Original air date: 10/21/2011
SpongeBob and Patrick find a houseboat haunted by ghost pirates.
Contains examples of:
- Adaptational Alternate Ending: A storybook released to coincide with the episode’s release does this. Instead of everyone being imprisoned in the Void, the Flying Dutchman chases Lord Poltergeist into the distance. Sandy asks how the Flying Dutchman knew his treasure had been stolen, and SpongeBob cheerfully replies that he reported the theft. This is done to tell the children the book is aimed at that SpongeBob did the right thing.
- All There in the Script: The ghost pirate captain is unnamed in the episode, even being listed as "Captain" in the end credits. However, the online game Nickelodeon Mystery Mansion gives him the name "Lord Poltergeist".
- Big "NO!":
- Mr. Krabs, Squidward, and Patrick shout this as they're sucked into The Void.
- Inside The Void, Mr. Krabs shouts this after finding out the porta-potty costs one of his doubloons to use. The donut then shouts this in Patrick's nightmare.
- Brick Joke: About midway through the episode, Sandy appears in the Krusty Krab with ghost hunting equipment, looking for milkshake gremlins. At the end, Sandy actually does find one.
- Patrick mistakes the Haunted Houseboat for a Suck E. Cheese's and demands Pizza from Lord Poltergeist. Later on, Lord Poltergeist tries to claim that he didn't steal the Dutchman's gold, but just went out to get Pizza.
- Creepy Changing Painting: The haunted houseboat has a bunch. One of which, is a vase with flowers that turns into savage worms that attack SpongeBob
- Gainax Ending: The Dutchman imprisoning everyone in the void in the end.
- Halloween Episode: Often marketed as a Halloween episode.
- Literal Metaphor: While in the void, Squidward states that the customers are paying in bones. Mr. Krabs decides that money is money, only for Squidward to open the cash register that reveal that they are being paid with literal bones.
- Medium Blending:
- While fighting over the chest of doubloons, Mr. Krab's face deforms into that of a live-action crab.
- After the Flying Dutchman drops an atomic bomb, the live-action mushroom cloud shows the Dutchman's face on it.
- To prove he is actually a ghost, Lord Poltergeist shows SpongeBob and Patrick some small anchovies on a live-action pizza.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The chest of gold that Mr. Krabs tries to take from the ship actually belongs to the Flying Dutchman as revealed by the "Property Of" stamp. SpongeBob then calls the number on the chest, claiming that reporting stolen property is his civic duty, bringing the wrath of the Flying Dutchman on them.
- Potty Emergency: Mr. Krab's void has him dealing with one of these where the only recourse is a pay toilet. He has his sack of doubloons, so he could easily pay the toll and use it, but he's such a miser that it's practically a Sadistic Choice for him.
- Shout-Out:
- When Patrick calls Lord Poltergeist "a singing robotic puppet" from "those pizza joints with the singing animated robots," he is referring to the animatronics from Chuck E. Cheese's.
- The cereal Frosted Brains is a parody of Kellog's Frosted Flakes.
- When Squidward says "Boring, representational art," the painting he points at is a ghost parody of American Gothic Couple.
- The gremlin that Sandy catches in her milkshake is similar in appearance to the creatures from Gremlins.
- Special Guest: Chris Elliot as Lord Poltergeist.
- That Cloud Looks Like...: SpongeBob and Patrick do this at the beginning of the episode.
- Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: Patrick's fear in the void manifests into a living donut appearing on his head and the latter expanding so he can't reach it. However, Patrick doesn't react since he claims not to like plain donuts. When the donut tries to shape itself into something Patrick does like so he can continue torturing him, he is quickly driven crazy by Patrick's inability to make up his mind.
- Unishment: Patrick gets sent to an Ironic Hell where he has a talking donut on his head that he can't eat because when he tries to grab it, it makes the top of his head grow so the donut is out of his reach. Patrick complains that it's a plain donut and makes it turn into different flavors, then asks for it to turn into a stack of pancakes, and then a Krabby Patty before deciding he wants a plain donut again, leading to the donut's Big "NO!".
- Welcome to My World: Squidward says this after Lord Poltergeist complains about SpongeBob "ruined everything" by snitching to the Dutchman.
- "What Do They Fear?" Episode: The Void traps the cast in their worst nightmares:
- Mr. Krabs' void nightmare involves him needing to use the toilet, but the only one available needs a doubloon to unlock. Faced with either giving up some of his precious money or wetting himself, Krabs' lets out a Big "NO!".
- Patrick's void nightmare involves him having a donut stuck on his head out of reach. Subverted when Patrick requests the donut to be different flavor after different flavor, then different foods entirely, then a plain donut again. The flipping donut ends up screaming in frustration.
- Squidward's void nightmare involves him being endlessly changed by a giant SpongeBob.
- With Friends Like These...: After realizing the haunted houseboat and ghosts are real, Patrick's first reaction is to cower and offer up SpongeBob to save himself.Lord Poltergeist: Eh, great friend you have here.
- Your Soul Is Mine!: Lord Poltergeist takes SpongeBob and Patrick's souls and plans to keep them until they bring him a new head gasket. When they do, he gives them back as promised and reveals that he never had them in the first place.
