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Context Recap / SpongebobSquarepantsS1E7HallMonitorJellyfishJam

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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/8c6773e4_8512_46c2_b315_8d00023c43b0.png]]
2[[caption-width-right:350:It's more than just the ''halls'' he's monitoring.]]
3
4'''Hall Monitor'''
5
6'''Original air date:''' 8/28/1999 ''(produced in 1998)''
7
8It's finally [=SpongeBob=]'s turn to be hall monitor at boating school! Unfortunately, he’s unable to do anything thanks to a ridiculously long acceptance speech, but to make it up to him, Mrs. Puff allows him to keep the uniform for the night. However, he lets the power get to his head, and goes out “monitoring” the streets of Bikini Bottom, inadvertently causing a wave of terror.
9----
10!!"Hall Monitor" contains examples of:
11* AccidentalVentriloquism: Patrick is eating ice cream when [=SpongeBob=] calls him, and Patrick thinks the ice cream is talking.
12* AllCrimesAreEqual: [=SpongeBob=] tries to arrest Patrick for vandalism by dripping ice cream on the ground.
13* TheCallsAreComingFromInsideTheHouse: "The maniac's in the MAILBOX!!!"
14* ComesGreatResponsibility: [=SpongeBob=] learns this near the end of the episode.
15* DesperatePleaForHome: After being scared by the police showing him a picture of the Maniac, Patrick breaks into tears and shouts "I wanna go home!" over the walkie-talkie.
16* TheDitz: Patrick doesn't realize that [=SpongeBob=] is the maniac until near the very end, even when he's in point-blank range. What's more, he thinks the police sketch of the Maniac ''is'' the Maniac, even when told by the cops that it's not. They have a bit of fun watching him scream every time they show him the sketch.
17* DownerEnding: The very first episode to have one: [=SpongeBob=] realizes he's the maniac, is punished by Mrs. Puff who gets arrested for this, and in the end she demands his presence... six months from now.
18* DramaticIrony: Crossed with TomatoInTheMirror. The audience ''knows'' [=SpongeBob=] is the maniac, but he and Patrick ''don't''.
19* ExplainExplainOhCrap: After Mrs. Puff scolds [=SpongeBob=] when his antics destroy half the city:
20-->'''Policeman:''' You know this guy?\
21'''Mrs. Puff:''' Of course, I do! I'm the one who gave him the uniform in the first place. He's ''my'' responsibility! ''(the cops glare at her)'' ...Uh oohhh.
22* ExtraExtraReadAllAboutIt: A paperboy gives [=SpongeBob=] a paper telling him about the Maniac.
23-->'''Paperboy:''' ''[[VocalDissonance (deep voice)]]'' Take it, friends. Arm yourselves with knowledge.
24* FacialCompositeFailure: The police sketch of the Maniac is just a stick figure [=SpongeBob=].
25* FauxHorrific: Patrick is horrified by the composite sketch of the maniac, even though it's clearly a picture of [=SpongeBob=], and not a particularly scary one at that.
26* {{Foreshadowing}}: Mrs. Puff after she allows [=SpongeBob=] to wear the Hall Monitor attire until the following morning.
27-->'''Mrs. Puff:''' What are the consequences of what I've just done?...
28* FelonyMisdemeanor: The aforementioned ice cream incident.
29* HiredToHuntYourself: [=SpongeBob=] takes it on himself to catch the Maniac, not knowing that it's him.
30* HeroWithAnFInGood: While [=SpongeBob=] is genuinely trying to do good, his efforts cause a series of traffic accidents and needless mass panic.
31* IdiotHoudini: [=SpongeBob=] spends the whole episode causing chaos and vandalism, but in the end, it's Mrs. Puff who gets arrested for giving him the title to begin with.
32* IKnowWhatWeCanDoCut: Done twice in succession when [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick try to figure out what the Maniac might do next.
33-->'''[=SpongeBob=]:''' You were a criminal once. What would you do?\
34'''Patrick:''' Hmmm... I'd get an ice cream! ''(cut to them leaving an ice cream parlor)''\
35'''[=SpongeBob=]:''' Okay, now what?\
36'''Patrick:''' Hmmm... ''(cut to them leaving the same ice cream parlor)''\
37'''[=SpongeBob=]:''' This isn't working.
38* InstantlyProvenWrong: {{Inverted}}. When Patrick worries that it's starting to get dark, the day instantly becomes night before he can finish his sentence.
39* KnightTemplar: [=SpongeBob=] is so committed to performing his monitoring duties, that he's willing to label Patrick, his best friend, as a criminal for "vandalism".
40* LawfulStupid:
41** [=SpongeBob=]. His attempts at maintaining law and order cause more problems than they solve.
42** [[PoliceAreUseless/SpongeBobSquarePants The actual police aren't much better]], misinterpreting Mrs. Puff's explanation for [=SpongeBob=]'s actions as a ''confession''.
43* LordErrorProne: [=SpongeBob=] has no idea that his attempts at helping just cause more chaos.
44* NapInducingSpeak: Except for [=SpongeBob=], all the other students are being put to sleep by Mrs. Puff's lecture.
45* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [=SpongeBob=]'s incompetent road traffic control and Open Window Maniac gag both caused him to become wanted by the town.
46* NoBadgeNoProblem: [=SpongeBob=] assumes being hall monitor is the same as being a policeman. He even goes so far as to deputize Patrick.
47* NoodleIncident: Apparently, [=SpongeBob=] has given a long-winded speech before his time-wasting hall monitor one.
48* ObliviousToHisOwnDescription: [=SpongeBob=] gets worried when he hears the news of a maniac terrorizing the citizens and causing traffic accidents, not realizing that that's exactly what he has been doing as hall monitor.
49* OhCrap:
50** Patrick when he sees the maniac.
51--->'''Patrick:''' '''''WEE WOO! WEE WOO! WEE WOO!'''''
52** [=SpongeBob=] when he finally realizes he's the maniac.
53** Mrs. Puff realizes she’s in big trouble once she tells the police that it was her idea to give [=SpongeBob=] the hall monitor outfit.
54* OwMyBodyPart: Amidst the car wrecks caused by [=SpongeBob=] in his misguided attempt to direct traffic, Fred shouts "My leg! My leg!"
55* RuleOfFunny: "Hurry [=SpongeBob=], I think it's getting- ''(suddenly turns nighttime)'' dark..."
56* ScareEmStraight: [=SpongeBob=]'s tactic to teach a couple not to leave their window open is to jump inside as the Open Window Maniac, scaring the bejesus out of them.
57* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: The first episode where [=SpongeBob=] does it (if not counting his girly "[[OhCrap OH]] [[BigNo NO!]]" shrieks from "Home Sweet Pineapple" and his crossdressing roleplay in "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy" earlier in the season); he does a series of these as part of his panic attack when he thinks the maniac is in the mailbox he's hiding in.
58* SeriousBusiness: [=SpongeBob=] takes being hall monitor ''way'' too seriously, which is why Mrs. Puff is so reluctant to give him the job.
59* ShoutOut: [[Theatre/JuliusCaesar "Friends, students, juvenile delinquents, lend me your ears!"]]
60* SuddenlyShouting: [[MemeticMutation "He's just standing there.... MENACINGLY!!"]]
61** Just before that, Patrick's timid "Wee-woo... wee-woo..." siren turns into a panicked "'''WEE-WOO-WEE-WOO'''" the second he sees the Maniac.
62* TearsOfFear: [=SpongeBob=] when he starts running around in panic that he's in the vicinity of the Maniac.
63* TemptingFate: [=SpongeBob=] causes several car wrecks by leading traffic ineptly, and he breaks into a couple's home pretending to be a maniac just to teach them a lesson. Both instances cause him to be wanted by the police.
64* ThisIsGonnaSuck: As soon as Mrs. Puff gives [=SpongeBob=] the Hall Monitor uniform, she immediately realizes the consequences of her actions are about to approach.
65* TheKillerInMe: [=SpongeBob=] unwittingly becomes a non-murderous version of this. When he begins hunting down the "maniac", it leads to a bizarre scene where Patrick is using a walkie-talkie to report on the maniac's location and somehow, [=SpongeBob=] just ''can't'' run away from him!
66-->"The maniac's IN THE MAILBOX!"
67* TomatoInTheMirror: Beyond this episode providing the page image, this trope is also played with. Namely, it takes [=SpongeBob=] the whole episode to realize he's the Maniac, while [[DramaticIrony the audience already knows it]]. The episode derives much of his humour from this.
68* TooDumbToLive: One of the first episodes where Patrick has evolved to this point in his personality. He mistakes [=SpongeBob=]'s voice for his ice cream cone talking, assumes a criminal mastermind would do nothing more than get several ice cream cones, mistakes a crude drawing for a real person, and seems to forget what [=SpongeBob=] looks like, among other things.
69* VocalDissonance:
70** The newspaper fish has a high voice when he is far away, but when he talks normal, it is rough and gritty.
71** [=SpongeBob=] affects a deeper, more heroic voice whenever he calls himself "The Hall Monitor!"
72* WhatTheHellHero: Mrs. Puff gives one to [=SpongeBob=] for the trouble he's caused in the city as the Hall Monitor. Unfortunately, she was arrested by the police after admitting them that she's responsible for giving him the uniform.
73* WindbagPolitician: Upon being named hall monitor, [=SpongeBob=] gives an incredibly long, boring acceptance speech (which includes a quote from an equally long speech from a famous hall monitor). By the time he's finished, class is over without him actually performing his actual duties. His remark to Mrs. Puff afterwards -- "I overdid the speech again, didn't I?" -- implies this isn't the first time he's done this.
74* YellowSashOfPower: Comes with the uniform.
75----
76[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2646e22d_6dc9_40d9_bf7c_9241c0c220e6.png]]
77[[caption-width-right:350:''[[{{Music/Vengaboys}} We like to party!]]'']]
78
79'''Jellyfish Jam'''
80
81'''Original air date:''' 8/28/1999 ''(produced in 1998)''
82
83[=SpongeBob=] takes in a jellyfish that won't leave him alone. Unfortunately, the jellyfish throws a big party in [=SpongeBob=]'s house, and he needs to get them out!
84----
85!!"Jellyfish Jam" contains examples of:
86* TwoDVisualsThreeDEffects: The shot that pans from [=SpongeBob's=] house to Squidward's house the next morning is the very first use of CGI in the series.
87* AlliterativeTitle: '''J'''ellyfish '''J'''am.
88* AnswerCut: Squidward asks, "How can you ''possibly'' have fun with a jellyfish?!" Cue [=SpongeBob=] and the jellyfish dancing for 12 hours straight.
89* BrickJoke:
90** When Squidward is trying to go to sleep, he states that [=SpongeBob=] is the only guy he knows who could have fun with a jellyfish for twelve hours. The next morning, Squidward says it’s been eighteen hours of torture.
91** When the swarm of Jellyfish sting Squidward, he becomes covered in red pimples, which are shown when he angrily goes to [=SpongeBob’s=] house. He is later seen in the bathtub still covered in pimples.
92* BriefAccentImitation: [=SpongeBob=] briefly affects a French accent when eating jellyfish jelly on bread, which sounds not too dissimilar to Creator/TomKenny's voice for the French Narrator.
93* BrownNote: Squidward's bad clarinet-playing has this effect on the jellyfish, causing them to go berserk. Notably, this is possibly the only occasion in the ''entire series'' in which Squidward not only acknowledges, but ''embraces'' his lack of skill, weaponising it to piss the jellyfish off further.
94* BullyingADragon: [=SpongeBob=] warns Squidward that the jellyfish don't like his music. Squidward, who by this point is too furious to listen to reason, decides to antagonise them further by blaring his awful clarinet-playing through loudspeakers. This does not end well for him.
95* CallForward: This isn't the last time [=SpongeBob=] brings a wild animal home; he would later bring a wild worm home in "Pet or Pests".
96* DeathGlare: Despite not having what would commonly be recognized as a face, the jellyfish are clearly delivering this toward [=SpongeBob=] after he breaks the music player.
97* DisneyAcidSequence: [=SpongeBob=] and the jellyfish dancing to pounding house music, accompanied by trippy visuals.
98* EpilepticFlashingLights: It's probably not wise to see the dance sequence if you have epilepsy.
99* EverythingIsAnInstrument: Gary tapping his eyeballs creates a rhythm that calms the jellyfish down. Later the jellies play their tentacles like guitar strings while bubbles, burping treasure chests, chains, dolphins, and clams provide ambience.
100* TheFarmerAndTheViper: [=SpongeBob=] offers to take in a jellyfish that seems to have bonded with him. Said jellyfish then invites its kin to party in [=SpongeBob's=] house, responding violently whenever he or someone else protests.
101* {{Foreshadowing}}: Squidward says he wouldn’t let a wild jellyfish in his house “even if it was potty-trained.” It wasn’t wrong for him to say that, as the multiple wild jellyfish give [=SpongeBob=] a hard time.
102* {{Hypocrite}}: While Spongebob meant well, he unintentionally came off as a hypocrite when he complained about how Squidward’s bad clarinet playing was making noise…when Spongebob himself (again, unintentionally) had a whole house party for 18 hours.
103* ImTakingHimHomeWithMe: The jellyfish follows [=SpongeBob=] home, and [=SpongeBob=] at first doesn't want to take him home, but he relents easily.
104* IncessantMusicMadness: [=SpongeBob=] and a jellyfish keep Squidward up all night playing loud music. When more jellyfish show up and play the music even louder, Squidward has had enough and counterattacks by playing his clarinet. This angers the jellyfish, and when [=SpongeBob's=] pleas to stop result in Squidward playing even louder, the jellyfish go over to Squidward's and sting him.
105* InstantGravestone: When the jellyfish plays dead, it appears buried under a gravestone.
106* JerkassHasAPoint: Squidward is right when he tells [=SpongeBob=] that a jellyfish is a wild animal and not a pet. He gets proven right at the climax of the episode. While antagonizing the jellyfish was only throwing fuel on the fire, you can't blame him for losing his temper after they made him lose a night sleep with their rave [[{{Hypocrite}} and Spongebob had the audacity to treat ''his'' clarinet playing as a noise disturbance]]. Even [=SpongeBob=] and the French Narrator both treat this response as KarmicOverkill and are sympathetic toward him.[invoked]
107* KnowWhenToFoldEm: After getting blasted with jellyfish stings, Squidward stops trying to harass the jellyfish with his clarinet and gives it to [=SpongeBob=].
108-->'''Squidward:''' Everybody's a critic. ''(hands his clarinet over)'' They won't be hearing from ''me'' anymore...
109* LaserGuidedKarma:
110** [=SpongeBob=] should’ve known bringing a wild jellyfish into his house was a bad idea, as he ignores Squidward when he says he wouldn't let a wild jellyfish in his house. [=SpongeBob=] doesn’t have one, but a whole swarm of jellyfish to deal with in the morning.
111** Admittedly, Squidward deserved his fate from the jellyfish for playing his music loudly to aggravate the jellyfish more.
112* LoudOfWar: After being kept up all night by the music, Squidward decides to [[StartXToStopX fight fire with fire]] and starts playing his clarinet. This only aggravates the jellyfish, and when [=SpongeBob=] tries to warn Squidward, he just plays louder. This leads the jellyfish to attack him.
113* MinimalistCast: The only main characters present are [=SpongeBob=], Squidward, and Gary.
114* MisplacedRetribution: When Squidward pisses off the jellyfish by [[DreadfulMusician badly playing his clarinet]], they take it out on [=SpongeBob=] by swarming around him in dual-ring formation and repeatedly zapping him. When Squidward proceeds to spitefully play his clarinet even louder, the jellyfish proceed to take it one step further and completely destroy [=SpongeBob=]'s house, and only ''then'' do they finally get back at Squidward.
115* MobileShrubbery: To get close to the jellyfish at the beginning, [=SpongeBob=] disguises himself as a piece of coral.
116* MusicSoothesTheSavageBeast: The jellyfish calm down thanks to the funky beat of Gary's eyes clacking. Inverted by Squidward's clarinet-playing, which just drives them berserk.
117* OhCrap: When the jellyfish attack Squidward for playing his clarinet and when [=SpongeBob=] breaks the music player.
118* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: [=SpongeBob=]'s patience is brought to its absolute limit when the jellyfish invade his house, vandalize the place, and attack Squidward. When they burn Squidward's clarinet in a bonfire, he ''[[RageBreakingPoint explodes]]''.
119-->'''[=SpongeBob=]:''' ''(blows bubbles out his pore holes with a loud foghorn sound)'' OKAY! THAT IS IT! [[GetOut EVERYBODY OUT!]]
120* ReachingBetweenTheLines: When Squidward calls to complain about the noise, a jellyfish answers and squirts strawberry jelly through the phone.
121* SpoofAesop: "[=SpongeBob=] has learned one of the sea's harshest lessons: wild animals can throw ''very'' wild parties."
122-->'''Squidward:''' ''(bathing from all the jellyfish stings)'' Ahhhh....\
123'''Narrator:''' Ooh, I felt that.
124* SuddenlyShouting: "[=SpongeBob=] is the only guy I know that can have fun with a jellyfish... FOR TWELVE HOURS!"
125* SynchronizedSwarming: The jellyfish form, among other things, a hand to pick up [=SpongeBob=], a conveyor belt, and a smiley face (which turns into an angry face when Squidward plays his clarinet).
126* TheThingThatWouldNotLeave: The jellyfish (plural, not just the first one) become this to [=SpongeBob=].
127* WildTeenParty: The jellyfish invites others to a late-night party at [=SpongeBob's=], which lasts for 18 hours.
128----
129->'''Squidward:''' ''(sighs)'' [=SpongeBob=] is the only guy I know that can [[JustForFun/TVTropesWillRuinYourLife browse TV Tropes]]... ''FOR TWELVE HOURS!!!''\
130'''French Narrator:''' Six hours later...\
131'''Squidward:''' ''(really angry)'' RRRRRRRR!!! ''EIGHTEEN HOURS!!!!!''

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