Such a beautiful friendship, brought down by intelligence.
Patrick SmartPants
Original air date: 10/21/2005
A fall off a cliff somehow turns Patrick into a genius. However, his newfound intellect means he might not be able to be SpongeBob's best friend anymore.
"Patrick SmartPants" contains examples of:
- An Aesop:
- Don't forget your friends, even when you develop something new.
- If your new personality drives you away from people, change it.
- Alternatively, if your original personality isn't insufferable to those closest to you, don't fix it.
- You can be smart all you like, but no one will respect Insufferable Geniuses.
- Artistic License – Biology:
- Shouldn't brain coral look more like a human brain and not a starfish forehead? May also qualify as Reality Is Unrealistic, as the coral in the episode looks more like normal coral than some brain corals.
- While the episode accurately depicts sea stars like Patrick as brainless, the nerve ring, which serves as a crude equivalent of one, is situated along the mouth at the center of the body rather than being in any one of their limbs. Though this could be different for Patrick since he's an anthropomorphic sea star and notably goes limp when he "unplugs" the brain coral, whereas he had been walking around fine without his upper head after his first crash landing.
- "Eureka!" Moment: After Patrick throws himself off the cliff again to try to repeat the process that gave him his intelligence and reverse it, he finds that he feels unchanged from it. He then remembers SpongeBob said he found his head last time and after declaring the spot where SpongeBob found it should have been impossible, he uses his intelligence to find his true head, with him and SpongeBob realizing he was accidentally given brain coral.
- "Everybody Laughs" Ending: After Patrick goes back to normal, the episode ends with SpongeBob and Patrick laughing and playing together.
- "Flowers for Algernon" Syndrome: Really, this episode comes pretty close to being a Whole-Plot Reference to the Trope Namer (well, with all the sad/mature parts surgically removed, anyways).
- Genius Serum: Patrick becomes an Insufferable Genius from attaching brain coral to his body instead of his head, drawing the annoyance of everyone around him. Miserable from his newfound intelligence, Patrick tries to figure out how he turned so smart and rebuild his friendship with SpongeBob.
- Hypocritical Humor: Squidward and Sandy seldom pull punches about how stupid Patrick usually is. When the intellectually boosted Patrick starts being condescending to them, they predictably get offended very quickly.
- Impact Silhouette: Patrick leaves this in the "DANGER CLIFF" sign twice; first, when he tries to read it as he is running towards it, and second, when he does it on purpose in order to find out where his original dislodged forehead was.
- Insufferable Genius: Patrick becomes this when insulting Sandy and Squidward. Although, in Squidward's case, Patrick wasn't wrong when he bluntly told him he was terrible at playing clarinet but shouted at him, "Find yourself a new mentor!", thus lacking patience. After insulting Sandy's intelligence, she orders him to leave, stating she preferred the old ditzy Patrick better.Sandy: Well, Pat, the new you gets an A+.
Patrick: Why, thank you, Sandra. I find your intellect rather stimulating as well.
Sandy: Oh, really? Well, thanks. Well, Patrick, what do you think about this problem?
Patrick: You simply change the literal term to a coefficient and the minuend will achieve the desired quotient. Even the simplest of mammals can figure it out with a little thought.
Sandy: What do you mean by that, Patrick?
Patrick: I'm merely suggesting you lack the ability to solve remedial equations.
Sandy: Are you suggesting that I'm dumb?!
Patrick: I'd use a more sophisticated word like "impaired".
Sandy: I think you'd better leave.
Patrick: I was only trying to help.
Sandy: I don't need your kind of help, Mr. Know-it-all! I LIKED YOU BETTER WHEN YOU WERE A BARNACLE HEAD! - Intelligence Equals Isolation: After becoming smart, Patrick can no longer enjoy the things he used to do with SpongeBob, and is rejected by others for being condescending to them.
- I Will Show You X!: When Patrick is studying Plankton under a microscope.SpongeBob: Are you feeling better now, Patrick? What are you doing?
Patrick: Oh, just studying this amazing sub-species.
Plankton: I'll show you sub-species! - LEGO Body Parts: The reason Patrick became smart was because the top of his head fell off and SpongeBob replaced it with a piece of brain coral, which not only looks like Patrick's head, but also comes with a plug that matches the outlet inside Patrick. It could be a cartoonish representation of the brain coral stimulating his neurons*, but a plug is seen coming out of his head when he takes the brain coral off later as well while none had been present dangling when Spongebob first plucked the coral off the ground.
- Recurring Camera Shot: A high-angle shot of Patrick falling off of a cliff is used near the beginning of the episode, and reappears when he deliberately jumps off of the same cliff near the end of the episode.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Smart Patrick is the blue oni to SpongeBob's red.
- Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Patrick starts speaking in large terms that several characters have difficulty understanding.
- Shout-Out:
- After Patrick becomes smart, his first words are, "I find all this laughter to be highly illogical."
- The scene where Patrick falls from a cliff is a reference to the Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner cartoons.
- Among the many photos in Patrick's book is a parody of Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man with a starfish replacing the man.
- Smart Jerk and Nice Moron: Smart Patrick is the smart jerk to SpongeBob's nice moron.
- Thinking Wheels: When SpongeBob puts the brain coral on Patrick, it leads to the gears in his head to start turning, making him smart.
- We Want Our Idiot Back!: The smarter characters like Sandy and Squidward initially enjoy Patrick's newfound intellect, but even they get annoyed at Patrick over time with his arrogance. Even Patrick himself gets sick of his intellect and seeks to find a way to get rid of it, as he realizes that he's alienated everyone, including SpongeBob.
- Who Even Needs a Brain?: When Patrick removes the brain coral from the top of his head, he becomes a Type I and just stands around drooling until SpongeBob attaches his real head.
Rock on, freaky bro!
SquidBob TentaclePants
Original air date: 11/4/2005
A malfunction in Sandy's newest invention melds Squidward and SpongeBob together. Can Sandy separate them in time for Squidward's big recital?
"SquidBob TentaclePants" contains examples of:
- An Aesop: Don't tamper with equipment. You never know what the outcome could be.
- Apple for Teacher: Sandy demonstrates her transporter by using it to transport an apple on Mrs. Puff's desk.
- Body Horror: Getting melded to SpongeBob is this to Squidward. More disturbing are the transformations caused by Sandy's first attempts to fix them, and especially when everyone gets melded at the end.
- Conjoined Twins: SpongeBob and Squidward are this.
- Downer Ending: Squidward's attempt to reverse Sandy's ray gun backfires, melding everyone into a single, sickly mess. It is clear that they are all suffering horribly for this mistake.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Squidward receives this when he tampers with Sandy's ray gun, leaving him motionless and his head stuck on the blob holding everyone together. However, everyone else must suffer the consequences of Squidward's reckless actions, even though they did nothing wrong.
- Here We Go Again!:Therapist: So, what seems to be the problem, Mr. Tentacles?
Squidward: It all started... when I was born. - Malicious Misnaming: Squidward calls SpongeBob "SpongeBoob" on his way to the Krusty Krab.
- Merging Mistake: Sandy's teleportation device malfunctions when sending SpongeBob to work, causing him to bring Squidward back with him and merge them into one body.
- No More for Me: "I gotta lay off the hot sauce."
- Rousing Speech: SpongeBob gives one to Squidward in order to convince him to go forward with his clarinet recital.
- Sharing a Body: The main premise of the episode, with SpongeBob and Squidward being merge together.
- Shout-Out: Squidward's hair in his fantasy is similar to Kenny G's.
- Stripped to the Bone: When Squidward starts playing his clarinet again while un-morphed he manages to blow off the skin of one of the audience members, reducing him to a skeleton.
- Stripping Snag: During Squidward's recital, his cape gets snagged on a nail on the stage and rips off, revealing to the audience that he's melded to SpongeBob
- Teleporter Accident: How SpongeBob and Squidward get melded together.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Larry the Lobster is seen in the concert hall when Squidward causes Sandy's device to malfunction, but he isn't seen on the blob holding the characters together.
