Best SpongeBob SquarePants Characters in the Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom

I think we can all agree that The Flying Dutchman stole the show in this special. While he has had numerous antagonistic roles in previous episodes, this easily has to be his most villainous role since the Revenge of The Flying Dutchman video game. He's had encounters with SpongeBob and his friends before, but he was mostly just a recurring antagonist in episodes revolving around him. He even only encountered all of them at once as a last-minute villain in "Ghoul Fools."

Here, he's featured as the Big Bad of The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom. Fully enjoying the screams and terrors of All Hallow's Eve, The Flying Dutchman is particularly fond of the Halloween holiday. However, once he hears SpongeBob incorporating the doctrine of "scary equals funny," The Flying Dutchman takes center stage and sends SpongeBob and his friends on the scare of their lives. Ranging from putting SpongeBob and Patrick on a sing-along mine ride to snatching the souls of all of SpongeBob's friends, The Flying Dutchman is significantly more affably evil and able to flesh out his villainy.

Though it would be hard to top him literally turning into an atomic bomb in "Ghoul Fools," the cherry on top is his ultimate defeat. Remember when he was scared of SpongeBob's exposed brain from the outside in "Scaredy Pants"? This time, The Flying Dutchman gets to be scared of SpongeBob's brain from the inside! Complete with a low-budget animated world so adorably nightmare-inducing that The Flying Dutchman is even more scared now that he's seen beyond the tip of the iceberg of SpongeBob's brain. My only criticism is that he only appeared near the end of the first half of the special. And so, we have now cemented The Flying Dutchman as the Aku of SpongeBob SquarePants.

I know I probably shouldn't put The Flying Dutchman's dastardly pirate crew this high since they're just here as singers for "The Scare Song," but I can't help but really love what they gave us in the special!

I loved how Screen Novelties animated The Flying Dutchman's ghost pirates as sock puppets that stand out from the usual claymation-styled characters in The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom. It truly adds to the appeal of The Scare Song as the sock puppet style enhances their ghostly animations. It's fun to see them sing in sync with "The Scare Song" as they show SpongeBob and Patrick a good time!

If not for them and their captain, this special wouldn't have been as incredible as it is. So I give a lot of props to Screen Novelties for this.

Looks like SpongeBob isn't going as a ghost with a bed sheet covering his exposed brain this Halloween! Rather, he's going as a lovely flower, OO-OOH! Anyway, this All Hallow's Eve, SpongeBob must brave the terrors of Halloween. And what better way to do so than with Patrick's philosophy of "scary equals funny"? This philosophy manages to keep SpongeBob from being afraid, and in retrospect, it does feel quite charming and heartwarming as SpongeBob actually enjoys the joys and scares of All Hallow's Eve through his laughs rather than being a Scaredy Pants.

However, the peak of his role in this special would have to be when The Flying Dutchman traveled inside his brain. It's there that we get to see what appears to be a cute world of love and happiness that everyone's favorite sponge supposedly has consciously in his brain. But to see even something like that frighten The Flying Dutchman himself just as much as it frightened Plankton in Sponge Out of Water is quite a feat, if you ask me.

One thing I loved about Patrick in this special is how he continues to be closer to his Pre-Movie characterization. While he certainly isn't the most book-smart invertebrate in the world, he does have a form of common sense and comes off as a lovable idiot rather than a "Too Dumb to Live" jerk like he usually is in the Post-Movie era.

For me, Patrick never failed to deliver at least one gag that made me laugh my pants off. A few moments I found to be quite humorous were when his head was inside one of Sandy's jars and SpongeBob kept playing around with it. Plus, his philosophy of "scary equals funny" managed to get SpongeBob through most of the special, so you have to give Mr. Star a little credit for his help.

Personally, out of all the Halloween exhibits SpongeBob and Patrick went to, Plankton arguably had the best in terms of creativity, innovation, and involvement. Sheldon really doesn't hold back on the flashiness and flair of his exhibit as he puts on a devilishly daunting presentation of the horrors of the Krusty Krab. One can't help but think that Plankton might have watched the Robot Chicken skit where SpongeBob finds out Krabby Patties are made out of crabs since Plankton proclaims that Krabby Patties are made out of people.

As for his role in the latter half of the special, he's mostly just there to be the butt-monkey as he fails to convince The Flying Dutchman to join him and take over the world and instead gets turned into his minion. If there's one useful thing he did in the latter half, it would have to be prompting The Flying Dutchman to fly into SpongeBob's brain to see how scary it is. We have to give Plankton some credit for this. Oh, and there's a bonus scene where, after he regains consciousness and comments that he feels like he's been in a nightmare, the true nightmare only begins as a trick-or-treater mistakes him for candy and chews him up mercilessly. Honestly, I kind of felt really sorry for Plankton in that scene, but at the same time, I chuckled a little bit. Besides, he's been through worse fates before, if you know what I mean...

Now presenting Sandy Cheeks as Dr. Victor Frankenstein, creator of Berserker of Black! Just kidding, not that Frankenstein. Anyway, so Sandy Frankencheeks has a mild role in helping SpongeBob instill his newfound philosophy of "scary equals funny." She does this by putting him and Patrick through a series of spooky lab experiments. The first one involves her having SpongeBob reach his hand into jars to wonder if he's touching something truly terrifying. SpongeBob thinks the first jar has worm guts, but Sandy just reveals that it's plain noodles.

The second jar is a little more complicated, as SpongeBob thinks it feels like a brain but might be a head of lettuce. Surprisingly, Sandy reveals this is not the case. Instead of a head of lettuce, it's actually... Patrick? Well, that answers the question of why SpongeBob thought he felt a brain. The climax of her role is when she finally brings on Fran - no wait, not Fran, but a mechanical acorn monster puppet that she uses to consume SpongeBob and Patrick and put them through a series of nightmare-inducing acid trips. This finally convinces SpongeBob that scary does equal funny after all. Also, that acorn monster comes in handy near the climax of the special (for a few seconds).

I have to say, Squidward's not bad at scaring the living barnacles out of trick-or-treaters. Prior to watching the special, I wondered where the whole "made with 8-something pounds or whatchamacallit of onions" came from.

My question was answered when Squidward used those exact onions to scare a trio of trick-or-treaters from his house while proclaiming he has no candy. He certainly pulled off the ominous tone of his voice combined with red lighting in his house very well!

Also, I was really glad they didn't do any torture on him, which makes the quality of this special more light-hearted and even better. It's not every day Squidward appears in an episode or special and doesn't get scapegoated, cruelly injured, or beaten, and manages to come out okay at the end.

Wow, it seems Eugene isn't a huge cheapskate for once! The crustacean himself managed to craft together (with the help of Squidward) a worthwhile Halloween exhibit displaying the horrors of the Chum Bucket. Granted, the exploration of the gallery that SpongeBob and Patrick went through was a bit too quick, but I at least got a feel for what the exhibit was all about and what tone and appeal it gave off.

Also, it was hilarious when his soul got stolen and then trick-or-treaters threw an egg at his eye, much to his rage! Additionally, some of his greedy tendencies come into play at the resolution with his offhand comment about how the Halloween party he's throwing will come with a reasonable fee. Now all we need is a kid-friendly episode version of Mr. Krabs's Unquenchable Bloodlust (actually, let's forget I brought up that idea...).

Eh, I have to try and at least put something on this list. But Karen does have some decent screen time. Her use of vintage footage of cats and women screaming made quite a lot of sense for a W.I.F.E. like her. There's something relatable about her cantankerous and callous personality as Plankton's wife.

I wish I could write more about her role in this episode, but I can't really say much with what the special's got. On the bright side, at least if she's a computer, she can't have her soul stolen! Wait, do computers HAVE souls?