Follow TV Tropes

Following

Sponge Bob Square Pants / Tropes Q to Z

Go To

Visit the main page here.
For tropes A to C see here.
For tropes D to I see here.
For tropes J to P see here.

Tropes with their own pages

Other Tropes

    open/close all folders 

    Q-R 
  • Quality over Quantity: In "Neptune's Spatula", King Neptune challenges SpongeBob to a fry-cooking competition where whoever cooks the most Krabby Patties wins, but he concedes to SpongeBob when he finds out that his mass-produced patties are terrible while SpongeBob's singular patty made with love is superior.
  • Quieting the Unquiet Dead: In "Squidward the Unfriendly Ghost", Squidward pretends to be a ghost to scare SpongeBob and Patrick into doing his bidding. When he gets angry at them for their bungling, the two decide that he needs to be put to rest and proceed to give him a proper funeral. Squidward confesses to pretending to be a ghost, but even then SpongeBob thinks he's just in denial and decides to send him to the Great Beyond with a giant bubble that takes him to the surface, surrounded by hungry seagulls. "He's in a better place now."
  • Quivering Lip: In "The Inmates of Summer", SpongeBob is about to go to summer camp and Patrick is sad to see him leave. They briefly have wobbling lips right before they hug each other, bawling Ocular Gushers.
  • Rampage from a Nail:
    • "The Smoking Peanut" has a giant clam behaving this way. Everyone thinks it was because a peanut had been thrown at it; turns out Mr. Krabs stole its egg.
    • There is also "Once Bitten" in which Gary is unruly and goes around biting people. Turns out it was because he had a splinter from a piece of Squidward's makeshift security fence, almost making this example a parody, as the splinter was the size of a tree.
  • Rapid-Fire Comedy: The main genre of the show, focusing primarily on jokes over story.
  • Rapid Hair Growth:
    • In The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, Mindy tries to convince SpongeBob and Patrick that they are men by giving them fake mustaches. Later, they run into tough guy Dennis, who laughs at their pathetic mustaches and show them what a real mustache looks like, by instantly growing one.
    • In the actual show, Patrick also has this ability, but with more hairstyles.
  • "Rashomon"-Style: In "Friend or Foe?" Mr. Krabs claimed the moment his friendship with Plankton ended was when Plankton went mad with power. ("I'm ruling their stomachs, and soon I'll be ruling their minds!") However, Plankton appears and claimed their friendship actually ended when Mr. Krabs went mad with greed. ("First, I'll rule their stomachs, and then...their money!") But then Karen (who was just starting out as a security system at the time Mr. Krabs and Plankton started their own restaurant) shows up and revealed they didn't attract any customers at all. In fact, the only customer they did have got poisoned by the burger. Krabs and Plankton then blame each other and fought over who gets to fix the recipe, leading them to start their own separate restaurants. Notably, all three versions of the tale involved the two tearing their original recipe in half.
  • Rattling Off Legal: During one of Plankton's many failed attempts at discovering the Krabby Patty secret formula (episode entitled "Imitation Krabs"), he poses as a sweepstakes sponsor, and the following dialogue occurs:
    Plankton: Are you SpongeBob SquarePants?
    SpongeBob: Why yes... yes, I am!
    Plankton: Then you've just won ONE MILLION DOLLARS! You just have to answer ONE question! What is the Krabby Patty secret formula?
    SpongeBob: [takes breath as if he's about to answer]
    Plankton: [excitedly] Yes?
    SpongeBob: [takes breath]
    Plankton: Yes?!
    SpongeBob: [takes a third breath]
    Plankton: YES?!
    SpongeBob: The Krabby Patty formula is the sole property of the Krusty Krab and is only to be discussed, in part or in whole, with its creator, Mr. Krabs. Duplication of this formula is punishable by law. Restrictions apply, results may vary. [smiles jubilantly]
    Plankton: [stunned silence] Grrrr... THAT'S IT?!! You'd better cough up that secret formula or else!
  • Raw Eggs Make You Stronger:
    • In the episode "The Great Snail Race", SpongeBob puts Gary through Training from Hell to win the titular race. At one point, he mixes Gary an "energy drink" which includes raw eggs, simply "because they're cliché!"
    • Also, in "MuscleBob BuffPants", SpongeBob mentions that he "starts off with twenty raw eggs everyday".
  • Reaching Between the Lines: Taken about as far as possible in an episode where SpongeBob and Sandy attempt to one-up each other at karate. First SpongeBob calls Sandy to attempt to chop her, at which point she turns the attack back on him by twisting his arm and pushing it back through the speaker.
  • Read the Fine Print: Inverted in the episode "Pickles". Usually, if a customer actually does read fine print, it's an addendum that would be to the customer's disadvantage. However, in this case, a large fish named Bubble Bass demands a refund for his Krabby Patty on the grounds that SpongeBob forgot to put pickles on it. He cites a ludicrously microscopic disclaimer on the restaurant's overhead menu that reads "Money-back guarantee". Mr. Krabs does all he can to avoid the refund and keep his two dollars, then tells SpongeBob that he's taking it out of his paycheck.
  • Reading the Stage Directions Out Loud: Patrick.
    Sandy: Here Patrick, have a Krabby Patty. [whispering] Psst! There he is, Patrick! Say your line!
    Patrick: [whimpering] Why, thank you, Sandy. I would love one. "[TAKE PATTY.]" [takes patty] Too bad SpongeBob isn't here. These are his favorites. I sure wish he'd come home. "[TAKE...BITE...]" [slowly puts the Krabby Patty to his mouth, but bursts into tears before he can bring himself to eat it]
  • Real After All:
    • The hydrodynamic spatula in the first episode.
    • The Sea Bear in "The Camping Episode."
    • Santa in "Christmas Who?"
  • Real Fake Wedding: The pastor in "Truth or Square" thought it was a real wedding instead of a play. A deleted line has SpongeBob saying "It doesn't have to be", only to get slapped by Sandy.
  • Real Life Writes the Plot:
    • "Reef Blower" was completely pantomime because of a faulty sound system.
    • Tom Kenny mentioned in an interview in "Nickelodeon Magazine" that he was actually very sick when he recorded SpongeBob's congested-sounding dialogue in "Suds." For the most part, the sniffles and sneezes were genuine. Which only makes SpongeBob more pitiable in the episode.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure:
    • Mr. Fitz becomes this in "Mrs. Puff, You're Fired", showing how much SpongeBob cares about his standing and Mrs. Puff has let him down.
    • Mr. Krabs is oddly this in "A Pal for Gary", seeing how SpongeBob needs to cater to Gary despite all the work he has to do, and is happily willing to hire Gary to work alongside him in the end.
    • Mr. Krabs becomes this again in "Yours, Mine and Mine" as he punishes SpongeBob and Patrick for fighting over the toy and quickly resolves their argument.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
    • Patrick gives one to SpongeBob near the end of "Dumped", just before The Reveal Gary only wanted the cookie in his pocket:
      Patrick: I'm sorry, SpongeBob, but Gary's with me now. You had your chance and you failed. You have to stop living in the past. Face it SpongeBob, you're only hurting yourself. It's what Gary wants, and what Gary wants is me! Right, Gary? ...Gary?
    • Plankton gives one to Squidward in "Plankton!"
      Plankton: Shut your mouth, you mediocre clarinet player.
      Squidward: [sheepishly] ... mediocre?
      Plankton: You pretentious, little insignificant artist! Your sniveling creations are worth less than a protozoan's waste!
      Squidward: [turns pale and faints]
    • Mr. Krabs gives one to SpongeBob and Patrick in "Yours, Mine and Mine"
      Mr. Krabs: Whoa, whoa, whoa there, now! Settle down! All this brawling is over a toy?! You two shouldn't let a little trinket get between youse! You should be ashamed of yourselves. If I gave each of ya another toy, would that make you happy?
  • Rebus Bubble: In "Rock-a-Bye Bivalve": "Sponge... + Starfish = ...Scallop?"
  • Red Herring: So what did SpongeBob see what's inside Patrick's secret box? A simple string! (Or a secret string!) But SpongeBob didn't pull the string, which opens a secret compartment containing...an embarrassing snapshot of him from a Christmas party!
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: SpongeBob and Squidward.
  • Removable Shell: Gary has sometimes, depending on the episode. Sometimes the shell lifts up to show something hidden inside; sometimes the shell is Bigger on the Inside and SpongeBob is able to crawl into it; and sometimes cracking the shell exposes Gary's veiny, throbbing innards.
  • Reminder of Impossibility: In "House Sittin' For Sandy," SpongeBob spends the first half of the episode walking around the treedome without the water helmet. Then when Patrick comes in wearing his water helmet and reminds SpongeBob that they cannot breathe air, SpongeBob promptly dries up and becomes unable to breathe.
  • Repeat What You Just Said: In "Squidward the Unfriendly Ghost":
    Patrick: [Squidward] really needs to get up to the great beyond.
    SpongeBob: Patrick? Say that again!
    Patrick: That again.
    SpongeBob: No, the other thing.
    Patrick: No, the other thing.
    SpongeBob: No, what you said before when—
    Patrick: No, what you said before when—
    SpongeBob: Never mind! I've got an idea!
    Patrick: Never mind, I've got an idea!
    SpongeBob: [stares into the distance with an annoyed look on his face]
  • Repetitive Name: Dr. Gill Gilliam.
  • Re-Release Soundtrack: The DVD versions of a few episodes have some of the incidental music replaced due to licensing issues (as while most of the show's soundtrack is stock music, not all of it is public domain). One notable example is in the episode "Employee of the Month", when SpongeBob is spying on Squidward, "Agent Woodrow" by The Woodies is replaced with "Hercule Poirot" by Gerhard Trede. Oddly, the episodes in question are not edited on the iTunes versions. Incidentally, the pilot episode "Help Wanted" managed to keep the 1968 Tiny Tim cover of "Livin' in the Sunlight, Lovin' in the Moonlight" when it was finally released on home media as a bonus feature on the 2005 season 3 DVD set (it was excluded from the 2003 season 1 DVD set due to Nickelodeon being unwilling to re-license the song at the time) and the season 2 episode "Band Geeks" was able to retain David Glen Eisley's "Sweet Victory" in all home media releases, largely because the scenes where each song plays was animated around the music and it would've been too impractical to try and come up with effective replacement songs.
  • Retraux: "Truth or Square" had a brief throwback to old black & white rubberhose cartoons.
  • Rhetorical Question Blunder:
    • In "Sailor Mouth", after SpongeBob curses:
      Fish: Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?
      SpongeBob: Well, sometimes, but not... recently.
    • Again in "Can You Spare a Dime?"
      SpongeBob: What could be better than serving up smiles?(makes goofy face)
      Squidward: Being dead, or anything else.
  • Rhyming Episode: "SpongeBob vs. the Patty Gadget" is told entirely in rhyme.
  • Rhyming List: In the episode "Born Again Krabs", SpongeBob finds an old, dried-out patty (just the meat patty itself) underneath the grill. He throws it away, at which point an alarm sounds and Mr. Krabs bursts into the room, panicking that "Someone tried to throw away a patty!" as he picks it out of the garbage. He and SpongeBob then have the following dialogue:
    SpongeBob: Mr. Krabs, I found that under the grill.
    Krabs: And tomorrow, a customer will find it under his bun.
    SpongeBob: But... it's old... and cold... and so very full of mold...
    Krabs: You're not to make another patty until that one is sold!
  • Rhyming Title:
    • "No Hat for Pat"
    • "Night Light"
    • "No Nose Knows"
    • "Bubble Troubles"
    • "The Hot Shot"
    • "The Main Drain"
    • "Mall Girl Pearl"
    • "Goons on the Moon"
    • "The Goofy Newbie"
    • "Who R Zoo?"
    • "Fungus Among Us"
  • Rich Boredom: In "Selling Out," Mr. Krabs sells the Krusty Krab for a lot of loot. It's not long before he runs out of things to do in his retirement, goes on a rampage that destroys the Krusty Krab, buys the destroyed restaurant back, and it's all fixed up the next time we see it (in the next episode).
  • Riddle for the Ages: The secret formula of the Krabby Patty. Stephen Hillenberg said he knew what it was, but that he was never going to tell anybody. Assuming he wasn't joking, he took the secret to his grave.
  • Right Now Montage: Often seen as the citizens of Bikini Bottom react to Spongebob's latest antics (like broadcasting Patrick's Giftedly Bad song over the airwaves).
  • Road Trip Episode: "Mr. Krabs Takes a Vacation" has Mr. Krabs, Pearl, and SpongeBob on one, while "A SquarePants Family Vacation" has the whole SquarePants family and Patrick going on a road trip.
  • Rockers Smash Guitars: After singing a campfire song.
  • Roger Rabbit Effect: SpongeBob and Patrick with David Hasselhoff.
  • Romantic Candlelit Dinner: In one episode Mr. Crabs falls in love with Mrs. Puff, and ends up asking her out for a date at a fancy restaurant - the romantic atmosphere brings them closer as a couple, but the bill was expensive and the worry of spending more money sets off the plot of the episode.
  • Round Hippie Shades: The character only known as "Didgeridoo Player" is dressed in hippie garb, included rounded sunglasses. He's part of the marching band, but rather than march like the others, he just sits on the ground playing his instrument.
  • Roundabout Shot:
    • In "Christmas Who?", SpongeBob and Patrick have one of these during "The Very First Christmas".
    • SpongeBob and Patrick get another in "Wormy" as they are dancing around Wormy during "That's What Friends Do".
    • SpongeBob and Patrick have another along with Squidward in "Enchanted Tiki Dreams".
    • In "To Love a Patty", SpongeBob's Falling-in-Love Montage with the patty begins with him dancing with the patty under a disco ball followed by close-ups of the latter and former, in that order.
    • In "Yours, Mine and Mine" after Mr. Krabs gives SpongeBob the Patty Pal toy, SpongeBob has one of these with the toy as he dances with it.
  • Rousing Speech: In "Band Geeks":
    SpongeBob: What kind of monsters are we? That poor creature came to us in his hour of need, and we failed him. Squidward's always been there for us when it was convenient for him. Evelyn, when your little Jimmy was trapped in a fire, who rescued him?
    Evelyn: A fireman.
    SpongeBob: And Larry, when your heart gave out from all those tanning pills, who revived you?
    Larry: Some guy in an ambulance.
    SpongeBob: Right. So, if we can all just pretend that Squidward was a fireman, or a guy in an ambulance, then I'm sure that we can all pull together and discover what it truly means: to be in a marching band.
    Harold (in Australian accent): Yeah, for the fireman!
    All: Hooray!
  • Rubber-Forehead Aliens: Man Ray.
  • Rubber Man: SpongeBob is rather stretchy and as such he is a frequent target of Amusing Injuries that are shapeshifting-related. A few episodes show that he can also change himself into pretty much whatever he wants.
  • Rule of Funny: One of the reasons why there's little continuity for the show, for example, as a sponge, SpongeBob himself can either be completely boneless or injure himself Depending on the Writer.
  • Rule of Three: In the first season episode "Jellyfishing", Patrick helping an injured Squidward hold a jellyfish net.
    Patrick: Firmly grasp it in your hand. (Patrick places the pole end on Squidward's bandaged hand, but it falls off because he can't grab it. Patrick picks it up) Firmly grasp it. (He does the same thing again and the results are exactly like before. Patrick gets angry) FIRMLY GRASP IT! (Patrick jams the net through Squidward's bandaged hand. He groans in pain) That oughta do it.
  • Running Gag:
    • Whenever there is wide shot of an incident that involves someone being injured or in physical distress, you can expect to hear someone shout, "My leg!"
    • A few running gags occurred in early seasons only, such as Patrick waking up in the morning as his rock lifts off the ground, at which point he falls to the ground, and Patrick walking into the Krusty Krab, greeting the employees with "Good morning, Krusty Krew!"
    • Another early one was Mr. Krabs apparently sweating a lot; this was even referenced in some of the video games.
    • A rather odd one with Season 9 and 10: Squidward being spat out of something and ending up in a Yamcha-esque Troubled Fetal Position with a bone and a can on the ground. Initially started on "Mutiny on the Krusty", the gag was later reused in "Out of the Picture" and "Feral Friends".
    • Barnacle Boy calls Mermaid man an “old coot” in pretty much every episode they appear in.

    S 
  • Safety Worst: In "I Had an Accident", after getting a "broken butt" after a sandboarding wipeout, SpongeBob takes a doctor's orders to be more careful too far and becomes a shut-in.
  • Samus Is a Girl: In the "Pressure" episode, there is a scene where Sandy Cheeks takes her suit off, and it leaves her wearing nothing except for her bikini and her thin skirt. Patrick is shocked ("Sandy's a girl?!"), despite seeing her outside of her suit before, and referring to Sandy as "She" just minutes prior.
  • Sapient All Along: For most of the episode "My Pretty Seahorse", Mystery seems to be an animal. Then near the end of the episode, SpongeBob claims she understands everything he says!
    • Bubble Buddy is also this.
  • Sapient Cetaceans: Pearl is a talking whale who she lives the life of a human teenager.
    • Also, a dolphin king seen in "Sponge-Cano!" is a sentient dolphin that warns Bikini Bottom about the threat of volcanoes.
  • Saying Sound Effects Out Loud:
    • Plankton makes a habit out of this:
      Plankton: I see you! ZAP! Oh, look, it's the Krusty Krab, home of the Krabby Patty! CRUSH! [Crushes the restaurant, picks up its sign and starts to lick it like a lollipop] Lick, lick!
    • From the episode "Plankton!":
      [produces a golden spatula from his "secret compartment"] SHING! Sparkle, sparkle.
    • Squidward, when SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs "rebuild" Karen 2.0, which actually means simply attaching her computer monitor to Squidward's head:
      Squidward: [deadpan] Welcome to the Krusty Krab. May I take your order? Beep, beep.
    • While attempting to get SpongeBob to reveal the secret Krabby Patty formula:
      Plankton: [disguised as Mr. Krabs] Yum yum. This spaghetti sure is good. Belch.
  • Scare Chord:
    • The Ominous Music Box Tune that is heard during Patrick's Break the Cutie moment in the episode "Nature Pants": "If I can't have you as a friend, I'm gonna make you a trophy!"
    • The song "Ghost Child" from "Scaredy Pants".
    • The music that plays in this video. It's the 'generic' SpongeBob creepy music.
      • It also plays during the sequence in "Squid's Day Off" where we see Squidward going insane and blocking off his door to his house to prevent him from going back to the Krusty Krab to check up on SpongeBob.
    • The "I DON'T NEED IT" scene in "Tea at the Treedome". SpongeBob's dried up face is zoomed in on in terrifying detail, complete with an unnerving heartbeat sound.
    • The ironically named "Lovely Scenery A" ends with this. It's the part that is most used.
  • Scary Science Words: In the episode "Funny Pants", Sandy explains to SpongeBob the biology of how laughter works, using technical words. He says it sounds painful and she replies that "science makes everything sound painful".
  • Scenery Censor: Mermaid Man in one episode, with Gary blocking his crotch until he can get a towel on; spoofed with SpongeBob in the episode "Nature Pants", as he has nothing to hide and in fact spent some...er, most shots without his crotch obscured.
  • Schmuck Bait: In "Mrs. Puff, You're Fired," the new instructor orders no eating in class, then asks, "Would anyone care for a bon bon?" Most of the students (SpongeBob included) resist, but one kid accepts and is thrown out of the classroom.
  • Scissors Cuts Rock: In "A Flea in Her Dome", Sandy attempts to keep the fleas at bay with a flea collar, but after fighting SpongeBob and Patrick over it she just wraps the collar around the three of them so the fleas can't get any of them. However, the fleas had already started to multiply enough that they had enough offspring to blitz through the three of them and eat the collar.
  • Scream Discretion Shot: In "Clams", SpongeBob and (an unhappy) Squidward join Mr. Krabs on a clam-fishing trip. SpongeBob repeatedly attempts to cast off, and hooks various objects on the boat with his backswings, and throws them out into the lagoon when he swings the rod forward. First is a book that Squidward is reading, then the chair he's sitting in, then his shirt... finally, the hook on SpongeBob's rod catches Squidward's nose. There's a Beat, and the camera pans extremely far out, and all the viewer sees is the boat. Squidward screams bloody murder as a loud rip is heard, and the next shot shows Squidward missing his nose.
  • Screaming at Squick: A frequent running gag in the series is that almost any Gross-Up Close-Up is often accompanied by the sound of a woman screaming in terror offscreen.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
    • In "Sleepy Time", when SpongeBob invades Patrick's dream.
      SpongeBob: I mean anything! Watch. I can turn into a skyscraper. [transforms into the shape of a skyscraper] Going up! Eh? [sees that Patrick is unresponsive; looks dull] I can make... a million of me! [changes back to his normal shape and size, this time with a million copies of himself] Eh? Eh? [the clones disappear] Ah, tartar sauce. I'm going to a different dream.
    • Stanley S. SquarePants is the very unlucky cousin to the titular character. He ruins everything he touches and drives every character he meets insane. Except Squidward; he only took one look at him, exclaimed "There's two of them?!" and immediately moved out of his house screaming in terror.
  • The Scrooge: Mr. Krabs is very greedy and cheap.
  • Seadog Peg Leg:
    • Patchy the Pirate has one.
    • On the episode "Arrgh!", Mr. Krabs gives SpongeBob and Patrick some pirate gear to put on when they go treasure hunting. SpongeBob puts on two peg legs and calls himself Peggy the Pirate.
  • Seahorse Steed: SpongeBob befriends a sea horse he calls Mystery.
  • Second-Person Attack: In "Pizza Delivery", when the fish ordering the Krusty Krab pizza refused to pay for the pizza because SpongeBob and Squidward forgot to bring him his soda, Squidward comes back at his door and shoves the pizza in the customer's face, saying "Well, this one's on the house!"
  • Secret Compartment: In "The Secret Box", Spongebob is convinced that a box that Patrick Star is carrying around has a picture of him doing something embarrassing and tries his best to find out. At the end, Patrick ultimately relents and Spongebob is relieved that it was just a string. However, once Spongebob is out of earshot, Patrick reveals that the string opened up a secret compartment in the box, which did hold the embarrassing photo.
  • Secret Ingredient: Plankton's schemes revolve around discovering the secret ingredient of the Krabby Patty at business rival Mr. Krabs's The Krusty Krab. At one point (after overtaking the restaurant with the help of his millions of hillbilly brethren), Plankton finds out that the secret ingredient is actual plankton (Plankton and his family do not take the news well), but Mr. Krabs reveals that it wasn't the real secret ingredient, just a fake one used to dupe Plankton. Another episode involves the restaurant going into lockdown as the secret ingredient is air-lifted in.
  • Seeking the Intangible: Zigzagged in an episode. Mr. Krabs, a stingy restaurant owner, makes a wishing well to con people out of their money, but it was never magic. SpongeBob, however, believes that the well was initially magic but the magic went missing, so he digs deeper to find the magic, eventually finding a strange glow that ends up turning the well into a genuinely magical one.
  • Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs. SpongeBob is highly emotional and cares about cleanliness, while Mr. Krabs is a retired navy member.
  • Sentient Sands: "Sand Castles in the Sand" has SpongeBob and Patrick building increasingly militarized Palatial Sandcastles to war against each other. SpongeBob manages to build an entire human-like crew (and a bull) made out of sand which are fully sentient and able to move at will. Unfortunately, they are as easily destroyed as regular sand structures. Also, the sand gargoyles from SpongeBob last sandcastle fly away at the imminence of said sandcastle's bombing.
  • Sequel Episode: There are some rare episodes that act as follow-ups to previous episodes:
    • "Bubble Buddy Returns" has Bubble Buddy return to Bikini Bottom, leaving his son in SpongeBob's care.
    • "Spot Returns" acts as a sequel to "Plankton's Pet", featuring Spot giving birth and Plankton using the offspring for another plan.
    • "Man Ray Returns" is a sequel to "Mermaid Pants" one season earlier. Mermaid Pants and Barnacle Star once again team up, this time to stop Man Ray.
    • "A Cabin in the Kelp" is the second episode featuring the Gal Pals, a group that Sandy, Karen, and Mrs. Puff form in "Girls' Night Out" from the previous season. This time, Pearl joins them as they go to camp at a cabin.
  • Serious Business: Charlton Hawkfish in the episode "The Sewers of Bikini Bottom" has this attitude when it comes to chewing out the stadium owner on cutting corners when building the sewer he designed. Justified in that flushing all the toilets at the stadium at once nearly causes a flood and also awakens a giant snake.
  • Serious Work, Comedic Scene:
    • In "Dying for Pie", Squidward believes that SpongeBob has eaten an exploding pie he gave him, and thus will die at sunset. The scene that counts down to SpongeBob's supposed death, which is played seriously, starts with a joke that Squidward has built a brick wall between them to protect himself from the inevitable explosion.
    • "Have You Seen This Snail?" is one of the most serious episodes of the series, dealing with SpongeBob's depression after his pet has run away. However, Patrick serves as a comic relief character, having jokes like being excited over seeing balsa wood or accidentally screwing up SpongeBob's "Gary Come Home" skywriting into "Lisa Will You Marry Me?", causing a nearby man to be Mistaken for Cheating.
  • "Sesame Street" Cred: Pantera of all bands wrote music specifically for "Prehibernation Week."
  • Seven Deadly Sins: Confirmed by Mr. Lawrence in the DVD Commentary of "Plankton!" to be the inspiration behind the main characters' personalities.
    • Lust: SpongeBob
    • Sloth: Patrick
    • Wrath: Squidward
    • Greed: Mr. Krabs
    • Pride: Sandy
    • Envy: Plankton
    • Gluttony: Gary
  • "Shaggy Dog" Story:
    • In "Pickles", it turns out SpongeBob never forgot the pickles after all; Bubble Bass hid them under his tongue the whole time just to mess with him.
    • In "Squid's Day Off", Squidward drives himself completely crazy going back and forth between his house and the Krusty Krab, fretting that SpongeBob will not know what to do while running the cash register in Squidward's stead and cause some sort of disaster. In the end, his worries are all for naught; nobody came to the Krusty Krab all day because in all the commotion that started off the day, the Krusty Krew forgot to switch the "Closed" sign to "Open".
    • In "Procrastination." SpongeBob finally gets his essay done, but when he turns it in the next morning, Mrs. Puff tells him the assignment has been canceled.
    • In "Can You Spare a Dime?", it is revealed Mr. Krabs had his first dime (actually a giant stone wheel) the whole time — it was in his pocket all along.
    • In "Dumped", it is revealed in the end the reason Gary kept following Patrick around was because of a leftover cookie in his shorts pocket.
    • In "Gone", the reason why Bikini Bottom was deserted except for SpongeBob was because everyone left town to get away from his antics and celebrate "National No SpongeBob Day". Despite the name, it took weeks.
    • In "The Other Patty", Mr. Krabs works with Plankton to steal the formula from a new restaurant, the Flabby Patty, which is stealing Mr. Krabs' business. The "recipe", however, turns out to be one for friendship — it is revealed SpongeBob started the restaurant to get the two to rekindle.
    • In "Glove World R.I.P.", SpongeBob and Patrick do everything they can to save the Glove World amusement park from being torn down, only for it to be pointless as the reason for the demolition is that Glove Universe, which is bigger and better, was opening just across from it. Not to mention that by the time they had found out about this they had already chaining themselves to the Glove World gates. That they can't even go see the new amusement park because Patrick threw the key in a swamp.
    • In "Treats!", SpongeBob spends the whole episode getting Gary addictive Snail Bites until there are none left in the world, and once all of that is over, SpongeBob firmly tells him no... and Gary finally stops.
    • In "Squirrel Record", Sandy breaks every record in the record book she finds in the trash, but when the author reads it, he claims she broke no records at all, as the book is thirty years old and the records were broken years ago. Surprisingly, SpongeBob set his own new record when doing so: most injuries sustained while helping a friend.
    • In "Little Yellow Book", Squidward learns from SpongeBob he only read his work diary, which was recently published and is now a best seller. He never read his secret personal one...then he proceeds to do so, mortifying him again.
    • In "Lost in Bikini Bottom", SpongeBob finally arrives at the Krusty Krab after taking an increasingly long shortcut, only to be sent home because he's all covered in filth.
    • In "Best Frenemies," Mr. Krabs and Plankton team up to find out the secret recipe behind the new "Kelpshake" beverage that's running them both out of business. As it turns out, they didn't need to bother; the Kelpshake restaurants get shut down by the authorities once it's discovered that Kelpshakes cause consumers (including Krabs and Plankton, by the end of the episode) to grown green fur all over their bodies. The good news is that Plankton and Krabs have rekindled their friendship by working together.
  • Sham Supernatural:
    • In one episode, Mr. Krabs uses a crudely drawn ghost in an attempt to scare a hat worth a million dollars off of SpongeBob.
    • In the Halloween Episode, "Scaredy Pants", SpongeBob attempts to scare a party of Bikini Bottomites by impersonating the Flying Dutchman, which fails so spectacularly that it even draws the real Flying Dutchman's ire.
    • In "Pranks a Lot", SpongeBob and Patrick take advantage of a can of invisible spray and scare the entire town. Then they get the idea to "haunt" Mr. Krabs. They end up regretting it after trying to burn a dollar right in front of the greedy crustacean.
    • In "Squidward the Unfriendly Ghost", SpongeBob and Patrick mistake Squidward for a ghost after thinking that they'd accidentally killed him (in reality, they'd destroyed his wax sculpture of himself). Rather than correcting them, Squidward leans into it and spends the episode threatening them with his 'ghostly anger' unless they act as his servants.
  • Shaped Like What It Sells:
    • Glove World is made of many different buildings shaped like gloves.
    • The Chum Bucket is in the shape of a giant bucket.
  • She Is Not My Girlfriend: Patrick had to go undercover (because he thinks someone is going to kick him out of town), so he dressed up as "Patricia". SpongeBob had to tell a few folks "she" wasn't his girlfriend.
  • Ship Tease:
    • SpongeBob and Sandy (occasionally).
    • At least a few pre-movie episodes seem to tease SpongeBob and Pearl.
  • Shock-and-Switch Ending:
    • In the episode "Sailor Mouth", when everyone seems to have learnt not to swear, it seems as though Mrs. Krabs has sworn. In reality, though, it's just a car horn (since in Bikini Bottom, people swear with sound effects).
    • In "Dying for Pie", SpongeBob apparently eats an exploding pie and is Mistaken for Dying, but at the end it's revealed that he didn't. However, he then drops it and the pie explodes anyway... but then Squidward says, "Ouch!", implying that they're not dead.
  • Shockingly Expensive Bill: Mr. Krabs receives a restaurant bill of $100 after taking Mrs. Puff on a date, and claims it "can't possibly be correct". The waiter apologizes and hands him his real bill of $100,000.
  • Shoddy Shindig:
    • Mr. Krabs throws his daughter Pearl the cheapest birthday parties ever, best exemplified in "Whale of a Birthday". When Pearl was little, he made her and all the party guests share one balloon, and the pony ride was a cheap stick pony that easily fell apart. On Pearl's 16th birthday, despite promising Pearl he wouldn't be cheap, he throws her a party that cuts every corner; the banner is recycled from Pearl's baby shower, refreshments include a cake is made out of cardboard and frosting, stale popcorn, and dishwater, a statue of Pearl is made of raw Krabby Patty meat instead of ice, and Squidward substitutes for Pearl's favorite band, Boys Who Cry. Fortunately, SpongeBob turns things around for Pearl by buying her everything she wants for her birthday with Mr. Krabs' credit card.
    • In "Party Pooper Pants", SpongeBob decides to throw a party and invites everyone in town. It starts out as a disaster thanks to his strict adherence to schedule and his insistence that everyone uses random cards to base discussions off of. When he locks himself out by mistake, things improve tremendously.
  • Shoehorned Acronym:
    • "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V": A group of supervillains form the E.V.I.L. organization, which is short for "Every Villain Is Lemons".
    • "Boat Smarts" has the "CoBBUtKSBSPOtRaOoBAT": Citizens of Bikini Bottom United to Keep SpongeBob SquarePants Off the Road and Out of Boats All Together.
    • In "Banned in Bikini Bottom", there's an organization called "The United Organisation of Fish Against Things That are Fun and Delicious", or "TUOoFATTaFaD".
  • Shoo Out the Clowns:
    • SpongeBob disappears for about 95% of "Plankton's Army" and "New Leaf", due to those episodes focusing more on Mr. Krabs and Plankton. "Growth Spout" and "Komputer Overload" followed suit.
    • SpongeBob is absent for about 50% of "Enemy in Law", which focuses on Plankton dating Mr. Krabs' mother. Mr. Krabs at one point shoos SpongeBob away from the table during the scene of Plankton and Mama Krabs' first date.
    • In "I Heart Dancing" when SpongeBob zonks out due to overwork, he is completely absent for the rest of the episode except the final scene, not even seen waking up and realizing he missed the audition. Likely due to Squidward being the main star of the episode.
    • SpongeBob is also absent for a big portion of "One Course Meal", likely due to being one of the more serious episodes.
    • Some of the more recent episodes have focused more on secondary characters, and as a result SpongeBob barely shows up. "Shell Games" and "Swamp Mates" are examples. The former even lampshades such when Patrick calls him "that little yellow guy".
    • "Mall Girl Pearl" and "Whale Watching" are focused on Pearl, and SpongeBob is limited to three brief cameos and only has one line at the end of the former, wheras he does not speak in the latter aside from his Annoying Laugh.
    • SpongeBob also has one very small cameo in "Lockdown for Love", which focuses on Plankton, and does not speak aside from a single sigh.
  • Shout-Out:
    • Has its own page.
    • When SpongeBob and Patrick are trying to find their way through the office maze in "Krusty Kleaners", the maze takes the form of the maze from Pac-Man, complete with dots, power pellets and the Trash Robot acting like a Pac-Man expy.
    • Clams episode is a spoof of the ''Jaws'' movie. The references to the Jaws film include the title card, the title, the musical score, and three main characters on a boat chasing a larger than normal animal.
  • Shown Their Work: For a show that largely follows the Rule of Funny, every now and then they'll give an accurate fact about marine biology (Stephen Hillenburg actually is a marine biologist, after all).
    • In "I Had an Accident", SpongeBob correctly mentions that his species is sedentary, and that they get nutrients by filter-feeding.
    • In the episode "Pressure", he brags to Sandy that he can reproduce by budding.
    • Bubble Bass's Hash House Lingo is accurate terminology.
    • Junior flying in "Rock-a-Bye Bivalve" looks totally implausible, but clams actually do this.
    • In "Scavenger Pants", SpongeBob and Patrick go on a fake scavenger hunt organized by Squidward to get them to leave him alone, and end up looking through the Mariana Trench, correctly identified as the deepest trench in the world. (If it sounds familiar, it's the trench that James Cameron famously explored the bottom of in a submersible in 2012.)
    • At the end of "Karate Star", Patrick angrily tears off his destructive chopping hand, and reassures a distraught SpongeBob that because he's a starfish, he can simply regrow it. Then it turns out the torn hand regrew into another Patrick. Some starfish can even regrow their central disc from a single limb.
  • Shrine to Self: Squidward, who only recreates himself in art.
  • Shrunken Organ: In "Funny Pants," Squidward breaks his "laugh box" (an organ he thought he made up), which has to be removed. The doctor remarks that it's the most dried-up, underused laugh box he's ever seen; it's in a jar the size of a salt shaker. Inversely, SpongeBob has a laugh box so big that he was able to donate half of it to Squidward while still retaining the capacity to do some laughing of his own.
  • Sick Episode:
    • "Suds" involves SpongeBob getting the suds, which are similar to a cold. Trouble ensues when Patrick shows up as a fake doctor, and Sandy tries to take SpongeBob to a real doctor.
    • In "Squiditis," Squidward lies that he has a disease and SpongeBob believes he has caught it. Subverted as nobody is truly sick throughout the course of the episode.
  • Signature Instrument: One of Squidward's main hobbies is playing the clarinet, although he (usually) isn't very good at it.
  • Signature Laugh: Most of the characters have distinctive laughs:
    • SpongeBob's dolphin giggle
    • Patrick's moron laugh
    • Squidward's nasal chortle
    • Mr. Krab's pirate-accented "Ar-ar-ar-ar"
    • Plankton's Evil Laugh
  • Signature Sound Effect: SpongeBob, Squidward and Mr. Krabs make their own signature walking sound effects.
    • SpongeBob's shoes create their own signature squeaks when he walks.
    • Likewise, Squidward walks with a distinct squishing sound because of his suction cups.
    • Mr. Krabs makes a rapid ticking sound whenever he scuttles his feet.
  • Silicon Snarker:
    • Karen, Plankton's computer wife, messes with Plankton's nerves most of the time in a Awful Wedded Life manner, such as nagging him when his plans to steal the Krabby Patty formula fails, or getting jealous towards him when he goes to other women like Mr. Krabs' mother or another computer.
    • In "No Weenies Allowed", the robot server calls the patrons as "weenies" after they have been detected as such.
  • The Simple Gesture Wins: Played for Laughs in "Culture Shock," where the Krusty Krab holds a night show event. The audience has mixed reactions towards the characters performing on the stage, ending with Squidward's "artistic dance" being booed and tomatoed. Then SpongeBob walks onto the stage to clean up the mess... And somehow the audience treats it as the best performance ever.
  • Sinister Stingrays: Man-Ray as a recurring villain... though it's subverted in that he's mostly an ineffective if not harmless one, especially in later seasons.
  • Sistine Steal: In "Insecurity Guards", one of the paintings at the museum is a parody of "The Creation Of Adam", with Mr. Krabs as God and the Krabby Patty as Adam.
  • 6 Is 9: In the episode "Born to Be Wild", a letter 'W' is actually an upside-down 'M'. SpongeBob rips the letter 'W' from the shirt of a biker belonging to a scary gang, the Wild Ones. The biker actually belongs to a much tamer group, the Mild Ones.
  • Sleep Aesop: In "Fear of a Krabby Patty", Mr. Krabs opens up the Krusty Krab for twenty-four hours, which makes SpongeBob hallucinate Krabby Patties and become afraid of them due to sleep deprivation. This is implied to be a moral about sleep being important because SpongeBob mentions that all he needed was sleep and Mr. Krabs allows him to sleep (albeit for only one hour a day).
  • Sleep Deprivation: In "Fear of a Krabby Patty", when Krusty Krab starts opening for 24 hours a day, Mr. Krabs gets an order of 10000 Krabby Patties. Cue SpongeBob making patties nonstop, without any sleep, for days. This later results in him hallucinating people as walking, talking Krabby Patties.
  • Sleeps with Both Eyes Open: Ever alert, Mermaid Man has trained himself to sleep with his eyes open.
  • Slobs Versus Snobs: In "The Battle of Bikini Bottom," SpongeBob and Patrick get in a war over cleanliness; SpongeBob wants Patrick to be clean and Patrick gets SpongeBob dirty.
  • Small Name, Big Ego:
    • Squidward believes that he is extremely talented, but hardly anyone in Bikini Bottom enjoys his work.
    • SpongeBob and Sandy have their moments, though not consistently.
  • Smash Cut:
    • In "Tea at the Treedome", Sandy discovers SpongeBob and Patrick have nearly dried up. This is accompanied by a cut from her dropping her tea glasses to a live-action shot of a sponge and starfish.
    • The episode "Krusty Krab Training Video" ends with the narrator saying, "Okay! The [Krabby Patty] secret formula i—"
  • Smart Animal, Average Human: SpongeBob and his pet snail Gary. While not human, sea creatures that walk upright are considered the "humans" of the show while feral creatures like clams, worms, and snails are considered "animals" that can be domesticated into pets. Gary is shown to be intelligent and wise compared to his goofy and eccentric owner. Gary even has dreams where he owns an enormous library and has a tall, humanoid body, with his shell and face as his head.
  • Smelly Skunk: The opening of "Pineapple Invasion" has Plankton use a skunk to stink out the Krusty Krab, taking advantage of the chaos in an attempt to steal the formula.
  • Smug Snake: Plankton, Karen, Squilliam, Bubble Bass, and Mr. Krabs Depending on the Writer.
  • Snapback: About every episode.
    • "Wishing You Well" ends with Mr. Krabs being wished away and almost eaten. He is fine in time for the next episode.
    • "Lame and Fortune" ends with Plankton being warped into a Chinese food restaurant and eaten. He's completely fine in the next episode.
  • Snap Back: Many characters and locations are destroyed, maimed, transformed, etc., in various ways, but none of it carries over to the next episode.
    • "Scavenger Pants" ends with SpongeBob and Patrick asking Mrs. Tentacles to adopt them so Squidward can have the brother he never thought he had, but this is no longer acknowledged in later episodes. Naturally, they cannot possibly be adopted because 1, they already have living biological parents, and 2, they're legal adults.
    • "Glove World R.I.P." ends with Glove World being closed down and replaced with Glove Universe, but later episodes show Glove World operational again.
  • Snark-to-Snark Combat: Between Squidward and Mr. Krabs in the episode "Born Again Krabs":
    Krabs: I'm not cheap! I'm generous!
    Squidward: [deadpan] You almost tore a man's arm off for a penny.
    Krabs: [deadpan] Thanks, Squidward. I knew I could count on you.
  • Snarky Non Human Side Kick:
    • Potty sometimes serves just to make Patchy's life miserable. Squidward also counts in most episodes.
    • Gary also counts, judging by SpongeBob's reactions to his meowing.
  • Snipe Hunt:
    • Mr. Krabs sends SpongeBob on one of these in the first episode, on Squidward's advice he'd make a terrible fry cook. However, SpongeBob returns to save the Krusty Krab from some hungry anchovies with a real hydrodynamic spatula with port and starboard attachments and turbodrive (there was only one in stock), which prompts Mr. Krabs to hire him.
    • In "Squidward the Unfriendly Ghost" when Squidward pretends to be a ghost and orders SpongeBob and Patrick around:
      Squidward: I want something else to eat now. Something that's very difficult to find.
      Patrick: What do you hunger for, master?
      SpongeBob: Whatever you want, we'll find it, we'll find it!
      Squidward: Cherry pie.
      (Patrick holds up a pie from behind his back)
      Squidward: Where'd you get that?
      Patrick: I found it.
      Squidward: [throws pie off screen] Well, go find it again!
    • Squidward sends SpongeBob and Patrick on these in "Scavenger Pants" so they can leave him alone. Naturally, they keep succeeding.
    • In the app Krusty Cook-Off, Squidward stages a fake jellyfishing contest to get SpongeBob and Patrick to leave him be, but only Patrick can do it because SpongeBob has to work the pancake stand. Turns out the contest was real, and Patrick shows the trophy he won to prove it.
  • Snow Means Cold: During wintertime, it always snows in Sandy's treedome.
    • In "Boss for a Day," a customer's complaint about being too cold is visualized with a load of snow on the table, complete with a snowman.
  • Sold His Soul for a Donut:
    • In "Money Talks", Mr. Krabs sells his soul to the Flying Dutchman in exchange for the ability to talk to money. When Mr. Krabs' money talks him into spending them (specifically, on things he doesn't want, like corn dogs, fairy princess outfits, and diapers), Mr. Krabs tries to get his soul back from the Flying Dutchman, only for the Flying Dutchman to claim his soul anyway. The Flying Dutchman soon finds out that Mr. Krabs has already sold his soul to various monsters, as well as SpongeBob, who tells the Flying Dutchman that Mr. Krabs was five dollars short on his last payday.
    • In "Born Again Krabs", the Flying Dutchman bets SpongeBob that Mr. Krabs is so greedy he'd sell SpongeBob's soul for a nickel. The Dutchman then offers Krabs all the change in his pockets—62 cents—for SpongeBob's soul. Krabs accepts without hesitation. Even Squidward was disgusted by this.
  • Somebody Doesn't Love Raymond: Both SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs refuse to accept anyone can hate Krabby Patties (the plot device for Just One Bite and arguably Plankton's Regular).
    • Though in the former episode, SpongeBob was aiming more for Squidward to just try it and when Squidward (falsely) proclaims he hates it, SpongeBob does accept it and realize he was wrong to be so forceful. The latter episode does play it straight, however.
  • Something-itis: We can frequently see this trope be used by supposedly qualified people, such as "head-go-boom-boom-itis" in Squid Baby, or "oral-report-itis" in Oral Report.
  • Sound-Effect Bleep: "Hey, Patrick, how the [DOLPHIN CHIRP] are ya?" The whole episode (Sailor Mouth) took the trope as far as it could. (Though it turns out "DOLPHIN CHIRP" is the most filthy cuss word known to man.)
    • This has been a very popular source of parody on YouTube, most involving editing cuss words in.
    • Subverted with "Krusty Love." SpongeBob's cursing is filtered into nonsense vocal noises.
      • The Dutch dub plays it straight though. See Angrish above.
  • So Unfunny, It's Funny: The show had this, especially in the earlier episodes. The real king is this gem:
    Squidward: Why couldn't the 11-year-old get into the pirate movie? It was rated Aaaarrrrrgh. [laughs uproariously]
    [Beat]
    Squidward: [laughing dies down from awkward silence] Because... it's about... pirates...?
    Krabs: I'm not payin' ya to do stand-up, Mr. Squidward. Now get back to work!
  • Space Episode: "Goons on the Moon" and "Mooncation" mostly take place on the moon. Squidward goes to Mars in "Out of the Picture." Plankton goes to space in "Fiasco!" in an attempt to get away from the police, but they follow him there as well. Subverted in "Sandy's Rocket," where SpongeBob and Patrick only think they're on the moon when the rocket crashes back in Bikini Bottom.
  • Special Guest:
    • "Pre-Hibernation Week" has Pantera as a special musical guest.
    • "20,000 Patties Under the Sea" has KISS frontman Gene Simmons as the sea monster SpongeBob and Patrick meet.
    • "Whatever Happened to SpongeBob?" has Ray Liotta as the leader of the Bubble Poppin' Boys.
    • "Hello Bikini Bottom!" has Andy Samberg as Colonel Carper.
    • "License to Milkshake has Michael McKean as Captain FrostyMug.
    • "Whirly Brains" has Ed Asner as the Grumpy Old Man.
    • "Chatterbox Gary" has Keith David as the voice of Gary's translator and as Squidward's impersonation of it.
  • Special Edition Title: "Christmas Who?" (done as The SpongeBob Christmas Special), "Whatever Happened to SpongeBob?" (done as WhoBob WhatPants), and "Truth or Square" (done with a remade version of the theme song and stop-motion animation).
  • Species Surname: Mr. Krabs (Eugene H. Krabs) is a crab. Plankton also has this trope; "Plankton's Army" revealed that his full name is Sheldon J. Plankton. Also playing this trope straight are Mrs. Puff and Patrick Star. Pearl may count since her surname is Krabs and Dunces and Dragons reveals she has crab ancestors. "Squidward Tentacles" is also an example of two similar tropes.
  • Spectator Casualty: Parodied. During the Fry cook games several Fish in the Audience are turned into fish sticks when Patrick fails the high-jump and catapults hot oil everywhere. A food vendor walks up as a sign flips to hawk hot food.
  • Spell My Name with a "The": In the first two seasons, Karen refers to the show's titular character as "The SpongeBob."
  • Sphere Eyes: SpongeBob himself.
  • Spiritual Successor:
    • SpongeBob itself can be considered the successor series to the earlier Nicktoon Rocko's Modern Life. Both series not only had much of the same writing staff but also shared similar character archetypes (Rocko to SpongeBob, Heffer to Patrick, Ed Bighead to Squidward, etc.).
    • A large part of the pre-2004 crew now work for Phineas and Ferb. Most notably Dan Povenmire and Robert F. Hughes. (Who also both worked on Rocko.)
    • The series is also considered a Lighter and Softer take on The Ren & Stimpy Show (which several of its' crewmembers have also been involved in) with its energetic, fluid animation, usage of stock library music, and overtly detailed close-up shots.
  • Split-Screen Phone Call:
    • Parodied in "Jellyfishing." SpongeBob and Patrick are calling each other until the camera zooms out and reveals that they're in the same room.
    • In "Overbooked," Sandy leans over the divider and shouts "Just be there!"
    • Sandy's calls to Plankton and Mrs. Puff in "Girls' Night Out" are done this way.
  • Spoiler: The Dish Network description for "Doing Time" is "Ms. Puff imagines going to jail for SpongeBob," which spoils the ending.
  • Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Mr. Krabs and Plankton get more focus in Season 6.
  • Spotlight-Stealing Title
  • Springtime for Hitler: In "House Fancy", Squidward can't stand to see Squilliam Fancyson on TV when he's showing off his Big Fancy House, so he claims to have a fancier house than Squlliam's, even though it is nowhere as rich. He hires SpongeBob for an emergency redecorating session, which backfires when SpongeBob covers his living room in paint and the vacuum cleaner ends up vacuuming the entire living room and explodes, turning Squidward's house into a debris, which Nicholas Withers regards as a neo-classical masterpiece, and Squilliam has a nervous breakdown when Squidward's "masterpiece" manages to take the award that Squilliam was about to receive, being featured on the next episode of "House Fancy".
  • Stable Time Loop: In "SB-129," Squidward goes back in time and invents jellyfishing. When he returns to the present, SpongeBob and Patrick tell him that he invented jellyfishing when he asks who came up with it.
  • Staging the Eavesdrop: In "Bossy Boots", Mr. Krabs tasks SpongeBob with firing Pearl (since he doesn't have the heart to do it himself). After Pearl reveals to SpongeBob that she wants to be fired, the two decide to stage an overly-dramatic firing for Krabs to hear from behind the door to his office.
  • Starstruck Speechless:
    • In episode "I'm Your Biggest Fanatic", SpongeBob meets Kevin, an expert in jellyfishing. When SpongeBob gets close, he stares at Kevin and only manages to repeat "Hi Kevin" over and over, only snapping out of it when Kevin threatens to call security.
    • In "Christmas Who?", Squidward dresses up for Santa Claus when the real Santa doesn't show up. SpongeBob, believing he's unexpectedly meeting the real Santa, is only able to repeatedly stammer "S-s-s-s-s-Santa..." until Squidward makes him stop.
  • Start My Own: In "Friend or Foe", it's revealed that Krabs and Plankton started a restaurant together as a retaliation when the owner of another restaurant wouldn't accept them as customers. Also, before Krabs started to make Krabby Patties, Plankton broke the partnership to start his own restaurant because nobody liked the patty the two of them made together.
    • Also, SpongeBob started running his own stand for his "Pretty Patties" after being made fun of (for making Pretty Patties) by Mr Krabs and Squidward.
  • Status Quo Is God:
    • After "Friend or Foe" it is possible that Mr. Krabs and Plankton stayed friends as kids for a brief time (ex-shown pulling the main drain at the end)
    • And there's "Bumper to Bumper". SpongeBob finally obtains his driver's license for real... only for a cop to point out that because Mrs. Puff crossed the county line, thus setting off her security cuff, the test results were null and void and he then proceeds to tear up the license.
      • Every Boating School episode is this trope. Every single episode. "Bumper to Bumper" isn't the only Boating School episode that ends with SpongeBob finally getting his license, only for it to get taken away seconds later.
      • Every "Plankton Tries to Steal the Krabby Patty Formula" episode is this trope as well. Even if Plankton successfully steals it, everything will go back to normal no matter what.
    • "Karen 2.0.": Karen gets replaced by a new Karen robot. Plankton gets rid of Karen 2.0 and keeps the original Karen at the end.
    • "SpongeBob You're Fired". Let's just say, it's really not a spoiler that SpongeBob gets his job back at the end of this half-hour "special". Everyone knew the episode would end with everything going back to normal.
    • "The String". SpongeBob pulls a loose string from Squidward's shirt, eventually unraveling the entire universe as well as himself. This episode was the season 11 finale, but everything is back to normal next episode.
  • Stealing from the Hotel: Exaggerated in the episode "Kracked Krabs". Mr. Krabs starts "exaggerating" (stealing) from the hotel room, and SpongeBob helps him. They steal the toiletries, the furniture, the air conditioner, the wall... and eventually the room itself. As a hotel worker inspects their suitcase, the room pops out.
  • Stealth Insult: Squidward in "Band Geeks":
    • "I really expected better of you people. I guess I'm a loser for that too."
  • The Stool Pigeon: In the episode "Banned in Bikini Bottom", after discovering a secret Krusty Krab being run by Mr. Krabs at SpongeBob's house because Krabby Patties had been banned in Bikini Bottom, Plankton becomes a Petty Peter when he reports this to the police to get it shut down.
  • Stop Copying Me: Patrick does it to SpongeBob in "Big Pink Loser." Parodied when SpongeBob thinks "At least I'm safe inside my mind," and Patrick thinks the exact same thing.
  • Stock Audio Clip:
    • SpongeBob's signature laugh, as well as the guy shouting "My leg!"
    • In "Krusty Krab Training Video," Plankton goes on a rant that, from Mr. Krabs' perspective, sounds like incomprehensible chipmunk gibberish due to his small size. Evidently, Plankton's high-pitched speech was created by editing together two of his lines from "Plankton's Army" (an episode that aired much later, but was presumably produced around the same time) and speeding them up in post. See this video for a comparison.
  • Stock Beehive: Jellyfish live in stock hives full of jelly. As with everything in the show, it falls under Rule of Funny.
  • Stock Food Depictions: Krabby Patties are always just depicted as a burger with lettuce on a sesame-seed bun. Close-up depictions will also show cheese, tomato, and sauce, with the occasional onion and pickle.
  • Stolen Credit Backfire:
    • "Arrrrgh": This episode has an inversion. After SpongeBob, Patrick, and Mr. Krabs dig up the Dutchman's treasure, the Dutchman appears and asks who's responsible. Mr. Krabs immediately throws SpongeBob and Patrick under the bus. These two each get a doubloon for their troubles, while Mr. Krabs just gets plastic.
    • "Patty Hype": SpongeBob creates the Pretty Patties (Krabby Patties with different colours) and decides to sell them by himself. When they become extremely popular, Mr. Krabs convinces SpongeBob to exchange businesses so now he will have the more profitable Pretty Patties. As it turns out, the Pretty Patties change the color of people's bodies as a side effect, leading to angry customers wanting a refund from Krabs.
    • "Artist Unknown": After SpongeBob creates an immaculate statue in one stroke, Squidward berates him, causing SpongeBob to run off. An art critic later comes in and wants to buy the sculpture, which Squidward claims as his own, only for the head to come off while being moved. Squidward, knowing he can't recreate it, recruits SpongeBob, who after being lectured by Squidward, only manages to make a mess. SpongeBob storms off right before the critic returns, and Squidward blames the whole mess on the janitor. In this mess, however, is another great statue, and the critic promises great riches for the janitor.
    • "The Lost Mattress": SpongeBob and Patrick buy a new mattress for Mr. Krabs and throw the old one out. Squidward tries to take the credit by signing their card with the words "This was all my idea". However, the old mattress contained all of Mr. Krabs's money, causing him to go into a coma when he realizes it is gone. Squidward is held accountable by the police since he took credit for the idea.
  • Stopped Dead in Their Tracks:
    • Played for Laughs in "Chocolate with Nuts". When Patrick starts running off to buy more bags for their chocolate bars, SpongeBob starts piping up with a new selling idea, causing Patrick to freeze mid-run with a dopey look on his face.
    • Also parodied in "Spongebob, Sandy, and the Worm", where Sandy declares there is nothing Spongebob can say that will stop her from going after the titular Alaskan Bull Worm. Spongebob mutters some nonsense words, and Sandy pauses, saying "I got to admit, that slowed me down".
  • Storm in a Teacup: In "Wet Painters", Spongebob and Patrick panic when they get paint on Mr. Krabs' first dollar, only to be told that the supposedly irremovable paint can be easily removed with saliva.
  • Strange Minds Think Alike: In "Squidville" Squidward replies to SpongeBob "Playing with a reef blower? That is the most childish thing I've ever heard of. SpongeBob replies "But it's fun." Squidward replies "Fun? How could playing with one of those over-sized hair dryers possibly be fun? Later in the episode, when Squidward is playing with a reef blower in Squidville, a resident asks him what he's doing and after Squidward tells him he replies "Playing with a reef blower? That is the most childish thing I've ever heard of." then after Squidward says that it's fun, he replies "Fun? How could playing with one of those over-sized hair dryers possibly be fun?"
    • In "Mermaid Man And Barnacle Boy IV", SpongeBob uses Mermaid Man's belt to shrink Squidward. He's left with no idea how to turn Squidward back to normal size. Patrick suggests instead of M, flip it to W for Wumbo. SpongeBob points out that's not a real word, and it shrinks as well. Later, after SpongeBob has shrunk everyone including Mermaid Man, everyone asks him if he knows how to unshrink. Mermaidman says, "Have you tried setting it to Wumbo?".
  • Straw Loser: It takes a Butt-Monkey to make SpongeBob and Patrick look like winners; Squidward apparently fills that role.
    • Plankton seems to follow a similar comparison to Mr Krabs, who is usually a Butt-Monkey or Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist himself when the former isn't in the spotlight.
    • Utilized in universe in "I'm With Stupid". When his parents come to visit, Patrick asks SpongeBob to act like a brainless loser in front of them so he will look less like a deadbeat in comparison. The scheme works too well, since Patrick, who himself is a hopeless variant of the trope to SpongeBob, actually starts to believe the act himself, and turns into a condescending bully towards SpongeBob.
  • Stunned Silence: Numerous occasions, such as in the season-one episode "Hooky". SpongeBob goes to the "carnival" with Patrick during his Krusty Krab shift, and chaos ensues at the restaurant, since Squidward is a terrible fry cook but also the only one available to replace SpongeBob. Mr. Krabs demands to know what's going on.
    Squidward: It's a feeding frenzy, sir! And SpongeBob's not back from his break!
    Krabs: [Beat, then laughs out loud]
    Squidward: What?
    Krabs: I thought you said SpongeBob was takin' a break! No one's taken a break at the Krusty Krab since the chum famine of '59! Now, what were you sayin'?
    Squidward: [deadpan] He took... a BREAK.
    Krabs: [blinks once and stares ahead in silence, then his arms and nose fall off]
  • Stupid Crooks: SpongeBob and Patrick deliberately attempted to rob a bank in order to try and break Mrs. Puff out of jail from the inside. For masks, both characters wore socks over their heads, which covered their eyes and didn't allow them to see where they were going, and the bank teller treats the ordeal as a normal exchange, asking SpongeBob for his name and ID (which he gladly hands over), pulling up his checking and savings accounts, and bluntly informing SpongeBob that he has no money in either account.
  • Stupid Sexy Flanders: In "Squilliam Returns":
    Squidward: Try to imagine him in his underwear...oh no, he's hot!
  • Stylistic Suck: Any scenes featuring Patchy the Pirate and Potty the Parrot are meant to look as cheap as possible. Especially Potty, a extremely poor-looking marionette.
    • "I wrote this," the song Patrick wrote in "Sing a Song of Patrick," it's so bad, that the band that was paid $100 to compose it died right after they were done playing it, society breaks down when it plays on the radio, and band together as a massive lynch mob when they figure out that SpongeBob and Patrick hijacked the radio station to put it on the air.
  • Suckiness Is Painful:
    • Patrick's self-composed song in "Sing A Song Of Patrick", which is so awful that it actually kills the band that records it.
    • Squidward's clarinet skills...
    • Squidward's art is so bad that it causes Larry's eyes to light on fire in "Out of the Picture."
  • Suddenly Fluent in Gibberish:
    SpongeBob: Patrick, I didn't know you spoke bird!
    Patrick: No, that's Italian, SpongeBob.
  • Suddenly Obvious Fakery:
    • The plot of "Penny Foolish'' relies on Mr. Krabs and the audience both seeing a piece of green gum (really a rolled up $500 bill) as a brown penny until SpongeBob shows Mr. Krabs what he really picked up off the sidewalk that day.
    • "One Coarse Meal" has Plankton be terrorized by Pearl until the second half when it is revealed that "Pearl" is really Mr. Krabs in a costume with visible seams and patches that can't disguise the shape of his body from the head down. Before this, his costume was a one-to-one recreation of his daughter.
  • Suddenly Speaking: In "The Secret Box", SpongeBob asks Gary if he thinks his plan is good. Gary replies with, "Hmm... NO."
  • Sue Donym: In "Fear of a Krabby Patty", Plankton gives his name as "Peter Lankton". It is later shortened to "P. Lankton". "Hey, wait a second... is this a prank call?"
  • Superhero Episode: Many episodes including Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy qualify. For example, "Patrick-Man!"
  • Super Gullible: SpongeBob is prone to this; taken up to eleven in "Gullible Pants".
  • Super-Sargasso Sea: The Bikini Bottom Triangle contains many items taken by the mermaids via singing to activate a giant vacuum, which opens a rift in the sky while doing so. When they sing their song backwards, the items are returned to their owner.
  • Supreme Chef:
    • Jim was the Krusty Krab's fry cook; he quit due to the bad pay, but his patties are even better than SpongeBob's.
    • SpongeBob himself can cook food very well, particularly Krabby Patties.
  • Surrounded by Idiots: Squidward. Big time.
  • Suspicious Ski Mask:
    • The page quote comes from "No Free Rides" as Spongebob confronts a ski-masked Mrs. Puff for carjacking his boatmobile.
    • Spongebob himself wears this to show a couple "the error of their ways" by leaping through their open window and yelling that he's the "Open Window Maniac".
    • After losing his name tag, Spongebob fears that his identity could be stolen. Cue Imagine Spot involving an unnamed ski-masked bank robber wearing his name tag.
    • Mr. Krabs and Spongebob provide the image source in "Krusty Towers" as they wear ski masks before "abducting" Mrs. Tentacles by bagging her and stuffing her into the trunk of a boatmobile. Until Mrs. Tentacles shows up behind them and closes the trunk for them before Mr. Krabs reveals that it was his laundry in the bag.
    • Spongebob and Patrick wear ski masks as they break "Smelly" (Actually Squidward encased in hardened sewage) out of a zoo.
    • In "Plankton's Intern" Plankton and Pearl wear ski masks as they sneak into the Krusty Krab to steal the krabby patty formula. It doesn't do much for either of them since Plankton is still the same size and Pearl's mask just fits over half her face.
  • Swallowed a Fly: In "Nasty Patty", the health inspector swallows a fly before he can take a bite of the 'Nasty Patty' that SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs fixed up. They believe that they killed him when they see him lying on the floor.
  • Swapped Roles:
    • "Gary's Got Legs" revolves around SpongeBob giving Gary arms and legs, causing the snail to pamper him to the point of becoming lazy. In essence, SpongeBob becomes the pet snail, and Gary becomes his owner.
    • "Pat Hearts Squid" has Squidward moving in with Patrick, causing the former to become stupid and lazy and the latter smart and jerkish.
  • Synchronized Swarming: Plankton rallies his extended family to aid him in finally stealing the Krabby Patty secret formula.
  • Synchro-Vox:
    • Used in the opening with "Painty the Pirate", who starts the theme song. Notably, since the still image is a painting of a realistic human being, the Unintentional Uncanny Valley effect that normally plagues this trope is greatly reduced.
    • Done by SpongeBob in "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy VI: The Motion Picture" when he reveals to MM and BB that their movie is using ACTORS.
    • Patrick does it in "Moving Bubble Bass" after Bubble bass revealed he tricked SpongeBob and Patrick and ate the free lunch he promised them, which leads to Patrick to threaten him.
      Patrick: If my friend SpongeBob doesn't get his free lunch... [with live-action face] THINGS ARE GONNA GET CRAZY.

    T 
  • Take a Third Option:
    • In "Walking Small", where Plankton is trying to build his Chum Bucket Mega Bucket in the Goo Lagoon, he tells SpongeBob that nice guys finish last, and that only aggressive people conquer the world. SpongeBob kindly retorts with, "What about aggressively nice people?"
    • In "For Here or to Go", Plankton wins a bun seed counting contest and Mr. Krabs is forced by the Bogus Business Bueru to either give him a Krabby Patty, or risk the Krusty Krab getting shut down. He instead turns Plankton's plan on him by having him eat the patty he won before winning, resulting in disgusting patties of his own creation mixed with his stomach contents.
    • In "SpongeBob You're Fired" when Mr. Krabs is faced with the prospect of paying one nickel more, he has to either decide to forgo the extra nickel and pay his employees as normal, or save money by firing one of them. He chooses the latter and fires SpongeBob; unfortunately, he realizes too late the Krusty Krab falls into complete disarray without him. After rehiring him in the end, Mr. Krabs takes a third option and installs a pay toilet to make up for the extra nickel.
  • Take That!: "Krabby Land" is an episode-long potshot to McDonald's. Mr. Krabs' quote at the end clinches it:
    Mr. Krabs: The children? I don't care about the children! The fact that feeble minds are easily manipulated by cheap playgrounds and talentless clowns is no skin off my nose! Survival of the fittest, SpongeBob! Survival of the fittest!
    • "Graveyard Shift" has another one at McDonald's when Mr. Krabs makes it so the Krusty Krab is open 24/7 and Squidward says it's a stupid idea. There are McDonald's restaurants that are open 24/7.
    • The 2017 Free Comic Book Day comic has a huge one to the comics industry at that point in time, and even to Free Comic Book Day itself:
    SpongeBob: Why, it's the day when all the graphic literature shops provide gratis samples of their wares in a pathetic attempt to bolster an industry which has spent the last two decades in a death spiral brought on by lethal interaction between the lack of variety and a monopolistic distribution system!
  • Talking Animal: In an episode where SpongeBob befriends a seahorse he says "That's it, girl. Don't be afraid. I'm just a talking sponge is all."
  • Talk Like a Pirate: Mr. Krabs, Patchy, the Flying Dutchman, and other minor characters all typify this trope. In "Aargh!" though, SpongeBob and Patrick take it to an absurd degree:
    SpongeBob: Aargh, captain, aargh, we're, aargh, about, aargh, to hit, aargh-
    Krabs: Out with it, man, aargh!
    Patrick: I think, aargh, he's trying, aargh, to say, aargh... [crashes the boat] Land.
    Krabs: Urgh... from now on, only the captain says "aargh".
  • Taps: In the episode "Band Geeks", Squidward and the Bikini Bottom citizens are practicing in a marching band. Squidward tells the flag spinners in the front to spin the flag faster, and eventually, so fast that they fly and collide with a zeppelin, which explodes. The trumpeter of the band then plays the Taps as the rest of them hold their hats on their chest.
  • Technical Euphemism: In "Patrick SmartPants", when Patrick has become an Insufferable Genius due to replacing the top of his head with brain coral, he is being condescending to Sandy. She angrily demands to know if he's calling her dumb and he says she's just "impaired".
  • Teens Love Shopping: Pearl the teenage whale likes the mall and defines it to some teenage mermaids as the place where you get whatever you want, which led to the mermaids chanting, "Mall! Mall! Mall!".
  • Teeth Flying: SpongeBob has to impersonate Mr. Krabs at his Navy reunion. One of Krab's buddies asks to punch him in the "armor abs", resulting in one of his teeth coming loose. The others are disappointed that he only lost one tooth, until he spits out a few more, and then his skeleton and the others declare, "Now that's manly!"
  • Temporarily a Villain: The show has Barnacle Boy switching sides over not getting enough food and respect.
  • Tempting Fate:
    • During the episode "SpongeGuard on Duty":
      SpongeBob: I'm cool! I'm every bit as cool as Larry! [smugly] And if I'm not, let me be struck by... [lightning rumbles]... a flying ice cream truck! [ice cream truck song plays] ... AND LIVE! [ice cream truck stops in mid-air inches above SpongeBob's head, then falls on him]
      Larry: Please do not drop flying ice cream trucks on the bathers!
    • A textbook example occurs in "Wet Painters," when SpongeBob and Patrick have to paint Mr. Krabs' house of valuable collectibles. Cue Murphy's Law, involving a giant paint bubble:
    SpongeBob: Barnacles! What could be worse than a giant paint bubble?!
    Patrick: Ooh! I know! (produces a bubble wand, dips in into the paint, and blows another giant paint bubble) Two giant paint bubbles!
    SpongeBob: NOOOOOOOOOO!
    (the bubbles collide and form one MASSIVE paint bubble)
    SpongeBob: Patrick, I don't think this bubble can get much bigger!
    Patrick: Nonsense! (produces a bike pump to hook up to the paint bubble, inflating it further)
    • Also, in "Can You Spare a Dime?":
      SpongeBob: Squidward is not a freeloader and he would never take advantage of me.
      Narrator: Three weeks later...
      SpongeBob: He's just having a hard time getting his confidence back.
      Narrator: Many months later...
      SpongeBob: I'm sure he's close to a breakthrough.
      Narrator 2: So much later that the old narrator got tired of waiting and they had to hire a new one...
      SpongeBob: [grunts as he crawls to the living room]
      Gary: [matter-of-factly...] Meow, meow, meow...
      SpongeBob: I know he still isn't looking for work! DON'T RUB IT IN!
    • The lead singer of the band from "Sing a Song of Patrick" says that they'll record Patrick's song "even if it kills [them]". Gilligan Cut to a cemetery, with four graves sitting side-by-side.
  • Terrible Artist: SpongeBob's crude drawings come to life in the episode "Frankendoodle". Even Patrick criticizes him on his lack of structure and perspective, though his drawings aren't any better.
  • Terrible Ticking: Or in this case, squeaking, in "Squeaky Boots".
  • Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Averted, SpongeBob has curly lashes... though he is a bit girly.
  • That Cloud Looks Like...: SpongeBob watches the clouds go by with Sandy, who then reminds him they are all flowers.
  • That Poor Cat:
    • In "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy II", a cat screech was heard when Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy parked their invisible boat mobile with a crash. This happened 2 times.
    • All snails usually meow like cats. But starting in Season 4, they were able to screech. Gary was able to screech too. He did it in five episodes: "The Thing", "What Ever Happened to SpongeBob?", "Grooming Gary", "Gary in Love" and "Unreal Estate".
    • There was a similar gag of a guy yelling "My leg" instead of a yowling cat. Mainly in the early seasons.
  • There Should Be a Law: In "Squidville," after Squidward gets bored of his daily routine in Tentacle Acres, he starts behaving the same way SpongeBob did at the beginning of the episode that caused him to move to Tentacle Acres. His actions result in his neighbors compiling a Long List of grievances against him, and he reacts with:
    Squidward: Grievances! This town is a grievance! There should be a law against so many stuck-up tightwads living in one place! This city needs to be destroyed! Or at least, painted a different color.
  • The Thing That Would Not Leave:
    • Squidward, when he loses his job in 'Can You Spare A Dime?'.
    • SpongeBob when he has to take a vacation.
    • the Flying Dutchman, after he wrecks his ghostly ship. Which had been fixed for 3 months by the time he decided to leave.
  • The "The" Title Confusion: It's known as The SpongeBob on StarTimes TV.
  • This Billboard Needs Some Salt: In "Sleepy Time", Plankton, dreaming that he's a giant, treats the Krusty Krab's sign as a lollipop.
  • Thousand-Yard Stare: Mentioned by name when Mr. Krabs and Squidward find SpongeBob in shock at the beginning of "The Krusty Sponge". When he realizes it's because they're about to receive a visit from food critic Gene Scallop, Krabs adopts one as well.
  • Throw the Dog a Bone:
    • Squidward in "Band Geeks" (where SpongeBob and everyone else in Bikini Bottom manage a musical performance impressive enough to give his rival Squilliam a heart attack), "House Fancy" (where in spite of his house getting wrecked, it is determined way fancier than Squilliam's house), "Enchanted Tiki Dream" (where SpongeBob and Patrick give it their all to let Squidward have some happiness for once) "Suction Cup Symphony" (where his performance is applauded), and "Love That Squid" (he gets a girlfriend named Squilvia who loves him even when he loses his patience with SpongeBob). In "Whale Watching," Mr. Krabs hires Squidward to babysit Pearl, in exchange for a SpongeBob free shift, and after some animosity, Squidward and Pearl make up at the end, and end up siccing SpongeBob on a boy that spurned Pearl.
    • Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain Plankton and Mrs. Puff in "Wishing You Well" both get their wishes granted, with Plankton wishing to be taller and Mrs. Puff wishing for her own hot rod. On the subject of Plankton, there's an episode he gets a pet, in which he receives a happy ending.
  • Tie-In Cereal: Invoked. SpongeBob has been shown eating Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy bran flakes.
  • SpongeBob cleaning a toilet as an actor for a sponge in a commercial.
  • Toilet Teleportation: Subverted when SpongeBob and Patrick pretend to be ghosts and haunt Mr. Krabs. They clogged all the toilets so he couldn't try to escape that way.
  • Tomato in the Mirror: "Wait a minute, Patrick... I'm the maniac!"
  • Tone Shift: Seasons 9B-12 are Denser and Wackier than previous episodes.
  • Tongue on the Flagpole: Happens to Patrick when he gets his tongue on a wooden pole when the Krusty Krab is frozen in "Krabs a la Mode." He doesn't seem to mind, though.
  • Too Dumb to Live: SpongeBob and Patrick's past counterparts in "SB-129" repeatedly attempt to play catch with a jellyfish, barehanded. Squidward intervenes to teach them how to jellyfish mostly because their agonized screams are disrupting his clarinet playing.
  • Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: In "Born Again Krabs", Mr. Krabs trades SpongeBob's soul for 62 cents. Just as he starts to feel bad about it, the Flying Dutchman comes back to return SpongeBob after being annoyed by his incessant chatter about his hobbies.
    • The Flying Dutchman gave SpongeBob and Patrick up as slave crewmen in "Shanghaied" because they were incredibly bad at it. In a subversion, rather than letting them go, he planned to eat them, but they escaped. Then the Dutchman catches them, but he offers them three wishes before they're eaten. After accidentally using up two of their wishes, they use their final wish to turn the Dutchman into a vegetarian. But then they appear in a blender, somehow transformed into fruit, with the Dutchman preparing to eat them.
    • In a third Flying Dutchman example, namely "Scaredy Pants", SpongeBob is shaved down by Patrick to make him rounder for a sheet he uses as a Flying Dutchman costume to try to scare everyone in the Krusty Krab for Halloween. He fails miserably, but as the restaurant is laughing at him the real Dutchman arrives, angered by SpongeBob's insulting costume and about to steal everyone's souls. He takes a moment before doing so to explain the concept of being scary to SpongeBob, then removes the sheet... and flies away screaming when he sees the sponge had been shaved down to facial features, a brain, and a "spinal cord".
  • Too Upset to Create:
    • In "Pickles", SpongeBob gets so upset about forgetting to put pickles on a Krabby Patty that he is unable to remember how to prepare one. It gets so bad he can't do anything at all, even talk with proper syntax. Once he is able to relearn how to make a Krabby Patty, he returns back to normal.
    • In "Artist Unknown", SpongeBob attends Squidward's art class, annoying his teacher with his unusual creative process. Squidward scolds him for doing art "wrong", and he gets so upset he quits the class and goes to live in the dump. When an art collector comes in and declares one of SpongeBob's artworks a masterpiece, Squidward tries to get SpongeBob to make some more. Unfortunately, SpongeBob has taken Squidward's criticisms to heart, and is unable to recreate his previous work.
  • Tormented Teacher: All Mrs. Puff— SpongeBob's boating achool teacher— wants is to pass the sponge and get him out of her hair. The problem is that SpongeBob is a horrible driver, so Mrs. Puff has to bear the brunt of all his accidents and her consequent inflations. Her time with him got so bad that in "Demolition Doofus", Mrs. Puff tricks him into signing up for a demolition derby just for the other competitors to kill him, then join in herself when it backfires.
  • Town Contest Episode: In "What's Eating Patrick?", Patrick competes in Bikini Bottom's annual eating contest against the last winner, Oswald Mc Nulty. He prepares for it by binging on Krabby Patties while running on a treadmill.
  • Town Girls:
    • This trope applies with Sandy as the Texas tough Butch, Pearl as the Girly Girl Femme, and Mrs. Puff as the in-between (caring but firm) Neither.
    • It also works with Sandy as the Butch, Pearl as the Femme, and Karen as the in-between (devoted wife but evil mastermind) Neither.
  • Tradesnark™:
    • In "Sand Castles in the Sand," SpongeBob and Patrick play Frisbee Small Plastic Disc That You Throw/Toss.
    • "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V" proclaims the IJLSA as "a subsidiary of Viacom," Nickelodeon's parent company.
  • Trainee from Hell: Spongebob is this to Mrs. Puff. He has failed her Boating School dozens and dozens of times, every time putting the poor driver instructor to hell over the fact that he can't take the driver's test without crashing and/or injuring her.
  • Training from Hell: The episode when a Drill Sergeant Nasty shark teaches SpongeBob how to drive. It works, but SpongeBob ends up being able to drive only when BLINDFOLDED. Hilarity Ensues.
    MY PANTS!!!!
  • Translation Convention:
    • The sea creatures (and Sandy, Mermaid Man, and Barnacle Boy) hear each other speak English but in any live-action segment on land, humans don't seem to be able to hear them.
    • Anthropomorphic characters hear snails meowing, but "Gary in Love" shows that snails hear meows as English.
  • Tree Buchet: In "Club SpongeBob", Squidward tries to leave SpongeBob's clubhouse by grabbing a vine and pulling himself down the stalk the treehouse is situated in, dragging the treehouse with him and bending the stalk double. As soon as he puts a foot on the ground, the vine snaps….
  • Trivial Tragedy: In "A Day Without Tears", Squidward bets SpongeBob he can't go a day without crying. When the news anchor mentions "sad news for Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy fans", Squidward turns the volume up and the anchor says that The Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy Show will only be played seven times a day instead of eight. Not wanting to lose the bet, SpongeBob quickly changes the channel.
  • Troubled Fetal Position:
    • Played for laughs with Squidward in "Band Geeks", after another screw-up by his slapdash marching band.
    • SpongeBob does this for a whole episode in which he becomes afraid to go outside, so he decides to live inside his house for the rest of his life. Thankfully, he got over it.
    • One episode had Kevin the Sea Cucumber sits in a fetal position and cry for his mommy and blankie when attacked by a King Jellyfish. The other Jellyspotters join in shortly until SpongeBob saves them all.
  • Troublemaking New Pet: "A Pal for Gary" sees SpongeBob get another pet, a blowfish-esque fish named Puffy Fluffy, so Gary can have some company while he's away at work. What the sponge failed to realize is the creature hates being around other pets, and once he steps out of the room, Puffy Fluffy turns into a man-eating beast. When SpongeBob returns, Puffy Fluffy returns to his cute form and SpongeBob assumes that Gary is not being nice to Puffy Fluffy or ignoring him. The sponge continues to be oblivious to the new pet's behavior and continues berating Gary — even when he sees Puffy Fluffy in a monstrous form and about to eat his snail, he doesn't realize the danger and tells Gary to "put Fluffy down". And even after Gary saves SpongeBob when Puffy Fluffy tried to eat him, he is still mad at Gary for sending his partner away in the end. Fortunately, he at least forgives Gary in the final scene and decides to take him to work with him so he's not lonely.
  • Trying Not to Cry: SpongeBob manages at this in "A Day Without Tears".
  • Two Shorts Format: There are occasional episodes containing a third short — namely, the pilot and five of the fifth season's episodes.
  • Two Halves Make a Plot: In the special "Atlantis Squarepantis" SpongeBob and Patrick find half of an amulet and bring it to a museum, where the other half coincidentally resides.
  • Two-Timer Date: Averted; you see, SpongeBob had three appointments booked for the same time, not two.
  • Tyop on the Cover:
    • An in-universe example: Bikini Botton Arcade in the episode "Karate Star".
    • "Pet Sitter Pat" has a book titled 'Snail Tails', which actually had the correct spelling on SpongeBob's list of things to do with Gary.

    U 
  • Umbrellas Are Lightning Rods: In one episode, Squidward loses his house, and it begins to rain. (Even though they're underwater.) He has an umbrella and opens it, but predictably, it gets hit by lightning.
  • Umpteenth Customer: A customer gets this for giving Mr. Krabs his millionth dollar earned. He gets no prize; he and the others just get thrown out so that Krabs can enjoy the dollar in peace. He does reward his workers, though... with a fishing trip.
  • Unconventional Food Order: In "You Don't Know Sponge", Patrick orders his favorite flavor of ice cream: Dill Pickle Swirl with mustard and extra bacon bits.
  • Unconventional Food Usage:
    • The episode "Chocolate with Nuts" has SpongeBob claim that a certain type of potato chips aren't delicious. Patrick says, "Not the way I use them anyway". It's never revealed what he uses them for.
    • In "To Love a Patty", SpongeBob dates a Krabby Patty (a type of burger). Mr. Krabs says that food is for eating, not for dating, so SpongeBob eats "Patty", but by then, it had expired, so he asks for a doggie bag to throw up in.
    • In "I Had an Accident", SpongeBob talks to a potato chip that he names Chip in order to cope with his loneliness while staying at home to prevent accidents.
    • Discussed in "The Gift of Gum", where SpongeBob is throwing his gift of a giant, dirty gumball away, but lies that he's dressing it up.
    • Discussed in one episode where Patrick wonders if mayonnaise and horseradish can be used as instruments.
  • Unanthropomorphic Transformation: In "Feral Friends", most of the cast are transformed into regular sea creatures by a mysterious green rock known as Neptune's Moon. Only Sandy is unaffected due to her being a land animal. At the end of the episode, an orange ball of light known as Neptune's Sun appears and turns Sandy into a regular squirrel — a live-action one, no less.
  • Unexpected Kindness: "Rock Bottom" sees SpongeBob stuck in a strange cavern city where he can't understand any of the strange locals. Near the end of the episode, SpongeBob hears an approaching raspberry sound and runs away, assuming one of the locals is coming for him. However, the local is a friendly anglerfish who returns SpongeBob's lost balloon, which he ties to SpongeBob's wrist and begins to inflate. Since nobody has understood him all night, SpongeBob assumes the local can't understand what he needs either, but then the balloon pulls SpongeBob up out of the cavern. Turns out, the local wanted to help SpongeBob all along!
  • Unexpectedly Dark Episode: Despite being a mostly comical cartoon series, this show has a few episodes that manage to be rather dark:
    • A Pal For Gary: In this episode, Spongebob adopts a new pet who is extremely dangerous around other pets but ignores said warning, which transforms into a monster that attacks Gary, and Spongebob does nothing about it.
    • Demolition Doofus: Mrs. Puff enlists Spongebob to be in a demolition derby in order to kill him as revenge for severe injuries she sustained from a recent failure, but his bad driving ironically makes him a racing superstar and she's furious when he does not get hurt.
    • One Coarse Meal: Mr. Krabs finds out that Plankton is afraid of whales. Sensing this opportunity, Krabs uses the knowledge of Plankton's phobia to drive him to suicide by willing wanting to be run over by a bus, much to SpongeBob's concern. Mr. Krabs ends up getting away with it in the end.
  • Unexplained Recovery: In "Karate Island" despite getting beaten to a pulp by Sandy, the Karate Master is perfectly fine when Squidward arrives on "Clarinet Island" shortly after.
  • Unimpressive Progress Reveal: Used in some episodes.
    • In the episode "Procrastination", SpongeBob writes his homework very dramatically and enthusiastically... only to be revealed that all he did was just writing a very stylized "THE".
    • In an earlier episode, "Your Shoe's Untied", SpongeBob realizes he doesn't know how to tie his shoes after he unties them for a demonstration; consequently, he can't take a single step without tripping on them and falling flat on his face, which causes a problem at the Krusty Krab when he has to bring a Krabby Patty from the grill to Squidward on the other side of the kitchen. He tries rubbing his shoes together and slowly shuffling along on the wood floor, but despite his best efforts, he barely moves away from the grill, which only annoys Squidward further.
  • Unknown Rival: Only occurring in "Banned in Bikini Bottom" and "Free Samples", SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs are unaware of Plankton's plans and are unaware he's in the same location as they are. They also don't see or talk to each other throughout, aside from almost hearing his voice in the latter.
  • Unraveled Entanglement: At the end of the lost episode, Patchy the pirate tries to replay the VHS tape of the lost episode, but the film becomes unraveled while the tape is still in the VCR, and Patchy gets tangled up in the film.
  • Unreadable Disclaimer: In "Pickles", it's revealed Mr. Krabs does have a money back guarantee on his menu, but it's written in text that you'd need a microscope to read. Bubble Bass is somehow aware of it, though.
  • Unreadably Fast Text: In "No Free Rides", SpongeBob's date of birth is given as 14 July 1986.
  • The Unreveal: The forumla for the Krabby Patty is one of Bikini Bottoms biggest secrets, and the show goes to great lengths to keep it that way.
    • THE SECRET RECIPE TO THE KRABBY PATTY SECRET FORMULA IS — *Cuts to credits/a commercial*
    • In Krabby Road we are given a brief glimpse at the formula. However the ingredients are nonsense words comprised of random letters akin to something a frustrated person might type when banging on a keyboard.
    • Plankton managed to access it thanks to his family, only to learn the secret ingredient includes his own kind. It turns out that's not true at all.
    • In "Goodbye Krabby Patty?", SpongeBob takes out the formula and reads it, but the front of the sheet is never shown and he keeps the back of it facing the fourth wall before the scene changes to him cooking.
    • Slightly averted in "The Great Krabby Caper" which actually reveals some of the ingredients to the formula, specifically flour, barnacle shavings, turmeric, and either sea or land salt. "SpongeBob On Parade" also confirms salt as one of the ingredients to the formula.
    • A book detailing the series claimed to have the secret formula at the end. All it read was, in .5-point font, "Congratulations! You know how to use a magnifying glass!"
  • Unsatisfiable Customer: Bubblebass.
  • Unstoppable Rage:
    • Patrick was tearing up the carnival in the Valentine's Day episode after he only got a handshake (while SpongeBob got other people roses, a box of chocolates, and a bike); because SpongeBob can't tell him the real surprise (the chocolate balloon) before Sandy came with it.
    • Sandy, on more than one occasion.
    • Plankton, although usually only in his own fantasies of what his life would be like if he were bigger.
  • Unsuccessful Pet Adoption:
    • In "My Pretty Seahorse", SpongeBob adopts a seahorse named Mystery. Seahorses can be kept as pets in the SpongeBob universe, but Mystery runs away.
    • In "Dumped", SpongeBob adopts two snails named Larry and Jerry and a worm named Rex. Larry is too aggressive so he must be sent away, and Rex leaves on a bus, but it's unclear what happened to Jerry.
    • In "A Pal for Gary", SpongeBob adopts a pet named Puffy Fluffy, who runs away. Just as well, because Puffy Fluffy, despite his cute name, kept trying to eat Gary.
  • Unusual Euphemism: "Fishpaste!" "Barnacles!" "Tartar Sauce!" etc.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
    • Patrick is sometimes this in the post-first movie episodes. In "The Inmates of Summer", him coming to the dockyard to tell SpongeBob he will miss him is what leads them to crying so much they miss the Sun and Fun ship and head for Inferno Island instead. Also in "Sentimental Sponge", Patrick accuses SpongeBob of throwing out precious belongings, which results in SpongeBob becoming a hoarder for the episode.
    • In "All That Glitters", the fish who ordered the Monster Krabby Patty is what leads to SpongeBob breaking his spatula and selling everything to get Le Spatula.
    • In "Mimic Madness", Squidward telling Mr. Krabs that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery is what results in SpongeBob catching Mocking Mimicry Madness and suffering a Shapeshifter Identity Crisis.
    • In "ChefBob", Squidward bluntly snubbing a customer in the eponymous puppet's ear range is what causes it to become a sentient Insult Comic.

    V 
  • Vacation Episode: Season 8 gave us five of them. "A SquarePants Family Vacation," "Patrick's Staycation," "Mr. Krabs Takes a Vacation," "Mooncation," and "Walking the Plankton."
  • Vague Age: SpongeBob lives on his own and holds down a job, yet is considered a "kid" by some. However, a few episodes give his DOB. Possibly justified when considering his mental age, or the long lifespan of actual sponges.
    • He's failed boating school thirty-seven times as of the start of the series. (Meow) Umm...thirty eight times.
    • And he has HUNDREDS of employee of the month awards by the time The Movie takes place. Employee of the month awards that would take 37 years and two months just to win.
  • Vengeful Vending Machine: In the episode "Rock Bottom", SpongeBob is waiting for the bus so he can go home. He gets hungry and runs across the street to the vending machine to buy a candy bar. The machine itself works properly, but the bus showed up and drove off every time he tried to put a dollar into the machine or to reach for the candy bar after it was dispensed. Keeping his eyes on the bus, he slowly moves to grab the candy bar, with the bus revving the engines everytime he gently touches the bar. He tries to run back across the street to catch the bus, but it drives off. A random stranger walks up to machine and just takes the candy bar.
  • Verbal Tic: In Rock Bottom, you actually need to raspberry between words (i.e.: JUST * PPPTPTPTP* LIKE * PTPTPT* THIS) in order for you to be understood.
    "What? *pbthbth* I can't *pbthbth* understand *pbthbth* your accent. *pbthbth*
  • Very Special Episode:
    • "Sailor Mouth" is about swearing and foul language.
    • "The Bully" is about bullying.
    • "Hooky" parodies this, with the hooks (taking on the role of a G-Rated Drug) being the ridiculous part.
  • Villain Has a Point: Occurs in the episode "Walking Small". Even though he was simply using SpongeBob (for land development!) throughout the episode, Plankton was 100% right when he told SpongeBob that he should be more assertive and stop letting people walk all over him.

    In this episode alone, two people cut in front of him in line for free ice cream, and SpongeBob does nothing in retaliation. By the time he gets to the front, the vendor is sold out. Then, as he and Plankton sit on a bench, a large fish sits on SpongeBob, and doesn't even move when SpongeBob asks him to do so politely.

    All in all, a lot of SpongeBob's problems would probably easily be solved (or never occur) if he weren't a spongy, yellow doormat.
  • Villain Opening Scene: Some of the more newer episodes tend to open with Plankton at the Chum Bucket.
  • Victorious Roar: Played for Laughs in the episode "The Algae's Always Greener". When Plankton decides to use his "Switch-Lives-Just-To-Know-What-It's-Like-O-Mogrifier" device to switch lives with Mr. Krabs, he finds himself thrust into an alternate dimension where he has lived Krabs' life and success as the owner of the Krusty Krab restaurant. Unfortunately for Plankton, he unknowingly inherits the exact same problems Krabs has to normally deal with on a daily basis as well, including an attempt to steal the Krabby Patty formula, by a naked Krabs himself this time. When SpongeBob finally defeats Krabs by getting him to wear a bra, via cannonfire, SpongeBob and everyone else in the Krusty Krab, sans Krabs and Plankton, commemorate their victory with a victory screech. Needless to say, the entire episode is a case of It Makes Sense in Context.
  • Villain Song: The pirate ghosts from "Ghost Fools" get one.
  • Virtual Sidekick: Karen is Plankton's supercomputer, wife and sidekick. She gives him advice on his evil schemes and occasionally transfers her A.I. into a mobile robotic form to directly assist him.
  • Visual Pun:
    • "Plankton!" — When Plankton takes control of SpongeBob's brain and makes him walk into his kitchen, SpongeBob says "Time for a well-balanced breakfast." He walks through the wall and out through the fridge with a loaf of bread, a jug of milk and a carton of eggs balanced on his head and adds "This isn't what I had in mind."
    • Also from "Plankton!":
      Plankton: Brace yourself, SpongeBob, this is my lab! (labrador retriever barks) And this is my LABORATORY!
    • "Squid on Strike" — When instructed to make a picket sign, SpongeBob makes two visual puns: the first being a part of an actual picket fence and the second being the image of someone picking their nose, a "pick-it" sign.
    • "No Weenies Allowed" — SpongeBob calls out Sandy for a karate challenge. She appears from the sand and grabs him with the lines "Oh, I'm Sandy alright. I'm very Sandy." And SpongeBob gets the joke while flying in the air!
    • Another "sandy" example, this time from "Ripped Pants"
      SpongeBob: Hey, Sandy! Look! (covered in a mound of sand) I'm Sandy!
    • In "The Algae's Always Greener" where Krabs flicks tiny Plankton back to the Chum Bucket, he yells, "So long, shrimp!" An actual shrimp is then seen exiting the Krusty Krab.
    • Combining this with a normal pun, SpongeBob's phone is shaped like a conch; a "shellphone" if you will.
    • In "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V", Barnacle Boy gets sick of being an unrespected sidekick and decides to become evil. He then announces that he's crossing over to the dark side. Zoom out to show half of the Krusty Krab that's pitch-dark. When everyone stares at Mr. Krabs, this is his response:
      Mr. Krabs: Why should I waste money lighting the whole store?
    • In "Clams" after Mr. Krabs is crying over the loss of his dollar SpongeBob says "I've never seen Mr. Krabs so broken up" right before his body appears to be in pieces.
    • In the episode "I'm With Stupid", Patrick receives a note (cue paper with a musical note on it). On the other side, there's a letter on it (cue flip; other side has a giant letter "B" on it). He also got a message from his parents.
    • In the episode "New Leaf" Mr. Krabs tells his employees to keep their "eyes peeled". You can guess how SpongeBob interprets this.
      Mr. Krabs: Plankton's concocting another hair-brained scheme to steal me recipe. So keep your eyes peeled.
      SpongeBob: Whatever you say, cap'n. (literally peels his eyelids)
      Mr. Krabs: (impressed) Now that's an employee who follows orders.
    • Sandy finds Wormsign. Literally. It's a road sign with the word "Worm" written on it.
    • In "The Bully", Mrs. Puff tells the class to "put on a happy face" for the new student. Cut to the class all wearing smiling masks.
    • In "Something Smells", Patrick tells SpongeBob he needs to "Get this thing off your chest" in order to feel better. Cut to a pulsating purple creature attached to SpongeBob's chest.
    • In "Imitation Krabs" SpongeBob remarks that "As long as these pants are square, and this sponge is Bob, I will not let you down!" We then see him holding Mr. Krabs over his head and Mr. Krabs asks if he could please let him down.
    • In "Krusty Krushers" the champion wrestlers put SpongeBob and Patrick in a sleeper hold, which involves rocking the two to sleep like babies.
    • In "Sailor Mouth" Patrick imagines himself with 40 eyelashes after SpongeBob says that Mr. Krabs will give them "40 lashes".
    • In "Sun Bleached" SpongeBob and Patrick tell Craig Mammleton they are putting on coats of sunscreen to stay protected from the sun, and the time comes to put on another coat. They literally make coats, as in outwear, out of sunscreen and put them on, along with a top hat and walking stick to match.
    • In "Sportz?", SpongeBob and Patrick's idea of kickboxing involves them punching each other with boxing gloves on their feet.
    • In "Sleepy Time", when SpongeBob disguises himself as a thumbtack and Plankton steps on him, causing himself to shrink back to his normal size, SpongeBob delivers the following line: "I think he's got the point!"
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Type 1 with SpongeBob and Squidward.
  • Vocal Evolution:
    • Tom Kenny's SpongeBob voice was somewhat deeper and nasal in earlier seasons, before becoming higher pitched and childlike in the movie & revival seasons. Does not help with Vague Age. He does go back to his lower voice around season 8.
    • Season 1 in general had a more relaxed voice acting, aside from Squidward, who ironically sounded more nervous and his voice mellowed out afterwards.
    • Post-Sponge Out of Water and Sponge On the Run, SpongeBob sounds much deeper and slightly nasal, likely due to Tom Kenny aging after at least 20 years.

    W-X 
  • Walk Into Camera Obstruction:
    • "Texas": when Sandy is chasing SpongeBob and Patrick. While carrying a lasso she fills the screen with her foot.
    • "Whelk Attack" where Mr. Krabs tries to give Krabby Patties to the whelks. He walks out the Krusty Krab with a plate full of Krabby Patties and walks towards the screen.
    • "Bummer Vacation" with SpongeBob accusing Mr. Krabs of replacing him.
    • "Squidward, the Unfriendly Ghost": When SpongeBob and Patrick about to clean Squidward's back room.
    Patrick: "Oh, coming!"
  • "Walk on the Wild Side" Episode: In one episode, Squidward gets so fed up with SpongeBob and Patrick's antics that he decides to move out into a gated community filled with other squids who share his interests. Inside, he finds that everyone else has a Easter Island head house, everyone else loves playing the clarinet, everyone else loves riding their paddlebikes, everyone else loves ballet dancing, and everyone else enjoys eating canned bread. He's thrilled at this, but soon gets bored of the same routine every day, to the point where he starts going out of control and just lets loose while playing around with a leaf blower. The other citizens filled a formal list of complaints, but Squidward tells them off by flying his leaf blower into the sky while screaming wildly.
  • Walk Through the Camera:
    • "Breath of Fresh Squidward" SpongeBob walking with new Squidward attached to him. "Boy, the new Squidward sure is chummy."
  • Watching the Sunset: With Squidward.
    SpongeBob: This is great. Just the three of us; you, me, and this brick wall you built between us.
  • Water Is Air:
    • Very frequently, starting with the intro to every episode, in which SpongeBob takes a bath. Most noticeable in "Sponge Henge," involving a wind storm that causes SpongeBob's holes to whistle.
    • SpongeBob and friends are also perfectly capable of falling off cliffs, drinking water from cups...Pearl's ponytail is nice and neat...
    • Lampshaded in one episode where SpongeBob and Patrick run away after they think they're wanted fugitives for popping a balloon.
      SpongeBoband Patrick are sitting around a campfire late at night.
      Patrick: Hey, if we're underwater, how can there be a--?
      [fire immediately goes out]
    • In another episode, SpongeBob and Patrick receive party invitations from Patchy, but the water smeared the writing; SpongeBob complains that the sender forgot about the physical limitations of living underwater...before proceeding to throw them into a fire.
  • Weaponized Stench:
    • "Karate Island" has Filthy Phil, who deals with his opponents by using his body stench to knock them out. Unfortunately for him, Sandy is protected from his smell thanks to her suit, and he ends up smelling his own stink.
    • The episode "Something Smells" has SpongeBob accidentally trigger this trope when he uses a rancid seanut plant for a sundae, creating a horrific case of bad breath. The odor becomes so horrible that everyone in Bikini Bottom has a near-fatal reaction; the only person immune is Patrick, who lacks a nose. SpongeBob can't understand why everyone is running away from him, and Patrick convinces him that it must be because he's ugly. It isn't until Patrick himself eats some of the sundae and also gets bad breath that they realize what's going on, as SpongeBob can smell Patrick's terrible fumes (he likely couldn't smell his own because of the real-life phenomenon of "scent blindness," which dulls a person's own odor to themselves).
  • Wearing It All Wrong:
    • In "Pickles", a supposed error on a Krabby Patty order causes SpongeBob to not remember how to do anything. At one point, we see that he put his underwear over his head.
    • At the beginning of "Your Shoe's Untied", Patrick gets a new pair of shoes, and decides to wear them on his hands instead of his feet. SpongeBob likes this idea, and suggests also wearing gloves on their feet and hats on their "captain's quarters". In a later scene, Patrick is still wearing his shoes on his hands as he eats a Krabby Patty at the Krusty Krab.
    • In "Grandma's Kisses", SpongeBob's grandmother gives Patrick a sweater as a present. When Patrick opens it, he thinks it's a hat and wears it on his head until SpongeBob's grandmother tells him it's a sweater.
  • What Are You in For?: Said by Patrick at the end of "SpongeBob Meets The Strangler", when the Strangler ends up in the same jail cell as him.
  • What the Hell, Hero?:
    • In Karen 2.0, when SpongeBob accidentally makes Karen cry some more after Plankton dumps her, Mr. Krabs responds to this with this:
      Mr. Krabs: (Angrily) Smooth, SpongeBob. REAL smooth!
    • Squidward even calls Mr. Krabs out on selling SpongeBob's soul for 62 cents in Born Again Krabs. Squidward hates SpongeBob with a burning passion of a thousand suns, but even he was disturbed at what Krabs did.
    • In "Stuck in the Wringer", SpongeBob yells at Patrick for ruining his life by gluing him to his wringer. But the townspeople call SpongeBob out for yelling at Patrick even though it was Patrick who got him in that mess in the first place.
    • In "Yours, Mine and Mine", Mr. Krabs is shocked at SpongeBob and Patrick fighting over Patty Pal and chews them out for letting one toy get in the way of their friendship.
      Mr. Krabs: All this brawlin' is over a toy?! You two shouldn't let a little trinket get between youse! You should be ashamed of yourselves.
    • In "One Coarse Meal", SpongeBob, of all characters, is outright disgusted when he finds out Mr. Krabs is tormenting Plankton of his fear of whales. He confronts him in his office and tells him off, but he doesn't listen nor own up and changes the subject.
      SpongeBob: Mr. Krabs, I know you and Plankton are sworn enemies and all, but... Putting on a dress to frighten him?! Isn't that taking it a little too far?
  • When the Clock Strikes Twelve: In "A Day Without Tears", SpongeBob has to resist crying by midnight to win Squidward's bet.
  • Who's on First?: "Good Ol' Whatshisname", in which Squidward tries to find out the name of a mystery customer.
    • Also, in "Shellback Shenanigans":
      SpongeBob: When are we making this fresh batch of Krabby Patties, Mr. Krabs?
      Mr. Krabs: What?
      Plankton: Okay, now what'd he say?
      Karen: "What?".
      Plankton: I said, "What'd he say?"
      Karen: He said, "What?".
      Plankton: I have no idea, that's why I'm asking you what he said!
      Karen: I know that, and I'm saying he said, "What?"!
      Plankton: I know that! Wait... oh, he said, "What?"
      Karen: Yes!
  • Who's Watching the Store?:
    • Only three people operate the Krusty Krab, and all three are not always at work at the same time.
    • "Welcome to the Bikini Bottom Triangle" shows that Pearl works in the store if Mr. Krabs isn't there. But while she's gone, some old sea captain works there instead.
  • Whole Episode Flashback:
    • The episode "Missing Identity" is told in flashback by SpongeBob to a waitress and customer in the diner one night.
    • "To SquarePants or Not to SquarePants" is a flashback to "three days ago" from the beginning of the narration.
    • The Season 8 "vacation" arc of episodes ("A SquarePants Family Vacation", "Patrick's Staycation", "Walking the Plankton", "Mooncation", "Mr. Krabs Takes a Vacation") are told in flashback by whoever had the vacation, by showing a photo slideshow of the event, and the rest of the episode is what happened on said vacation.
  • Whole-Plot Reference:
    • The very first episode, "Help Wanted", is a loose remake of a scene from The Bellboy where Stanley's boss makes him set up chairs in a huge ballroom to keep him out of trouble, only to return a minute later and see every chair single set up perfectly. Just replace "setting up chairs" with "looking for a hydrodynamic spatula" and "doing it abnormally fast" with "actually finding it."
    • "Patrick Smartpants" is Flowers for Algernon. Patrick suddenly becomes smart after an accident in Jellyfish Fields. It turns out that after the top of his head was knocked off, SpongeBob put a "brain coral" on Patrick instead of Patrick's real head.
    • The episode Club SpongeBob is, believe it or not, one for Nineteen Eighty-Four, only Lighter and Softer.
    • "Culture Shock" is one for the Looney Tunes short "Show Biz Bugs", with Squidward and SpongeBob standing in for Daffy and Bugs, respectively.
    • "Porous Pockets" is one to the Prodigal Son parable; both involve the protagonist gaining an exceedingly enormous amount of wealth, and it ends with them losing it all and having to go back to their former life.
  • Why Don't You Marry It?: In "Married to Money", Plankton fails to get the Krabby Patty secret formula once again, and after listening to Mr. Krabs' statement of how money makes the world go round, he mocks him and asks "why don't you marry it." Mr. Krabs goes silent and sadly responds that if he could, he would.
  • Why Won't You Die?: Very blatant in "Demolition Doofus," when Mrs. Puff is trying to ensure that SpongeBob will die in the truck rally but his bad driving protects him, she screams, "Why are you still alive?!" SpongeBob, oblivious to this, replies: "Put it in drive?" Note that this is the closest toward mentioning death in the episode.
  • Windbag Politician: When SpongeBob was chosen hall monitor, he gave a long, boring acceptance speech (which includes a quote from an equally long speech given by a famous hall monitor). By the time he was finished, class was over without him actually performing his hall-monitor duties.
  • Wins by Doing Absolutely Nothing:
    • In the episode "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V", Mermaid Man hires the main cast to pose as superheroes against Face Heel Turned Barnacle Boy's villain group "Every Villain Is Lemons". However the team's ineptness with their super powers leads them to all injure themselves, while the villains look on dumbfounded.
    • In "The Great Snail Race", SpongeBob, Squidward and Patrick enter a snail contest, with Patrick's contestant being a rock.note  While SpongeBob's snail Gary crashes and Squidward's snail forfeits the race to be by his side, Patrick's "snail" somehow got to the finish line.
  • Withholding Their Name: In the episode, "Good Ol' Whatshisname", Squidward and SpongeBob compete in against each other to learn the names of all the customers in the Krusty Krab. When Squidward gets down to the last customer, it seems like the customer doesn't want to tell Squidward his name, as it sounds like he tells him "What's it to ya?". After Squidward takes the customer's wallet from him, getting himself arrested as a result, Squidward finds out the customer's real name is "What Zit Tooya".
  • Workaholic: SpongeBob ADORES his job at the Krusty Krab, to the point where he goes insane when Mr. Krabs tries to make him take a vacation.
  • Work Off the Debt: The plot of "Pat No Pay". Being Patrick he screws up even the simplest of jobs.
  • World of Ham: At least half of the characters on the show have a huge thing for the dramatic, and will demonstrate whenever they get the chance.
  • World's Smallest Violin: In a scene from "Squilliam Returns" in which Mr. Krabs plays the World's Smallest Violin as a variant of this trope.
    Mr. Krabs: Oh, boo hoo. Let me play a sad song for you on the World's Smallest Violin. [Does so]
    Squidward: This is serious!
    Mr. Krabs: I know. This really is the World's Smallest Violin. See? (camera focuses on his claw to show World's Smallest Violin)
  • Worm in an Apple: SpongeBob and Patrick try to raise an abandoned clam (the equivalent of birds in the setting) in "Rock-a-Bye Bivalve". Ignorant of what a clam eats, they unsuccessfully present it with an apple. However, a worm that talks and claims to be visiting from Apple World pops out from the fruit. The duo feeds the worm to the clam instead, despite the worm's threat that "we will bury you!"
  • WPUN:
    • The episode "Mid-Life Crustacean" has the oldies station KOLD.
    • Other episodes, such as "Krab Borg" feature KRUD.
      "And now, back to KRUD with all of your personal YOU WON'T GET AWAY WITH STEALING MY CAR hits!"
  • Wrong Genre Savvy: Mr. Krabs in Born Again Krabs. He thinks it's All Just a Dream and he's in the hospital "sleepin' like a baby"... until he gets the bill.
  • Wrong Restaurant:
    • In "The Bully", Patrick calls Mrs. Puff's Boating School, thinking he called Pizza Castle, and tries to order a pizza. SpongeBob is actually glad Patrick called, and hopes he will stand up to Flats for him. Unfortunately for SpongeBob, Flats is Patrick's old community college buddy.
    • In "Pizza Delivery", someone calls the Krusty Krab for a pizza by mistake. Not one to miss out on a quick buck, Mr. Krabs smashes some Krabby Patties into a pizza and has SpongeBob and Squidward deliver it. Hilarity Ensues.
    • In "Squidville", SpongeBob and Patrick are at the gate to Tentacle Acres, where Squidward has moved. Patrick mistakes the intercom for a take out window and makes an order.
    • In "Seance Schmeance", an old man keeps coming to the Krusty Krab mistaking it for the restaurant that was there before, asking for a certain sandwich. Mr. Krabs holds a seance to find the recipe and get rid of the customer once and for all.
    • In "Komputer Overload", a customer is at the drive thru of the Chum Bucket and keeps trying to order items that the Krusty Krab sells. Plankton angrily tells the customer that they don't sell any of those items, and if he wants any of those, he should go to the Krusty Krab.
  • Xtreme Kool Letterz: The Krusty Krab.
  • X Must Not Win: While usually fine defending his own business, Mr Krabs is sometimes shown to have an unsettling grudge towards any minor success his rival Plankton gains, even so much as gaining one customer is enough for him to start on an obsessive vendetta in stealing Plankton's "business."

    Y-Z 
  • Yank the Dog's Chain:
    • Some episodes tend to do this to both Squidward and Plankton. Used so often in the later seasons that it's almost the show's signature trope, especially with Squidward.
    • Happens to SpongeBob whenever he tries to get his driver's license.
  • Yes-Man: The Jellyspotters
  • "Yes"/"No" Answer Interpretation: From "Chimps Ahoy":
    Dr. Marmalade: Lord Reginald, are you all right? [shrieks and explosions are heard] I'm sorry, was that a "yes"?
  • You Can Say That Again: SpongeBob utters the line in the episode "The Two Faces of Squidward", after Patrick says "We're not just neighbors...", and Patrick, as one might expect, follows through.
  • Your Costume Needs Work: "That's the worst SpongeBob costume I've ever seen!" - Passenger on a train ride that SpongeBob himself is driving in the episode "The Krusty Sponge"
  • Your Eyes Can Deceive You: A method used by one driving teacher...and it actually works! But now SpongeBob can only drive safely while blindfolded.
  • Your Head Asplode: In "Sing A Song Of Patrick", Patrick's song is so bad, just hearing it causes a random fish's head to blow up within seconds of hearing it.
  • You Need a Breath Mint: A bystander offers one to Mr. Krabs in "Hooky" after he yells in his ear about "the hooks".
  • You No Take Candle: Patrick's sister, Sam.
  • Your Television Hates You: In "Idiot Box", Squidward is trying to forget about SpongeBob and Patrick playing in their box, but everything on TV is about boxes, even boxing.
  • Zany Cartoon: Big time.
  • Zillion-Dollar Bill: In "Goodbye, Krabby Patty?", thanks to the gigantic success of frozen Krabby Patty, Mr.Krabs receives what seems to be a 100 million dollar check, only to find out there's plenty more zeroes written all the way to its back, making the amount to be 100 nonillionnote  dollars.
  • Zombie Apocalypse:
    • Subverted in "Once Bitten", where the zombie apocalypse turns out to just be the public being hysterical.
    • In "Krabby Patty Creature Feature", Krabby Patties experimented on by Sandy cause the population of Bikini Bottom to turn into horrifying fish-burger hybrids whose only goal is to force other fish to eat them, turning them into more of said creatures.

 
Feedback

Video Example(s):

Top

The Cent of Money

Mr. Krabs splits his pants after he steals other customers' coins

How well does it match the trope?

5 (2 votes)

Example of:

Main / SplittingPants

Media sources:

Report