If you are a fan of “SpongeBob SquarePants” or a parent looking for a safe Christmas Blu-ray, “SpongeBob SquarePants: It’s a SpongeBob Christmas!” is recommended!!
TITLE: SpongeBob SquarePants: It’s a Spongebob Christmas!
FILM RELEASE: 2012
DURATION: 24:22 Minutes (not including bonus episodes)
BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, French 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo, Spanish 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo, Subtitles: English, English SDH
COMPANY: Nickelodeon/Paramount
RATED: NOT RATED
Release Date: October 15, 2013
Created by Stephen Hillenburg
Directed by Mark Caballero, Seamus Walsh
Writers: Derek Iversen, Tom Kenny, Mr. Lawrence, Dani Michaeli, Andy Paley, Richard Pursel, Paul Tibbitt
Supervising Director: Alan Smart
Featuring the voices of:
Tom Kenny as SpongeBob SquarePants
Bill Fagerbakke as Patrick Star
Rodger Bumpass as Squidward Tentacles
Clancy Brown as Mr. Eugene H. Krabs
Mr. Lawrence as Plankton
Carolyn Lawrence as Sandy Cheeks
John Goodman as Santa
It’s SpongeBob, Patrick, Plankton, and Bikini Bottom – as never seen before – in this soon to be classic!
At Christmastime in Bikini Bottom, everyone’s excited. Well, everyone except Plankton who, year after year, gets the same gift from Santa: a lump of coal. But he vows this will be the year he finally gets his Christmas wish: the Krabby Patty formula!
We have seen Christmas episodes on “SpongeBob SquarePants†before, but this time around, the crew wanted to create a special Christmas “SpongeBob SquarePants†and this time through stop-motion inspired by Christmas specials of the past.
In “It’s a SpongeBob Christmas!â€, the Blu-ray feature features a Christmas episode as everyone in Bikini Bottom is excited for Christmas and Santa to come and visit the area. But Plankton who has been receiving nothing but coal, comes up with a plan to taint fruit cake with jerktonium and making everyone bad so their Christmas is ruined.
But when Plankton tries the tainted fruit cake on SpongeBob, it doesn’t work. So, Plankton figures his invention is not working and thus gives the Jerktonium maker to SpongeBob, who decides to give everyone in Bikini Bottom some of Plankton’s delicious fruit cake.
But when everyone starts acting like a jerk after eating the tainted fruitcake, what happens when Santa comes to Bikini Bottom? Will they get presents or a lump of coal?
And if you are a “SpongeBob SquarePants” fan, “It’s a SpongeBob Christmas!” also comes with ten bonus episodes!
- Ripped Pants
- SB-129
- Texas
- The Graveyard Shift
- Something Smells
- Jellyfishing
- Dying for Pie
- Wormy
- F.U.N.
- Club SpongeBob
What is SpongeBob SquarePants?
For over a decade, “SpongeBob SquarePants†has become such a tremendous hit for Nickelodeon and an animated series that many children have grown up with. A popular franchise which includes video games, the character featured on a variety of food products, toys, health-related items and more. Needless to say, “SpongeBob SquarePantsâ€, although not a series shown on broadcast television, has managed to become a character that is part of American pop culture and still shows no signs of waning, especially with a new group of young viewers every year.
Created by Stephen Hillenburg in 1999, “SpongeBob SquarePants†is an animated series about a group of characters that live in the underwater city known as “Bikini Bottomâ€.
The main character of “SpongeBob SquarePants†are:
- SpongeBob SquarePants – A energetic and naive sea sponge who lives in a pineapple under the sea with his pet snail Gary and works as a cook for The Krusty Krab. He enjoys hanging out with his best friend Patrick.
- Patrick Star – A pink starfish and the best friend of SpongeBob. Known for his ignorance and stupidity but still a good friend to SpongeBob.
- Squidward Tentacles – An egotistical cephalopod (squid or octopus) who works as a cashier at the Krusty Krab and although he doesn’t care for SpongeBob, he tolerates him.
- Sandy Cheeks – A squirrel who is a science genius and lives in an underwater dome who hails from Texas.
- Mr. Krabs – The money-loving boss of The Krusty Krab restaurant and boss of SpongeBob and Squidward.
- Plankton – The nemesis of Mr. Krabs who runs the rival restaurant, The Chum Bucket.
VIDEO:
“SpongeBob SquarePants: It’s a Spongebob Christmas!” receives it’s HD release. The stop-motion film features much better detail from the previous DVD release. Colors are much more vibrant. Fabric has much better detail as you can see the textures of the fabric much cleaner. But the Christmas special looks very good on Blu-ray.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“SpongeBob SquarePants: It’s a SpongeBob Christmas!” is presented in English 5.1 DTS-HD MAter Audio and French and Spanish 2.0 Stereo. Having watched the original DVD last year, noticed the surround channels used effectively for the music. Dialogue is primarily crystal clear.
Subtitles are presented in English and English SDH.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“SpongeBob SquarePants: It’s a SpongeBob Christmas!†comes with the following special features:
- Behind-the-Scenes Feature – (7:16) The making of “It’s a SpongeBob Christmas!â€. Creating a stop-motion classic Christmas feel.
- Animatic – (24:25) Watch the complete episode with the animatic sketches.
- Yule Log – If you want to watch an animated yule-log during the holidays!
- MP3 Compatible Songs – Comes with the MP3′s for “Santa’s Eyes†and “Hot Fruitcake†(note: You must put the DVD into a DVD-Rom drive to access the two MP3 files).
- Violent Femmes Sing SpongeBob SquarePants – (:35)
- More SpongeBob SquarePants Secrets – Featuring SpongeBob’s Start – (2:45) A featurette on the making of “SpongeBob SquarePants”, Voice Overs – (7:08) The voice acting cast behind-the-scenes of recording, Drawing Characters – (2:17) The storyboard supervisor draw shows how he draws SpongeBob SquarePants, “The Graveyard Shift: In the Beginning” – (3:10) Showcasing the storyboards and acting to the storyboards, Show Design (3:07) Nick Jennings – Art Director talks about painting in chrome.
EXTRAS:
“SpongeBob SquarePants: It’s a Spongebob Christmas!” comes with the Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Copy via UltraViolet. Plus a slipcover is included.
Just in time for the holidays, “SpongeBob SquarePants: It’s a SpongeBob Christmas!†is an entertaining Christmas episode and for the first time, presenting SpongeBob and friends, especially the underwater world of Bikini Bottom in stop-motion.
My home is “SpongeBob SquarePants†mania for my nine-year-old. For the past five years, he has been a big fan of the animated series and has wanted everything that the character is featured on, may it be yogurt to toothpaste, he is a SpongeBob maniac and both us were pretty excited to see this Christmas episode and see how the characters look via stop-motion.
The crew did a wonderful job in creating the world of Bikini Bottom but also creating the characters for stop-motion. The movements resembled the series and while created in stop-motion, the series felt natural and of course maintained the hilarious and crazy aspect of the the animated series via stop-motion.
And with the theme being Christmas-related, I have no doubt that children and the entire family will enjoy “SpongeBob SquarePants: It’s a SpongeBob Christmas!â€. For kids, they will enjoy the crazy transformation of the characters as they eat the tainted fruit cake, while parents who grew up watching the classic stop-motion animated Christmas specials as a child, will be thrilled to see this tradition continue with this special Christmas episode of “SpongeBob SquarePantsâ€.
When I reviewed the 2012 DVD, I was a bit critical of how short the DVD was. At only 24 minutes, I felt that Nickelodeon should have included a few episodes. Well, here we are in 2013 with a Blu-ray+DVD+Digital Copy release and this time around, Nickelodeon/Paramount has included a total of ten bonus episodes on Blu-ray!
Overall, “SpongeBob SquarePants: It’s a SpongeBob Christmas!” is a much better release than the 2012 DVD which only came with special and the special features. But Nickelodeon has done fans a favor by including ten bonus episodes. And for parents, you are getting a Blu-ray release that will keep busy during the holidays plus you get a DVD and UltraViolet Digital Copy as well.
If you are a fan of “SpongeBob SquarePants” or a parent looking for a safe Christmas Blu-ray, “SpongeBob SquarePants: It’s a SpongeBob Christmas!” is recommended!
