Procrastination
Original air date: 10/19/2001
SpongeBob has to write an essay for boating school about what not to do at a stoplight, but keeps putting it off by the most mundane things.
"Procrastination" contains examples of:
- An Aesop:
- Don't procrastinate, and learn time-management. If you get stuck or can't focus on an assignment, your main priority should be racking your brain, not avoiding it and coming back to it later.
- If you're a teacher, always be practical with your due dates.
- All for Nothing: After SpongeBob spends the episode procrastinating and then jotting down a bunch of things just before class starts, he's told by Mrs. Puff that the assignment has been cancelled because she has to go to a conference. She will, instead, take the class on a field trip to a stoplightnote .
- All Just a Dream: As the episode goes on, the events that happen slowly become more outlandish, starting with people who should have no knowledge of SpongeBob's essay calling him out, before growing into the news reporting on him, his chair talking to him, his pants running away, his clock coming to life and a sentient flame burning down his house which screams at him to stop wasting time. Within the last few minutes, it's revealed that SpongeBob had fallen asleep at his desk, and most of the prior evening's events didn't happen.
- Big "NO!": By SpongeBob when the candle flame burns his essay, and then sets the house on fire shortly after.
- Bowdlerise: SpongeBob's brief little workout, in which he stretches his arms, eyelashes and nose, were rather jarringly cut from syndication after too many people complained that his nose exercises looked phallic.
- Catapult Nightmare: SpongeBob when he wakes up from his procrastinating-induced nightmare near the end of the episode.
- Compressed Vice: Before this, SpongeBob has never, ever been shown to put off a task, given how big a Workaholic he is.
- Digital Destruction: When Nickelodeon started airing the edited version of "Procrastination", the colors became noticeably washed out and less saturated. This extended to its sister episode as well. The reason why this happened is unknown. The DVDs, Amazon Prime, Nicktoons and overseas airings have the episode's normal colors intact.
- Dumbass Has a Point: Patrick through Brutal Honesty calls out SpongeBob for trying to have a conversation with him when he has an essay to write (which he shouldn't even be aware of; makes sense because this is SpongeBob's dream).Patrick: SpongeBob, you and I both know that you're just using me as a distraction, so you don't have to write your essay.
- Evil Living Flames: During SpongeBob's dream sequence, a candle flame comes to life, reads SpongeBob's unfinished essay disapprovingly, then decides to punish him by burning down his house.
- Foreshadowing: The scenes where Patrick and the mailman point out SpongeBob is not writing his essay, and the fish anchorman giving a news report about it (seemingly implying that literally everyone in the world knows about SpongeBob's assignment and procrastination), and all of the Makes Just as Much Sense in Context moments (even outlandish by SpongeBob standards) are hints that this is All Just a Dream.
- For the Evulz: The candle flame who simply burns down SpongeBob's essay and then his pineapple house for his own amusement.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: At the end of the episode, SpongeBob rips his paper in half, then rips himself in half.
- Laborious Laziness: SpongeBob spends several hours spot-cleaning his kitchen just to avoid having to work on his essay.
- Literal-Minded:SpongeBob: So, do you like delivering mail?
Mailman: It puts bread on the table.
SpongeBob: Rye or pumpernickel? (laughs) - Medium-Shift Gag: As SpongeBob muses about getting his driver's license, it cuts to a live-action motor car racing down a track, then immediately crashing.
- My God, What Have I Done?: "Help! Help! My house is on fire!"
- One-Word Title: "Procrastination", which is what SpongeBob spends the episode doing.
- Overly Long Gag: In the beginning when Mrs. Puff is bringing up the stoplight assignment, SpongeBob repeatedly annoys the student next to him with, "Did you hear that?! (Rest of spiel)!". In the end when Mrs. Puff says it's 800 words long, the student then tries to give SpongeBob a taste of his own medicine by imitating him complete with buckteeth, but SpongeBob only smiles and says, "Yeah, I know!".
- Repeating So the Audience Can Hear: SpongeBob does this during a conversation with Gary.SpongeBob: How 'bout you let old SpongeBob fix you up something to eat?
Gary: Meow
SpongeBob: What do you mean you're not hungry?
Gary: Meow
SpongeBob: I know I have an essay to write! - Ridiculous Procrastinator: As the title implies. SpongeBob is initially very eager and motivated to writing the 800 word essay due the following day, unlike the rest of class, but when upon discovering that coming up with ideas isn't as easy as he thought it would be, he starts finding any possible way to avoid it, from feeding Gary an enormous amount of food and saying he's not leaving until he eats it all... which he does in about two seconds. SpongeBob then decides that he must clean up Gary's enormous mess he made (actually just one small drop of snail food) and the rest of the kitchen pristine before going back to work. He then decides to stop goofing up and we see a monologue of him appearing to be writing something very creative, but we see he actually just wrote the word "the" in a very fancy manner. Several other humorous distractions occur.
- Sapient House: The pineapple house became this after the candle set it on fire after burning the essay and proceeds to chew out SpongeBob for procrastinating on the assignment.SpongeBob's House: SpongeBob, why?! Why did you set me on fire, SpongeBob?! Why didn't you just write your essay?! STOP WASTING TIIIIIME!!
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: SpongeBob completes the essay, but Mrs. Puff ends up having to leave for a teacher's convention and she tells him she decided to cancel the assignment. note
- Snarky Inanimate Object: Like in "Ripped Pants", SpongeBob's pants make a snarky comment and run off.
- The Television Talks Back: After receiving a package from the mailman, SpongeBob walks past his television, where the realistic fish news reporter not only discusses how he still hasn't finished his essay, but pokes his head out of the screen into SpongeBob's living room to emphasize his point.
- Title Drop: In the German dub, the episode is simply titled "Der Aufsatz" ("The Essay").
- Averted within the English version. Where the term "Procrastination" is never used. Being only referred to as "Goofing off".
- Unimpressive Progress Reveal: After learning it's 10:00, SpongeBob turns back to the essay and we get a montage of his hard work...but once he looks it over, it is revealed he only wrote down a fancy "THE".
- Wham Line: Most of the events that occur after SpongeBob started struggling to write his essay seem normal enough, until the mailman stops his rambling conversation with this:Mailman: Don't you have a paper to write?
- Worst News Judgment Ever: Johnny the newsfish apparently considers reporting on SpongeBob's procrastination and unfinished essay worthy of the evening timeslot. It's pretty reasonable considering this happens in SpongeBob's dream.
It certainly makes Wednesday dinners more interesting.
I'm with Stupid
Original air date: 10/19/2001
Patrick's parents are visiting and he doesn't want them to think that he's an idiot, so he asks SpongeBob to act like an idiot to make Patrick seem smart by comparison. Unfortunately, Patrick starts believing his own lies.
"I'm with Stupid" contains examples of:
- 2D Visuals, 3D Effects:
- Patrick's house rocking on its foundation at the beginning is clearly done with three-dimensional computer graphics.
- Though not as noticeable, Patrick's rock opening after Squidward rang his bell is also an example.
- An Aesop:
- Love your children no matter what. Also, don't treat them condescendingly, whether they're younger or grown-up.
- Make sure people you will associate with are who they say they are.
- Don't put down other people to make yourself look good in front of others.
- Don't act stupid just to make someone else look smart.
- Don't forget who your parents are.
- Starfish are VERY stupid.
- Believing Their Own Lies: The entire plot is kicked off when SpongeBob and Patrick come up with a plan to make Patrick's parents believe that SpongeBob is a complete idiot so that Patrick will look smarter by comparison. Unfortunately, Patrick takes it too seriously and soon ends up believing that he truly is a genius and SpongeBob really is dumb.
- Big "NO!": By SpongeBob when Marty thinks Patrick taught him math. He assumes this to be singing.
- Call-Back: This isn't the first time Patrick said "Who are you people?!"
- Captain Ersatz: Marty and Janet are noticeable parodies of Homer and Marge Simpson, respectively, in both design and voice. The only big diversion (aside from species and name) is that unlike Homer and Marge, Marty and Janet don't have a son, and the Marge expy is a lot dumber.
- Cassandra Truth: SpongeBob is unable to convince Patrick and his parents that he's not really stupid.
- Dumbass Has a Point: Hypocritical as he is, Patrick's statement on how dumb people are clueless about their stupidity is actually correct. He just described the Dunning-Kruger effect.Patrick: Dumb people are always blissfully unaware of how dumb they really are.
- "Everybody Laughs" Ending: The episode ends with Patrick and his (real) parents laughing as his rock house closes down on them.
- Eye Pop: Done by Patrick when SpongeBob pushes his buttons.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: Patrick's dad comments that he feels like he's meeting him for the first time... right before it's revealed that he's not actually Patrick's father; ergo, he actually is meeting him for the first time.
- Foreshadowing:
- Patrick's “parents” are initially impressed that their son immediately recognizes them (their first line is, "Wow, son! You actually recognized us this time!"), and Patrick doesn't bother to defend himself. As it turns out, they're not his parents. Patrick doesn't realize this because, as hinted at, he frequently forgets what his real parents look like.
- When getting ready to act stupid for Patrick, Gary questions SpongeBob and he replies, "What could go wrong?". Well, something will go wrong indeed — Patrick begins to believe SpongeBob really is stupid.
- Patrick acts uninterested when he first sees Janet and Marty.
- Gainax Ending: Patrick discovered that the two people he's been entertaining aren't his parents, finds his real parents right outside and the three of them laugh while the fake parents simply shrug it off, remembering that they don't even have a son, and walk off. Rock closes. The end. We never even find out what happened to SpongeBob after he ran off screaming.
- Gone Horribly Right: SpongeBob fakes dumbness as part of his and Patrick's plan, but Patrick begins to believe he's actually dumb.
- Hypocritical Humor:Patrick: Dumb people are always blissfully unaware of how dumb they really are... duuuuh...
- Ignorant of Their Own Ignorance: Patrick, of course. He starts treating SpongeBob like a moron because he's forgotten that he told SpongeBob to act like a moron.
- Impact Silhouette: SpongeBob leaves a himself-shaped hole in the wall when he makes a hasty retreat (somehow, as Patrick's home interior is under the ground).
- Ironic Echo: Patrick’s “parents” say “Wow son, you recognized us this time!” His real parents say the same thing to him.
- Jerkass Ball: Patrick starts to believe that SpongeBob really is dumb, forgetting that SpongeBob is only pretending. Patrick then starts making personal insults, and when SpongeBob tries to remind him that they're only pretending, he denies it.
- Karma Houdini: Patrick gets no punishment for essentially tormenting SpongeBob into insanity. The most Janet and Marty get is Patrick's interrupted Freak Out when he realizes they might not really be his parents and the fact that his real parents still think he's as dumb as ever.
- Kick the Dog: Is this how Patrick would treat SpongeBob if he really was stupid?
- Noodle Incident: "Patrick! You forgot how to eat again! Come on, we'll get the funnel!" The only elaboration this receives is an offhanded comment from SpongeBob claiming that he liked using the funnel.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: SpongeBob pretends to be stupid to make Patrick look smarter in front of his parents. Unfortunately, Patrick starts to believe that he is stupid.
- Oblivious to His Own Description: Patrick's infamous line about how dumb people are ignorant of their own dumbness, told to SpongeBob because Patrick has stupidly forgotten that it was all an act.
- Parental Hypocrisy: Patrick's parents turn out to be this when we see that even though they called out Patrick for being dumb, they themselves couldn't locate/remember where Patrick's house is and asked Squidward where he was.
- Plot Hole:
- When SpongeBob makes an Impact Silhouette through Patrick's walls to run away, you can clearly see the blue sky outside even though it should be underground because Patrick's rock lid lies on the ground.
- Despite not being Patrick's real parents, Janet and Marty know several specific facts about him.
- Poor Communication Kills: A lot of confusion could've been avoided if Marty and Janet told Patrick their names in the first place.
- Rage Breaking Point: Marty and Janet still thinking SpongeBob actually is dumb even when he tried to convince them he isn't is enough to push his insanity over the limit, leading him to escape.
- The Scream: SpongeBob lets out a long and frustrated one when he is unable to convince Patrick's parents' he's not really dumb, before running out.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After various failed attempts at getting Patrick's parents to believe he's not actually dumb, SpongeBob screams and runs out of the house in frustration. What he doesn't know is that the starfish couple he met are not Patrick's real parents.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Patrick manages to impress his parents — at the cost of poor SpongeBob's sanity. Then, Squidward brings over Patrick's real parents, who'd been standing outside his house all day asking him where their son was. And SpongeBob didn't get the whole idea.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Gary is only present for one scene as SpongeBob is getting ready to act stupid for Patrick, but that particular moment — when he asks SpongeBob if it's okay and SpongeBob wonders what could go wrong — plays a huge part, as it serves as a foreshadowing of Patrick treating him like he's a real idiot.
- Spot the Imposter: When Marty and Janet refer to each other by name, Patrick immediately realizes they are not his parents (his actual parents' names are Herb and Margie).
- Title Drop: Downplayed. Patrick briefly wears an "I'm With Stupid" T-shirt that actually says "I'm with the dummy".
- Too Dumb to Live:
- Patrick lampshades this, feeling this is how his parents view him. It turns out they aren't exactly mistaken about their son, who can't even recognize them until after he's already mistaken two other people for his parents! Though they themselves don't seem to know where he lives either, and apparently kept bothering Squidward about it.
- On that note, Marty and Janet are definitely this, for thinking Patrick was their son in the first place and going through the trouble to see him only to remember they have no son.
- Visual Pun: A classic example.SpongeBob: (in response to a piece of paper Patrick is holding) Hey, a note! (takes it to reveal that there's a music note on it)
Patrick: Yeah, but turn it over! There's a letter!
SpongeBob: (turns the "note" around to reveal the letter B on the back) You're right! - Wham Line: When SpongeBob has had enough of Patrick's parents treating him like an idiot and runs out of the house in anger, it looks like a happy ending for Patrick, when suddenly...Marty: I feel like I'm really meeting you for the first time. Isn't that right, Janet?
Janet: You bet, Marty!
Patrick: (eyes widen in shock) Janet? Marty?! Who are you people?! - What Happened to the Mouse?:
- SpongeBob is somehow never seen or mentioned again after he runs off screaming.
- How Janet and Marty seem to know several facts about Patrick, let alone his own name is never explained.
