You can join the raging national debate about whether SpongeBob Squarepants is more for adults than children, but then you'd be wasting precious moments when you could be enjoying actual SpongeBob programs, now available in a solid nine-episode DVD collection, SpongeBob Goes Prehistoric.

SpongeBob is just that good. Like other multi-generational cartoon fare such as Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends and The Flintstones (yes, the 'Stones were once considered adult-level comedy, and originally aired in prime time) the world of SpongeBob is a mix of references for grown-ups (musical references in particular) with the way-out, no-holds-barred set-ups that appeal to, well, everybody who likes that kind of thing. It isn't too adult like Family Guy or The Simpsons, or an animated gross-out like Ren and Stimpy, or ultra-violent like Tom and Jerry. It's a little bit of all of those shows, but mostly it's just a nutty good time. SpongeBob is orginal, and not just because the lead character is a sponge.

Our porous protagonist lives in a pineapple under the sea, and his house pet is a snail named Gary who meows like a cat, but the underwater setting is really less important to the humor than the characters who populate the community of Bikini Bottom. SpongeBob himself is naturally at the center of each episode, diving into one misadventure after another with an enthusiasm that confuses, astounds, or vexes his friends and cohorts. The voice actor Tom Kenny (who stole scenes galore as a cast member of the 1990s HBO series Mr. Show), has made SpongeBob an irresistible comedy force by giving him a range of over-the-top emotions—especially gushing and giggling—that makes Pee-Wee Herman look like a simple spazz. That's saying an awful lot about Mr. Kenny because, let's face it, this is a sponge we're talking about.

The SpongeBob Goes Prehistoric collection also provides a good dose of other amusing denizens of Bikini Bottom. SpongeBob's next-door neighbor and best friend is a starfish named Patrick, a low-voiced dimwit who takes center stage for the episode "I'm with Stupid," built around the premise that Patrick is too dumb to remember his parents' names or what they look like. Squidward, SpongeBob's perpetually unpleasant coworker at the Krusty Krab fast food restaurant, features prominently in this collection, most notably when he appears at SpongeBob's door to apologize for a mean prank, and has such a hard time saying the words "I'm sorry" that his head explodes (there are a lot of exploding body parts in SpongeBob; they grow back in time for the next gag). Mr. Krabb, the greedy owner of the Krusty Krab, also gets a fair amount of time in this collection, as in the episode "Squid on Strike," in which SpongeBob unwittingly goes on strike for better wages, though he would gladly continue working for free, and "Squilliam Returns," about a high school classmate of Squidward's who returns to humiliate him. In "Squilliam," Mr. Krabb delivers the best line of the entire collection, when SpongeBob finds that he has cooked a pile of slop for the big fancy supper, instead of an elegant meal: "I thought you said you were the head cook on the S.S. Gourmet?!" SpongeBob exclaims. "No, I was the toilet washer on the S.S. Gourmet," says Mr. Krabb. "I was the head cook on the S.S. Diarrhea."

The nine-episode collection also includes "SpongeBob BC," featuring the usual cast of characters wearing animal skins and speaking in caveman grunts, and the episodes "Nature Pants," "Patty Hype," and "The Great Snail Race." The DVD includes a demo for the Bikini Bottom PC Game, though the actual game is not part of this package.

SpongeBob Goes Prehistoric is a great start for the uninitiated. Spend some quality time under the sea, where everyone is the village idiot, and the Krabby Patty is king.

— KEN DUBOIS