Line #8 GainaxEnding/SpongeBobSquarePants


1	[[quoteright:350:[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS3E16BornAgainKrabsIHadAnAccident https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/i_had_an_accident_197.png]]]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:"George, they're onto us!"\
3	"Let's get outta here!"]]
4	->'''[=SpongeBob=]:''' There's just one thing I don't understand.\
5	'''Mr. Krabs:''' What's that, laddie?\
6	'''[=SpongeBob=]:''' ''(points)'' That.\
7	''(episode ends with two Patricks laughing)''
8	-->-- "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS5E4SpyBuddiesBoatSmartsGoodOlWhatshisname Spy Buddies]]"
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10	''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' is already one of TV's weirdest shows, but some of its endings [[GainaxEnding just really take the cake]].
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12	All spoilers below are '''unmarked'''.
13	----
14	* "The Chaperone" ended by revealing that it wasn't Spongebob who took Pearl to the prom, but actually a dummy. How did it walk, talk, destroy things...?
15	* “Suds” ends with [=SpongeBob=] going to the doctor to cure the titular sickness. He gets treated by Hans taking him into the human world and using him as a kitchen sponge. He feels as good as new and even gets a [[PostTreatmentLollipop lollipop.]] Wanting one too, Patrick says that he has the suds as well. As punishment for impersonating a doctor earlier in the episode, Hans takes him into the human world, but instead of being used for cleaning, he gets rubbed on a cactus and is used to scrub a toilet.
16	-->'''Patrick:''' Wait! This doesn’t seem riiiiiight!
17	* "Bubble Buddy" ends with an angry mob attacking [=SpongeBob=] and Bubble Buddy (a humanoid soap bubble) for all the trouble [=SpongeBob=] has caused by acting as though Bubble Buddy were a real person. Just as Squidward throws a needle at Bubble Buddy, Bubble Buddy [[NotSoImaginaryFriend comes to life]], grabs the needle out of the air, and announces that "things are getting a little weird around here." He then puts on a bubble hat, produces a bubble briefcase, hails a bubble cab, [[BrickJoke wishes SpongeBob a happy Leif Erikson day]], and drives away into the sky. Everyone goes back to their ordinary lives ([[FridgeHorror except the guy Bubble Buddy was supposed to be watching over, who "experienced high tide" at Goo Lagoon]]), and [=SpongeBob=] happily cries that people grow up so fast before leaving in a flurry of bubbles. All those bubbles pop except one, and Squidward awkwardly greets it, worried that ''that'' bubble is alive too.
18	* "I'm with Stupid", which revolves around Patrick pretending to act smart for his parents' visit on "Starfish Day", randomly reveals at the end that the "parents" who visited are just a random starfish couple named Janet and Marty. Patrick's ''real'' parents have been pestering Squidward, and at this point Janet and Marty remember that they don't even have a son and leave, while Patrick and his real parents [[EveryoneLaughsEnding have a laugh over the whole crazy thing]].
19	* "Doing Time" ends with the events of the episode turning out to be AllJustADream Mrs. Puff was having while [=SpongeBob=] was crashing the boatmobile they were both in... but then it turns out to be [[DreamWithinADream a dream within several dreams]], with Mrs. Puff waking up in the same time and place with characters and elements from the episode appearing around her each time. The episode ends with Mrs. Puff still in the cycle of waking up in the crashing boatmobile and giving up with a resigned: [[GivingUpOnLogic "Oh, forget it..."]]. It really makes you wonder how she was able to fall asleep while screaming.
20	* "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS2E16GraveyardShiftKrustyLove Graveyard Shift]]" ended with all the strange occurrences being explained away as the actions of a nervous new potential employee of the Krusty Krab... except for the flickering lights. It turned out that it was the live action version of [[Film/{{Nosferatu}} Count Orlok]] ([[IAmNotShazam erroneously refered to as Nosferatu]]) turning the light switch on and off all along, and nobody seems to be bothered by this; they just gently admonish Count Orlok for playing a prank on them, which prompts the vampire to smile sheepishly.
21	* "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS3E16BornAgainKrabsIHadAnAccident I Had An Accident]]" ends with [=SpongeBob=], Patrick, and Sandy being attacked by a gorilla (played by [[RogerRabbitEffect a live-action human in a cheap costume]]). When [=SpongeBob=] [[LampshadeHanging wonders out loud]] "[[MisplacedWildlife What's a gorilla doing underwater]] [[ArmorPiercingQuestion in the first place]]?", the gorilla stops his rampage and tries to explain himself, then suddenly shouts "George, they're onto us!". Then a [[PantomimeAnimal pantomime horse]] shows up and shouts "Let's get outta here!", and the gorilla rides off into the sunset on him. The weirdness of the ending is then ''lampshaded'', as it zooms out to reveal [[NoFourthWall a live-action family watching the episode on TV]]; they're completely puzzled by the whole thing and switch the TV off, ending the episode. Said lampshade-hanging only makes it even weirder.
22	* In "[=SquidBob TentaclePants=]", [=SpongeBob=] and Squidward spend most of the episode [[FusionDance fused together]]. Because of their freaky nature, Squidward finally gets some recognition for his clarinet skills. At the end of the episode, Sandy is able to separate them, but because Squidward is no longer a "freak," people immediately start to walk out on his concert. Not wanting to lose his fame, Squidward tampers with Sandy's separation machine, and in the process, the entire main and supporting cast ends up getting caught in a blast. It then cuts to Squidward in a therapy session, where it's revealed that the show's cast has now collectively turned into an EldritchAbomination.
23	-->'''Therapist:''' So, what seems to be the problem, Mr. Tentacles?
24	-->'''Squidward:''' It all started, when I was born… [''camera pans to reveal that he's part of a giant, hideous [[FleshGolem mass of flesh]]]''
25	* "Spy Buddies" ends with Mr. Krabs and Plankton revealing that they challenged each other to see who could do each other's jobs better. They use disguises to cover up who they were during the switchup. Krabs fitting in a Plankton costume is confusing enough, but then [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick begin to take costumes off themselves, revealing they are Sandy, Squidward, and each other. What.
26	* While the animated segments of "Atlantis [=SquarePantis=]" end rather conventionally with everyone except Plankton returning home to Bikini Bottom, the way the conflict of the Patchy segments gets resolved is just flat-out random: After wandering around lost in the California desert for hours, Patchy finally finds Encino again...and it's tiny enough that Patchy can hold it in one hand. As Patchy wonders aloud what happened to it, ''aliens'' suddenly show up out of nowhere and reveal they accidentally shrank the entire city with a shrink ray (except for Patchy and Potty) and offer to return it to normal. The city whirls back to normal size, and Patchy goes home in a normal-sized Encino relieved that everything is back to normal, [[NotQuiteBackToNormal but it turns out]] that Potty [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever is now a giant]] and steps on Patchy.
27	* "Spongehenge" ends with [=SpongeBob=] returning from Jellyfish Fields, only to find Bikini Bottom destroyed by a windstorm. Cut three thousand years into the future, and alien tourists are visiting [[https://web.archive.org/web/20160428232204/http://www.tvfort.com/files/captures/spongebob-squarepants-1fbfb3/Screen-1197221.jpg the Stonehenge-esque structure that [=SpongeBob=] built earlier in the episode out of stone statues of himself.]]
28	-->'''Alien:''' To this day, no one knows why these mysterious statues were created or by whom. All we know is that the genius of their design has caused the annual migration of jellyfish to their wondrous tune.
29	* "Gullible Pants" ends with Mr. Krabs, unaware of [=SpongeBob=]'s gullibility with Squidward, being asked to do the dishes while breaking a nail again, the random fish as a fry cook in [=SpongeBob=]'s place, Squidward napping on the job amongst the dirty Krusty Krab, and [=SpongeBob=] holding cowering customers captive with his dance routine.
30	* "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS11E6NoPicturesPleaseStuckOnTheRoof No Pictures Please]]" begins with a parody of ''Franchise/TheTwilightZone''[='=]s opening as a sort of FramingDevice. The actual episode is about Patrick showing a shutterbug tourist named Rube around Bikini Bottom. Nothing truly bizarre happens until the very end, when it's shown Rube's camera never had any film in it. Rube then admits he never took pictures or even had a camera in the first place, which causes the camera to disappear in a PuffOfLogic. Rube then says he was never there at all and vanishes as well. The other characters run away from fright, and then the narrator closes off the framing device.
31	* The premise of "Cuddle E. Hugs" (already one of the show's stranger episodes) is that [=SpongeBob=] (and later others) gains the ability to see the eponymous imaginary giant hamster after eating rotten Krabby Patties. After things take a turn for the worse with everyone being "eaten" (except not really) by Cuddle E. (his middle initial "E" stands for "Eat"), [=SpongeBob=] meets Cuddle E. again and manages to feed the protesting hallucination a rotten Krabby Patty himself. SmashCut to Cuddle E. [[AllJustADream waking up as a normal, non-animated hamster]] in a hamster cage sitting in a child's bedroom covered in [=SpongeBob=] posters and memorabilia.
32	-->'''Cuddle E. Hugs:''' Aw, pellets...
33	* "The Night Patty" ends with the reveal that all the monsters [=SpongeBob=] encountered were all hallucinations conjured up by the Tidal Zone (even Patrick), as a result of overwork, as the narrator finishes off.
34	* "The String" ends with [=SpongeBob=] unraveling the entire universe using a loose string from Squidward's shirt. Once he pulls it off, leaving him against nothing but a white background, Patrick walks in. Patrick unravels [=SpongeBob=] using the string, and the episode ends there. Even better, this one is a season finale.
35	* "[=FarmerBob=]" mostly consists of [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick getting into wacky hijinks while spending a day working on Old Man Jenkins' farm until the very end when all of a sudden hillbilly aliens invade the farm because they thought there was a party (thanks to Patrick inadvertently writing something in a field that read like a party invitation to them). The rest of the episode is [[DancePartyEnding everyone having a hoedown]] and the episode proper ends with the aliens randomly coming back after leaving to abduct [=SpongeBob=], Patrick, and Mr. Krabs.
36	* The last shot of "The Krusty Bucket" is Plankton coughing up a ball of Mr. Krabs' hair (which was a RunningGag throughout), but then the hair randomly comes to life and says "Freedom!"
37	* "The Goofy Newbie" has an incredibly strange ending. After chugging a bunch of ice cream at Goofy Goober's and getting brain freeze, Patrick freezes the Earth for five billion years. Once he thaws out and gets fired, he takes it in stride, walking out and entering a giant ice cream UFO.
38	* "Goofy Scoopers" ends with a DancePartyEnding. The party also includes people who would have no reason to know about it being there immediately showing up, and the Goofy Goober's restaurant itself randomly drives off into the distance.
39	* At the end of "Slappy Daze", Slappy and Nosferatu bike back home, only to take flight and randomly get eaten by the moon.
40	* "Abandon Twits" ends with a kraken showing up out of nowhere and telling jokes, to Squidward's dismay. While it's a CallBack to ''WesternAnimation/KampKoral'', it barely makes sense even ''with'' that context.

Context GainaxEnding / SpongeBobSquarePants