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STUDIO: Nickelodeon
MSRP: $16.99
RATED: Not Rated
RUNNING TIME: 75 min
SPECIAL FEATURES: 

  • Pest of the West Original Animatic
  • 4 Pest of the West Shorts

The Pitch

SpongeBob looks into his family history

The Humans

Creators: Stephen Hillenburg

Cast: SpongeBob Squarepants, Patrick Star

The Nutshell

SpongeBob learns about an ancestor who was a Western hero, plus six other cartoons.

The Lowdown

I have often questioned who SpongeBob Squarepants was created for. I know people personally who love this show. The first is my three year old nephew. The second is a twenty-four year old stoner. Which of those people was this cartoon created to entertain? The question remains prevalent, and an answer is no closer after watching this DVD than it was before I popped it in.

Pest of the West is the longest episode on the DVD and actually tells a very interesting and fun story. SpongeBob is bummed because everyone in town has a famous ancestor except him. Luckily, Sandy takes pity on him and the two go to the library to look up information about his family history. Sure enough, his great-great-great grandfather was a hero who came to town and saved it from a tyrant who ruled with an iron fist. It had just the right amount of lessons for the youngens, while delivering more than enough jokes for the older crowds.

To emphasize my confusion at its target audience, there are more than enough jokes about slacking and partying to entertain the all too important stoner fan base that really keeps this show afloat.

The Krusty Plate is a short episode where SpongeBob has to clean one last spot off a plate in the restaurant before he can go home for the evening. Mr. Krabs makes the mistake of telling SpongeBob to lock up when he is done. Left to his own devices, SpongeBob does just what you would expect – he destroys the entire restaurant in his attempt to clean that one spot off the plate.

Pat No Pay is another short episode. Patrick shows up at the diner starving. When Patrick eats his weight in Krabby Patties, but can’t pay, he is put to work. As you might expect, Patrick fails at every chore and ends up destroying the entire restaurant.  I sense a pattern here.

The Inmates of Summer is a slightly longer episode where SpongeBob and Patrick accidentally board a boat transporting inmates to a prison. SpongeBob tries with all his might to have fun regardless of the situation. To Save a Squirrel places SpongeBob and Patrick left alone in the wilderness when they try to hitch a ride with Sandy to survival training. It almost becomes a Lord of the Flies type story as SpongeBob and Patrick realize they need to eat or be eaten. In 20,000 Patties Under the Sea SpongeBob and Patrick find a buried “UFO” outside of town. Mr. Krabs convinces them to use it to travel around selling his food. Finally, in The Battle of Bikini Bottom, SpongeBob and Patrick join a reenactment of the classic battle between people who remain clean and those who refuse to wash.

Every episode on this DVD is funny and entertaining. Other than the feature presentation, which only clocks in at around 20 minutes, The Inmates of Summer and To Save a Squirrel are highlights on the disc. I’d say there is enough entertainment here to keep the kids enthralled for hours while there is enough snide, inside jokes for the older twenty-something’s that still sit in their parents basement and choke on bong water while watching a sponge that happens to be wearing square pants.

The Package

Pest of the West Original Animatic is the entire episode played with the original art work shown on half the screen and the actual episode on the other half.

Pest of the West Shorts is the second featurette, clocking in at 2:54. It starts with a narrator teaching SpongeBuck how to ride a Sea Horse. The second one is an advertisement for SpurSkate (skates using spurs as wheels). The third is a classic black and white silent film, with scratches, dust, title cards and all starring SpongeBuck. Finally, we get a short teaching how to make a local into a tough guy, using SpongeBuck as an example.


8.0 out of 10