"Hey! What'd I miss?"
Live-action is used from time to time as a gag in SpongeBob SquarePants. Basically, anything that takes place in, or comes from, the surface world is live-action, while everything underwater is animated. It's done so frequently that making a complete list of instances would be practically impossible.
- One of the show's news reporters is a photograph of a fish, and another occasionally recurring character is a photograph of a human arm (named "Hans").
- The very first shot of the very first episode is of some live-action coral, which moves off-screen to reveal the animated town.
- The episode "Frankendoodle" starts with a live-action segment presenting the story of the "Sea Artist" and his pencil sinking to the bottom of the sea is what kickstarts the plot. The pencil remains a photograph throughout the episode.
- This episode may also count because all of the things drawn with the magic pencil are represented in a crude 2D art style.
- "Doodle Dimension" has a similar approach, with one scene where Sandy steals nuts from a live-action old man back in Texas, the majority of the episode about SpongeBob and Patrick interacting with crude 2D doodles in a blank void, and the old man's arm coming out of Sandy's portal to claim his nuts at the end.
- Some episodes, such as "Plankton!", "The Krusty Krab Training Video", and "The Algae’s Always Greener", depict the Krabby Patty as a real-life cheeseburger.
- In the episode "Pressure", all the characters become live-action puppets when they come out of the water and step onto land.
- In "Squilliam Returns", when Squidward tries to imagine Squilliam in his underwear, the latter's body is a photograph tinted blue.
- In the episode "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy", Patrick laments the seniority of the former heroes and SpongeBob replies that senior citizens are full of wisdom and experience, cut to a live-action old man smiling to the camera shouting: "Yes, experience!", while giving a thumbs up.
- In "Mermaidman and Barnacleboy III", Man Ray's gloves become live action when it shows him holding Patrick's ID, although the ID itself is still animated.
- In "Karate Choppers", SpongeBob watches a TV show starring a live-action fish.
- In the same episode, Sandy's hot sauce is shown in close-ups as having a live action face that warns SpongeBob how hot it will be.
- In The Movie (Which was originally intended to be the Grand Finale), SpongeBob and Patrick are still animated when they venture on land, but only become "real" when they are dried out under a souvenir maker's heat lamp. Conversely, they and all the other dried-up fish turn back into cartoon characters when the sprinklers go off in the stand.
- "Krusty Love" introduces the "imported pianist", a live-action human piano player complete with a diver suit, goggles and snorkel.
- In the same episode, we discover the fate of Mr. Puff in a live-action scene of a pufferfish lamp being turned on.
- When Plankton sees Krabs' mom for the first time in "Enemy-In-Law", we are treated to a scene of a live-action crab walking underwater.
- In "Mermaidman and Barnacleboy VI: The Motion Picture", after SpongeBob learns that his heroes will be played by actors in the new movie, his reaction is presented using live action footage of someone's mouth placed over a sponge.
- Throughout "Hooky", the characters are warned that being around fishing hooks could lead to them inside a tuna can or in a gift shop. Each time this is referenced, photographs of gift shops and tuna cans are shown (with the characters animated inside the tuna cans). The episode ends with an animated bus dropping off a live-action tuna can that has Patrick inside.
- The same episode features live-action footage of fishermen throughout, repurposed from the 1991 miniseries Fishing with John.
- In "Shanghaied", when SpongeBob and Patrick try to escape the Flying Dutchman's ship, they attempt to exit through the "perfume department". This is portrayed with them running in their usual animated form through live-action footage of a Macy's store near Nickelodeon's animation studios.
- The title character of "Plankton!" introduces SpongeBob to his "lab". Cut to live-action footage of a Labrador retriever.
- In "The Secret Box", Patrick claims that "the inner machinations" of his mind are "an enigma". A thought bubble appears above his head, and within that thought bubble is live action footage of milk spilling.
- "Idiot Box" features Patrick trying on his "glasses": literal glasses of water. Through those glasses, Patrick's eyes are shown as live-action human eyes.
- The final scene of "Band Geeks" takes place in a Super Bowl-esque event with a live-action human audience and everything.
- In "Sandy's Rocket", "Big Pink Loser", "Bubble Troubles", "Mooncation", and "Squidward the Unfriendly Ghost", among other episodes, the characters remain animated when they emerge from the ocean's surface.
- Similarly, in "Christmas Who?" after SpongeBob sends everyone's Christmas lists to the surface in bottles, the bottles remained animated on the surface.
- And in that episode, Santa Claus is also live action, even when he's underwater.
- In "SpongeGuard on Duty", SpongeBob goes to the beach, where he gets jealous of Larry. He imagines what it would be like if he were a lifeguard, cutting to live-action footage of someone in a SpongeBob mascot suit in a lifeguard tower.
- In "You're Shoe's Untied", SpongeBob watches footage of a live action anemone that he seems to find... rather suggestive. When Gary comes in, he changes the channel to live action footage of a football game.
- "Suds" ends with live action footage of SpongeBob and then Patrick, represented as a real sponge and starfish respectively, being used to wash various things.
- In "The Fry Cook Games", after SpongeBob and Patrick attempt to look like desserts, a photograph of the latter's dessert — a strawberry ice cream cone with a chocolate dip — is shown.
- In that same episode, when various fish are accidentally burned with oil, they become photographs of fish sticks.
- In "Neptune's Spatula", King Neptune accidentally shows SpongeBob live action footage of a man taking a shower when he tries to show him Atlantis.
- In "No Free Rides", SpongeBob accidentally hits the narrator with his boat. He's shown from the waist down as a live-action human in a diving suit.
- In "Artist Unknown" and "Culture Shock", Squidward imagines his own face superimposed over the faces in photographs of humans.
- At the beginning of "The Krusty Krab Training Video", live-action footage of a giraffe is shown after an apparent mishearing of the word "graph".
- In "The Camping Episode", SpongeBob and Patrick's magazines feature photographs of a real bear.
- In "Imitation Krabs", Mr. Krabs is placed in a live-action box of French fries when SpongeBob thinks he's an imposter.
- In "Tea at the Treedome", after SpongeBob and Patrick temporarily dry out in Sandy's water-free house, they become a photograph of a sponge and starfish.
- "Truth or Square" has a new, very trippy opening sequence, remade in stop-motion, and with a new rendition of the theme by Cee-Lo. "The Legend of Boo-kini Bottom" also uses this.
- "New Student Starfish" ends with a live-action baby chick hatching out of an animated egg.
- At the beginning of the same episode, SpongeBob tells Patrick to think about the two of them in school together, and Patrick imagines himself and SpongeBob in a live-action class photo with real children.
- "Boat Smarts" features live action footage of a crash test dummy with Squidward's face superimposed over the face.
- In "Frozen Face-Off" the characters are pursued by a stop-motion monster.
- The song in "Ripped Pants" overlays SpongeBob and other characters over live action footage of the ocean.
- "I Had an Accident" ends with a live-action man in a gorilla suit and his Pantomime Animal companion, followed by the live-action family watching the episode in bewilderment.
- In "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V", the chief of the International Justice League of Super Acquaintances (IJLSA) is a live action man on a TV screen.
- "Texas", "Sandy, SpongeBob, and the Worm", "Rodeo Daze", and "Pest of the West" all feature flashbacks to Sandy's life in Texas, which entirely consist of live action and photographs.
- Two moments where Mr. Krabs turns into a live-action crab:
- At the end of "Wishing You Well", he sarcastically wishes to be cooked and eaten. The last scene of the episode is thus live action footage of a man preparing to eat a crab.
- In "Larry's Gym", he locks himself in the steam room of the titular gym, since Larry announced that for the opening of said gym, first visits are free, and Krabs wanted his first visit to be a permanent visit. At the end of the episode, when Larry closes up the gym for the night, and Mr. Krabs is still locked in the steam room, the former pulls open the door to find the latter has turned into a cooked live-action crab.Larry: What is that smell? Mr. Krabs, how long have you been in there?! [pulls the door open]
Mr. Krabs: I think I'm done! Would you mind rubbin' a little butter on me?
- Larry himself becomes a live-action lobster at two points in the show:
- In "Party Pooper Pants", he's looking at himself in the mirror, and says that he looks "good enough to eat". His reflection shows a cooked live-action lobster.
- In "SpongeBob Meets The Strangler", a terrified Larry transforms into a real cooked lobster in response to SpongeBob showing him the titular criminal's "Wanted" poster.
- "Procrastination" features SpongeBob imagining live action footage of a crashing racecar.
- Plankton's holographic meatloaf in "The Algae's Always Greener" is a photograph made slightly transparent.
- In the climax of "SpongeBob SquarePants vs. The Big One", the Flying Dutchman is sent to Davy Jones' Locker where he is met by a live-action Davy Jones (of The Monkees fame).
- The second movie combines live-action, traditional animation, and computer-generated animation.
- The 20th anniversary special "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout" features SpongeBob and Patrick taking an animated tour across the live-action universe. It turns out that they have their own human counterparts above water, who are all played by their voice actors.
- "Wormy" features a close-up of a buzzing horsefly when the butterfly lands on characters' faces.
- "Clams" features live action black-and-white footage of an orchestra playing.
- The end of "Graveyard Shift" features a live-action photograph of Count Orlock the vampire flicking a light switch.
- "Life of Crime" has SpongeBob mention that running is good for the buns and thighs, then it cuts to a live-action shirtless man who says "Ja, buns and thighs!" in an Austrian accent.
- The third movie features the characters talking to human actors in an animated world.
- The beginning of "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy IV" has SpongeBob pressing through the wall of the kitchen when he hears that Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy are at the Krusty Krab, his indentation rendered in CGI before he rips through.
- The movie SpongeBob watches in "Krab Borg" is live action.
- "Snowball Effect" begins with live-action footage of icebergs.
- "The Bully" features a scene of SpongeBob in the toilet portrayed by a live-action sponge.
- In "Code Yellow", one of the new noses that SpongeBob gives Squidward is a live-action squid.
- When SpongeBob explores Karen's insides in "Karen's Virus", everything is rendered in CGI except himself, an idealized Plankton, Karen's perceptions of the Krusty Krew, and her memories of past episodes.
