The Official MSBS TV Review: SpongeBob SquarePants: The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom (SPOILER ALERT)

This is yours truly, none other than MSBS. Rejoice, fellow TopTenners and visitors. For your wish shall come true as the sponge we all know and love is in bad hands with the wrath of The Flying Dutchman on All Hallow's Eve. That said, I believe now is the time to get into the meat (or should I say, dead meat?) of this review. Also, if you couldn't tell by the title of this post, this review WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS. With that out of the way, let's see how much of a good time The Flying Dutchman will give us! After the stop-motion Christmas masterpiece that was "It's a SpongeBob Christmas!", Screen Novelties is back again with another stop-motion special for Halloween, called The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom!

In The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom, it's Halloween night in Bikini Bottom, and all the Bikini Bottomites are getting their scare on. As we see a school of jellyfish dressed up as bats pass by a civilian decorating his rooftop, the man is shocked as SpongeBob is then seen decorating his pineapple with "scary" decor. After SpongeBob momentarily feeds a passerby bat jellyfish with a scrumptious cookie and gets shocked by it and finishes decorating, Patrick passes by and is dressed up as an armored knight. SpongeBob then asks Patrick what he thinks of his Halloween decorations, to which Patrick replies that they're too cute for Halloween. SpongeBob then highly insists that Halloween can be a cute holiday too. Patrick then asks SpongeBob where his Halloween costume is, leading to SpongeBob sprouting up as a "lovely flower". Patrick says that SpongeBob's costume is not scary, so Patrick decides to take SpongeBob to Squidward's house to show him what it truly means to be scary. SpongeBob and Patrick then bear witness to a trio of trick-or-treaters as they come to Squidward's house, only for him to speak in an ominous voice as he declares that there is no candy and only onions! Patrick is actually quite impressed with this spooky presentation, but SpongeBob is rather more frightened by it to the point he literally hid inside Patrick's butt armor! SpongeBob then confesses that he really doesn't like scary things on Halloween. Wanting to help his friend, Patrick then decides to teach SpongeBob that "scary equals funny". So Patrick then goes to instill this philosophy onto SpongeBob by taking him to Sandy's tree dome, where Sandy has now taken on the figure of Victor Frankenstein and prepares a few haunting exhibits for her two test subjects. First, she has SpongeBob put his hand inside various jars to have him think he's touching creepy stuff. A little progress is made from this as SpongeBob is starting to get into the laughing spirit. This laughing spirit of his would only be cemented more once Sandy brought out her nut-styled Frankenstein puppet, in which the puppet would consume SpongeBob and Patrick and put them in a dark room of spooks and screams. With that, SpongeBob is now officially instilled with the philosophy of "scary equals funny".

SpongeBob and Patrick then continue their Halloween trek as they approach the Krusty Krab, where Mr. Krabs dressed up as a dollar bill and Squidward dressed casually are just finishing up decorating the Krusty Krab for their Halloween exhibit. SpongeBob and Patrick enter the exhibit with glee and are treated to a surprisingly not cheap display of galleries depicting Plankton grinding people into chum at his restaurant. After exiting the exhibit, Patrick is left scared whereas SpongeBob is laughing his butt off like no tomorrow. This highly baffles Mr. Krabs, as upon learning that SpongeBob has taught himself that "scary equals funny.", he laments about this as he complains that in the past, Halloween meant being scared out of your mind 24/7. Following the usual snark from Squidward and Mr. Krabs leaving in annoyance as he wedges Patrick with the edge of his dollar bill costume, SpongeBob and Patrick continue their fun by going to the Chum Bucket. While the exhibit is essentially the same them as Mr. Krabs's exhibit, what really stands out is how different the exhibit is managed, as while Mr. Krabs presented his exhibit in an eerie and dark tone, Plankton's exhibit is noticeably flashier and Plankton and Karen are more actively involved in the exhibit. Not to mention the way Plankton claims that Krabby Patties are made out of people should either be a clever homage to fan theories of Krabby Patties being made out of people or that particular Robot Chicken skit based on the show itself.

Moving on, with Karen's feline screeches and Plankton's devilish skit out of the way as SpongeBob is left rolling on the floor laughing and Patrick is scared for dear life, everyone in Bikini Bottom indulges in the sick trick joys of All Hallow's Eve as everyone is having fun and screaming. But most importantly, the screaming, because that solely on its own is what manages to summon the advent of The Flying Dutchman in his ship. The Flying Dutchman is really enjoying the terrors of Halloween, but shortly then hooks an ignorant emo kid doing anything but screaming when The Flying Dutchman then manages to scare the living sap out of the kid with quite the nightmare-inducing face, to say the least! However, after gloating in all his glory, The Flying Dutchman is then interrupted by an onslaught of HAHA's. The Flying Dutchman is not pleased with this outcome of events, so he decides to descend to Bikini Bottom to find the source of this laughter. The scene then switches to SpongeBob still laughing as he carries a passed-out Patrick on a wagon as they exit The Chum Bucket, only for The Flying Dutchman to finally show himself and encounter the very person causing all the laughter as he intimidatingly approaches SpongeBob. The Flying Dutchman is confused as to why SpongeBob is not afraid of scary things, to which SpongeBob explains that he found out that "scary equals funny". The Flying Dutchman is perplexed by this discovery, only being convinced of it when he finds the decorations of Mr. Krabs's exhibit to be laughable. Now having a goal in mind, The Flying Dutchman decides to take SpongeBob and his friend Patrick on one thrill of a ride to show SpongeBob what being scary is truly all about by putting them in a mine ride to his ship. Now inside The Flying Dutchman's ship, he and his crew then proceed to show their company SpongeBob and Patrick a good time by singing "The Scare Song".

And I must say, "The Scare Song" is truly an eerie earworm for the ear! Still unfazed, SpongeBob continues to laugh in delight, much to the frustration of The Flying Dutchman. Determined to make SpongeBob scared once and for all, he decides to eavesdrop on him and then hears him comment on how he wishes his friends were here. Sparking an idea, The Flying Dutchman then emits a ghastly fog from withing the depths of his mouth, snatching the souls of Sandy, Squidward, and Mr. Krabs in the process. Meanwhile, SpongeBob and Patrick are still in the mine ride, but then things take a turn for the worse once SpongeBob and Patrick first see Sandy's soul imprisoned in a cage crying for help. SpongeBob is completely oblivious to this and thinks that the setup is all fake while Patrick is either scared, knows that something is truly wrong since Sandy is here, or a combination of both. It gets even worse when the two not only see Squidward and Mr. Krabs imprisoned as well, but it seems that Plankton and Gary actually had their souls stolen off-screen too! But the worst part comes as SpongeBob continues to laugh until he then sees Patrick's body stiff and grey while Patrick's soul is stuck up in a cage along with the rest of SpongeBob's friends. Now finally realizing that something is not right here, Patrick then proclaims to SpongeBob that sometimes... scary equals scary! As Patrick's stiff body drifts towards SpongeBob, SpongeBob's realization is finally confirmed as he screams afterwards as his own body splits into two with his skin and skeleton separated from each other as they both flee for dear life from The Flying Dutchman's ship! However, SpongeBob's skin and skeleton are both fortunately able to recuperate and get back together so he can find a way to save his friends from the clutches of The Flying Dutchman.

Back at the ship, The Flying Dutchman is truly playing the "For The Evulz" trope very straight and dauntingly, as he's enjoying tormenting and keeping all of SpongeBob's friends in one cage (save for Plankton, who has his own cage). After turning Plankton into his minion in the former's failed attempt to get him to help take over the world, The Flying Dutchman proceeds to roast all of SpongeBob's friends's souls. But suddenly, out of nowhere, Sandy's puppet barges into the ship and roars at The Flying Dutchman before futilely ramming itself into The Flying Dutchman and phasing through his body, revealing SpongeBob to be the pilot of the puppet. The Flying Dutchman mocks the sponge's efforts to scare him, but it appears he did so too soon as Plankton tells him that SpongeBob could indeed scare The Flying Dutchman with just his brain alone. The Flying Dutchman objects to this, so he squishes Plankton and shrinks himself in order to enter SpongeBob's brain. What follows is a very simplistic wonderland of love and happiness. But eventually, the world of SpongeBob's brain starts to get to The Flying Dutchman, as he begins to feel frightened on the inside. But the final nail in the coffin is struck once SpongeBob summons a giant baby caricature of himself to hug The Flying Dutchman along with other cute creatures. This scares The Flying Dutchman so much that he can't take it much longer and is scared out of his mind more than he was when he saw SpongeBob's exposed brain from "Scaredy Pants"! With the climax reached, The Flying Dutchman flees in horror as his ship disintegrates and SpongeBob and his friends fall to the ground. The episode then ends with SpongeBob having saved the day and everyone going to throw a party, but not before a bonus scene of Plankton finally regaining consciousness sees him getting mistaken for candy and brutally chewed up by a trick-or-treater.

Final Thoughts: I think it goes without saying that this Halloween special definitely did not disappoint! I didn't think it would be as good "It's a SpongeBob Christmas!", but the crew of Screen Novelties and the writers truly brought us a spook-tacular stop-motion animation! The animation was truly on top of its game with animating The Flying Dutchman in claymation for the first time and animating his crew as talking puppets. The simplistic animation in SpongeBob's brain world was also pretty colorful to look at and didn't come off as jarringly bad given it's intentionally low-budget quality meant to fit the tone of the world The Flying Dutchman was exploring. Also, as I mentioned earlier, "The Scare Song" was AHH-some! "Don't Be A Jerk (It's Christmas)" from the Christmas special was a heartwarming SpongeBob solo song, but "The Scare Song" took things up to eleven with a whole group of people singing and a lot of creative liberty being taken with the mine ride premise. As for the story, it's pretty basic when you look at it, but the way it's executed is quite splendidly superb in the end product. Kind of like how a candy bar you get on Halloween seems to look bland and generic at first glance, only for you to find it delicious once you bite into it. And finally, as for the characters, everyone's characterization seems to be on par with their Pre-Movie era counterparts' characterizations, so that's a plus as well. However, The Flying Dutchman stole the show here. While he was a recurring antagonist in previous episodes, this Halloween special expanded more on his villainous traits and actually made him much more of a menacing yet highly enjoyable antagonist than he usually is. It really makes you wish he appeared in the Post-Sequel era episodes more often with more major roles. So all in all, I think we all know what score I'm going to give this Halloween special:

10.0 out of 10.0 stars

Thanks for reading and be sure to check out The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom if you haven't already! Until then, peace and Happy Halloween!

Comments

P.S. I was originally going to use some hyperlinks to show The Scare Song, but apparently, posts always have to find a way to make saving drafts a long and frustrating process whenever you try to incorporate complex text and features. - visitor (10/21/2017)

Good review. - Skullkid755 (10/22/2017)

Good review Kitsada. - visitor (10/22/2017)

It's great to see good SpongeBob again. - phillysports (10/22/2017)

Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised if Mr. Enter did this as an Admirable Animation. - visitor (10/22/2017)

Sounds like a great episode as it should be, and I find it cool that they brought back the stop motion animation. They should do that again with some other holiday episodes, maybe a Thanksgiving special would be most fitting. - visitor (10/22/2017)

I'm pretty sure it takes a lot of time and effort to craft just one stop-motion animation special, so I don't think they could pull another one this year or next year since they're probably exhausted from working on The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom. Plus, I don't think SpongeBob has ever gotten an official Thanksgiving special before. But a stop-motion Thanksgiving special would be phenomenal. It would be perfect for a stop-motion holiday trilogy. Maybe even a stop-motion Easter special? - visitor (10/22/2017)

Or a stop-motion Valentine's Day special? - visitor (10/22/2017)

The Easter bunny would probably be one of Sandy's old friends from above the surface - visitor (10/27/2017)

This episode sucked - Gangem (10/23/2017)

You're kidding me, right? What's so bad about the special? Nothing overly mean-spirited or boring to be seen. - visitor (10/23/2017)

Wow, who knew spongebob could recover from its devastating dark ages! - Phillip873 (10/23/2017)

This has to be the closest spongebob has been to its old self since 2005 - BubbleAss (10/28/2017)

Yeah. I honestly felt it outdid Scaredy Pants like how It's a SpongeBob Christmas! outdid Christmas Who?. - visitor (10/28/2017)

It is indeed a good special. Are you also going to review the You Bring the Color Episodes? - Tyler730 (11/10/2017)

Me review the You Bring the Color episodes? Hmm, sounds like something fit mostly for Vailskibum94, but I suppose if I have time, I could watch and review the episodes. Thanks for the suggestion, Tyler370. - visitor (11/10/2017)

OK that’s cool. I haven’t watched Squid Noir yet and Scavenger Pants need another rewatch for me. - Tyler730 (11/10/2017)