Review: The Patrick Star Show “Gas Station Vacation”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

The Star Family go to a gas station theme park.

OUR TAKE

Okay, I guess we’re still at it with the Patrick Star show, this time with an episode that is probably more typical to what one would normally see if they watched it. In this case, a brief ten minute segment about the family going to a theme park, one themed after a gas station of all things. I haven’t watched the episodes prior to the Halloween episode last week, but since this is a normal episode involving the whole family, it seems like this would be a good opportunity to show what each member of the family is all about in terms of how they work in the comedic dynamic. Longtime fans of Spongebob know Patrick pretty well by this point, though there is a slight tweak in writing him here now that he is the center of focus as opposed to just being the second banana. His parents, Cecil and Bunny, are basically just slightly more intelligent versions of him. Also worth mentioning that the actor playing his dad, Thomas Wilson (known mainly for playing Biff in Back to the Future) has been voicing bit roles in Spongebob for most of the show’s run, amusingly having also played a different version of Patrick’s dad who then turned out to NOT be his dad.

Then we get to the grandparents, who I don’t quite have a handle on yet, though I do want to point out that Grandpat Star is voiced by Dana Snyder, who has most definitely been having a great year given that he’s been in The Ghost and Molly McGee, Aquaman: King of Atlantis, Jellystone, and now this. Perhaps we can get an Aqua Teen reunion one of these days and actually make the Aqua part accurate for once. Anyway, Grandpat seems to be the smartest of the bunch (though that’s a low bar) and even seems to scheme for profit a lot over the course of this episode. I have a feeling he and Mr. Krabs would probably get along quite well. Lastly is the adopted sister, Squidina, voiced by Jill Talley who plays Plankton’s wife Karen in the main show. I remember when this show was first being announced that her being Patrick’s adopted sister caused a bit of…well, not necessarily controversy, but definitely confusion, but that all seems to have died down. Next week seems to be a Bunny focused episode, so maybe I’ll have some more to actually discuss regarding Patrick’s canonical mother.