mayby thats why hes voice sounds gay???? lol
just a theory

These are simply uneducated guesses, but I’m led to assume that the crap all starts in the writing studio. The writers are possibly pressured to write, animate, and distribute new episodes on quick notices, making them have to throw together crap without giving it much review. Then, the crap they make is rearranged back to the audio and voice-over studios where they make haste to throw in the audio to match the animation (which sucks as well compared to the old episodes. Certain tones or show tunes seem highly misplaced in the newer episodes). As the audio is being thrown together with mis conceptual fury, the voice-overs are slowly being dragged into production. This is where the effects of the bad writing comes in I presume. Throughout the entire script, Spongebob is probably described as being ‘happy’, ‘giddy’ or ‘excited’. As some can tell, he has this huge annoying smile on the whole episode, and Tom himself is probably directed to mimic this behavior. He is expected to capture the ‘image’ the writer’s had when writing the script for Spongebob, and maintain this high pitched, semi agitating voice as they progress. Then, quickly, they move along to the next.

I admit, it could definitely be a change in staff as well, along with other factors affecting the original output of the show. Though me being a writer myself, I can guess that it had a lot to do in the writing studio. A lot of times, I write a lot of great stories (or that look great in my mind while I’m writing it), then look back during the revision to find out that I was writing a bunch of crap–requiring me to have to edit a lot of the story with excessively close precision. It seems like these recent episodes, have lacked editing and revision. They feel like they’re fresh off the idea pallet, with no rereading, no second thought, no logical reasoning thrown into it whatsoever. They rushed everything–from the voice-overs, CG art, scripts, story line, show tune placements, and so on. It seems to me that they either no longer care (possibly because the show could be drawing to an end), or they’re being pressured to make an excessive amount of new episodes in a short amount of time.

This could also very well affect the comedic presentation they bring with their newer episodes. The stale, childish jokes they seem to be forcing on us could be a desperate attempt at keeping their rushed work at least somewhat funny. They don’t have time to brainstorm funny and subtle ideas as they used to. You can also tell through their rushed production, that they manage to drift away from the original subject of the episode. For example, an episode where Mr. Krabs started off with introducing a new ‘product’ at the Krusty Krab–being the new ‘viking sized drinks’ (which was just as big as the other cups for some odd reason… Another stale joke).This, somehow escalated to the episode ending with Spongebob preventing a viking ship from sinking by rocketing himself into the hole of a leak (Not to mention the ship sinking and water drifting aboard, when they’re already underwater to begin with [though I barely minded that]). The beginning is almost completely different from the end, and as some of you have said before, there are often too many events happening in one episode, making the entire thing rushed and not entertaining to begin with.

I’m a 17 year old kid, who in all aspects loves to watch cartoons. Though I’m a natural critic, and can’t help but point out every single thing wrong with the new Spongebob episodes compared to the old. It’s saddening really. I miss the subtlety and mature humor of the old episodes. There were characteristics the cartoon held that no longer bind it to the mind’s of its fans. There are many elements toward maintaining an excellent cartoon. The timing between words and show tunes, as well as small events within the episodes. The expressions used, the reactions made and how timely they’re created. It just seems to me that if there are new writers in the studio, that they have absolutely no idea what they’re doing. For me, seeing something like this feels like the world of professions is going down more and more. I’ve seen it too many times. It’s sad when I feel like I can’t trust those who I’ve trusted since early childhood anymore. In a world surrounded by selfishness, there’s nothing much you can do if they just don’t care what fans think anymore yet are still being paid for its current popularity.

Anyway, so let’s review the problems with the cartoon thus far–things that we can only hope will improve over time (That’s the only reason I still desperately cling to new episodes). First, the voice. There are simple reasons why the voice could be bad. Maybe Tom ‘is’ just losing his touch… that doesn’t mean we should stop being loyal to him. He has been great for all these seasons after all. Though admittedly, I’m quite certain there are things the editors could do about the voice, seeing as it may irritate some people to no end. Two, the writing. It’s ridiculous. I remember a minor Nickelodeon event (which I saw almrls talk about earlier) called Who-Bob-What-Pants. First off, that’s a very sad name. It makes me sick to see that the producers are going so kindergarten with this cartoon now. The name literally doesn’t even make sense to the episode. “What-Pants”? What the heck are they talking about? Since when does one repeat the word ‘what’ when they have amnesia? Since when does the word “What” arise at all with amnesia? It’s not like he’s deaf or something. Anyway, the name was ridiculous, on extremely annoying levels, as well as the episode. All in all, their writing is terrible thus far, and the story ideas are progressively random, throughout every single minute. I guess this is on behalf of either new writers, or rushed production.

Third, the audio. It no longer fits in with the episodes as it used to. No, I’ve noticed that some show tunes are severely misplaced within the episode. This is kinda hard to explain without the person hearing it for themselves, so I won’t get into it much. But again, this problem (if identified by you) is probably due to rushed production. Fourth, the animation and artwork. A lot of new characters being introduced look much too wacky to be considered normal Spongebob material. They look like something you’d pick out of your nose at times–completely unappealing. They sound weird, make weird noises, and look weird doing it. Example, the health inspector lady that came to the Krusty Krab one faithful day (and the aweful song that was created about Krabby patties was horrible to me, killed my perception of that episode from start to end). I think her name was Mrs. Witherspoon or something. She looked like a dried out blue berry, with a face squeezed into the wrinkles. Another example would be what King Neptune turned into. At first, he was a great and powerful God of Olympia, whose voice rang out to the Heavens. Then, in the movie, he was a bald, green thing with orange hair that looked like it originated on a child’s throw-up bib. Sadly enough, there are new characters–randomly so–who are quickly introduced into an episode with barely any introduction, nor interesting sequences toward how they got there. Instead of utilizing the talented and lovable characters they already have, they’ve resorted to creatures like the ‘Vikings’, or the ‘Health Inspectors”. The old episodes were awesome–very much so, but it’s gone down the drain with curious tenacity. Fifth, Originality. It just seems like they no longer care to me. Either that, or it’s too hard and they’ve given up trying. Originality no longer stands in any of their newer episodes, that’s how it seems to me. They’ve lost the touch that they’ve created over the years, and it’s saddening in all truthfulness. I mean, people say ‘it’s just a cartoon’ but I guess they don’t realize how much a cartoon can mean to someone. Cartoons give you individual feelings, feelings that you may remember over tremendously long periods of time, and cherish. These feelings are lost, dashed when faced with the reality that, the show has ceased with being the same anymore. I mean, connections are formed with that certain cartoon, and psychological binding occurs. This because a link to a certain type of pleasure one may experience when thinking about that cartoon–and once that cartoon is gone, the pleasure, tenderness, and care that once came along with it may disappear as well. This happens with greater impact when a show just plain and simply ‘goes bad’ on its fans. There’s a lot to be said about a relationship one may have with their favorite cartoon. And those who are not as attached to their emotions as other shouldn’t judge it so harshly–that’s what makes this world rot with hate…

All in all, Spongebob may be changing, just like the world does. Yet I’m sure we’ll all always enjoy the older episodes and memories of the show when it was in its prime. There’s a lot to be said about a good show gone bad, but now, I feel like I’ve spoken enough~ I just wish, someone with all the answers could just come along and tell exactly what’s going on–and give us a reason not to freight. Spongebob, we miss you~