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** Maybe his trunks include a shirt, just like how his "pants" are actually a pants-and-shirt combo. Therefore the sleeves are part of the "trunks".
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** ArtisticLicenseBiology but they're "breathing" the water in, so it may cycle through their systems hydrating the rest of themselves from the inside. As for the rest of it, Spongebob and Patrick don't actually ''need'' to breathe the water to stay hydrated--there's multiple times in the series when they've been just fine for a while above-water (presumably as long as it's not hot and dry out.) The whole thing with the snow was that they can remain hydrated since they're surrounded by wetness (and the Dirty Dan fight would probably have been difficult to do if they were wearing helmets) and they weren't up in Sandy's tree for very long.
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*** Mr. Krabs is also established to have grown up poor in a post-movie episode; it's not unreasonable that people who grow up poor and manage to find success later in life would be nervous of ever becoming poor again, leading them to hoard their money rather than spend it and just be happy to be rich.
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** Especially since the house is right around the corner from the Krusty Krab, so if he REALLY wanted his drink he could have asked for him to go get it. [[FridgeBrilliance Then again, Spongebob and Squidward DID take a really long time to get just the pizza to him, so he might have been cranky about that too.]]
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* Maybe there was a worm in that apple controlling its movements.
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** Spongebob could potentially lie about how things are going over the phone.
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** Maybe it's for emergencies, like another swarm of anchovies.
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Headscratchers are legitimate questions about the plot, not an excuse to complain about the show.
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* Why did [=SpongeBob=]'s voice get so annoyingly high? When they brought the show back after the movie, did they decide to [[SerialEscalation add it to the growing pile of "Ways to make the show more annoying"?]]
** The first appearance of his new higher voice was in the movie, technically.
** The first appearance of his new higher voice was in the movie, technically.
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** Why do the show's writers just seem so bad sometimes? Like in this episode!
*** I don't really blame the writers, I mean at least the king of GettingCrapPastTheRadar, Aaron Springer, didn't write this. But if Santa has an all seeing eye, he should've seen SOMETHING about Plankton.
*** I don't really blame the writers, I mean at least the king of GettingCrapPastTheRadar, Aaron Springer, didn't write this. But if Santa has an all seeing eye, he should've seen SOMETHING about Plankton.
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** Whether they hand-deliver it or not could be an issue of how busy the restaurant is, with Spongebob giving people their patties if he can spare the time away from the stove. This is consistent: in "Squilliam Returns", he couldn't understand a waiter ''taking people's orders'' (everyone in the Krusty Krab orders at the counter,) it wasn't about delivering the food. The way I see it the Krusty Krab has never been viewed as a "respectable" restaurant--it's a fast-food joint. However, Spongebob is such a good cook that Krabby Patties are universally viewed as amazing to everyone but Squidward. This isn't counting how apparently it ''was'' viewed as a classy restaurant when Jim was working there.
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** iirc "Christmas Who" was itself supposed to be a flashback to the time when the Bikini Bottomites first learned about Christmas, so it could even be that it takes place before the series proper.
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** Mr. Krabs didn't steal the ingredient intending to frame Spongebob (he probably thought Plankton would get the blame, which he did at first.) He only shifted the blame towards his fry-cook when Spongebob was almost onto him as the actual thief; Spongebob described aloud who the thief would have to be (at the Krusty Krab during delivery, would had to know about the delivery, and would have to know what to do with the ingredient) and Krabs realized that he and Spongebob were the only two people who fit that description. By that point he was more interested in not being arrested and wasn't thinking about needing Spongebob to cook the burgers.
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** The longer titles are the names of the actual episode, the shorter titles are the name for the special (i.e. the episode and all the fanfare surrounding it. Like "You Wish" and "Shanghaied".
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**** ...It's also the only name he's ever referred to in-series. The only reference to "Poseidon" we get is the "Poseidome" in his introductory episode.
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** I'm a little confused about what you're not getting, but to break it down: Mr. Krabs assumes that Puff is Mrs. Puff's husband's name because in the USA the wife traditionally takes on the surname of the husband. When Spongebob says "oh no, she's single" Mr. Krabs asks about Mr. Puff because he's confused on how a ''Mrs.'' is single; if she was Ms. Puff he would have just taken "she's single" for granted. He just doesn't know if she's separated from her husband, divorced, a widow, or what. Spongebob also said "she's single" instead of "she's a widow" because he might not know, himself, what happened to Mr. Puff since Mrs. Puff "doesn't like to talk about it." Additionally, he knew that Mr. Krabs wanted to date her, so he responded that way to convey that Mrs. Puff is unattached and available (what "single" means in a dating context,) while calling someone a widow has a different connotation.
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* [=SpongeBob=] has an entire Patty Vault that holds hundreds (or thousands) of ready-to-eat Krabby Patties and yet he cooks fresh, new ones on the grill in this episode?
* Wouldn't the Patty Vault's patties have to be completely diverse to suit the customers' differing and varying tastes? Like what if a customer is lactose intolerant (no cheese) or is allergic to tomatoes or like in the beginning, the customer wants his Krabby Patty double fried in batter?
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First Mr. Krabs assumes that Puff is Mrs. Puff's husband's name, hence the "Aw, she's married". But, when Spongebob says "she's single", why Mr. Krabs ask about Mr. Puff? That would be a fitting answer to the statement "she's a widow". 'Also', we immediately see that there 'was' a Mr. Puff. who is dead, so Mrs. Puff is 'actually' a widow, not single.
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First Mr. Krabs assumes that Puff is Mrs. Puff's husband's name, hence the "Aw, she's married". But, when Spongebob says "she's single", why Mr. Krabs ask still asks about Mr. Puff? That would be a fitting answer to the statement "she's a widow". 'Also', ''Also'', we immediately see that there 'was' ''was'' a Mr. Puff. who is dead, so Mrs. Puff is 'actually' ''actually'' a widow, not single.a single lady.
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* Maybe I'm missing something, but this piece of dialogue in "Krusty Love" makes no sense to me:
->[=SpongeBob=]: That's my driving teacher, Mrs. Puff!
->Mr. Krabs: Mrs. Puff? Aw, she's married.
->[=SpongeBob=]: Oh, no, Mr. Krabs. She's single.
->Mr. Krabs: Then what happened to Mr. Puff?
First Mr. Krabs assumes that Puff is Mrs. Puff's husband's name, hence the "Aw, she's married". But, when Spongebob says "she's single", why Mr. Krabs ask about Mr. Puff? That would be a fitting answer to the statement "she's a widow". 'Also', we immediately see that there 'was' a Mr. Puff. who is dead, so Mrs. Puff is 'actually' a widow, not single.
->[=SpongeBob=]: That's my driving teacher, Mrs. Puff!
->Mr. Krabs: Mrs. Puff? Aw, she's married.
->[=SpongeBob=]: Oh, no, Mr. Krabs. She's single.
->Mr. Krabs: Then what happened to Mr. Puff?
First Mr. Krabs assumes that Puff is Mrs. Puff's husband's name, hence the "Aw, she's married". But, when Spongebob says "she's single", why Mr. Krabs ask about Mr. Puff? That would be a fitting answer to the statement "she's a widow". 'Also', we immediately see that there 'was' a Mr. Puff. who is dead, so Mrs. Puff is 'actually' a widow, not single.
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* Is Sandy's tree an oak or an apple tree? It produces acorns or apples DependingOnTheWriter. Should we suppose that she has genetically modified it so it would produce both?
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*** When do we get the free food?
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** You guys are [[SevenDirtyWords going about this]] [[Creator/GeorgeCarlin the wrong way]].
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** As a holder of Bachelor's Arts in Economics, I can tell you that vendors don't really care what kind of problems their potential customers have. They just want to find the biggest crowd of people on their turf and try to sell them something. Why? Because (LOTS of customers X price = LOTS of revenue/profit!)
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** As a holder of Bachelor's Arts in Economics, I can tell you that vendors don't really care what kind of problems their potential customers have. They just want to find the biggest crowd of people on their turf and [[OnlyInItForTheMoney try to sell them something. something]]. Why? Because (LOTS ([[MoneyDearBoy LOTS of customers X price = LOTS of revenue/profit!) revenue/profit]]!)
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** Bubble Buddy was hogging the only toilet on Goo Lagoon all to himself - and so hundreds (or even thousands) of fish lined up for the bathroom. The vendors, wanting to maximize revenue of course, saw the huge line for the bathroom as a rare gateway to riches.
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** Bubble Buddy was hogging As a holder of Bachelor's Arts in Economics, I can tell you that vendors don't really care what kind of problems their potential customers have. They just want to find the only toilet biggest crowd of people on Goo Lagoon all to himself - their turf and so hundreds (or even thousands) try to sell them something. Why? Because (LOTS of fish lined up for the bathroom. The vendors, wanting to maximize revenue customers X price = LOTS of course, saw the huge line for the bathroom as a rare gateway to riches. revenue/profit!)
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*** Right, because someone as obsessed with the Krusty Krab as Plankton couldn't possibly know the restaurant's business hours and the prices of its food.
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**One of the children's books had Mr. Krabs saying that Pearl "takes after mother that way", which would, somewhat (depending on whether or not you'd view it as canon) confirm that her mother is a whale, however, exactly what happened to her isn't said.
***It's clear he doesn't eat them, whatever he's doing.
**Not exactly. I think when they said he was a kid, they meant ''mentally'', as in he's too immature to take on the management of the Krust Krab 2.
***To top it off, he found out later that Squidward read his ([[spoiler:''work'']]) diary in "Little Yellow Book and didn't really know and, in the case of ''Bubble Buddy'', he tried but they threw him out of the way.
****Maybe, but, then again, Squidward was employed by Mr Krabs longer, so it's not unlikely that he's probably found out about it.
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***"Neptune" is his Roman name.
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***Maybe it was a writing error or NegativeContinuity, considering that Sandy did have that surname in a couple of other episodes.
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***It's a little farfetched but it's possible that there's enough air pressure to keep the water out while she opens that hatch for about a few seconds.
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**Or he got his license offscreen.
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***Or maybe he was but couldn't dig Scooter out, as, earlier, he had Spongebob's help to bury him up to his neck.
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***^If that's the case, than Larry is a case of MisplacedWildlife
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**This would seem to be implied by, in one episode, Gary going "Meo-NO!"
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****Considering some of controversy with that, it's possible that writers more or less phased that out.
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**The Movie, while supposed to be an ending, was retconned.
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***He's not just cheap but he's also a money ''hoarder'', which is why he'd chase a single penny.
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**Kind of TruthInTelevision, as, really, teenagers would much rather spend time to themselves and with friends, less so with their parents, in which case Pearl, while exaggerated isn't far off the mark.
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**It is a family business.
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***To add to this, Spongebob mentioned something about Patrick having a sister, to which the latter said, "What?! I don't have a sister."
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**It should be worth noting that they came because Squidward called them and the fact that, when hoarding situations get bad enough (as any show like {{Series/Hoarders}} or ''Hoarders: Buried Alive'' would show), authorities ''will'' be (or ''have been'') called, making the episode a case of ''RealityEnsues''
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**RuleOfFunny, most likely. Then again, Bikini Bottom does celebrate anything nautical or seafaring.
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**Besides the FurIsClothing, there's a also a case of GRatedNudity.
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**Some kind of cordless phone?
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***Some people really do hang out with people like that
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** Being ''dead'', or anything else!
* In the episode "Squid's Day Off", why didn't Squidward just call the Kristy Krab's phone to check in on SpongeBob? We know from other episodes that the restaurant has one.
* In the episode "Squid's Day Off", why didn't Squidward just call the Kristy Krab's phone to check in on SpongeBob? We know from other episodes that the restaurant has one.
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** You already acknowledged that this was an example of getting crap past the radar, so I'll assume you already know this implies he repeatedly wet his pants enough to turn them yellow.
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** You already acknowledged that this was an example of getting crap past the radar, so I'll assume you already know this implies he [[UrineTrouble repeatedly wet his pants enough to turn them yellow.yellow]].
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** Bubble Buddy was hogging the only toilet on Goo Lagoon all to himself - and so hundreds (or even thousands) of fish lined up for the bathroom that takes hours to wait for. The vendors, wanting to maximize revenue of course, saw the huge line for the bathroom as a rare business opportunity.
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** Bubble Buddy was hogging the only toilet on Goo Lagoon all to himself - and so hundreds (or even thousands) of fish lined up for the bathroom that takes hours to wait for. bathroom. The vendors, wanting to maximize revenue of course, saw the huge line for the bathroom as a rare business opportunity.gateway to riches.
** Being in a long line for something means you can't access food and drinks unless someone arrives and sells it to you. Try going on any of the rides at Disney or Universal theme parks, and you'll actually wish vendors would come to you like they did in Bubble Buddy.
** Being in a long line for something means you can't access food and drinks unless someone arrives and sells it to you. Try going on any of the rides at Disney or Universal theme parks, and you'll actually wish vendors would come to you like they did in Bubble Buddy.
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** Bubble Buddy was hogging the only toilet on Goo Lagoon all to himself - and so hundreds (or even thousands) of fish lined up for the bathroom that takes hours to wait for. The vendors, wanting to maximize revenue of course, saw the huge line for the bathroom as a rare business opportunity.
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* Isn't [=SpongeBob=] too young to drive anyways let alone take driving tests? It's pointed out he's just a kid, which was frequently pointed out in the movie. [[WesternAnimation/TheSpongebobSquarepantsMovie The 2004 one]].
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*** Probably because doing so would require leaving Squidward (the worst employee ever) in charge of the restaurant. That's hardly a responsible thing for the owner of a popular restaurant to do, especially when Spongebob only lives a short distance away. He does walk to work every day, after all.
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* What could be better than serving up smiles?!
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** But...but...
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*** This character quirk is actually a bit of marine biology-based FridgeBrilliance. Certain species of crabs have a habit of collecting things; in particular, shiny things.
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** It's possible that it's a vintage/antique vending machine. The dude loves his knick knacks and antiques, after all!
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** If the episode in question is "Patty Caper", then your assumption is wrong. Krabs framed SpongeBob for stealing the Krabby Patty secret "ingredient", not the formula, and it was for $1.99 instead of $1.25.
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** By the way, the episode you're thinking of is "Breath of Fresh Squidward", not "The Two Faces of Squidward". The episode you brought up is the one where Squidward becomes handsome
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Re-creating page with correctly capitalized title.
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* Is there any theory that Pearl might be adopted? Because Mrs. Krabs is supposedly Pearl's mother, so how the ''hell'' could two crabs create a whale child?!
** I think it's pretty obvious she's adopted.
** Also worth noting -- Mrs. Krabbs is Mr. Krabbs mother, not wife (that is to say, Pearl's Grandmother). Also, while it seems obvious for biological reasons that Pearl is adopted, it might be worth noting that Mr. Krabbs is implied to have been married at one point (e.g. when he says things like "I've been alone for so long!"), kids cost money (something Krabbs is highly adverse to), and logic in ''[=SpongeBob SquarePants=]'' is never necessarily a barrier to ANYTHING, it's still possible Pearl is biologically his child as well.
* Here are some [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar radar]]-related questions:
** We've seen the episode "Chocolate with Nuts", and at one point, [=SpongeBob=] points out that barnacle chips are not delicious, while Patrick replies with "not the way I use them". What was he talking about when he said that?
** There's also the cake from "Overbooked" and somebody wrote that what it originally said was "sorry about the scabies". What the [[PrecisionFStrike hell]] are scabies?
*** Google is your friend. But I'll tell you anyway upon my own research: it's a kind of skin disease marked by small itching and red spots. The reason it's a radar moment is because it's considered by many to be an STD, kind of like herpes.
*** What do scabies have to do with this?
*** Uhh... everything? I literally just answered what scabies was?
** Then, we have that one moment in "Something Smells". What does Squidward mean when he replies to [=SpongeBob=] shouting "I'm ugly and I'm proud!!"?
*** There are devout religious people who call people who live by sin ugly. I always assumed Squidward thought he was yelling a coded version of "I'm gay and I'm proud!"
* Does most of the lexicon Bubble Bass uses for his order even have real-world analogues? Some of it definitely comes from the In-N-Out Burger secret menu, but I've ''never'' heard anybody use "light axle grease" to denote butter on a burger. And no one's explanations make sense, because [=SpongeBob=] serves him a single patty on two regular hamburger buns on a dine-in platter, not several patties between between several slices of toast in a take-out bag, and the only thing Bubble Bass finds fault with is the lack of pickles.
** Every restaurant has it's own secret menu -- while most of his terms likely do come from real-world lexicon, odds are that there's a few ones that the writers threw in to make the Krusty Krab more unique.
* How come [=SpongeBob=] never had the balls to stand up to people and defend his belongings (i.e. "Bubble Buddy" and "Little Yellow Book")? What I meant by listing those two episodes is that in "Bubble Buddy" he did almost absolutely nothing to protect the titular object from the angry mob. In "Little Yellow Book" he just cries while Squidward reads his diary.
** Standing up to an angry mob can be incredibly difficult in real life and requires lots of courage and self-esteem. [=SpongeBob=] has a big heart but that doesn't mean he's rich in those qualities ("[=SpongeBob=], Sandy and the Big Worm", "Grandma's Kisses"). I agree with you on the diary episode, though.
*** On an unrelated note, that could explain why the Simpson Family didn't help Homer in "The Simpson's Movie", from the entire town of Springfield under the dome, if you know what I mean. Thanks for the answer.
* This is for humor: How did [[DeadpanSnarker Squidward]] know Mr. Krabs wore a sleep mask?
** WildMassGuessing, maybe?
*** Actually, after some time ago, I figured out that it implied that Squidward watches Krabs while he sleeps.
* If Bikini Bottom is supposed to be under Bikini Atoll, what's up with the Bubble Bowl?
** Perhaps it could be far away from Bikini Bottom?
* Why does Mr. Krabs wear a water helmet in Sandy's Treedome in "Overbooked", when crabs are amphibious(meaning they can breathe both air and water)?
** He says that, in "The Krabby Patty That Ate Bikini Bottom", that he doesn't need a helmet in the dome, as long as he keeps his body moist. He may have worn a helmet to stay hydrated.
* In Karate Star, we are shown that Patrick's limbs can regenerate very quickly. Why didn't his head regenerate in Patrick SmartPants?
** Likely because Patrick requires his brain to regenerate. Remember in Spy Buddies where two Patricks appear at the end? Could the other brain from Patrick SmartPants have generated a new body? Then again, the other hand regenerated a body...
*** That brain was in the sand, so that may be the reason it didn't grow into a whole new body. Though on the part about the hand, it probably regenerates into a body, and then the brain develops.
* From the episode "Selling Out", there was the part where Mr. Krabs sang. My question is how does a living yellow bird fly and tweet under water?
** There have been campfires on the show and this is what worries you?
** RuleOfFunny or WaterIsAir?
* In "Dunces and Dragons," how '''DID''' [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick warp into Medieval Times?
** The ending implies that it was AllJustADream, until Patrick reveals that [[OrWasItADream he landed on Squidly.]]
*** So, again, ''how did [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick warp into Medieval Times''?
*** AWizardDidIt
*** It WAS a dream. The "Squidley" guy was probably an ordinary costumed squid working for the Medieval Moments attraction.
* In "Pranks A Lot," [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick turn themselves invisible and try to scare Sandy into thinking they're ghosts... by wearing sheets over their entire bodies, making them very visible. However, if one looks at the shape of their figures while they have the sheets on, it's obvious that they don't have their water helmets on (which they need to survive inside Sandy's treedome). Yes, this is a minor issue, but the people demand continuity!
** To be fair they were only in there for a few seconds. Also, maybe the artists decided to omit the helmets to make their silhouettes more distinguishable.
* In the episode with the Toy Barrel, For some reason the Illuminati Logo- the All Seeing Eye appears twice, one in the pile of toys in Squidward's house, the other one in the Toy Barrel itself. Why are they there? Who would want to buy an Eye in a pyramid for a toy?
** Brainwashing. Also, it might be related to the Cephalopod Lodge.
** {{Getting Crap Past The Radar}}?
*** I agree. This show is after all quite a [[Radar/SpongeBobSquarePants radar-pusher]].
* Why doesn't Plankton just sneak into the Krusty Krab at night to steal a Krabby Patty or the formula? No one's (usually) there at night, the security is nil, and the two times Plankton does it, the only reason for his failure was because he involved [=SpongeBob=] both times.
** Hey, I'm guessing this is where WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief comes in. I thought so too, then I realized that evil might just have a bedtime too.
** I think they showed that security wasn't that bad at the Krusty Krab. In one episode Squidward breaks in at night and gets lit on fire by a gasoline trap. He simply doesn't want to risk immolation for the recipe.
*** That scene ''did'' get an OrwellianRetcon, though...
*** Erm, How?
*** MoralGuardians
*** It was actually cut because the method used to start the fires resembled terrorism.
** He's ''tiny''. He can't exactly get up on tables or open doorknobs, which is why he can't steal the formula without some kind of assistance.
*** Then why doesn't he just use one of his robots to open the doors?
*** He's tried, at various times. It never seems to work out right.
* Why don't he just get a note pad and copy the formula? Mr. Krabs will never know.
** Also even without [=SpongeBob=] he drops the ball a lot by himself, either by having a convoluted plan failing at the part where he shows himself to Krabs or changing life with Krabs only for crumbling under the insanity.
** He(except on some occasions) never seems to find the formula, and when he does, it's just a decoy.
* This is from Bubble Buddy; why are there vendors selling "Ice-cold drinks" to people waiting in line to use the restroom?
** Captive audience. Also, just because you have to go doesn't mean you're not thirsty.
** I assumed it was one of those running gags of when someone has to go badly, there's always liquids or running water nearby.
* Where did everyone (excluding [=SpongeBob=]) sleep in Gone!? Outside?
** At the episode's end, everybody returns on a bus, so it's implied that they went far away. They may have gone to another city that had enough hotels to hold them all.
*** With the burning [=SpongeBob=] effigy, it's likely to be a parody of Burning man so they probably went to the middle of nowhere and camped out.
* What did Patrick mean when he said [[{{GettingCrapPastTheRadar}} his underwear was white when he bought them]]?
** You already acknowledged that this was an example of getting crap past the radar, so I'll assume you already know this implies he repeatedly wet his pants enough to turn them yellow.
** Okay, first of all I wrote this earlier today and I'm surprised I got an answer hours later. Second of all, if they stay yellow, does this mean he never washes his clothes?
*** It's in my watchlist. Also, this is Patrick Star. He's lazy and has terrible hygiene, so I can't imagine he does laundry very often.
** Speaking of laundry, another way he could turn his underwear yellow is by mixing white with yellow in the washer.
* Krabby Patties are fish burgers. All the customers are fish. Yeah, that's exactly what this show needs: cannibalism.
** How'd ''you'' find out what the secret ingredient is? And how are you so sure you're right?
*** In the episode where Sandy wants to go back to Texas, at one part [=SpongeBob=] asks her if she wants to eat one final Krabby Patty, and she replies, "I don't wanna eat any more fish".
*** She said she was "tired of fish food, [=SpongeBob=]." Not that the food was actually made out of fish.
*** Although it is worth noting that [[{{Squick}} fish food is generally made out of ground-up fishmeal]].
** On the same vein, one of the *ahem* [[JumpingTheShark Season 6]] episodes had a criminal being arrested for eating ''quasi-gummi fish'' (the policefish said that he was a monster for eating his own kind). Besides the weirdness of the blatant cannibalism joke, where would he get those? I mean, if he was smoking the Bikini Bottom equivalent of weed, that would make sense, but a cannibalistic candy? How would you advertise them?!
*** It's not that weird an idea. Sour Patch Kids, Jelly Babies, etc. sell in our world.
*** Maybe... you buy it in a back alley, like crack.
*** More so, when the audience accidentally got fried in "The Fry Cook Games", that guy sold them as fish sticks and nobody complained.
*** They cut to another scene soon after so we wouldn't see the mass riot that would ensue.
*** They had a sign to switch to. They suspected it would happen.
** I can't believe nobody has pointed this out yet: CHUM IS A TYPE OF FISH. Y'know, chum, as in CHUM BUCKET? Yeah, I think I know why nobody eats there...
*** So in the episode where [=SpongeBob=] was putting lies into a newspaper, he was telling THE TRUTH about the Chum Bucket?! (Plankton's Chum made of your chums!)
*** And [=SpongeBob=] [=SquarePants=] has now reached the same level of NightmareFuel as Film/SoylentGreen. [[SarcasmMode Conglaturations.]]
*** If this troper is right, a "chub" is a cut of fish. "Chum" is fish ground up into a paste-like substance to be tossed into water to attract sharks... dang it.
*** "Spongicus" and "Jailbreak!" confirm the abscene of dead fish, although only the former mentions there is whale blubber.
*** Speaking of which, why don't we actually see any sharks in [=SpongeBob=]? The only one I can think of is the bodybuilder who appeared in the infomercial in "Musclebob Buffpants".
*** You're forgetting the family of sharks shown in "Spongeguard on Duty".
*** And the shark guy who taught [=SpongeBob=] how to drive blindfolded.
*** And the shark from the Anchor Arms commercial.
*** That's the bodybuilder from the infomercial in "Musclebob Buffpants" mentioned above.
*** Speaking of sharks, wouldn't they ''like'' chum? And thus become customers of Plankton's ''Chum Bucket''? Never mind, [[Tropers/{{Crion87}} this troper]] hasn't seen [=SpongeBob=] in ''quite a while''...
*** They would, it's just that Plankton is really, really bad at making it. Squidward's chum is shown to be so good that even ''[=SpongeBob=]'' completely forgets about Krabby Patties after eating it because it's just that much better.
** The buns are apparently made of seaweed (according to the episode in which Plankton hijacked [=SpongeBob=]'s brain) so the meat could be just about anything.
*** Seaweed-''seed''. One would assume this is similar to how we use sesame seeds.
** Ummm...fish eat other fish. I mean, look at sharks.
** Yeah, it's only cannibalism if that species eats its own species.
** Well, if you're going to call ''realism'' into this, then Plankton's a good meal for Pearl and Gary, and Patrick can be eaten by Mr. Krabs and jellyfish. Wait a minute, that's it! Krabby meat is made from starfish.
*** One post-movie episode actually played on this by having Plankton think that Pearl was out to eat him.
*** But... she's a sperm whale, which are carnivorous and prey primarily on squid... if anything, she should be trying to eat Squidward.
*** Squidward is an octopus.
*** [[OverlyLongGag So he would eat Mr. Krabs?]]
*** [[RhetoricalQuestionBlunder Yes. Octopi love to eat crabs]].
** Does that mean Patrick's the cannibal?
** Well, Sea Bears and Sea Rhinoceros (Rhinoceri?), nothing says they can't have (non-Manatee) Sea Cows for hamburgers.
*** Lionfish and seahorses have been shown to act like real (non-sentient) lions and horses, so a manatee being equivalent to a non-sentient cow is not out of the question.
** I always thought the Krabby Patties were made from sea cows since Sandy drove a herd of them in one episode.
*** Alternatively, [[WesternAnimation/RobotChicken Krabby Patties are made out of crabs!]] Crabs are scavengers anyways, so it wouldn't be too out of the blue.
*** Supported in the episode where Mr. Krabs is having a mid-life crisis, eats a Krabby Patty and says "So that's what I taste like"
*** Boy:"Mommy, my Krabby Patty tastes funny." Mother:" Well no wonder, it's all old and dried out. Like that man over there. Now put it away where it belongs. In the garbage." That's how Krabs gets the patty and tries it.
** WordOfGod says that Krabby Patties might be vegetarian.
** Ah, CarnivoreConfusion at its finest.
* [[FridgeLogic How do they have running water under the sea?]]
** In a similar vein, how come that Bikini Bottom's got a beach when it's already underwater? And how come that, in that episode with [=SpongeBob=]'s bubble friend, a fish drowns because the bubble friend didn't dig him out of the sand and the tide came? I mean, the guy's a fish and they're underwater anyway, for Christ's sake!
*** In both cases, RuleOfFunny.
*** Their "seaside" is actually tar (Goo Lagoon), which fish cannot breathe. As for why it has a tide, volcanic activity.
*** [[VoodooShark Does tar flow in rivers? Does it have surfable waves? Wouldn't the Goo Lagoon actually have goo in it?]] And while I'm at it, how did that 'wind whistling through [=SpongeBob=]'s holes' thing work?
*** Plus, in "Ditchin", [=SpongeBob=] is sinking in the Bikini Bottom Tar Pit, where he is, you know, DYING. This means either it depends how sticky he tar is, or Goo Lagoon must be something else.
** I recall one episode where they said it was mud ("Ripped Pants") but there was another ("Sponge Guard On Duty") that said it was in fact water. I'm assuming RuleOfFunny.
*** In that case, Goo Lagoon is a mixture of both: Gooey water that's wet enough to swim in, but gooey enough to be separate from the main seawater.
** They parodied this in the episode "Pressure", where Mr. Krabs gives [=SpongeBob=] something to drink before he goes up on dry land... an empty glass. [[DontExplainTheJoke Y'know, 'cause there's water everywhere.]]
** And during the Party episode:
--> '''[=SpongeBob=]:''' I would go to this party, but I can't read the invitation! The ink's all running! [[LampshadeHanging Whoever sent these invitations clearly didn't understand the physical limitations of life underwater.]] Well! [[HypocriticalHumor I guess we can just throw these on the fire!]]
** And ''again'' in the "Life of Crime" episode:
-->'''Patrick:''' (sitting with [=SpongeBob=] around a campfire) Hey, if we're underwater, how can there be a- (fire goes out)
** Well, this troper always assumed that the 'water' is brine, much like underwater brine lakes...
** Can we just attribute all this to WaterIsAir unless [[RuleOfFunny reminding viewers that it]] ''[[RuleOfFunny is]]'' [[RuleOfFunny water they live in gets more laughs]] and be done with it?
* Why did Squidward and Mrs. Puff (both of whom hate [=SpongeBob=]) go to his parties in "[=SpongeBob=] Meets the Strangler"?
** Its been shown often that Mrs Puff and Squidward only hate [=SpongeBob=] because of how he acts during boating and work, ie how he fails every test and how he is annoyingly cheerful. In fact, Mrs Puff tries to protect [=SpongeBob=] from going to jail and Squidward has shown concern for [=SpongeBob=] more than one, and both have shown to be protective of his childlike innocence, for instance during the Hall Monitor and Pizza episodes. So its no stretch for them to go to his parties, especially since their other friends will be there. Not to mention this was during the early seasons, when their hatred wasn't as pronounced. Its only the later seasons when they adamantly refuse to have anything to do with him, and even go as far as to try and kill him.
* Why so many episodes make littering SeriousBusiness. The first time littering was used as an offense was "Squid On Strike", but it was a minor gag. [[SeasonalRot After the movie]], it has shown up in several episodes. [=SpongeBob=]'s Cousin Manga/BlackJack was in prison for it ([[NoodleIncident wonder what he did?]]). In "Driven to Tears", the cop pursues Patrick and [=SpongeBob=] after [=SpongeBob=] tears up Patrick's license, claiming "This is why I joined the force!" (made even worse when [=SpongeBob=] tells him about Patrick's bad driving, and he calls him a [[PoliceAreUseless tattletale]]). The worst offender would be "Keep Bikini Bottom Beautiful", where apparently having a melted statue counts as litter, even if the city erected it. RuleOfFunny aside, it's becoming ridiculous. Of course, there are only so many offenses a kid-friendly show can show. (Heck, they tried with the "fish candy", and made the complaint above.)
** I think it's because litter and pollution underwater would kill the fish by choking them to death. You've heard of all those dolphins who get caught in the plastic can holder things right?
*** But, [[WaterIsAir their water has gravity]], and their dumps aren't contained in a HAZMAT unit or anything, it's just left open exposed to the water like any other dump would.
*** It's a combination of Rule of Funny and a pun on the fact that underwater critters suffer because of human littering and waste. It doesn't have to make consistent sense in-universe.
** This troper is reminded of the song ''Alice's Restaurant'', which does involve getting arrested, by the FBI yet, for littering.
*** The PoliceAreUseless, and it also doubles as a CantGetAwayWithNuthin.
* In several places (most notably in TheMovie), we see that [=SpongeBob=] & Co. are just a few inches tall. This makes Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy even more confusing.
** Well, Mermaid Man DOES have a Shrink Ray...
*** And if you recall they never did show if they managed to un-shrink themselves when [=SpongeBob=] got a hold of Mermaid Man's belt. Could be a Call Back to that.
** So that means all Nicktoons are tiny and translated?
** Or else [=SpongeBob=] later reversed the shrink effect with Squidward's Kelp Grow.
*** Either that, or Creator/DavidHasselhoff is a robotic construct piloted by the real thing.
*** Maybe Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy are sea-beings that happen to be small? Part sea monkeys, perhaps?
*** Sea ''apes'', actually.
*** Or maybe they're beings that are to sea monkeys what humans are to chimps and other lower primates?
** Wait, no one has realized how Pearl is smaller than most whale embryos?
*** She was [[InsaneTrollLogic obviously an evil whale that was shrunk and made friendlier by Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy]].
*** If we're going by the whole "Creator/DavidHasselhoff is HUGE" thing, you only saw David Hasselhoff up against [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick, not Pearl or Mermaid Man or anyone. Sea sponges and starfish aren't very big in real life.
*** She's half-crab. Fulfills the minimum required logic for [=SpongeBob=].
** I kinda figured that inches were their version of feet or that their size isn't relevant, unless an episode calls for it to be.
* Considering how many times [=SpongeBob=] has failed his boating test, can't they just ban him from boating due to some mental deficiency or something?
** Not necessarily, it might have something to do with anxiety, as he knows how to drive or, rather, possesses the skills and knowledge to but he becomes anxious, thus causing him to freak out and fail, which is would be a RealLife reason as to why.
** In one episode, "Doing Time", in a flashback, Mrs. Puff says that she promises that "As long as a student is willing to learn, I will NEVER give up on them!".
--> '''[=SpongeBob=]:''': "Hi! I'm [=SpongeBob SquarePants=]!"
*** AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
* Has anybody else noticed the retcons concerning the whole 'under the sea' thing? In one episode, there's wind blowing through [=SpongeBob=]'s holes. UNDERWATER. And in that episode with the submarine, how could chum be sucked into the submarine when the sub is filled with water? Don't even get me started with the underwater rivers and the fire in the surfing episode. Goo Lagoon is made of water now, not goo. And that bugs me. At least in the earlier episodes, they usually played it for humor or lampshaded it. Now...it's just ignorance.
** Perhaps the wind is a water current?
** ...You weren't at all surprised that during the surfing episode, they wash up on an island ''underwater''?
** Well, for that last one, there actually are undersea lakes. All it takes is water with much higher saline concentration. Search Website/YouTube, if you may, "Blue Planet" has shown it at least once. For the rest... BellisariosMaxim, too much?
** While we're on the subject, does anybody else realize that the submarine shouldn't even work underwater? Or that all the episodes referenced to here are [[{{Sequelitis}} after the movie]]?
* Why is [=SpongeBob=] shaped like a regular house sponge when his parents are shaped like sea sponges?
** Maybe he's from an affair?
*** Or it's a recessive thing?
*** His parents are Loofahs?
** Obviously he shaves, like that one episode where he makes his head from square to round, exposing his brain.
** [[IdenticalGrandson He looks like his grandpa and one of his ancestors]].
*** So it's recessive
** I always thought his parents were cookies...
* How would you ever get enough people willing to form a seven-mile spanking machine?
** Internet, ads in the newspaper, signs saying "free donuts" with fine print...
** Craigslist. Done.
** Fish are idiots?
** Probably done to raise money for charity.
* Why does Pearl never have to surface for air?
** She does and you don't see it?
** She does have to surface for air. In the beginning of the episode where she starts working for the Krusty Krab, Mr. Krabs mentions "it seems just like yesterday I taught her how to breach" and shows a picture of them jumping out of the ocean's surface.
*** Not just that, whales can and, more often than not, do hold their breath for a long time.
** [[NobodyPoops Nobody has to go to the surface for air]]
* Similar to the Pearl question above; what about the seal guy (Craig Mammalton, I think) in the tanning episode? How does HE survive underwater for the whole episode?
** Seals can hold their breath for a pretty long time, and the episode is only 11 minutes.
** Excuse me, but the episode itself might be 11 minutes, but in-universe, several hours had gone by.
* How does a [[strike:Krab]] crab have a whale for a daughter?
** That one's easy actually. Adoption. Considering we've never seen her mother, nor is she ever mentioned. It's likely Pearl knows this already.
*** In this [=SpongeBob=] trivia book I read in third grade, it had a page that said Pearl took after her mother. Meaning Mr. Krabs' wife was a whale.
*** Well, if I said that Pearl was much smaller than a normal whale, that would be massively understating it. Maybe she got the size from her father.
*** HotSkittyOnWailordAction?
*** More like Hot Krabby on Wailord Action.
*** Oh my god...[[BlatantLies Mr Krabs is a Krabby!]] [[InsaneTrollLogic It explains EVERYTHING!]]
** Maybe Pearl's mother was already pregnant with Pearl when she married Mr. Krabs.
** Apparently, she either died or divorced Krabs when pearl was very young, considering that when Krabs introduced "Cashina" to her, saying something about a new mom.
* [=SpongeBob=]'s favorite exclamation phrase is "Mother of Pearl!" Now let me ask, '''WHO THE HELL IS PEARL'S MOTHER?'''
** What '''really''' gets me is when ''Mr. Krabs'' uses the same phrase ...
** "Mother of Pearl" refers to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother-of-pearl Nacre, the organic material produced by mussels that makes pearls.]]. Still an odd choice for an UnusualEuphemism, but there ya go.
*** Not really. I've heard it used as a minced oath for "Mother of God" before.
*** I've always thought that when someone says "Mother of Pearl" they were exclaiming it in surprise, because this "Mother of Pearl"doesn't exist. Perhaps the same goes for [=SpongeBob=] and Mr. Krabs?
*** Actually, the expression is suppossed to be a standin for "Mother of God"
* Yeah, it's a dream sequence, but say Krabs actually caught Moby Dollar. It's still just a one dollar bill, isn't it, no matter the physical size of the bill itself?
** Maybe he could exchange it for a larger number of bills based on its size somewhere?
** It's related to all those over-sized novelty checks used for fundraisers?
** It's Mr. Krabs you're talking about. He would gladly risk his life even for less amounts of money.
*** In fact, he spent one episode obsessing over a ''penny''. Which [=SpongeBob=] found.
** It exhales money. (For those that have not seen the episode, ''that is not a joke''.)
** He can chop it up into little pieces that grow into money?
** Personally I think the reason for catching it is really obvious. It's a dollar considered, in his imagination, extremely rare and difficult to catch, like Moby Dick the whale. He's not catching it so he can spend it, he's catching it so he can own it as a trophy.
* I can understand [=SpongeBob=] having brown hair, but Patrick having black hair and Squidward having brown hair? Or maybe we've just become too accustomed to the fandom versions.
** Why is that so unbelievable?
** Patrick does have black hair. It's been shown in the show.
** And Squidward has blonde hair, as shown in "The Original Fry Cook".
** [=SpongeBob=] has blonde hair, according to his driver's license. He probably just shaves it off or gets it cut because he likes it that way? And in "Clams," his hair grew out and it was light blonde.
*** It was shown in one episode that he combs his hair into his shape or, rather, it's sort of like [=LSP's=] lumps, her hair is a part of shape and isn't apparent unless otherwise.
* In the bully episode it was a plot point that [=SpongeBob=] didn't have bones or organs, but in many later episodes he does have them.
** One, ''[[NegativeContinuity It's [=SpongeBob=]]]''.
** Now that I think about it, I can't remember seeing [=SpongeBob=] with bones until after the movie, so...
** WRONG! He's shown to have bones in "I Had An Accident". Plus, his brain has been exposed in an episode whose title I had forgotten. And both episodes came before the movie.
** His brain could be squishy enough to not be damaged by Flats's punching (Halloween Episode, btw), and "I Had An Accident" is both a BizarroEpisode (even for [=SpongeBob=]) and very close to the end of season 3, which technically still means that [=SpongeBob=] tends to have bones more as the series progresses. The movie just accelerated things.
*** Indeed; that episode was the single least comprehensible episode of the original four seasons. Still funny as heck, though.
** [=SpongeBob=] does have bones in "Squid on Strike", but it was in the distant future so it could be evolution in action.
** His "bones" aren't really bones, and Flats' punching isn't that hard.
*** RuleOfFunny zigzags this in the sense of sometimes he has bones and sometimes he doesn't.
* If [=SpongeBob=] and Squidward have to pay to work at the Krusty Krab how are they not bankrupt and why is Squidward still working there?
** On the same note; why doesn't Squidward quit his job if he hates it so much? I'm sure he can find a better one. I doubt he gets a good pay, and he has [=SpongeBob=] and Krabs to bother him, so him being lazy there isn't worth it.
*** ''Brother, Can You Spare A Dime''. Squidward quit, and he became homeless.
*** According to the episode "The Original Fry Cook", the only reason he's working at the Krusty Krab is because he believed his clarinet career would take off from there. Also, Squidward has worked longer at the Krusty Krab, so you'd think he would begin to get paid soon after the series began.
** [=SpongeBob=] said he had to pay when he first started. Presumably he's been promoted enough to actually get paid, rather than vice versa.
*** Actually, in the episode ''One Coarse Meal'', it is revealed that Krabs pays his employees with fake money.
** On ''Squid on Strike'' [=SpongeBob=] didn't accept his pay check because "grilling is his passion". I think he may have a "real" (higher paying) job on the side.
*** Well in "Shell Shocked" we learn his appendeges can grow back. He's probably a millionaire from organ trading, but keeps the fact hidden.
** ''Skill Crane'' shows that, yes, Mr. Krabs pays both Squidward and [=SpongeBob=], apparently on a weekly basis like most jobs. ("But Mr. Krabs, today is Monday?") Their wages could be minimum wage for all we know, and the only reason Mr. Krabs so willingly gave what appeared to amount to at least $20 in quarters is because he knew Squidward would lose it all to the Skill Crane before the end of the day.
* In the episode where Mr. Krabs "sheds" his shell and makes [=SpongeBob=] wear it to his navy convention, are Krabs's friends so ''[[TooDumbToLive dumb]]'' that they can't tell that there is a ''yellow sponge'' inside the red shell? Seriously, you would think that being in the navy/army would let you see obvious differences in your best friends, but yeah, maybe it's just me that's bugged.
** Last I checked, the only thing that was really noticeable was the eyes; They probably just thought he had changed over time.
*** About the eyes-- why was [=SpongeBob=] able to reshape his own eyes to resemble Mr. Krabs's eyes in ''Krusty Love'', but didn't bother in that episode (Shell of a Man)?
*** [[EyeScream Wouldn't that hurt?]]
*** In "Krusty Love" he does that temporarily. If he kept his eyes like that for longer, they would probably start hurting very badly. [=SpongeBob=] is largely resistant to injury, but that doesn't mean it can't happen.
* In the episode where a dream version of [=SpongeBob=] invades the dreams of others, why, in response, do the people whose dreams were invaded break into the real [=SpongeBob=]'s house, wake him up, then yell at him about it? It's like it's teaching kids to yell at someone for being in your dream.
** To be fair, [[JerkAss Sponge was purposely invading his friends' otherwise happy dreams and ruining them...]]
** More importantly, why was Pearl there? All Bob did in her dream was unearth a flower.
*** Maybe Pearl was offended that [=SpongeBob=] was looking for Mr. Krabs' dream instead? She did seem disappointed.
*** But she was happy a few second later when she got back to her tea party, and also, Gary was angry at [=SpongeBob=] when he didn't ruin his dream either?
*** He was going into people's dreams, but he wasn't ruining them on purpose, it was all just his usually innocent clumsiness.
*** As for Gary being angry, it was because he felt [=SpongeBob=] was invading his privacy:
-->'''Dream Gary:''' [=SpongeBob=]? How dare you invade the sanctity of my dream?
** Also, why is Patrick there? [=SpongeBob=] didn't really do anything but talk to him and left before it was "ruined".
*** Patrick didn't come until after everyone chewed out [=SpongeBob=]. He only wanted an quarter and probably saw everyone going to [=SpongeBob=]'s house and figured he could ask one of them for one.
* How did [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick get into the Cephalopod Lodge? Did they [[InstantSedation chloroform]] the guard? Did they crawl in through a plothole? How!?
** [[ScrewTheRulesIHavePlot They walked right through the door]].
** The guard took his break
* Similar to the water problem, it seems water acts the same as air in the [=SpongeBob=] Universe. In one episode, [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick fall down an abyss. I know they don't have fins, but they could have just crawled up like any Sea Star and Sea Sponge could. Same thing for the fish. Except for moments of funny, the fish never swim but just walk.
** PlotInducedStupidity
** Sea sponges can't move.
** It would take days for Patrick to get back up, maybe even months.
* How can [=SpongeBob=] use the oven (and the lights, and the refrigerator for that matter) when they're under water? The electric appliances would have short-circuited from contact with the water.
** Maybe it's the same type of light used by deep-sea fish: bacteria?
** [[WaterIsAir They're really only underwater when]] [[RuleOfFunny they can make a joke about how they're underwater.]]
** Who's to say that in the [=SpongeBob=] universe, the sentient underwater creatures have designed electronic appliances that somehow work underwater?
* Poseidon is pretty large, but he still isn't large enough to be a full-scaled person. Can he change his size at will?
** Well, given the fact he's an '''ALL POWERFUL WATER GOD''' then yes, yes he could.
*** He also apparently grew taller [[spoiler: before he transformed [=SpongeBob=] into a god near the end of Neptune's Spatula]]. He must be able to change size at will.
** I thought it was Neptune?
* If Sandy is a sapient talking squirrel, how do the humans on the surface treat her and her species?
** I always thought the animal characters could talk English, but the humans (like the diver in TheMovie) only speak gibberish.
*** But Creator/DavidHasselhoff could talk to [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick in the same film...
*** He could also move like a speedboat without kicking or paddling; I think its safe to say that The Hoff is an exception to the general human rule.
*** Don't forget the artist at sea that dropped his magic pencil into the sea in "Frankendoodle"
*** We were listening not to how the fish heard him, but how humans heard him.
*** AnimalTalk can be understood by all the animals, and human's can't understand it.
* Just how did a giant ape and his horse breathe under the water to beat up [=SpongeBob=] anyway?
** [[BizarroEpisode That episode is really, really, ''really'' weird,]] and the two themselves lampshade this at the end. The episode itself then ends [[MindScrew with a live-action family quizzically looking at the television screen and shutting it off]].
* If Squidward only has suction cups for hands, how can he play the clarinet? In fact, how can Mr. Krabs do anything involving hand manipulation when he only has claws?
** Note that, aside from a few instances, Squidward doesn't play the clarinet particularly ''well.'' As for Mr. Krabs, it's been shown a few times that he can seemingly grow extra claws when they're needed for pointing. Maybe he did a deal with Neptune wherein he gained limited shapeshifting abilities in exchange for his soul?
* How can [=SpongeBob=] have parents when his species can reproduce by budding?
** Adoption?
** They got married, then budded [=SpongeBob=].
** Budding isn't the only way sea sponges reproduce, they also spawn into the open water and hope everything works out.
* People talk loud when they wanna act smart, right?
** CORRECT!
* If Plankton "WENT TO COLLEGE!" then how did he end up with a [[CrapsackWorld dead-end restaurant job]]? What did he major in that that's all he can do with his life?
** Perhaps he flunked?
** Seems unlikely. He is a master of creating robots, especially his sentient robot wife, Karen. There must be a degree for that. Perhaps if it wasn't for his shortsightedness he would have found a job that would have been more beneficial to society other than making chumwiches and flipping burgers. He even managed to take over the world in the movie.
*** Actually, he onlys took over Bikini Bottom. And according to the episode where he falls in love with Mr. Krab's mother, when Karen starts blabbing on, Plankton asks "Why did I ever '''buy''' that computer wife?".
** Technically, he said 'Nagging Software'. So, my best assumption is that Plankton bought many parts to create Karen.
** His rivalry with Krabs stems from ''before'' college. Presumably after he got his degree he opened a restaurant in hopes of beating Krabs at his own game.
** Maybe he majored in Restaurant Management.
** VillainousBreakdown perhaps. He used to be somewhat competent, around the same time Krabs started torturing him unprovoked he seemed to lose his mind.
** More like a case of ReedRichardsIsUseless. He could totally make a living off his inventions.
*** Unfortunately TruthInTelevision for some people. It's perfectly possible to spend four years in college and end up in a dead-end job if your major was something that there's not much call for outside of teaching, such as Medieval French Literature or somesuch, and since many employers hire strictly based on the possession of a college degree and not practical knowledge, Plankton may simply be unemployable. My local paper refuses to even consider hiring applicants who hold less than a bachelor's degree, for instance.
** Dead-end? He owns his own restaurant. I mean, it could do better, sure, but it's not like he's just a cook.
* Now I know they've covered this subject on the show, but if [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick cause Squidward so much misery why doesn't he just pack his stuff and leave Bikini Bottom? I mean, Bikini Bottom surely can't be the only city underwater.
** Because Squidward tried in one episode (he moved to a city of other squids), and he just couldn't take the monotony. He NEEDS the chaos that [=SpongeBob=] brings to his life.
*** Why did Squidward choose to unhappily take his bike to work and eat the same food everyday? He made it more monotonous than it had to be.
*** [=SpongeBob=] took over making Squidward's life interesting, so Squidward had no idea what to do when bored.
* This has bugged this troper for a long time... In one episode, Karen brings Plankton a Krabby Meal, and he plays with the Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy toys before seeing Mr. Krabs on the side of the Krabby Meal box and smashing it up. WHY DIDN'T PLANKTON JUST TAKE THE KRABBY PATTY OUT OF THE KRABBY MEAL?! It was stated earlier in the episode that a Krabby Meal comes with a Krabby Patty, so this is just inexcusable. Plankton even REACHED INSIDE the Krabby Meal to collect the toys. How could he have not found the Krabby Patty inside?!!
** Again, PlotInducedStupidity, to the point were it's an unutterable blunder. Don't worry, we feel your pain.
*** Mr. Krabs probably knows who Karen is. This Troper assumed that Krabs only sold her the box and the toys without an actual Krabby Patty, and the reason Krabs didn't just throw her out was because she had money.
*** In the episode where Plankton needs to get Karen an anniversary present, she does the obvious thing and buys a Krabby Patty and analyzes it. But another headscratcher is that she is shown printing it out, and even shows it to Plankton in a bottle, but at the end of the episode, she has to load it up again. Then again, she was not about to give it to Plankton until he actually got her gift; so she might have deliberately shredded the first recipe.
* Okay, in the slide-whistle episode, after Squidward ends up in the hospital, [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick run amuck in the hospital having fun with the slide whistles. Right at the end, they interrupt a doctor sewing up a belly by imitating his actions with slidewhistles while they stand on a skylight above. The doctor starts laughing, and ''pulls the sewed up skin while he laughs''. My question is this: [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Why is there a skylight in what is quite likely an operating room]]?
** You forget, in the new ones, SB and Patrick are {{Karma Houdini}}s to the Nth degree, while Squidward CantGetAwayWithNuthin.
* Why doesn't Plankton ever try to pump SQUIDWARD for information on how to make a Krabby Patty? He's demonstrated on numerous occasions that he knows how to make them, and he'd probably be pretty easy to buy off, given his hatred of his job.
** Because Plankton doesn't have the money, as a failing businessman, to bribe him.
** Squidward doesn't make the patties anyway. When he DOES, they turn out horrible. And he's never shown he knows about the secret.
*** He can however be made to "provide excellent service" under pressure.
** There is an episode ("Sweet and Sour Squid") where Plankton does try to get information from Squidward, not that it did him any good.
* Did I hear wrong or was Sandy referred to as "Sandy Squirrel" in "The Last Stand"? Did [=SpongeBob=] forget her name or something?
** Even worse: no one on the writing staff noticed? No one on the production team noticed? Creator/TomKenny didn't even notice?!
** I'm guessing [=SpongeBob=] said it as a term of endearment?
* What the hell happened to Mr. Krabs's head-over-heels obsession with Mrs. Puff? They seemed to be dating at the end of that one episode, but now Krabs has been showing complete indifference, sometimes rudeness towards her. Did all of this never happen, or what?
** Yeah, Mr. Krabs has generally become an awful character these days. He used to have redeeming qualities; now he's nothing but a greedy jerk who doesn't care for anyone, whether it be [=SpongeBob=], Mrs. Puff, or his own daughter.
*** But that doesn't answer why when the police are asking her about who tried to raid her garden, she never identified him, despite previously dating him. Like other examples on this page, it's like the writers aren't even paying attention to continuity.
*** In "Summer Job" Krabs actually seems repulsed at the idea of dating Mrs. Puff and spends the rest of the episode blackmailing and torturing her. This is either a case of CanonDisContinuity or the writers are insistent this [[TookALevelInJerkass isn't the same]] [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Mr. Krabs of the early seasons]].
** It could be that any affection between them burned out over the few dates they had, in particular Mr. Krabs' emotional whipsaw over the money he spent on stuff Mrs. Puff didn't even want. And don't forget, [=SpongeBob=] has been with them all along, which is enough to bollix any relationship.
** Definitely CanonDiscontinuity seeing as the two were dating in Whirly Brains, and since this is an episode made during Hillenburg's return.
* '''Just who the dickens is running the Krusty Krab when [=SpongeBob=], Mr. Krabs and Squidward are out having adventures?''' Many times it's obviously a mealtime (like when Mr. Krabs took Mrs. Puff out on a date), prime moneymaking time for any restaurant! I worked in fast food (McD's) for three years, and this point continues to perplex me.
** In "The Bikini Bottom Triangle", it is revealed that Pearl minds the place when her father is gone. However, it is also revealed some strange seacaptain or something takes care of the store and cooks if everyone else is gone, which begs the question, '''How can some random person be able to take full control of the Krusty Krab and know how to make Krabby Patties without permission, training, or any other necessary requirements?'''
*** That seacaptain is the living embodiment of the Krusty Krab?
*** Or perhaps it's just closed?
** Mr. Krabs has been shown to close the Krusty Krab at random times for illogical reasons, to the disappointment of his customers. This is probably what happens when he, [=SpongeBob=], or Squidward aren't around (or incidents when Squidward has to cook in [=SpongeBob's=] absence take place far more often than is shown). And since the Krusty Krab appears to be by far the best restaurant in Bikini Bottom (not saying much, though), the customers might just deal with it and come back later.
* Is there a scene missing in "Fungus Among Us?" The Ick is cured whenever Gary eats it off of the other characters... But wasn't he trapped in a bubble earlier in the episode? Did he escape? Did [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick pop him out too?
** Think about it. There were a couple of tubes leading between the bubbles. Lots of sharp objects in [=SpongeBob=]'s house, and that film can't be that hard to get off by something left around, like the swords. Gary could probably pull something out of his shell and stab the bubble as soon as everyone left the room. Pick a method, Gary escaped with reason.
* Why did [=SpongeBob=]'s voice get so annoyingly high? When they brought the show back after the movie, did they decide to [[SerialEscalation add it to the growing pile of "Ways to make the show more annoying"?]]
** The first appearance of his new higher voice was in the movie, technically.
* What's with minor characters acting like they haven't met certain characters in the [[SeasonalRot post-movie episodes?]] In "Pets Or Pests", Larry asks [=SpongeBob=] IF THEY'VE MET. And don't tell me NegativeContinuity, either; Larry knows other characters in some episodes (he knows Sandy in "Someone's in the Kitchen With Sandy"). Maybe it was a "joke" on how [[DemotedToExtra minor of a character Larry can be?]]
** WordOfGod is that, since the movie was ''supposed'' to officially end the series, any episodes that are produced after the movie are meant to take place chronologically ''before'' the movie. If that makes any sense, [[ExecutiveMeddling which it probably doesn't.]]
*** To this troper, it doesn't. If that was true, it would still mean that every episode would still have taken place before the movie, so it's like saying that all the previous episodes with Larry didn't happen... maybe it's something like [=SpongeBob=] had never gone to that store they were by, and Larry was so surprised to see him there he wasn't sure if it really was [=SpongeBob=]?
** Larry is presented as vain in most episodes with him in it; he probably just forgot about [=SpongeBob=] because he doesn't give a rat's hat about him.
** [[Wiki/SCPFoundation There is no canon.]]
* The episode "A Day Without Tears"... was there any reason [=SpongeBob=] called Patrick, other than to ask if he thought he could make it [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a day without crying?]] They mentioned something about a package, but it didn't get anywhere. OrphanedPunchline?
** It could be either that, a BigLippedAlligatorMoment, or the joke just fell flat.
* Spongehenge: those statues he carves merits discussion. First off, why on earth do they have that expression? It's the least [=SpongeBob=] could have done to carve them with a more jovial expression, but instead, he goes ahead and gives them this fearful expression that comes off as really, really annoying. Second, if that stone is depicted to be heavy, how on earth would those spindly legs hold up the weight of the statues? Even assuming that the statues are somewhat hollow and that the fluid dynamics underwater prevents the statues from collapsing on their own weight immediately, wouldn't they still erode over 3000 years? And finally, why does [=SpongeBob=] need so many of them? We'd already seen that a single statue was enough to distract them; all he needed after was one good statue to solve the problem.
** The reason he needed more than one was because the jellyfish didn't like the tune the statue made. All of the statues together were able to fix the tune, for some reason.
*** That partially explains it, but we'll [[AWizardDidIt let magic solve the rest]]. Still doesn't explain why they have that "fearful" expression on them.
*** Maybe the correct musical notes were partially dependent on how he shaped his mouth?
*** Of course, the biggest problem would be [[WaterIsAir "How does wind blow underwater in the first place?"]]
*** Currents.
* In "Summer Job," how did [=SpongeBob=] manage to become a driver's ed teacher if he doesn't have a license?
** For the sake of sadism on Mrs. Puff's part. Seriously.
** It has been said: "Those that can, do. Those that can't, teach."
** Considering how many times [=SpongeBob=]'s taken the driving course he's probably memorized the whole thing, even if he himself still can't drive.
*** Incidentally, this can be TruthInTelevision, in the sense of how some people that don't or otherwise can't drive (i.e, not having a licence or being impaired in some way) can and, sometimes, do know more about driving than people who can and do drive. It's kind of a weird case of something akin to TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes.
* It bugs me that the fish in some episodes will just throw their food away. If they can't eat it, or someone ruins it, fine. But in episodes like "No Hat For Pat" they throw their food and sodas on the ground simply because they were bored with Patrick. Um... Why aren't you eating it?
** Perhaps they were so badly bored that they lost their appetites?
* In Boating Buddies... When Squidward complains that [=SpongeBob=] is the one that ruins his life, Mrs. Puff says, "You too?", which is very accurate. But... why did she put them together to drive?! And don't say "Alphabetical by last name", you think she would help the guy she can relate to! What, did she think they would have to suffer together?
** Taken further in "Summer Job" when Mrs. Puff is blackmailed into taking over Squidward's job for a week. She doesn't last one day of [=SpongeBob=]'s idiocy and Krab's abuse before quitting, blasting that taking over the life Squidward lives [[WasItReallyWorthIt isn't worth evading criminal charges]].
* Why doesn't Plankton simply get someone else to buy a Krabby Patty for him?
** Lampshaded in the episode where his computer wife, Karen, goes over and buys one for him as an anniversary present.
* In the Valentine's Day episode, [=SpongeBob=] blows Sandy a chocolate bubble. Sandy opens up a hatch in her helmet and eats it ''while they're underwater.'' What the?
** RuleOfFunny?
* Flats the Flounder enrolls in Mrs. Puff's boating school in one episode; later on in that same episode he's seen driving a garbage truck. Of course explanations can be easily thought up for this, like maybe he is driving the truck without a license, or he is such an awful driver that he couldn't get his license yet or it was revoked. But without thinking so hard...
** Maybe he was in Boating School for a traffic violation like Squidward was in "Boating Buddies".
* At the end of the Bubble Buddy episode, Bubble Buddy is shown to have been sentient the whole time. That means he could have saved Scooter from drowning earlier, but chose to just stand there and watch.
** That cold heartless bastard of a bubble.
** Hey, Scooter sounded like he enjoyed High Tide. At least we know who's going to Bubble Hell.
*** Bubble Hell must be that level in Mega Man filled with spikes.
*** Perhaps he wasn't sentient at the time.
* At the end of Krabby Road, Plankton goes back to jail. I understand that. But why do [=SpongeBob=], Patrick, and Squidward get thrown in with him? They had no idea that they were harboring an escaped fugitive.
** ...They ''weren't''. At least, I recall them standing ''outside the jail'', unless I'm remembering the episode wrong.
** I believe that they were inside the prison yard.
* Why doesn't Plankton use his scientific genius for good instead of evil? His intelligence is amazing! His "Goo Goo Gas", with a little tweaking, could be used for eternal youth! He also invented a time machine! Surely he would make billions more money if he sold his inventions than running a greasy restaurant whose menu consists solely of HumanResources. He would even beat his competitor Krabs that way! (Plus, he could probably end up taking over the world from there, anyway.)
** [[CutLexLuthorACheck Do you really need to ask?]]
** He says it himself: being evil is too much fun.
* What I can't believe is how in "Squirrel Jokes," something that [=SpongeBob=] said in a ''comedy routine'' changed the way people treat Sandy so drastically?
** FantasticRacism.
** The Bikini Bottomites tend to "follow the herd"--they go along with anything announced publicly (apparently even in a comedy routine). They believed everything in the tabloid Krabby Kronicle; and then there's the mass histeria over "Mad Snail Disease" in "Once Bitten", as a few examples.
* Several episodes state (and one episode even emphasizes) that Mr. Krabs is old. If that's so, how is his grandfather still alive? It's enough of a stretch to believe that his mother is...
** Likewise with Plankton. They're at least fifty.
** A few throwaway lines have indicated that Mr. Krabs is borderline immortal, like Squidward describing the Vikings as having been around "in Mr. Krabs' day" and another episode showing that his first dime was a giant rock. Presumably it's a family thing. This may have something to do with the fact that IRL some crustaceans don't age, just keep getting bigger (meaning that Mr. Krabs may not just be descended from the tiny crabs who only say "money" that have been shown in prehistoric times, he might have actually ''been'' one of them).
* At the end of "Grandma's Secret Recipe", how does Plankton's grandma know to look for him in the '''safe'''? Yeah, I know, RuleOfFunny and all (I '''guess...''')... They should have shown something like, "I sense my teeth in THERE!" rather than have her show up at random. It seemed like a cheap and quick way to end the episode.
** Grandma Plankton probably knows him rather well. "That Sheldon's gone off looking for the secret formula again, and I'll just bet he's in the safe."
* Larry the Lobster is bright red. But only cooked lobsters are that color... zombie lobster?
** Real lobsters are green before cooking. I'd think that making Larry green would make him look even ''more'' zombie-like, not less. If it helps, remember that Larry does spend a lot of time at the beach...[[FridgeHorror in the sun.]]
*** I dunno if this would apply, but I have seen lobsters for sale at a pet shop that were the same orangey color as Larry. They were tiny, freshwater lobsters, but I know they were lobsters and not some other crustacean.
* How can you burn a milkshake? ("Pickles")
** Burn, not likely. Boiled? Maybe...
** He most likely left the milkshake on the stove and forgot about it, burning it.
* If Squidward plays the clarinet horribly, how does he get so many shows and rehearsals?
** People can't throw stuff at him if he only plays at home.
** [[WildMassGuessing Also, it's possible that he only gets the shows because of his]] SoBadItsGood [[WildMassGuessing factor of playing, and the audience plays along like during a Rocky Horror screening.]]
** Squidward actually has been seen to play reasonably well sometimes, such as in ''Bubble Stand''.
* A few episodes show [=SpongeBob=] and Squidward having Sunday as their day off. So how can that episode where the K.K. is open 24 hours and forever work out? Squidward really wanted to go home, so why didn't he just go home on Sunday?
** It wasn't their day off, they just forgot to switch the "closed" sign to "open".
** I think he was referring to other episodes where they don't go to work and it's mentioned that it's Sunday. Anyway, it's possible that Krabs took away the day off. I wouldn't put it past him.
** Then again, there's two episodes where Mr. Krabs seems to have learned the hard way that the 24-hour thing isn't a good idea.
* If Squidward's rival is named Squilliam, does that mean that Squidward's name would be Widward if he were human? Also, why in earlier episodes does Mr. Krabs call him ''Mister'' Squidward when "Squidward" is clearly his ''first'' name?
** It was a running gag in one of the episodes (can't remember which) when a lot of people tried and had trouble saying his last name, so maybe it's a really subtle running gag in the show, since really no one says his last name in the first place.
*** The episode you're talking about was "The Great Snail Race", wherein they pronounced it Tennisballs, Tentpoles, and Tortellini.
*** There's also the tree house episode. From their tree house, [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick are calling Squidward "Widward". I'm not sure if that hints at anything, though.
** Squidward is a mix of "Squid" and "Edward". It's not much of a stretch to believe that if Squidward was human, he'd be named Edward.
* Does Bikini Bottom have some sort of Labor Board? It's astounding how the Krusty Krab is able to stay open when Mr. Krabs does things like pay slightly below minimum wage, having 2 employees staff the entire resturant, and the insane amount of things he does to save a few cents...
** My memory's a bit foggy but Bikini Bottom does seem to have some kind of union organization. There was an episode when [=SpongeBob=] was forced to take a vacation or Mr. Krabs would get fined. Also, in many real life cases of employee abuse it's up to the employees to complain to a higher authority to get better treatment at work. However, [=SpongeBob=] loves his job too much to realize he's being taken advantage of and Squidward only went on strike once with [=SpongeBob=] but nothing came out of it because [=SpongeBob=] destroyed the Krusty Krab. Otherwise, Squidward just complains but doesn't actually do anything.
** I think it was specifically a Fry Cook Union, which makes no sense considering The Krusty Krab and the Chum Bucket seem to be the only fast food restaurants in Bikini Bottom. [=SpongeBob=]'s the only fry cook at The Krusty Krab and all the food at the Chum Bucket is produced by machines. So if there was a union, wouldn't it basically be [=SpongeBob=]? Even if there were multiple fast food places in the city, why would Krabs allow his restaurant to unionize? [=SpongeBob=] would work 24/7 for free and the other union members would likely kick [=SpongeBob=] out for being so annoying.
*** Actually, there have been other restaurants shown or mentioned, but never in detail (that fancy restaurant, those restaurants that keep on stealing [=SpongeBob=] from one another in that one episode). It's likely that either [=SpongeBob=] isn't a member of the union, or Mr Krabs used to have working conditions that were so bad that they make the ones his employees currently have generous by comparison.
* In "Dunces and Dragons," why didn't Medieval Sandy need an air helmet?
** AWizardDidIt.
*** [[FridgeBrilliance Considering who she was working for, that's actually plausible.]]
** Ignoring the 'no air helmet' issue, what was Medieval Sandy even doing underwater in the first place? Sandy lives underwater in order to do scientific research, and she (along with her ancestors) was originally from Texas. Medieval Sandy isn't doing any sort of scientific research, and there's no real reason for her to be underwater at all. Long story short, we shouldn't have seen a Medieval Sandy at all.
*** To both questions: It's a dream, it doesn't have to make any sense.
*** Try telling that to Squidly.
* Where was Squidward in "Nasty Patty"?
** He wasn't important to the story. He had a day off or something.
*** He also would have ruined the plot and we'd have an much shorter, less funny episode.
* In the Krabby Kronicle, why is it wrong for the Chum Bucket to get shut down? Isn't chum made of fish anyway?
** That's just the name of the restaurant. They don't actually serve chum. Maybe the misleading name is why Plankton doesn't get customers?
*** Actually several later episodes have shown that he DOES serve chum. In fact the episode that described why Plankton and Krabs have a rivalry they both got part of the recipe, Plankton's part just said chum, so it stands to reason that's all he cooks.
** That, and the fact that [[LethalChef Plankton's cooking is apparently terrible]].
* Why would Mr. Krabs deliberately frame [=SpongeBob=] for stealing the Krabby Patty formula just to get $1.25?! Doesn't Krabs need him to cook the patties? And another thing, who cooks the patties if [=SpongeBob=] isn't, if Squidward isn't (since he is terrible at cooking patties), and if the old fry cook Jim isn't (retired)?
** That was a post-movie episode. Mr. Krabs has been [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderized]] into an unlikeable DesignatedHero {{Jerkass}} who would go through so much hell to get money that he'll abuse his employees and leave his own business in jeopardy. Not to mention that episode was written by Casey Alexander and Zeus Cervas, two of the most disliked writers of [=SpongeBob=] by many fans of the show.
* How is it some snails speak English ("Where's Gary?", "Gary In Love")? Notably, they were all strays, [[WildMassGuessing so maybe being under ownership gives them the "meow"?]]
** ViewerTranslatorConvention. Seriously.
** Perhaps the snails speak English when they're amongst themselves, but only meow around other creatures?
* Why are the titles of some of the episodes changed? ie: "[=WhoBob WhatPants=]" became "What Ever Happened To [=SpongeBob=]"?
** Easy marketing to raise awareness. Why bother post a long name like "Have You Seen This Snail?" instead of something sweet and to the point, like "Where's Gary"? It makes the plot somewhat understandable at the beginning so people can expect what's happening.
* The Krusty Krab has had several close shaves with going out of business, but not its far less successful rival company, The Chum Bucket.
** Add to that, how has the Chum Bucket kept open with ''literally'' ZERO customers and no profit for the near half a decade it has been running? The only woes Plankton seems to suffer from this are boredom and depression.
** I don't think there's any possible explanation for the characters' financial situations. I mean, look at [=SpongeBob=]. Krabs pays him fake money (stated in the episode where it's discovered Plankton has a fear of whales) and yet he has a huge house, huge wads of money in his pocket, a whole bunch of full piggy banks, and a diamond under Gary's shell (from the episode where his spatula breaks)!
* This is something that has been bugging me for a while. Why does [=SpongeBob=] have to outshine everybody? For example, in the episode "The Two Faces of Squidward", Squidward becomes nice and kind after being electrocuted and as the episode goes on, [=SpongeBob=] becomes jealous because Squidward becomes employee of the month and is (possibly) a better fry cook. [=SpongeBob=] has been Employee of the Month EVERY month since he's been working there. He's the best fry cook in the whole city and, in this troper's opinion, Mr. Krabs was probably just being nice when he said Squidward might be a better fry cook than him (and didn't mean to upset [=SpongeBob=]). Seriously, why does [=SpongeBob=] feel he has to be the best at everything?
** I have two possible reasons: 1) to give [=SpongeBob=] the flaws of pride and competitiveness, and 2) to provide conflict for the episode in question.
** Because he's a perfectionist to the point of insanity. Remember, this is a guy who was so traumatized because he thought he forgot the pickles on a Krabby Patty that he wasn't able to form a sentence for days. I'd think he'd be pretty upset when someone tells him there's a better fry cook than him.
* Why do [=SpongeBob=], Patrick, and Squidward not have hair that is of their color? Whenever they grow hair it's brown or black.
** [=SpongeBob=] did have yellow hair in one episode.
*** Why should their hair be the same colour as the rest of them? Do caucasian humans have beige hair?
* The subtle romance. What happened to it?
** [[HoYay SpongeBob dumped Sandy over Patrick]].
*** And now he's [[StalkerWithACrush really obsessed with Squidward]].
* In the episode Sandy's Rocket, if Sandy was perfectly capable of going to the moon without a rocket (she used a jetpack), then why didn't she just go there?
** Keep in mind her rocket was stacked with an enormous amount of equipment and supplies that likely couldn't be held with a jetpack. On the other hand, the fact she neglected that she could instantly travel to the moon and back (while complaining about how stupid [=SpongeBob=] is) was probably [[HypocriticalHumor part of the gag]].
** Well, didn't she say she wanted to bring back moon rocks? She may need the rocket to hold them.
* Why is there a different Neptune in the movie? It isn't like they couldn't get John O'Hurley, and even if they couldn't, it still doesn't explain the design change. And in the later episode ''The Clash of Triton'', you see Neptune's entire family, and Princess Mindy is never shown. If the movie takes place after the series, you'd at least expect them to try to fix the discrepancies between the two.
** Well, [[WordOfGod the movie will take place after the series, no matter how long the show runs]], which means that there could be a dynasty of gods. Also, in "Krusty Towers", when Squidward wants to redecorate this room, he mentions something along the lines of a potrait of King Neptune VII, meaning there's multiple Neptunes.
*** King Neptune XIV, actually. But still.
** Wasn't the one in the movie a king and the one in the series a god? Then again, there is the one episode (I forget the name; "[=SpongeBob=] Vs. The Patty Gadget" or something) where it says "the blast was so loud it woke King Neptune" and you see the one from the series.
* How the heck did Mr. Krabs chase a penny for six and a half hours?
** He's the Terminator of cheapskates.
* In "Home Sweet Pineapple", just as [[spoiler:the nematodes eat [=SpongeBob=]'s house]], [=SpongeBob=] exclaims, "Hooray Gary, we're finally huge!"... since when, better yet, WHY, did [=SpongeBob=] (and Gary?) dream of being huge?
** That's the joke.
* In the episode "20,000 Patties Under the Sea", [=SpongeBob=] says, "Bye Squidward, bye Mr. Krabs. ...Bye Squidward..." the second one at Squidward being in a slightly more suggestive tone. Patrick lampshades it only for [=SpongeBob=] to say "[[HoYay I like Squidward!]]". What bugs me is that it just seems so blatant now, were they even trying? [[FridgeBrilliance Was it perhaps a subtle parody of all the accusations of [=SpongeBob=]'s sexuality?]]
** I took it as the more Squidward hates [=SpongeBob=], the more [=SpongeBob=] likes Squidward. But what bugged me about the episode was that the submarine couldn't float over the trench. It's a submarine!
** Water is (Almost) Air
* Pearl's disdain for her father. In the episode where Krabs retires, on his first day off, he asks Pearl if she wants to do something with him. Before he even finishes his sentence, Pearl kicks him out and whines about how she can't take it anymore. WTF?
** That's how the show portrays all teenage girls. They all use TotallyRadical slang, hate their parents, and want to go to the mall.
* Why didn't Squidward notice that there is a gorilla just sitting around his house in ''I Had An Accident''? Instead he was watering his plants nonchalantly.
** Since he saw Patrick (and maybe Sandy) involved, he probably thought some variation of, "Oh, what an idiot. Just ignore them Squidward..." Or maybe he felt the gorilla was somebody else.
* Why is it only the main drain would drain the ocean when any drain would?
** It's the ''main'' drain. Maybe other drains only drain part of it, especially if they're closer to the surface.
* Squidward has never had problems with people touching the glass so why did he in Sponge-cano?
** I think this comes from the fact that he was already irritated and, a good chunk of the time when people are already irritated, they upset over something trivial.
* Why was Pearl working at the Krusty Krab in The Bikini Bottom Triangle when she never wanted to?
** If no one is working there, the restaurant is not making money. So there would be less mall money her dad can give her.
* Why was [=SpongeBob=] smiling when Squidward was getting beaten into a pulp in "Keep Bikini Bottom Beautiful"?
** I'm guessing that was in one of the later seasons? The later the season, the creepier and stupider [=SpongeBob=] is. For some reason, they think weird is funny, so they make [=SpongeBob=] super weird, to the point that he's [[NightmareFuel disturbing]]. They don't understand that weird isn't funny by itself, it needs to be done humorously.
* In "Christmas Who?" we learn that no one underwater has heard of Christmas (probably due to Jesus being a human and so they never really heard about him or got the concept of Christianity), but in the earlier episode "Jellyfishing," Squidward comes home from the hospital and is welcomed by [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick, with Patrick mistakenly saying "Merry Christmas!"
** The show doesn't really have canon. The Christmas episode could have happened before.
* A few problems with "Big Sister Sam". First, HOW COULD PATRICK REUNITE WITH SOMEONE HE HASN'T HEARD FROM FOR YEARS? Did he just see Sam on the street with no words and both signaled that they should meet up? Second, since Squidward's house was thrown by Sam to the right, why didn't the house hit [=SpongeBob=]'s as well? We clearly see his house also destroyed later in the episode and, if they wanted the plot to stay the same, the house could have been thrown towards the street. Finally, how is [=SpongeBob=] still happy and compassionate to Sam at the end of the episode even though she obliterated his house? Has the NegativeContinuity of the show gotten to a point where things that happened a few seconds ago are forgotten?
** I don't know about the first two but the last one's obvious. First, [=SpongeBob=] is an idiot. Look at basically any recent episode for proof of this. Second, [=SpongeBob=] is for whatever reason supposed to forgive Patrick for whatever stupid thing he, and by extension his relatives, does.
** People reunite with estranged relatives and friends all the time. Maybe Patrick went on the underwater equivalent of the Jeremy Kyle Show or something, who knows.
** And to add, Patrick mentions in the early episode "Something Smells" that he doesn't have a sister. It could be that he just forgot all about her.
** Patrick isn't exactly accurate when it comes to his own family; he mistook another sea-star couple for his own parents in "I'm With Stupid" and neither they nor his own parents had any problem with that. So it's not impossible he just forgot about his own sister.
* In "Sentimental Sponge", the sanitation police show up when [=SpongeBob=] refuses to throw away his trash. You're telling me that a town of 528 [[strike:people]] [[strike:fish]] sea creatures has its own police squad for cleanliness? RuleOfFunny may apply, but its a bit of a stretch.
** Have you ''seen'' how seriously they take littering? A sanitation police seems right up their alley.
* If the "Tunnel of Glove" is supposed to be a tunnel of love, why would people like Pearl and [=SpongeBob=] (who don't have dates) go on it? Furthermore, why did two of Pearl's friends go on it [[LesYay together]]?
** Because they want to ride it to see what it's like but either don't have boyfriends, or have boyfriends who just aren't there.
** They all three wanted to go on it together (which is not uncommon for teenage girls to do), but they didn't know that it was only two per car, so Pearl was left behind. As for [=SpongeBob=]... maybe Patrick left him to go eat...
* How does [=SpongeBob=] know about Leif Ericsson?
* It has been bugging me for some time now about the ending of "Someone's in the Kitchen With Sandy". She got arrested for public nudity. First of all, most fish you see on the show are naked. Squidward has been naked (wait, nevermind, he got a ticket for that once), Patrick and [=SpongeBob=] have been naked, and I mean completely naked. A lot of girl fish wear only their underwear. So how is it that Sandy gets arrested for public nudity if she was only in her underwear, while most fish and most main characters get complelety naked and don't get arrested?
** FurIsClothing and she wasn't wearing her fur or her suit. Doesn't make much sense, but considering Krabs's embarrassment concerning being without his shell, that's likely what constitutes nudity. Until we see a filleted fish walking through town, we'll never know.
*** He may have been embarrased about molting the shell but he still appeared in front of people without it and no one seemed very shocked that he was naked. Personally, I think the Sandy thing is just a failed attempt at a joke.
** Speaking of her suit, why wasn't she wearing it? Plankton only took her fur and went around without the suit.
*** Simply so she'd be mocked by the townpeople (so they wouldn't help her) and later arrested for said "public nudity." It's also possible her suit stunk as well from the fur.
* TheMovie takes place after the series, right? So that explains the absence of Mindy, and why [=SpongeBob=] has no maturity; he regains it later. But didn't they mention the Krusty Krab 2 later on?
** Because it hasn't been built yet. It was built in the movie.
*** But they mentioned it as if it had been built, and I think we saw it once in an episode right after the movie.
*** It was built in the movie. It was never shown in any episodes. There was an episode about making a Krusty Krab commercial that had the Krusty Krab's "under study" but that was way before the movie and was really just a quick gag.
*** If memory serves, the series was supposed to end with TheMovie but Nick decided to continue it, rendering any episodes after either to have either happened to before or making the movie retconned.
* So are Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy actual superheroes, or are they fakes who starred in an old TV show?
** Yes, they are superheroes. It has been shown that they possess highly advanced gadgets and machines, including a shrink ray, an invisible car, and a literal IdiotBall. They also can summon fish to help them (think Aquaman, but with old fish) and can [[KillItWithWater create balls of water to throw at evildoers]].
** I assume they're former "heroes" who did some kind of good public service (policemen, firemen, etc.) who then took up a role as a superhero in the public eye. Of course, now they're old and senile.
* At the beginning of the episode where [=SpongeBob=] breaks Gary's shell, [=SpongeBob=] wakes up in the middle of the night after hearing a noise. [=SpongeBob=]'s phone line has been cut. No explanation is given for this. It's not necessary for the scene, and it isn't presented as a joke. Why was the line cut?
* In the episode "The Krabby Kronicle", is it me or did everybody who read the Krusty Krab's newspaper believe every single word? And for that matter, why would scientists try to confiscate Sandy's science awards if she won them all fairly?
** I'm pretty sure the citizens of Bikini Bottom are supposed to be complete morons. As for the second question, again, they're morons. Plus the article may have said something about her faking being smart or cheating when she won the awards. And it doesn't have much to do with your question, but I think if she had karate chopped the two "scientists" it would have been a crowning moment of awesome.
* Same episode as above: Why did Sandy immediately assume that it was [=SpongeBob=] who wrote that stuff about her? I mean, she and [=SpongeBob=] were friends ever since the first season! She should trust him while knowing he'd never say such things against her!
** She may still be annoyed over [=SpongeBob=]'s stinging "squirrel jokes".
** The article actually ''said'' it was written by [=SpongeBob=]. Now, why Sandy was the only one who noticed it raises a question in itself...
*** Sandy's a scientist, she notices things.
*** Because she, Squidward, and Mr. Krabs are pretty much the only people in Bikini Bottom who have half a brain?
* At the beginning of the episode "20,000 Patties Under the Sea", why did they use old footage of jellyfish flying from season 1 and then immediately return to the modern animation?
** Well, I'm guessing 1) They were too lazy to make new footage of jellyfish flying, 2) Season one used hand-paited cels, whereas afterwards, they use the more modern digital ink process.
* This is more of a question than a headscratcher, but I just wanted to know: is [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome 'Sweet Victory']] a real song, or was it made up for [=SpongeBob=]? 'Coz that would be crazy if it was, [[CrazyAwesome in an awesome sort of way.]]
** Real Music/{{Metallica}} song, OrSoIHaveHeard.
** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y5oGuo6y7E
* The episode where the jellyfish are attracted to [=SpongeBob=]'s holes when the wind goes through them and it makes music he hides in a cave and decides to make a stone [=SpongeBob=] to talk to. After he realizes that the jellyfish are attracted to the stone [=SpongeBob=], he tries to leave it there so the jellyfish swarm around it and he can leave. But the stone [=SpongeBob=] sounds awful. He decides to make another in a different size, but he's not sure what size would work so he decides he has to make a bunch of them. There's my problem. He makes a bunch of them, but they're all the same size which defeats the purpose of making a bunch.
** He needed to figure out how to carve the rocks so it would produce the same noise he makes. Thus, he makes a bunch of them.
** I know but he says he needs to make a bunch of them with ''different sizes''. But they're all the same size when he makes them.
*** It's more the size of the holes that makes the difference; the wind's pitch changes with the holes' size.
* What is the Krusty Krab considered? At times it's a popular and respected local place, or a restaurant well-known throughout the sea.. But at other times it's a poorly received place.
** It really depends on the episode. There were episodes when Squidward was forced to take over for [=SpongeBob=]'s position and we all know Squidward can't cook Krabby Patties. There are also times when [=SpongeBob=] really messes up and then everyone leaves. Or basically, it's a RuleOfFunny. And let's not forget how the resturaunt can be dirty at times.
** The show never seems to make up its mind over whether the Krusty Krab has sit-down service or not. Some episodes have [=SpongeBob=] delivering food to the customers, while others have the customers getting their orders from the counter. And on "Squilliam Returns", [=SpongeBob=] somehow can't wrap his head around the idea of a ''waiter serving the customers'', asking if other restaurants do that.
* Which one of those fellas is the ''real'' Dirty Dan?
** Patrick.
-->'''Sandy:'''Which one of you is the ''real'' Dirty Dan?
-->'''Patrick:'''I am?
* I don't understand a lot about the Black Jack episode. For those who don't know, the big TwistEnding at the end of the episode is that [=SpongeBob=]'s violent cousin Black Jack is really [[spoiler: about as tall as Plankton]]. Yet while [=SpongeBob=] was tiny (older episodes showed this), he got bigger, while Black Jack must have stayed the same... the EXACT same, personality, dress, voice, etc. And why is it none of [=SpongeBob=]'s relatives tell him how small Black Jack is? Are they really THAT afraid of a guy who [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking littered]] to not see him for as long as [=SpongeBob=] had?
** I think they assumed he knew he was that small. Plus none of them had seen him (his grandma gets a call, and his uncle just calls him a dangerous criminal, the grandma doesn't sound afraid of him though) in a long time because he was in jail. I don't think Black Jack being small made much sense overall, though.
** He probably got smaller during the time he spent in prison. It might not make much sense for him to shrink THAT much, but remember that [=SpongeBob=] was just a kid when he had the flashback about him, and he's over twenty, twenty-three IIRC, so Black Jack probably spent more than 15 years in prison, 19 at most.
* If [=SpongeBob=] didn't eat the bomb pie, why was he sucking his fingers and going "mmmm"?
** He probably ate his lunch, or something. Remember, he's in the Krusty Krab. And it was supposed to be a false lead-in to make you think he DID eat the pie.
** Maybe he was doing that in anticipation of eating the pie?
** Perhaps he only took a small piece and decided to save it for later?
** Speaking of which, why couldn't the doctors help [=SpongeBob=]? Can't they just surgically remove the pie from him?
*** The episode itself addresses this; Squidward urges Mr. Krabs to call the hospital to help, but Krabs says that wouldn't work; he's seen this happen before (11 times, as a matter of fact).
* "Slimy Dancing". So only one dancer is allowed to perform in the competition. Then how did [=SpongeBob=] AND Patrick get in, especially when their dance was a limbo?
** They audition together but have to perform seperately? And we actually don't know if their dance was a limbo; it could have been something else.
* How come Pearl always hangs out with those so called "friends" of hers on the episode "Whale Of A Birthday," when they constantly belittle her? And what gave them the right to act like party inspectors for her party?
** Like an answer from earlier on here, this show portrays teenage girls like this: bratty, spoiled, whiny, and plain mean.
* So Krabs took the secret ingredient to the secret formula in "The Patty Caper". '''How?''' Did he just jump on the truck unnoticed? And how did the S.W.A.T. team or security team or whatever it was not notice that the suitcase was empty?!
** Steal it when it wasn't being delivered (in a factory or where ever it's kept before they get orders) and had them deliver an empty case to [=SpongeBob=] to make it look like he stole it? And they probably wouldn't realize it's empty anyway, considering they wouldn't look inside it.
* How old is Squidward? Older episodes made it seem like he was about 10 years older than [=SpongeBob=]. Newer episodes make it seem like he's almost an old man. "A Friendly Game" has him wearing dentures, his "late date" in "Love That Squid" looked like an old cartoon character, etc.
** None of the characters really have a clear-cut age. Sure, [=SpongeBob=] is ''officially'' twenty-three, but numerous episodes point to him being much older (hundreds of 'Employee of the Month' awards, his countless failed driving tests etc.), and he also behaves much like a hyper five-year-old. But I'd ''guess'' that he's about late 30s/early 40s. As for dentures... maybe he played the clarinet in such a way that broke his teeth? Who knows...
** In a somewhat unstable case of Fridge Brilliance, keep in mind that Squidward is over 2,000 years old since SB-129, so it could possibly be assumed that Squidward's mind had stayed somewhat active, and he might have developed a significant amount of maturity during that time (going over his thoughts and "realizing" stuff). Of course, it would also double as Fridge Horror for him to have been conscious for 2,000 years...
* Who was that fry cook in "Truth Or Square" that Squidward called "Not-[=SpongeBob=]?" He's some weird greasy guy that just has that one appearance.
** Squidward remembered how happy he was before [=SpongeBob=] started working there, however, he probably didn't remember that frycook's name.
* Why did [=SpongeBob=] become such a failure in karate? In "Karate Choppers", he was just as good as Sandy. In "No Weenies Allowed" and other episodes, he sucks at it.
** [=SpongeBob=] has never really had a set level for how good he is at karate. Even in the older episodes it seemed to switch between Sandy beating him every time with little effort to him always beating Sandy. So it seems to just be following the old tradition of using whatever fits the episode.
** Many of [=SpongeBob=]'s secondary attributes [[DependingOnTheWriter vary by episode]]. One day he's struggles to lift two marshmallows on a stick, and the next he can rip a mailbox off its hinges with ease.
** He has "off" days sometimes?
* How is it that they're celebrating the Krusty Krab's "eleventy-seventh" (I'm assuming that's 117th) anniversary? Mr. Krabs founded that restaurant and he definitely isn't 117 years old.
** Eleventy Seventh IS NOT 117th. In a TV Guide article about Truth or Square, someone (I forget who) said that they chose Eleventy Seventh because it's a timeless number, that way they can show the episode every year. Of course this is undermined by the Chum Bucket celebrating 50 years and Patchy the Pirate outright stating that it's [=SpongeBob=]'s 10th anniversary.
** Did he start the business himself or just became the manager through promotions? Maybe the restaurant IS that old. It could also be that the Krusty Krab is a chain that is 117 years old and Mr. Krabs is a franchise owner celebrating the anniversary of the first Krusty Krab. Or it could be that eleventy seventh doesn't mean what you think.
** No, the Krusty Krab was a retirement home before he bought it (it says so in the employee video episode) and it's pretty obvious it isn't a chain, especially considering in the movie he opens the second one. I'd say the third option, eleventy seventh doesn't mean 117, and they just used it to not technically get the number wrong.
** The first dime he ever made was a boulder. I think he is well over 117. And remember that a lot of sea invertebrates are incredibly LongLived.
* What's the deal with Old Man Jenkins? In several episodes in which he makes an appearance, he looks COMPLETELY different. In the episode "Sailor Mouth" (the cursing episode), Jenkins is portrayed as a short old man, with a green-ish color, with rounded glasses and what appear to be liver spots on his head. This look stayed constant through many of his appearances. However, there are a few other looks Jenkins displays throughout the series. In the episode "My Pretty Seahorse", Jenkins is eaten by Sponge Bob's seahorse Mystery. He is spit out a few scenes later, and the result is a short, blue fish, with circular glasses not much unlike his first iteration. He is also wearing clothes akin to [=SpongeBob=]'s, but rounded a bit to fit his body, unlike the white shirt from his first look. Later, in the 'Lost Episode', Jenkins is shown shaped akin to the many generic fish, but extremely old looking, almost wilted. He also doesn't have glasses with this look, and takes on a completely different personality: he is a farmer, who becomes Cannonball Jenkins after [=SpongeBob=] angers him by destroying his grain silo. He later appears similarly to this incarnation in the episode "The Main Drain", in which he gets shorter, becomes green, and has a grey beard. his attire is similar to his farmer Jenkins look, minus the straw hat. Not to mention the fact that in his speaking roles, his voice seems to change often. Is all of this ever explained? I know the show has a ridiculously convoluted continuity, but this might be pushing it. The only explanation I can come up with is multiple people named Old Man Jenkins.
** It's not that uncommon a name. Maybe the various Jenkinses are related.
* In the first episode, "Help Wanted", how does [=SpongeBob=] make all those patties if Mr.Krabs never told him the formula?
** Maybe he kept the formula back there during that time and [=SpongeBob=] found it?
** Or else Krabs had already mixed all the ingredients together in a large bowl, so all [=SpongeBob=] had to do was make the patty shapes and cook them.
** Maybe Sponge played a part in the creation of the secret formula?
* HOW is it that [=SpongeBob=] showed he was boneless in Squirrel Jokes, but in other episodes he has bones, ( skull, spine, etc. )
** RuleOfFunny, or Rule of Gross depending on the joke and what kind of humor you like. Or NegativeContinuity.
** He's a sponge, his bones are more malleable than a veterbrate's.
*** But he's a sponge, he shouldn't even HAVE bones.
* I just finished watching the episode "Yours, Mine and Mine". Now, I know Patrick's intelligence (or lack thereof) has decreased over the series' course, but just how dumb is he ''supposed'' to be? Isn't there a set level of dumbness for Patrick or does his dumbness just rise/drop to whatever level the episode requires?
** In "Tentacle Vision":
-->'''Squidward:''' Patrick, how stupid are you?
-->'''Patrick:''' It varies.
* This may or may not have been discussed already, but I'm watching "Whatever Happened to [=SpongeBob=]?" at the moment, and I wonder: [=SpongeBob=] left a year's supply of snail food for Gary, right? If it was that long, wouldn't ''someone'' (most likely at the Krusty Krab) have known that [=SpongeBob=] was missing and gone looking for him? Or did Gary just eat that huge supply incredibly quickly?
** I'm thinking Gary ate it quickly, due to RuleOfFunny.
** He did eat it quickly. When Sandy and Patrick enter [=SpongeBob=]'s house, Gary is huge. That pretty much says he ate it all at once.
** Probably a joke on binge eating, especially since Gary was implied to be depressed by [=SpongeBob=]'s departure.
** Gary's been known to eat entire sofas in one bit, it doesn't seem too unlikely that he ate a year's supply in one go.
* Same episode as above: How did [=SpongeBob=]'s friends get to call him "idiot boy"? And in a very mean manner when he messes them up by accident?
** It's a classic case of UnwantedAssistance!
* In the movie, when [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick are about to drive the [[CoolCar Patty Wagon]], Patrick says "But [=SpongeBob=]! You don't have a license!" [=SpongeBob=] replies "You don't need a license, to drive a sandwich".... [[FridgeLogic which for all intents and purposes is a car and functions exactly like one.]]
** [[RuleofFunny It's a joke.]]
** (Original Poster) But don't you see all the potential LoopholeAbuse here?
*** Yes, they're using Loophole Abuse. That's the joke.
** [=SpongeBob=] also drives a truck at some point. And a rock. He can drive anything ''but'' a boat, apparently.
* In the episode where [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick (and Squidward before we went down the "Fly of Dispair") become the Flying Dutchman's crew, after [=SpongeBob=] tells Squidward that they get three wishes, and that Patrick used the first and he used the second (to get Squidward there) Squidward tells [=SpongeBob=] to wish for something to make it so they don't get eaten. How does Squidward know they're about to get eaten? He got there after they talked about it and no one mentioned it to him.
** He's probably heard of the Flying Dutchman before and may have heard stories about the Dutchman eating his crew members.
* How come the con artist in "Chocolate With Nuts" [[KarmaHoudini gets away all the things he did?]]
** He really only conned [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick. Plus, they both got rich enough to rent out an entire restaurant for an evening.
** All he did was lie about his personal circumstances in order to sell legitimate products to them. [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick lie about the products themselves and manage to come out on top.
* Can someone please explain to me WHY people come back to the Krusty Krab? They have been poisoned at least once, the place doesn't seem that clean, and the prices are a rip-off. Why would you come back?
** The same reason people still watch the show despite its decline in quality...
** With UsefulNotes/McDonalds, many people know that the food is crap, but they still buy it now and then because it tastes so damn good. Presumably, the same logic applies here.
** Mr. Krabs said people come for bad service, crummy decor, etc. and IIRC, said it more than once.
** Considering that the old (i.e, pre-movie) episode ''Just One Bite'' had Squidward being unable to stop eating Krabby patties after only trying one as it's entire plot, I think it's fairly safe to say that the customers of the KK enjoy the good burgers and ignore the not-so-good everything else.
*** To quote Krabs:
--->"People come here for good food and verbal abuse!"
* Why hasn't Squidward learned by now that [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick don't understand the concept of sarcasm? Every moment he's sarcastic about [=SpongeBob=]'s offers or ideas, it only encourages him which in turn makes things worse for himself [Squidward].
** RuleOfFunny. Well, what's classed as funny in later episodes, at least...
** He's yelled at them. At the top of his lungs. Multiple, multiple, multiple times. They're really that thick-headed.
** Besides, Sponge and Pat ''are'' nice dudes, who occasionally even apologize to Squidward for bugging him, so Squidward probably just lets it go.
* Why hasn't Squidward got a restraining order against [=SpongeBob=] yet? Beforehand, [=SpongeBob=] was only mildly annoying and overtly cheerful, being the ManChild that he was. Nowadays, he's completely insane, and his obsession with Squidward has reached stalker levels of creepy. Squidward would have ''easily'' enough grounds to file a restraining order, so why hasn't he done it yet?
** I'm not exactly sure how restraining orders work, but I don't see how one would help Squidward since he lives next door to [=SpongeBob=] and works at the same job as him. Not to mention, [=SpongeBob=] would probably just cry 24/7 over it until Squidward finally got fed up and annulled it. Either that or [[BigEater Patrick]] would come out of nowhere and eat it.
** In fact one time he ''did'' get a restraining order against [=SpongeBob=], which worked out about as well as you'd think it would. Of course Patrick wants in on the fun as well.
* Exactly what are we seeing on [[http://images.bcdb.com/ad_im/other/sponge/SquidTastic_Voyage.jpg?u= the title card for "Squidtastic Voyage"?]] I know it's Squidward's innards, but is it any specific part of him? It kind of looks like brain matter and a stem, but it's a ''tunnel.'' And the brain matter is the color of Squidward's skin (though that may be to further indicate that it's the inside of ''his'' body).
** They look somewhat like blue curly villi, so his intestines?
* In ''New Student Starfish'', when [=SpongeBob=] was freaking out about Mrs. Puff taking away his good noodle star, why didn't he just tell her that Patrick drew the picture, not him?
** It's pretty hard to think rationally when you're having a freak-out. Plus, this is [=SpongeBob=] we're talking about. He freaks out over the most minor of provocations.
* Something that got me while I was overhearing an episode of [=SpongeBob=] from my niece's room: Why doesn't Plankton use his other talents to acquire business? He's a robotic and engineering genius, and he has created AI so sophisticated that it could actually be considered sentient. Why doesn't he just sell his robots and all the products of his mad genius to the Bikini Bottom military and other top buyers, rather than using them to try and steal a secret formula for fast food in a run-down, middle-of-nowhere hellhole of a restaurant in increasingly-cartoonish plots? Hell, if it's just about beating Krabs, he could ''buy'' the Krabby Patty secret formula from the greedy bastard and then perfect it for his own restaurant, putting Krabs out of business for good. He could even humiliate Krabs further by hiring Squidward and maybe even [=SpongeBob=] (who would undoubtedly lose respect for Krabs due to the latter's lack of integrity) at triple the wages they were normally getting working under Krabs, then he could maybe even hire Krabs in a false gesture of pity and put him to work cleaning toilets or something. Shit, man. It would be so easy. Why hasn't he done this?
** Because he's not that smart at all, and certainly not as smart as he thinks he is. In the movie, Plankton ''forgot the last letter of the alphabet'' and didn't consider his theft of Neptune's crown would leave fingerprints until Karen pointed both out to him. He's described in his first appearance as being "99% hot gas". The guy's a GadgeteerGenius who may have gone to college, but a lot of his misfortune can be chalked up to a complete lack of common sense or willingness to think ahead.
** We do have a [[CutLexLuthorACheck trope]] for this.
* If the Flying Dutchman is several thousands of years old, why is he dressed like a medieval European pirate? If he's that old, he couldn't be a Dutchman, because the Dutch weren't really around thousands of years ago, and the word "Dutch" and "Dutchman" have only been in use for a handful of centuries. So...
** He just liked the name and costume? No doubt he'd tried on more than a few hats over the centuries.
* Why does [=SpongeBob=] dress so formally to work as a cook at a fast food restaurant?
** The clothes that he wears to work can be considered his street clothes, as he wears them all the time.
*** His "street" clothes are quite formal (button-down shirt, tie, etc) because he's a geek.
** He's a square.
** There's been a few episodes where he's had to deliver the food to a table. I would imagine that he dresses formally just in case, since I don't think it would look good on the Krusty Krab if someone in a dirty fry cook's uniform was in charge of bringing orders to tables. A better question would be why [=SpongeBob=] doesn't wear an apron.
* [=SpongeBob=] has shown in multiple episodes that he can rip off his arm and grow new ones, and it's shown to be normal for him. Then he gets a splinter and is suddenly incapable of this. WHY?
** Fridge Brillance: If [=SpongeBob=] were to regrow his arm, all the subsequent arms would have a splinter on them.
*** Actually, that's not true -- unless [=SpongeBob=] was cursed to have a splinter in every arm he grows in the future, or he was sick with a virus that prevented him from regrowing the arm (thus preventing him from ripping it off), he should've been able to simply rip off the arm in question and deal with the splinter a few seconds after getting it.
** As before, RuleOfFunny. [=SpongeBob=] has no trouble at all yanking his arms off, right up to the minute he NEEDS to do so. Then of course he totally forgets how during his sufferings.
** Not just that, he can regrow them (and many of his other body parts), so it might not hurt him as much, not much different than most other invertebrates, the nerves usually dying off before then.
* Why does [=SpongeBob=] even wear clothing? Are there even any bits on a sponge that would be considered obscene, even to other sponges?
** By that logic then no one in the show should wear clothes.
* In "Sailor Mouth", why is everyone offended by [=SpongeBob=] speaking word #11, given that Squidward believes there are only 7 words that should never be spoken, but there are 13 for sailors? (Words #8-13 should therefore not be offensive to non-sailors.)
** It could be meant to mean something along the lines of "There are seven words that should never be spoken. Well, technically, there's thirteen but only sailors know words #8-13. Same way as a little child might know 'fuck', 'shit' or 'damn' but probably not a lot of racist slurs but adults tend to know lots of those type of swears, even if they don't use them. Of course, you do warn kids those are bad words but why would you say ... teach your child Mandarin swear words, if they're not likely to come across them? "There's this word. Don't say it." Why not y'know just not teach me the word in the first place? I'm sure naval brats are taught about "The Thirteen Words That Should Never Be Spoken". Make sense?
** The words may be numbered different for Sailors and Non-Sailors. [=SpongeBob=] says the word that's #11 for sailors. The extra ones either change meaning around sailors, or the only way to learn the word and meaning is word-of-mouth.
* Am [[Tropers/{{Spinosegnosaurus77}} I]] the only one who's noticed that Painty the Pirate (the guy who sings the theme song) has an eye on his left cheek?
** You know it ''really is'' a painting? When he "speaks", it's really just the singer's (Patchy) mouth slapped on with special effects. Or Patchy is covered entirely in green ''except'' for his mouth, and they add the painting GreenScreen style.
** Actually the BehindTheScenes for Atlantis Squarepantis shows that its just a hole cut into the painting where the mouth's supposed to be.
* In ''WesternAnimation/ItsASpongeBobChristmas'', if Santa has "his jolly little eyes" on everyone, then how come he didn't see or even HEAR Plankton stating his plan about the jerktonium? Or even building [=ToyBob=]?
** How could Santa even get fooled by the robot and think it was [=SpongeBob=] when the real [=SpongeBob=] was right next to him!
*** My best guess would be RuleOfFunny, even though its not that funny.
** Why do the show's writers just seem so bad sometimes? Like in this episode!
*** I don't really blame the writers, I mean at least the king of GettingCrapPastTheRadar, Aaron Springer, didn't write this. But if Santa has an all seeing eye, he should've seen SOMETHING about Plankton.
** That was said in song, I doubt that was meant to be taken literally, also Santa has to deliver to BILLIONS of people (and fishes apparently), if he had an eye on everyone, it's probably not at once.
*** Santa is either retarted or was asleep when Plankton was sleeping
* In ''Googly Artiste'', shouldn't [=SpongeBob=] have told Mr. Krabs that Patrick was raising money for him (Krabs) by selling the artistic Krabby Patties?
** This ''is'' [=SpongeBob=] we're talking about; he'd prefer to keep it a surprise.
** And no doubt Mr. Krabs would have tripled the price or ask for a major cut of the profits once he understood what was going on.
* In TheMovie, what was the point of opening a second Krusty Krab right next to the original? It would make a lot more sense if it were placed in a much different location in Bikini Bottom or in a different town or something, since having the same restaurant be close to one another wouldn't be too convenient if one lives somewhere else.
** RuleOfFunny, and Mr. Krabs was asked about it and he said he did it for the money. I doubt that he thought about ''where'' he was going to put it.
** Besides, [[Troper/DangerArtistNexus60 this troper]] lives in a neighborhood with two [=McDonalds=] and I had tolerated it.
** Because more Krusty Krabs means more customers. Maybe he plans to make it a full-blown franchise?
*** Technically they'd get the same amount of customers, they'd just be split between two different restaurants. The same profits combined with doubled overhead means that Mr. Krabs would make considerably less money than he'd been making with only one restaurant.
** My personal theory is that Mr. Krabs remembered the events of the show's pilot, ''Help Wanted'' -- where the restaurant got flooded by hungry anchovies when deciding where to put the restaurant. He figured that if another event like that happened, if he placed it somewhere else, any hungry customers he couldn't serve would likely take their business (and their money) elsewhere if they had to drive far enough away, whereas if they only had to walk next door, they'd likely just go to the other Krusty Krab.
* Why is [=SpongeBob=] so ridiculously obsessed with Squidward in the new episodes?
** AuthorAppeal would be my guess.
* In the episode where Sandy got fleas, why didn't she just shave her fur?
** In another episode, "Someone's in the kitchen with Sandy",the cops and the other people mocked her and even arrested her because she had didn't have fur.
*** No, they arrested her for being nude. She could've shaved her fur and still worn her spacesuit outside her dome.
** For the same reason you don't shave the fur of your pets when they get fleas. It would've been overkill.
* How can [=SpongeBob=] live "in a pineapple under the sea"? Don't pineapples, you know, float?
** Well... this particular pineapple was hollowed out and filled with water. Plus there are glass windows with metal rings around them. Not to mention all the fishing lures, picture frames, bathroom and kitchen stuff (which are presumably quite heavy). It all adds up and so we'll just say it makes the pineapple dense enough to stay at the bottom of the sea. For the record, this troper saw the episode that showed how he got his house (Truth Or Square, I believe) so... We could also just say WaterIsAir, a theme of the show, since an ordinary pencil fell to Bikini Bottom the same way.
** WaterIsAir.
* [=SpongeBob=] has been shown to be a very good artist (sculpting, different shapes bubbles, the art episode when he makes a sculpture with Squidward as an art teacher) in a few episodes. Why can he just quit his minimum-wage job to become an artist?
** [[MarriedToTheJob Because he loves being a fry cook]].
** That and art supplies can get pretty expensive and success mostly depends on whether or not one is hired by a larger company or works independently. Likewise, Squidward is shown to be an artist but, for some odd reason, no one likes his paintings and the fact that some might not buy them, so he has to be work as a cashier.
* In "Krusty Towers," Mr. Krabs recalls going to a hotel that inspired him to build Krusty Towers. The hotel had a policy of "We shall not deny a guest even the most ridiculous request." Mr. Krabs was upset that the hotel overcharged him for everything (25 dollars for a hamburger!). So why didn't Mr. Krabs, the greedy guy that he is, invoke the hotel's policy and request for him not to be charged for anything?
** He was too shocked at the price to think straight.
** By that point, I assume Mr. Krabs had already checked out of the hotel and was no longer considered a "guest", thus he would not be able to request any more favors from the employees.
** It said "We shall not deny a guest even the most ridiculous request". It didn't say that they wouldn't do so at a higher than normal price.
* At the end of "Keep Bikini Bottom Beautiful", why did both [=SpongeBob=] and Squidward get tickets? And for that matter, why did they get them from a can dropping from the statue? They didn't even touch it!
** PoliceAreUseless, and Jerkasses.
** RuleOfFunny
* In "No Hat For Pat", Patrick keeps falling because the hat makes him heavier. If this is the case, then why didn't this happen in "Big Pink Loser"?
** Different writers for seasons 'way' apart. The writers can't be expected to remember everything.
* In "Fools in April", what exactly ''is'' that fake tongue that comes out of [=SpongeBob=]'s mouth? [=SpongeBob=] seems to be just functionally fine with that creature detached, implying it's not his actual tongue, but the living "tongue" is never explained or mentioned again. It's been bugging me ever since I saw the episode over a decade ago. While I do realize the series is full of [[WidgetSeries weird]], [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment out-of-nowhere]] moments, this one [[IncrediblyLamePun sticks out]] to me more than most other odd moments.
** MST3KMantra.
** A tongue-eating louse? [=SpongeBob=] could regrow his tongue, so the louse coming out wouldn't be a problem.
* If the suds are the sponge equivalent of the common cold or the flu, (which are both very common ailments,) why would [=SpongeBob=] not know what to expect when he went to the hospital to be treated? Surely as a twentysomething-year-old, he's been sick before.
** Sponges can live for up to 15, 000 years, so twenty something is still quite young for him.
*** Also, especially in the case of relatively minor illnesses, people don't always go to the hospital when they get sick and, odds are, he's either had it before and waited it out or he's some other sponge get it.
** He probably figured that Mr Krabs would insist he take more time off if he went straight to the hospital as opposed to just going home after showing up sick.
* In "The Chaperone," Pearl's junior prom date dumped her, so Mr Krabs suggest that she let [=SpongeBob=] take her to the prom. Pearl is reluctant to agree, but only because [=SpongeBob=] is.... well.... a dork. But Pearl is 16 in the episode, and [=SpongeBob=] is later implied to be in his twenties. Isn't it a little weird for a grown adult to be the prom date of a sixteen-year-old girl?
** If you're willing to consider [=SpongeBob=] as a grown adult...
* Why does [=SpongeBob=]'s karate garb include protective head gear if he's a sponge?
** Because [[RuleOfCool it looks cooler]].
* Why does [=SpongeBob=] have so much respect and admiration for Squidward even though Squidward treats him like garbage a great majority of the time? I get that [=SpongeBob=] is a NiceGuy who has a kind word for everyone, but Squidward is so EasilyForgiven, and we haven't seen an episode where Squidward has gone too far for Sponge to tell him off and ''not'' forgive him for a while. He's even told off Mr Krabs! But not Squidward. Is there some reason why he's so quick to forgive the guy who berates him and verbally abuses him constantly?
** Perhaps [=SpongeBob=] is aware of how awful Squidward's life is (though he generally doesn't understand he is the main cause of it), thus making his constant grouchiness and outbursts justified and tries as hard as he can to keep Squidward happy?
* If Mr Krabs apparently knew what the suds were, why did he just send [=SpongeBob=] home? Why didn't he call him a cab and send him to the hospital, given what the treatment involves?
** Maybe he was afraid he would have to pay the bill at first...Like, workman's comp, or something? But then [=SpongeBob=] gets in an argument with Sandy and Patrick and his disease ends up destroying the Krusty Krab -- you can tell in that scene that Mr. Krabs is angry, and moneygrubber or no, he still does care about [=SpongeBob=] and seems to want what's best for him.
** Business standpoint in the sense of, while he cares for [=SpongeBob=], it wouldn't make a lot of sense (along with that not being a good use of his time) to call for a taxi to take [=SpongeBob=] home or a hospital, especially when [=SpongeBob=] shouldn't have come to work in the first place, along with the fact that Krabs is tightwad
** It's likely that he knew that while the Suds would take [=SpongeBob=] away from work for a few days, it wasn't a serious condition, and the fact that he's a tightwad likely explains why he didn't just call a taxi. A better question would be why he didn't drive [=SpongeBob=] there himself, since he is shown to own a car at several points.
* When Sponge is at the beach in his swimming trunks, why does he still have sleeves? That's just kind of weird.
* In the episode with the Flying Dutchman, when [=SpongeBob=] wishes the Flying Dutchman was a vegetarian, the Dutchman turns them into fruit. But [=SpongeBob=] specifically wished that the Flying Dutchman ''wouldn't be able to eat them'' due to being a vegetarian, so how does that work?
** He granted the wish. He couldn't eat them, as he was a vegetarian. So he made them into fruit. Now he can. They never wished that he wouldn't eat them now, forever, and in the past somehow.
*** Then shouldn't he have granted the wish and then turned them into fruit? He did both simultaneously. So he wasn't unable to eat them at ''any'' point in time, so the wish wasn't granted.
** In that episode, [=SpongeBob=] never wishes for the Dutchman to not be able to eat them. His exact words were, "Don't worry, Squidward! I've got it all figured out. He won't be able to eat us because...I wish that the Dutchman was a ''vegetarian''!" Making him vegan was what he wished for, not specifically that he would be unable to eat them.
* If [=SpongeBob=] is incapable of driving a boat, but he can drive a rock and a sandwich and anything else.... why does he not just find a rock or a giant sandwich to drive?! Why does the kid even needs to be in boating school if he can drive other things?
** He owns and uses a unicycle (which, for some reason, he refers to as a bike), so he does have other means of non-motorized transportation. It might just be the fact that he wants to pass boating school for pride's sake.
** [=SpongeBob=] says that the Patty Wagon is only used for promotional reasons, so Mr. Krabs probably wouldn't be supportive of him using it as an everyday vehicle. He can't drive a rock because, as shown in the pizza delivery episode, he runs the risk of running people over, and as for the bike...wouldn't it be a little embarrassing for ''anyone'' if they had to ride a bike everywhere when a majority of the surrounding populace is shown to use cars?
* Why do people refer to [=SpongeBob=] as a kid and a "boy?" He may be a manchild (and a small guy,) but he's still a highly-skilled, intelligent, self-sufficient grown adult with his own house, a full-time career, and a closet full of awards. I read somewhere that [[OlderThanTheyLook he's in his late twenties]]. So why do other people always refer to him as a "kid?" He's an adult!
** The character who refers to [=SpongeBob=] as "boy" most often is probably Mr. Krabs, and [[TruthInTelevision that's just a thing that older people in general do, even to people who are legal adults.]] A good example is professional sports, where retired players will often refer to twenty-something players as "kid" or "young man." Even in [[ProfessionalWrestling pro wrestling]] (no idea how we went from [=SpongeBob=] to Wrestling/{{WWE}}), Wrestling/JimRoss referred to Wrestling/ShawnMichaels as a "young man" until the day Michaels retired... at the age of 44.
* In "Suds," when [=SpongeBob=] puts on a coat, scarf, and hat to go to the doctor, why is he still wearing shorts? Doesn't it seem a little counter-productive to be wearing shorts when you're already sick and weak in the knees?
** It looks like he just put heavier clothes on top of what he normally wears. He either may not have had the energy to actually change out of his shorts, or he might have been hesitant to do so, since that would necessitate removing his shoes, which he pretty much never does (likely because he doesn't know how to tie them). It's a stretch, but hey, it's worth somethin'.
** In ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobSquarePantsMovie'' (which, if I recall correctly, takes place after said episode), he's shown to only have a bunch of the same outfit in his closet. While we can assume that he might have clothes for other seasons put away, he doesn't
* [=SpongeBob=] offers his "prized driftwood carving of Squidward" as a scratching post for Gary when he leaves [=SpongeBob=] for Patrick. Snails are obviously portrayed as the underwater equivalent of cats, but how exactly would a snail use a ''scratching'' post?
** InvisibleAnatomy.
* If Sandy is so smart (she's been shown on numerous occasions to be a borderline scientific genius), how did she not realize that a '''''sea sponge''''' can't survive in an arid, water-less environment (episode "Tea At The Treedome")? Even after [=SpongeBob=] showed obvious signs of dehydration, she was apparently still oblivious to the fact that he's a water animal, not an amphibian.
** This was before the writers decided to turn Sandy into a scientist.
\\
And on top of all that, she had the nerve to say, at the end of the episode, "If y'all wanted water, ya shoulda asked!", despite the fact that [=SpongeBob=] DID ask for water at one point, at which point she ignored him to go and put her flowers in a vase. [[SarcasmMode Yeah, Sandy. He totally should have asked for water.]] '''''Did you go deaf or something?'''''
* In "One Coarse Meal," Plankton tries to kill himself by lying in the street waiting for a bus to run him over, and asking [=SpongeBob=] to step on him. But wait a minute, Plankton has been stepped on many times in the past, and he has been fine, if not slightly injured. He's even been ''eaten!'' Why would this kill him?
** Plankton only survives because of RuleOfFunny. His suffering in One Coarse Meal wasn't PlayedForLaughs.
* How do [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick's water helmets protect their entire bodies from dry air? Shouldn't their arms and legs wither away from dehydration? Also, how can they survive without their water helmets in snow (episode "Survival of the Idiots")? Yes, snow is technically water, but snow on land isn't the same as water the ocean; there's no air in the ocean, whereas there's still a lot more air than snow in Sandy's treedome. Plus, when they go up in Sandy's tree, there's no snow or water, and they suffer no ill effects.
* How could a camera pop the World's Oldest Bubble?
** RuleOfFunny.
** A camera's flash can and will pop ''any'' bubble.
* How long has Plankton been trying to steal the Krabby Patty secret formula? We do know that it's been [[spoiler:since they were kids in school together]], but how long ago was that? In one episode, Plankton reveals that he's been throwing card games for 15 years, waiting for Krabs to "slip up," and Mr. Krabs' [[spoiler:first dime is a large rock-- "I've been in business a long time, boy."]]
** [[spoiler: [=SpongeBob=] didn't always work for the Krusty Krab, so it's likely that Plankton was throwing card games from before then. As for the first dime, Krabs is very greedy. He'd likely take any form of money as long as it's valid somewhere]].
* If "Barnacles!" is considered a mild profanity in the [=SpongeBob=] universe, what does that say about Barnacle Boy?
** It might not be a profanity necessarily (as in something that a child would be scolded for saying), but more of a less-harmless exclamation. It's also used as a sort of euphemism that seems to equivalent to how we use "bugger" or "bastard" (although not as profane as the latter)-- Mr. Krabs often calls [=SpongeBob=] "Ya little barnacle." It still doesn't really make "Barnacle Boy" any more logical, but... maybe it has ''another'' meaning that we don't know of? Maybe actual barnacles are known for being tough or whatever.
** It's most likely a word that has both a profane and a non-profane meaning, like "ass" or "damn".
*** Mr. Krabs is a sailor, so if there ''is'' a profane meaning to "Barnacle", it might not be as big of a deal to him as the swear words only a sailor would know.
* So the song "Sandy Squirrel" on the Sponge Out of Water soundtrack, what's with the romantic lyrics?
** Shipping reference.
** Aw, goddamnit, did the writers screw up Sandy's last name as "Squirrel" again?
* Why do we always link to the main page when we mention [=SpongeBob=] as if he was a trope? It's not like we do it with Batman or Spider-Man, so why [=SpongeBob=]?
** Because there's no character page for [=SpongeBob=] himself in the same vein as, oh say [[Manga/DragonBall Vegeta]], regular or self-demonstrating, and in the cases you mentioned, they've been around for so long and had so many different incarnations. [=SpongeBob=] has had relatively few in comparison.
** I think it has more to do with how his name is spelled. A lot of people spell it with the b in "Bob" capitalized, which is also what you do when you're trying to link to another page here on TV Tropes.
* What could be worse than a giant paint bubble?
** I know! Two giant paint bubbles!
** [[BigNo NOOOO!!!]]
* WHO CARES ABOUT THE CUSTOMER?
** I do!
*** Well I ''don't!''
*** (gasps) ''Squidward''...
* Janet? Marty? WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?!?!
** Marty! I'm scared!
* Having just watched "New Student Starfish" again, I was wondering, if Mrs. Puff can't stand [=SpongeBob=] and is sick of failing him, then how does he have such a high amount of gold stars? Guessing because it's not a post-movie episode, but it leaves you wondering how he got so many.
** [=SpongeBob=] is shown to be a good student whenever he's in the classroom -- it's only when he gets behind the wheel that he starts screwing up. Also, that episode was probably before Mrs. Puff adopted a psychotic dislike for [=SpongeBob=]. In certain earlier episodes, she clearly becomes disappointed whenever he fails the test, but it never got to a point where she was actually angry with him -- a lot of times, she still tried to do her best to give him positive encouragement, even if it was only out of hope that he would pass it the next time.
* The ending of "Are You Happy Now?". Squidward goes insane, and all [=SpongeBob=] does is sigh dreamily and say "He's so handsome." O...'Kay? What was this supposed to imply? It came out of nowhere. Does this mean that [=SpongeBob=] only wanted to fix Squidward's depression (and for some reason assumed that hundreds of paper mache versions of ''himself'' would do it) because he wants to [[HoYay bang him]]? It brings a completely new (and unsettling) dimension to the episode.
* Why does Bikini Bottom have a bomb factory?
** Why not?
** Maybe they're atomic bombs and the Bikini Bottomites are taking advantage of their natural resource: fallout from the nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll.
** It's never stated that those bombs are used for warfare. Assuming that there are construction and mining industries in Bikini Bottom, the bombs are likely used for those.
* Why hasn't Squidward ever called out Mr. Krabs on some of the cheap practices he has done and outright sued him?! Any judge with half a brain would see the past things like "Open 24 hours with the same two employees, "Laughing at the idea of a raise for excellent work", and "Forcing his employees to pay HIM" and likely force Mr. Krabs to have to pay them a LOT of backpay (and after the events of "One Coarse Meal" and "Plankton's Regular", Plankton would probably be able to collect too!!!!)
** I believe a part of Squidward secretly likes working as the Krusty Krab, in the same vein he likes [=SpongeBob=] as his neighbor. So long as he gets his paycheck, he's cool with putting up with whatever goes on there. Plus, it seems Mr. Krabs may have reneged on the whole "Open 24 hours" deal after that episode, as it's never shown open at night in any others. And as for "forcing his employees to pay HIM", it was a joke from ''one episode'', people. Learn to get it go.
** He'd also need [=SpongeBob=] to back him up on those claims, since if he made them himself, Mr Krabs could claim he's lying -- and since [=SpongeBob=] loves to work there, that's not going to happen.
* Does ''this'' look "unsure" to you?
** No.
* So the whole joke with Patrick is that he's so stupid because RealLife sea stars don't have any brains, right? Well, if that's the case, then how come [=SpongeBob=] isn't as stupid as Patrick, seeing as real life sponges don't even have any ''respiratory system'', much less an actual brain?
** I thought the whole joke with Patrick was that he's so stupid because he's so stupid, not for any biological reason. He's just meant to be [=SpongeBob=]'s stupid, bumbling, but still good-natured best buddy. (In the earlier seasons and a select few of the later ones.)
* How can an inanimate drop of hot sauce develop a face?! (Karate Choppers)
** It was just a joke, or perhaps [=SpongeBob=]'s imagination.
*** The latter sounds right, but we have no hint that he imagined it. Or was he [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs on drugs]]?
*** It was a drop of hot sauce with a face, that showed itself in a close-up right as [=SpongeBob=] realizes Sandy's about to pour it onto his tongue. I'm not sure what other sort of "hint" you're expecting.
*** His confused reaction...
** The show anthropomorphizes all kinds of lower life forms, so a pepper isn't out of the realm of possibility. Furthermore, it's done in live action like other surface dwelling creatures.
* In "One Course Meal" Mr. Krabs got some major backlash from fans for how he tormented Plankton and drove him to suicide but has anyone forgotten that Plankton framed Mr. Krabs for stealing Neptune's Crown, resulting in him getting frozen for days, toke sadistic glee in taking the Krabby Patty Formula right before his eyes literally resulting in him shedding a tear, brainwashed everyone in Bikini Bottom making them his mindless slaves, treated his (almost) untimely death at the hands of Neptune by fire as he begged for his life like entertainment and tried to KILL [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick after they returned with the crown and that's only a list of the terrible things he's done in the movie? Mr. Krabs forcing him to suicide after he attacked his restaurant is worst then all those atrocities and seasons worth of more?
** The main difference between Plankton and Mr. Krabs is that the latter has always been established as a villain, even if he's [[StupidEvil utterly incompetent]]. Mr. Krabs is supposed to be a one of the [[DesignatedHero 'heroes']] of the show, so to speak, and in the earlier episodes, he was fairly reasonable with his greed being a flaw more than his {{Flanderization}} defining trait. The problem, as a result, is that the writers intended for the audience to forgive [[DesignatedHero Mr. Krabs ]] while Plankton ultimately got punished in the end of the movie. [=SpongeBob=] was a false hope in this episode; seeming to empathize with Plankton with Mr. Krabs's fake fear of mimes. [=SpongeBob=] being the audience's main insight on the series, as such, was the writer's way of telling us [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop 'You should support these actions']]
* In the episode with Pretty Patties, [=SpongeBob=] and Mr. Krabs trade restaurants, but [=SpongeBob=] never really gave the Krusty Krab back, does this mean that [=SpongeBob=] is actually the owner of the KK?
** Most simply, this is explained by NegativeContinuity, the show doesn't have a set timeline except for the episodes that establish main characters (Plankton and Sandy, for example, were given their own debut episodes and were kept as a result). If you want from a plot standpoint; Mr. Krabs could have simply convinced him offscreen after the episode.
* In "I Was A Teenage Gary", all Gary needed to feel better was water. Why didn't Squidward think of this when he forgot to feed the snail?
** For the sake of plot?
** [=SpongeBob=] never told him that all Gary would need to feel better was water -- he takes ''very'' good care of Gary, so he likely never had to deal with the situation that would lead to him learning that kind of knowledge.
* So in the episode "Can You Spare A Dime," couldn't [=SpongeBob=] just have Squidward evicted from his house instead of letting Squidward constantly take advantage of him after [=SpongeBob=] showing Squidward numerous times that he needed to get a job?
** [=SpongeBob=] is, by nature, kind of a spineless doormat, both in pre-movie (Walking Small) and post-movie (Treats!) episodes. It's a reoccurring character flaw that's been established in multiple episodes. He's overly nice and he lets people take advantage of him. "You just let people step all over you! You're just like stairs!" to quote from Plankton in "Walking Small." [=SpongeBob=] didn't "evict" Squidward until he was so distressed and worn-out by the situation that he completely snapped altogether.
* In the episode "Funny Pants," [=SpongeBob=] believes that his laugh box is broken because Squidward persuaded him to think so. Squidward lied to [=SpongeBob=] just to get him to shut up for a while. But that doesn't really explain A) [=SpongeBob=]'s pained spasms earlier in the episode (just before Squidward fed him the "laugh box" lie,) and B) the wheezy/deflating balloon sound that [=SpongeBob=] makes just before he says "I lost my laugh." So... what happened to him? Were those symptoms just cheats in the narrative?
** A) You CAN get pained spasms if you do laugh for a bit too long. Considering that [=SpongeBob=] was laughing for WAY too long, having that degree of pain is actually not that out of the question.
* Why hasn't Mr. Krabs ever considered franchising the Krusty Krab? Doesn't he realize just how much money he could rake in by doing so? And before it's brought up, yes, I am aware that there's a rather substantial risk that Plankton would very likely be one of the first, if not only, people to sign up. I'm just curious as to why the possibility hasn't come up after nearly 17 years now.
** He does open a Krusty Krab 2 in the movie... that he had built right next to the original. Anyway, opening a new restaurant not only would not matter to the main focus of the show -- [=SpongeBob=]'s antics in Bikini Bottom -- but would also cost more money than Mr. Krabs is shown to be willing to spend.
*** In the long run, it likely would earn him more money, but in the short run, it would be a loss, and as Mr. Krabs has demonstrated in episodes like Jellyfish Hunter, he doesn't exactly take the long run into consideration (as he likely would've made [=SpongeBob=] focus on increasing Jellyfish populations as opposed to capturing all the Jellyfish in the aforementioned episode).
* Come to think of if, I noticed in the episode "Money Talks" that Mr. Krabs doesn't like spending money. So why does he love money so much when he doesn't even want to spend it on anything?
** Because he just likes money.
*** Yeah, at least once we see him happily counting huge piles of money. It makes sense that he likes money just for the sake of having more money than other people.
*** His first dime was a giant rock, something he very likely knows he ''can't'' spend anywhere. It could be that he's a collector, and views each coin/bill as unique (plus, we never see customers paying with checks or credit/debt cards).
* A bonus question: How does Mr. Krabs even pay his own bills since he doesn't want to spend money?
** I'd imagine he's probably really cheap and stubborn about it.
*** I'd imagine that he leaves that responsibility to Pearl, since she doesn't seem to have the same qualms he has about spending money.
* Is this the Krusty Krab?
** NO! THIS IS PATRICK! ''(grunts)'' I'm not a Krusty Krab!
** Um, Patrick, that's the name of the resturaunt.
** Huh? Oooh! FISHPASTE!
* But really though, did the customer from "Pizza Delivery" actually order his Diet Dr. Kelp to go along with his Krabby Patty pizza in the first place? Even though [=SpongeBob=] points out on his notebook that he didn't, in the customer's defense, in the case that he truly did, him berating the shit out of him and slamming the door on his face would be somewhat justified.
** You might recall that Mr. Krabs is the one who took the call. Mr. Krabs may not have told [=SpongeBob=] that the customer wanted the Diet Dr. Kelp, so in a way, the berating and slamming is justified, but blame Mr. Krabs for not paying attention.
** As someone who works in the food industry taking orders, this troper can safely say that characters like that one are actually quite common -- customers are occasionally known to call back and complain about not receiving something that they don't realize they forgot to order in the first place, or because they thought that something like a side order or drink came with their meal by default. Either way, when you get the kind of friendly service [=SpongeBob=] ''and'' Mr. Krabbs were shown to give to him, I don't see how him yelling at them and slamming the door on them would be at all justified. If he'd just accepted the pizza and ''asked'' for them to deliver him the drink (which is what most rational customers tend to do), I'm sure [=SpongeBob=] happily would've done so.
* Remember the guy who [=SpongeBob=] and Squidward thought was the Hash-Slinging Slasher? Why were his nostrils glowing red in the dark?
** It was at night, and the Krusty Krab isn't exactly in the best of shape. It could be that there's lights on the outside that would normally illuminate the outer walls that weren't working properly, and they just so happened to make his nostrils glow red.
* In "Pizza Delivery", if [=SpongeBob=] sings that the Krusty Krab Pizza is for "you and me" (which is presumably reffering to Squidward and [=SpongeBob=] respectively), then how come he refuses to let Squidward take a slice from it later on when they get hungry and says it's for the customer all of the sudden?
** It was for the customer.
** When [=SpongeBob=] was singing "for you and me," he was speaking in general about the customers of pizza made by the Krusty Krab.
* Is mayonnaise an instrument?
** No troper, mayonnaise is not an instrument.
** Horse radish is not an instrument either.
*** Do instruments of torture count?
*** No.
* If [=SpongeBob=] enjoyed being able to fly so much, why didn't he just, I don't know, ''inflate another pair of pants?''
** [=SpongeBob=] got fed up with the citizens asking him to do non flying-related tasks for them, so he didn't bother.
* Does anyone have an reasonable explanation for the random apple chasing the teens in "The Chaperone?" (other than RuleOfFunny)
* Are you finished with those errands?
** NO, I AM NOT FINISHED WITH THOSE ERRANDS AND I NEVER WILL BE! So quit checking up on me! know what you re up to. Forcing me to come back here every time you mess up!
* Why are the "...questions only the real Mr. Krabs could answer." questions that anyone who's been to the Krusty Krab could answer, and why didn't Mr. Krabs raise this objection?
** [=SpongeBob=] is near panic, extremely twitchy and is pointing an industrial strength fire house with a spicy condiment at him and the imitation. Does this look like the kind of situation you can reason yourself out of? [=SpongeBob=] would just go "I'm asking the questions around here!" and shut him up. Especially since Mr Krabs has been shown to be less than eloquent under pressure.
** There's also the fact that Plankton never goes to the Krusty Krab as a customer.
* In the episode "Feral Friends", how was Sandy unaffected by Neptune's Moon but WAS affected by Neptune's Sun? If you make the argument it only works for warmbloods/air-breathers, that does not excuse Pearl, who was affected by the former and not the latter? Does the Sun work for land animals if that's the case?
* How am I supposed to eat this pizza without my drink?
* Why does Mister Krabs have a vending machine in his house?
** Probably to extrort money out of visitors who want a snack or drink. It's not his job to pay for their amenities!
----
** I think it's pretty obvious she's adopted.
** Also worth noting -- Mrs. Krabbs is Mr. Krabbs mother, not wife (that is to say, Pearl's Grandmother). Also, while it seems obvious for biological reasons that Pearl is adopted, it might be worth noting that Mr. Krabbs is implied to have been married at one point (e.g. when he says things like "I've been alone for so long!"), kids cost money (something Krabbs is highly adverse to), and logic in ''[=SpongeBob SquarePants=]'' is never necessarily a barrier to ANYTHING, it's still possible Pearl is biologically his child as well.
* Here are some [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar radar]]-related questions:
** We've seen the episode "Chocolate with Nuts", and at one point, [=SpongeBob=] points out that barnacle chips are not delicious, while Patrick replies with "not the way I use them". What was he talking about when he said that?
** There's also the cake from "Overbooked" and somebody wrote that what it originally said was "sorry about the scabies". What the [[PrecisionFStrike hell]] are scabies?
*** Google is your friend. But I'll tell you anyway upon my own research: it's a kind of skin disease marked by small itching and red spots. The reason it's a radar moment is because it's considered by many to be an STD, kind of like herpes.
*** What do scabies have to do with this?
*** Uhh... everything? I literally just answered what scabies was?
** Then, we have that one moment in "Something Smells". What does Squidward mean when he replies to [=SpongeBob=] shouting "I'm ugly and I'm proud!!"?
*** There are devout religious people who call people who live by sin ugly. I always assumed Squidward thought he was yelling a coded version of "I'm gay and I'm proud!"
* Does most of the lexicon Bubble Bass uses for his order even have real-world analogues? Some of it definitely comes from the In-N-Out Burger secret menu, but I've ''never'' heard anybody use "light axle grease" to denote butter on a burger. And no one's explanations make sense, because [=SpongeBob=] serves him a single patty on two regular hamburger buns on a dine-in platter, not several patties between between several slices of toast in a take-out bag, and the only thing Bubble Bass finds fault with is the lack of pickles.
** Every restaurant has it's own secret menu -- while most of his terms likely do come from real-world lexicon, odds are that there's a few ones that the writers threw in to make the Krusty Krab more unique.
* How come [=SpongeBob=] never had the balls to stand up to people and defend his belongings (i.e. "Bubble Buddy" and "Little Yellow Book")? What I meant by listing those two episodes is that in "Bubble Buddy" he did almost absolutely nothing to protect the titular object from the angry mob. In "Little Yellow Book" he just cries while Squidward reads his diary.
** Standing up to an angry mob can be incredibly difficult in real life and requires lots of courage and self-esteem. [=SpongeBob=] has a big heart but that doesn't mean he's rich in those qualities ("[=SpongeBob=], Sandy and the Big Worm", "Grandma's Kisses"). I agree with you on the diary episode, though.
*** On an unrelated note, that could explain why the Simpson Family didn't help Homer in "The Simpson's Movie", from the entire town of Springfield under the dome, if you know what I mean. Thanks for the answer.
* This is for humor: How did [[DeadpanSnarker Squidward]] know Mr. Krabs wore a sleep mask?
** WildMassGuessing, maybe?
*** Actually, after some time ago, I figured out that it implied that Squidward watches Krabs while he sleeps.
* If Bikini Bottom is supposed to be under Bikini Atoll, what's up with the Bubble Bowl?
** Perhaps it could be far away from Bikini Bottom?
* Why does Mr. Krabs wear a water helmet in Sandy's Treedome in "Overbooked", when crabs are amphibious(meaning they can breathe both air and water)?
** He says that, in "The Krabby Patty That Ate Bikini Bottom", that he doesn't need a helmet in the dome, as long as he keeps his body moist. He may have worn a helmet to stay hydrated.
* In Karate Star, we are shown that Patrick's limbs can regenerate very quickly. Why didn't his head regenerate in Patrick SmartPants?
** Likely because Patrick requires his brain to regenerate. Remember in Spy Buddies where two Patricks appear at the end? Could the other brain from Patrick SmartPants have generated a new body? Then again, the other hand regenerated a body...
*** That brain was in the sand, so that may be the reason it didn't grow into a whole new body. Though on the part about the hand, it probably regenerates into a body, and then the brain develops.
* From the episode "Selling Out", there was the part where Mr. Krabs sang. My question is how does a living yellow bird fly and tweet under water?
** There have been campfires on the show and this is what worries you?
** RuleOfFunny or WaterIsAir?
* In "Dunces and Dragons," how '''DID''' [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick warp into Medieval Times?
** The ending implies that it was AllJustADream, until Patrick reveals that [[OrWasItADream he landed on Squidly.]]
*** So, again, ''how did [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick warp into Medieval Times''?
*** AWizardDidIt
*** It WAS a dream. The "Squidley" guy was probably an ordinary costumed squid working for the Medieval Moments attraction.
* In "Pranks A Lot," [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick turn themselves invisible and try to scare Sandy into thinking they're ghosts... by wearing sheets over their entire bodies, making them very visible. However, if one looks at the shape of their figures while they have the sheets on, it's obvious that they don't have their water helmets on (which they need to survive inside Sandy's treedome). Yes, this is a minor issue, but the people demand continuity!
** To be fair they were only in there for a few seconds. Also, maybe the artists decided to omit the helmets to make their silhouettes more distinguishable.
* In the episode with the Toy Barrel, For some reason the Illuminati Logo- the All Seeing Eye appears twice, one in the pile of toys in Squidward's house, the other one in the Toy Barrel itself. Why are they there? Who would want to buy an Eye in a pyramid for a toy?
** Brainwashing. Also, it might be related to the Cephalopod Lodge.
** {{Getting Crap Past The Radar}}?
*** I agree. This show is after all quite a [[Radar/SpongeBobSquarePants radar-pusher]].
* Why doesn't Plankton just sneak into the Krusty Krab at night to steal a Krabby Patty or the formula? No one's (usually) there at night, the security is nil, and the two times Plankton does it, the only reason for his failure was because he involved [=SpongeBob=] both times.
** Hey, I'm guessing this is where WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief comes in. I thought so too, then I realized that evil might just have a bedtime too.
** I think they showed that security wasn't that bad at the Krusty Krab. In one episode Squidward breaks in at night and gets lit on fire by a gasoline trap. He simply doesn't want to risk immolation for the recipe.
*** That scene ''did'' get an OrwellianRetcon, though...
*** Erm, How?
*** MoralGuardians
*** It was actually cut because the method used to start the fires resembled terrorism.
** He's ''tiny''. He can't exactly get up on tables or open doorknobs, which is why he can't steal the formula without some kind of assistance.
*** Then why doesn't he just use one of his robots to open the doors?
*** He's tried, at various times. It never seems to work out right.
* Why don't he just get a note pad and copy the formula? Mr. Krabs will never know.
** Also even without [=SpongeBob=] he drops the ball a lot by himself, either by having a convoluted plan failing at the part where he shows himself to Krabs or changing life with Krabs only for crumbling under the insanity.
** He(except on some occasions) never seems to find the formula, and when he does, it's just a decoy.
* This is from Bubble Buddy; why are there vendors selling "Ice-cold drinks" to people waiting in line to use the restroom?
** Captive audience. Also, just because you have to go doesn't mean you're not thirsty.
** I assumed it was one of those running gags of when someone has to go badly, there's always liquids or running water nearby.
* Where did everyone (excluding [=SpongeBob=]) sleep in Gone!? Outside?
** At the episode's end, everybody returns on a bus, so it's implied that they went far away. They may have gone to another city that had enough hotels to hold them all.
*** With the burning [=SpongeBob=] effigy, it's likely to be a parody of Burning man so they probably went to the middle of nowhere and camped out.
* What did Patrick mean when he said [[{{GettingCrapPastTheRadar}} his underwear was white when he bought them]]?
** You already acknowledged that this was an example of getting crap past the radar, so I'll assume you already know this implies he repeatedly wet his pants enough to turn them yellow.
** Okay, first of all I wrote this earlier today and I'm surprised I got an answer hours later. Second of all, if they stay yellow, does this mean he never washes his clothes?
*** It's in my watchlist. Also, this is Patrick Star. He's lazy and has terrible hygiene, so I can't imagine he does laundry very often.
** Speaking of laundry, another way he could turn his underwear yellow is by mixing white with yellow in the washer.
* Krabby Patties are fish burgers. All the customers are fish. Yeah, that's exactly what this show needs: cannibalism.
** How'd ''you'' find out what the secret ingredient is? And how are you so sure you're right?
*** In the episode where Sandy wants to go back to Texas, at one part [=SpongeBob=] asks her if she wants to eat one final Krabby Patty, and she replies, "I don't wanna eat any more fish".
*** She said she was "tired of fish food, [=SpongeBob=]." Not that the food was actually made out of fish.
*** Although it is worth noting that [[{{Squick}} fish food is generally made out of ground-up fishmeal]].
** On the same vein, one of the *ahem* [[JumpingTheShark Season 6]] episodes had a criminal being arrested for eating ''quasi-gummi fish'' (the policefish said that he was a monster for eating his own kind). Besides the weirdness of the blatant cannibalism joke, where would he get those? I mean, if he was smoking the Bikini Bottom equivalent of weed, that would make sense, but a cannibalistic candy? How would you advertise them?!
*** It's not that weird an idea. Sour Patch Kids, Jelly Babies, etc. sell in our world.
*** Maybe... you buy it in a back alley, like crack.
*** More so, when the audience accidentally got fried in "The Fry Cook Games", that guy sold them as fish sticks and nobody complained.
*** They cut to another scene soon after so we wouldn't see the mass riot that would ensue.
*** They had a sign to switch to. They suspected it would happen.
** I can't believe nobody has pointed this out yet: CHUM IS A TYPE OF FISH. Y'know, chum, as in CHUM BUCKET? Yeah, I think I know why nobody eats there...
*** So in the episode where [=SpongeBob=] was putting lies into a newspaper, he was telling THE TRUTH about the Chum Bucket?! (Plankton's Chum made of your chums!)
*** And [=SpongeBob=] [=SquarePants=] has now reached the same level of NightmareFuel as Film/SoylentGreen. [[SarcasmMode Conglaturations.]]
*** If this troper is right, a "chub" is a cut of fish. "Chum" is fish ground up into a paste-like substance to be tossed into water to attract sharks... dang it.
*** "Spongicus" and "Jailbreak!" confirm the abscene of dead fish, although only the former mentions there is whale blubber.
*** Speaking of which, why don't we actually see any sharks in [=SpongeBob=]? The only one I can think of is the bodybuilder who appeared in the infomercial in "Musclebob Buffpants".
*** You're forgetting the family of sharks shown in "Spongeguard on Duty".
*** And the shark guy who taught [=SpongeBob=] how to drive blindfolded.
*** And the shark from the Anchor Arms commercial.
*** That's the bodybuilder from the infomercial in "Musclebob Buffpants" mentioned above.
*** Speaking of sharks, wouldn't they ''like'' chum? And thus become customers of Plankton's ''Chum Bucket''? Never mind, [[Tropers/{{Crion87}} this troper]] hasn't seen [=SpongeBob=] in ''quite a while''...
*** They would, it's just that Plankton is really, really bad at making it. Squidward's chum is shown to be so good that even ''[=SpongeBob=]'' completely forgets about Krabby Patties after eating it because it's just that much better.
** The buns are apparently made of seaweed (according to the episode in which Plankton hijacked [=SpongeBob=]'s brain) so the meat could be just about anything.
*** Seaweed-''seed''. One would assume this is similar to how we use sesame seeds.
** Ummm...fish eat other fish. I mean, look at sharks.
** Yeah, it's only cannibalism if that species eats its own species.
** Well, if you're going to call ''realism'' into this, then Plankton's a good meal for Pearl and Gary, and Patrick can be eaten by Mr. Krabs and jellyfish. Wait a minute, that's it! Krabby meat is made from starfish.
*** One post-movie episode actually played on this by having Plankton think that Pearl was out to eat him.
*** But... she's a sperm whale, which are carnivorous and prey primarily on squid... if anything, she should be trying to eat Squidward.
*** Squidward is an octopus.
*** [[OverlyLongGag So he would eat Mr. Krabs?]]
*** [[RhetoricalQuestionBlunder Yes. Octopi love to eat crabs]].
** Does that mean Patrick's the cannibal?
** Well, Sea Bears and Sea Rhinoceros (Rhinoceri?), nothing says they can't have (non-Manatee) Sea Cows for hamburgers.
*** Lionfish and seahorses have been shown to act like real (non-sentient) lions and horses, so a manatee being equivalent to a non-sentient cow is not out of the question.
** I always thought the Krabby Patties were made from sea cows since Sandy drove a herd of them in one episode.
*** Alternatively, [[WesternAnimation/RobotChicken Krabby Patties are made out of crabs!]] Crabs are scavengers anyways, so it wouldn't be too out of the blue.
*** Supported in the episode where Mr. Krabs is having a mid-life crisis, eats a Krabby Patty and says "So that's what I taste like"
*** Boy:"Mommy, my Krabby Patty tastes funny." Mother:" Well no wonder, it's all old and dried out. Like that man over there. Now put it away where it belongs. In the garbage." That's how Krabs gets the patty and tries it.
** WordOfGod says that Krabby Patties might be vegetarian.
** Ah, CarnivoreConfusion at its finest.
* [[FridgeLogic How do they have running water under the sea?]]
** In a similar vein, how come that Bikini Bottom's got a beach when it's already underwater? And how come that, in that episode with [=SpongeBob=]'s bubble friend, a fish drowns because the bubble friend didn't dig him out of the sand and the tide came? I mean, the guy's a fish and they're underwater anyway, for Christ's sake!
*** In both cases, RuleOfFunny.
*** Their "seaside" is actually tar (Goo Lagoon), which fish cannot breathe. As for why it has a tide, volcanic activity.
*** [[VoodooShark Does tar flow in rivers? Does it have surfable waves? Wouldn't the Goo Lagoon actually have goo in it?]] And while I'm at it, how did that 'wind whistling through [=SpongeBob=]'s holes' thing work?
*** Plus, in "Ditchin", [=SpongeBob=] is sinking in the Bikini Bottom Tar Pit, where he is, you know, DYING. This means either it depends how sticky he tar is, or Goo Lagoon must be something else.
** I recall one episode where they said it was mud ("Ripped Pants") but there was another ("Sponge Guard On Duty") that said it was in fact water. I'm assuming RuleOfFunny.
*** In that case, Goo Lagoon is a mixture of both: Gooey water that's wet enough to swim in, but gooey enough to be separate from the main seawater.
** They parodied this in the episode "Pressure", where Mr. Krabs gives [=SpongeBob=] something to drink before he goes up on dry land... an empty glass. [[DontExplainTheJoke Y'know, 'cause there's water everywhere.]]
** And during the Party episode:
--> '''[=SpongeBob=]:''' I would go to this party, but I can't read the invitation! The ink's all running! [[LampshadeHanging Whoever sent these invitations clearly didn't understand the physical limitations of life underwater.]] Well! [[HypocriticalHumor I guess we can just throw these on the fire!]]
** And ''again'' in the "Life of Crime" episode:
-->'''Patrick:''' (sitting with [=SpongeBob=] around a campfire) Hey, if we're underwater, how can there be a- (fire goes out)
** Well, this troper always assumed that the 'water' is brine, much like underwater brine lakes...
** Can we just attribute all this to WaterIsAir unless [[RuleOfFunny reminding viewers that it]] ''[[RuleOfFunny is]]'' [[RuleOfFunny water they live in gets more laughs]] and be done with it?
* Why did Squidward and Mrs. Puff (both of whom hate [=SpongeBob=]) go to his parties in "[=SpongeBob=] Meets the Strangler"?
** Its been shown often that Mrs Puff and Squidward only hate [=SpongeBob=] because of how he acts during boating and work, ie how he fails every test and how he is annoyingly cheerful. In fact, Mrs Puff tries to protect [=SpongeBob=] from going to jail and Squidward has shown concern for [=SpongeBob=] more than one, and both have shown to be protective of his childlike innocence, for instance during the Hall Monitor and Pizza episodes. So its no stretch for them to go to his parties, especially since their other friends will be there. Not to mention this was during the early seasons, when their hatred wasn't as pronounced. Its only the later seasons when they adamantly refuse to have anything to do with him, and even go as far as to try and kill him.
* Why so many episodes make littering SeriousBusiness. The first time littering was used as an offense was "Squid On Strike", but it was a minor gag. [[SeasonalRot After the movie]], it has shown up in several episodes. [=SpongeBob=]'s Cousin Manga/BlackJack was in prison for it ([[NoodleIncident wonder what he did?]]). In "Driven to Tears", the cop pursues Patrick and [=SpongeBob=] after [=SpongeBob=] tears up Patrick's license, claiming "This is why I joined the force!" (made even worse when [=SpongeBob=] tells him about Patrick's bad driving, and he calls him a [[PoliceAreUseless tattletale]]). The worst offender would be "Keep Bikini Bottom Beautiful", where apparently having a melted statue counts as litter, even if the city erected it. RuleOfFunny aside, it's becoming ridiculous. Of course, there are only so many offenses a kid-friendly show can show. (Heck, they tried with the "fish candy", and made the complaint above.)
** I think it's because litter and pollution underwater would kill the fish by choking them to death. You've heard of all those dolphins who get caught in the plastic can holder things right?
*** But, [[WaterIsAir their water has gravity]], and their dumps aren't contained in a HAZMAT unit or anything, it's just left open exposed to the water like any other dump would.
*** It's a combination of Rule of Funny and a pun on the fact that underwater critters suffer because of human littering and waste. It doesn't have to make consistent sense in-universe.
** This troper is reminded of the song ''Alice's Restaurant'', which does involve getting arrested, by the FBI yet, for littering.
*** The PoliceAreUseless, and it also doubles as a CantGetAwayWithNuthin.
* In several places (most notably in TheMovie), we see that [=SpongeBob=] & Co. are just a few inches tall. This makes Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy even more confusing.
** Well, Mermaid Man DOES have a Shrink Ray...
*** And if you recall they never did show if they managed to un-shrink themselves when [=SpongeBob=] got a hold of Mermaid Man's belt. Could be a Call Back to that.
** So that means all Nicktoons are tiny and translated?
** Or else [=SpongeBob=] later reversed the shrink effect with Squidward's Kelp Grow.
*** Either that, or Creator/DavidHasselhoff is a robotic construct piloted by the real thing.
*** Maybe Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy are sea-beings that happen to be small? Part sea monkeys, perhaps?
*** Sea ''apes'', actually.
*** Or maybe they're beings that are to sea monkeys what humans are to chimps and other lower primates?
** Wait, no one has realized how Pearl is smaller than most whale embryos?
*** She was [[InsaneTrollLogic obviously an evil whale that was shrunk and made friendlier by Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy]].
*** If we're going by the whole "Creator/DavidHasselhoff is HUGE" thing, you only saw David Hasselhoff up against [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick, not Pearl or Mermaid Man or anyone. Sea sponges and starfish aren't very big in real life.
*** She's half-crab. Fulfills the minimum required logic for [=SpongeBob=].
** I kinda figured that inches were their version of feet or that their size isn't relevant, unless an episode calls for it to be.
* Considering how many times [=SpongeBob=] has failed his boating test, can't they just ban him from boating due to some mental deficiency or something?
** Not necessarily, it might have something to do with anxiety, as he knows how to drive or, rather, possesses the skills and knowledge to but he becomes anxious, thus causing him to freak out and fail, which is would be a RealLife reason as to why.
** In one episode, "Doing Time", in a flashback, Mrs. Puff says that she promises that "As long as a student is willing to learn, I will NEVER give up on them!".
--> '''[=SpongeBob=]:''': "Hi! I'm [=SpongeBob SquarePants=]!"
*** AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
* Has anybody else noticed the retcons concerning the whole 'under the sea' thing? In one episode, there's wind blowing through [=SpongeBob=]'s holes. UNDERWATER. And in that episode with the submarine, how could chum be sucked into the submarine when the sub is filled with water? Don't even get me started with the underwater rivers and the fire in the surfing episode. Goo Lagoon is made of water now, not goo. And that bugs me. At least in the earlier episodes, they usually played it for humor or lampshaded it. Now...it's just ignorance.
** Perhaps the wind is a water current?
** ...You weren't at all surprised that during the surfing episode, they wash up on an island ''underwater''?
** Well, for that last one, there actually are undersea lakes. All it takes is water with much higher saline concentration. Search Website/YouTube, if you may, "Blue Planet" has shown it at least once. For the rest... BellisariosMaxim, too much?
** While we're on the subject, does anybody else realize that the submarine shouldn't even work underwater? Or that all the episodes referenced to here are [[{{Sequelitis}} after the movie]]?
* Why is [=SpongeBob=] shaped like a regular house sponge when his parents are shaped like sea sponges?
** Maybe he's from an affair?
*** Or it's a recessive thing?
*** His parents are Loofahs?
** Obviously he shaves, like that one episode where he makes his head from square to round, exposing his brain.
** [[IdenticalGrandson He looks like his grandpa and one of his ancestors]].
*** So it's recessive
** I always thought his parents were cookies...
* How would you ever get enough people willing to form a seven-mile spanking machine?
** Internet, ads in the newspaper, signs saying "free donuts" with fine print...
** Craigslist. Done.
** Fish are idiots?
** Probably done to raise money for charity.
* Why does Pearl never have to surface for air?
** She does and you don't see it?
** She does have to surface for air. In the beginning of the episode where she starts working for the Krusty Krab, Mr. Krabs mentions "it seems just like yesterday I taught her how to breach" and shows a picture of them jumping out of the ocean's surface.
*** Not just that, whales can and, more often than not, do hold their breath for a long time.
** [[NobodyPoops Nobody has to go to the surface for air]]
* Similar to the Pearl question above; what about the seal guy (Craig Mammalton, I think) in the tanning episode? How does HE survive underwater for the whole episode?
** Seals can hold their breath for a pretty long time, and the episode is only 11 minutes.
** Excuse me, but the episode itself might be 11 minutes, but in-universe, several hours had gone by.
* How does a [[strike:Krab]] crab have a whale for a daughter?
** That one's easy actually. Adoption. Considering we've never seen her mother, nor is she ever mentioned. It's likely Pearl knows this already.
*** In this [=SpongeBob=] trivia book I read in third grade, it had a page that said Pearl took after her mother. Meaning Mr. Krabs' wife was a whale.
*** Well, if I said that Pearl was much smaller than a normal whale, that would be massively understating it. Maybe she got the size from her father.
*** HotSkittyOnWailordAction?
*** More like Hot Krabby on Wailord Action.
*** Oh my god...[[BlatantLies Mr Krabs is a Krabby!]] [[InsaneTrollLogic It explains EVERYTHING!]]
** Maybe Pearl's mother was already pregnant with Pearl when she married Mr. Krabs.
** Apparently, she either died or divorced Krabs when pearl was very young, considering that when Krabs introduced "Cashina" to her, saying something about a new mom.
* [=SpongeBob=]'s favorite exclamation phrase is "Mother of Pearl!" Now let me ask, '''WHO THE HELL IS PEARL'S MOTHER?'''
** What '''really''' gets me is when ''Mr. Krabs'' uses the same phrase ...
** "Mother of Pearl" refers to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother-of-pearl Nacre, the organic material produced by mussels that makes pearls.]]. Still an odd choice for an UnusualEuphemism, but there ya go.
*** Not really. I've heard it used as a minced oath for "Mother of God" before.
*** I've always thought that when someone says "Mother of Pearl" they were exclaiming it in surprise, because this "Mother of Pearl"doesn't exist. Perhaps the same goes for [=SpongeBob=] and Mr. Krabs?
*** Actually, the expression is suppossed to be a standin for "Mother of God"
* Yeah, it's a dream sequence, but say Krabs actually caught Moby Dollar. It's still just a one dollar bill, isn't it, no matter the physical size of the bill itself?
** Maybe he could exchange it for a larger number of bills based on its size somewhere?
** It's related to all those over-sized novelty checks used for fundraisers?
** It's Mr. Krabs you're talking about. He would gladly risk his life even for less amounts of money.
*** In fact, he spent one episode obsessing over a ''penny''. Which [=SpongeBob=] found.
** It exhales money. (For those that have not seen the episode, ''that is not a joke''.)
** He can chop it up into little pieces that grow into money?
** Personally I think the reason for catching it is really obvious. It's a dollar considered, in his imagination, extremely rare and difficult to catch, like Moby Dick the whale. He's not catching it so he can spend it, he's catching it so he can own it as a trophy.
* I can understand [=SpongeBob=] having brown hair, but Patrick having black hair and Squidward having brown hair? Or maybe we've just become too accustomed to the fandom versions.
** Why is that so unbelievable?
** Patrick does have black hair. It's been shown in the show.
** And Squidward has blonde hair, as shown in "The Original Fry Cook".
** [=SpongeBob=] has blonde hair, according to his driver's license. He probably just shaves it off or gets it cut because he likes it that way? And in "Clams," his hair grew out and it was light blonde.
*** It was shown in one episode that he combs his hair into his shape or, rather, it's sort of like [=LSP's=] lumps, her hair is a part of shape and isn't apparent unless otherwise.
* In the bully episode it was a plot point that [=SpongeBob=] didn't have bones or organs, but in many later episodes he does have them.
** One, ''[[NegativeContinuity It's [=SpongeBob=]]]''.
** Now that I think about it, I can't remember seeing [=SpongeBob=] with bones until after the movie, so...
** WRONG! He's shown to have bones in "I Had An Accident". Plus, his brain has been exposed in an episode whose title I had forgotten. And both episodes came before the movie.
** His brain could be squishy enough to not be damaged by Flats's punching (Halloween Episode, btw), and "I Had An Accident" is both a BizarroEpisode (even for [=SpongeBob=]) and very close to the end of season 3, which technically still means that [=SpongeBob=] tends to have bones more as the series progresses. The movie just accelerated things.
*** Indeed; that episode was the single least comprehensible episode of the original four seasons. Still funny as heck, though.
** [=SpongeBob=] does have bones in "Squid on Strike", but it was in the distant future so it could be evolution in action.
** His "bones" aren't really bones, and Flats' punching isn't that hard.
*** RuleOfFunny zigzags this in the sense of sometimes he has bones and sometimes he doesn't.
* If [=SpongeBob=] and Squidward have to pay to work at the Krusty Krab how are they not bankrupt and why is Squidward still working there?
** On the same note; why doesn't Squidward quit his job if he hates it so much? I'm sure he can find a better one. I doubt he gets a good pay, and he has [=SpongeBob=] and Krabs to bother him, so him being lazy there isn't worth it.
*** ''Brother, Can You Spare A Dime''. Squidward quit, and he became homeless.
*** According to the episode "The Original Fry Cook", the only reason he's working at the Krusty Krab is because he believed his clarinet career would take off from there. Also, Squidward has worked longer at the Krusty Krab, so you'd think he would begin to get paid soon after the series began.
** [=SpongeBob=] said he had to pay when he first started. Presumably he's been promoted enough to actually get paid, rather than vice versa.
*** Actually, in the episode ''One Coarse Meal'', it is revealed that Krabs pays his employees with fake money.
** On ''Squid on Strike'' [=SpongeBob=] didn't accept his pay check because "grilling is his passion". I think he may have a "real" (higher paying) job on the side.
*** Well in "Shell Shocked" we learn his appendeges can grow back. He's probably a millionaire from organ trading, but keeps the fact hidden.
** ''Skill Crane'' shows that, yes, Mr. Krabs pays both Squidward and [=SpongeBob=], apparently on a weekly basis like most jobs. ("But Mr. Krabs, today is Monday?") Their wages could be minimum wage for all we know, and the only reason Mr. Krabs so willingly gave what appeared to amount to at least $20 in quarters is because he knew Squidward would lose it all to the Skill Crane before the end of the day.
* In the episode where Mr. Krabs "sheds" his shell and makes [=SpongeBob=] wear it to his navy convention, are Krabs's friends so ''[[TooDumbToLive dumb]]'' that they can't tell that there is a ''yellow sponge'' inside the red shell? Seriously, you would think that being in the navy/army would let you see obvious differences in your best friends, but yeah, maybe it's just me that's bugged.
** Last I checked, the only thing that was really noticeable was the eyes; They probably just thought he had changed over time.
*** About the eyes-- why was [=SpongeBob=] able to reshape his own eyes to resemble Mr. Krabs's eyes in ''Krusty Love'', but didn't bother in that episode (Shell of a Man)?
*** [[EyeScream Wouldn't that hurt?]]
*** In "Krusty Love" he does that temporarily. If he kept his eyes like that for longer, they would probably start hurting very badly. [=SpongeBob=] is largely resistant to injury, but that doesn't mean it can't happen.
* In the episode where a dream version of [=SpongeBob=] invades the dreams of others, why, in response, do the people whose dreams were invaded break into the real [=SpongeBob=]'s house, wake him up, then yell at him about it? It's like it's teaching kids to yell at someone for being in your dream.
** To be fair, [[JerkAss Sponge was purposely invading his friends' otherwise happy dreams and ruining them...]]
** More importantly, why was Pearl there? All Bob did in her dream was unearth a flower.
*** Maybe Pearl was offended that [=SpongeBob=] was looking for Mr. Krabs' dream instead? She did seem disappointed.
*** But she was happy a few second later when she got back to her tea party, and also, Gary was angry at [=SpongeBob=] when he didn't ruin his dream either?
*** He was going into people's dreams, but he wasn't ruining them on purpose, it was all just his usually innocent clumsiness.
*** As for Gary being angry, it was because he felt [=SpongeBob=] was invading his privacy:
-->'''Dream Gary:''' [=SpongeBob=]? How dare you invade the sanctity of my dream?
** Also, why is Patrick there? [=SpongeBob=] didn't really do anything but talk to him and left before it was "ruined".
*** Patrick didn't come until after everyone chewed out [=SpongeBob=]. He only wanted an quarter and probably saw everyone going to [=SpongeBob=]'s house and figured he could ask one of them for one.
* How did [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick get into the Cephalopod Lodge? Did they [[InstantSedation chloroform]] the guard? Did they crawl in through a plothole? How!?
** [[ScrewTheRulesIHavePlot They walked right through the door]].
** The guard took his break
* Similar to the water problem, it seems water acts the same as air in the [=SpongeBob=] Universe. In one episode, [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick fall down an abyss. I know they don't have fins, but they could have just crawled up like any Sea Star and Sea Sponge could. Same thing for the fish. Except for moments of funny, the fish never swim but just walk.
** PlotInducedStupidity
** Sea sponges can't move.
** It would take days for Patrick to get back up, maybe even months.
* How can [=SpongeBob=] use the oven (and the lights, and the refrigerator for that matter) when they're under water? The electric appliances would have short-circuited from contact with the water.
** Maybe it's the same type of light used by deep-sea fish: bacteria?
** [[WaterIsAir They're really only underwater when]] [[RuleOfFunny they can make a joke about how they're underwater.]]
** Who's to say that in the [=SpongeBob=] universe, the sentient underwater creatures have designed electronic appliances that somehow work underwater?
* Poseidon is pretty large, but he still isn't large enough to be a full-scaled person. Can he change his size at will?
** Well, given the fact he's an '''ALL POWERFUL WATER GOD''' then yes, yes he could.
*** He also apparently grew taller [[spoiler: before he transformed [=SpongeBob=] into a god near the end of Neptune's Spatula]]. He must be able to change size at will.
** I thought it was Neptune?
* If Sandy is a sapient talking squirrel, how do the humans on the surface treat her and her species?
** I always thought the animal characters could talk English, but the humans (like the diver in TheMovie) only speak gibberish.
*** But Creator/DavidHasselhoff could talk to [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick in the same film...
*** He could also move like a speedboat without kicking or paddling; I think its safe to say that The Hoff is an exception to the general human rule.
*** Don't forget the artist at sea that dropped his magic pencil into the sea in "Frankendoodle"
*** We were listening not to how the fish heard him, but how humans heard him.
*** AnimalTalk can be understood by all the animals, and human's can't understand it.
* Just how did a giant ape and his horse breathe under the water to beat up [=SpongeBob=] anyway?
** [[BizarroEpisode That episode is really, really, ''really'' weird,]] and the two themselves lampshade this at the end. The episode itself then ends [[MindScrew with a live-action family quizzically looking at the television screen and shutting it off]].
* If Squidward only has suction cups for hands, how can he play the clarinet? In fact, how can Mr. Krabs do anything involving hand manipulation when he only has claws?
** Note that, aside from a few instances, Squidward doesn't play the clarinet particularly ''well.'' As for Mr. Krabs, it's been shown a few times that he can seemingly grow extra claws when they're needed for pointing. Maybe he did a deal with Neptune wherein he gained limited shapeshifting abilities in exchange for his soul?
* How can [=SpongeBob=] have parents when his species can reproduce by budding?
** Adoption?
** They got married, then budded [=SpongeBob=].
** Budding isn't the only way sea sponges reproduce, they also spawn into the open water and hope everything works out.
* People talk loud when they wanna act smart, right?
** CORRECT!
* If Plankton "WENT TO COLLEGE!" then how did he end up with a [[CrapsackWorld dead-end restaurant job]]? What did he major in that that's all he can do with his life?
** Perhaps he flunked?
** Seems unlikely. He is a master of creating robots, especially his sentient robot wife, Karen. There must be a degree for that. Perhaps if it wasn't for his shortsightedness he would have found a job that would have been more beneficial to society other than making chumwiches and flipping burgers. He even managed to take over the world in the movie.
*** Actually, he onlys took over Bikini Bottom. And according to the episode where he falls in love with Mr. Krab's mother, when Karen starts blabbing on, Plankton asks "Why did I ever '''buy''' that computer wife?".
** Technically, he said 'Nagging Software'. So, my best assumption is that Plankton bought many parts to create Karen.
** His rivalry with Krabs stems from ''before'' college. Presumably after he got his degree he opened a restaurant in hopes of beating Krabs at his own game.
** Maybe he majored in Restaurant Management.
** VillainousBreakdown perhaps. He used to be somewhat competent, around the same time Krabs started torturing him unprovoked he seemed to lose his mind.
** More like a case of ReedRichardsIsUseless. He could totally make a living off his inventions.
*** Unfortunately TruthInTelevision for some people. It's perfectly possible to spend four years in college and end up in a dead-end job if your major was something that there's not much call for outside of teaching, such as Medieval French Literature or somesuch, and since many employers hire strictly based on the possession of a college degree and not practical knowledge, Plankton may simply be unemployable. My local paper refuses to even consider hiring applicants who hold less than a bachelor's degree, for instance.
** Dead-end? He owns his own restaurant. I mean, it could do better, sure, but it's not like he's just a cook.
* Now I know they've covered this subject on the show, but if [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick cause Squidward so much misery why doesn't he just pack his stuff and leave Bikini Bottom? I mean, Bikini Bottom surely can't be the only city underwater.
** Because Squidward tried in one episode (he moved to a city of other squids), and he just couldn't take the monotony. He NEEDS the chaos that [=SpongeBob=] brings to his life.
*** Why did Squidward choose to unhappily take his bike to work and eat the same food everyday? He made it more monotonous than it had to be.
*** [=SpongeBob=] took over making Squidward's life interesting, so Squidward had no idea what to do when bored.
* This has bugged this troper for a long time... In one episode, Karen brings Plankton a Krabby Meal, and he plays with the Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy toys before seeing Mr. Krabs on the side of the Krabby Meal box and smashing it up. WHY DIDN'T PLANKTON JUST TAKE THE KRABBY PATTY OUT OF THE KRABBY MEAL?! It was stated earlier in the episode that a Krabby Meal comes with a Krabby Patty, so this is just inexcusable. Plankton even REACHED INSIDE the Krabby Meal to collect the toys. How could he have not found the Krabby Patty inside?!!
** Again, PlotInducedStupidity, to the point were it's an unutterable blunder. Don't worry, we feel your pain.
*** Mr. Krabs probably knows who Karen is. This Troper assumed that Krabs only sold her the box and the toys without an actual Krabby Patty, and the reason Krabs didn't just throw her out was because she had money.
*** In the episode where Plankton needs to get Karen an anniversary present, she does the obvious thing and buys a Krabby Patty and analyzes it. But another headscratcher is that she is shown printing it out, and even shows it to Plankton in a bottle, but at the end of the episode, she has to load it up again. Then again, she was not about to give it to Plankton until he actually got her gift; so she might have deliberately shredded the first recipe.
* Okay, in the slide-whistle episode, after Squidward ends up in the hospital, [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick run amuck in the hospital having fun with the slide whistles. Right at the end, they interrupt a doctor sewing up a belly by imitating his actions with slidewhistles while they stand on a skylight above. The doctor starts laughing, and ''pulls the sewed up skin while he laughs''. My question is this: [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Why is there a skylight in what is quite likely an operating room]]?
** You forget, in the new ones, SB and Patrick are {{Karma Houdini}}s to the Nth degree, while Squidward CantGetAwayWithNuthin.
* Why doesn't Plankton ever try to pump SQUIDWARD for information on how to make a Krabby Patty? He's demonstrated on numerous occasions that he knows how to make them, and he'd probably be pretty easy to buy off, given his hatred of his job.
** Because Plankton doesn't have the money, as a failing businessman, to bribe him.
** Squidward doesn't make the patties anyway. When he DOES, they turn out horrible. And he's never shown he knows about the secret.
*** He can however be made to "provide excellent service" under pressure.
** There is an episode ("Sweet and Sour Squid") where Plankton does try to get information from Squidward, not that it did him any good.
* Did I hear wrong or was Sandy referred to as "Sandy Squirrel" in "The Last Stand"? Did [=SpongeBob=] forget her name or something?
** Even worse: no one on the writing staff noticed? No one on the production team noticed? Creator/TomKenny didn't even notice?!
** I'm guessing [=SpongeBob=] said it as a term of endearment?
* What the hell happened to Mr. Krabs's head-over-heels obsession with Mrs. Puff? They seemed to be dating at the end of that one episode, but now Krabs has been showing complete indifference, sometimes rudeness towards her. Did all of this never happen, or what?
** Yeah, Mr. Krabs has generally become an awful character these days. He used to have redeeming qualities; now he's nothing but a greedy jerk who doesn't care for anyone, whether it be [=SpongeBob=], Mrs. Puff, or his own daughter.
*** But that doesn't answer why when the police are asking her about who tried to raid her garden, she never identified him, despite previously dating him. Like other examples on this page, it's like the writers aren't even paying attention to continuity.
*** In "Summer Job" Krabs actually seems repulsed at the idea of dating Mrs. Puff and spends the rest of the episode blackmailing and torturing her. This is either a case of CanonDisContinuity or the writers are insistent this [[TookALevelInJerkass isn't the same]] [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Mr. Krabs of the early seasons]].
** It could be that any affection between them burned out over the few dates they had, in particular Mr. Krabs' emotional whipsaw over the money he spent on stuff Mrs. Puff didn't even want. And don't forget, [=SpongeBob=] has been with them all along, which is enough to bollix any relationship.
** Definitely CanonDiscontinuity seeing as the two were dating in Whirly Brains, and since this is an episode made during Hillenburg's return.
* '''Just who the dickens is running the Krusty Krab when [=SpongeBob=], Mr. Krabs and Squidward are out having adventures?''' Many times it's obviously a mealtime (like when Mr. Krabs took Mrs. Puff out on a date), prime moneymaking time for any restaurant! I worked in fast food (McD's) for three years, and this point continues to perplex me.
** In "The Bikini Bottom Triangle", it is revealed that Pearl minds the place when her father is gone. However, it is also revealed some strange seacaptain or something takes care of the store and cooks if everyone else is gone, which begs the question, '''How can some random person be able to take full control of the Krusty Krab and know how to make Krabby Patties without permission, training, or any other necessary requirements?'''
*** That seacaptain is the living embodiment of the Krusty Krab?
*** Or perhaps it's just closed?
** Mr. Krabs has been shown to close the Krusty Krab at random times for illogical reasons, to the disappointment of his customers. This is probably what happens when he, [=SpongeBob=], or Squidward aren't around (or incidents when Squidward has to cook in [=SpongeBob's=] absence take place far more often than is shown). And since the Krusty Krab appears to be by far the best restaurant in Bikini Bottom (not saying much, though), the customers might just deal with it and come back later.
* Is there a scene missing in "Fungus Among Us?" The Ick is cured whenever Gary eats it off of the other characters... But wasn't he trapped in a bubble earlier in the episode? Did he escape? Did [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick pop him out too?
** Think about it. There were a couple of tubes leading between the bubbles. Lots of sharp objects in [=SpongeBob=]'s house, and that film can't be that hard to get off by something left around, like the swords. Gary could probably pull something out of his shell and stab the bubble as soon as everyone left the room. Pick a method, Gary escaped with reason.
* Why did [=SpongeBob=]'s voice get so annoyingly high? When they brought the show back after the movie, did they decide to [[SerialEscalation add it to the growing pile of "Ways to make the show more annoying"?]]
** The first appearance of his new higher voice was in the movie, technically.
* What's with minor characters acting like they haven't met certain characters in the [[SeasonalRot post-movie episodes?]] In "Pets Or Pests", Larry asks [=SpongeBob=] IF THEY'VE MET. And don't tell me NegativeContinuity, either; Larry knows other characters in some episodes (he knows Sandy in "Someone's in the Kitchen With Sandy"). Maybe it was a "joke" on how [[DemotedToExtra minor of a character Larry can be?]]
** WordOfGod is that, since the movie was ''supposed'' to officially end the series, any episodes that are produced after the movie are meant to take place chronologically ''before'' the movie. If that makes any sense, [[ExecutiveMeddling which it probably doesn't.]]
*** To this troper, it doesn't. If that was true, it would still mean that every episode would still have taken place before the movie, so it's like saying that all the previous episodes with Larry didn't happen... maybe it's something like [=SpongeBob=] had never gone to that store they were by, and Larry was so surprised to see him there he wasn't sure if it really was [=SpongeBob=]?
** Larry is presented as vain in most episodes with him in it; he probably just forgot about [=SpongeBob=] because he doesn't give a rat's hat about him.
** [[Wiki/SCPFoundation There is no canon.]]
* The episode "A Day Without Tears"... was there any reason [=SpongeBob=] called Patrick, other than to ask if he thought he could make it [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a day without crying?]] They mentioned something about a package, but it didn't get anywhere. OrphanedPunchline?
** It could be either that, a BigLippedAlligatorMoment, or the joke just fell flat.
* Spongehenge: those statues he carves merits discussion. First off, why on earth do they have that expression? It's the least [=SpongeBob=] could have done to carve them with a more jovial expression, but instead, he goes ahead and gives them this fearful expression that comes off as really, really annoying. Second, if that stone is depicted to be heavy, how on earth would those spindly legs hold up the weight of the statues? Even assuming that the statues are somewhat hollow and that the fluid dynamics underwater prevents the statues from collapsing on their own weight immediately, wouldn't they still erode over 3000 years? And finally, why does [=SpongeBob=] need so many of them? We'd already seen that a single statue was enough to distract them; all he needed after was one good statue to solve the problem.
** The reason he needed more than one was because the jellyfish didn't like the tune the statue made. All of the statues together were able to fix the tune, for some reason.
*** That partially explains it, but we'll [[AWizardDidIt let magic solve the rest]]. Still doesn't explain why they have that "fearful" expression on them.
*** Maybe the correct musical notes were partially dependent on how he shaped his mouth?
*** Of course, the biggest problem would be [[WaterIsAir "How does wind blow underwater in the first place?"]]
*** Currents.
* In "Summer Job," how did [=SpongeBob=] manage to become a driver's ed teacher if he doesn't have a license?
** For the sake of sadism on Mrs. Puff's part. Seriously.
** It has been said: "Those that can, do. Those that can't, teach."
** Considering how many times [=SpongeBob=]'s taken the driving course he's probably memorized the whole thing, even if he himself still can't drive.
*** Incidentally, this can be TruthInTelevision, in the sense of how some people that don't or otherwise can't drive (i.e, not having a licence or being impaired in some way) can and, sometimes, do know more about driving than people who can and do drive. It's kind of a weird case of something akin to TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes.
* It bugs me that the fish in some episodes will just throw their food away. If they can't eat it, or someone ruins it, fine. But in episodes like "No Hat For Pat" they throw their food and sodas on the ground simply because they were bored with Patrick. Um... Why aren't you eating it?
** Perhaps they were so badly bored that they lost their appetites?
* In Boating Buddies... When Squidward complains that [=SpongeBob=] is the one that ruins his life, Mrs. Puff says, "You too?", which is very accurate. But... why did she put them together to drive?! And don't say "Alphabetical by last name", you think she would help the guy she can relate to! What, did she think they would have to suffer together?
** Taken further in "Summer Job" when Mrs. Puff is blackmailed into taking over Squidward's job for a week. She doesn't last one day of [=SpongeBob=]'s idiocy and Krab's abuse before quitting, blasting that taking over the life Squidward lives [[WasItReallyWorthIt isn't worth evading criminal charges]].
* Why doesn't Plankton simply get someone else to buy a Krabby Patty for him?
** Lampshaded in the episode where his computer wife, Karen, goes over and buys one for him as an anniversary present.
* In the Valentine's Day episode, [=SpongeBob=] blows Sandy a chocolate bubble. Sandy opens up a hatch in her helmet and eats it ''while they're underwater.'' What the?
** RuleOfFunny?
* Flats the Flounder enrolls in Mrs. Puff's boating school in one episode; later on in that same episode he's seen driving a garbage truck. Of course explanations can be easily thought up for this, like maybe he is driving the truck without a license, or he is such an awful driver that he couldn't get his license yet or it was revoked. But without thinking so hard...
** Maybe he was in Boating School for a traffic violation like Squidward was in "Boating Buddies".
* At the end of the Bubble Buddy episode, Bubble Buddy is shown to have been sentient the whole time. That means he could have saved Scooter from drowning earlier, but chose to just stand there and watch.
** That cold heartless bastard of a bubble.
** Hey, Scooter sounded like he enjoyed High Tide. At least we know who's going to Bubble Hell.
*** Bubble Hell must be that level in Mega Man filled with spikes.
*** Perhaps he wasn't sentient at the time.
* At the end of Krabby Road, Plankton goes back to jail. I understand that. But why do [=SpongeBob=], Patrick, and Squidward get thrown in with him? They had no idea that they were harboring an escaped fugitive.
** ...They ''weren't''. At least, I recall them standing ''outside the jail'', unless I'm remembering the episode wrong.
** I believe that they were inside the prison yard.
* Why doesn't Plankton use his scientific genius for good instead of evil? His intelligence is amazing! His "Goo Goo Gas", with a little tweaking, could be used for eternal youth! He also invented a time machine! Surely he would make billions more money if he sold his inventions than running a greasy restaurant whose menu consists solely of HumanResources. He would even beat his competitor Krabs that way! (Plus, he could probably end up taking over the world from there, anyway.)
** [[CutLexLuthorACheck Do you really need to ask?]]
** He says it himself: being evil is too much fun.
* What I can't believe is how in "Squirrel Jokes," something that [=SpongeBob=] said in a ''comedy routine'' changed the way people treat Sandy so drastically?
** FantasticRacism.
** The Bikini Bottomites tend to "follow the herd"--they go along with anything announced publicly (apparently even in a comedy routine). They believed everything in the tabloid Krabby Kronicle; and then there's the mass histeria over "Mad Snail Disease" in "Once Bitten", as a few examples.
* Several episodes state (and one episode even emphasizes) that Mr. Krabs is old. If that's so, how is his grandfather still alive? It's enough of a stretch to believe that his mother is...
** Likewise with Plankton. They're at least fifty.
** A few throwaway lines have indicated that Mr. Krabs is borderline immortal, like Squidward describing the Vikings as having been around "in Mr. Krabs' day" and another episode showing that his first dime was a giant rock. Presumably it's a family thing. This may have something to do with the fact that IRL some crustaceans don't age, just keep getting bigger (meaning that Mr. Krabs may not just be descended from the tiny crabs who only say "money" that have been shown in prehistoric times, he might have actually ''been'' one of them).
* At the end of "Grandma's Secret Recipe", how does Plankton's grandma know to look for him in the '''safe'''? Yeah, I know, RuleOfFunny and all (I '''guess...''')... They should have shown something like, "I sense my teeth in THERE!" rather than have her show up at random. It seemed like a cheap and quick way to end the episode.
** Grandma Plankton probably knows him rather well. "That Sheldon's gone off looking for the secret formula again, and I'll just bet he's in the safe."
* Larry the Lobster is bright red. But only cooked lobsters are that color... zombie lobster?
** Real lobsters are green before cooking. I'd think that making Larry green would make him look even ''more'' zombie-like, not less. If it helps, remember that Larry does spend a lot of time at the beach...[[FridgeHorror in the sun.]]
*** I dunno if this would apply, but I have seen lobsters for sale at a pet shop that were the same orangey color as Larry. They were tiny, freshwater lobsters, but I know they were lobsters and not some other crustacean.
* How can you burn a milkshake? ("Pickles")
** Burn, not likely. Boiled? Maybe...
** He most likely left the milkshake on the stove and forgot about it, burning it.
* If Squidward plays the clarinet horribly, how does he get so many shows and rehearsals?
** People can't throw stuff at him if he only plays at home.
** [[WildMassGuessing Also, it's possible that he only gets the shows because of his]] SoBadItsGood [[WildMassGuessing factor of playing, and the audience plays along like during a Rocky Horror screening.]]
** Squidward actually has been seen to play reasonably well sometimes, such as in ''Bubble Stand''.
* A few episodes show [=SpongeBob=] and Squidward having Sunday as their day off. So how can that episode where the K.K. is open 24 hours and forever work out? Squidward really wanted to go home, so why didn't he just go home on Sunday?
** It wasn't their day off, they just forgot to switch the "closed" sign to "open".
** I think he was referring to other episodes where they don't go to work and it's mentioned that it's Sunday. Anyway, it's possible that Krabs took away the day off. I wouldn't put it past him.
** Then again, there's two episodes where Mr. Krabs seems to have learned the hard way that the 24-hour thing isn't a good idea.
* If Squidward's rival is named Squilliam, does that mean that Squidward's name would be Widward if he were human? Also, why in earlier episodes does Mr. Krabs call him ''Mister'' Squidward when "Squidward" is clearly his ''first'' name?
** It was a running gag in one of the episodes (can't remember which) when a lot of people tried and had trouble saying his last name, so maybe it's a really subtle running gag in the show, since really no one says his last name in the first place.
*** The episode you're talking about was "The Great Snail Race", wherein they pronounced it Tennisballs, Tentpoles, and Tortellini.
*** There's also the tree house episode. From their tree house, [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick are calling Squidward "Widward". I'm not sure if that hints at anything, though.
** Squidward is a mix of "Squid" and "Edward". It's not much of a stretch to believe that if Squidward was human, he'd be named Edward.
* Does Bikini Bottom have some sort of Labor Board? It's astounding how the Krusty Krab is able to stay open when Mr. Krabs does things like pay slightly below minimum wage, having 2 employees staff the entire resturant, and the insane amount of things he does to save a few cents...
** My memory's a bit foggy but Bikini Bottom does seem to have some kind of union organization. There was an episode when [=SpongeBob=] was forced to take a vacation or Mr. Krabs would get fined. Also, in many real life cases of employee abuse it's up to the employees to complain to a higher authority to get better treatment at work. However, [=SpongeBob=] loves his job too much to realize he's being taken advantage of and Squidward only went on strike once with [=SpongeBob=] but nothing came out of it because [=SpongeBob=] destroyed the Krusty Krab. Otherwise, Squidward just complains but doesn't actually do anything.
** I think it was specifically a Fry Cook Union, which makes no sense considering The Krusty Krab and the Chum Bucket seem to be the only fast food restaurants in Bikini Bottom. [=SpongeBob=]'s the only fry cook at The Krusty Krab and all the food at the Chum Bucket is produced by machines. So if there was a union, wouldn't it basically be [=SpongeBob=]? Even if there were multiple fast food places in the city, why would Krabs allow his restaurant to unionize? [=SpongeBob=] would work 24/7 for free and the other union members would likely kick [=SpongeBob=] out for being so annoying.
*** Actually, there have been other restaurants shown or mentioned, but never in detail (that fancy restaurant, those restaurants that keep on stealing [=SpongeBob=] from one another in that one episode). It's likely that either [=SpongeBob=] isn't a member of the union, or Mr Krabs used to have working conditions that were so bad that they make the ones his employees currently have generous by comparison.
* In "Dunces and Dragons," why didn't Medieval Sandy need an air helmet?
** AWizardDidIt.
*** [[FridgeBrilliance Considering who she was working for, that's actually plausible.]]
** Ignoring the 'no air helmet' issue, what was Medieval Sandy even doing underwater in the first place? Sandy lives underwater in order to do scientific research, and she (along with her ancestors) was originally from Texas. Medieval Sandy isn't doing any sort of scientific research, and there's no real reason for her to be underwater at all. Long story short, we shouldn't have seen a Medieval Sandy at all.
*** To both questions: It's a dream, it doesn't have to make any sense.
*** Try telling that to Squidly.
* Where was Squidward in "Nasty Patty"?
** He wasn't important to the story. He had a day off or something.
*** He also would have ruined the plot and we'd have an much shorter, less funny episode.
* In the Krabby Kronicle, why is it wrong for the Chum Bucket to get shut down? Isn't chum made of fish anyway?
** That's just the name of the restaurant. They don't actually serve chum. Maybe the misleading name is why Plankton doesn't get customers?
*** Actually several later episodes have shown that he DOES serve chum. In fact the episode that described why Plankton and Krabs have a rivalry they both got part of the recipe, Plankton's part just said chum, so it stands to reason that's all he cooks.
** That, and the fact that [[LethalChef Plankton's cooking is apparently terrible]].
* Why would Mr. Krabs deliberately frame [=SpongeBob=] for stealing the Krabby Patty formula just to get $1.25?! Doesn't Krabs need him to cook the patties? And another thing, who cooks the patties if [=SpongeBob=] isn't, if Squidward isn't (since he is terrible at cooking patties), and if the old fry cook Jim isn't (retired)?
** That was a post-movie episode. Mr. Krabs has been [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderized]] into an unlikeable DesignatedHero {{Jerkass}} who would go through so much hell to get money that he'll abuse his employees and leave his own business in jeopardy. Not to mention that episode was written by Casey Alexander and Zeus Cervas, two of the most disliked writers of [=SpongeBob=] by many fans of the show.
* How is it some snails speak English ("Where's Gary?", "Gary In Love")? Notably, they were all strays, [[WildMassGuessing so maybe being under ownership gives them the "meow"?]]
** ViewerTranslatorConvention. Seriously.
** Perhaps the snails speak English when they're amongst themselves, but only meow around other creatures?
* Why are the titles of some of the episodes changed? ie: "[=WhoBob WhatPants=]" became "What Ever Happened To [=SpongeBob=]"?
** Easy marketing to raise awareness. Why bother post a long name like "Have You Seen This Snail?" instead of something sweet and to the point, like "Where's Gary"? It makes the plot somewhat understandable at the beginning so people can expect what's happening.
* The Krusty Krab has had several close shaves with going out of business, but not its far less successful rival company, The Chum Bucket.
** Add to that, how has the Chum Bucket kept open with ''literally'' ZERO customers and no profit for the near half a decade it has been running? The only woes Plankton seems to suffer from this are boredom and depression.
** I don't think there's any possible explanation for the characters' financial situations. I mean, look at [=SpongeBob=]. Krabs pays him fake money (stated in the episode where it's discovered Plankton has a fear of whales) and yet he has a huge house, huge wads of money in his pocket, a whole bunch of full piggy banks, and a diamond under Gary's shell (from the episode where his spatula breaks)!
* This is something that has been bugging me for a while. Why does [=SpongeBob=] have to outshine everybody? For example, in the episode "The Two Faces of Squidward", Squidward becomes nice and kind after being electrocuted and as the episode goes on, [=SpongeBob=] becomes jealous because Squidward becomes employee of the month and is (possibly) a better fry cook. [=SpongeBob=] has been Employee of the Month EVERY month since he's been working there. He's the best fry cook in the whole city and, in this troper's opinion, Mr. Krabs was probably just being nice when he said Squidward might be a better fry cook than him (and didn't mean to upset [=SpongeBob=]). Seriously, why does [=SpongeBob=] feel he has to be the best at everything?
** I have two possible reasons: 1) to give [=SpongeBob=] the flaws of pride and competitiveness, and 2) to provide conflict for the episode in question.
** Because he's a perfectionist to the point of insanity. Remember, this is a guy who was so traumatized because he thought he forgot the pickles on a Krabby Patty that he wasn't able to form a sentence for days. I'd think he'd be pretty upset when someone tells him there's a better fry cook than him.
* Why do [=SpongeBob=], Patrick, and Squidward not have hair that is of their color? Whenever they grow hair it's brown or black.
** [=SpongeBob=] did have yellow hair in one episode.
*** Why should their hair be the same colour as the rest of them? Do caucasian humans have beige hair?
* The subtle romance. What happened to it?
** [[HoYay SpongeBob dumped Sandy over Patrick]].
*** And now he's [[StalkerWithACrush really obsessed with Squidward]].
* In the episode Sandy's Rocket, if Sandy was perfectly capable of going to the moon without a rocket (she used a jetpack), then why didn't she just go there?
** Keep in mind her rocket was stacked with an enormous amount of equipment and supplies that likely couldn't be held with a jetpack. On the other hand, the fact she neglected that she could instantly travel to the moon and back (while complaining about how stupid [=SpongeBob=] is) was probably [[HypocriticalHumor part of the gag]].
** Well, didn't she say she wanted to bring back moon rocks? She may need the rocket to hold them.
* Why is there a different Neptune in the movie? It isn't like they couldn't get John O'Hurley, and even if they couldn't, it still doesn't explain the design change. And in the later episode ''The Clash of Triton'', you see Neptune's entire family, and Princess Mindy is never shown. If the movie takes place after the series, you'd at least expect them to try to fix the discrepancies between the two.
** Well, [[WordOfGod the movie will take place after the series, no matter how long the show runs]], which means that there could be a dynasty of gods. Also, in "Krusty Towers", when Squidward wants to redecorate this room, he mentions something along the lines of a potrait of King Neptune VII, meaning there's multiple Neptunes.
*** King Neptune XIV, actually. But still.
** Wasn't the one in the movie a king and the one in the series a god? Then again, there is the one episode (I forget the name; "[=SpongeBob=] Vs. The Patty Gadget" or something) where it says "the blast was so loud it woke King Neptune" and you see the one from the series.
* How the heck did Mr. Krabs chase a penny for six and a half hours?
** He's the Terminator of cheapskates.
* In "Home Sweet Pineapple", just as [[spoiler:the nematodes eat [=SpongeBob=]'s house]], [=SpongeBob=] exclaims, "Hooray Gary, we're finally huge!"... since when, better yet, WHY, did [=SpongeBob=] (and Gary?) dream of being huge?
** That's the joke.
* In the episode "20,000 Patties Under the Sea", [=SpongeBob=] says, "Bye Squidward, bye Mr. Krabs. ...Bye Squidward..." the second one at Squidward being in a slightly more suggestive tone. Patrick lampshades it only for [=SpongeBob=] to say "[[HoYay I like Squidward!]]". What bugs me is that it just seems so blatant now, were they even trying? [[FridgeBrilliance Was it perhaps a subtle parody of all the accusations of [=SpongeBob=]'s sexuality?]]
** I took it as the more Squidward hates [=SpongeBob=], the more [=SpongeBob=] likes Squidward. But what bugged me about the episode was that the submarine couldn't float over the trench. It's a submarine!
** Water is (Almost) Air
* Pearl's disdain for her father. In the episode where Krabs retires, on his first day off, he asks Pearl if she wants to do something with him. Before he even finishes his sentence, Pearl kicks him out and whines about how she can't take it anymore. WTF?
** That's how the show portrays all teenage girls. They all use TotallyRadical slang, hate their parents, and want to go to the mall.
* Why didn't Squidward notice that there is a gorilla just sitting around his house in ''I Had An Accident''? Instead he was watering his plants nonchalantly.
** Since he saw Patrick (and maybe Sandy) involved, he probably thought some variation of, "Oh, what an idiot. Just ignore them Squidward..." Or maybe he felt the gorilla was somebody else.
* Why is it only the main drain would drain the ocean when any drain would?
** It's the ''main'' drain. Maybe other drains only drain part of it, especially if they're closer to the surface.
* Squidward has never had problems with people touching the glass so why did he in Sponge-cano?
** I think this comes from the fact that he was already irritated and, a good chunk of the time when people are already irritated, they upset over something trivial.
* Why was Pearl working at the Krusty Krab in The Bikini Bottom Triangle when she never wanted to?
** If no one is working there, the restaurant is not making money. So there would be less mall money her dad can give her.
* Why was [=SpongeBob=] smiling when Squidward was getting beaten into a pulp in "Keep Bikini Bottom Beautiful"?
** I'm guessing that was in one of the later seasons? The later the season, the creepier and stupider [=SpongeBob=] is. For some reason, they think weird is funny, so they make [=SpongeBob=] super weird, to the point that he's [[NightmareFuel disturbing]]. They don't understand that weird isn't funny by itself, it needs to be done humorously.
* In "Christmas Who?" we learn that no one underwater has heard of Christmas (probably due to Jesus being a human and so they never really heard about him or got the concept of Christianity), but in the earlier episode "Jellyfishing," Squidward comes home from the hospital and is welcomed by [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick, with Patrick mistakenly saying "Merry Christmas!"
** The show doesn't really have canon. The Christmas episode could have happened before.
* A few problems with "Big Sister Sam". First, HOW COULD PATRICK REUNITE WITH SOMEONE HE HASN'T HEARD FROM FOR YEARS? Did he just see Sam on the street with no words and both signaled that they should meet up? Second, since Squidward's house was thrown by Sam to the right, why didn't the house hit [=SpongeBob=]'s as well? We clearly see his house also destroyed later in the episode and, if they wanted the plot to stay the same, the house could have been thrown towards the street. Finally, how is [=SpongeBob=] still happy and compassionate to Sam at the end of the episode even though she obliterated his house? Has the NegativeContinuity of the show gotten to a point where things that happened a few seconds ago are forgotten?
** I don't know about the first two but the last one's obvious. First, [=SpongeBob=] is an idiot. Look at basically any recent episode for proof of this. Second, [=SpongeBob=] is for whatever reason supposed to forgive Patrick for whatever stupid thing he, and by extension his relatives, does.
** People reunite with estranged relatives and friends all the time. Maybe Patrick went on the underwater equivalent of the Jeremy Kyle Show or something, who knows.
** And to add, Patrick mentions in the early episode "Something Smells" that he doesn't have a sister. It could be that he just forgot all about her.
** Patrick isn't exactly accurate when it comes to his own family; he mistook another sea-star couple for his own parents in "I'm With Stupid" and neither they nor his own parents had any problem with that. So it's not impossible he just forgot about his own sister.
* In "Sentimental Sponge", the sanitation police show up when [=SpongeBob=] refuses to throw away his trash. You're telling me that a town of 528 [[strike:people]] [[strike:fish]] sea creatures has its own police squad for cleanliness? RuleOfFunny may apply, but its a bit of a stretch.
** Have you ''seen'' how seriously they take littering? A sanitation police seems right up their alley.
* If the "Tunnel of Glove" is supposed to be a tunnel of love, why would people like Pearl and [=SpongeBob=] (who don't have dates) go on it? Furthermore, why did two of Pearl's friends go on it [[LesYay together]]?
** Because they want to ride it to see what it's like but either don't have boyfriends, or have boyfriends who just aren't there.
** They all three wanted to go on it together (which is not uncommon for teenage girls to do), but they didn't know that it was only two per car, so Pearl was left behind. As for [=SpongeBob=]... maybe Patrick left him to go eat...
* How does [=SpongeBob=] know about Leif Ericsson?
* It has been bugging me for some time now about the ending of "Someone's in the Kitchen With Sandy". She got arrested for public nudity. First of all, most fish you see on the show are naked. Squidward has been naked (wait, nevermind, he got a ticket for that once), Patrick and [=SpongeBob=] have been naked, and I mean completely naked. A lot of girl fish wear only their underwear. So how is it that Sandy gets arrested for public nudity if she was only in her underwear, while most fish and most main characters get complelety naked and don't get arrested?
** FurIsClothing and she wasn't wearing her fur or her suit. Doesn't make much sense, but considering Krabs's embarrassment concerning being without his shell, that's likely what constitutes nudity. Until we see a filleted fish walking through town, we'll never know.
*** He may have been embarrased about molting the shell but he still appeared in front of people without it and no one seemed very shocked that he was naked. Personally, I think the Sandy thing is just a failed attempt at a joke.
** Speaking of her suit, why wasn't she wearing it? Plankton only took her fur and went around without the suit.
*** Simply so she'd be mocked by the townpeople (so they wouldn't help her) and later arrested for said "public nudity." It's also possible her suit stunk as well from the fur.
* TheMovie takes place after the series, right? So that explains the absence of Mindy, and why [=SpongeBob=] has no maturity; he regains it later. But didn't they mention the Krusty Krab 2 later on?
** Because it hasn't been built yet. It was built in the movie.
*** But they mentioned it as if it had been built, and I think we saw it once in an episode right after the movie.
*** It was built in the movie. It was never shown in any episodes. There was an episode about making a Krusty Krab commercial that had the Krusty Krab's "under study" but that was way before the movie and was really just a quick gag.
*** If memory serves, the series was supposed to end with TheMovie but Nick decided to continue it, rendering any episodes after either to have either happened to before or making the movie retconned.
* So are Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy actual superheroes, or are they fakes who starred in an old TV show?
** Yes, they are superheroes. It has been shown that they possess highly advanced gadgets and machines, including a shrink ray, an invisible car, and a literal IdiotBall. They also can summon fish to help them (think Aquaman, but with old fish) and can [[KillItWithWater create balls of water to throw at evildoers]].
** I assume they're former "heroes" who did some kind of good public service (policemen, firemen, etc.) who then took up a role as a superhero in the public eye. Of course, now they're old and senile.
* At the beginning of the episode where [=SpongeBob=] breaks Gary's shell, [=SpongeBob=] wakes up in the middle of the night after hearing a noise. [=SpongeBob=]'s phone line has been cut. No explanation is given for this. It's not necessary for the scene, and it isn't presented as a joke. Why was the line cut?
* In the episode "The Krabby Kronicle", is it me or did everybody who read the Krusty Krab's newspaper believe every single word? And for that matter, why would scientists try to confiscate Sandy's science awards if she won them all fairly?
** I'm pretty sure the citizens of Bikini Bottom are supposed to be complete morons. As for the second question, again, they're morons. Plus the article may have said something about her faking being smart or cheating when she won the awards. And it doesn't have much to do with your question, but I think if she had karate chopped the two "scientists" it would have been a crowning moment of awesome.
* Same episode as above: Why did Sandy immediately assume that it was [=SpongeBob=] who wrote that stuff about her? I mean, she and [=SpongeBob=] were friends ever since the first season! She should trust him while knowing he'd never say such things against her!
** She may still be annoyed over [=SpongeBob=]'s stinging "squirrel jokes".
** The article actually ''said'' it was written by [=SpongeBob=]. Now, why Sandy was the only one who noticed it raises a question in itself...
*** Sandy's a scientist, she notices things.
*** Because she, Squidward, and Mr. Krabs are pretty much the only people in Bikini Bottom who have half a brain?
* At the beginning of the episode "20,000 Patties Under the Sea", why did they use old footage of jellyfish flying from season 1 and then immediately return to the modern animation?
** Well, I'm guessing 1) They were too lazy to make new footage of jellyfish flying, 2) Season one used hand-paited cels, whereas afterwards, they use the more modern digital ink process.
* This is more of a question than a headscratcher, but I just wanted to know: is [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome 'Sweet Victory']] a real song, or was it made up for [=SpongeBob=]? 'Coz that would be crazy if it was, [[CrazyAwesome in an awesome sort of way.]]
** Real Music/{{Metallica}} song, OrSoIHaveHeard.
** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y5oGuo6y7E
* The episode where the jellyfish are attracted to [=SpongeBob=]'s holes when the wind goes through them and it makes music he hides in a cave and decides to make a stone [=SpongeBob=] to talk to. After he realizes that the jellyfish are attracted to the stone [=SpongeBob=], he tries to leave it there so the jellyfish swarm around it and he can leave. But the stone [=SpongeBob=] sounds awful. He decides to make another in a different size, but he's not sure what size would work so he decides he has to make a bunch of them. There's my problem. He makes a bunch of them, but they're all the same size which defeats the purpose of making a bunch.
** He needed to figure out how to carve the rocks so it would produce the same noise he makes. Thus, he makes a bunch of them.
** I know but he says he needs to make a bunch of them with ''different sizes''. But they're all the same size when he makes them.
*** It's more the size of the holes that makes the difference; the wind's pitch changes with the holes' size.
* What is the Krusty Krab considered? At times it's a popular and respected local place, or a restaurant well-known throughout the sea.. But at other times it's a poorly received place.
** It really depends on the episode. There were episodes when Squidward was forced to take over for [=SpongeBob=]'s position and we all know Squidward can't cook Krabby Patties. There are also times when [=SpongeBob=] really messes up and then everyone leaves. Or basically, it's a RuleOfFunny. And let's not forget how the resturaunt can be dirty at times.
** The show never seems to make up its mind over whether the Krusty Krab has sit-down service or not. Some episodes have [=SpongeBob=] delivering food to the customers, while others have the customers getting their orders from the counter. And on "Squilliam Returns", [=SpongeBob=] somehow can't wrap his head around the idea of a ''waiter serving the customers'', asking if other restaurants do that.
* Which one of those fellas is the ''real'' Dirty Dan?
** Patrick.
-->'''Sandy:'''Which one of you is the ''real'' Dirty Dan?
-->'''Patrick:'''I am?
* I don't understand a lot about the Black Jack episode. For those who don't know, the big TwistEnding at the end of the episode is that [=SpongeBob=]'s violent cousin Black Jack is really [[spoiler: about as tall as Plankton]]. Yet while [=SpongeBob=] was tiny (older episodes showed this), he got bigger, while Black Jack must have stayed the same... the EXACT same, personality, dress, voice, etc. And why is it none of [=SpongeBob=]'s relatives tell him how small Black Jack is? Are they really THAT afraid of a guy who [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking littered]] to not see him for as long as [=SpongeBob=] had?
** I think they assumed he knew he was that small. Plus none of them had seen him (his grandma gets a call, and his uncle just calls him a dangerous criminal, the grandma doesn't sound afraid of him though) in a long time because he was in jail. I don't think Black Jack being small made much sense overall, though.
** He probably got smaller during the time he spent in prison. It might not make much sense for him to shrink THAT much, but remember that [=SpongeBob=] was just a kid when he had the flashback about him, and he's over twenty, twenty-three IIRC, so Black Jack probably spent more than 15 years in prison, 19 at most.
* If [=SpongeBob=] didn't eat the bomb pie, why was he sucking his fingers and going "mmmm"?
** He probably ate his lunch, or something. Remember, he's in the Krusty Krab. And it was supposed to be a false lead-in to make you think he DID eat the pie.
** Maybe he was doing that in anticipation of eating the pie?
** Perhaps he only took a small piece and decided to save it for later?
** Speaking of which, why couldn't the doctors help [=SpongeBob=]? Can't they just surgically remove the pie from him?
*** The episode itself addresses this; Squidward urges Mr. Krabs to call the hospital to help, but Krabs says that wouldn't work; he's seen this happen before (11 times, as a matter of fact).
* "Slimy Dancing". So only one dancer is allowed to perform in the competition. Then how did [=SpongeBob=] AND Patrick get in, especially when their dance was a limbo?
** They audition together but have to perform seperately? And we actually don't know if their dance was a limbo; it could have been something else.
* How come Pearl always hangs out with those so called "friends" of hers on the episode "Whale Of A Birthday," when they constantly belittle her? And what gave them the right to act like party inspectors for her party?
** Like an answer from earlier on here, this show portrays teenage girls like this: bratty, spoiled, whiny, and plain mean.
* So Krabs took the secret ingredient to the secret formula in "The Patty Caper". '''How?''' Did he just jump on the truck unnoticed? And how did the S.W.A.T. team or security team or whatever it was not notice that the suitcase was empty?!
** Steal it when it wasn't being delivered (in a factory or where ever it's kept before they get orders) and had them deliver an empty case to [=SpongeBob=] to make it look like he stole it? And they probably wouldn't realize it's empty anyway, considering they wouldn't look inside it.
* How old is Squidward? Older episodes made it seem like he was about 10 years older than [=SpongeBob=]. Newer episodes make it seem like he's almost an old man. "A Friendly Game" has him wearing dentures, his "late date" in "Love That Squid" looked like an old cartoon character, etc.
** None of the characters really have a clear-cut age. Sure, [=SpongeBob=] is ''officially'' twenty-three, but numerous episodes point to him being much older (hundreds of 'Employee of the Month' awards, his countless failed driving tests etc.), and he also behaves much like a hyper five-year-old. But I'd ''guess'' that he's about late 30s/early 40s. As for dentures... maybe he played the clarinet in such a way that broke his teeth? Who knows...
** In a somewhat unstable case of Fridge Brilliance, keep in mind that Squidward is over 2,000 years old since SB-129, so it could possibly be assumed that Squidward's mind had stayed somewhat active, and he might have developed a significant amount of maturity during that time (going over his thoughts and "realizing" stuff). Of course, it would also double as Fridge Horror for him to have been conscious for 2,000 years...
* Who was that fry cook in "Truth Or Square" that Squidward called "Not-[=SpongeBob=]?" He's some weird greasy guy that just has that one appearance.
** Squidward remembered how happy he was before [=SpongeBob=] started working there, however, he probably didn't remember that frycook's name.
* Why did [=SpongeBob=] become such a failure in karate? In "Karate Choppers", he was just as good as Sandy. In "No Weenies Allowed" and other episodes, he sucks at it.
** [=SpongeBob=] has never really had a set level for how good he is at karate. Even in the older episodes it seemed to switch between Sandy beating him every time with little effort to him always beating Sandy. So it seems to just be following the old tradition of using whatever fits the episode.
** Many of [=SpongeBob=]'s secondary attributes [[DependingOnTheWriter vary by episode]]. One day he's struggles to lift two marshmallows on a stick, and the next he can rip a mailbox off its hinges with ease.
** He has "off" days sometimes?
* How is it that they're celebrating the Krusty Krab's "eleventy-seventh" (I'm assuming that's 117th) anniversary? Mr. Krabs founded that restaurant and he definitely isn't 117 years old.
** Eleventy Seventh IS NOT 117th. In a TV Guide article about Truth or Square, someone (I forget who) said that they chose Eleventy Seventh because it's a timeless number, that way they can show the episode every year. Of course this is undermined by the Chum Bucket celebrating 50 years and Patchy the Pirate outright stating that it's [=SpongeBob=]'s 10th anniversary.
** Did he start the business himself or just became the manager through promotions? Maybe the restaurant IS that old. It could also be that the Krusty Krab is a chain that is 117 years old and Mr. Krabs is a franchise owner celebrating the anniversary of the first Krusty Krab. Or it could be that eleventy seventh doesn't mean what you think.
** No, the Krusty Krab was a retirement home before he bought it (it says so in the employee video episode) and it's pretty obvious it isn't a chain, especially considering in the movie he opens the second one. I'd say the third option, eleventy seventh doesn't mean 117, and they just used it to not technically get the number wrong.
** The first dime he ever made was a boulder. I think he is well over 117. And remember that a lot of sea invertebrates are incredibly LongLived.
* What's the deal with Old Man Jenkins? In several episodes in which he makes an appearance, he looks COMPLETELY different. In the episode "Sailor Mouth" (the cursing episode), Jenkins is portrayed as a short old man, with a green-ish color, with rounded glasses and what appear to be liver spots on his head. This look stayed constant through many of his appearances. However, there are a few other looks Jenkins displays throughout the series. In the episode "My Pretty Seahorse", Jenkins is eaten by Sponge Bob's seahorse Mystery. He is spit out a few scenes later, and the result is a short, blue fish, with circular glasses not much unlike his first iteration. He is also wearing clothes akin to [=SpongeBob=]'s, but rounded a bit to fit his body, unlike the white shirt from his first look. Later, in the 'Lost Episode', Jenkins is shown shaped akin to the many generic fish, but extremely old looking, almost wilted. He also doesn't have glasses with this look, and takes on a completely different personality: he is a farmer, who becomes Cannonball Jenkins after [=SpongeBob=] angers him by destroying his grain silo. He later appears similarly to this incarnation in the episode "The Main Drain", in which he gets shorter, becomes green, and has a grey beard. his attire is similar to his farmer Jenkins look, minus the straw hat. Not to mention the fact that in his speaking roles, his voice seems to change often. Is all of this ever explained? I know the show has a ridiculously convoluted continuity, but this might be pushing it. The only explanation I can come up with is multiple people named Old Man Jenkins.
** It's not that uncommon a name. Maybe the various Jenkinses are related.
* In the first episode, "Help Wanted", how does [=SpongeBob=] make all those patties if Mr.Krabs never told him the formula?
** Maybe he kept the formula back there during that time and [=SpongeBob=] found it?
** Or else Krabs had already mixed all the ingredients together in a large bowl, so all [=SpongeBob=] had to do was make the patty shapes and cook them.
** Maybe Sponge played a part in the creation of the secret formula?
* HOW is it that [=SpongeBob=] showed he was boneless in Squirrel Jokes, but in other episodes he has bones, ( skull, spine, etc. )
** RuleOfFunny, or Rule of Gross depending on the joke and what kind of humor you like. Or NegativeContinuity.
** He's a sponge, his bones are more malleable than a veterbrate's.
*** But he's a sponge, he shouldn't even HAVE bones.
* I just finished watching the episode "Yours, Mine and Mine". Now, I know Patrick's intelligence (or lack thereof) has decreased over the series' course, but just how dumb is he ''supposed'' to be? Isn't there a set level of dumbness for Patrick or does his dumbness just rise/drop to whatever level the episode requires?
** In "Tentacle Vision":
-->'''Squidward:''' Patrick, how stupid are you?
-->'''Patrick:''' It varies.
* This may or may not have been discussed already, but I'm watching "Whatever Happened to [=SpongeBob=]?" at the moment, and I wonder: [=SpongeBob=] left a year's supply of snail food for Gary, right? If it was that long, wouldn't ''someone'' (most likely at the Krusty Krab) have known that [=SpongeBob=] was missing and gone looking for him? Or did Gary just eat that huge supply incredibly quickly?
** I'm thinking Gary ate it quickly, due to RuleOfFunny.
** He did eat it quickly. When Sandy and Patrick enter [=SpongeBob=]'s house, Gary is huge. That pretty much says he ate it all at once.
** Probably a joke on binge eating, especially since Gary was implied to be depressed by [=SpongeBob=]'s departure.
** Gary's been known to eat entire sofas in one bit, it doesn't seem too unlikely that he ate a year's supply in one go.
* Same episode as above: How did [=SpongeBob=]'s friends get to call him "idiot boy"? And in a very mean manner when he messes them up by accident?
** It's a classic case of UnwantedAssistance!
* In the movie, when [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick are about to drive the [[CoolCar Patty Wagon]], Patrick says "But [=SpongeBob=]! You don't have a license!" [=SpongeBob=] replies "You don't need a license, to drive a sandwich".... [[FridgeLogic which for all intents and purposes is a car and functions exactly like one.]]
** [[RuleofFunny It's a joke.]]
** (Original Poster) But don't you see all the potential LoopholeAbuse here?
*** Yes, they're using Loophole Abuse. That's the joke.
** [=SpongeBob=] also drives a truck at some point. And a rock. He can drive anything ''but'' a boat, apparently.
* In the episode where [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick (and Squidward before we went down the "Fly of Dispair") become the Flying Dutchman's crew, after [=SpongeBob=] tells Squidward that they get three wishes, and that Patrick used the first and he used the second (to get Squidward there) Squidward tells [=SpongeBob=] to wish for something to make it so they don't get eaten. How does Squidward know they're about to get eaten? He got there after they talked about it and no one mentioned it to him.
** He's probably heard of the Flying Dutchman before and may have heard stories about the Dutchman eating his crew members.
* How come the con artist in "Chocolate With Nuts" [[KarmaHoudini gets away all the things he did?]]
** He really only conned [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick. Plus, they both got rich enough to rent out an entire restaurant for an evening.
** All he did was lie about his personal circumstances in order to sell legitimate products to them. [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick lie about the products themselves and manage to come out on top.
* Can someone please explain to me WHY people come back to the Krusty Krab? They have been poisoned at least once, the place doesn't seem that clean, and the prices are a rip-off. Why would you come back?
** The same reason people still watch the show despite its decline in quality...
** With UsefulNotes/McDonalds, many people know that the food is crap, but they still buy it now and then because it tastes so damn good. Presumably, the same logic applies here.
** Mr. Krabs said people come for bad service, crummy decor, etc. and IIRC, said it more than once.
** Considering that the old (i.e, pre-movie) episode ''Just One Bite'' had Squidward being unable to stop eating Krabby patties after only trying one as it's entire plot, I think it's fairly safe to say that the customers of the KK enjoy the good burgers and ignore the not-so-good everything else.
*** To quote Krabs:
--->"People come here for good food and verbal abuse!"
* Why hasn't Squidward learned by now that [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick don't understand the concept of sarcasm? Every moment he's sarcastic about [=SpongeBob=]'s offers or ideas, it only encourages him which in turn makes things worse for himself [Squidward].
** RuleOfFunny. Well, what's classed as funny in later episodes, at least...
** He's yelled at them. At the top of his lungs. Multiple, multiple, multiple times. They're really that thick-headed.
** Besides, Sponge and Pat ''are'' nice dudes, who occasionally even apologize to Squidward for bugging him, so Squidward probably just lets it go.
* Why hasn't Squidward got a restraining order against [=SpongeBob=] yet? Beforehand, [=SpongeBob=] was only mildly annoying and overtly cheerful, being the ManChild that he was. Nowadays, he's completely insane, and his obsession with Squidward has reached stalker levels of creepy. Squidward would have ''easily'' enough grounds to file a restraining order, so why hasn't he done it yet?
** I'm not exactly sure how restraining orders work, but I don't see how one would help Squidward since he lives next door to [=SpongeBob=] and works at the same job as him. Not to mention, [=SpongeBob=] would probably just cry 24/7 over it until Squidward finally got fed up and annulled it. Either that or [[BigEater Patrick]] would come out of nowhere and eat it.
** In fact one time he ''did'' get a restraining order against [=SpongeBob=], which worked out about as well as you'd think it would. Of course Patrick wants in on the fun as well.
* Exactly what are we seeing on [[http://images.bcdb.com/ad_im/other/sponge/SquidTastic_Voyage.jpg?u= the title card for "Squidtastic Voyage"?]] I know it's Squidward's innards, but is it any specific part of him? It kind of looks like brain matter and a stem, but it's a ''tunnel.'' And the brain matter is the color of Squidward's skin (though that may be to further indicate that it's the inside of ''his'' body).
** They look somewhat like blue curly villi, so his intestines?
* In ''New Student Starfish'', when [=SpongeBob=] was freaking out about Mrs. Puff taking away his good noodle star, why didn't he just tell her that Patrick drew the picture, not him?
** It's pretty hard to think rationally when you're having a freak-out. Plus, this is [=SpongeBob=] we're talking about. He freaks out over the most minor of provocations.
* Something that got me while I was overhearing an episode of [=SpongeBob=] from my niece's room: Why doesn't Plankton use his other talents to acquire business? He's a robotic and engineering genius, and he has created AI so sophisticated that it could actually be considered sentient. Why doesn't he just sell his robots and all the products of his mad genius to the Bikini Bottom military and other top buyers, rather than using them to try and steal a secret formula for fast food in a run-down, middle-of-nowhere hellhole of a restaurant in increasingly-cartoonish plots? Hell, if it's just about beating Krabs, he could ''buy'' the Krabby Patty secret formula from the greedy bastard and then perfect it for his own restaurant, putting Krabs out of business for good. He could even humiliate Krabs further by hiring Squidward and maybe even [=SpongeBob=] (who would undoubtedly lose respect for Krabs due to the latter's lack of integrity) at triple the wages they were normally getting working under Krabs, then he could maybe even hire Krabs in a false gesture of pity and put him to work cleaning toilets or something. Shit, man. It would be so easy. Why hasn't he done this?
** Because he's not that smart at all, and certainly not as smart as he thinks he is. In the movie, Plankton ''forgot the last letter of the alphabet'' and didn't consider his theft of Neptune's crown would leave fingerprints until Karen pointed both out to him. He's described in his first appearance as being "99% hot gas". The guy's a GadgeteerGenius who may have gone to college, but a lot of his misfortune can be chalked up to a complete lack of common sense or willingness to think ahead.
** We do have a [[CutLexLuthorACheck trope]] for this.
* If the Flying Dutchman is several thousands of years old, why is he dressed like a medieval European pirate? If he's that old, he couldn't be a Dutchman, because the Dutch weren't really around thousands of years ago, and the word "Dutch" and "Dutchman" have only been in use for a handful of centuries. So...
** He just liked the name and costume? No doubt he'd tried on more than a few hats over the centuries.
* Why does [=SpongeBob=] dress so formally to work as a cook at a fast food restaurant?
** The clothes that he wears to work can be considered his street clothes, as he wears them all the time.
*** His "street" clothes are quite formal (button-down shirt, tie, etc) because he's a geek.
** He's a square.
** There's been a few episodes where he's had to deliver the food to a table. I would imagine that he dresses formally just in case, since I don't think it would look good on the Krusty Krab if someone in a dirty fry cook's uniform was in charge of bringing orders to tables. A better question would be why [=SpongeBob=] doesn't wear an apron.
* [=SpongeBob=] has shown in multiple episodes that he can rip off his arm and grow new ones, and it's shown to be normal for him. Then he gets a splinter and is suddenly incapable of this. WHY?
** Fridge Brillance: If [=SpongeBob=] were to regrow his arm, all the subsequent arms would have a splinter on them.
*** Actually, that's not true -- unless [=SpongeBob=] was cursed to have a splinter in every arm he grows in the future, or he was sick with a virus that prevented him from regrowing the arm (thus preventing him from ripping it off), he should've been able to simply rip off the arm in question and deal with the splinter a few seconds after getting it.
** As before, RuleOfFunny. [=SpongeBob=] has no trouble at all yanking his arms off, right up to the minute he NEEDS to do so. Then of course he totally forgets how during his sufferings.
** Not just that, he can regrow them (and many of his other body parts), so it might not hurt him as much, not much different than most other invertebrates, the nerves usually dying off before then.
* Why does [=SpongeBob=] even wear clothing? Are there even any bits on a sponge that would be considered obscene, even to other sponges?
** By that logic then no one in the show should wear clothes.
* In "Sailor Mouth", why is everyone offended by [=SpongeBob=] speaking word #11, given that Squidward believes there are only 7 words that should never be spoken, but there are 13 for sailors? (Words #8-13 should therefore not be offensive to non-sailors.)
** It could be meant to mean something along the lines of "There are seven words that should never be spoken. Well, technically, there's thirteen but only sailors know words #8-13. Same way as a little child might know 'fuck', 'shit' or 'damn' but probably not a lot of racist slurs but adults tend to know lots of those type of swears, even if they don't use them. Of course, you do warn kids those are bad words but why would you say ... teach your child Mandarin swear words, if they're not likely to come across them? "There's this word. Don't say it." Why not y'know just not teach me the word in the first place? I'm sure naval brats are taught about "The Thirteen Words That Should Never Be Spoken". Make sense?
** The words may be numbered different for Sailors and Non-Sailors. [=SpongeBob=] says the word that's #11 for sailors. The extra ones either change meaning around sailors, or the only way to learn the word and meaning is word-of-mouth.
* Am [[Tropers/{{Spinosegnosaurus77}} I]] the only one who's noticed that Painty the Pirate (the guy who sings the theme song) has an eye on his left cheek?
** You know it ''really is'' a painting? When he "speaks", it's really just the singer's (Patchy) mouth slapped on with special effects. Or Patchy is covered entirely in green ''except'' for his mouth, and they add the painting GreenScreen style.
** Actually the BehindTheScenes for Atlantis Squarepantis shows that its just a hole cut into the painting where the mouth's supposed to be.
* In ''WesternAnimation/ItsASpongeBobChristmas'', if Santa has "his jolly little eyes" on everyone, then how come he didn't see or even HEAR Plankton stating his plan about the jerktonium? Or even building [=ToyBob=]?
** How could Santa even get fooled by the robot and think it was [=SpongeBob=] when the real [=SpongeBob=] was right next to him!
*** My best guess would be RuleOfFunny, even though its not that funny.
** Why do the show's writers just seem so bad sometimes? Like in this episode!
*** I don't really blame the writers, I mean at least the king of GettingCrapPastTheRadar, Aaron Springer, didn't write this. But if Santa has an all seeing eye, he should've seen SOMETHING about Plankton.
** That was said in song, I doubt that was meant to be taken literally, also Santa has to deliver to BILLIONS of people (and fishes apparently), if he had an eye on everyone, it's probably not at once.
*** Santa is either retarted or was asleep when Plankton was sleeping
* In ''Googly Artiste'', shouldn't [=SpongeBob=] have told Mr. Krabs that Patrick was raising money for him (Krabs) by selling the artistic Krabby Patties?
** This ''is'' [=SpongeBob=] we're talking about; he'd prefer to keep it a surprise.
** And no doubt Mr. Krabs would have tripled the price or ask for a major cut of the profits once he understood what was going on.
* In TheMovie, what was the point of opening a second Krusty Krab right next to the original? It would make a lot more sense if it were placed in a much different location in Bikini Bottom or in a different town or something, since having the same restaurant be close to one another wouldn't be too convenient if one lives somewhere else.
** RuleOfFunny, and Mr. Krabs was asked about it and he said he did it for the money. I doubt that he thought about ''where'' he was going to put it.
** Besides, [[Troper/DangerArtistNexus60 this troper]] lives in a neighborhood with two [=McDonalds=] and I had tolerated it.
** Because more Krusty Krabs means more customers. Maybe he plans to make it a full-blown franchise?
*** Technically they'd get the same amount of customers, they'd just be split between two different restaurants. The same profits combined with doubled overhead means that Mr. Krabs would make considerably less money than he'd been making with only one restaurant.
** My personal theory is that Mr. Krabs remembered the events of the show's pilot, ''Help Wanted'' -- where the restaurant got flooded by hungry anchovies when deciding where to put the restaurant. He figured that if another event like that happened, if he placed it somewhere else, any hungry customers he couldn't serve would likely take their business (and their money) elsewhere if they had to drive far enough away, whereas if they only had to walk next door, they'd likely just go to the other Krusty Krab.
* Why is [=SpongeBob=] so ridiculously obsessed with Squidward in the new episodes?
** AuthorAppeal would be my guess.
* In the episode where Sandy got fleas, why didn't she just shave her fur?
** In another episode, "Someone's in the kitchen with Sandy",the cops and the other people mocked her and even arrested her because she had didn't have fur.
*** No, they arrested her for being nude. She could've shaved her fur and still worn her spacesuit outside her dome.
** For the same reason you don't shave the fur of your pets when they get fleas. It would've been overkill.
* How can [=SpongeBob=] live "in a pineapple under the sea"? Don't pineapples, you know, float?
** Well... this particular pineapple was hollowed out and filled with water. Plus there are glass windows with metal rings around them. Not to mention all the fishing lures, picture frames, bathroom and kitchen stuff (which are presumably quite heavy). It all adds up and so we'll just say it makes the pineapple dense enough to stay at the bottom of the sea. For the record, this troper saw the episode that showed how he got his house (Truth Or Square, I believe) so... We could also just say WaterIsAir, a theme of the show, since an ordinary pencil fell to Bikini Bottom the same way.
** WaterIsAir.
* [=SpongeBob=] has been shown to be a very good artist (sculpting, different shapes bubbles, the art episode when he makes a sculpture with Squidward as an art teacher) in a few episodes. Why can he just quit his minimum-wage job to become an artist?
** [[MarriedToTheJob Because he loves being a fry cook]].
** That and art supplies can get pretty expensive and success mostly depends on whether or not one is hired by a larger company or works independently. Likewise, Squidward is shown to be an artist but, for some odd reason, no one likes his paintings and the fact that some might not buy them, so he has to be work as a cashier.
* In "Krusty Towers," Mr. Krabs recalls going to a hotel that inspired him to build Krusty Towers. The hotel had a policy of "We shall not deny a guest even the most ridiculous request." Mr. Krabs was upset that the hotel overcharged him for everything (25 dollars for a hamburger!). So why didn't Mr. Krabs, the greedy guy that he is, invoke the hotel's policy and request for him not to be charged for anything?
** He was too shocked at the price to think straight.
** By that point, I assume Mr. Krabs had already checked out of the hotel and was no longer considered a "guest", thus he would not be able to request any more favors from the employees.
** It said "We shall not deny a guest even the most ridiculous request". It didn't say that they wouldn't do so at a higher than normal price.
* At the end of "Keep Bikini Bottom Beautiful", why did both [=SpongeBob=] and Squidward get tickets? And for that matter, why did they get them from a can dropping from the statue? They didn't even touch it!
** PoliceAreUseless, and Jerkasses.
** RuleOfFunny
* In "No Hat For Pat", Patrick keeps falling because the hat makes him heavier. If this is the case, then why didn't this happen in "Big Pink Loser"?
** Different writers for seasons 'way' apart. The writers can't be expected to remember everything.
* In "Fools in April", what exactly ''is'' that fake tongue that comes out of [=SpongeBob=]'s mouth? [=SpongeBob=] seems to be just functionally fine with that creature detached, implying it's not his actual tongue, but the living "tongue" is never explained or mentioned again. It's been bugging me ever since I saw the episode over a decade ago. While I do realize the series is full of [[WidgetSeries weird]], [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment out-of-nowhere]] moments, this one [[IncrediblyLamePun sticks out]] to me more than most other odd moments.
** MST3KMantra.
** A tongue-eating louse? [=SpongeBob=] could regrow his tongue, so the louse coming out wouldn't be a problem.
* If the suds are the sponge equivalent of the common cold or the flu, (which are both very common ailments,) why would [=SpongeBob=] not know what to expect when he went to the hospital to be treated? Surely as a twentysomething-year-old, he's been sick before.
** Sponges can live for up to 15, 000 years, so twenty something is still quite young for him.
*** Also, especially in the case of relatively minor illnesses, people don't always go to the hospital when they get sick and, odds are, he's either had it before and waited it out or he's some other sponge get it.
** He probably figured that Mr Krabs would insist he take more time off if he went straight to the hospital as opposed to just going home after showing up sick.
* In "The Chaperone," Pearl's junior prom date dumped her, so Mr Krabs suggest that she let [=SpongeBob=] take her to the prom. Pearl is reluctant to agree, but only because [=SpongeBob=] is.... well.... a dork. But Pearl is 16 in the episode, and [=SpongeBob=] is later implied to be in his twenties. Isn't it a little weird for a grown adult to be the prom date of a sixteen-year-old girl?
** If you're willing to consider [=SpongeBob=] as a grown adult...
* Why does [=SpongeBob=]'s karate garb include protective head gear if he's a sponge?
** Because [[RuleOfCool it looks cooler]].
* Why does [=SpongeBob=] have so much respect and admiration for Squidward even though Squidward treats him like garbage a great majority of the time? I get that [=SpongeBob=] is a NiceGuy who has a kind word for everyone, but Squidward is so EasilyForgiven, and we haven't seen an episode where Squidward has gone too far for Sponge to tell him off and ''not'' forgive him for a while. He's even told off Mr Krabs! But not Squidward. Is there some reason why he's so quick to forgive the guy who berates him and verbally abuses him constantly?
** Perhaps [=SpongeBob=] is aware of how awful Squidward's life is (though he generally doesn't understand he is the main cause of it), thus making his constant grouchiness and outbursts justified and tries as hard as he can to keep Squidward happy?
* If Mr Krabs apparently knew what the suds were, why did he just send [=SpongeBob=] home? Why didn't he call him a cab and send him to the hospital, given what the treatment involves?
** Maybe he was afraid he would have to pay the bill at first...Like, workman's comp, or something? But then [=SpongeBob=] gets in an argument with Sandy and Patrick and his disease ends up destroying the Krusty Krab -- you can tell in that scene that Mr. Krabs is angry, and moneygrubber or no, he still does care about [=SpongeBob=] and seems to want what's best for him.
** Business standpoint in the sense of, while he cares for [=SpongeBob=], it wouldn't make a lot of sense (along with that not being a good use of his time) to call for a taxi to take [=SpongeBob=] home or a hospital, especially when [=SpongeBob=] shouldn't have come to work in the first place, along with the fact that Krabs is tightwad
** It's likely that he knew that while the Suds would take [=SpongeBob=] away from work for a few days, it wasn't a serious condition, and the fact that he's a tightwad likely explains why he didn't just call a taxi. A better question would be why he didn't drive [=SpongeBob=] there himself, since he is shown to own a car at several points.
* When Sponge is at the beach in his swimming trunks, why does he still have sleeves? That's just kind of weird.
* In the episode with the Flying Dutchman, when [=SpongeBob=] wishes the Flying Dutchman was a vegetarian, the Dutchman turns them into fruit. But [=SpongeBob=] specifically wished that the Flying Dutchman ''wouldn't be able to eat them'' due to being a vegetarian, so how does that work?
** He granted the wish. He couldn't eat them, as he was a vegetarian. So he made them into fruit. Now he can. They never wished that he wouldn't eat them now, forever, and in the past somehow.
*** Then shouldn't he have granted the wish and then turned them into fruit? He did both simultaneously. So he wasn't unable to eat them at ''any'' point in time, so the wish wasn't granted.
** In that episode, [=SpongeBob=] never wishes for the Dutchman to not be able to eat them. His exact words were, "Don't worry, Squidward! I've got it all figured out. He won't be able to eat us because...I wish that the Dutchman was a ''vegetarian''!" Making him vegan was what he wished for, not specifically that he would be unable to eat them.
* If [=SpongeBob=] is incapable of driving a boat, but he can drive a rock and a sandwich and anything else.... why does he not just find a rock or a giant sandwich to drive?! Why does the kid even needs to be in boating school if he can drive other things?
** He owns and uses a unicycle (which, for some reason, he refers to as a bike), so he does have other means of non-motorized transportation. It might just be the fact that he wants to pass boating school for pride's sake.
** [=SpongeBob=] says that the Patty Wagon is only used for promotional reasons, so Mr. Krabs probably wouldn't be supportive of him using it as an everyday vehicle. He can't drive a rock because, as shown in the pizza delivery episode, he runs the risk of running people over, and as for the bike...wouldn't it be a little embarrassing for ''anyone'' if they had to ride a bike everywhere when a majority of the surrounding populace is shown to use cars?
* Why do people refer to [=SpongeBob=] as a kid and a "boy?" He may be a manchild (and a small guy,) but he's still a highly-skilled, intelligent, self-sufficient grown adult with his own house, a full-time career, and a closet full of awards. I read somewhere that [[OlderThanTheyLook he's in his late twenties]]. So why do other people always refer to him as a "kid?" He's an adult!
** The character who refers to [=SpongeBob=] as "boy" most often is probably Mr. Krabs, and [[TruthInTelevision that's just a thing that older people in general do, even to people who are legal adults.]] A good example is professional sports, where retired players will often refer to twenty-something players as "kid" or "young man." Even in [[ProfessionalWrestling pro wrestling]] (no idea how we went from [=SpongeBob=] to Wrestling/{{WWE}}), Wrestling/JimRoss referred to Wrestling/ShawnMichaels as a "young man" until the day Michaels retired... at the age of 44.
* In "Suds," when [=SpongeBob=] puts on a coat, scarf, and hat to go to the doctor, why is he still wearing shorts? Doesn't it seem a little counter-productive to be wearing shorts when you're already sick and weak in the knees?
** It looks like he just put heavier clothes on top of what he normally wears. He either may not have had the energy to actually change out of his shorts, or he might have been hesitant to do so, since that would necessitate removing his shoes, which he pretty much never does (likely because he doesn't know how to tie them). It's a stretch, but hey, it's worth somethin'.
** In ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobSquarePantsMovie'' (which, if I recall correctly, takes place after said episode), he's shown to only have a bunch of the same outfit in his closet. While we can assume that he might have clothes for other seasons put away, he doesn't
* [=SpongeBob=] offers his "prized driftwood carving of Squidward" as a scratching post for Gary when he leaves [=SpongeBob=] for Patrick. Snails are obviously portrayed as the underwater equivalent of cats, but how exactly would a snail use a ''scratching'' post?
** InvisibleAnatomy.
* If Sandy is so smart (she's been shown on numerous occasions to be a borderline scientific genius), how did she not realize that a '''''sea sponge''''' can't survive in an arid, water-less environment (episode "Tea At The Treedome")? Even after [=SpongeBob=] showed obvious signs of dehydration, she was apparently still oblivious to the fact that he's a water animal, not an amphibian.
** This was before the writers decided to turn Sandy into a scientist.
\\
And on top of all that, she had the nerve to say, at the end of the episode, "If y'all wanted water, ya shoulda asked!", despite the fact that [=SpongeBob=] DID ask for water at one point, at which point she ignored him to go and put her flowers in a vase. [[SarcasmMode Yeah, Sandy. He totally should have asked for water.]] '''''Did you go deaf or something?'''''
* In "One Coarse Meal," Plankton tries to kill himself by lying in the street waiting for a bus to run him over, and asking [=SpongeBob=] to step on him. But wait a minute, Plankton has been stepped on many times in the past, and he has been fine, if not slightly injured. He's even been ''eaten!'' Why would this kill him?
** Plankton only survives because of RuleOfFunny. His suffering in One Coarse Meal wasn't PlayedForLaughs.
* How do [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick's water helmets protect their entire bodies from dry air? Shouldn't their arms and legs wither away from dehydration? Also, how can they survive without their water helmets in snow (episode "Survival of the Idiots")? Yes, snow is technically water, but snow on land isn't the same as water the ocean; there's no air in the ocean, whereas there's still a lot more air than snow in Sandy's treedome. Plus, when they go up in Sandy's tree, there's no snow or water, and they suffer no ill effects.
* How could a camera pop the World's Oldest Bubble?
** RuleOfFunny.
** A camera's flash can and will pop ''any'' bubble.
* How long has Plankton been trying to steal the Krabby Patty secret formula? We do know that it's been [[spoiler:since they were kids in school together]], but how long ago was that? In one episode, Plankton reveals that he's been throwing card games for 15 years, waiting for Krabs to "slip up," and Mr. Krabs' [[spoiler:first dime is a large rock-- "I've been in business a long time, boy."]]
** [[spoiler: [=SpongeBob=] didn't always work for the Krusty Krab, so it's likely that Plankton was throwing card games from before then. As for the first dime, Krabs is very greedy. He'd likely take any form of money as long as it's valid somewhere]].
* If "Barnacles!" is considered a mild profanity in the [=SpongeBob=] universe, what does that say about Barnacle Boy?
** It might not be a profanity necessarily (as in something that a child would be scolded for saying), but more of a less-harmless exclamation. It's also used as a sort of euphemism that seems to equivalent to how we use "bugger" or "bastard" (although not as profane as the latter)-- Mr. Krabs often calls [=SpongeBob=] "Ya little barnacle." It still doesn't really make "Barnacle Boy" any more logical, but... maybe it has ''another'' meaning that we don't know of? Maybe actual barnacles are known for being tough or whatever.
** It's most likely a word that has both a profane and a non-profane meaning, like "ass" or "damn".
*** Mr. Krabs is a sailor, so if there ''is'' a profane meaning to "Barnacle", it might not be as big of a deal to him as the swear words only a sailor would know.
* So the song "Sandy Squirrel" on the Sponge Out of Water soundtrack, what's with the romantic lyrics?
** Shipping reference.
** Aw, goddamnit, did the writers screw up Sandy's last name as "Squirrel" again?
* Why do we always link to the main page when we mention [=SpongeBob=] as if he was a trope? It's not like we do it with Batman or Spider-Man, so why [=SpongeBob=]?
** Because there's no character page for [=SpongeBob=] himself in the same vein as, oh say [[Manga/DragonBall Vegeta]], regular or self-demonstrating, and in the cases you mentioned, they've been around for so long and had so many different incarnations. [=SpongeBob=] has had relatively few in comparison.
** I think it has more to do with how his name is spelled. A lot of people spell it with the b in "Bob" capitalized, which is also what you do when you're trying to link to another page here on TV Tropes.
* What could be worse than a giant paint bubble?
** I know! Two giant paint bubbles!
** [[BigNo NOOOO!!!]]
* WHO CARES ABOUT THE CUSTOMER?
** I do!
*** Well I ''don't!''
*** (gasps) ''Squidward''...
* Janet? Marty? WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?!?!
** Marty! I'm scared!
* Having just watched "New Student Starfish" again, I was wondering, if Mrs. Puff can't stand [=SpongeBob=] and is sick of failing him, then how does he have such a high amount of gold stars? Guessing because it's not a post-movie episode, but it leaves you wondering how he got so many.
** [=SpongeBob=] is shown to be a good student whenever he's in the classroom -- it's only when he gets behind the wheel that he starts screwing up. Also, that episode was probably before Mrs. Puff adopted a psychotic dislike for [=SpongeBob=]. In certain earlier episodes, she clearly becomes disappointed whenever he fails the test, but it never got to a point where she was actually angry with him -- a lot of times, she still tried to do her best to give him positive encouragement, even if it was only out of hope that he would pass it the next time.
* The ending of "Are You Happy Now?". Squidward goes insane, and all [=SpongeBob=] does is sigh dreamily and say "He's so handsome." O...'Kay? What was this supposed to imply? It came out of nowhere. Does this mean that [=SpongeBob=] only wanted to fix Squidward's depression (and for some reason assumed that hundreds of paper mache versions of ''himself'' would do it) because he wants to [[HoYay bang him]]? It brings a completely new (and unsettling) dimension to the episode.
* Why does Bikini Bottom have a bomb factory?
** Why not?
** Maybe they're atomic bombs and the Bikini Bottomites are taking advantage of their natural resource: fallout from the nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll.
** It's never stated that those bombs are used for warfare. Assuming that there are construction and mining industries in Bikini Bottom, the bombs are likely used for those.
* Why hasn't Squidward ever called out Mr. Krabs on some of the cheap practices he has done and outright sued him?! Any judge with half a brain would see the past things like "Open 24 hours with the same two employees, "Laughing at the idea of a raise for excellent work", and "Forcing his employees to pay HIM" and likely force Mr. Krabs to have to pay them a LOT of backpay (and after the events of "One Coarse Meal" and "Plankton's Regular", Plankton would probably be able to collect too!!!!)
** I believe a part of Squidward secretly likes working as the Krusty Krab, in the same vein he likes [=SpongeBob=] as his neighbor. So long as he gets his paycheck, he's cool with putting up with whatever goes on there. Plus, it seems Mr. Krabs may have reneged on the whole "Open 24 hours" deal after that episode, as it's never shown open at night in any others. And as for "forcing his employees to pay HIM", it was a joke from ''one episode'', people. Learn to get it go.
** He'd also need [=SpongeBob=] to back him up on those claims, since if he made them himself, Mr Krabs could claim he's lying -- and since [=SpongeBob=] loves to work there, that's not going to happen.
* Does ''this'' look "unsure" to you?
** No.
* So the whole joke with Patrick is that he's so stupid because RealLife sea stars don't have any brains, right? Well, if that's the case, then how come [=SpongeBob=] isn't as stupid as Patrick, seeing as real life sponges don't even have any ''respiratory system'', much less an actual brain?
** I thought the whole joke with Patrick was that he's so stupid because he's so stupid, not for any biological reason. He's just meant to be [=SpongeBob=]'s stupid, bumbling, but still good-natured best buddy. (In the earlier seasons and a select few of the later ones.)
* How can an inanimate drop of hot sauce develop a face?! (Karate Choppers)
** It was just a joke, or perhaps [=SpongeBob=]'s imagination.
*** The latter sounds right, but we have no hint that he imagined it. Or was he [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs on drugs]]?
*** It was a drop of hot sauce with a face, that showed itself in a close-up right as [=SpongeBob=] realizes Sandy's about to pour it onto his tongue. I'm not sure what other sort of "hint" you're expecting.
*** His confused reaction...
** The show anthropomorphizes all kinds of lower life forms, so a pepper isn't out of the realm of possibility. Furthermore, it's done in live action like other surface dwelling creatures.
* In "One Course Meal" Mr. Krabs got some major backlash from fans for how he tormented Plankton and drove him to suicide but has anyone forgotten that Plankton framed Mr. Krabs for stealing Neptune's Crown, resulting in him getting frozen for days, toke sadistic glee in taking the Krabby Patty Formula right before his eyes literally resulting in him shedding a tear, brainwashed everyone in Bikini Bottom making them his mindless slaves, treated his (almost) untimely death at the hands of Neptune by fire as he begged for his life like entertainment and tried to KILL [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick after they returned with the crown and that's only a list of the terrible things he's done in the movie? Mr. Krabs forcing him to suicide after he attacked his restaurant is worst then all those atrocities and seasons worth of more?
** The main difference between Plankton and Mr. Krabs is that the latter has always been established as a villain, even if he's [[StupidEvil utterly incompetent]]. Mr. Krabs is supposed to be a one of the [[DesignatedHero 'heroes']] of the show, so to speak, and in the earlier episodes, he was fairly reasonable with his greed being a flaw more than his {{Flanderization}} defining trait. The problem, as a result, is that the writers intended for the audience to forgive [[DesignatedHero Mr. Krabs ]] while Plankton ultimately got punished in the end of the movie. [=SpongeBob=] was a false hope in this episode; seeming to empathize with Plankton with Mr. Krabs's fake fear of mimes. [=SpongeBob=] being the audience's main insight on the series, as such, was the writer's way of telling us [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop 'You should support these actions']]
* In the episode with Pretty Patties, [=SpongeBob=] and Mr. Krabs trade restaurants, but [=SpongeBob=] never really gave the Krusty Krab back, does this mean that [=SpongeBob=] is actually the owner of the KK?
** Most simply, this is explained by NegativeContinuity, the show doesn't have a set timeline except for the episodes that establish main characters (Plankton and Sandy, for example, were given their own debut episodes and were kept as a result). If you want from a plot standpoint; Mr. Krabs could have simply convinced him offscreen after the episode.
* In "I Was A Teenage Gary", all Gary needed to feel better was water. Why didn't Squidward think of this when he forgot to feed the snail?
** For the sake of plot?
** [=SpongeBob=] never told him that all Gary would need to feel better was water -- he takes ''very'' good care of Gary, so he likely never had to deal with the situation that would lead to him learning that kind of knowledge.
* So in the episode "Can You Spare A Dime," couldn't [=SpongeBob=] just have Squidward evicted from his house instead of letting Squidward constantly take advantage of him after [=SpongeBob=] showing Squidward numerous times that he needed to get a job?
** [=SpongeBob=] is, by nature, kind of a spineless doormat, both in pre-movie (Walking Small) and post-movie (Treats!) episodes. It's a reoccurring character flaw that's been established in multiple episodes. He's overly nice and he lets people take advantage of him. "You just let people step all over you! You're just like stairs!" to quote from Plankton in "Walking Small." [=SpongeBob=] didn't "evict" Squidward until he was so distressed and worn-out by the situation that he completely snapped altogether.
* In the episode "Funny Pants," [=SpongeBob=] believes that his laugh box is broken because Squidward persuaded him to think so. Squidward lied to [=SpongeBob=] just to get him to shut up for a while. But that doesn't really explain A) [=SpongeBob=]'s pained spasms earlier in the episode (just before Squidward fed him the "laugh box" lie,) and B) the wheezy/deflating balloon sound that [=SpongeBob=] makes just before he says "I lost my laugh." So... what happened to him? Were those symptoms just cheats in the narrative?
** A) You CAN get pained spasms if you do laugh for a bit too long. Considering that [=SpongeBob=] was laughing for WAY too long, having that degree of pain is actually not that out of the question.
* Why hasn't Mr. Krabs ever considered franchising the Krusty Krab? Doesn't he realize just how much money he could rake in by doing so? And before it's brought up, yes, I am aware that there's a rather substantial risk that Plankton would very likely be one of the first, if not only, people to sign up. I'm just curious as to why the possibility hasn't come up after nearly 17 years now.
** He does open a Krusty Krab 2 in the movie... that he had built right next to the original. Anyway, opening a new restaurant not only would not matter to the main focus of the show -- [=SpongeBob=]'s antics in Bikini Bottom -- but would also cost more money than Mr. Krabs is shown to be willing to spend.
*** In the long run, it likely would earn him more money, but in the short run, it would be a loss, and as Mr. Krabs has demonstrated in episodes like Jellyfish Hunter, he doesn't exactly take the long run into consideration (as he likely would've made [=SpongeBob=] focus on increasing Jellyfish populations as opposed to capturing all the Jellyfish in the aforementioned episode).
* Come to think of if, I noticed in the episode "Money Talks" that Mr. Krabs doesn't like spending money. So why does he love money so much when he doesn't even want to spend it on anything?
** Because he just likes money.
*** Yeah, at least once we see him happily counting huge piles of money. It makes sense that he likes money just for the sake of having more money than other people.
*** His first dime was a giant rock, something he very likely knows he ''can't'' spend anywhere. It could be that he's a collector, and views each coin/bill as unique (plus, we never see customers paying with checks or credit/debt cards).
* A bonus question: How does Mr. Krabs even pay his own bills since he doesn't want to spend money?
** I'd imagine he's probably really cheap and stubborn about it.
*** I'd imagine that he leaves that responsibility to Pearl, since she doesn't seem to have the same qualms he has about spending money.
* Is this the Krusty Krab?
** NO! THIS IS PATRICK! ''(grunts)'' I'm not a Krusty Krab!
** Um, Patrick, that's the name of the resturaunt.
** Huh? Oooh! FISHPASTE!
* But really though, did the customer from "Pizza Delivery" actually order his Diet Dr. Kelp to go along with his Krabby Patty pizza in the first place? Even though [=SpongeBob=] points out on his notebook that he didn't, in the customer's defense, in the case that he truly did, him berating the shit out of him and slamming the door on his face would be somewhat justified.
** You might recall that Mr. Krabs is the one who took the call. Mr. Krabs may not have told [=SpongeBob=] that the customer wanted the Diet Dr. Kelp, so in a way, the berating and slamming is justified, but blame Mr. Krabs for not paying attention.
** As someone who works in the food industry taking orders, this troper can safely say that characters like that one are actually quite common -- customers are occasionally known to call back and complain about not receiving something that they don't realize they forgot to order in the first place, or because they thought that something like a side order or drink came with their meal by default. Either way, when you get the kind of friendly service [=SpongeBob=] ''and'' Mr. Krabbs were shown to give to him, I don't see how him yelling at them and slamming the door on them would be at all justified. If he'd just accepted the pizza and ''asked'' for them to deliver him the drink (which is what most rational customers tend to do), I'm sure [=SpongeBob=] happily would've done so.
* Remember the guy who [=SpongeBob=] and Squidward thought was the Hash-Slinging Slasher? Why were his nostrils glowing red in the dark?
** It was at night, and the Krusty Krab isn't exactly in the best of shape. It could be that there's lights on the outside that would normally illuminate the outer walls that weren't working properly, and they just so happened to make his nostrils glow red.
* In "Pizza Delivery", if [=SpongeBob=] sings that the Krusty Krab Pizza is for "you and me" (which is presumably reffering to Squidward and [=SpongeBob=] respectively), then how come he refuses to let Squidward take a slice from it later on when they get hungry and says it's for the customer all of the sudden?
** It was for the customer.
** When [=SpongeBob=] was singing "for you and me," he was speaking in general about the customers of pizza made by the Krusty Krab.
* Is mayonnaise an instrument?
** No troper, mayonnaise is not an instrument.
** Horse radish is not an instrument either.
*** Do instruments of torture count?
*** No.
* If [=SpongeBob=] enjoyed being able to fly so much, why didn't he just, I don't know, ''inflate another pair of pants?''
** [=SpongeBob=] got fed up with the citizens asking him to do non flying-related tasks for them, so he didn't bother.
* Does anyone have an reasonable explanation for the random apple chasing the teens in "The Chaperone?" (other than RuleOfFunny)
* Are you finished with those errands?
** NO, I AM NOT FINISHED WITH THOSE ERRANDS AND I NEVER WILL BE! So quit checking up on me! know what you re up to. Forcing me to come back here every time you mess up!
* Why are the "...questions only the real Mr. Krabs could answer." questions that anyone who's been to the Krusty Krab could answer, and why didn't Mr. Krabs raise this objection?
** [=SpongeBob=] is near panic, extremely twitchy and is pointing an industrial strength fire house with a spicy condiment at him and the imitation. Does this look like the kind of situation you can reason yourself out of? [=SpongeBob=] would just go "I'm asking the questions around here!" and shut him up. Especially since Mr Krabs has been shown to be less than eloquent under pressure.
** There's also the fact that Plankton never goes to the Krusty Krab as a customer.
* In the episode "Feral Friends", how was Sandy unaffected by Neptune's Moon but WAS affected by Neptune's Sun? If you make the argument it only works for warmbloods/air-breathers, that does not excuse Pearl, who was affected by the former and not the latter? Does the Sun work for land animals if that's the case?
* How am I supposed to eat this pizza without my drink?
* Why does Mister Krabs have a vending machine in his house?
** Probably to extrort money out of visitors who want a snack or drink. It's not his job to pay for their amenities!
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