spongebob squarepants: scaredy pants

don't laugh. spongebob's got a lot to teach us: love, compassion, enthusiasm, joys of work. he's also, along with his best friend patrick star, hilarious. think of the relationship between spock and kirk, transfer the action to under the sea at a mythical place that is bikini bottom, and have the principals be a sponge and a starfish, et viola, you have magic.

i became a fan of the show when nicholas started watching it. the timing and the themes of the series are impeccable. spongebob and patrick are two losers who are oblivious to their own silliness and go about making a life of fun. what more can one ask of our lives.

this episode is the only halloween themed spongebob show that i'm aware of . there maybe more halloween themed shows but perhaps they've not been released to dvd. in this episode it is halloween night and spongebob is frightened of everything, including patrick's wearing fake nose and glasses. to beef up his confidence, and perhaps make him more scary in order to become the frightener rather than the victim, spongebob asks patrick to shave down his square head to a round shape. spongebob thinks round shapes are more scary. spongebob then dons a sheet, looks like a fake ghost, and runs around claiming that he is the flying dutchman.

well, the real flying dutchman will have none of it. insulted that spongebob is claiming to be the flying dutchman while wearing such a cheap costume the flying dutchman appears at a halloween party to steal spongebob's, and the entire group of guests', souls. only spongebob gets the final laugh by scaring off the flying dutchman when the ghoul pulls off spongebob's sheet. what lies beneath is exceptionally frightening and the show ends with spongebob scaring the bejesus out of everybody.

now, i've seen this particular show several times. i love it. perhaps it should give me hope to have become a fan of a kid's show in my 40s. i'm not so inured to the hard world not to enjoy a small dab of goofy fun in the form of a cartoon sponge. then again, maybe i should be scared, very scared, that i've not matured enough to develop more sophisticated tastes and look upon spongebob with a sneer and a bad taste in the mouth. because i'm so emotionally retarded that there's no hope for me at all.

as danny elfman once wailed, who do you wanna be today / who do you wanna be / do you wanna be stupid / just like me!

boo