Strider - Howdy!
Boo - Howdy! - It's great to see you. Over the years, some SpongeBob episodes have gained some controversy and some very disapproving
glares from other people. Some of these episodes might've just been ahead of their time or maybe they're handling a subject that's deemed distasteful by society. - Ah. (dolphin bleeps) - Or maybe media outlets can
just get over over-zealous on the poor sponge. Occasionally, these episodes
can even get completely banned. So we're gonna talk about
both the controversial and the outright banned episodes today. Let's check out the 10 controversial or banned SpongeBob episodes. - But you said (dolphin bleeps) - Ah ha. - [Strider] Number 10. - How the (dolphin bleeps) are ya? - [Strider] "Mid-Life Crustacean," banned for its panty raid scene. - Panty raid. - The what? - This is probably the most obvious choice since this episode's banning
was a big story at the time and the episode was pulled
from rotation completely as early as 2018. According to a Nickelodeon
representative, quote, "This episode has been
confirmed to be pulled from further reruns on American television due to storyline concerns." It can't even be found
on streaming services, such as Paramount+ or Amazon Prime, but interestingly, even back in 2002, the episode kept getting
postponed from airing in place of episodes, like "Wet Painters" or "Krusty Krab Training Video." It was later postponed again
in favor of "Sailor Mouth," which is an episode
we'll discuss more later. Anyway, in case you don't remember, this episode's all about
Krabs having a full on mid-life crisis and
trying his best to relate to younger people. So he decides to join SpongeBob
and Patrick of all people on a night on the town. Unfortunately, he is in
fact asking the advice of SpongeBob and in 2003 when he was 18, he considered blowing
bubbles a daring day out. So, you know, not
exactly typical interests of an 18-year-old younger person, but I think Mr. Krabs' portrayal here is still one of the more
relatable portrayals in early seasons SpongeBob. Oftentimes, a person will
realize they're getting older when they realize how different they are to the younger generation. They talk differently,
their music is different, what they consider fun is different and they even handle problems differently. - Goodbye, pals. - We used to beat people up
for saying things like that. - So, what is it in a "Midlife Crustacean" that could possibly be so bad? Well... - I guess you're gonna
miss the panty raid. - Yeah, I guess humor is
another of those things that really changes with the time. SpongeBob, Patrick and Krabs endeavor to break into someone's
house to steal their panties. This does, of course, backfire on them and they're punished for it. but this raid was considered
unsuitable for children. Now to be fair, Japanimation
has done panty raids for years without anyone even batting an eyelid. For example, "Dragonball" or "Shinobuden" from the early 2000s. I mean, if the Japanese saw this scene, they'd probably be like, "That's it? Where's the tentacles?" But in the Western world, Spongey is under a lot
more parental scrutiny. So he's gotta keep a
lid on his suggestions of trespassing into peoples' houses and stealing their underwear. Though personally, this
episode still pops into my head when I'm reminded I'm getting older too. But hey, I hope I've still
got many adventures to come and can keep doing videos
here for a long time. I mean, like Krabs, I'll probably get bored if
I don't keep doing my job, so you know, I'll be here a while. - I ain't old, I ain't old! - Hey, Patrick, how the
(dolphin bleeps) are ya? - And for number nine. - How the (dolphin bleeps) are ya? - "Rock-A-Bye Bivalve," controversial somehow for
two men raising a baby and Spongebob's sexual
orientation implications. Strangely enough, I recently discovered there's a long-running debate on SpongeBob's sexual orientation. Apparently, some people wonder this because SpongeBob isn't
exactly a stereotypical masculine character. - Who were you expecting? Tiny Tim? Wait, wait. Big, aren't they? - Dude. - And I get that because the show leans in to how not masculine he is all the time. Finding his own personal
definition of manhood was the whole premise of
the first SpongeBob movie. ♪ Now that we're men,
we got a manly flair ♪ ♪ We got the stuff, we're
tough enough to save the day ♪ - Apparently, this long
running controversy can actually be traced right
back to this one episode, as it centers around SpongeBob and Patrick assuming parental roles
over a very small scallop. Oh yeah, now we're talking. I used to pick up a
pack of seared scallops every day on the way to my servo shift. Oh, when they turn golden brown and... Oh, he's alive? Sorry, nevermind. - Just call me daddy. - Personally, I'd argue this episode was a bit ahead of its
time with its portrayal of SpongeBob and Patrick as a couple, since it portrays them so normally. There's no big line drawn
around it, they're just people, or sponges and starfish. It feels kinda similar to Clyde's parents in "The Loud House." They're just a couple
trying to raise a kid and dealing with the
challenges that come out of it. - Kid's got a stinky. - Could you take care of him? My hands are kinda full. - Wish I could but I gotta get going. - Going? Where are you going? - I'm going to work,
I'm the dad, remember? - Yeah, the episode does pokes fun at what an odd couple they are but I think they actually
capture their roles well. Patrick is portrayed as an inattentive dad and SpongeBob is portrayed
as an overworked mom. Nothing about their relationship implies anything inappropriate or anything that just cheapens the humor and neither of these
characters we know so well feel like they're being re-written
to make these roles work and that's something that
would be a really big problem in mid-season SpongeBob. Whereas "Mid-Life Crustacean" has parts that didn't age well, this episode has parts
that age better and better. - Don't you two stop being adorable. - And for number eight. "SpongeBob's Last Stand," controversial for
promoting environmentalism. Why is that a controversy? Anyway. Hang on, this old clunker got controversy? Hmm, as I mentioned in my
"SpongeBob Specials" video, I still think this is one of
the most boring, forgettable and inoffensive specials
the show has ever done. It's about Plankton planning
to tear down Jellyfish Fields in order to make a super
highway that will send the Krusty Krab out of business. - What? Who approved this plan? - [Strider] So in order to
stop this from happening, SpongeBob and Patrick protest the highway. Sadly, the fact that this episode
has gotten any controversy is probably the most
interesting thing about it. SpongeBob and Patrick are
going about their protests in ways that are surprisingly accurate to traditional protesting. Peaceful protesting like placards, public singing, that sorta jazz. But apparently, some
people thought the episode was glorifying environmentalism. But I don't fully get the complaint because it certainly
doesn't glorify protesting. If anything, it paints an ugly picture on the results of protesting. Spongey and Patrick are pelted with things for their protesting. They're even arrested by the police. In fact, by the halfway point, their activism looks completely useless and it's only when the entirety of the Bikini Bottom
community sees the results and they work together, that they're actually able
to destroy the highway. I could be wrong, but my best guess is it was controversial 'cause of the way it vilified the building of roads and the building of roads
can be a very important part of dealing with traffic congestion
and a growing population. Who knows, maybe the highway
was minimizing traffic jams. Maybe Plankton was actually a hero who brought much less daily stress to commuters on his highway. - Now if you'll excuse me, I've got super highway
preparations to be attending to. - The highway is painted as
the dooming of the Krusty Krab. But with all that traffic, why
didn't Krabs take advantage of it and make it the Krusty Truckstop? If he had gotten fuel, coffee
and steak for truck drivers, he would have made bucket loads of money. Anyway, maybe if someone had
at least given a throwaway line of the importance of roads,
and that conservation of nature isn't everything, maybe the episode would've gone down better. Honestly, it's tough to say. - Praise Neptune. - Hey Patrick, how the
(dolphin bleeps) are ya? - And for seven, lucky seven. - How the (dolphin bleeps) are ya? - "Just One Bite" and "Procrastination," controversial for its deleted scenes. While I am roping these two together, I would say their controversies
are quite different, but both resulted in the
episodes having scenes that were quietly removed
from repeat viewings. Though nowadays, both scenes can be found in their entirety on YouTube. As a kid, I actually had the
VHS tape of "Just one Bite" and the deleted scene
was included in that one. I never even realized the
television version was different until years later. "Just One Bite" is another episode that's made a few
appearances on this channel. It's about Squidward
developing an obsession for Krabby Patties and eventually
taking extreme measures by breaking into the
Krusty Krab to steal one. Originally, Squidward triggered a trap thinking it was just a bucket of water, only to realize he was very mistaken. - Hey, this isn't water. This is gas. (Squidward screams) - My best bet is this scene was removed because the episode aired mere months after the 9/11 attacks. So, imagery of Squidward burning alive, understandably didn't
seem very appropriate. I think another point is that, this is a more inimitable scene. I don't think the writers
wanted to give kids the idea of mixing fire and gasoline. As for the scenes deleted
in "Procrastination," I wouldn't say they're
as hard to figure out. The first deleted scene involves SpongeBob looking out the window
and seeing his friends hanging at the beach. Here, Patrick is seen applying
suntan lotion to Sandy. This scene was apparently removed because some people
thought it looked too much like Patrick was removing Sandy's bra and, well, I guess that is
another way to avoid tan lines. Honestly when I saw this episode as a kid, I never personally got
this impression myself. Though I do remember
wondering if this scene meant that SpongeBob actually
wanted to apply sunscreen to Sandy himself and this would imply, all the way back in early seasons, that he has a physical attraction to her and doesn't want Patrick
applying suntan himself while he's forced to sit inside and at this point in the series anyway, they were very hesitant about SpongeBob showing romantic interest in Sandy. The second deleted scene is
pretty easy to understand. In fact, I'll just let this one play. - I'll be one step closer
to my driver's license. (car engine roars) (car tires screeching) (metal clanking) - I mean, yeah, that is
a fairly intense image but I don't think most
kids would bat an eyelid at this nowadays. It's actually pretty tame compared to some of the stunt
junk on YouTube nowadays. Personally, I try to remain
cautiously optimistic until proven wrong. Hopefully, most kids have the common sense to not do things this dangerous. Number six. "One Course Meal" and "A Pal for Gary," controversial for Very
poor use of dark humor. While I couldn't find much
media controversy here, I could certainly find
plenty of fan controversy for this episode. Both of the episodes were considered to misuse dark humor in ways that completely ruined
the show's characters. Both are also considered
some of the worst episodes the show has ever made and, well, yeah, in the past years, these two episodes have definitely appeared on
my worst SpongeBob lists. As you might already know, "One Course Meal" portrays
Krabs as extremely cruel, as he completely traumatizes Plankton and yeah, it's pretty unpleasant to watch. - (gasps) Really? He's a mess. (laughs) - [Strider] It could be argued though that "A Pal for Gary" did worse by portraying SpongeBob
in both his cruelest and stupidest lights, as he's
uncharacteristically impatient and blind to how his new pet treats Gary, aka, trying to eat him. - You put Fluffy down right now. Bad boy, Gary, bad, bad. - For both these episodes,
the mindset going in seemed to be, if you need to
be dark, be as dark as possible and that whole idea seems
to have backfired on them. While I personally do
like well-done dark humor, it's very tricky to get right and it takes a respectable
amount of writing skill to get dark humor right
in a kid's cartoon. I think dark comedy can work really well if we're not changing the
character to suit the episode. No one wants to see SpongeBob
and Krabs be one-note jerks and no one wants to see
Gary continually suffer. But on the other hand, I laugh a lot when I see an optimistic
SpongeBob stuck in Rock Bottom, with just one bad thing
happening to him after the other and it's funny because SpongeBob stays
true to his character. This is how SpongeBob would react in this terrible situation. It's hilarious to me to see his optimism and continual determination
just continually thwarted. - Barnacles! - But one-note dark humor
like these two episodes is just boring to me. "One Course Meal" is just constant traumatize a character moments filled with shots of
Plankton scared or crying and "A Pal for Gary" is
just bad pet owner jokes, filled in with scenes
of a pet getting chased and almost killed, and
where's the variety in that? But these episodes have already
been talked about a lot, and including by me, so
I'll try and keep it brief. Needless to say, if you
have to give a character like SpongeBob an entirely new personality to accommodate the episode, well, you probably have to
return to the drawing board. Number five. "SpongeBob, You're Fired," controversial for being offensive to poor and unemployed people. Oh, well this is a surprise. I never thought I'd talk about
"Filler: The Special" again. But I guess it just shows how badly they botched up the
message on unemployment. So full disclaimer, it
actually took me two hours of researching and
rewriting to get my head around all the controversy
and different messages in this episode and honestly, I still don't think I've
paid it full justice. But I'll try and cover it
as concisely as possible, without waffling on. I'll first try and give
you a quick plot summary, in case you can't remember the
episode or haven't seen it. It's about SpongeBob
getting fired, oddly enough, so Krabs can save some chum change. - And it turns out that
I'll save a whole nickel if I cut your salary. - And strangely, SpongeBob
becomes completely incapable of finding a new job, since
apparently he's defined by this job and only this job. Apparently, all SpongeBob
can do now or ever is make Krabby Patties. This results in him becoming
a depressed, useless, barely functional, bitter mess that is thoroughly unappealing to watch. - I used to feed everyone
in Bikini Bottom. Now, I just feed you. - That's not very
optimistic for you buddy. I swear, that was out
of character for you. In fact, he only gets
quote-unquote "purpose in life" when he starts working
at the Krusty Krab again. So, what controversy
did this episode stir? Well, the episode was lambasted
by fans and critics alike. But it also caused a lot of controversy between both left and
right wing news outlets. To start with, critics, including myself, generally thought it was a
boring, garbage episode overall and completely out of
character for SpongeBob. Some thought the episode was an attack on the American Food Stamp program. Some claimed SpongeBob was quote-unquote "fighting the good fight
against government services" excuse me, and "all he needed
was hard work and conviction." Another good example of
this was the New York Post which wrote, quote,
"Lest he sit around idly, mooching off the social
services of Bikini Bottom, a depressed SpongeBob sets out to return to gainful employment
wherever he can find it." What world do these people live in? But some critics also accused
the author, Andrea Morabito, of attacking poor people who
rely on government assistance. Apparently, there was two
particular scenes in this episode that gained a lot of this
heavy political division. - Being unemployed is the best gig I know. - Unemployment may be fun for
you, but I need to get a job. - Yeah, I'm serious, that was it. Now, I'm all for people
caring, that's a good thing but do you think maybe
they were seeing patterns where there weren't any
patterns to be seen? I think what actually got people annoyed or happy at this episode
was the way it depicted or vilified unemployed people. It basically depicted
unemployed people as lazy, who treated unemployment
like a quote-unquote "lifestyle choice." Funnily enough, some people are bothered by this gross over-simplification of a massively complicated issue that affects countless human lives and others consider it a
good way of blaming victims for their own issues. This episode's a reminder that your job should never entirely define your worth and that's not who SpongeBob is either. How you treat other
people defines your worth far more than your job ever will. That sounds a lot more
like the SpongeBob I know. In the words of Al Sharpton at MSNBC, "So a sponge who lives in
a pineapple under the sea doesn't need government help. That means no one does?" Whether you or I ever
need government help, that doesn't make you or I
any less or more of a person. And for number four. - Krabs is a (dolphin bleeps) (dolphin bleeps) Right you are, Patrick. (dolphin bleeps) - "Sailor Mouth," controversial
for excessive swearing. As good an episode as this is, I do at least understand
where the controversy is coming from. It's about SpongeBob and
Patrick learning a bad word while reading some writing on the dumpster and they consider it fancy talk. - That's one of those sentence enhancers. - Sentence enhancers? - You use it when you wanna talk fancy. - But when they start
sharing their new-found word with the world, well, the
citizens are disgusted and repulsed by it. - [SpongeBob] Today's
special is a (dolphin bleeps) Krabby Patty, served in a
greasy (dolphin bleeps) sauce and grilled to (dolphin
bleeps) perfection. - While gratuitous swearing is
pretty commonplace nowadays, like with a fair bit of the
YouTube gaming community, excessive swearing has
certainly never gone down well in television history. Of course, there isn't
any actual swearing, but bleeped dolphin
sounds. (dolphin bleeps) But the episode is very relatable. I think a lot of people's
first swear words would play pretty similarly to this. They find a word that they
think sounds cool or mature, or in this case, fancy talk. - We were only using
our sentence enhancers. - Yeah, it's fancy talk. - But eventually, they get corrected and realize it's a bad word. - [Both] Bad word? - It's awkwardly realistic but also funny. But again, because SpongeBob
is often considered a kids show, particularly in early years, well, this resulted in the
episode getting some blame for an increase in swearing in young kids, as shown in this Wolves in
Sheep's Clothing report. For example, The Parents
Television Council believed that this episode was, quote, "An implicit attempt
to promote and satirize the use of profanity amongst
children.." end quote and because clearly the PTC
didn't care much for Spongey, in a later report, they
listed "Sailor Mouth" as an example of how profane,
sexual and violent activity have increased in children's
television programming. Oh come on, really? It's SpongeBob, surely this
group is off their rocker. Fortunately, it wasn't all one-sided. Richard Huff of the New York Daily News later criticized this report. He claimed the PTC
misinterpreted "Sailor Mouth" over its intent to satirize profanity, because as he said, the
episode is all about the perils of using bad language, not
about the bad language itself. In fact, at the end of the episode, Krabs, SpongeBob and
Patrick are all punished by Krabs' mother for their foul language. - You should all be ashamed and if you're going to talk like sailors, then you're going to work like sailors. - Personally, I love this episode and it remains in my top 10
favorite SpongeBob episodes. If you're curious, my
friend Jem and myself gave it a good look in the
best SpongeBob episodes. And for number three. "Selling Out," controversial for promoting left-wing politics and
demonizing big businesses. This is another episode that
is about Krabs getting old and again, it's filled with controversy. What a weird coincidence
for the early show. The episode is about Mr.
Krabs selling the Krusty Krab and finally getting all the
money he could ever want. - Jumping King Neptune. - Then realizing he's bored. - Wait a minute, I hate golf. - If you are curious, I talked
about Krabs' very relatable challenge here in "Darkest
SpongeBob episodes" but here, let's focus on
the episode's controversy because it lets me talk about
Blandy Franchising Company, which is always a good thing. The undisputed best name
for a company in history. So the complaints of news outlets like the Hollywood Reporter were that, this episode demonizes big businesses, treating them as soulless and boring. - I think the stained glass
bar stool can go over here and the pseudo hand carved
wooden sports flag display case can go over there. - But it's really hard for me to empathize with the controversy here because I can't watch this
scene without laughing. - Allow me to introduce
myself, Howard Blandy, President of the Blandy
Franchising Company. - (chuckles) He just rolls
it off his tongue so well. I would love to tell someone I work for the Blandy Franchising Company. That would just be wonderful. But I can at least understand, this isn't the most flattering
portrayal of big businesses. It's funny but it isn't exactly glorifying large corporations, and while the big business
might be portrayed as the bad guys of this episode, they didn't exactly come
off as realistic to me. Part of what makes it funny is how unashamedly stereotypical they are. Besides, if you actually
look at the inside of Krabby-o-Mondays, it
looks like the customers are having a really good time. They're enjoying themselves, the place is bustling with life. There's definitely some concerns about how they treat their staff but from a customer's perspective, I might actually enjoy
visiting Krabby-O-Mondays. - Look around you, our
customers are quite content with the contrived and the mediocre. - Number two. "Squirrel Jokes," controversial
in its discussion of racism. You might remember me discussing this in "Darkest SpongeBob
episodes" and as I mentioned, this episode is about
addressing a controversy rather than dealing with a controversy. That controversy being
racism and discrimination and quite frankly, it's done
gracefully and elegantly, since technically, Sandy is an immigrant. But she's also someone
that most viewers like and can at least empathize with. - I made Texas tea and
cookies, well, come on in. Hi-ya. - Along with Spongey, Sandy's my favorite character in the show. So I was able to connect with
her personal struggle more. In case you don't know, the
episode's about SpongeBob making derogatory and
cheap jokes about Sandy that become a hit in the comedy scene. - What's up with that squirrel fur? I guess fleas need a home too, huh? (crowd laughs) - Which quite frankly, don't speak wonders about the quality of Bikini
Bottom's comedy circuit, but anyway, this results
in Sandy being ridiculed by people on the street, as they take the jokes SpongeBob is making and turn them into untrue stereotypes. - Hello little critter, what's your name? - Don't stand too close
to a squirrel, Billy. You'll catch its stupid. - Stupidity isn't a virus, you twonk and this is pretty much the main crux of where controversy comes from, when people don't realize
these are jokes and not fact and it may help viewers better understand why minorities might not like
people making cheap jokes or stereotyping them and through Sandy, we're able to see the
consequential discrimination they might get. - Hello Sandy. Me Patrick. - I can kind of let SpongeBob off the hook until Sandy directly asks
him to stop near the end and he just keeps doing it anyway. Not a good moment, Spongey. - How come it takes more than one squirrel to screw in a light bulb? - I also like the portrayal of Sandy, as all the stereotypical jokes
SpongeBob has made of her because honestly, does this seem at all like the Sandy we know? - You even done got me a vase. - Sandy, that's not a-- - Ain't that purty? - And it does result in
SpongeBob getting some well deserved payback for
not listening to his friend. I've kept this one short as
there was minimal backlash to it, but I wanted to
at least mention it. And for number one, we
have a banned episode. "Kwarantined Krabs," banned
for its virus storyline. This is one of the few SpongeBob episodes that barely got an airing
before it was banned and I definitely suspect
it may stay that way. But honestly, we're really
not missing out on that much. I'd say it's one of my absolute least favorite SpongeBob episodes and after doing these
videos for six years, well, that's against
some stiff competition. Even when I tracked down the episode, I mostly just found it
boring and kinda grotesque. Basically, the episode starts
with the health inspector coming into the Krusty Krab, claiming someone in the
restaurant has clam flu. - Someone in this restaurant is infected with the highly contagious clam flu. - But honestly, you could
change the word clam flu with you know what, and the
story wouldn't change much. But no one knows who has clam flu. So the crew panics and Krabs steadily goes
insane with paranoia. As his insanity escalates,
Krabs locks up SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward, Mrs. Puffs and even his daughter
Pearl in the freezer. Jeebus, he even implies he killed his old navy buddies by doing this. - You let them out of the freezer once they were better, right? - Huh? I suppose someone let
them out, eventually. - Anyway, as you might've
guessed, in 2020, the subject of viruses,
quarantine and pandemics remains a very, very sore subject for the entire world, I think and the episode doesn't
even attempt to handle the subject with any grace and care. I don't think there were
even that many jokes in the episode. It's mostly the crew brutally
fighting amongst themselves and steadily getting sicker. - The clam flu! - Where's the humor here? Even the music has this
needlessly dark edge to it. In fact, by the end, the
entire Krusty Krab is encased in a crate and then just
dumped on the Chum Bucket. I can certainly understand
why the episode was banned and there's little point to
complaining about an episode that never actually aired. Overall, "Kwarantined Krabs" is very gross and actually has some of
the most grotesque imagery in the entire series and it
was banned and controversial because it poorly handled
the most life-changing global event in modern history. So although I don't personally
recommend watching it, I do wanna show you at least the one line I found kinda funny. - All right, let's put this crab on ice. - And with that, we've
reached the other side of this dive into the
controversial and banned SpongeBob episodes and as I mentioned, if you've got your own
thoughts on these episodes, feel free to mention them in the comments and you know what to do
if you like the video, I'm not gonna pester about it,
thank you for your support. I like to think in this community here, we respect each other's opinions, as long as they're not
hurting or endangering anyone. Anyway, I'll be out with a less serious and more silly video soon. Please look after yourself and each other. Thanks for watching, and
I'll see you next time. Boo - Goodbye. (upbeat music)
