You know what else? We're in the middle of nowhere! And you know what else else? I think the pizza's
getting cold. SpongeBob is one of the most
popular, and in some ways most important, animated shows
in television history. It has been one of the
best shows on television and one of the worst, at
times, during its nearly two decade run. But one thing is indisputable. When SpongeBob is great, it's
12 to 24 minutes of animation that is borderline
unrivaled in the medium. And it's been great a lot. But its writing
staff, creative team, and, unfortunately, its
creator have changed and in some cases moved on,
leaving current SpongeBob in a very different place
than this SpongeBob. So with all that
variation in quality, somewhere in that sea
of hundreds of episodes has to sit a gold standard. Turns out, there's quite
a few magnum opuses that have come out of Bikini Bottom. But today I want to talk
about that one episode that I think best typifies
the show at its best. "Pizza Delivery." [MUMBLING] This sequence here is one
of my favorite moments in SpongeBob's entire run. It's a simple moment. An exhausted SpongeBob
and Squidward walking through this seemingly
endless expanse of land. But it's how that is visually
articulated that's so perfect. This moment was a product of
a unique time for SpongeBob. "Pizza Delivery" is one of the
few episodes, its only season, that was fully cell
animated, meaning each frame was drawn by hand. And that cell animation created
a very organic, sometimes imperfect, look
that was incredible. If you think this moment
reminds you a lot of something like this, you aren't alone. Whereas future seasons will
shift further and further towards digital animation,
"Pizza Delivery" cell animation gives the episode
this amazing energy where every moment feels unique. And it's because every single
frame has to be different. It creates this chaotic
visual momentum, the same energy you see in Ed,
Edd n Eddy or Ren and Stimpy. If I slow a moment
like this down, it's kind of incredible
to see just how much detail is paid to every
single bat of your eye. Sure, the cell animation
created a darker tint and it was substantially
more expensive than digital animation,
but "Pizza Delivery" is an episode where SpongeBob's
energy, the visual gags, feel kinetic. Feel raw. And it's kind of
beautiful to watch. But the second thing that
makes for a perfect episode of SpongeBob has everything
to do with these two. You know what else else? I think the pizza's
getting cold. A good portion of the very
best SpongeBob episodes, things like "Graveyard
Shift," "The Magic Conch," "Squid's Day Off," "Idiot Box,"
all have one thing in common. They utilize the show's two
most interesting characters to their advantage. It's SpongeBob versus
Squidward or with Squidward. It's SpongeSquid. "Pizza Delivery" epitomizes
SpongeSquid and everything great about their relationship. Totally ideologically
opposed, totally true to their
characters, SpongeBob is too naive to understand that
Squidward finds him obnoxious. But here, they're put
in a unique situation. SpongeBob wants to
deliver the pizza to the customer at all costs. But common societal logic
would dictate that SpongeBob is right, that's his job. Squidward, on the other hand,
would rather eat it or-- Who cares about the customer? I do! Well I don't! Oh! Squidward! --just go home. But this episode
does one better. It finds comedy in making us
question which one of these two is actually smarter. Squidward forces
SpongeBob to drive. He objects, Squidward
insists, and well-- Back it up! SpongeBob follows the pioneers,
puts his ear to the ground, and-- Truck! 16 wheels. Oh, wait. He was right. Here comes a truck. And that pioneer gag pays off in
a big way later in the episode when SpongeBob finds
a rock and says he can drive it to freedom
just like the pioneers. And he actually does. Drive rocks. As the two are lost, struggling
to find home or their delivery destination, Squidward's
voice of reason act slowly flies out the window. And it's when the show plants
these two together and forces its two funniest characters
onto level ground, that I think it's
at its very best. Which is what we see
in "Pizza Delivery." And that kind of leads
into the third core element of a perfect SpongeBob episode. It's this. Oh, how can it get any worse? Any show that runs
as long as SpongeBob has is going to hit walls with
its writing and animation. CH Greenblatt came in and
introduced the gross-out that helped revolutionize how
we saw the show's characters. The film and Stephen
Hillenburg's return helped resurrect the writing. But the reality is that
the show was at its best when it was hard to predict. When the gags and
humor were novel, so well written that it
prevented its characters from becoming Flanderized,
a term referring to a character who
is enveloped by and slowly
transitioned into being exclusively one piece of their
personality all the time. I have a whole
video about it here. "Pizza Delivery" nails that. Sure, SpongeBob is naive,
emotional, and high-energy but this iconic
hitchhiking gag follows a previous moment of
SpongeBob actually showing some intellect. And yes, the Krusty Krab pizza
song, particularly this moment, is incredibly funny. But it's funny because
Squidward is begrudgingly letting it happen. Even in this gag
here with the boat, it's expected that SpongeBob
is going to screw this up. We know he can't drive. But instead of taking the
easy route with the riding and having him excitedly jump
at the opportunity to drive, hop into the boat, and peel
off into absolute mayhem, he actually protests driving
at all, tells Squidward, no. I can't. I'm still in boating school. Come on, SpongeBob. It's just around the corner. It's Squidward that pressures
him into and creates this moment. In "Pizza Delivery,"
SpongeBob isn't brainless. He's just committed to his
job to a hilarious degree, to the point that he'd
rather starve than fail. Squidward in "Pizza Delivery"
is angry and a little mean, but he's also empathetic. He isn't a total bully. So every moment of humor
kind of feels grounded. You get it. It doesn't need to shove
the humor down your throat. And it's the only
reason the final element of a perfect SpongeBob
episode works. How am I supposed to eat
this pizza without my drink? Didn't you ever once
think of the customer? You call yourself
a delivery boy? Well, I ain't buying! [DOOR SLAMMING] SpongeBob's an interesting show
in that it's almost entirely humor-based. There's no nuanced narrative,
there's no hero or villain most of the time, it isn't about
teaching life lessons, and it isn't serialized. It, unlike things like the
aforementioned Ed, Edd n Eddy, also doesn't follow a
formula episode to episode. So it can be hard to write
a really good resolution to that kind of very
loose structure. "Pizza Delivery" has one of
the best endings of any episode of SpongeBob period. It's hilarious but it's
also kind of heartwarming. After traveling all that
way, fighting a sandstorm, riding a rock, they arrive
at the house for delivery but the guy doesn't want
the pizza because he didn't get his drink. His response is brutal,
totally unexpected, a complete subversion of
the catharsis expected by the viewer. And he ends up slamming the
door in SpongeBob's face. Squidward reacts like we should. Instead of doubling down on
his anger and frustration, he feels bad for SpongeBob. He goes back and, well-- Well, this one's on the house! Then he tells SpongeBob a
lie, that he changed his mind and ate the pizza, just
to make him feel better. And they drive back to work,
which hilariously, is just a mere few feet away. It's a funny,
smile-inducing ending that gives Squidward a moment
to empathize with SpongeBob and adds a nuance
to his personality. He isn't a one-note character. And it also makes sure
to end with Squidward completely defeated, as is
his natural, existing state. It's great writing. Sticking the landing on this
episode makes a great episode a perfect one. And it's something all the
best episodes have in common-- unexpected but importantly
perfect endings. There are a dozen
or more episodes that you could call perfect
throughout the show's run. But I think it's fair to
say that "Pizza Delivery" is one of the more iconic
episodes of animation, period. It combines its
product-of-the-time cell animation with the
show's best characters, some of its best writing, and
one of its more unique endings, and creates something that
still makes its way into memes and perforates throughout
popular culture all these years later. Stephen Hillenburg's
early work on the show, that original team,
created something truly and genuinely special. Something that Nick has been
chasing across their network ever since. But it takes more than a meme
to create something iconic. It's a perfect storm. It's the context that surrounds
the moment that makes it stick. It's the perfect episode. And this, well, there's a very
good reason we remember this. (SINGING) Yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah! Pizza is the pizza,
yeah, for you and me! Well, guys, that is it for
today's episode of Nerdstalgic. If you enjoyed this video, press
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