If ever there was a release whose title told you everything you need to know, this is it. Yup, the second part of season 5. There you go. Which is in no way a condemnation. Well over four hours of prime silliness is reason enough to pick this up. Unless, of course, you have picked up any of the other recent SpongeBob releases, in which case the curse of double-dipping will likely befall you. Many of these episodes have already been released on the shorter compilation discs. If you held off until now, though, this is a wonderful fix for nautical nonsense junkies.
Audio
The audio is identical in quality to the other recent SpongeBob releases, which, since there is a lot of repeated material, should hardly come as a surprise. It’s a lively enough 2.0, especially when it comes to the music, and there are sound effects being given the surround treatment more often now, though the effect, however cheerful, is still not exactly immersive.
Video
Same as ever, again and again. The colours are strikingly bright, the image is as sharp as ever. Also continuing to be present, though, is an aliasing problem. This might not be too noticeable on smaller screens, but on bigger ones, the breaking up of the outlines is bordering on the distracting. Bordering, I emphasize. Given the pleasures the SpongeBob world offers, it feels niggling to harp on such details.
Special Features
Sparse. Five karaoke music videos.
Final Thoughts
Really, this is a release that speaks for itself. Any viewer interested, and who doesn’t already own the last few discs, will be vastly amused. The extras, though, are disappointing.
