So in a truly genius move, the Aquabats made their first season into a long Möbius strip by connecting the cartoon to the live action via the last episode to the first episode. Here’s the order of events:
Starting with the backyard birthday party, the live action parts of season one happen in order. The Aquabats fight foes from ManAnt to Eagleclaw, to ghosts to Cobraman and Carl, until finally they face an enemy of epic proportions: Space Monster M. M hurls them into space at which point season one ends; all these events are still exclusively in the live action realm. Backtrack to the first cartoon segment of season one and we pick up where the battletram has just been hurled into space. We then follow all the cartoon segments of season one in order and see the Aquabats’ adventures in space (also directly in order) until the final cartoon segment in which a magic dagger sends them to the Time Sprinkler. The Time Sprinkler sends them back to the beginning of the “last year of your life” to start over. The time and place he sends them to is the birthday party from the very beginning of the live action segments of season one!
The first season could technically remain a stand-alone, self-contained loop if not for season two in which they are returned to earth in ambiguous fashion. So how many times did they loop and where did they escape? It’s hard to say for sure. In the cartoon finale when they meet the Time Sprinkler, Crash identifies him by name. This suggests it is not their first go around the loop. If they’ve already met the Time Sprinkler, this is the end of their second time living this particular year. The Time sprinkler sends them back for a third spin. We know they make it into space because it’s where they return from in season two. Because they seemingly have no way of returning to earth of their own volition, they must have had help. It’s possible after three times in this year they are reliving, Jimmy finally figured out how to use the magic dagger they obtain to send them directly home, instead of into the realm of the Time Sprinkler. Such a trip would certainly cause disorientation, memory loss and other weird temporal effects like the beards they sport in the season two opener. I might also add that it’s possible the cartoons they keep finding throughout season one are intended as a message from Jimmy to himself a la TNG’s Cause and Effect, so Jimmy can get them out of the endless loop.