SpongeBob SquarePants - Penny Foolish/Nautical Novice
While grocery shopping, Mr. Krabs spots SpongeBob picking up a penny outside. At first he tries to let it go, but soon grows obsessed and wants to do everything he can to obtain it.
The first time I saw Penny Foolish I didn't care for it, but watching it again it's grown on me. Mr. Krabs' obsession and methods of trying to get the penny are so insane that it becomes entertaining.
I especially liked the scene where musters up the energy to build a movie theater just to SpongeBob can pay a penny to go see a (fake) movie. The fact that he would spend this much money building a phoney theater to get ahold of a penny is hilariously ironic. But of course SpongeBob says he doesn't have a penny, so the theater gets torn down. I find it funny how he doesn't question this at all, but instead is disappointed he didn't get to see the movie.
Then there's the melodramatic Powerpoint presentation promoting a charity made up on the spot; Pennies For The Penny-Less. No pickle figuring out who the penny-less one is. Mr. Krabs' reaction to SpongeBob reiterating he has no penny is hilarious.
There is also a part earlier on where Mr..Krabs shakes SpongeBob upside down and his brain falls out instead. It's followed by an amusing chase sequence with Sponge running after his brain while Krabs is trying to steal his penny. It's a bit unusual to get another gag related to SpongeBob's brain so soon after House Fancy. But hey, it made me laugh, so it worked.
The running gag where citizens only hear Mr. Krabs chirping like a dolphin from a distance made me chuckle.
The only time it falls flat for me (and this is also a problem with Nautical Novice) is when it comes to the ending. The penny turning out to be a dried-up gum makes no sense since even from afar we could see what SpongeBob picked up from the ground wasn't green. The gum then turning out to be a 500-dollar bill is even *more* convoluted. But if we pretend this makes sense, I still don't like Mr. Krabs continuing to dig for the penny in the backyard. He just showed you he doesn't have one! Get over it, Krabby.
Besides that though, it's a solid segment with memorable jokes.
Nautical Novice:
The boating school class on going on a field trip to the Nautical Museum. SpongeBob wants to look good in front of Mrs. Puff, so he studies hard on boating history to impress her. When he accidentally starts steering a large ship though, things start to get out of hand...
SpongeBob's facial expression after intensely paging through books all night was amusing. He looks like an exhausted middleage man who just lost a divorce trial.
It was fun to see SpongeBob get so confident after reading up on all the history of boating. He becomes cocky, but only because he really thinks Mrs. Puff will be proud of him. The way he keeps interrupting her so he can suavely share his own knowledge on boats is really funny.
It gets exciting as well when he gets stuck behind the wheel and has to learn how to safely stop the boat before it crashes into a building. He's so determined and serious about the importance of this task you gotta love it. The pirate laugh he comes up with is great. You really get to cheer at the sponge as he overcomes this unexpected difficulty and drives the whole class to safety.
That's why it's so disappointing when they reveal he never drove the boat in the first place, someone was dragging it all along. How was such a complicated move as reverse 180 tailspin possible in that case? The guy dragging the boat would have to be stronger than Hulk Hogan. Oh well. At least he's nice enough to offer SpongeBob some ice cream as consolation.
Just like Penny Foolish a fun 11 minutes, even though the ending is a bit worse in this instance.
This episode of SpongeBob might have its imperfections, but is pretty good overall.
(Does anybody read these? Might stop bothering,)