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Description
Alright, it's about time I give this season's description a well-deserved do-over because my past description was unusually harsh on it.

Season 1 of SpongeBob is an enigma in the sense that no other part of the show carries the same strengths that this one does, ,I'd argue it's even the most stand-out season the show has because watching an episode from any season after this one and then returning to S1, always surprises you by just how different this series was when it started. Season 1 is a lot more serine, atmospheric, quiet, and I don't consider it anywhere near the funniest material the show has to offer, but where it does lack in the comedy department (it's still a relatively funny season), it makes up for through its characters.

Every single character in season 1 is more three-dimensional than they were at any other point in the series except for arguably season 4, and they're a lot more endearing too. SpongeBob is naive and has a heart of gold, but not a full-blown idiot, Patrick was merely clumsy instead of a braindead moron, Mr. Krabs was greedy but he never took it to the lengths he would in seasons after this and it's shown he does care for his employees, a trait that would woefully go missing for 2 more seasons, Squidward was a grump but I don't get the impression he reviles SpongeBob's existence, and my take on Sandy in premovie is rather unpopular (post-movie made her a better and more interesting character. I said it and I don't take that back). Either way, the characters aren't anywhere near as zany and it allows you to take in the atmosphere that most episodes want you to get immersed in, with Reef Blower taking this to another degree-- it only has music playing and while what is happening is off-the-wall, I'm more mesmerized by the underwater sound design and music.

This idea of immersion that season 1 has also extends to its animation. Admittedly, the animation in season 1 can be rather clunky and slow at times. It's really obvious in at least the first half of this season since the slapstick mostly failed, but I think starting from Employee of the Month, the season's animation got a whole lot better-- it moves faster and thus the physical humor they would go for worked. I can't see an episode like Karate Choppers working with Jellyfishing's animation-- that is the one example I would use to show how early S1's slapstick didn't work. As for the background art and character designs, this season has my favorite look of all the SB seasons. I do admire how great the seasons after this one look too, but season 1 has that early installment weirdness, and there are parts that I wish remained. The dark shades of blue that coated the sea make this show feel like it does take place underwater, as opposed to the bright and vibrant blues they use after this. There's a lot more underwater sound effects, bubble sfx, wave sfx, you name them-- and I don't recall in recent memory of the underwater sound design standing out as much as this season's. I also vastly prefer the way SpongeBob is designed here to how he is nowadays-- I just love the fact that he looks like an actual sponge as opposed to more rigid-looking like he would in S2-onward. I still love that design, but the designs here once again tie into season 1's idea of immersion-- the characters do look much closer to their real-life counterparts than in seasons after this where they look more pristine.

Season 1 isn't completely perfect though and even nowadays, I do consider it to be worst than most seasons of the show. It doesn't have any episode I would consider top of the top, no episode that makes me laugh as much as a random episode I can pluck out from seasons after this-- it's a solid foundation for the show and that's about it, and I think that it's excellent in that regard, but it's only the start of something much greater. I regret ever turning my back on this season in late 2018 where I suddenly decided it was the show's weakest season, because it does have a lot to like, and it was, once upon a time, my favorite season (it was either this or 4, maybe they were tied idk). It's still in the bottom half of this show, and I consider it worse than every season besides 2 of them, but I think it says more about the quality of SB altogether than it does about the quality of this season. It's still a GREAT one, but not one that I hold in super high regard like I did 5-6 years ago.

Description
Alright, it's about time I give this season's description a well-deserved do-over because my past description was unusually harsh on it.

Season 1 of SpongeBob is an enigma in the sense that no other part of the show carries the same strengths that this one does, ,I'd argue it's even the most stand-out season the show has because watching an episode from any season after this one and then returning to S1, always surprises you by just how different this series was when it started. Season 1 is a lot more serine, atmospheric, quiet, and I don't consider it anywhere near the funniest material the show has to offer, but where it does lack in the comedy department (it's still a relatively funny season), it makes up for through its characters.

Every single character in season 1 is more three-dimensional than they were at any other point in the series except for arguably season 4, and they're a lot more endearing too. SpongeBob is naive and has a heart of gold, but not a full-blown idiot, Patrick was merely clumsy instead of a braindead moron, Mr. Krabs was greedy but he never took it to the lengths he would in seasons after this and it's shown he does care for his employees, a trait that would woefully go missing for 2 more seasons, Squidward was a grump but I don't get the impression he reviles SpongeBob's existence, and my take on Sandy in premovie is rather unpopular (post-movie made her a better and more interesting character. I said it and I don't take that back). Either way, the characters aren't anywhere near as zany and it allows you to take in the atmosphere that most episodes want you to get immersed in, with Reef Blower taking this to another degree-- it only has music playing and while what is happening is off-the-wall, I'm more mesmerized by the underwater sound design and music.

This idea of immersion that season 1 has also extends to its animation. Admittedly, the animation in season 1 can be rather clunky and slow at times. It's really obvious in at least the first half of this season since the slapstick mostly failed, but I think starting from Employee of the Month, the season's animation got a whole lot better-- it moves faster and thus the physical humor they would go for worked. I can't see an episode like Karate Choppers working with Jellyfishing's animation-- that is the one example I would use to show how early S1's slapstick didn't work. As for the background art and character designs, this season has my favorite look of all the SB seasons. I do admire how great the seasons after this one look too, but season 1 has that early installment weirdness, and there are parts that I wish remained. The dark shades of blue that coated the sea make this show feel like it does take place underwater, as opposed to the bright and vibrant blues they use after this. There's a lot more underwater sound effects, bubble sfx, wave sfx, you name them-- and I don't recall in recent memory of the underwater sound design standing out as much as this season's. I also vastly prefer the way SpongeBob is designed here to how he is nowadays-- I just love the fact that he looks like an actual sponge as opposed to more rigid-looking like he would in S2-onward. I still love that design, but the designs here once again tie into season 1's idea of immersion-- the characters do look much closer to their real-life counterparts than in seasons after this where they look more pristine.

Season 1 isn't completely perfect though and even nowadays, I do consider it to be worst than most seasons of the show. It doesn't have any episode I would consider top of the top, no episode that makes me laugh as much as a random episode I can pluck out from seasons after this-- it's a solid foundation for the show and that's about it, and I think that it's excellent in that regard, but it's only the start of something much greater. I regret ever turning my back on this season in late 2018 where I suddenly decided it was the show's weakest season, because it does have a lot to like, and it was, once upon a time, my favorite season (it was either this or 4, maybe they were tied idk). It's still in the bottom half of this show, and I consider it worse than every season besides 2 of them, but I think it says more about the quality of SB altogether than it does about the quality of this season. It's still a GREAT one, but not one that I hold in super high regard like I did 5-6 years ago.