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  I'm quite surprised how this season turned out... well not really, because as much I was expecting 9A to falter, I knew that 9B would more than make up for whatever 9A had to offer, but I can't just say "9A" and "9B" without explaining what they are. In short, 9A comprises of the first 20 episodes of S9, they're the last breath of the post-movie era and were released before the second movie. 9A is easy to recognize by its stiff animation and uninspired premises, whereas 9B is recognized for being more expressive and energetic with some of the most reinvigorating premises the show has had in a while.

  So what exactly do I not like about 9A? Admittedly, I don't think it's bad since there were some funny episodes, but there's next to nothing remarkable about it, and upon rewatch, I was surprised by just how derivative a majority of its episodes were. I can only think of 2 episodes that didn't remind me of previous incarnations, and they were Plankton's Pet and It Came From Goo Lagoon, one of which actually changed the status quo of the show, and the other is a special that people don't even remember exists. I guess I can throw in Eek, an Urchin! too since I can't think of anything it copies. Seriously, literally every other 9A episode is stuff they've done before, and may not even be realized until you look upon further inspection.

  License to Milkshake is literally just a glorified boating school episode, it hits the same story beats besides having an equivalent of Mrs. Puff getting arrested at the end, Extreme Spots is just another Prehibernation Week, and the episode after it is ALSO like Prehibernation Week, but it's much better than Extreme Spots since it had an actual story. Patrick-Man is Hall Monitor but with Patrick instead of SpongeBob, Gary's New Toy is the first act of Have You Seen This Snail stretched out to an entire episode, Squid Baby is yet another episode of SpongeBob and Patrick taking care of an infant a la Rock a Bye Bivalve, and I can keep going with these comparisons, but the one way to demonstrate my point is looking at the finale of this season, SpongeBob, You're Fired! It steals so much from past episodes, down to its title, down to its premise, down to the fact that there's a running gag of SpongeBob only being able to cook Krabby Patties (just like in Le Big Switch)

  This is ultimately what made 9A a slog for me, and it honest to God gave me the same vibes as Simpsons past season 10 does. I do not like that show past season 10, but it's not really anything BAD per se, I just don't find it creative or interesting or anything worth of value. The only episode from 9A that I would miss if it disappeared is Plankton's Pet, as generic an opinion that is, and that's because he has made regular appearances starting from this point.

  I should also mention that the animation in 9A is... awkward. They clearly were not ready to make the transition to HD, since we're essentially given a glorified season 8, and season 8 already looked polished, clean, and uninteresting, but here they went overboard with it, from giving SpongeBob this odd shade of yellow that makes it hard to look at him, to the overly rigid model of his too, this might be the worst design he's had in the show to date. Look, if they wanted to make the transition to HD, I think they should've also upped the fluidity and expressiveness, but they didn't and I generally am not a fan of how this season looks besides the episode Kenny the Cat, since that one was storyboarded by Erik Weise, who worked on season 4, and I can see some season 4-isms in SpongeBob's model. It's the only episode of the season to look not just good, but great as a result.

9B, which is Lost in Bikini Bottom-The Whole Tooth, feels like a revitalized season 4 in many due respects. In fact, I think they're both nearly on the same level, since the best aspects of season 4 return in all their glory here. So many episodes here have such a perfect balance between comedy and storytelling that it's ridiculous, and just like season 4, there are heartwarming moments to be found here like the entirety of What's Eating, Patrick? and The Whole Tooth. The characters here feel so much more well-defined here than ever before. Mr. Krabs finally has more to him beyond "lol he's cheap please laugh" since we got a whole episode that actually remembers his pirate motif (Pull Up a Barrel) and an episode where he's an actual fatherly figure to SpongeBob (Tutor Sauce).

  The best thing related to the characters that this season does however, is sometimes entirely shift to focus to characters on this show that wouldn't normally get the spotlight, and it made for fantastic episodes like Larry's Gym, Mall Girl Pearl, Patrick! The Game, What's Eating, Patrick?, and so forth. Characters like Squidward and Mr. Krabs also get to shine in Squid Plus One and Pull Up a Barrel respectively, and collectively, all these episodes bring such unique and creative formats to this series that I hope this series can continue to do. They even threw in a perfect SpongeBob and Squidward dynamic episode with The Sewers of Bikini Bottom, which further demonstrates that this season also has extremely strong comedy to boot.

  I know it's weird mentioning it last, but the animation in this season, in contrast to 9A, is much, much better. Ithink SpongeBob's model got a well-needed revamp as he looks a lot more like his S2-4 self compared to the chubbier version of his we got in S6-9A, the season is more expressive and thus livelier, but I can't help but think that the animation still isn't as its fullest potential. At the time this season was airing, the animation looked incredible, but nowadays... not so much. Rewatching 9B revealed several 9Aisms, like how SpongeBob's model will, out of nowhere, just randomly look like how he did in 9A again, or the fact that this season's movement is nothing to write home about. It's honestly much closer to season 3 than it is to season 4 or the seasons after 9B, and I don't think season 3 is the most visually interesting season either. In short, I can summarize 9B's animation as what 9A should've been-- it's just that season's look but with better animation. Don't get me wrong, I really like the way 9B looks, but it felt like only a half-step towards something greater, and it's why I prefer how 10-onwards look to this one. It's still a very creative, funny, and balanced season that, for some time, recaptured the magic of older seasons before the show went on to try newer things in the seasons after this one.

Calling season 9 of SpongeBob AMAZING might seem like a stretch, but 9B seriously brought this season waaayyyy up. 9A is mediocre where 9B is... literally the savior of this season and my 2nd favorite thing to come from the show.

Description

  I'm quite surprised how this season turned out... well not really, because as much I was expecting 9A to falter, I knew that 9B would more than make up for whatever 9A had to offer, but I can't just say "9A" and "9B" without explaining what they are. In short, 9A comprises of the first 20 episodes of S9, they're the last breath of the post-movie era and were released before the second movie. 9A is easy to recognize by its stiff animation and uninspired premises, whereas 9B is recognized for being more expressive and energetic with some of the most reinvigorating premises the show has had in a while.

  So what exactly do I not like about 9A? Admittedly, I don't think it's bad since there were some funny episodes, but there's next to nothing remarkable about it, and upon rewatch, I was surprised by just how derivative a majority of its episodes were. I can only think of 2 episodes that didn't remind me of previous incarnations, and they were Plankton's Pet and It Came From Goo Lagoon, one of which actually changed the status quo of the show, and the other is a special that people don't even remember exists. I guess I can throw in Eek, an Urchin! too since I can't think of anything it copies. Seriously, literally every other 9A episode is stuff they've done before, and may not even be realized until you look upon further inspection.

  License to Milkshake is literally just a glorified boating school episode, it hits the same story beats besides having an equivalent of Mrs. Puff getting arrested at the end, Extreme Spots is just another Prehibernation Week, and the episode after it is ALSO like Prehibernation Week, but it's much better than Extreme Spots since it had an actual story. Patrick-Man is Hall Monitor but with Patrick instead of SpongeBob, Gary's New Toy is the first act of Have You Seen This Snail stretched out to an entire episode, Squid Baby is yet another episode of SpongeBob and Patrick taking care of an infant a la Rock a Bye Bivalve, and I can keep going with these comparisons, but the one way to demonstrate my point is looking at the finale of this season, SpongeBob, You're Fired! It steals so much from past episodes, down to its title, down to its premise, down to the fact that there's a running gag of SpongeBob only being able to cook Krabby Patties (just like in Le Big Switch)

  This is ultimately what made 9A a slog for me, and it honest to God gave me the same vibes as Simpsons past season 10 does. I do not like that show past season 10, but it's not really anything BAD per se, I just don't find it creative or interesting or anything worth of value. The only episode from 9A that I would miss if it disappeared is Plankton's Pet, as generic an opinion that is, and that's because he has made regular appearances starting from this point.

  I should also mention that the animation in 9A is... awkward. They clearly were not ready to make the transition to HD, since we're essentially given a glorified season 8, and season 8 already looked polished, clean, and uninteresting, but here they went overboard with it, from giving SpongeBob this odd shade of yellow that makes it hard to look at him, to the overly rigid model of his too, this might be the worst design he's had in the show to date. Look, if they wanted to make the transition to HD, I think they should've also upped the fluidity and expressiveness, but they didn't and I generally am not a fan of how this season looks besides the episode Kenny the Cat, since that one was storyboarded by Erik Weise, who worked on season 4, and I can see some season 4-isms in SpongeBob's model. It's the only episode of the season to look not just good, but great as a result.

9B, which is Lost in Bikini Bottom-The Whole Tooth, feels like a revitalized season 4 in many due respects. In fact, I think they're both nearly on the same level, since the best aspects of season 4 return in all their glory here. So many episodes here have such a perfect balance between comedy and storytelling that it's ridiculous, and just like season 4, there are heartwarming moments to be found here like the entirety of What's Eating, Patrick? and The Whole Tooth. The characters here feel so much more well-defined here than ever before. Mr. Krabs finally has more to him beyond "lol he's cheap please laugh" since we got a whole episode that actually remembers his pirate motif (Pull Up a Barrel) and an episode where he's an actual fatherly figure to SpongeBob (Tutor Sauce).

  The best thing related to the characters that this season does however, is sometimes entirely shift to focus to characters on this show that wouldn't normally get the spotlight, and it made for fantastic episodes like Larry's Gym, Mall Girl Pearl, Patrick! The Game, What's Eating, Patrick?, and so forth. Characters like Squidward and Mr. Krabs also get to shine in Squid Plus One and Pull Up a Barrel respectively, and collectively, all these episodes bring such unique and creative formats to this series that I hope this series can continue to do. They even threw in a perfect SpongeBob and Squidward dynamic episode with The Sewers of Bikini Bottom, which further demonstrates that this season also has extremely strong comedy to boot.

  I know it's weird mentioning it last, but the animation in this season, in contrast to 9A, is much, much better. Ithink SpongeBob's model got a well-needed revamp as he looks a lot more like his S2-4 self compared to the chubbier version of his we got in S6-9A, the season is more expressive and thus livelier, but I can't help but think that the animation still isn't as its fullest potential. At the time this season was airing, the animation looked incredible, but nowadays... not so much. Rewatching 9B revealed several 9Aisms, like how SpongeBob's model will, out of nowhere, just randomly look like how he did in 9A again, or the fact that this season's movement is nothing to write home about. It's honestly much closer to season 3 than it is to season 4 or the seasons after 9B, and I don't think season 3 is the most visually interesting season either. In short, I can summarize 9B's animation as what 9A should've been-- it's just that season's look but with better animation. Don't get me wrong, I really like the way 9B looks, but it felt like only a half-step towards something greater, and it's why I prefer how 10-onwards look to this one. It's still a very creative, funny, and balanced season that, for some time, recaptured the magic of older seasons before the show went on to try newer things in the seasons after this one.

Calling season 9 of SpongeBob AMAZING might seem like a stretch, but 9B seriously brought this season waaayyyy up. 9A is mediocre where 9B is... literally the savior of this season and my 2nd favorite thing to come from the show.