episodes Mall Girl Pearl and Larry's Gym). The new episodes have some originality and are starting to appeal to kids and teens/adult fans again.

It's not making suicide jokes (like Are You Happy Now?) or filling episodes with unnecessary content to take up time like in Seasons 6-7. The episodes have plots again, and the quality of animation has even increased. So now, my favorite seasons are 1, 2, 3, part of 4, 9, and 10, since the two episodes that Season 10 had so far (Whirly Brains, MermaidPants) were also pretty good. If Nick keeps these types of episodes coming, it will please everyone.

6 Season 5

This season was okay. It removed the high pitch in SpongeBob's voice and retained his original "square" appearance from Seasons 1-3, and introduced some family members, but overall, there was a mix of good and bad episodes. Episodes like New Digs, Krabs à la Mode, 20,000 Patties Under the Sea, The Battle for Bikini Bottom, Friend or Foe, Mermaid Man vs. SpongeBob, Roller Cowards, Spy Buddies, The Inmates of Summer, The Krusty Plate, and several others were pretty good.

However, there were many bad ones like SpongeHenge, Waiting, Atlantis SquarePantis, Night Light (for the last 2, there already was an episode with Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy, and Patchy in them, which were much better), Fungus Among Us, To Love a Patty, What Ever Happened to SpongeBob.

Everything after this season went straight downhill, came back up a little at Season 8, but didn't really come back until Season 9B.

A lot of the episodes on my top 20 are from this season (like Spy Buddies and Sing a Song of Patrick). Heck, I only find there to be just 5 truly terrible episodes from this season (Whatever Happened to SpongeBob, Night Light, A Flea in Her Dome, Atlantis SquarePantis, and To Love a Patty). I actually like a few of the episodes generally considered to be bad.

Very underrated season for me.

7 Season 8

This is definitely an improvement from the 6-7 slump. There were only two episodes that end up on my worst list for the show, Demolition Doofus (my least favorite episode) and Face Freeze! Everything else here was either mediocre or great.

This is, in my opinion, the best SpongeBob season, especially because when I first saw Face Freeze! I was laughing so hard, and I enjoyed Hello Bikini Bottom and many other episodes.

Season 8 would be like between Season 5 and 6. It was bad, but also some good.

8 Season 6

Mostly a boring season. Every now and then, we got some shining gems, however, like Sandcastles in the Sand or Single Cell Anniversary.

I know that Plankton is the worst villain ever. His themed episodes are just average in this season.

The only good episodes of Season 6 are the Plankton-themed episodes.

9 Season 10

So far, this season is actually not half bad! It's only had one episode I didn't like: "Snooze You Lose," due to just how weird and freaky it is, but even then I'd still just consider it a "meh" episode. We've already gotten REALLY good episodes compared to other modern SpongeBob seasons like "Plankton Retires," "Burst Your Bubble," "Life Insurance," and "Mermaid Pants." These four episodes are all VERY good, especially compared to other modern seasons.

Many of the infamously bad writers are gone (Zeus Cervas, Casey Alexander), while Stephen Hillenburg is back as the supervising producer. They also hired some writers from "Ren & Stimpy," and you can definitely tell from episodes like "Whirly Brains" and "Snooze You Lose." Another thing that probably came with Stephen coming back is that it seems to kind of have a feel of Season 3, and many old recognizable characters (Bubble Bass, the fish who scammed SpongeBob & Patrick in the chocolate episode, etc.) can be seen as background fish in almost every episode, which is neat.

It also feels more cartoony and fast-paced, but that's honestly a good thing because it's a cartoon! This season definitely fixed problems from previous seasons, although they still do a lot of the overly detailed face gags. I also find the jokes a lot funnier than in previous seasons.

Overall, I'd say that so far Season 10 is a pretty good improvement and is at least better than Season 5. This is probably the 5th best season, and it could get better or worse. I'd rate it a 7/10 (S5 being a 6, S4 being an 8, and S1-3 being a 10).

10 Season 7

Everyone's saying, Why is it here? But it kind of has to be. Don't get me wrong, this season isn't great, but it is in last place. It's here because it is a season of SpongeBob!

Like Season 7, mostly awful, with a couple of shining gems. Unfortunately, this season probably has the least amount of really good episodes.

What is up with everybody saying why is it here? SpongeBob has 10 seasons, so it's kind of like a best to worst.

The Contenders
11 Season 11

I really like how they're bringing back older characters like Bubble Bass, Doodlebob, and Long, Tan, and Handsome (Pearl's ex-boyfriend). I also like the vibe of this season. The animation isn't nearly as stiff as in seasons before the second movie, and the plots of the episodes are very creative. Plus, SpongeBob doesn't have that annoying high pitched voice anymore. It's gradually reverting to the way it was in Season 2. This should be at number 4 at least, behind seasons 1, 3, and 2.

I enjoyed Spot Returns! It's basically Pet or Pests done right. The Check Up was a meh episode for me, though. Spin the Bottle was good and at least something unique to the Plankton's steals the Krabby Patty formula episodes. I also can't wait for The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom stop motion episode and Man Ray Returns (the sequel to Mermaid Pants). I think Season 11 will be as good as Seasons 9B-10, if not better.

I personally think this should be at least number 4. It had some amazing creativity in the episodes and great jokes. However, I'll admit, when it failed, it REALLY failed. Episodes like Ink Lemonade and Cuddle E. Hugs were both really bad.

But episodes like Squid Noir, Scavenger Pants, Mustard O' Mine, No Pictures Please, My Leg! and The String were all so good. They make me comfortably say that this is the best season since Season 3.

12 Season 12

Up until now, Season 12 is a huge improvement over Season 11, which was disappointing. It only has a few bad episodes, while Season 11 had only a few good ones. However, Season 6 is way too high on this list. It should be lower. SpongeBob seasons ranked from best to worst, in my opinion, are:

Season 3
Season 1
Season 2
Season 9
Season 5
Season 8
Season 4
Season 10
Season 7
Season 11
Season 6

I'm not ranking Season 12 because it's still ongoing.

This season can be ranked among the best SpongeBob seasons ever! I also heard they got the original writer back.

This season really plays a part in the improvement of SpongeBob. Why isn't it above Season 7, that monstrosity?

13 Season 13

This season just started not long ago, and I just gotta say, it's gotten off to a really great start.

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