Headscratchers / SpongeBob SquarePants

Unreasonable Customer's Troll Logic

• The customer in "Pizza Delivery" didn't order a drink, right? Then why the heck did he expect he'd get one?! Did he think it was some kind of menu deal or something? Or is he senile? Just... what?
  • Maybe he DID order a drink, but Krabs didn't hear it cause he was too busy thinking about money.
  • That kind of customer exists IRL. Squidward's response is just what everyone who's ever worked retail has wanted to do to them.
  • Maybe he was planning on ordering a drink, but forgot to, then thought he had.

Mrs. Puff knowing Patrick

• This is from "Doing Time". SpongeBob enlists Patrick's help to get Mrs. Puff out of jail, and this turns out to be All Just a Dream. But Mrs. Puff hadn't met Patrick before this episode, and "New Student Starfish" is clearly her meeting him for the first time. If the events of "Doing Time" are really her dream, how does she know who Patrick is, let alone that he's SpongeBob's friend and where he lives?
  • The show isn't exactly known for great episode to episode continuity. There was one episode where Larry had no idea who Spongebob was despite having meant and even spent time with him many times before. And even if there is some continuity going on, the order of the airing of each episode might not match the in-universe chronology. In which case "Doing Time" might very well have taken place after "New Student Starfish".
  • Mrs. Puff already met Patrick in "Band Geeks". It wasn't until "New Student Starfish" where they get properly acquainted.

More Like How is He Supposed to Eat This Pizza When it's Dirty

• In "Pizza Delivery", how is the customer upset that there is no drink, but doesn't seem to care the pizza is not only hours late, but virtually inedible (SpongeBob having thoroughly tampered it, even using it as a parachute)?
  • Considering that the Krusty Krab is anything but a pizzeria, maybe he was glad he got a pizza at all. He also didn't look to see what condition it was in, so for all he knew it was fresh but took a long time to make.
  • Perhaps that obstreperous dork knows Krabs has him dead to rights on everything else? SpongeBob's level of inventiveness, endurance and determination proves him to be a true Deliverator - meaning that Mr. Krabs doesn't have to apologize for ugly, ruined, cold pizzas...or seemingly even late ones. Whether or not he's really on the hook for the drink is a question for the ages, although this troper would very much like to see the kind of "free trip to Italy" Mr. Krabs would try to pass off if pressed.

Clucking Mad Over Plaid... but Not Always

• In "Little Yellow Book" (season 9), it is revealed that SpongeBob starts clucking like a chicken every time he sees plaid. However, in "Stanley S. Squarepants" (season 5), SpongeBob briefly met Sandy's Scottish cousin, who was wearing a kilt and a matching plaid hat, and he didn't act like a chicken at all.
  • Maybe whatever caused SpongeBob to act this way around plaid happened sometime after he met Sandy's cousin.
  • To note, he sells plaid patties to a Scottish Fish in "Patty Hype" and that made his body plaid (season 2), he saw Krabs wearing plaid in "Model Sponge" (season 7), and he and Patrick not only even wear plaid in "A Friendly Game" (season 8), but also later episode "ScavengerPants" (season 11). Again, this was his worker's diary and maybe he means employees in plaid at the Krusty Krab. Another thing to note is that he takes his clothes off when hearing the Bikini Bottom National Anthem but he and Plankton (in Robo-Krabs) sang it in "Imitation Krabs" (season 2). Again, Squidward plays an instrumental whereas SB and Plankton sang it. Maybe he means that when he hears it on a radio.

Literate, but Dependent Pet

• How come Gary can read the newspaper ("Rock-a-Bye Bivalve") and pay the bills ("Jellyfish Hunter"), but he can't use the bathroom ("Sponge Out of Water") or feed himself? ("Clams")
  • He's very well trained.
  • Being literate and able to do maths doesn't make him able to open doors or cans.
  • SpongeBob normally stores the snail food high up in cabinets as shown in "I Was a Teenage Gary", meaning Gary lacks the means of reaching them on his own.
  • Pretty sure snails are known to be able to cling onto walls. Also, snails are the aquatic equivalent of cats, so it wouldn't be unheard for Gary to climb up the cabinets to reach the food.
    • His food is in a can, so he probably can't open cans.

The "Mr. Puff" Gag

• Maybe I'm missing something, but this piece of dialogue in "Krusty Love" makes no sense to me:

SpongeBob: That's my driving teacher, Mrs. Puff!

Mr. Krabs: Mrs. Puff? Aw, she's married.

SpongeBob: Oh, no, Mr. Krabs. She's single.

Mr. Krabs: Then what happened to Mr. Puff?

First Mr. Krabs assumes that Puff is Mrs. Puff's husband's name, hence the "Aw, she's married". But, when Spongebob says "she's single", why did Mr. Krabs still ask about Mr. Puff? That would be a fitting answer to the statement "she's a widow". Also, we immediately see that there was a Mr. Puff who is dead, so Mrs. Puff is actually a widow, not a single lady.

• I'm a little confused about what you're not getting, but to break it down: Mr. Krabs assumes that Puff is Mrs. Puff's husband's name because in the USA the wife traditionally takes on the surname of the husband. When Spongebob says, "Oh no, she's single" Mr. Krabs asks about Mr. Puff because he's confused on how a Mrs. is single; if she was Ms. Puff he would have just taken "she's single" for granted. He just doesn't know if she's separated from her husband, divorced, a widow, or what. SpongeBob also said "she's single" instead of "she's a widow" because he might not know, himself, what happened to Mr. Puff since Mrs. Puff "doesn't like to talk about it." Additionally, he knew that Mr. Krabs wanted to date her, so he responded that way to convey that Mrs. Puff is unattached and available (what "single" means in a dating context,) while calling someone a widow has a different connotation.
• (Original Poster) What I didn't get is why SpongeBob would say that Mrs. Puff is single when it's obvious that she's been married at some point in her life. In my country, being single means one person has never been married. Otherwise, this person is married, in a civil union, divorced, or a widow/ widower. By the above explanation, I understand he was encouraging Mr. Krabs to ask her for a date but still sounds weird to me. Here we would never call "single" a divorced or widow lady unless we wanted to deliberately lie about her status.
• The reason why the writers didn't say "widow" is due to either Never Say "Die", a mistake or as a way for SpongeBob to confirm that in addition to not currently having a husband, or that Mrs. Puff is also not dating anyone else.
• It's a USA thing then. Over here someone can be single regardless of whether or not they were previously married, and people who have gotten divorced can say they're "single again" without it being strange.

• Actually, on that note, why does Mrs. Puff still go by the "Mrs." honorific? Is she in denial or something?
  • Again, this show was written from a U.S. perspective. In the U.S. it is not odd at all for a widow to keep her deceased husband's name. Just because he's dead doesn't erase him from memory. Going a step further a lot of women keep their married names even after divorce and that's not considered strange either. They do this because their husband's name might carry weight in some circles, they don't want to confuse their children, or they just don't want the hassle of changing their name.
    • You misunderstand. I'm not asking why she didn't reclaim her maiden name. I asked why she doesn't go by "Ms. Puff".
    • The answer is exactly the same. Widows in the U.S. do not typically change their courtesy titles upon the death of their husbands. They certainly have that option, but traditionally they keep the title "Mrs", to honor their deceased husband. They might use "Mrs" and her own name. Or she might even use "Mrs" and the husband's full name, well after his death. It's considered old-school and traditional but it's definitely not odd or an indication of denial.

Oak vs Apple

• Is Sandy's tree an oak or an apple tree? It produces acorns or apples Depending on the Writer. Should we suppose that she has genetically modified it so it would produce both?
  • That might be the actual answer considering that Sandy does experiments and has invented several things.

Crab + Crab = Whale?!

• Is there any possibility that Pearl might be adopted? Because Mrs. Krabs is supposedly Pearl's mother, so how the hell could two crabs create a whale child?!
  • I think it's pretty obvious she's adopted.
  • Also worth noting — Mrs. Krabbs is Mr. Krabbs mother, not wife (that is to say, Pearl's grandmother). Also, while it seems obvious for biological reasons that Pearl is adopted, it might be worth noting that Mr. Krabbs is implied to have been married at one point (e.g. when he says things like "I've been alone for so long!"), kids cost money (something Krabbs is highly adverse to), and logic in SpongeBob SquarePants is never necessarily a barrier to ANYTHING, it's still possible Pearl is biologically his child as well.
    • Maybe she's not biologically his child, but the wife was already pregnant when they got married.
  • One of the children's books had Mr. Krabs saying that Pearl "takes after mother that way", which would, somewhat (depending on whether or not you'd view it as canon) confirm that her mother is a whale, however, exactly what happened to her isn't said.

Confusion Didn't Get Past the Radar

• Here are some radar-related questions:
  • We've seen the episode "Chocolate with Nuts", and at one point, SpongeBob points out that barnacle chips are not delicious, while Patrick replies with "not the way I use them". What was he talking about when he said that?
    • It's clear he doesn't eat them, whatever he's doing.
    • Or possibly he does eat them but he dips them in something weird, however, then he probably wouldn't use the word "use", but this is Patrick we're talking about.
    • Adult joke aside (is there even one?), could be he "uses" them as ingredients in a recipe, which would make "use" correct and also explain how this "usage" makes them delicious.
  • There's also the cake from "Overbooked" and somebody wrote that what it originally said was "sorry about the scabies". What the hell are scabies?
    • Google is your friend. But I'll tell you anyway upon my own research: it's a kind of skin disease marked by small itching and red spots. The reason it's a radar moment is because it's considered by many to be an STD, kind of like herpes.
    • What do scabies have to do with this?
    • Uhh... everything? I literally just answered what scabies was?
    • Correction: Scabies is a rash caused by by a skin mite (sarcoptes scabiei) and it's highly contagious. Other than that, yes, in the context of the joke, it's an STI, as that was an apology cake.
  • Then, we have that one moment in "Something Smells". What does Squidward mean when he replies to SpongeBob shouting, "I'm ugly and I'm proud!!"?
    • There are devout religious people who consider the practice of homosexuality a sin and call people who live by sin ugly. I always assumed Squidward thought he was yelling a coded version of "I'm gay and I'm proud!".
    • Squidward's line in that scene is very close to a Stock Phrase often used to lampshade a Sexual Euphemism, and is also a common reaction to I Call Him "Mister Happy". Meaning that Squidward thought he was overhearing SpongeBob having sex and/or shouting about being proud of his penis.
    • On a non-naughty level, “Is that what he calls it?” also works as Squidward just agreeing that SpongeBob is unpleasant in some way, even if he doesn’t actually think he’s visually ugly. I.e. “‘Ugly’? I’d say more like ‘annoying’, but at least he can recognize he’s awful in some way.”

Spongebob's Young Age "Drives" Me Crazy!

• Isn't SpongeBob too young to drive anyways let alone take driving tests? It's pointed out he's just a kid, which was frequently pointed out in the movie. The 2004 one.
  • Not exactly. I think when they said he was a kid, they meant mentally, as in he's too immature to take on the management of the Krusty Krab 2.
  • Also, calling someone "kid" isn't necessarily literal; I've seen plenty of adults being called kid. It's much relative to the age of the person who calls them kid; if Mr. Krabs called him kid, it wouldn't be weird because he's middle-aged and Spongebob is considerably younger. I think Word of God said somewhere Spongebob is in his mid-20's (a fairly young age to be a manager), but I could be wrong about that.
  • Word of God had confirmed that SpongeBob is an adult with the heart/mind of a child.

Based on a True Menu?

• Does most of the lexicon Bubble Bass uses for his order even have real-world analogues? Some of it definitely comes from the In-N-Out Burger secret menu, but I've never heard anybody use "light axle grease" to denote butter on a burger. And no one's explanations make sense, because SpongeBob serves him a single patty on two regular hamburger buns on a dine-in platter, not several patties between between several slices of toast in a take-out bag, and the only thing Bubble Bass finds fault with is the lack of pickles.
  • Every restaurant has it's own secret menu — while most of his terms likely do come from real-world lexicon, odds are that there's a few ones that the writers threw in to make the Krusty Krab more unique.
    • Binging with Babish was able to recreate his order using his terminology, so it looks like all or most of them are real terms. It does look nothing at all like what Spongebob brought out, but maybe that's just artistic license since it'd be pretty hard to animate Bubble Bass eating such a monstrosity as he ordered.

Spineless Spongebob

• How come SpongeBob never had the balls to stand up to people and defend his belongings (i.e. "Bubble Buddy" and "Little Yellow Book")? What I meant by listing those two episodes is that in "Bubble Buddy" he did almost absolutely nothing to protect the titular object from the angry mob. In "Little Yellow Book" he just cries while Squidward reads his diary.
  • Standing up to an angry mob can be incredibly difficult in real life and requires lots of courage and self-esteem. SpongeBob has a big heart but that doesn't mean he's rich in those qualities ("SpongeBob, Sandy and the Big Worm", "Grandma's Kisses"). I agree with you on the diary episode, though.
    • On an unrelated note, that could explain why the Simpson family didn't help Homer in The Simpsons Movie, from the entire town of Springfield under the dome, if you know what I mean. Thanks for the answer.
    • To top it off, he found out later that Squidward read his (work) diary in "Little Yellow Book" and didn't really know and, in the case of "Bubble Buddy", he tried but they threw him out of the way.

The Sleep Mask

• This is for humor: How did Squidward know Mr. Krabs wore a sleep mask?
  • Wild Mass Guessing, maybe?
    • Actually, after some time ago, I figured out that it implied that Squidward watches Krabs while he sleeps.
    • Maybe, but, then again, Squidward was employed by Mr Krabs longer, so it's not unlikely that he's probably found out about it.

Geography

• If Bikini Bottom is supposed to be under Bikini Atoll, what's up with the Bubble Bowl?
  • Perhaps it could be far away from Bikini Bottom?

Unnecessary Water Helmet

• Why does Mr. Krabs wear a water helmet in Sandy's Treedome in "Overbooked", when crabs are amphibious (meaning they can breathe both air and water)?
  • He says that, in "The Krabby Patty That Ate Bikini Bottom", that he doesn't need a helmet in the dome, as long as he keeps his body moist. He may have worn a helmet to stay hydrated.

Limbs Can Regenerate, but Not Heads

• In Karate Star, we are shown that Patrick's limbs can regenerate very quickly. Why didn't his head regenerate in "Patrick SmartPants"?
  • Likely because Patrick requires his brain to regenerate. Remember in "Spy Buddies" where two Patricks appear at the end? Could the other brain from Patrick SmartPants have generated a new body? Then again, the other hand regenerated a body...
    • That brain was in the sand, so that may be the reason it didn't grow into a whole new body. Though on the part about the hand, it probably regenerates into a body, and then the brain develops.
  • This falls in line of starfish IRL (which don't have brains), as a severed arm or one cut in half can regenerate another starfish. Some species can do this with only just a limb, while others require a core part of the starfish. Patrick's species is the kind where they can just regrow from limbs.

Bird Breath

• From the episode "Selling Out", there was the part where Mr. Krabs sang. My question is how does a living yellow bird fly and tweet under water?
  • There have been campfires on the show and this is what worries you?
  • Rule of Funny or Water Is Air?
  • Maybe Mr. Krabs is only imagining the bird.

Time Travel

• In "Dunces and Dragons," how DID SpongeBob and Patrick warp into Medieval Times?
  • The ending implies that it was All Just a Dream, until Patrick reveals that he landed on Squidly.
    • So, again, how did SpongeBob and Patrick warp into Medieval Times?
    • A Wizard Did It
    • It WAS a dream. The "Squidley" guy was probably an ordinary costumed squid working for the Medieval Moments attraction.

You're Not Really Ghosts, Guys! You Still Need to Breathe!

• In "Pranks A Lot," SpongeBob and Patrick turn themselves invisible and try to scare Sandy into thinking they're ghosts... by wearing sheets over their entire bodies, making them very visible. However, if one looks at the shape of their figures while they have the sheets on, it's obvious that they don't have their water helmets on (which they need to survive inside Sandy's treedome). Yes, this is a minor issue, but the people demand continuity!
  • To be fair they were only in there for a few seconds. Also, maybe the artists decided to omit the helmets to make their silhouettes more distinguishable.
  • Blankets trap water. They could've given Spongebob and Patrick an extended lease on life.

Illuminati Toy

• In the episode with the Toy Barrel, For some reason the Illuminati Logo- the All Seeing Eye appears twice, one in the pile of toys in Squidward's house, the other one in the Toy Barrel itself. Why are they there? Who would want to buy an Eye in a pyramid for a toy?
  • Brainwashing. Also, it might be related to the Cephalopod Lodge.
  • Maybe the eye symbol means something different in Bikini Bottom.

At the End of the Day, There's Still This Question

• Why doesn't Plankton just sneak into the Krusty Krab at night to steal a Krabby Patty or the formula? No one's (usually) there at night, the security is nil, and the two times Plankton does it, the only reason for his failure was because he involved SpongeBob both times.
  • Hey, I'm guessing this is where Willing Suspension of Disbelief comes in. I thought so too, then I realized that evil might just have a bedtime too.
  • I think they showed that security wasn't that bad at the Krusty Krab. In one episode Squidward breaks in at night and gets lit on fire by a gasoline trap. He simply doesn't want to risk immolation for the recipe.
    • That scene did get an Orwellian Retcon, though...
    • Erm, How?
    • Moral Guardians
    • It was actually cut because the method used to start the fires resembled terrorism.
    • Even if it didn't get retconned, it still flies in the face of SpongeBob's claim. "I always come to work at 3AM! This is when I count the sesame seeds."
  • He's tiny. He can't exactly get up on tables or open doorknobs, which is why he can't steal the formula without some kind of assistance.
    • Then why doesn't he just use one of his robots to open the doors?
    • He's tried, at various times. It never seems to work out right.
  • There is a theory floating around that Plankton, with all of his schemes, is actually doing a form of attrition to make Krabbs want to give up the forumla.

Copying the Formula

• Why doesn't Plankton just get a note pad and copy the formula? Mr. Krabs will never know.
  • Also even without SpongeBob he drops the ball a lot by himself, either by having a convoluted plan failing at the part where he shows himself to Krabs or changing life with Krabs only for crumbling under the insanity.
  • He (except on some occasions) never seems to find the formula, and when he does, it's just a decoy.

Weird Crowd to Sell Drinks To

• This is from "Bubble Buddy"; why are there vendors selling "Ice-cold drinks" to people waiting in line to use the restroom?
  • Captive audience. Also, just because you have to go doesn't mean you're not thirsty.
  • I assumed it was one of those running gags of when someone has to go badly, there's always liquids or running water nearby.
  • As a holder of Bachelor's Arts in Economics, I can tell you that vendors don't really care what kind of problems their potential customers have. They just want to find the biggest crowd of people on their turf and sell them something. Why? Because (LOTS of customers X price = LOTS of revenue/profit!)
  • Being in a long line for something means you can't access food and drinks unless someone arrives and sells it to you. Try going on any of the rides at Disney or Universal theme parks, and you'll actually wish vendors would come to you like they did in "Bubble Buddy".
    • The point is that they were waiting to go to the bathroom, and drinking anything would only make them more uncomfortable as they waited. That's probably the joke, though.
    • It wouldn't make them more uncomfortable, because liquid has to pass through your bloodstream before it becomes pee. We're not all walking Betsy Wetsy dolls.

Nowhere to Sleep

• Where did everyone (excluding SpongeBob) sleep in "Gone!"? Outside?
  • At the episode's end, everybody returns on a bus, so it's implied that they went far away. They may have gone to another city that had enough hotels to hold them all.
    • With the burning SpongeBob effigy, it's likely to be a parody of Burning man so they probably went to the middle of nowhere and camped out.

Color-Changing Underwear

• What did Patrick mean when he said his underwear was white when he bought them?
  • He repeatedly wet his pants enough to turn them yellow.
  • Okay, first of all I wrote this earlier today and I'm surprised I got an answer hours later. Second of all, if they stay yellow, does this mean he never washes his clothes?
    • It's in my watchlist. Also, this is Patrick Star. He's lazy and has terrible hygiene, so I can't imagine he does laundry very often.
  • Speaking of laundry, another way he could turn his underwear yellow is by mixing white with yellow in the washer.
  • The movie outright states that Patrick once wore the same underwear for three years straight, having yellow-stained underwear would not be out of character for him.

Cannibalism

• Krabby Patties are fish burgers. All the customers are fish. Yeah, that's exactly what this show needs: cannibalism.
  • How'd you find out what the secret ingredient is? And how are you so sure you're right?
    • In the episode where Sandy wants to go back to Texas, at one part SpongeBob asks her if she wants to eat one final Krabby Patty, and she replies, "I don't wanna eat any more fish".
    • She said she was "tired of fish food, SpongeBob." Not that the food was actually made out of fish.
    • Although it is worth noting that fish food is generally made out of ground-up fishmeal.
  • On the same vein, one of the *ahem* Season 6 episodes had a criminal being arrested for eating quasi-gummi fish (the policefish said that he was a monster for eating his own kind). Besides the weirdness of the blatant cannibalism joke, where would he get those? I mean, if he was smoking the Bikini Bottom equivalent of weed, that would make sense, but a cannibalistic candy? How would you advertise them?!
    • It's not that weird an idea. Sour Patch Kids, Jelly Babies, etc. sell in our world.
    • Maybe... you buy it in a back alley, like crack.
    • More so, when the audience accidentally got fried in "The Fry Cook Games", that guy sold them as fish sticks and nobody complained.
    • They cut to another scene soon after so we wouldn't see the mass riot that would ensue.
    • They had a sign to switch to. They suspected it would happen.
  • I can't believe nobody has pointed this out yet: CHUM IS A TYPE OF FISH. Y'know, chum, as in CHUM BUCKET? Yeah, I think I know why nobody eats there...
    • So in the episode where SpongeBob was putting lies into a newspaper, he was telling THE TRUTH about the Chum Bucket?! (Plankton's Chum made of your chums!)
    • And SpongeBob SquarePants has now reached the same level of Nightmare Fuel as Soylent Green. Conglaturations.
    • If this troper is right, a "chub" is a cut of fish. "Chum" is fish ground up into a paste-like substance to be tossed into water to attract sharks... dang it.
    • "Spongicus" and "Jailbreak!" confirm the abscene of dead fish, although only the former mentions there is whale blubber.
    • Speaking of which, why don't we actually see any sharks in SpongeBob? The only one I can think of is the bodybuilder who appeared in the infomercial in "Musclebob Buffpants".
    • You're forgetting the family of sharks shown in "Spongeguard on Duty".
    • And the shark guy who taught SpongeBob how to drive blindfolded.
    • And the shark from the Anchor Arms commercial.
    • That's the bodybuilder from the infomercial in "Musclebob Buffpants" mentioned above.
    • Speaking of sharks, wouldn't they like chum? And thus become customers of Plankton's Chum Bucket? Never mind, this troper hasn't seen SpongeBob in quite a while...
    • They would, it's just that Plankton is really, really bad at making it. Squidward's chum is shown to be so good that even SpongeBob completely forgets about Krabby Patties after eating it because it's just that much better.
  • The buns are apparently made of seaweed (according to the episode in which Plankton hijacked SpongeBob's brain) so the meat could be just about anything.
    • Seaweed-seed. One would assume this is similar to how we use sesame seeds.
  • Ummm...fish eat other fish. I mean, look at sharks.
  • Yeah, it's only cannibalism if that species eats its own species.
  • Well, if you're going to call realism into this, then Plankton's a good meal for Pearl and Gary, and Patrick can be eaten by Mr. Krabs and jellyfish. Wait a minute, that's it! Krabby meat is made from starfish.
    • One post-movie episode actually played on this by having Plankton think that Pearl was out to eat him.
    • But... she's a sperm whale, which are carnivorous and prey primarily on squid... if anything, she should be trying to eat Squidward.
    • Squidward is an octopus.
    • So he would eat Mr. Krabs?
    • Yes. Octopi love to eat crabs.
  • Does that mean Patrick's the cannibal?
  • Well, Sea Bears and Sea Rhinoceros (Rhinoceri?), nothing says they can't have (non-Manatee) Sea Cows for hamburgers.
    • Lionfish and seahorses have been shown to act like real (non-sentient) lions and horses, so a manatee being equivalent to a non-sentient cow is not out of the question.
  • I always thought the Krabby Patties were made from sea cows since Sandy drove a herd of them in one episode.
    • Alternatively, Krabby Patties are made out of crabs! Crabs are scavengers anyways, so it wouldn't be too out of the blue.
    • Supported in the episode where Mr. Krabs is having a mid-life crisis, eats a Krabby Patty and says "So that's what I taste like"
    • Boy:"Mommy, my Krabby Patty tastes funny." Mother:" Well no wonder, it's all old and dried out. Like that man over there. Now put it away where it belongs. In the garbage." That's how Krabs gets the patty and tries it.
  • Word of God says that Krabby Patties might be vegetarian.
  • Ah, Carnivore Confusion at its finest.
• Did the writers forget that corals are animals, not plants? Not only does Grandma Squarepants feed SpongeBob steamed coral, but the Krusty Krab HAS A MENU ITEM CALLED CORAL BITS. Yet somehow Plankton's the asshole for serving chum?
  • What constitutes as food and not food in the show varies over time due to the series' poor continuity. Sea urchins for example are portrayed as living creatures in many episodes, yet are also seen as food in "Growth Spout". Also, animals sometimes eat other animals, meaning it's not cannibalism if the animals in question aren't the same species as the eater. With that in mind, most of the Krusty Krab's customers are fish, so it makes sense why they wouldn't eat chum but have no qualms over eating other animal-based foods.

Underwater Water

• How do they have running water under the sea?
  • In a similar vein, how come that Bikini Bottom's got a beach when it's already underwater? And how come that, in that episode with SpongeBob's bubble friend, a fish drowns because the bubble friend didn't dig him out of the sand and the tide came? I mean, the guy's a fish and they're underwater anyway, for Christ's sake!
    • In both cases, Rule of Funny.
    • Their "seaside" is actually tar (Goo Lagoon), which fish cannot breathe. As for why it has a tide, volcanic activity.
    • Does tar flow in rivers? Does it have surfable waves? Wouldn't the Goo Lagoon actually have goo in it? And while I'm at it, how did that 'wind whistling through SpongeBob's holes' thing work?
    • Plus, in "Ditchin", SpongeBob is sinking in the Bikini Bottom Tar Pit, where he is, you know, DYING. This means either it depends how sticky he tar is, or Goo Lagoon must be something else.
  • I recall one episode where they said it was mud ("Ripped Pants") but there was another ("Sponge Guard On Duty") that said it was in fact water. I'm assuming Rule of Funny.
    • In that case, Goo Lagoon is a mixture of both: Gooey water that's wet enough to swim in, but gooey enough to be separate from the main seawater.
    • It's entirely possible that Goo Lagoon is a brine pool.
  • They parodied this in the episode "Pressure", where Mr. Krabs gives SpongeBob something to drink before he goes up on dry land... an empty glass. Y'know, 'cause there's water everywhere.
  • And during the Party episode:
  SpongeBob: I would go to this party, but I can't read the invitation! The ink's all running! Whoever sent these invitations clearly didn't understand the physical limitations of life underwater. Well! I guess we can just throw these on the fire!
  • If SpongeBob couldn't read the note, how did he even know it was an invitation to a party?
  • And again in the "Life of Crime" episode:
  Patrick: (sitting with SpongeBob around a campfire) Hey, if we're underwater, how can there be a- (fire goes out)
  • Well, this troper always assumed that the 'water' is brine, much like underwater brine lakes...
  • Can we just attribute all this to Water Is Air unless reminding viewers that it is water they live in gets more laughs and be done with it?

Going to Your Enemy's Party

• Why did Squidward and Mrs. Puff (both of whom hate SpongeBob) go to his parties in "SpongeBob Meets the Strangler"?
  • Its been shown often that Mrs. Puff and Squidward only hate SpongeBob because of how he acts during boating and work, ie how he fails every test and how he is "annoyingly" cheerful and/or too wacky to reason with. In fact, Mrs. Puff tries to protect SpongeBob from going to jail and Squidward has shown concern for SpongeBob more than once, and both have shown to be protective of his childlike innocence, for instance during the Hall Monitor and Pizza episodes. So it's no stretch for them to go to his parties, especially since their other friends will be there. Not to mention this was during the early seasons when their hatred wasn't as pronounced. It's only in the later seasons that they adamantly refuse to have anything to do with him, and even go as far as to try and kill him.

Why is Littering Serious?

• Why so many episodes make littering Serious Business. The first time littering was used as an offense was "Squid On Strike", but it was a minor gag. After the movie, it has shown up in several episodes. SpongeBob's Cousin Black Jack was in prison for it (wonder what he did?). In "Driven to Tears", the cop pursues Patrick and SpongeBob after SpongeBob tears up Patrick's license, claiming "This is why I joined the force!" (made even worse when SpongeBob tells him about Patrick's bad driving, and he calls him a tattletale). The worst offender would be "Keep Bikini Bottom Beautiful", where apparently having a melted statue counts as litter, even if the city erected it. Rule of Funny aside, it's becoming ridiculous. Of course, there are only so many offenses a kid-friendly show can show. (Heck, they tried with the "fish candy", and made the complaint above.)
  • I think it's because litter and pollution underwater would kill the fish by choking them to death. You've heard of all those dolphins who get caught in the plastic can holder things right?
    • But, their water has gravity, and their dumps aren't contained in a HAZMAT unit or anything, it's just left open exposed to the water like any other dump would.
    • It's a combination of Rule of Funny and a pun on the fact that underwater critters suffer because of human littering and waste. It doesn't have to make consistent sense in-universe.
  • This troper is reminded of the song Alice's Restaurant, which does involve getting arrested, by the FBI yet, for littering.
    • The Police Are Useless, and it also doubles as a Can't Get Away with Nuthin'.
  • Considering that Stephen Hillenburg was a marine biologist and how, particularly now, a lot of concern about pollution is how said pollution affects the seas, this could be a subtle form of Fridge Brilliance.

Little Men

• In several places (most notably in The Movie), we see that SpongeBob & Co. are just a few inches tall. This makes Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy even more confusing.
  • Well, Mermaid Man DOES have a Shrink Ray...
    • And if you recall they never did show if they managed to un-shrink themselves when SpongeBob got a hold of Mermaid Man's belt. Could be a Call-Back to that.
  • So that means all Nicktoons are tiny and translated?
    • No. The fish are fish-sized, The Angry Beavers are beaver-sized, the Rugrats are baby-sized, etc.
  • Or else SpongeBob later reversed the shrink effect with Squidward's Kelp Grow.
    • Either that, or David Hasselhoff is a robotic construct piloted by the real thing.
    • Maybe Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy are sea-beings that happen to be small? Part sea monkeys, perhaps?
    • Sea apes, actually.
    • Or maybe they're beings that are to sea monkeys what humans are to chimps and other lower primates?
  • Wait, no one has realized how Pearl is smaller than most whale embryos?
    • She was obviously an evil whale that was shrunk and made friendlier by Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy.
    • If we're going by the whole "David Hasselhoff is HUGE" thing, you only saw David Hasselhoff up against SpongeBob and Patrick, not Pearl or Mermaid Man or anyone. Sea sponges and starfish aren't very big in real life.
    • She's half-crab. Fulfills the minimum required logic for SpongeBob.
  • I kinda figured that inches were their version of feet or that their size isn't relevant, unless an episode calls for it to be.

Banned From Boating

• Considering how many times SpongeBob has failed his boating test, can't they just ban him from boating due to some mental deficiency or something?
  • Not necessarily, it might have something to do with anxiety, as he knows how to drive or, rather, possesses the skills and knowledge to but he becomes anxious, thus causing him to freak out and fail, which it would be a Real Life reason as to why.
    • He doesn't seem nervous, though.
  • He does panic when he's told to do certain commands on Puff's driving course, so he probably could be licensed if he took a specific kind of driving course (like how people with anxiety disorders do IRL) and, in the episodes where this was tried, it went sideways.
  • In one episode, "Doing Time", in a flashback, Mrs. Puff says that she promises that "As long as a student is willing to learn, I will NEVER give up on them!".
  SpongeBob:: "Hi! I'm SpongeBob SquarePants!"

  • AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why Does Spongebob Even Need A License?

• He seems to be able to get around on foot or on the bus just fine, and it's not uncommon to see people foregoing a license if everything is within walking distance or when there is easy access to public transportation.
  • Driving is somewhat of a status symbol.

Underwater Physics Not Making Sense

• Has anybody else noticed the retcons concerning the whole 'under the sea' thing? In one episode, there's wind blowing through SpongeBob's holes. UNDERWATER. And in that episode with the submarine, how could chum be sucked into the submarine when the sub is filled with water? Don't even get me started with the underwater rivers and the fire in the surfing episode. Goo Lagoon is made of water now, not goo. And that bugs me. At least in the earlier episodes, they usually played it for humor or lampshaded it. Now...it's just ignorance.
  • Perhaps the wind is a water current?
  • ...You weren't at all surprised that during the surfing episode, they wash up on an island underwater?
  • Well, for that last one, there actually are undersea lakes. All it takes is water with much higher saline concentration. Search YouTube, if you may, "Blue Planet" has shown it at least once. For the rest... Bellisario's Maxim, too much?
  • While we're on the subject, does anybody else realize that the submarine shouldn't even work underwater? Or that all the episodes referenced to here are after the movie?

Wrong Kind of Sponge

• Why is SpongeBob shaped like a regular house sponge when his parents are shaped like sea sponges?
  • Maybe he's from an affair?
    • Or it's a recessive thing?
    • His parents are Loofahs?
  • he shaves, like that one episode where he makes his head from square to round, exposing his brain.
  • He looks like his grandpa and one of his ancestors.
    • So it's recessive
    • This headscratcher calls to mind a conversation I had with my teachers in HS biology class where we did a SpongeBob themed activity relating to genetics, specifically determining if his respective offspring would be square or round and I asked if my teachers have seen the show, pointing this out. Thinking back on it, in the case of the show, we haven't seen enough of his relatives, much less know which sides of the family they came from to know for sure if squareness is recessive or not, though from the relatives we do see that are square, it's possibly recessive. Meta-wise, in terms of why he's square, well, when people hear "sponge", they mostly think about the kitchen sponges, so Hillenburg probably made him more recognizable that way.
  • I always thought his parents were cookies...
    • They're obviously not, though.

Spanking Machine

• How would you ever get enough people willing to form a seven-mile spanking machine?
  • Internet, ads in the newspaper, signs saying "free donuts" with fine print...
  • Craigslist. Done.
  • Fish are idiots?
  • Probably done to raise money for charity.

How Does Pearl Breathe?

• Why does Pearl never have to surface for air?
  • She does and you don't see it?
  • She does have to surface for air. In the beginning of the episode where she starts working for the Krusty Krab, Mr. Krabs mentions "it seems just like yesterday I taught her how to breach" and shows a picture of them jumping out of the ocean's surface.
    • Not just that, whales can and, more often than not, do hold their breath for a long time.
  • Nobody has to go to the surface for air
    • And since when does breathing equal pooping? (Asking 'cause of the link)
    • It doesn't. It's just a similar concept save for the Squick factor part. Characters in real life have certain biological functions they need to perform, but it doesn't add to the story in any way, so it's not included. But the audience takes it as a given that they are nonetheless performing that function. Nobody ever asks "how come so and so doesn't need to go to the restroom?" On the other hand, Pearl does talk while she's underwater, which she probably shouldn't be able to do if she were really holding her breath...
  • Since whales through their blowholes (not their mouths) and have huge lungs, her talking probably doesn't need as much air as we'd think.
  • Why personal headcanon is that King Neptune gave all air-breathing sea creatures the ability to breathe underwater so they could all co-exist with minimal interruptions.

How Does the Seal Guy Breathe?

• Similar to the Pearl question above; what about the seal guy (Craig Mammalton, I think) in the tanning episode? How does HE survive underwater for the whole episode?
  • Seals can hold their breath for a pretty long time, and the episode is only 11 minutes.
    • Excuse me, but the episode itself might be 11 minutes, but in-universe, several hours had gone by.
    • Some types of seals can hold their breath for two hours.
  • Same with the Pear question above. My headcanon is King Neptune did it.

Interspecies Family

• How does a Krab crab have a whale for a daughter?
  • That one's easy actually. Adoption. Considering we've never seen her mother, nor is she ever mentioned. It's likely Pearl knows this already.
    • In this SpongeBob trivia book I read in third grade, it had a page that said Pearl took after her mother. Meaning Mr. Krabs' wife was a whale.
    • Well, if I said that Pearl was much smaller than a normal whale, that would be massively understating it. Maybe she got the size from her father.
    • Hot Skitty-on-Wailord Action?
    • More like Hot Krabby on Wailord Action.
    • Oh my god...Mr Krabs is a Krabby! It explains EVERYTHING!
  • Maybe Pearl's mother was already pregnant with Pearl when she married Mr. Krabs.
  • Apparently, she either died or divorced Krabs when pearl was very young, considering that when Krabs introduced "Cashina" to her, saying something about a new mom.

Holy... What's-her-name!

• SpongeBob's favorite exclamation phrase is "Mother of Pearl!" Now let me ask, WHO THE HELL IS PEARL'S MOTHER?
  • What really gets me is when Mr. Krabs uses the same phrase ...
  • I assumed things ended badly enough between Mr. Krabs and his ex that he now uses her as a curse word. As for SpongeBob, probably just picked it up from his boss.
  • "Mother of Pearl" refers to Nacre, the organic material produced by mussels that makes pearls.. Still an odd choice for an Unusual Euphemism, but there ya go.
    • Not really. I've heard it used as a minced oath for "Mother of God" before.
    • I've always thought that when someone says "Mother of Pearl" they were exclaiming it in surprise because this "Mother of Pearl" doesn't exist. Perhaps the same goes for SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs?
    • Actually, the expression is supposed to be a stand-in for "Mother of God"
    • Maybe Pearl's mother is a goddess of the sea, like Leucothea, a goddess who helps sailors in need. Mr. Krabs was a sailor for MANY years, so it's possible he ran into this goddess at least once. Maybe she saved his life, since it's her job to help sailors, and things just sort of...escalated. And she birthed a daughter who looks like a whale. It makes sense that Leucothea would be an appropriate goddess since Amphitrite is also a Greek sea goddess who is Poseidon/Neptune's wife. Leucothea has no husband. Maybe Krabs was in the right place at the right time and got lucky with a goddess. He never seems to cow by Neptune and his family, after all, except in the movie when he's being threatened with murder.

Size Doesn't Matter

• Yeah, it's a dream sequence, but say Krabs actually caught Moby Dollar. It's still just a one dollar bill, isn't it, no matter the physical size of the bill itself?
  • Maybe he could exchange it for a larger number of bills based on its size somewhere?
  • It's related to all those over-sized novelty checks used for fundraisers?
  • It's Mr. Krabs you're talking about. He would gladly risk his life even for less amounts of money.
    • In fact, he spent one episode obsessing over a penny. Which SpongeBob found.
  • It exhales money. (For those that have not seen the episode, that is not a joke.)
  • He can chop it up into little pieces that grow into money?
  • Personally I think the reason for catching it is really obvious. It's a dollar considered, in his imagination, extremely rare and difficult to catch, like Moby Dick the whale. He's not catching it so he can spend it, he's catching it so he can own it as a trophy.

Hair

• I can understand SpongeBob having brown hair, but Patrick having black hair and Squidward having brown hair? Or maybe we've just become too accustomed to the fandom versions.
  • Why is that so unbelievable?
  • Patrick does have black hair. It's been shown in the show.
  • And Squidward has blonde hair, as shown in "The Original Fry Cook".
  • SpongeBob has blonde hair, according to his driver's license. He probably just shaves it off or gets it cut because he likes it that way? And in "Clams," his hair grew out and it was light blonde.
    • It was shown in one episode that he combs his hair into his shape or, rather, it's sort of like LSP's lumps, her hair is a part of shape and isn't apparent unless otherwise.

Varying Anatomy

• In the bully episode, it was a plot point that SpongeBob didn't have bones or organs, but in many later episodes he does have them.
  • One, It's SpongeBob.
  • Now that I think about it, I can't remember seeing SpongeBob with bones until after the movie, so...
  • WRONG! He's shown to have bones in "I Had An Accident". Plus, his brain has been exposed in an episode whose title I had forgotten. And both episodes came before the movie.
    • The episode you're thinking of is Season 1's "Scaredy Pants", although that episode essentially shows SpongeBob as a brain on a stick without any visible bones... Negative Continuity, maybe?
  • His brain could be squishy enough to not be damaged by Flats's punching (Halloween Episode, btw), and "I Had An Accident" is both a Bizarro Episode (even for SpongeBob) and very close to the end of season 3, which technically still means that SpongeBob tends to have bones more as the series progresses. The movie just accelerated things.
    • Indeed; that episode was the single least comprehensible episode of the original four seasons. Still funny as heck, though.
  • SpongeBob does have bones in "Squid on Strike", but it was in the distant future so it could be evolution in action.
  • His "bones" aren't really bones, and Flats' punching isn't that hard.
    • Rule of Funny zigzags this in the sense of sometimes he has bones and sometimes he doesn't.

Money Doesn't Grow on Seaweed

• If SpongeBob and Squidward have to pay to work at the Krusty Krab how are they not bankrupt and why is Squidward still working there?
  • On the same note; why doesn't Squidward quit his job if he hates it so much? I'm sure he can find a better one. I doubt he gets good pay, and he has SpongeBob and Krabs to bother him, so his being lazy there isn't worth it.
    • "Can You Spare A Dime". Squidward quit, and he became homeless.
    • According to the episode "The Original Fry Cook", the only reason he's working at the Krusty Krab is that he believed his clarinet career would take off from there. Also, Squidward has worked longer at the Krusty Krab, so you'd think he would begin to get paid soon after the series began.
  • SpongeBob said he had to pay when he first started. Presumably, he's been promoted enough to actually get paid, rather than vice versa.
    • Actually, in the episode "One Coarse Meal", it is revealed that Krabs pays his employees with fake money.
  • On "Squid on Strike" SpongeBob didn't accept his paycheck because "grilling is his passion". I think he may have a "real" (higher-paying) job on the side.
    • He's probably still selling candy bars. It also explains how Patrick can go without a job.
    • Well in "Shell Shocked" we learn his appendages can grow back. He's probably a millionaire from organ trading but keeps the fact hidden.
    • Since he's a sponge he can just filter feed so he doesn't need to eat.
  • "Skill Crane" shows that, yes, Mr. Krabs pays both Squidward and SpongeBob, apparently on a weekly basis like most jobs. ("But Mr. Krabs, today is Monday?") Their wages could be minimum wage for all we know, and the only reason Mr. Krabs so willingly gave what appeared to amount to at least $20 in quarters is because he knew Squidward would lose it all to the Skill Crane before the end of the day.

How Did They Not Recognize SpongeBob?

• In the episode where Mr. Krabs "sheds" his shell and makes SpongeBob wear it to his navy convention, are Krabs's friends so dumb that they can't tell that there is a yellow sponge inside the red shell? Seriously, you would think that being in the navy/army would let you see obvious differences in your best friends, but yeah, maybe it's just me that's bugged.
  • Last I checked, the only thing that was really noticeable was the eyes; They probably just thought he had changed over time.
    • About the eyes— why was SpongeBob able to reshape his own eyes to resemble Mr. Krabs's eyes in Krusty Love, but didn't bother in that episode (Shell of a Man)?
    • Wouldn't that hurt?
    • In "Krusty Love" he does that temporarily. If he kept his eyes like that for longer, they would probably start hurting very badly. SpongeBob is largely resistant to injury, but that doesn't mean it can't happen.

Why Did They Yell in the Dream Episode?

• In the episode where a dream version of SpongeBob invades the dreams of others, why, in response, do the people whose dreams were invaded break into the real SpongeBob's house, wake him up, then yell at him about it? It's like it's teaching kids to yell at someone for being in their dream.
  • In at least two of the dreams Spongebob visited, he did make it pretty clear that he was purposefully invading people's dreams, as opposed to being a figment of each dreamer's imagination — he tells Patrick, "I'm going to a different dream," and tells Pearl "Actually I was looking for your dad's dream." Besides, it's not like Squidward needs a good reason to be annoyed with Spongebob over something.
• More importantly, why was Pearl there? All SpongeBob did in her dream was unearth a flower.
  • Maybe Pearl was offended that SpongeBob was looking for Mr. Krabs' dream instead? She did seem disappointed.
  • As for Gary being angry, it was because he felt SpongeBob was invading his privacy:
  Dream Gary: SpongeBob? How dare you invade the sanctity of my dream?
• Also, why is Patrick there? SpongeBob didn't really do anything but talk to him and left before it was "ruined".
  • Patrick didn't come until after everyone chewed out SpongeBob. He only wanted a quarter and probably saw everyone going to SpongeBob's house and figured he could ask one of them for one.

They're Not Cephalopods, So...

• How did SpongeBob and Patrick get into the Cephalopod Lodge? Did they chloroform the guard? Did they crawl in through a plothole? How!?
  • They walked right through the door.
  • The guard took his break.

Crawling and Swimming are Not Options. Why Not?

• Similar to the water problem, it seems water acts the same as air in the SpongeBob Universe. In one episode, SpongeBob and Patrick fall down an abyss. I know they don't have fins, but they could have just crawled up like any sea star and sea sponge could. Same thing for the fish. Except for moments of funny, the fish never swim but just walk.
  • Plot Induced Stupidity
    • Patrick really is stupid.
  • Sea sponges can't move.
    • Actually, according to this article, they (or rather that species) can move, they just probably don't or do it enough on their own accords anyway (it seems like they ride the currents until they "root", usually). To answer the point about movement, with SpongeBob, taking the info about sponges into effect, he probably could get enough current (I'm guessing the underwater version of wind) to get going, while Patrick, well, that part's been answered.
  • It would take days for Patrick to get back up, maybe even months.

Electricity

• How can SpongeBob use the oven (and the lights, and the refrigerator for that matter) when they're underwater? The electric appliances would have short-circuited from contact with the water.
  • Maybe it's the same type of light used by deep-sea fish: bacteria?
  • They're really only underwater when they can make a joke about how they're underwater.
  • Who's to say that in the SpongeBob universe, the sentient underwater creatures have designed electronic appliances that somehow work underwater?

Poseidon the Sizeshifter?

• Poseidon is pretty large, but he still isn't large enough to be a full-scaled person. Can he change his size at will?
  • Well, given the fact he's an ALL POWERFUL WATER GOD then yes, yes he could.
    • He also apparently grew taller before he transformed SpongeBob into a god near the end of "Neptune's Spatula". He must be able to change size at will.
  • I thought it was Neptune?
    • "Neptune" is his Roman name.
    • ...It's also the only name he's ever referred to in the series. The only reference to "Poseidon" we get is the "Poseidome" in his introductory episode.

Sandy the Sapient, Speaking Squirrel

• If Sandy is a sapient talking squirrel, how do the humans on the surface treat her and her species?
  • I always thought the animal characters could talk English, but the humans (like the diver in The Movie) only speak gibberish.
    • But David Hasselhoff could talk to SpongeBob and Patrick in the same film...
    • He could also move like a speedboat without kicking or paddling; I think it's safe to say that The Hoff is an exception to the general human rule.
    • Don't forget the artist at sea that dropped his magic pencil into the sea in "Frankendoodle".
    • We were listening not to how the fish heard him, but to how humans heard him.
    • Animal Talk can be understood by all animals, and humans can't understand it.

Apes and Zebras Breathing Underwater

• Just how did a giant ape and his zebra breathe under the water to beat up SpongeBob anyway?
  • That episode is really, really, really weird, and the two themselves lampshade this at the end. The episode itself then ends with a live-action family quizzically looking at the television screen and shutting it off.

Don't You Guys Need a "Hand"?

• If Squidward only has suction cups for hands, how can he play the clarinet? In fact, how can Mr. Krabs do anything involving hand manipulation when he only has claws?
  • Note that, aside from a few instances, Squidward doesn't play the clarinet particularly well. As for Mr. Krabs, it's been shown a few times that he can seemingly grow extra claws when they're needed for pointing. Maybe he did a deal with Neptune wherein he gained limited shapeshifting abilities in exchange for his soul?

Budding the Baby

• How can SpongeBob have parents when his species can reproduce by budding?
  • Adoption?
  • They got married, then budded SpongeBob.
  • Budding isn't the only way sea sponges reproduce, they also spawn into the open water and hope everything works out.
  • Budding just created smaller versions of SpongeBob when he tried it. Margaret and Harold wanted a full-fledged child.

Plankton Went to College, But His Job is Bad?

• If Plankton "WENT TO COLLEGE!" then how did he end up with a dead-end restaurant job? What did he major in that's all he can do with his life?
  • Perhaps he flunked?
  • Seems unlikely. He is a master of creating robots, especially his sentient robot wife, Karen. There must be a degree for that. Perhaps if it wasn't for his shortsightedness he would have found a job that would have been more beneficial to society other than making chumwiches and flipping burgers. He even managed to take over the world in the movie.
    • Actually, he only took over Bikini Bottom. And according to the episode where he falls in love with Mr. Krab's mother when Karen starts blabbing on, Plankton asks "Why did I ever buy that computer wife?".
  • Technically, he said 'Nagging Software'. So, my best assumption is that Plankton bought many parts to create Karen.
  • His rivalry with Krabs stems from before college. Presumably, after he got his degree he opened a restaurant in hopes of beating Krabs at his own game.
  • Maybe he majored in Restaurant Management.
  • Villainous Breakdown perhaps. He used to be somewhat competent, but around the same time Krabs started torturing him unprovoked he seemed to lose his mind.
  • More like a case of Reed Richards Is Useless. He could totally make a living off his inventions.
    • Unfortunately Truth in Television for some people. It's perfectly possible to spend four years in college and end up in a dead-end job if your major was something that there's not much call for outside of teaching, such as Medieval French Literature or somesuch, and since many employers hire strictly based on the possession of a college degree and not practical knowledge, Plankton may simply be unemployable. My local paper refuses to even consider hiring applicants who hold less than a bachelor's degree, for instance.
  • Dead-end? He owns his own restaurant. I mean, it could do better, sure, but it's not like he's just a cook.

Why Doesn't Squidward Move?

• Now I know they've covered this subject on the show, but if SpongeBob and Patrick cause Squidward so much misery why doesn't he just pack his stuff and leave Bikini Bottom? I mean, Bikini Bottom surely can't be the only city underwater.
  • Because Squidward tried that in "Squidville" (he moved to Tentacle Acres, a city filled with other squids), and he just couldn't stand the doldrums. He NEEDS the chaos that SpongeBob brings to his life.
    • Why did Squidward choose to unhappily take his bike to work and eat the same food every day? He made it more monotonous than it had to be.
    • SpongeBob took over making Squidward's life interesting, so Squidward had no idea what to do when bored.

A Missed Opportunity for Formula Theft

• This has bugged this troper for a long time... In one episode, Karen brings Plankton a Krabby Meal, and he plays with the Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy toys before seeing Mr. Krabs on the side of the Krabby Meal box and smashing it up. WHY DIDN'T PLANKTON JUST TAKE THE KRABBY PATTY OUT OF THE KRABBY MEAL?! It was stated earlier in the episode that a Krabby Meal comes with a Krabby Patty, so this is just inexcusable. Plankton even REACHED INSIDE the Krabby Meal to collect the toys. How could he have not found the Krabby Patty inside?!!
  • Again, Plot Induced Stupidity, to the point where it's an unutterable blunder. Don't worry, we feel your pain.
    • Mr. Krabs probably knows who Karen is. This Troper assumed that Krabs only sold her the box and the toys without an actual Krabby Patty, and the reason Krabs didn't just throw her out was that she had money.
    • In the episode where Plankton needs to get Karen an anniversary present, she does the obvious thing and buys a Krabby Patty and analyzes it. But another headscratcher is that she is shown printing it out, and even shows it to Plankton in a bottle, but at the end of the episode, she has to load it up again. Then again, she was not about to give it to Plankton until he actually got her gift; so she might have deliberately shredded the first recipe.

Surgeons and Skylights

• Okay, in the slide-whistle episode, after Squidward ends up in the hospital, SpongeBob and Patrick run amuck in the hospital having fun with the slide whistles. Right at the end, they interrupt a doctor sewing up a belly by imitating his actions with slide whistles while they stand on a skylight above. The doctor starts laughing, and pulls the sewed-up skin while he laughs. My question is this: Why is there a skylight in what is quite likely an operating room?
  • You forget, in the new ones, SB and Patrick are Karma Houdinis to the Nth degree, while Squidward Can't Get Away with Nuthin'.

Why Doesn't Plankton Talk to Squidward?

• Why doesn't Plankton ever try to pump SQUIDWARD for information on how to make a Krabby Patty? He's demonstrated on numerous occasions that he knows how to make them, and he'd probably be pretty easy to buy off, given his hatred of his job.
  • Because Plankton doesn't have the money, as a failing businessman, to bribe him.
  • Squidward doesn't make the patties anyway. When he DOES, they turn out horrible. And he's never shown he knows about the secret.
    • He can however be made to "provide excellent service" under pressure.
  • There is an episode ("Sweet and Sour Squid") where Plankton does try to get information from Squidward, not that it did him any good.

Sandy's Surname

• Did someone hear wrong or was Sandy referred to as "Sandy Squirrel" in "The Last Stand"? Did SpongeBob forget her name or something?
  • Even worse: no one on the writing staff noticed? No one on the production team noticed? Tom Kenny didn't even notice?!
  • I'm guessing SpongeBob said it as a term of endearment?
    • Maybe it was a writing error or Negative Continuity, considering that Sandy did have that surname in a couple of other episodes.
    • Episode's like?

Mr. Krabs and Mrs. Puff Broke Up?

• What the hell happened to Mr. Krabs's head-over-heels obsession with Mrs. Puff? They seemed to be dating at the end of that one episode, but now Krabs has been showing complete indifference, sometimes rudeness towards her. Did all of this never happen, or what?
  • Yeah, Mr. Krabs has generally become an awful character these days. He used to have redeeming qualities; now he's nothing but a greedy jerk who doesn't care for anyone, whether it be SpongeBob, Mrs. Puff, or his own daughter.
    • But that doesn't answer why when the police are asking her about who tried to raid her garden, she never identified him, despite previously dating him. Like other examples on this page, it's like the writers aren't even paying attention to continuity.
    • It was late, dark and she only saw him at distance on her fence, she likely didn't see him well.
    • In "Summer Job" Krabs actually seems repulsed at the idea of dating Mrs. Puff and spends the rest of the episode blackmailing and torturing her. This is either a case of Canon Discontinuity or the writers are insistent this isn't the same Mr. Krabs of the early seasons.
  • It could be that any affection between them burned out over the few dates they had, in particular, Mr. Krabs' emotional whipsaw over the money he spent on stuff Mrs. Puff didn't even want. And don't forget, SpongeBob has been with them all along, which is enough to bollix any relationship.
  • Definitely Canon Discontinuity seeing as the two were dating in "Whirly Brains", and since this is an episode made during Hillenburg's return.

Abandoning the Restaurant?

• Just who the dickens is running the Krusty Krab when SpongeBob, Mr. Krabs, and Squidward are out having adventures? Many times it's obviously a mealtime (like when Mr. Krabs took Mrs. Puff out on a date), prime moneymaking time for any restaurant! I worked in fast food (McD's) for three years, and this point continues to perplex me.
  • In "The Bikini Bottom Triangle", it is revealed that Pearl minds the place when her father is gone. However, it is also revealed some strange sea captain or something takes care of the restaurant and cooks if everyone else is gone, which begs the question, How can some random person be able to take full control of the Krusty Krab and know how to make Krabby Patties without permission, training, or any other necessary requirements?
    • That sea captain is the living embodiment of the Krusty Krab?
    • Or perhaps it's just closed?
  • Mr. Krabs has been shown to close the Krusty Krab at random times for illogical reasons, to the disappointment of his customers. This is probably what happens when he, SpongeBob, or Squidward aren't around (or incidents when Squidward has to cook in SpongeBob's absence takes place far more often than is shown). And since the Krusty Krab appears to be by far the best restaurant in Bikini Bottom (not saying much, though), the customers might just deal with it and come back later.

How Did Gary Escape?

• Is there a scene missing in "Fungus Among Us?" The Ick is cured whenever Gary eats it off of the other characters... But wasn't he trapped in a bubble earlier in the episode? Did he escape? Did SpongeBob and Patrick pop him out too?
  • Think about it. There were a couple of tubes leading between the bubbles. Lots of sharp objects in SpongeBob's house, and that film can't be that hard to get off by something left around, like the swords. Gary could probably pull something out of his shell and stab the bubble as soon as everyone left the room. Pick a method, Gary escaped with reason.

Don't I Know You?

• What's with minor characters acting like they haven't met certain characters in the post-movie episodes? In "Pets Or Pests", Larry asks SpongeBob IF THEY'VE MET. And don't tell me Negative Continuity, either; Larry knows other characters in some episodes (he knows Sandy in "Someone's in the Kitchen With Sandy"). Maybe it was a "joke" on how minor of a character Larry can be?
  • Word of God is that since the movie was supposed to officially end the series, any episodes that are produced after the movie are meant to take place chronologically before the movie. If that makes any sense, which it probably doesn't.
    • To this troper, it doesn't. If that were true, it would still mean that every episode would still have taken place before the movie, so it's like saying that all the previous episodes with Larry didn't happen... maybe it's something like SpongeBob had never gone to that store they were by, and Larry was so surprised to see him there he wasn't sure if it really was SpongeBob?
  • Larry is presented as vain in most episodes with him in it; he probably just forgot about SpongeBob because he doesn't give a rat's hat about him.
  • There is no canon.

Why Did SpongeBob Call Patrick?

• The episode "A Day Without Tears"... was there any reason SpongeBob called Patrick, other than to ask if he thought he could make it a day without crying? They mentioned something about a package, but it didn't get anywhere. Orphaned Punchline?
  • It could be either that, a Big-Lipped Alligator Moment, or the joke just fell flat.

Stumped by Statues

• Spongehenge: those statues he carves merits discussion. First off, why on earth do they have that expression? It's the least SpongeBob could have done to carve them with a more jovial expression, but instead, he goes ahead and gives them this fearful expression that comes off as really, really annoying. Second, if that stone is depicted to be heavy, how on earth would those spindly legs hold up the weight of the statues? Even assuming that the statues are somewhat hollow and that the fluid dynamics underwater prevent the statues from collapsing on their own weight immediately, wouldn't they still erode over 3000 years? And finally, why does SpongeBob need so many of them? We'd already seen that a single statue was enough to distract them; all he needed after was one good statue to solve the problem.
  • The reason he needed more than one was that the jellyfish didn't like the tune the statue made. All of the statues together were able to fix the tune, for some reason.
    • That partially explains it, but we'll let magic solve the rest. Still doesn't explain why they have that "fearful" expression on them.
    • Maybe the correct musical notes were partially dependent on how he shaped his mouth?
    • Of course, the biggest problem would be "How does wind blow underwater in the first place?"
    • Currents.

Unqualified Teacher

• In "Summer Job," how did SpongeBob manage to become a driver's ed teacher if he doesn't have a license?
  • For the sake of sadism on Mrs. Puff's part. Seriously.
  • It has been said: "Those that can, do. Those that can't, teach."
  • Considering how many times SpongeBob's taken the driving course he's probably memorized the whole thing, even if he himself still can't drive.
    • Incidentally, this can be Truth in Television, in the sense of how some people that don't or otherwise can't drive (i.e, not having a license or being impaired in some way) can and, sometimes, do know more about driving than people who can and do drive. It's kind of a weird case of something akin to The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes.

Dumping the Dinner

• It bugs me that the fish in some episodes will just throw their food away. If they can't eat it, or someone ruins it, fine. But in episodes like "No Hat For Pat", they throw their food and sodas on the ground simply because they were bored with Patrick. Um... Why aren't you eating it?
  • Perhaps they were so badly bored that they lost their appetites?

Putting the Annoyance in With the Annoy-ee

• In Boating Buddies... When Squidward complains that SpongeBob is the one that ruins his life, Mrs. Puff says, "You too?", which is very accurate. But... why did she put them together to drive?! And don't say "Alphabetical by last name", you think she would help the guy she can relate to! What, did she think they would have to suffer together?
  • Taken further in "Summer Job" when Mrs. Puff is blackmailed into taking over Squidward's job for a week. She doesn't last one day of SpongeBob's idiocy and Krab's abuse before quitting, blasting that taking over the life Squidward lives isn't worth evading criminal charges.

Formula Theft By Proxy

• Why doesn't Plankton simply get someone else to buy a Krabby Patty for him?
  • Lampshaded in the episode where his computer wife, Karen, goes over and buys one for him as an anniversary present.

The Chocolate is Worth Risking Your Life Over

• In the Valentine's Day episode, SpongeBob blows Sandy a chocolate bubble. Sandy opens up a hatch in her helmet and eats it while they're underwater. What the?
  • Rule of Funny?
    • It's a little farfetched but there may be enough air pressure to keep the water out while she opens that hatch for about a few seconds.

When Did Flats Learn to Drive?

• Flats the Flounder enrolls in Mrs. Puff's boating school in one episode; later on in that same episode, he's seen driving a garbage truck. Of course, explanations can be easily thought up for this, like maybe he is driving the truck without a license, or he is such an awful driver that he couldn't get his license yet or it was revoked. But without thinking so hard...
  • Maybe he was in Boating School for a traffic violation like Squidward was in "Boating Buddies".
  • Or he got his license offscreen.

That's Not How Buddies Act

• At the end of the Bubble Buddy episode, Bubble Buddy is shown to have been sentient the whole time. That means he could have saved Scooter from drowning earlier, but chose to just stand there and watch.
  • That cold heartless bastard of a bubble.
  • Hey, Scooter sounded like he enjoyed High Tide. At least we know who's going to Bubble Hell.
    • Bubble Hell must be that level in Mega Man filled with spikes.
    • Perhaps he wasn't sentient at the time.
    • Or maybe he was but couldn't dig Scooter out, as, earlier, he had SpongeBob's help to bury him up to his neck.

Wrongly Jailed

• At the end of Krabby Road, Plankton goes back to jail. I understand that. But why do SpongeBob, Patrick, and Squidward get thrown in with him? They had no idea that they were harboring an escaped fugitive.
  • ...They weren't. At least, I recall them standing outside the jail unless I'm remembering the episode wrong.
  • I believe that they were inside the prison yard.

Wasting Intelligence on Evil

• Why doesn't Plankton use his scientific genius for good instead of evil? His intelligence is amazing! His "Goo Goo Gas", with a little tweaking, could be used for eternal youth! He also invented a time machine! Surely he would make billions more money if he sold his inventions than running a greasy restaurant whose menu consists solely of Human Resources. He would even beat his competitor Krabs that way! (Plus, he could probably end up taking over the world from there, anyway.)
  • Do you really need to ask?
  • He says it himself: being evil is too much fun.

It's Not Called *Serious* Squirrel Comments

• What I can't believe is how in "Squirrel Jokes," something that SpongeBob said in a comedy routine changed the way people treat Sandy so drastically.
  • Fantastic Racism.
  • The Bikini Bottomites tend to "follow the herd"—they go along with anything announced publicly (apparently even in a comedy routine). They believed everything in the tabloid Krabby Kronicle; and then there's the mass hysteria over "Mad Snail Disease" in "Once Bitten", as a few examples.
    • To add to this, Sandy's the only squirrel they actually see in Bikini Bottom and, since the Bikini Bottomites have only seen one squirrel, they'd be more likely to believe his jokes about her supposed stupidity and take them to heart, as, unlike SpongeBob, they haven't had any one-on-one interaction with Sandy nor have they met any other squirrels (before or after) to know otherwise.

Grandpa Krabs Lives. How?

• Several episodes state (and one episode even emphasizes) that Mr. Krabs is old. If that's so, how is his grandfather still alive? It's enough of a stretch to believe that his mother is...
  • Likewise with Plankton. They're at least fifty.
  • A few throwaway lines have indicated that Mr. Krabs is borderline immortal, like Squidward describing the Vikings as having been around "in Mr. Krabs' day" and another episode showing that his first dime was a giant rock. Presumably, it's a family thing. This may have something to do with the fact that IRL some crustaceans don't age, just keep getting bigger (meaning that Mr. Krabs may not just be descended from the tiny crabs who only say "money" that have been shown in prehistoric times, he might have actually been one of them).

A Good Guess From a Granny

• At the end of "Grandma's Secret Recipe", how does Plankton's grandma know to look for him in the safe? Yeah, I know, Rule of Funny and all (I guess...)... They should have shown something like, "I sense my teeth in THERE!" rather than have her show up at random. It seemed like a cheap and quick way to end the episode.
  • Grandma Plankton probably knows him rather well. "That Sheldon's gone off looking for the secret formula again, and I'll just bet he's in the safe."

Larry the *Zombie* Lobster?

• Larry the Lobster is bright red. But only cooked lobsters are that color... zombie lobster?
  • Real lobsters are green before cooking. I'd think that making Larry green would make him look even more zombie-like, not less. If it helps, remember that Larry does spend a lot of time at the beach...in the sun.
    • I dunno if this would apply, but I have seen lobsters for sale at a pet shop that were the same orangey color as Larry. They were tiny, freshwater lobsters, but I know they were lobsters and not some other crustacean.
    • ^If that's the case, then Larry is a case of Misplaced Wildlife
    • There is a rare genetic mutation in lobsters that can make them appear bright red when alive. The chances of a lobster having this are 1 in 10,000,000, meaning Larry is probably the only live red lobster in Bikini Bottom.

Burning a Milkshake

• How can you burn a milkshake? ("Pickles")
  • Burn, not likely. Boiled? Maybe...
  • He most likely left the milkshake on the stove and forgot about it, burning it.

So Many Opportunities to Badly Play Clarinet

• If Squidward plays the clarinet horribly, how does he get so many shows and rehearsals?
  • People can't throw stuff at him if he only plays at home.
  • Also, it's possible that he only gets the shows because of his So Bad, It's Good factor of playing, and the audience plays along like during a Rocky Horror screening.
  • Squidward actually has been seen to play reasonably well sometimes, such as in Bubble Stand.

What About Sunday?

• A few episodes show SpongeBob and Squidward having Sunday as their day off. So how can that episode where the K.K. is open 24 hours and forever work out? Squidward really wanted to go home, so why didn't he just go home on Sunday?
  • It wasn't their day off, they just forgot to switch the "closed" sign to "open".
  • I think he was referring to other episodes where they don't go to work and it's mentioned that it's Sunday. Anyway, it's possible that Krabs took away the day off. I wouldn't put it past him.
  • Then again, there are two episodes where Mr. Krabs seems to have learned the hard way that the 24-hour thing isn't a good idea.

Mr. Widward?!

• If Squidward's rival is named Squilliam, does that mean that Squidward's name would be Widward if he were human? Also, why in earlier episodes does Mr. Krabs call him Mister Squidward when "Squidward" is clearly his first name?
  • It was a running gag in one of the episodes (can't remember which) when a lot of people tried and had trouble saying his last name, so maybe it's a really subtle running gag in the show since really no one says his last name in the first place.
    • The episode you're talking about was "The Great Snail Race", wherein they pronounced it Tennisballs, Tentpoles, and Tortellini.
    • There's also the tree house episode. From their tree house, SpongeBob and Patrick are calling Squidward "Widward". I'm not sure if that hints at anything, though.
  • Squidward is a mix of "Squid" and "Edward". It's not much of a stretch to believe that if Squidward was human, he'd be named Edward.
  • For what it's worth, a human counterpart of Squidward (along with the other main characters) is seen in one segment of "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout", named "Manward".

They Need a Union

• Does Bikini Bottom have some sort of Labor Board? It's astounding how the Krusty Krab can stay open when Mr. Krabs does things like pay slightly below minimum wage, having 2 employees staff the entire restaurant, and the insane amount of things he does to save a few cents...
  • My memory's a bit foggy but Bikini Bottom does seem to have some kind of union organization. There was an episode when SpongeBob was forced to take a vacation or Mr. Krabs would get fined. Also, in many real-life cases of employee abuse, it's up to the employees to complain to a higher authority to get better treatment at work. However, SpongeBob loves his job too much to realize he's being taken advantage of and Squidward only went on strike once with SpongeBob but nothing came out of it because SpongeBob destroyed the Krusty Krab. Otherwise, Squidward just complains but doesn't actually do anything.
  • I think it was specifically a Fry Cook Union, which makes no sense considering The Krusty Krab and the Chum Bucket seem to be the only fast food restaurants in Bikini Bottom. SpongeBob's the only fry cook at The Krusty Krab and all the food at the Chum Bucket is produced by machines. So if there was a union, wouldn't it basically be SpongeBob? Even if there were multiple fast-food places in the city, why would Krabs allow his restaurant to unionize? SpongeBob would work 24/7 for free and the other union members would likely kick SpongeBob out for being so annoying.
    • Actually, there have been other restaurants shown or mentioned, but never in detail (that fancy restaurant, those restaurants that keep on stealing SpongeBob from one another in that one episode). It's likely that either SpongeBob isn't a member of the union, or Mr. Krabs used to have working conditions that were so bad that they make the ones his employees currently have generous by comparison.

Squirrels Didn't Breathe Air in the Past?!

• In "Dunces and Dragons," why didn't Medieval Sandy need an air helmet?
  • A Wizard Did It.
    • Considering who she was working for, that's actually plausible.
  • Ignoring the 'no air helmet' issue, what was Medieval Sandy even doing underwater in the first place? Sandy lives underwater in order to do scientific research, and she (along with her ancestors) was originally from Texas. Medieval Sandy isn't doing any sort of scientific research, and there's no real reason for her to be underwater at all. Long story short, we shouldn't have seen a Medieval Sandy at all.
    • To both questions: It's a dream, it doesn't have to make any sense.
    • Try telling that to Squidly.
    • Who might be a guy dressed up?

Have You Seen This Squid?

• Where was Squidward in "Nasty Patty"?
  • He wasn't important to the story. He had a day off or something.
    • He also would have ruined the plot and we'd have a much shorter, less funny episode.

Is Shutting Down the Chum Bucket Really That Bad?

• In the Krabby Kronicle, why is it wrong for the Chum Bucket to get shut down? Isn't chum made of fish anyway?
  • That's just the name of the restaurant. They don't actually serve chum. Maybe the misleading name is why Plankton doesn't get customers.
    • Actually several later episodes have shown that he DOES serve chum. In fact, in the episode that described why Plankton and Krabs have a rivalry they both got part of the recipe, Plankton's part just said chum, so it stands to reason that's all he cooks.
  • That, and the fact that Plankton's cooking is apparently terrible.

Framing Your Only Cook

• Why would Mr. Krabs deliberately frame SpongeBob for stealing the Krabby Patty formula just to get $1.25?! Doesn't Krabs need him to cook the patties? And another thing, who cooks the patties if SpongeBob isn't, if Squidward isn't (since he is terrible at cooking patties), and if the old fry cook Jim isn't (retired)?
  • That was a post-movie episode. Mr. Krabs has been Flanderized into an unlikeable Designated Hero Jerkass who would go through so much hell to get the money that he'll abuse his employees and leave his own business in jeopardy. Not to mention that the episode was written by Casey Alexander and Zeus Cervas, two of the most disliked writers of SpongeBob by many fans of the show.
  • If the episode in question is "Patty Caper", then your assumption is wrong. Krabs framed SpongeBob for stealing the Krabby Patty secret "ingredient", not the formula, and it was for $1.99 instead of $1.25.
  • Mr. Krabs didn't steal the ingredient intending to frame SpongeBob (he probably thought Plankton would get the blame, which he did at first.) He only shifted the blame towards his fry-cook when SpongeBob was almost onto him as the actual thief; SpongeBob described aloud who the thief would have to be (at the Krusty Krab during delivery, would have to know about the delivery, and would have to know what to do with the ingredient) and Krabs realized that he and SpongeBob were the only two people who fit that description. By that point, he was more interested in not being arrested and wasn't thinking about needing SpongeBob to cook the burgers.

English vs Cat as Snail Language

• How is it some snails speak English ("Where's Gary?", "Gary In Love")? Notably, they were all strays, so maybe being under ownership gives them the "meow"?
  • Viewer Translation Convention. Seriously.
  • Perhaps the snails speak English when they're amongst themselves, but only meow around other creatures?
  • This would seem to be implied by, in one episode, Gary going "Meo-NO!"

Episode Name Changing

• Why are the titles of some of the episodes changed? ie: "WhoBob WhatPants" became "What Ever Happened To SpongeBob"?
  • Easy marketing to raise awareness. Why bother posting a long name like "Have You Seen This Snail?" instead of something sweet and to the point, like "Where's Gary"? It makes the plot somewhat understandable at the beginning so people can expect what's happening.
  • The longer titles are the names of the actual episode, and the shorter titles are the name for the special (i.e. the episode and all the fanfare surrounding it. Like "You Wish" and "Shanghaied".

Why Hasn't the Chum Bucket Gone Out of Business?

• The Krusty Krab has had several close shaves with going out of business, but not its far less successful rival company, The Chum Bucket.
  • Add to that, how has the Chum Bucket kept open with literally ZERO customers and no profit for the nearly half a decade it has been running? The only woes Plankton seems to suffer from this are boredom and depression.
  • I don't think there's any possible explanation for the characters' financial situations. I mean, look at SpongeBob. Krabs pays him fake money (stated in the episode where it's discovered Plankton has a fear of whales) and yet he has a huge house, huge wads of money in his pocket, a whole bunch of full piggy banks, and a diamond under Gary's shell (from the episode where his spatula breaks)!

SpongeBob Arrogantpants

• This is something that has been bugging me for a while. Why does SpongeBob have to outshine everybody? For example, in the episode "The Two Faces of Squidward", Squidward becomes nice and kind after being electrocuted and as the episode goes on, SpongeBob becomes jealous because Squidward becomes an employee of the month and is (possibly) a better fry cook. SpongeBob has been Employee of the Month EVERY month since he's been working there. He's the best fry cook in the whole city and, in this troper's opinion, Mr. Krabs was probably just being nice when he said Squidward might be a better fry cook than him (and didn't mean to upset SpongeBob). Seriously, why does SpongeBob feel he has to be the best at everything?
  • I have two possible reasons: 1) to give SpongeBob the flaws of pride and competitiveness, and 2) to provide conflict for the episode in question.
  • Because he's a perfectionist to the point of insanity. Remember, this is a guy who was so traumatized because he thought he forgot the pickles on a Krabby Patty that he wasn't able to form a sentence for days. I'd think he'd be pretty upset when someone tells him there's a better fry cook than him.
  • By the way, the episode you're thinking of is "Breath of Fresh Squidward", not "The Two Faces of Squidward". The episode you brought up is the one where Squidward becomes handsome.

Hair, Part 2

• Why do SpongeBob, Patrick, and Squidward not have hair that is of their color? Whenever they grow hair it's brown or black.
  • SpongeBob did have yellow hair in one episode.
    • Why should their hair be the same color as the rest of them? Do Caucasian humans have beige hair?

No More Romance

• The subtle romance. What happened to it?
  • SpongeBob dumped Sandy over Patrick.
    • And now he's really obsessed with Squidward.
    • Considering some of the controversies with that, it's possible that writers more or less phased that out.

Sandy's Unnecessary Rocket

• In the episode Sandy's Rocket, if Sandy was perfectly capable of going to the moon without a rocket (she used a jetpack), then why didn't she just go there?
  • Keep in mind her rocket was stacked with an enormous amount of equipment and supplies that likely couldn't be held with a jetpack. On the other hand, the fact she neglected that she could instantly travel to the moon and back (while complaining about how stupid SpongeBob is) was probably part of the gag.
  • Well, didn't she say she wanted to bring back moon rocks? She may need the rocket to hold them.

A Tale of Two Neptunes

• Why is there a different Neptune in the movie? It isn't like they couldn't get John O'Hurley, and even if they couldn't, it still doesn't explain the design change. And in the later episode The Clash of Tritons, you see Neptune's entire family, and Princess Mindy is never shown. If the movie takes place after the series, you'd at least expect them to try to fix the discrepancies between the two.
  • Well, the movie will take place after the series, no matter how long the show runs, which means that there could be a dynasty of gods. Also, in "Krusty Towers", when Squidward wants to redecorate this room, he mentions something along the lines of a portrait of King Neptune VII, meaning there are multiple Neptunes.
    • King Neptune XIV, actually. But still.
  • Wasn't the one in the movie a king and the one in the series a god? Then again, there is the one episode (I forget the name; "SpongeBob Vs. The Patty Gadget" or something) where it says "the blast was so loud it woke King Neptune" and you see the one from the series.
  • The Movie, while supposed to be an ending, was retconned.

The Longest Penny Chase in History

• How the heck did Mr. Krabs chase a penny for six and a half hours?
  • He's the Terminator of cheapskates.
    • He's not just cheap but he's also a money hoarder, which is why he'd chase a single penny.

Hugeness Aspiration

• In "Home Sweet Pineapple", just as the nematodes eat SpongeBob's house, SpongeBob exclaims, "Hooray Gary, we're finally huge!"... since when, better yet, WHY, did SpongeBob (and Gary?) dream of being huge?
  • That's the joke.

SpongeBob Likes Squidward?!

• In the episode "20,000 Patties Under the Sea", SpongeBob says, "Bye Squidward, bye Mr. Krabs. ...Bye Squidward..." the second one at Squidward being in a slightly more suggestive tone. Patrick lampshades it only for SpongeBob to say "I like Squidward!". What bugs me is that it just seems so blatant now, were they even trying? Was it perhaps a subtle parody of all the accusations of SpongeBob's sexuality?
  • I took it as the more Squidward hates SpongeBob, the more SpongeBob likes Squidward. But what bugged me about the episode was that the submarine couldn't float over the trench. It's a submarine!
  • Water is (Almost) Air
  • If Squidward calls "Patty" female in "To Love a Patty", but likes Squidward, maybe he's bisexual.

Daddy's Big, Bratty Girl

• Pearl's disdain for her father. In the episode where Krabs retires, on his first day off, he asks Pearl if she wants to do something with him. Before he even finishes his sentence, Pearl kicks him out and whines about how she can't take it anymore. WTF?
  • That's how the show portrays all teenage girls. They all use Totally Radical slang, hate their parents, and want to go to the mall.
  • Kind of Truth in Television, as, really, teenagers would much rather spend time to themselves and with friends, less so with their parents, in which case Pearl, while exaggerated isn't far off the mark.

Dude, There's a Gorilla!

• Why didn't Squidward notice that there is a gorilla just sitting around his house in "I Had An Accident"? Instead, he was watering his plants nonchalantly.
  • Since he saw Patrick (and maybe Sandy) involved, he probably thought some variation of, "Oh, what an idiot. Just ignore them Squidward..." Or maybe he felt the gorilla was somebody else.

They "Pulled the Plug" on Logic

• Why is it only the main drain would drain the ocean when any drain would?
  • It's the main drain. Maybe other drains only drain part of it, especially if they're closer to the surface.
  • Speaking of the "main drain" episode, if Mr. Krabs and Plankton pulled the main plug before, how did they get the ocean back?
    • The whole episode was just a bedtime story that Spongebob was reading to Patrick. None of it ever happened.

But We Could Touch the Glass Earlier!

• Squidward has never had problems with people touching the glass so why did he in Sponge-cano?
  • I think this comes from the fact that he was already irritated and, a good chunk of the time when people are already irritated, they are upset over something trivial.

Pearl Doing a Job She Doesn't Want

• Why was Pearl working at the Krusty Krab in The Bikini Bottom Triangle when she never wanted to?
  • If no one is working there, the restaurant is not making money. So there would be less mall money her dad can give her.
  • It is a family business.

SpongeBob the Sadist?

• Why was SpongeBob smiling when Squidward was getting beaten into a pulp in "Keep Bikini Bottom Beautiful"?
  • I'm guessing that was in one of the later seasons? The later the season, the creepier and stupider SpongeBob is. For some reason, they think weird is funny, so they make SpongeBob super weird, to the point that he's disturbing. They don't understand that weird isn't funny by itself, it needs to be done humorously.

Merry What?!

• In "Christmas Who?" we learn that no one underwater has heard of Christmas (probably due to Jesus being a human and so they never really heard about him or got the concept of Christianity), but in the earlier episode "Jellyfishing," Squidward comes home from the hospital and is welcomed by SpongeBob and Patrick, with Patrick mistakenly saying "Merry Christmas!"
  • The show doesn't really have a canon. The Christmas episode could have happened before.
  • IIRC "Christmas Who" was itself supposed to be a flashback to the time when the Bikini Bottomites first learned about Christmas, so it could even be that it takes place before the series proper.
    • But SpongeBob didn't meet Sandy until "Tea at the Treedome," so if it takes place before the series proper, how could SpongeBob have learned about Christmas from Sandy? (perhaps it takes place at the beginning of their relationship?)

Big Sister Sam Questions

• A few problems with "Big Sister Sam". First, HOW COULD PATRICK REUNITE WITH SOMEONE HE HASN'T HEARD FROM FOR YEARS? Did he just see Sam on the street with no words and both signaled that they should meet up? Second, since Squidward's house was thrown by Sam to the right, why didn't the house hit SpongeBob's as well? We clearly see his house also destroyed later in the episode and, if they wanted the plot to stay the same, the house could have been thrown toward the street. Finally, how is SpongeBob still happy and compassionate to Sam at the end of the episode even though she obliterated his house? Has the Negative Continuity of the show got to a point where things that happened a few seconds ago are forgotten?
  • I don't know about the first two but the last one's obvious. First, SpongeBob is an idiot. Look at basically any recent episode for proof of this. Second, SpongeBob is for whatever reason supposed to forgive Patrick for whatever stupid thing he, and by extension his relatives, does.
  • People reunite with estranged relatives and friends all the time. Maybe Patrick went on the underwater equivalent of the Jeremy Kyle Show or something, who knows?
  • And to add, Patrick mentions in the early episode "Something Smells" that he doesn't have a sister. It could be that he just forgot all about her.
  • Patrick isn't exactly accurate when it comes to his own family; he mistook another sea-star couple for his own parents in "I'm With Stupid" and neither they nor his own parents had any problem with that. So it's not impossible he just forgot about his own sister.
    • To add to this, SpongeBob mentioned something about Patrick having a sister, to which the latter said, "What?! I don't have a sister."

Sanitation Police?

• In "Sentimental Sponge", the sanitation police show up when SpongeBob refuses to throw away his trash. You're telling me that a town of 528 people fish sea creatures has its own police squad for cleanliness? Rule of Funny may apply, but it's a bit of a stretch.
  • Have you seen how seriously they take littering? Sanitation police seem right up their alley.
  • It should be worth noting that they came because Squidward called them and the fact that, when hoarding situations get bad enough (as any show like Hoarders or Hoarders: Buried Alive would show), authorities will be (or have been) called, making the episode a case of Surprisingly Realistic Outcome
  • IRL, cities do have a sanitation department and, in states like New York, it's a branch of the police system, so Bikini Bottom having sanitation police isn't a stretch

Tunnel of Singleness

• If the "Tunnel of Glove" is supposed to be a tunnel of love, why would people like Pearl and SpongeBob (who don't have dates) go on it? Furthermore, why did two of Pearl's friends go on it together?
  • Because they want to ride it to see what it's like but either don't have boyfriends or have boyfriends who just aren't there.
  • They all three wanted to go on it together (which is not uncommon for teenage girls to do), but they didn't know that it was only two per car, so Pearl was left behind. As for SpongeBob... maybe Patrick left him to go eat...

SpongeBob Knows Land Culture?

• How does SpongeBob know about Leif Ericsson?
  • Rule of Funny, most likely. Then again, Bikini Bottom does celebrate anything nautical or seafaring.

Why the glasses?

• How come whenever SpongeBob goes jellyfishing, he wears a pair of glasses?
  • Jellyfishing, due to tracking down fast-moving wild animals, requires precision, so he probably wears the glasses to help him see better.

Inconsistent Nudity Laws

• It has been bugging me for some time now about the ending of "Someone's in the Kitchen With Sandy". She got arrested for public nudity. First of all, most fish you see on the show are naked. Squidward has been naked (wait, never mind, he got a ticket for that once), Patrick and SpongeBob have been naked, and I mean completely naked. A lot of girl fish wear only their underwear. So how is it that Sandy gets arrested for public nudity if she was only in her underwear, while most fish and most main characters get completely naked and don't get arrested?
  • Fur Is Clothing and she wasn't wearing her fur or her suit. Doesn't make much sense, but considering Krabs's embarrassment concerning being without his shell, that's likely what constitutes nudity. Until we see a filleted fish walking through town, we'll never know.
    • He may have been embarrassed about molting the shell but he still appeared in front of people without it and no one seemed very shocked that he was naked. Personally, I think the Sandy thing is just a failed attempt at a joke.
  • Speaking of her suit, why wasn't she wearing it? Plankton only took her fur and went around without the suit.
    • Simply so she'd be mocked by the townspeople (so they wouldn't help her) and later arrested for said "public nudity." It's also possible her suit stunk as well from the fur.
  • Besides the Fur Is Clothing, there's also a case of G Rated Nudity.

Only One Krusty Krab?

• The Movie takes place after the series, right? So that explains the absence of Mindy, and why SpongeBob has no maturity; he regains it later. But didn't they mention the Krusty Krab 2 later on?
  • Because it hasn't been built yet. It was built in the movie.
    • But they mentioned it as if it had been built, and I think we saw it once in an episode right after the movie.
    • It was built in the movie. It was never shown in any episodes. There was an episode about making a Krusty Krab commercial that had the Krusty Krab's "understudy" but that was way before the movie and was really just a quick gag.
    • If memory serves, the series was supposed to end with The Movie but Nick decided to continue it, rendering any episodes after either to have either happened to before or making the movie retconned.

Superheroes or Just Actors?

• So are Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy actual superheroes, or are they fakes who starred in an old TV show?
  • Yes, they are superheroes. It has been shown that they possess highly advanced gadgets and machines, including a shrink ray, an invisible car, and a literal Idiot Ball. They also can summon fish to help them (think Aquaman but with old fish) and can create balls of water to throw at evildoers.
  • I assume they're former "heroes" who did some kind of good public service (policemen, firemen, etc.) and then took up a role as a superhero in the public eye. Of course, now they're old and senile.

Why Was the Phone Line Cut?

• At the beginning of the episode where SpongeBob breaks Gary's shell, SpongeBob wakes up in the middle of the night after hearing a noise. SpongeBob's phone line has been cut. No explanation is given for this. It's not necessary for the scene, and it isn't presented as a joke. Why was the line cut?
  • Some kind of cordless phone?
  • The implication of that scene is supposed to be that someone dangerous has invaded his home and cut the line to keep him from calling the police. When SpongeBob goes downstairs to investigate, he finds out the noise was just Gary roughhousing, which was probably meant to imply that Gary had cut it by accident.

Believing the Fake News

• In the episode "The Krabby Kronicle", is it me, or did everybody who read the Krusty Krab's newspaper believe every single word? And for that matter, why would scientists try to confiscate Sandy's science awards if she won them all fairly?
  • I'm pretty sure the citizens of Bikini Bottom are supposed to be complete morons. As for the second question, again, they're morons. Plus the article may have said something about her faking being smart or cheating when she won the awards. And it doesn't have much to do with your question, but I think if she had karate chopped the two "scientists" it would have been a crowning moment of awesome.

Why Did Sandy Jump to Conclusions?

• Same episode as above: Why did Sandy immediately assume that it was SpongeBob who wrote that stuff about her? I mean, she and SpongeBob were friends ever since the first season! She should trust him while knowing he'd never say such things against her!
  • She may still be annoyed over SpongeBob's stinging "squirrel jokes".
  • The article actually said it was written by SpongeBob. Now, why Sandy was the only one who noticed it raises a question in itself...
    • Sandy's a scientist, she notices things.
    • Because she, Squidward, and Mr. Krabs are pretty much the only people in Bikini Bottom who have half a brain?

Strange Animation Choice

• At the beginning of the episode "20,000 Patties Under the Sea", why did they use old footage of jellyfish flying from season 1 and then immediately return to the modern animation?
  • Well, I'm guessing 1) They were too lazy to make new footage of jellyfish flying, 2) Season one used hand-painted cels, whereas afterward, they use the more modern digital ink process.

Same-Sized SpongeBob Statues

• In the episode where the jellyfish are attracted to SpongeBob's holes when the wind goes through them and makes music he hides in a cave and decides to make a stone SpongeBob to talk to. After he realizes that the jellyfish are attracted to the stone SpongeBob, he tries to leave it there so the jellyfish swarm around it and he can leave. But the stone SpongeBob sounds awful. He decides to make another in a different size, but he's not sure what size would work so he decides he has to make a bunch of them. There's my problem. He makes a bunch of them, but they're all the same size which defeats the purpose of making a bunch.
  • He needed to figure out how to carve the rocks so they would produce the same noise he makes. Thus, he makes a bunch of them.
  • I know but he says he needs to make a bunch of them with different sizes. But they're all the same size when he makes them.
    • It's more the size of the holes that makes the difference; the wind's pitch changes with the holes' size.

How Popular is the Krusty Krab?

• What is the Krusty Krab considered? At times it's a popular and respected local place or a restaurant well-known throughout the sea... But at other times it's a poorly received place.
  • It really depends on the episode. There were episodes when Squidward was forced to take over for SpongeBob's position and we all know Squidward can't cook Krabby Patties. There are also times when SpongeBob really messes up and then everyone leaves. Or basically, it's a Rule of Funny. And let's not forget how the restaurant can be dirty at times.
  • The show never seems to make up its mind over whether the Krusty Krab has sit-down service or not. Some episodes have SpongeBob delivering food to the customers, while others have the customers getting their orders from the counter. And on "Squilliam Returns", SpongeBob somehow can't wrap his head around the idea of a waiter serving the customers, asking if other restaurants do that.
  • Whether they hand-deliver it or not could be an issue of how busy the restaurant is, with SpongeBob giving people their patties if he can spare the time away from the stove. This is consistent: in "Squilliam Returns", he couldn't understand a waiter taking people's orders (everyone in the Krusty Krab orders at the counter,) it wasn't about delivering the food. The way I see it the Krusty Krab has never been viewed as a "respectable" restaurant—it's a fast-food joint. However, SpongeBob is such a good cook that Krabby Patties are universally viewed as amazing to everyone but Squidward. This isn't counting how apparently it was viewed as a classy restaurant when Jim was working there.

The Mysterious Black Jack

• I don't understand a lot about the Black Jack episode. For those who don't know, the big Twist Ending at the end of the episode is that SpongeBob's violent cousin Black Jack is really about as tall as Plankton. Yet while SpongeBob was tiny (older episodes showed this), he got bigger, while Black Jack must have stayed the same... the EXACT same, personality, dress, voice, etc. And why is it none of SpongeBob's relatives tell him how small Black Jack is? Are they really THAT afraid of a guy who littered to not see him for as long as SpongeBob had?
  • I think they assumed he knew he was that small. Plus none of them had seen him (his grandma gets a call, and his uncle just calls him a dangerous criminal, the grandma doesn't sound afraid of him though) in a long time because he was in jail. I don't think Black Jack being small made much sense overall, though.
  • He probably got smaller during the time he spent in prison. It might not make much sense for him to shrink THAT much, but remember that SpongeBob was just a kid when he had the flashback about him, and he's over twenty, twenty-three IIRC, so Black Jack probably spent more than 15 years in prison, 19 at most.

Saying, 'Mmm' for No Reason

• If SpongeBob didn't eat the bomb pie, why was he sucking his fingers and going "mmmm"?
  • He probably ate his lunch or something. Remember, he's in the Krusty Krab. And it was supposed to be a false lead-in to make you think he DID eat the pie.
  • Maybe he was doing that in anticipation of eating the pie?
  • Perhaps he only took a small piece and decided to save it for later?
    • He couldn't have. Remember how one tiny piece of the pie was enough to blow out the entirety of Mr. Krabs' office?
  • Speaking of which, why couldn't the doctors help SpongeBob? Can't they just surgically remove the pie from him?
    • The episode itself addresses this; Squidward urges Mr. Krabs to call the hospital to help, but Krabs says that wouldn't work; he's seen this happen before (11 times, as a matter of fact).
  • Also, at one point later in the episode, SpongeBob burps, a pie-colored aroma comes out of his mouth, mentions about something hitting his lower intestine, and asks if he had something with cherries, or grapes, or blueberries. What's up with that?
    • Maybe making fruit tarts were part of his friendship list?
    • Maybe he just had gas and Squidward saw the aroma as pie-shaped because he thought SpongeBob had eaten the pie and was imagining things.

Asking about the place you're calling

• In "Big Pink Loser", three people call the Krusty Krab and ask IF it's the Krusty Krab. Why? Why would people call a place and then ASK if it's that place? It's confusing...
  • Making sure you've got the right number? Phone numbers do occasionally change after all.

One Dancer Too Many

• "Slimy Dancing". So only one dancer is allowed to perform in the competition. Then how did SpongeBob AND Patrick get in, especially when their dance was a limbo?
  • They audition together but have to perform separately? And we actually don't know if their dance was a limbo; it could have been something else.

With Friends Like Pearl's, Who Needs Enemies?

• How come Pearl always hangs out with those so-called "friends" of hers on the episode "Whale Of A Birthday," when they constantly belittle her? And what gave them the right to act like party inspectors for her party?
  • Like an answer from earlier on here, this show portrays teenage girls like this: bratty, spoiled, whiny, and plain mean.
    • Some people really do hang out with people like that
  • Maybe she was very lonely for several years until she met her pals and that could be why she doesn't consider ditching them. Plus, high school is often seen as a "popularity contest" of sorts.

How Did Krabs Take the Ingredient?

• So Krabs took the secret ingredient to the secret formula in "The Patty Caper". How? Did he just jump on the truck unnoticed? And how did the S.W.A.T. team or security team or whatever it was not noticed that the suitcase was empty?!
  • Steal it when it wasn't being delivered (in a factory or where ever it's kept before they get orders) and had them deliver an empty case to SpongeBob to make it look like he stole it? And they probably wouldn't realize it's empty anyway, considering they wouldn't look inside it.

How Old is Squidward?

• How old is Squidward? Older episodes made it seem like he was about 10 years older than SpongeBob. Newer episodes make it seem like he's almost an old man. "A Friendly Game" has him wearing dentures, his "late date" in "Love That Squid" looked like an old cartoon character, etc.
  • None of the characters really have a clear-cut age. Sure, SpongeBob is officially twenty-three, but numerous episodes point to him being much older (hundreds of 'Employee of the Month' awards, his countless failed driving tests, etc.), and he also behaves much like a hyper five-year-old. But I'd guess that he's in his late 30s/early 40s. As for dentures... maybe he played the clarinet in such a way that broke his teeth? Who knows...
  • In a somewhat unstable case of Fridge Brilliance, keep in mind that Squidward is over 2,000 years old since SB-129, so it could possibly be assumed that Squidward's mind had stayed somewhat active, and he might have developed a significant amount of maturity during that time (going over his thoughts and "realizing" stuff). Of course, it would also double as Fridge Horror for him to have been conscious for 2,000 years...

Not SpongeBob, But Who?

• Who was that fry cook in "Truth Or Square" that Squidward called "Not-SpongeBob?" He's some weird greasy guy that just has that one appearance.
  • Squidward remembered how happy he was before SpongeBob started working there, however, he probably didn't remember that fry cook's name.

Practice Makes Imperfect?!

• Why did SpongeBob become such a failure in karate? In "Karate Choppers", he was just as good as Sandy. In "No Weenies Allowed" and other episodes, he sucks at it.
  • SpongeBob has never really had a set level for how good he is at karate. Even in the older episodes, it seemed to switch between Sandy beating him every time with little effort to him always beating Sandy. So it seems to just be following the old tradition of using whatever fits the episode.
  • Many of SpongeBob's secondary attributes vary by episode. One day he struggles to lift two marshmallows on a stick, and the next he can rip a mailbox off its hinges with ease.
  • He has "off" days sometimes?
  • Maybe SpongeBob didn't get worse, but Sandy just got better?
  • Bold of you to assume Sandy wasn't dialing it back on him all this time.

The Restaurant That's Older Than Its Founder?

• How is it that they're celebrating the Krusty Krab's "eleventy-seventh" (I'm assuming that's 117th) anniversary? Mr. Krabs founded that restaurant and he definitely isn't 117 years old.
  • Eleventy Seventh IS NOT 117th. In a TV Guide article about Truth or Square, someone (I forget who) said that they chose Eleventy Seventh because it's a timeless number, that way they can show the episode every year. Of course, this is undermined by the Chum Bucket celebrating 50 years and Patchy the Pirate outright stating that it's SpongeBob's 10th anniversary.
  • Did he start the business himself or just became the manager through promotions? Maybe the restaurant IS that old. It could also be that the Krusty Krab is a chain that is 117 years old and Mr. Krabs is a franchise owner celebrating the anniversary of the first Krusty Krab. Or it could be that eleventy seventh doesn't mean what you think.
  • No, the Krusty Krab was a retirement home before he bought it (it says so in the employee video episode) and it's pretty obvious it isn't a chain, especially considering in the movie he opens the second one. I'd say the third option, eleventy seventh doesn't mean 117, and they just used it to not technically get the number wrong.
  • The first dime he ever made was a boulder. I think he is well over 117. And remember that a lot of sea invertebrates are incredibly Long-Lived.

Old Shapeshifter Jenkins?

• What's the deal with Old Man Jenkins? In several episodes in which he makes an appearance, he looks COMPLETELY different. In the episode "Sailor Mouth" (the cursing episode), Jenkins is portrayed as a short old man, with a greenish color, with rounded glasses, and what appear to be liver spots on his head. This look stayed constant through many of his appearances. However, there are a few other looks Jenkins displays throughout the series. In the episode "My Pretty Seahorse", Jenkins is eaten by Sponge Bob's seahorse Mystery. He is spit out a few scenes later, and the result is a short, blue fish, with circular glasses not much unlike his first iteration. He is also wearing clothes akin to SpongeBob's but rounded a bit to fit his body, unlike the white shirt from his first look. Later, in the 'Lost Episode', Jenkins is shown shaped akin to the many generic fish, but extremely old looking, almost wilted. He also doesn't have glasses with this look, and takes on a completely different personality: he is a farmer, who becomes Cannonball Jenkins after SpongeBob angers him by destroying his grain silo. He later appears similar to this incarnation in the episode "The Main Drain", in which he gets shorter, becomes green, and has a grey beard. his attire is similar to his farmer Jenkins look, minus the straw hat. Not to mention the fact that in his speaking roles, his voice seems to change often. Is all of this ever explained? I know the show has a ridiculously convoluted continuity, but this might be pushing it. The only explanation I can come up with is multiple people named Old Man Jenkins.
  • It's not that uncommon a name. Maybe the various Jenkinses are related.
  • In the show's early seasons, many characters went by Jenkins, but two important supporting characters both went by the nickname "Old Man Jenkins". These characters have since been separated into "Old Man Jenkins◊" and "Old Man Walker◊".

Lots of Patties, No Formula

• In the first episode, "Help Wanted", how does SpongeBob make all those patties if Mr.Krabs never told him the formula?
  • Maybe he kept the formula back there during that time and SpongeBob found it?
  • Or else Krabs had already mixed all the ingredients together in a large bowl, so all SpongeBob had to do was make the patty shapes and cook them.
  • Maybe Sponge played a part in the creation of the secret formula?
  • The burger patties were already made, all SpongeBob had to do was cook them. A later episode shows them making a Krabby Patty mixture in a large bowl, so the recipe is definitely for the patty itself. Not the whole sandwich.

Bones or No Bones?

• HOW is it that SpongeBob showed he was boneless in Squirrel Jokes, but in other episodes, he has bones, ( skull, spine, etc. )
  • Rule of Funny, or Rule of Gross depending on the joke and what kind of humor you like. Or Negative Continuity.
  • He's a sponge, his bones are more malleable than a vertebrate's.
    • But he's a sponge, he shouldn't even HAVE bones.
  • His bones might not be "bone" but cartilage.

How Dumb is Patrick?

• I just finished watching the episode "Yours, Mine and Mine". Now, I know Patrick's intelligence (or lack thereof) has decreased over the series' course, but just how dumb is he supposed to be? Isn't there a set level of dumbness for Patrick or does his dumbness just rise/drop to whatever level the episode requires?
  • In "Tentacle Vision":
    Squidward: Patrick, how stupid are you?
    Patrick: It varies.

SpongeBob Was Gone For a Year?

• This may or may not have been discussed already, but I'm watching "Whatever Happened to SpongeBob?" at the moment, and I wonder: SpongeBob left a year's supply of snail food for Gary, right? If it was that long, wouldn't someone (most likely at the Krusty Krab) have known that SpongeBob was missing and go looking for him? Or did Gary just eat that huge supply incredibly quickly?
  • I'm thinking Gary ate it quickly, due to Rule of Funny.
  • He did eat it quickly. When Sandy and Patrick enter SpongeBob's house, Gary is huge. That pretty much says he ate it all at once.
  • Probably a joke on binge eating, especially since Gary was implied to be depressed by SpongeBob's departure.
  • Gary's been known to eat entire sofas in one bit, it doesn't seem too unlikely that he ate a year's supply in one go.

Why Were SpongeBob's Friends Mean?

• Same episode as above: How did SpongeBob's friends get to call him "idiot boy"? And in a very mean manner when he messes them up by accident?
  • It's a classic case of Unwanted Assistance!

How Do Bikini Bottom Citizens Define 'Car'?

• In the movie, when SpongeBob and Patrick are about to drive the Patty Wagon, Patrick says "But SpongeBob! You don't have a license!" SpongeBob replies "You don't need a license, to drive a sandwich".... which for all intents and purposes is a car and functions exactly like one.
  • It's a joke.
  • (Original Poster) But don't you see all the potential Loophole Abuse here?
    • Yes, they're using Loophole Abuse. That's the joke.
  • SpongeBob also drives a truck at some point. And a rock. He can drive anything but a boat, apparently.

Psychic SpongeBob?

• In the episode where SpongeBob and Patrick (and Squidward before we went down the "Fly of Dispair") become the Flying Dutchman's crew, after SpongeBob tells Squidward that they get three wishes and that Patrick used the first and he used the second (to get Squidward there) Squidward tells SpongeBob to wish for something to make it so they don't get eaten. How does Squidward know they're about to get eaten? He got there after they talked about it and no one mentioned it to him.
  • He's probably heard of the Flying Dutchman before and may have heard stories about the Dutchman eating his crew members.

The Con Artist Got Away

• How come the con artist in "Chocolate With Nuts" gets away with all the things he did?
  • He really only conned SpongeBob and Patrick. Plus, they both got rich enough to rent out an entire restaurant for an evening.
  • All he did was lie about his personal circumstances to sell legitimate products to them. SpongeBob and Patrick lie about the products themselves and manage to come out on top.

Why is the Krusty Krab Still Popular?

• Can someone please explain to me WHY people come back to the Krusty Krab? They have been poisoned at least once, the place doesn't seem that clean, and the prices are a rip-off. Why would you come back?
  • With McDonald's, many people know that the food is crap, but they still buy it now and then because it tastes so damn good. Presumably, the same logic applies here.
  • Mr. Krabs said people come for bad service, crummy decor, etc. and IIRC, said it more than once.
  • Considering that the old (i.e, pre-movie) episode "Just One Bite" had Squidward being unable to stop eating Krabby patties after only trying one as its entire plot, I think it's fairly safe to say that the customers of the KK enjoy the good burgers and ignore the not-so-good everything else.
    • To quote Krabs:
      "People come here for good food and verbal abuse!"

Snarking Doesn't Work Already!

• Why hasn't Squidward learned by now that SpongeBob and Patrick don't understand the concept of sarcasm? Every moment he's sarcastic about SpongeBob's offers or ideas, it only encourages him which in turn makes things worse for himself [Squidward].
  • Rule of Funny. Well, what's classed as funny in later episodes, at least...
  • He's yelled at them. At the top of his lungs. Multiple, multiple, multiple times. They're really that thick-headed.
  • Besides, Sponge and Pat are nice dudes, who occasionally even apologize to Squidward for bugging him, so Squidward probably just lets it go.

SpongeBob is Insane Now

• Why hasn't Squidward got a restraining order against SpongeBob yet? Beforehand, SpongeBob was only mildly annoying and overtly cheerful, being the Manchild that he was. Nowadays, he's completely insane, and his obsession with Squidward has reached stalker levels of creepy. Squidward would have easily enough grounds to file a restraining order, so why hasn't he done it yet?
  • I'm not exactly sure how restraining orders work, but I don't see how one would help Squidward since he lives next door to SpongeBob and works at the same job as him. Not to mention, SpongeBob would probably just cry 24/7 over it until Squidward finally got fed up and annulled it. Either that or Patrick would come out of nowhere and eat it.
  • In fact one time he did get a restraining order against SpongeBob, which worked out about as well as you'd think it would. Of course, Patrick wants in on the fun as well.
    • Restraining orders can only work if both sides follow them. Besides living next door, Spongebob and Squidward work at the same place, so, a restraining order wouldn't work as they'd need to communicate with one another to do their jobs, as it'd be void.

Where in Squidward Are They?

• Exactly what are we seeing on the title card for "Squidtastic Voyage"? I know it's Squidward's innards, but is it any specific part of him? It kind of looks like brain matter and a stem, but it's a tunnel. And the brain matter is the color of Squidward's skin (though that may be to further indicate that it's the inside of his body).
  • They look somewhat like blue curly villi, so his intestines?

Speak Up, SpongeBob!

• In "New Student Starfish", when SpongeBob was freaking out about Mrs. Puff taking away his good noodle star, why didn't he just tell her that Patrick drew the Big Fat Meanie picture, not him?
  • It's pretty hard to think rationally when you're having a freak-out. Plus, this is SpongeBob we're talking about. He freaks out over the most minor of provocations.
  • Also, given Mrs. Puff hates SpongeBob, she wouldn't believe him anyway.
  • A kid in SpongeBob's shoes in Real Life would be disinclined to speak up too; Mrs. Puff found the picture in SpongeBob's hands. If he were to claim it's not his doing and that some other kid actually drew it, she'd likely think he's lying to avoid consequences and get even more mad. I'm certain at least one other troper reading this could relate.

How Come Plankton Doesn't Use His Stuff For Profit?

• Something that got me while I was overhearing an episode of SpongeBob from my niece's room: Why doesn't Plankton use his other talents to acquire a business? He's a robotic and engineering genius, and he has created AI so sophisticated that it could actually be considered sentient. Why doesn't he just sell his robots and all the products of his mad genius to the Bikini Bottom military and other top buyers, rather than using them to try and steal a secret formula for fast food in a run-down, middle-of-nowhere hellhole of a restaurant in increasingly-cartoonish plots? Hell, if it's just about beating Krabs, he could buy the Krabby Patty secret formula from the greedy bastard and then perfect it for his own restaurant, putting Krabs out of business for good. He could even humiliate Krabs further by hiring Squidward and maybe even SpongeBob (who would undoubtedly lose respect for Krabs due to the latter's lack of integrity) at triple the wages they were normally getting working under Krabs, then he could maybe even hire Krabs in a false gesture of pity and put him to work cleaning toilets or something. Shit, man. It would be so easy. Why hasn't he done this?
  • Because he's not that smart at all, and certainly not as smart as he thinks he is. In the movie, Plankton forgot the last letter of the alphabet and didn't consider his theft of Neptune's crown would leave fingerprints until Karen pointed both out to him. He's described in his first appearance as being "99% hot gas". The guy's a Gadgeteer Genius who may have gone to college, but a lot of his misfortune can be chalked up to a complete lack of common sense or willingness to think ahead.
  • We do have a trope for this.

The Flying Dutchman's Age

• If the Flying Dutchman is several thousands of years old, why is he dressed like a medieval European pirate? If he's that old, he couldn't be a Dutchman, because the Dutch weren't really around thousands of years ago, and the word "Dutch" and "Dutchman" have only been in use for a handful of centuries. So...
  • He just liked the name and costume? No doubt he'd tried on more than a few hats over the centuries.

SpongeBob Formalpants

• Why does SpongeBob dress so formally to work as a cook at a fast food restaurant?
  • The clothes that he wears to work can be considered his street clothes, as he wears them all the time.
    • His "street" clothes are quite formal (button-down shirt, tie, etc) because he's a geek.
  • He's a square.
  • There's been a few episodes where he's had to deliver the food to a table. I would imagine that he dresses formally just in case since I don't think it would look good on the Krusty Krab if someone in a dirty fry cook's uniform was in charge of bringing orders to tables. A better question would be why SpongeBob doesn't wear an apron.

Amputations, Meh, Splinters, Terrible?

• SpongeBob has shown in multiple episodes that he can rip off his arm and grow new ones, and it's shown to be normal for him. Then he gets a splinter and is suddenly incapable of this. WHY?
  • Fridge Brillance: If SpongeBob were to regrow his arm, all the subsequent arms would have a splinter on them.
    • Actually, that's not true — unless SpongeBob was cursed to have a splinter in every arm he grows in the future, or he was sick with a virus that prevented him from regrowing the arm (thus preventing him from ripping it off), he should've been able to simply rip off the arm in question and deal with the splinter a few seconds after getting it.
  • As before, Rule of Funny. SpongeBob has no trouble at all yanking his arms off, right up to the minute he NEEDS to do so. Then of course he totally forgets how during his suffering.
  • Not just that, he can regrow them (and many of his other body parts), so it might not hurt him as much, not much different than most other invertebrates, the nerves usually dying off before then.

SpongeBob Nopants Would Still Be OK

• Why does SpongeBob even wear clothing? Are there even any bits on a sponge that would be considered obscene, even to other sponges?
  • By that logic then no one in the show should wear clothes.
  • In "SpongeBob RoundPants", it's revealed that if he changes his wardrobe, chaos ensues because he doesn't live up to his name.

Is Everyone Secretly a Sailor?

• In "Sailor Mouth", why is everyone offended by SpongeBob speaking word #11, given that Squidward believes there are only 7 words that should never be spoken, but there are 13 for sailors? (Words #8-13 should therefore not be offensive to non-sailors.)
  • It could be meant to mean something along the lines of "There are seven words that should never be spoken. Well, technically, there are thirteen but only sailors know words #8-13. Same way as a little child might know 'fuck', 'shit', or 'damn' but probably not a lot of racist slurs but adults tend to know lots of those types of swears, even if they don't use them. Of course, you do warn kids those are bad words but why would you say ... teach your child Mandarin swear words, if they're not likely to come across them? "There's this word. Don't say it." Why not y'know just not teach me the word in the first place? I'm sure naval brats are taught about "The Thirteen Words That Should Never Be Spoken". Make sense?
  • The words may be numbered differently for Sailors and Non-Sailors. SpongeBob says the word that's #11 for sailors. The extra ones either change meaning around sailors or the only way to learn the word and meaning is word-of-mouth.
  • You guys are going about this the wrong way.
    • The viewers understand that it's a Seven Dirty Words reference, but the "not if you're a sailor" part is the headscratcher.

Three-Eyed Pirate?

• Am I the only one who's noticed that Painty the Pirate (the guy who sings the theme song) has an eye on his left cheek?
  • You know it really is a painting? When he "speaks", it's really just the singer's (Patchy) mouth slapped on with special effects. Or Patchy is covered entirely in green except for his mouth, and they add the painting Green Screen style.
  • Actually the Set Behind the Scenes for Atlantis Squarepantis shows that it's just a hole cut into the painting where the mouth's supposed to be.
  • Where the hell do you see a third eye?

Watching Everyone Except Plankton

• In Its A Sponge Bob Christmas, if Santa has "his jolly little eyes" on everyone, then how come he didn't see or even HEAR Plankton stating his plan about the jerktonium? Or even building ToyBob?
  • How could Santa even get fooled by the robot and think it was SpongeBob when the real SpongeBob was right next to him?
    • My best guess would be Rule of Funny, even though it's not that funny.
  • That was said in the song, but I doubt that was meant to be taken literally, also Santa has to deliver to BILLIONS of people (and fishes apparently), if he had an eye on everyone, it's probably not at once.
    • Santa is either retarded or was asleep when Plankton was sleeping.

Why Didn't SpongeBob Mention the Art Patty Sale?

• In Googly Artiste, shouldn't SpongeBob have told Mr. Krabs that Patrick was raising money for him (Krabs) by selling the artistic Krabby Patties?
  • This is SpongeBob we're talking about; he'd prefer to keep it a surprise.
  • And no doubt Mr. Krabs would have tripled the price or asked for a major cut of the profits once he understood what was going on.

What's the Point of Two Krusty Krabs Next to Each Other?

• In The Movie, what was the point of opening a second Krusty Krab right next to the original? It would make a lot more sense if it were placed in a much different location in Bikini Bottom or in a different town or something since having the same restaurant be close to one another wouldn't be too convenient if one lives somewhere else.
  • Rule of Funny and Mr. Krabs was asked about it and he said he did it for the money. I doubt that he thought about where he was going to put it.
  • Besides, this troper lives in a neighborhood with two McDonalds and I had tolerated it.
  • Because more Krusty Krabs means more customers. Maybe he plans to make it a full-blown franchise?
    • Technically they'd get the same amount of customers, they'd just be split between two different restaurants. The same profits combined with doubled overhead means that Mr. Krabs would make considerably less money than he'd been making with only one restaurant.
  • My personal theory is that Mr. Krabs remembered the events of the show's pilot, Help Wanted — where the restaurant got flooded by hungry anchovies when deciding where to put the restaurant. He figured that if another event like that happened if he placed it somewhere else, any hungry customers he couldn't serve would likely take their business (and their money) elsewhere if they had to drive far enough away, whereas if they only had to walk next door, they'd likely just go to the other Krusty Krab.

Why is SpongeBob Obsessed With Squidward?

• Why is SpongeBob so ridiculously obsessed with Squidward in the new episodes?
  • Author Appeal would be my guess.

Why Didn't Sandy Shave?

• In the episode where Sandy got fleas, why didn't she just shave her fur?
  • In another episode, "Someone's in the kitchen with Sandy", the cops and the other people mocked her and even arrested her because she didn't have fur.
    • No, they arrested her for being nude. She could've shaved her fur and still worn her spacesuit outside her dome.
  • For the same reason you don't shave the fur of your pets when they get fleas. It would've been overkill.
    • As anyone with a dog or cat can tell you, fur or feathers make it easier for fleas to breed or hide but they don't need said fur or feathers to feed on their hosts, so shaving probably wouldn't help either way. Flooding her treedome would probably be more effective, as she's treating the environment, not just her fur/skin.

The Incredible Sinking Pineapple

• How can SpongeBob live "in a pineapple under the sea"? Don't pineapples, you know, float?
  • Well... this particular pineapple was hollowed out and filled with water. Plus there are glass windows with metal rings around them. Not to mention all the fishing lures, picture frames, bathroom and kitchen stuff (which are presumably quite heavy). It all adds up and so we'll just say it makes the pineapple dense enough to stay at the bottom of the sea. For the record, this troper saw the episode that showed how he got his house (Truth Or Square, I believe) so... We could also just say Water Is Air, a theme of the show since an ordinary pencil fell to Bikini Bottom the same way.
  • Water Is Air.

Why Can't SpongeBob Resign?

• SpongeBob has been shown to be a very good artist (sculpting, different shapes bubbles, the art episode when he makes a sculpture with Squidward as an art teacher) in a few episodes. Why can he just quit his minimum-wage job to become an artist?
  • Because he loves being a fry cook.
  • That and art supplies can get pretty expensive and success mostly depends on whether or not one is hired by a larger company or works independently. Likewise, Squidward is shown to be an artist but, for some odd reason, no one likes his paintings, and the fact that some might not buy them, so he has to work as a cashier.
    • ICR the name of the episodes but there were two episodes where he tried to do other jobs but wound up making Krabby patties. Two, while he is better at art than Squidward, art might not be his passion. It's hard to walk away from something if you've been doing it for a while.

Not Exploiting the Rules

• In "Krusty Towers," Mr. Krabs recalls going to a hotel that inspired him to build Krusty Towers. The hotel had a policy of "We shall not deny a guest even the most ridiculous request." Mr. Krabs was upset that the hotel overcharged him for everything (25 dollars for a hamburger!). So why didn't Mr. Krabs, the greedy guy that he is, invoke the hotel's policy and request for him not to be charged for anything?
  • He was too shocked at the price to think straight.
  • By that point, I assume Mr. Krabs had already checked out of the hotel and was no longer considered a "guest", thus he would not be able to request any more favors from the employees.
  • It said, "We shall not deny a guest even the most ridiculous request". It didn't say that they wouldn't do so at a higher-than-normal price.

Tickets for Nothing

• At the end of "Keep Bikini Bottom Beautiful", why did both SpongeBob and Squidward get tickets? And for that matter, why did they get them from a can dropping from the statue? They didn't even touch it!
  • Police Are Useless, and Jerkasses.
  • Rule of Funny

Pat Gets a Hat After All

• In "No Hat For Pat", Patrick keeps falling because the hat makes him heavier. If this is the case, then why didn't this happen in "Big Pink Loser"?
  • Different writers for seasons 'way' apart. The writers can't be expected to remember everything.

SpongeBob's Fake Tongue

• In "Fools in April", what exactly is that fake tongue that comes out of SpongeBob's mouth? SpongeBob seems to be just functionally fine with that creature detached, implying it's not his actual tongue, but the living "tongue" is never explained or mentioned again. It's been bugging me ever since I saw the episode over a decade ago. While I do realize the series is full of weird, out-of-nowhere moments, this one sticks out to me more than most other odd moments.
  • MST3K Mantra.
  • A tongue-eating louse? SpongeBob could regrow his tongue, so the louse coming out wouldn't be a problem.

It's the Equivalent of the *Common* Cold, Right?

• If the suds are the sponge equivalent of the common cold or the flu, (which are both very common ailments,) why would SpongeBob not know what to expect when he went to the hospital to be treated? Surely as a twentysomething-year-old, he's been sick before.
  • Sponges can live for up to 15, 000 years, so twenty-something is still quite young for him.
    • Also, especially in the case of relatively minor illnesses, people don't always go to the hospital when they get sick and, odds are, he's either had it before and waited it out or he's some other sponge get it.
  • He probably figured that Mr. Krabs would insist he take more time off if he went straight to the hospital as opposed to just going home after showing up sick.
  • Some people are just lucky.

Going to the Prom With an Adult

• In "The Chaperone," Pearl's junior prom date dumped her, so Mr. Krabs suggests that she let SpongeBob take her to the prom. Pearl is reluctant to agree, but only because SpongeBob is.... well.... a dork. But Pearl is 16 in the episode, and SpongeBob is later implied to be in his twenties. Isn't it a little weird for a grown adult to be the prom date of a sixteen-year-old girl?
  • If you're willing to consider SpongeBob as a grown adult...
  • Not any weirder than Mr. Krabs offering to take her or having Squidward go.

SpongeBob's Head Needs Protecting?

• Why does SpongeBob's karate garb include protective headgear if he's a sponge?
  • Because it looks cooler.

Unconditional Respect and Admiration

• Why does SpongeBob have so much respect and admiration for Squidward even though Squidward treats him like garbage a great majority of the time? I get that SpongeBob is a Nice Guy who has a kind word for everyone, but Squidward is so Easily Forgiven, and we haven't seen an episode where Squidward has gone too far for Sponge to tell him off and not forgive him for a while. He's even told off Mr. Krabs! But not Squidward. Is there some reason why he's so quick to forgive the guy who berates him and verbally abuses him constantly?
  • Perhaps SpongeBob is aware of how awful Squidward's life is (though he generally doesn't understand he is the main cause of it), thus making his constant grouchiness and outbursts justified and try as hard as he can to keep Squidward happy?

Why Didn't Mr. Krabs Take SpongeBob to Hospital?

• If Mr. Krabs apparently knew what the suds were, why did he just send SpongeBob home? Why didn't he call him a cab and send him to the hospital, given what the treatment involves?
  • Maybe he was afraid he would have to pay the bill at first...Like, workman's comp, or something? But then SpongeBob gets in an argument with Sandy and Patrick and his disease ends up destroying the Krusty Krab — you can tell in that scene that Mr. Krabs is angry, and moneygrubber or not, he still does care about SpongeBob and seems to want what's best for him.
  • Business standpoint in the sense of, while he cares for SpongeBob, it wouldn't make a lot of sense (along with that not being a good use of his time) to call for a taxi to take SpongeBob home or a hospital, especially when SpongeBob shouldn't have come to work in the first place, along with the fact that Krabs is a tightwad.
  • It's likely that he knew that while the Suds would take SpongeBob away from work for a few days, it wasn't a serious condition, and the fact that he's a tightwad likely explains why he didn't just call a taxi. A better question would be why he didn't drive SpongeBob there himself since he is shown to own a car at several points.
    • Probably because doing so would require leaving Squidward (the worst employee ever) in charge of the restaurant. That's hardly a responsible thing for the owner of a popular restaurant to do, especially when SpongeBob only lives a short distance away. He does walk to work every day, after all.

Trunks With Sleeves?

• When Sponge is at the beach in his swimming trunks, why does he still have sleeves? That's just kind of weird.
  • Maybe his trunks include a shirt, just like how his "pants" are actually a pants-and-shirt combo. Therefore the sleeves are part of the "trunks".

I Wish I Had the Answer to This One

• In the episode with the Flying Dutchman, when SpongeBob wishes the Flying Dutchman was a vegetarian, the Dutchman turns them into fruit. But SpongeBob specifically wished that the Flying Dutchman wouldn't be able to eat them due to being a vegetarian, so how does that work?
  • He granted the wish. He couldn't eat them, as he was a vegetarian. So he made them into fruit. Now he can. They never wished that he wouldn't eat them now, forever, and in the past somehow.
    • Then shouldn't he have granted the wish and then turned them into fruit? He did both simultaneously. So he wasn't unable to eat them at any point in time, so the wish wasn't granted.
  • In that episode, SpongeBob never wishes for the Dutchman to not be able to eat them. His exact words were, "Don't worry, Squidward! I've got it all figured out. He won't be able to eat us because...I wish that the Dutchman was a vegetarian!" Making him vegan was what he wished for, not specifically that he would be unable to eat them.

SpongeBob Can Drive Anything But a Boat

• If SpongeBob is incapable of driving a boat, but he can drive a rock and a sandwich and anything else.... why does he not just find a rock or a giant sandwich to drive?! Why does the kid even need to be in boating school if he can drive other things?
  • He owns and uses a unicycle (which, for some reason, he refers to as a bike), so he does have other means of non-motorized transportation. It might just be the fact that he wants to pass boating school for pride's sake.
  • SpongeBob says that the Patty Wagon is only used for promotional reasons, so Mr. Krabs probably wouldn't be supportive of him using it as an everyday vehicle. He can't drive a rock because, as shown in the pizza delivery episode, he runs the risk of running people over, and as for the bike...wouldn't it be a little embarrassing for anyone if they had to ride a bike everywhere when a majority of the surrounding populace is shown to use cars?

Why is SpongeBob Called a Kid?

• Why do people refer to SpongeBob as a kid and a "boy?" He may be a manchild (and a small guy,) but he's still a highly-skilled, intelligent, self-sufficient grown adult with his own house, a full-time career, and a closet full of awards. I read somewhere that he's in his late twenties. So why do other people always refer to him as a "kid?" He's an adult!
  • The character who refers to SpongeBob as "boy" most often is probably Mr. Krabs, and that's just a thing that older people in general do, even to people who are legal adults. A good example is professional sports, where retired players will often refer to twenty-something players as "kids" or "young men." Even in pro wrestling (no idea how we went from SpongeBob to WWE), Jim Ross referred to Shawn Michaels as a "young man" until the day Michaels retired... at the age of 44.

Warming Every Body Part Except the Legs

• In "Suds," when SpongeBob puts on a coat, scarf, and hat to go to the doctor, why is he still wearing shorts? Doesn't it seem a little counter-productive to be wearing shorts when you're already sick and weak in the knees?
  • It looks like he just put heavier clothes on top of what he normally wears. He either may not have had the energy to actually change out of his shorts, or he might have been hesitant to do so since that would necessitate removing his shoes, which he pretty much never does (likely because he doesn't know how to tie them). It's a stretch, but hey, it's worth somethin'.
  • In The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (which, if I recall correctly, takes place after the said episode), he's shown to only have a bunch of the same outfit in his closet. While we can assume that he might have clothes for other seasons put away, he doesn't.
  • When SpongeBob is shown dressed like this, he'd just opened his front door for Patrick, who was knocking. He could've just not been fully dressed yet.

Snails Can Scratch?

• SpongeBob offers his "prized driftwood carving of Squidward" as a scratching post for Gary when he leaves SpongeBob for Patrick. Snails are obviously portrayed as the underwater equivalent of cats, but how exactly would a snail use a scratching post?
  • Invisible Anatomy.
  • A snail's tongue is apparently the roughest thing in creation and is covered with thousands of very small teeth (so as to deal with vegetation). something Gary's size in a typical room might well really muck up the furniture.
  • IDR Gary actually scratching people but I do remember him biting.

Sandy Knows a Lot, But Not About Sponges

• If Sandy is so smart (she's been shown on numerous occasions to be a borderline scientific genius), how did she not realize that a sea sponge can't survive in an arid, water-less environment (episode "Tea At The Treedome")? Even after SpongeBob showed obvious signs of dehydration, she was apparently still oblivious to the fact that he's a water animal, not an amphibian.
  • This was before the writers decided to turn Sandy into a scientist.

And on top of all that, she had the nerve to say, at the end of the episode, "If y'all wanted water, ya shoulda asked!", even though SpongeBob DID ask for water at one point, at which point she ignored him to go and put her flowers in a vase. Yeah, Sandy. He totally should have asked for water. Did you go deaf or something?

• SpongeBob specifically told Sandy that he loves air and can't get enough of it (to which she acts surprised and says "No kidding?") so she might have thought he was some kind of amphibian. It's not like SpongeBob looks like an actual sea sponge. Even when he realized what air was, he insisted he was okay with it and he later said, again, that he was okay when she asked if something was wrong. So she probably didn't want to be rude and assume he was lying. For the second part, I dunno—she was either distracted by the flowers, thought when he said water he meant for the flowers, or she just didn't hear him because he was speaking with a dry throat and very quiet.

Suicide or Not?

• In "One Coarse Meal," Plankton tries to kill himself by lying in the street waiting for a bus to run him over, and asking SpongeBob to step on him. But wait a minute, Plankton has been stepped on many times in the past, and he has been fine, if not slightly injured. He's even been eaten! Why would this kill him?
  • Plankton only survives because of Rule of Funny. His suffering in One Coarse Meal wasn't Played for Laughs.
  • Moreover, why would he want to die if the whole reason he's freaking out is that he doesn't want Pearl to kill him?
    • Getting run over by a bus would be much quicker and much less painful than potentially getting eaten and digested.
    • Would it? He's so much smaller than her that he'd die the instant she bit down.
    • Better to Die than Be Killed? He could have decided that he'd rather go out on his own terms than live in fear waiting for Pearl to finally catch him.

Water Helmets Have Limited Protection

• How do SpongeBob and Patrick's water helmets protect their entire bodies from dry air? Shouldn't their arms and legs wither away from dehydration? Also, how can they survive without their water helmets in the snow (episode "Survival of the Idiots")? Yes, snow is technically water, but snow on land isn't the same as water in the ocean; there's no air in the ocean, whereas there's still a lot more air than snow in Sandy's tree dome. Plus, when they go up in Sandy's tree, there's no snow or water, and they suffer no ill effects.
  • Artistic License – Biology but they're "breathing" the water in, so it may cycle through their systems hydrating the rest of themselves from the inside. As for the rest of it, SpongeBob and Patrick don't actually need to breathe the water to stay hydrated—there are multiple times in the series when they've been just fine for a while above-water (presumably as long as it's not hot and dry out.) The whole thing with the snow was that they can remain hydrated since they were surrounded by wetness (and the Dirty Dan fight would probably have been difficult to do if they were wearing helmets) and they weren't up in Sandy's tree for very long.

Light Pops Bubbles?

• How could a camera pop the World's Oldest Bubble?
  • Rule of Funny.
  • A camera's flash can and will pop any bubble.

In Business a Long Time... But How Long Exactly?

• How long has Plankton been trying to steal the Krabby Patty secret formula? We do know that it's been since they were kids in school together, but how long ago was that? In one episode, Plankton reveals that he's been throwing card games for 15 years, waiting for Krabs to "slip up," and Mr. Krabs' first dime is a large rock— "I've been in business a long time, boy."
  • SpongeBob didn't always work for the Krusty Krab, so Plankton was likely throwing card games before then. As for the first dime, Krabs is very greedy. He'd likely take any form of money as long as it's valid somewhere.

Rudely-Named Superhero

• If "Barnacles!" is considered a mild profanity in the SpongeBob universe, what does that say about Barnacle Boy?
  • It might not be profanity necessarily (as in something that a child would be scolded for saying), but more of a less-harmless exclamation. It's also used as a sort of euphemism that seems equivalent to how we use "bugger" or "bastard" (although not as profane as the latter)— Mr. Krabs often calls SpongeBob "Ya little barnacle." It still doesn't really make "Barnacle Boy" any more logical, but... maybe it has another meaning that we don't know of? Maybe actual barnacles are known for being tough or whatever.
  • It's most likely a word that has both a profane and a non-profane meaning, like "ass" or "damn".
  • Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy were both once ordinary humans, as shown in their origins episode. "Barnacle" doesn't have any profane meaning to humans, so they probably thought the name was fine, and by the time they realized that it was a swear underwater, the name had just stuck.
    • Mr. Krabs is a sailor, so if there is a profane meaning to "Barnacle", it might not be as big of a deal to him as the swear words only a sailor would know.
  • In Real Life we have Hellboy. It could simply be that he does indeed have a rude word in his name and people simply don't mind.

Romance for a Non Love-Interest

• So the song "Sandy Squirrel" on the Sponge Out of Water soundtrack, what's with the romantic lyrics?
  • Shipping reference.
  • Aw, goddamnit, did the writers screw up Sandy's last name as "Squirrel" again?

SpongeBob Trope-pants

• Why do we always link to the main page when we mention SpongeBob as if he was a trope? It's not like we do it with Batman or Spider-Man, so why SpongeBob?
  • Because there's no character page for SpongeBob himself in the same vein as, oh say Vegeta, regular or self-demonstrating, and in the cases you mentioned, they've been around for so long and had so many different incarnations. SpongeBob has had relatively few in comparison.
  • I think it has more to do with how his name is spelled. A lot of people spell it with the b in "Bob" capitalized, which is also what you do when you're trying to link to another page here on TV Tropes.

Who are Janet and Marty?

• They're probably a starfish couple as dumb as Patrick who forgot they had no son.

He's Actually Quite a Bad Noodle

• Having just watched "New Student Starfish" again, I was wondering, if Mrs. Puff can't stand SpongeBob and is sick of failing him, then how does he have such a high amount of gold stars? Guessing because it's not a post-movie episode, but it leaves you wondering how he got so many.
  • SpongeBob is shown to be a good student whenever he's in the classroom — it's only when he gets behind the wheel that he starts screwing up. Also, that episode was probably before Mrs. Puff adopted a psychotic dislike for SpongeBob. In certain earlier episodes, she clearly becomes disappointed whenever he fails the test, but it never got to a point where she was actually angry with him — a lot of times, she still tried to do her best to give him positive encouragement, even if it was only out of hope that he would pass it the next time.

Therapy Just Because of Attraction

• The ending of "Are You Happy Now?". Squidward goes insane, and all SpongeBob does is sigh dreamily and say "He's so handsome." O...' Kay? What was this supposed to imply? It came out of nowhere. Does this mean that SpongeBob only wanted to fix Squidward's depression (and for some reason assumed that hundreds of paper mache versions of himself would do it) because he wants to bang him? It brings a completely new (and unsettling) dimension to the episode.
  • "Handsome" and "sexy" are a bit different, but still.

Bomb Factory

• Why does Bikini Bottom have a bomb factory?
  • Why not?
  • Maybe they're atomic bombs and the Bikini Bottomites are taking advantage of their natural resource: fallout from the nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll.
  • It's never stated that those bombs are used for warfare. Assuming that there are construction and mining industries in Bikini Bottom, the bombs are likely used for those.

Why Doesn't Squidward Confront Mr Krabs?

• Why hasn't Squidward ever called out Mr. Krabs on some of the cheap practices he has done and outright sued him?! Any judge with half a brain would see the past things like "Open 24 hours with the same two employees, "Laughing at the idea of a raise for excellent work", and "Forcing his employees to pay HIM" and likely force Mr. Krabs to have to pay them a LOT of backpay (and after the events of "One Coarse Meal" and "Plankton's Regular", Plankton would probably be able to collect too!!!!)
  • I believe a part of Squidward secretly likes working as the Krusty Krab, in the same vein he likes SpongeBob as his neighbor. So long as he gets his paycheck, he's cool with putting up with whatever goes on there. Plus, it seems Mr. Krabs may have reneged on the whole "Open 24 hours" deal after that episode, as it's never shown open at night in any others. And as for "forcing his employees to pay HIM", it was a joke from one episode, people. Learn to get it to go.
  • He'd also need SpongeBob to back him up on those claims, since if he made them himself, Mr. Krabs could claim he's lying — and since SpongeBob loves to work there, that's not going to happen.

SpongeBob's Also Brainless

• So the whole joke with Patrick is that he's so stupid because Real Life sea stars don't have any brains, right? Well, if that's the case, then how come SpongeBob isn't as stupid as Patrick, seeing as real-life sponges don't even have any respiratory system, much less an actual brain?
  • I thought the whole joke with Patrick was that he's so stupid because he's so stupid, not for any biological reason. He's just meant to be SpongeBob's stupid, bumbling, but still good-natured best buddy. (In the earlier seasons and a select few of the later ones.)

Sentient Sauce

• How can an inanimate drop of hot sauce develop a face?! (Karate Choppers)
  • It was just a joke, or perhaps SpongeBob's imagination.
    • The latter sounds right, but we have no hint that he imagined it. Or was he on drugs?
    • Maybe the hot sauce itself had chemicals with properties similar to that of LSD so that it made SpongeBob hallucinate it had a face?
    • It was a drop of hot sauce with a face, that showed itself in a close-up right as SpongeBob realizes Sandy's about to pour it onto his tongue. I'm not sure what other sort of "hint" you're expecting.
    • His confused reaction...
    • Why would he be confused about something he was imagining?
    • Do you even understand what a hallucination is?
  • The show anthropomorphizes all kinds of lower life forms, so a pepper isn't out of the realm of possibility. Furthermore, it's done in live action like other surface-dwelling creatures.

Plankton is Just as Bad

• In "One Course Meal" Mr. Krabs got some major backlash from fans for how he tormented Plankton and drove him to suicide but has anyone forgotten that Plankton framed Mr. Krabs for stealing Neptune's Crown, resulting in him getting frozen for days, took sadistic glee in taking the Krabby Patty Formula right before his eyes literally resulting in him shedding a tear, brainwashed everyone in Bikini Bottom making them his mindless slaves, treated his (almost) untimely death at the hands of Neptune by fire as he begged for his life like entertainment and tried to KILL SpongeBob and Patrick after they returned with the crown and that's only a list of the terrible things he's done in the movie? Mr. Krabs forcing him to suicide after he attacked his restaurant is worse than all those atrocities and seasons' worth of more?
  • The main difference between Plankton and Mr. Krabs is that the latter has always been established as a villain, even if he's utterly incompetent. Mr. Krabs is supposed to be one of the 'heroes' of the show, so to speak, and in the earlier episodes, he was fairly reasonable with his greed being a flaw more than his Flanderization defining trait. The problem, as a result, is that the writers intended for the audience to forgive Mr. Krabs while Plankton ultimately got punished at the end of the movie. SpongeBob was a false hope in this episode; seeming to empathize with Plankton with Mr. Krabs's fake fear of mimes. SpongeBob being the audience's main insight on the series, as such, was the writer's way of telling us ['You should support these actions'].
  • The point is that Mr. Krabs went too far, since he'd still been harassing Plankton long after he surrendered.

SpongeBob's in Charge Now?

• In the episode with Pretty Patties, SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs trade restaurants, but SpongeBob never really gave the Krusty Krab back, does this mean that SpongeBob is actually the owner of the KK?
  • Most simply, this is explained by Negative Continuity, the show doesn't have a set timeline except for the episodes that establish main characters (Plankton and Sandy, for example, were given their own debut episodes and were kept as a result). If you want from a plot standpoint; Mr. Krabs could have simply convinced him offscreen after the episode.

Water You Waiting For, Squidward?

• In "I Was A Teenage Gary", all Gary needed to feel better was water. Why didn't Squidward think of this when he forgot to feed the snail?
  • For the sake of the plot?
  • SpongeBob never told him that all Gary would need to feel better was water — he takes very good care of Gary, so he likely never had to deal with the situation that would lead to him learning that kind of knowledge.
  • If someone was starving to death, you wouldn't think to give them food first?

Why Didn't SpongeBob Evict Squidward?

• So in the episode "Can You Spare A Dime," couldn't SpongeBob just have Squidward evicted from his house instead of letting Squidward constantly take advantage of him after SpongeBob showing Squidward numerous times that he needed to get a job?
  • SpongeBob is, by nature, kind of a spineless doormat, both in pre-movie (Walking Small) and post-movie (Treats!) episodes. It's a reoccurring character flaw that's been established in multiple episodes. He's overly nice and he lets people take advantage of him. "You just let people step all over you! You're just like stairs!" to quote from Plankton in "Walking Small." SpongeBob didn't "evict" Squidward until he was so distressed and worn out by the situation that he completely snapped altogether.
  • Go back and watch "Walking Small", Plankton sees that SpongeBob cannot stand up for himself against bastards who do things like sit on him and steal his ice cream.
  SpongeBob: But I'm a sp—
  Plankton: DON'T SAY IT!
  • It could be that Police Are Useless in Bikini Bottom. They put more effort into whacking a broken parking meter with bats than chasing after the Strangler or noticing a speeding boat with two people fighting in it spinning around in circles on top of a cliff.

What Happened to Sponge Bob?

• In the episode "Funny Pants," SpongeBob believes that his laugh box is broken because Squidward persuaded him to think so. Squidward lied to SpongeBob just to get him to shut up for a while. But that doesn't really explain A) SpongeBob's pained spasms earlier in the episode (just before Squidward fed him the "laugh box" lie,) and B) the wheezy/deflating balloon sound that SpongeBob makes just before he says "I lost my laugh." So... what happened to him? Were those symptoms just cheats in the narrative?
  • A) You CAN get pained spasms if you do laugh for a bit too long. Considering that SpongeBob was laughing for WAY too long, having that degree of pain is actually not that out of the question.
  • The spasms were probably just a stitch. The wheezing noise... maybe it was because he was sad?
  • Your Mind Makes It Real. SpongeBob believed Squidward's lie that his "laugh box" was broken, and his belief caused something that may have started out as just a harmless pulled muscle or stitch or whatever to become more than it was.

Why Didn't He Franchise It?

• Why hasn't Mr. Krabs ever considered franchising the Krusty Krab? Doesn't he realize just how much money he could rake in by doing so? And before it's brought up, yes, I am aware that there's a rather substantial risk that Plankton would very likely be one of the first, if not only, people to sign up. I'm just curious as to why the possibility hasn't come up after nearly 17 years now.
  • He does open a Krusty Krab 2 in the movie... that he had built right next to the original. Anyway, opening a new restaurant not only would not matter to the main focus of the show — SpongeBob's antics in Bikini Bottom — but would also cost more money than Mr. Krabs is shown to be willing to spend.
    • In the long run, it likely would earn him more money, but in the short run, it would be a loss, and as Mr. Krabs has demonstrated in episodes like Jellyfish Hunter, he doesn't exactly consider the long run (as he likely would've made SpongeBob focus on increasing Jellyfish populations as opposed to capturing all the Jellyfish in the aforementioned episode).

Why Does Mr. Krabs Like Money?

• Come to think of it, I noticed in the episode "Money Talks" that Mr. Krabs doesn't like spending money. So why does he love money so much when he doesn't even want to spend it on anything?
  • Because he just likes money.
    • Yeah, at least once we see him happily counting huge piles of money. It makes sense that he likes money just for the sake of having more money than other people.
    • His first dime was a giant rock, something he very likely knows he can't spend anywhere. It could be that he's a collector, and views each coin/bill as unique (plus, we never see customers paying with checks or credit/debit cards).
    • This character quirk is actually a bit of marine biology-based Fridge Brilliance. Certain species of crabs have a habit of collecting things; in particular, shiny things.
    • Mr. Krabs is also established to have grown up poor in a post-movie episode; it's not unreasonable that people who grow up poor and manage to find success later in life would be nervous about ever becoming poor again, leading them to hoard their money rather than spend it and just be happy to be rich.
    • In Money Talks, Mr. Krabs spent the money on things they wanted, not on things he wanted. He doesn't actually mind spending money.
  Mr. Krabs: I can't spend all of you, 'cause none of you would spend on the stuff I want.

How Does Mr. Krabs Pay His Bills?

• A bonus question: How does Mr. Krabs even pay his own bills since he doesn't want to spend money?
  • I'd imagine he's probably really cheap and stubborn about it.
    • I'd imagine that he leaves that responsibility to Pearl since she doesn't seem to have the same qualms he has about spending money.
  • In "Krab Borg", he says that he actually does pay for essential items he needs such as a blender ($24.95), a toaster ($32.50), and a bigger blender ($62.67).
  • He probably takes advantage of events that offer fresh refreshments such as in "Band Geeks" where he joined Squidward's band just for that perk.
    • Knowin' Krabs, he prolly pays his bills on a "budget billing" plan.

Did He Order the Soda?

• But really though, did the customer from "Pizza Delivery" actually order his Diet Dr. Kelp to go along with his Krabby Patty pizza in the first place? Even though SpongeBob points out in his notebook that he didn't, in the customer's defense, in the case that he truly did, his berating the shit out of him and slamming the door in his face would be somewhat justified.
  • You might recall that Mr. Krabs is the one who took the call. He may not have told SpongeBob that the customer wanted the Diet Dr. Kelp, so in a way, the berating and slamming are justified but blame Mr. Krabs for not paying attention. And if you listen closely, the customer can still be heard talking after Krabs hangs up the phone, so it's possible that he DID order a drink.
  • As someone who works in the food industry taking orders, this troper can safely say that characters like that one are actually quite common — customers are occasionally known to call back and complain about not receiving something that they don't realize they forgot to order in the first place, or because they thought that something like a side order or drink came with their meal by default. Either way, when you get the kind of friendly service SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs were shown to give to him, I don't see how him yelling at them and slamming the door on them would be at all justified. If he'd just accepted the pizza and asked for them to deliver him the drink (which is what most rational customers tend to do), I'm sure SpongeBob happily would've done so.
  • Especially since the house is right around the corner from the Krusty Krab, so if he REALLY wanted his drink he could have asked for him to go get it. Then again, SpongeBob and Squidward DID take a really long time to get just the pizza to him, so he might have been cranky about that too.
  • OP, do you really think it's justified to act that way just because of a missing drink? Whether the guy ordered it or not, the point was that SpongeBob didn't know about it, so it was still wrong to get upset with him, especially to go so far as to say, "Didn't you ever once think of the customer?!" We're meant to see him as wrong because he immediately assumes the worst about what happened by jumping to the conclusion that Sponge just didn't care when the entire episode leading up to that was demonstrating that that wasn't the case. That's why he was in the wrong.
  • Plus, come on. He ordered a pizza to be delivered from the Krusty Krab. A pizza to be delivered from the Krusty Krab. That would be the equivalent of going to a McDonald's and, y'know, ordering a pizza. 1) As Squidward points out, they don't have pizza on the menu, and there's no obvious reason to think they would; 2) They don't deliver, and they never have, as Squidward says; and 3) the Krusty Krab was closing when the order was made. So, even not knowing all the hell that SpongeBob and Squidward went through just getting the guy his order to him, the Krusty Krab and its employees are already going way above and beyond the call of duty here. The guy was incredibly lucky to get anything at all in the first place.

Glowing Nostrils

• Remember the guy who SpongeBob and Squidward thought was the Hash-Slinging Slasher? Why were his nostrils glowing red in the dark?
  • It was at night, and the Krusty Krab isn't exactly in the best of shape. It could be that there were lights on the outside that would normally illuminate the outer walls that weren't working properly, and they just so happened to make his nostrils glow red.

It's For You *and* Him, Remember?

• In "Pizza Delivery", if SpongeBob sings that the Krusty Krab Pizza is for "you and me" (which is presumably referring to Squidward and SpongeBob respectively), then how come he refuses to let Squidward take a slice from it later on when they get hungry and says it's for the customer all of the sudden?
  • It was for the customer.
  • When SpongeBob was singing "for you and me," he was speaking in general about the customers of pizza made by the Krusty Krab.

What's With the Apple?

• Does anyone have a reasonable explanation for the random apple chasing the teens in "The Chaperone?" (other than Rule of Funny)
  • Maybe there was a worm in that apple controlling its movements.
  • It's a take on Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!, where man-eating tomatoes were created by a mad scientist (though he prefers to be called an angry scientist) hellbent on world domination.

But So Many People Could Answer Those!

• Why are the "...questions only the real Mr. Krabs could answer." questions that anyone who's been to the Krusty Krab could answer, and why didn't Mr. Krabs raise this objection?
  • SpongeBob is near panic, extremely twitchy, and is pointing an industrial-strength firehouse with a spicy condiment at him and the imitation. Does this look like the kind of situation you can reason yourself out of? SpongeBob would just go "I'm asking the questions around here!" and shut him up. Especially since Mr. Krabs has been shown to be less than eloquent under pressure.
  • There's also the fact that Plankton never goes to the Krusty Krab as a customer.
    • Right, because someone, as obsessed with the Krusty Krab as Plankton, couldn't possibly know the restaurant's business hours and the prices of its food.

Only One Celestial Body Affects Sandy

• In the episode "Feral Friends", how was Sandy unaffected by Neptune's Moon but WAS affected by Neptune's Sun? If you make the argument it only works for warmbloods/air-breathers, that does not excuse Pearl, who was affected by the former and not the latter. Does the Sun work for land animals if that's the case?
• Even weirder is that Potty turns into a small pterosaur, not a regular parrot.

Vending Machine

• Why does Mr. Krabs have a vending machine in his house?
  • He's greedy. Probably to extort money out of visitors who want a snack or drink. It's not his job to pay for their amenities!
  • Or maybe it's to cheat Pearl out of her allowance?
  • It's possible that it's a vintage/antique vending machine. The dude loves his knick-knacks and antiques, after all!

Serving Smiles

• What could be better than serving up smiles?!
  • Being dead, or anything else!

Why Didn't Squidward Phone Up?

• In the episode "Squid's Day Off", why didn't Squidward just call the Krusty Krab's phone to check in on SpongeBob? We know from other episodes that the restaurant has one.
  • SpongeBob could exaggerate about how things are going over the phone.
  • Also, Squidward wanted to see the condition of the Krusty Krab in person, back when "Squid's Day Off" aired we didn't have smartphones that came with FaceTime or video chat allowing you to see the person you're talking to.

Shy Strangler?

• In 'The Tattle Tale Strangler', why does the Strangler care about strangling in public? He's already a wanted criminal and a murderer (you don't get that name without having strangled some people), that no one will touch because they're absolutely terrified of him. He shouldn't care about being seen, because the people either wouldn't do anything, or they'd just become his next victims...
  • The police aren't terrified of him. If he strangles SpongeBob in public there's the possibility they'll see him and arrest him.
  • He said it himself, he doesn't want witnesses around who could rat him out to the police.
    • Except 1: He escaped the Cops pretty easily and apparently escapes them constantly, and 2: Only Morons would tattle on him at this point (like SpongeBob), so I don't think he would care much. I also don't think the Cops would think about drawing anything greater than Batons on anyone, even the Strangler, who apparently scares even the toughest of Fish in the sea...
    • Escaping the cops regularly can get exhausting after a while.

The Patty Vault, Part 1

• In "Just One Bite", SpongeBob has an entire Patty Vault that holds hundreds (or thousands) of ready-to-eat Krabby Patties and yet he cooks fresh, new ones on the grill?
  • Maybe it's for emergencies, like another swarm of anchovies.

The Patty Vault, Part 2

• Also in "Just One Bite", wouldn't the Patty Vault's patties have to be completely diverse to suit the customers' differing and varying tastes? Like what if a customer is lactose intolerant (no cheese) or is allergic to tomatoes or like in the beginning, the customer wants his Krabby Patty deep fried in batter?
  • Maybe there are a few specialized ones in there?

The Patty Vault, Part 3

• Why isn't there a lock on the Patty Vault in case someone like Plankton tries breaking in and stealing some patties? A lock would save the trouble of having to install a gas-and-match security alarm that could end up burning down the dining section of the Krusty Krab.
  • Could be because SpongeBob guards the Patty Vault so heavily (even coming in real early in the morning to count sesame seeds) that he decided a lock would only hamper his presence in the vault, and so he either did away with the lock or requested Mr. Krabs to do so.

Pizza Boxes Don't Come Out of Thin Water

• If the Krusty Krab doesn't serve pizza, where did Mr. Krabs find the pizza box?
  • Hammerspace. Also, many restaurant brands have places they can get their custom-designed pizza boxes, so Krabs may have found one someplace else & got them to design it.
  • Or maybe Mr. Krabs did eat pizza before the episode began, kept the box, and used that for the delivery to give to Squidward.

Squidward Knows About the Dutchman's Plans. How?

• In "Shanghaied!", Squidward told SpongeBob to wish for something that could get SpongeBob, Patrick, and Squidward out of being eaten. But Squidward hadn't been around to hear that the Flying Dutchman was going to eat Sponge and Pat; how did he know?
  • He probably read a story about how the Dutchman would eat people after they were sent down that evil tunnel of doom. Not a believer, he assumed it was fiction.
  • In "Squidward the Unfriendly Ghost," Squidward has a comic book about the origins of the Flying Dutchman. Perhaps he read about the Flying Dutchman and the comic mentioned that the Dutchman eats people who displease him.

Sharks Make Better Customers

• Wouldn't Plankton's business do better if he relocated to a shark-heavy area?
  • For that matter, Bikini Bottom does have some shark species within the populace. Why they haven't discovered the Chum Bucket despite being so close to the Krusty Krab is anyone's guess.
  • Maybe he's afraid the sharks will eat him. He was scared of Pearl (not a shark, but still) in "One Coarse Meal", after all.
    • He was afraid of Pearl because she's a whale and whales (at least the ones with baleen teeth, which this troper always assumed Pearl was) eat plankton and other small aquatic organisms. Sharks (i.e the big scary ones that everyone is familiar with) do not, so they wouldn't be much interested in Plankton.
  • Going with the Fridge Horror that chum is actually dead sapient fish, the sharks probably knew that, and sapient sharks wouldn't likely eat sapient fish.
    • Well, it's been shown that a few fish species are equivalent to the "animals" of Bikini Bottom, like lionfish=non-anthropomorphic lions and seahorses=non-anthropomorphic horses, so Plankton's chum may not be made with sentient beings.
  • Plankton is a Lethal Chef. In one episode, Squidward became a chef at the Chum Bucket, and everyone loved it even more than Krabby Patties.

How Did They Know About Patrick?

• That episode where Patrick prepares his house for a visit from his parents really bugs me. If the couple that first came to visit Patrick were not only not his real parents, but also remembered that they had no son, to begin with, how were they aware of Patrick's previous blunders? It also doesn't help that Patrick clearly doesn't know who these people are after their names are revealed.
  • Maybe they were really his aunt and uncle who hadn't seen him since he was little, and he didn't remember them?
    • It could be that they play out this same routine every year, and then forget about it afterward.
  • They had a daughter named Patricia and confused the two?
  • They're delusional.
  • They could have a relative who's also named "Patrick".

Fish Can Drown?

• In the episode Bubble Buddy, it seems the fish buried in the sand drowned in the high tide. How could a fish drown? The same thing for Sponge On Duty, regarding SpongeBob, Patrick, and the random fish drowning. Why couldn't Patrick and SpongeBob swim in the first place if they're really fish?
  • This is because the Goo Lagoon is a beach made of 'goo' not water.
    • Goo doesn't have tides. Brine lakes, however, do and can be found underwater. But they're toxic, so a fish swimming in it doesn't make sense.
    • When I asked my dad this when I was younger, he gave a very long and slightly-complicated explanation about how currents could cause something similar or comparable to bodies of water underwater. No idea how much merit it really has, but it's what I've stuck with all these years since then. (At least when Rule of Funny didn't suffice.)

Immune to Everything Except Guns?

• Karate Island, specifically the part where SpongeBob gets tied to a chair. Udon reaches into his robe & a clicking noise is heard, much to SpongeBob's horror. It was a pen, but clearly SpongeBob thought it was a gun. Why was he afraid of Udon shooting him when nothing seems to kill him?
  • Because getting shot with a gun really freaking hurts. Nothing, short of drying up, has ever seemed to be a real threat to SpongeBob's life... but though he may not need to fear death, he fears pain. Sure, his nature as a sponge keeps him alive through ridiculous injury, but it's clear that he feels most of it, if not almost all, and has a very, very low pain threshold to boot. (Exhibit A: "I'll have you know I stubbed my toe last week when watering my spice garden, and I only cried for 20 minutes.")
    • But the real kicker is, the universe he's in won't allow him to die. He can live through the most horrific mutilations of his body (like his face being almost fully shaved off by a door) in the name of the "rule of funny" and though a normal human would've died from shock about that point, SpongeBob just has to live with it.
    • What does any of this have to do with humans? He's a sponge. He can regrow body parts, so his face being shaved off shouldn't injure him.
    • SpongeBob can re-grow body parts relatively quickly, depending on what kind of injuries he's sustained or what the plot demands, but that doesn't mean he likes being injured. He's extremely intolerant of any kind of pain (this is the guy who outright stated that he cried for 20 minutes after stubbing his toe,) and he gets scared easily. Just because he's a sponge and can re-grow body parts, doesn't mean that he wouldn't be traumatized and in agonizing pain, if someone walked up to him and shot him in the face.
  • Nothing about that scene suggests that SpongeBob was expecting a gun, or that he'd even know what a gun is. He was simply expecting something bad to happen to him. Even if he did know what a gun was and was expecting it, it's completely in-character for him to still be terrified since he'd be too naive to know he's indestructible.

Pretty, Pickle-less Patties?

• In "Patty Hype", after his Pretty Patties stand becomes a huge hit, SpongeBob claims that the one thing he misses the most about the Krusty Krab is "that tiny squeaky sound you get when you rub two pickles together". However, Pretty Patties are basically just painted Krabby Patties, so wouldn't SpongeBob still have plenty of pickles to rub together? In fact, this raises another question: where is he getting all the ingredients from to make the Pretty Patties, and where is he keeping them? Never mind the ingredients, he'd need a lot of paint as well.
  • He was perhaps referring to the way it happens in the Krusty Krab. As for the second point; There's something called food dye. And SpongeBob never officially quit the Krusty Krab in that episode; so he was getting his resources from Mr. Krabs...which would mean that SpongeBob was stealing from his boss?

Fire and Lagoons Underwater

• If the show takes place underwater...
  • Why does Goo Lagoon exist? Answer: Mud
    • I don't think mud would have a tide...
  • How are fish able to drown? Answer: Mud in gills choking them
  • The events of "SpongeBob vs. the Big One" never would've been logical.
  • How are they able to start fires? [fire immediately dies]

Plankton the Murderer?

• Why is Plankton not in jail for serving chum? It's literally dead fish! He has to get the ingredients somehow...
  • Plankton's specific version of chum from "Jailbreak!" is made of old socks, banana peels, used tissues, and other random garbage, nowhere near the realm of actual, dead-fish chum. It's like when a kid drinks ketchup and calls it blood.

Squidward and Barnacle Boy Look Alike

• Why does Barnacle Boy look like a human version of Squidward? Is there a reason for this, or is it a coincidence? Their voices sound similar, and they are both deadpan snarkers.
  • Barnacle Boy is kind of the foil to Mermaid Man in the same way Squidward is to SpongeBob, so that's probably why.

Only People Who Exist Can Come

• In "Truth or Square", Patchy is informed SpongeBob isn't coming to the tenth anniversary special. How come it never occurred to anyone to tell Patchy that he's not coming because SpongeBob, oh, I don't know, DOESN'T EXIST?
  • Well to be fair, Patchy was able to send invitations to SpongeBob in the house party special, the letter just became soggy and unreadable when it got there. So SpongeBob clearly does exist in Patchy's universe in some capacity.
  • This ends up becoming contradicted by "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout", as at the end of the episode, Patchy finally ends up meeting SpongeBob face-to-face (albeit as a decapitated, talking head, but still).

How Did Squidward Know About the Dump?

• In "Artist Unknown", how did Squidward know SpongeBob was taken to the dump? He didn't see him get taken away by the garbage truck.
  • He may not have seen it, but do you know how noisy garbage trucks are?
  • Plus, while looking for SpongeBob, he could've seen that the dumpster was right outside the window he got knocked out of, and once he saw that the dumpster was empty, it'd be pretty easy to surmise that its contents had been taken to the dump already. Also possible is that Squid spent some time looking for SpongeBob at his house or the Kristy Krab or something, before deciding he should at least check for him at the dump.

"Teenage Daughter Pearl"

• Why does Mr. Krabs sometimes point out that Pearl is his teenage daughter, even when talking to himself?
  • It's likely just for the viewers' benefit, to remind them or inform first-time viewers that Pearl is in fact Mr. Krab's teenage daughter, As You Know.

Wormy

• Sandy could've warned SpongeBob and Patrick in advance of Wormy's change of appearance
  • Wormy apparently changed early, as he wasn't supposed to change until Sandy returned.
• Where did Squidward and Mr. Krabs disappear to?
  • Maybe they went back to their homes.

Squidward's Underwear

• How does Squidward wear underpants when all he is shown to wear most of the time is a brown t-shirt?
  • Rule of Funny.
    • That money mattress episode says that he's got invisible pants.

"Krabby Patty Withdrawal"

• In "Pat No Pay", Patrick is swaggering around, craving a Krabby Patty. SpongeBob says that he has "Krabby Patty withdrawal", but he also says that if he doesn't get a Krabby Patty, he'll rant about it for 3.5 minutes and then forget about it, so it's just a silly name for a food craving. But in another episode, SpongeBob is unconscious and Mr. Krabs claims he needs a Krabby Patty— why does it have to be specifically a Krabby Patty? Surely any food would do, and if it's a weird condition that required a burger, why that specific burger?
  • It's so Mr. Krabs can charge them for it.
  • Krabby Patties are said to be far more delectable than most other foods in Bikini Bottom, and you seem to be contradicting the headscratcher's name itself, it's "Krabby Patty withdrawal" not "burger withdrawal".
    • A Krabby Patty is a brand of burger, just like Coca-Cola is a brand of soda. It'd be like if two people had this conversation.
      Alice: "He needs coca-cola or else he'll die!"
      Bob: "That's ridiculous: what could kill you and requires soda to rectify? Much less specifically coca-cola!"
    • The Krabby Patty is explicitly stated to be a special kind of burger with its own secret formula. Obviously it can't be substituted with any ordinary burger.

Pizza Delivery

• How the heck does kicking a car (or boat in this case), refill the engine with gas?
  • It doesn't. There was probably some gas in there and kicking jostled it into place.
• How does one "drive" a rock?
  • Maybe by taking advantage of water currents to push it along somehow.
• So the Krusty Krab was behind them this whole time, what.
  • It was miles away from them for the majority of the episode, and it takes a significant time for them to drive back. If you mean when SpongeBob drives from the customer's house back to work, yeah, the house was explicitly stated to be "just around the corner." That wouldn't help them when they're stranded in the middle of nowhere, though.
• What's up with the customer's house being right in front of the Krusty Krab? That spot should be where the Chum Bucket is.
• If the customer's house is that close, why bother ordering delivery and not just walking and ordering it at the restaurant?

Home Sweet Pineapple

• How do Nematodes eat a car?
  • The same way they eat everything else. These nematodes clearly have very strong jaws.

The Krusty Krab before Sponge Bob

• It goes without saying the Krusty Krab cannot run at all without SpongeBob. If that's the case, how was the restaurant running before SpongeBob was hired? Yes, I recall the episode where we learn Jim was the previous fry cook, but that still leaves the question of how it didn't fall apart in between Jim quitting and SpongeBob being hired. Especially since Krabs initially didn't want to hire SpongeBob.
  • They hired teenagers maybe? (Squid on Strike)
  • Squidward had a flashback of back when they had another fry cook to fill in Jim's absence in "Truth or Square". And maybe that fry cook quit just recently before SpongeBob came in "Help Wanted".
  • You’re generalizing a great deal by saying the restaurant can’t survive without SpongeBob. The issue in most episodes I’ve seen isn’t that SpongeBob isn’t there; it’s that Squidward is the one filling in for him. The episode that introduces Jim establishes him to be a better fry cook than SpongeBob, indicating SpongeBob isn’t the Supreme Chef who singlehandedly keeps the restaurant in business — you could probably get any old fry cook to do the job just as well, provided they’re more adept in the culinary arts than Squidward. As for who did the cooking before SpongeBob got the job, it was probably Mr. Krabs himself.
  • Except "SpongeBob, You're Fired" blatantly shows Mr. Krabs is a terrible fry cook. It's even implied he asked Squidward to find SpongeBob to beg him to come back.
    • Might explain why the restaurant was empty when SpongeBob went in to apply, then. And Mr. Krabbs was only hesitant to hire SpongeBob owing to a botched first impression and Squidward declining to vouch for him. Once SpongeBob proved himself by appeasing the anchovies with his cooking, Krabs was more than happy to give him the job.
  • The Krusty Krab wasn't failing before Spongebob showed up, it's just that Spongebob raised the bar when he joined. On the days he doesn't work, Mr. Krabs probably pulls in some cheap replacement to hold things over, since he's only resorted to manning the grill himself (or having Squidward do it) when his hands are tied.

It's Not Over Yet!

• "The Fry Cook Games" ends in a stalemate between Mr. Krabs and Plankton even though Bun Wrestling is the final event and the one who wins gets the Gold. Is this true or not?
  • Well, yeah. If both contenders forfeit, the event ends in a draw. What else do you need to know?

Sandy's Treedome shattering

• Sandy's Treedome is shown to shatter like glass in certain episodes, but according to Sandy herself in "Tea at the Treedome", the dome is made from polyurethane. How does that work?
  • SpongeBob has very little continuity.
    • Two possible explans:
  1. It was, at first, made of polyurethane but that degraded so she had to remake the tree-dome from something else (prolly the glass used in Pyrex dishes)
  2. Or, two, it wasn't really polyurethane but, instead, a kind of polycarbonate (the kinda stuff your car windows are made of), which can shatter if enough force is applied to it.

Artificial winter...why?

• In the episode "Survival of the Idiots," the conditions in Sandy's tree dome are that of a terrestrial winter. Given that it's a fully enclosed ecosystem, why would she have it set up like this? Can she not hibernate otherwise? And for that matter, why exactly does she have to hibernate in the first place? Would not hibernating screw up her internal clock or something?
  • Maybe she wants to keep things authentic.

Human Resources?

• None of the characters are human, so why is it called Human Resources?
  • Rule of Funny. Fish in this show seem to be parodies of humans, hence why most of the background characters are fish (while the supporting ones are unique sea creatures).

Never Look a Gift Horsefly in the Eyes

• How exactly does Wormy have the face of a horsefly when he's very clearly a monarch butterfly, and how does he buzz? In fact, this detail is literally the only reason that SpongeBob, Patrick, Mr. Krabs, and Squidward feared Wormy at all, as SpongeBob and Patrick seemed ambivalent to him before seeing it, Mr. Krabs and Squidward thought he was cute before seeing it, and while the citizens of Bikini Bottom didn't see it, SpongeBob and Patrick's distress from the incident convinced them to panic.
  • It's just a visual gag to emphasize how scary the Bikini Bottomites think he is.

Where's He Going Back To?

• At the end of "SB-129," Squidward says "I'm going back" after realizing that he accidentally invented jellyfishing while in the past. The only question is, where exactly does he want to go back to? The future? The past? The white void?
  • The future.
  • I assumed he meant "I'm going back to make sure I don't invent jellyfishing", so the past.

No Blood, only Pus

• In "The Splinter", when Mr. Krabs pulled out SpongeBob's splinter, causing only confetti and pus to spray on Krabs, why didn't blood flow out on his splinter-infected thumb? We see throughout the episode his splinter injured thumb is red and there's a red vein on his swollen thumb before Mr. Krabs pulls the splinter out, just close enough to cause blood to come out.
  • It being a children's cartoon would be the most plausible explanation, although real blood was shown in "Dying for Pie", but it's quite possible that censorship standards had changed over the years. The season 9 episode "Salsa Imbecilicus" was originally going to be called "Idiot Sauce", but they were forced to change the title due to "idiot" being deemed too offensive; however two older episodes, "Survival of the Idiots" and "Idiot Box" respectively, used the word in the title with no repercussions, so it must be a matter of censors changing their standards.

Who Wrote the Alphabet Song

• In the alphabet song Plankton listens to, the singer sings, "I would like that to be me" when she mentions fish swimming in the sea, hinting that she's a fish, but she also sings, "C is for cat", so if she's a fish, how does she know what a cat is?
  • Kenny the Cat appears to have a large fanbase, at least until he's exposed. Maybe the singer had heard of him and thus knows what a cat is.

Smallest violin

• Why exactly does Mr. Krabs own the world's smallest violin? Such Conspicuous Consumption would be perfectly in-character for some rich people, but considering what a skinflint Krabs is, you'd think he would consider buying it an unnecessary waste of money.
  • That's looking too deeply into a one-off gag.

Potato salad

• Who takes three days to make potato salad?
  • An overbooked family, so it seems.

13 Unspeakable Words

• So in Sailor Mouth, Krabs says there are 13 words you should never say, and when Squidward points out there are only 7, Krabs replies "Not if you're a sailor". Given that the show treats sailors like how most media does pirates, why do the sailors have more unspeakable words than normal folk? Shouldn't they have less?
  • Maybe the joke was that most non-sailors won't know the other 6 words period, not that non-sailors just don't consider them profanities.
  • Because regular people don't care about the unspeakable terms. Insult a normal person's ship, he doesn't care and thinks you're weird. Insult a pirate's ship, you've just gained a mortal enemy.

Why is everyone so tiny?

• Sure, it makes sense for most of the characters to be as small as they are, but what about the Whale characters (not just Pearl, but adult whales as well), and also the Chimps and Kenny the Cat?

Also, in the episode "Feral Friends" characters who are already small get smaller when they turn into non-anthro animals, e.g. Sandy is already small for a squirrel, yet get's smaller when she turns into a normal squirrel. What gives?

• It's easier to just scale the characters to a specific size than account for all the intricacies in real life.

The Health Inspector

• How come in "The Nasty Patty", all the health inspector did was sample all the food and give his opinion on it? That's not what health inspectors do.
  • Artistic License
    • Actually, they might ask for a sample of the food to test it, along with inspecting the kitchen and whatevers.

Why didn't he say anything?

• And by "he" I mean the guy who SpongeBob and Squidward thought was the Hash Slinging Slasher in the episode "Graveyard Shift". There is no way he wouldn't have been able to see that SpongeBob and Squidward were clearly scared out of their minds because of him, just as there's no way he wouldn't have been able to hear them yelling at him to go away. So why didn't he try to say or do anything to calm them down? Was he purposely trying to scare them in a messed up trolling attempt or something?
  • He seemed like a socially awkward guy, especially when he called just to hang up since he got nervous.

Rented pickles?

• How and why would one go about renting pickles?
  • That was just an excuse Mr. Krabs made up for stealing the barrel.

Inflatable muscles

• How did everyone believe SpongeBob's Anchor Arms were actually real? Couldn't have they seen the ad?
  • It's very possible that not everyone had seen the commercial and the ones who did see it thought the Anchor Arms actually granted you enhanced physical strength instead of them purely being cosmetic.

Why didn't Spongebob just go to Patrick for tutoring after nearly passing his exam in Boating School?

In the episode Boating School Patrick showed that he not only could drive but was able to instruct SpongeBob in his own driving well enough that SpongeBob almost passed until he realized it was cheating and had a freak-out. Even as a little kid I wondered why SpongeBob and Patrick never followed up on that with some sort of tutoring or something. Patrick obviously has a license for that episode and was willing to help SpongeBob out however he could. I could almost write it off as them being too dumb to realize that was an option but this was back when Patrick was actually quite clever and rational when he knew what he was talking about.

• Patrick doesn't have a car. There's only so much he can teach him without one.

Mr. Krabs' rule regarding the secret formula

• In "Imitation Krabs", Spongebob tells Robot Krabs that the rule was "never speak the formula", but earlier he said the rule was "only discuss the formula with Mr. Krabs". Which is it? Never speak or only speak with Krabs?
  • Spongebob may have been skeptical of Robot Krabs all this time, and those trials he put him through were a test of some kind.

Grease immunity?

• In "There Will Be Grease", Krabs and Plankton find some miracle all-purpose grease under their restaurants. A few days later, SpongeBob shows up, having used the grease for basically everything (feeding it to him and Gary, rubbing it on his body, brushing his teeth) and reporting that it worked great. At the end of the episode, though, everyone the grease was sold to demands their money back due to negative side effects. It's unclear how much time had passed, but its effects are noticeable and would have happened within a day at most. How come SpongeBob and Gary didn't have any negative side effects when they had been using it for a longer period of time?
  • Maybe the side effects only happen to fish and not sponges or snails.
    • Or the side-effects happened quickly because of how much the customers were eatin' and they were eatin' A LOT.

The Magic Conch Shell

• After the shell told Squidward that he couldn't eat any of the food, why didn't he ask "Why not?" instead of the same question over and over again?
  • At that point, Squidward was starving, had been stuck in the same place for days, and only had his 2 most-hated people to talk to. His mental state probably wasn't doing that well.

Sailor Mouth

• Why did Patrick feel compelled to listen to Mr. Krabs? He doesn't work at the Krusty Krab.
  • It's just a "listen to your elders" thing. Not the only time Mr. Krabs acts as some kind of mentor figure to the two of them.
• If SpongeBob and Patrick didn't know that Bad Word #11 was a bad word until Mr. Krabs told them, how did they recognise the other twelve bad words when Krabs uses them during his Cluster F-Bomb? Did they just infer that that's what they must have been?
  • Maybe it's a hidden example of Breaking the Fourth Wall; they heard it censored, so they knew they were the other 12.

Artist Unknown

• How'd Squidward know SpongeBob was at the dump? He didn't see him be taken away by the garbage truck.
  • He probably just assumed it was the best possibility.
  • It could be that one of his paintings before "Bold and Brash" also got accidentally thrown away, so he went to the dumpster and fished it out.
  • He definitely had to have seen Spongebob jump into the dumpster and at least heard the garbage truck come.

Freezer

• Why didn't SpongeBob open the freezer in over 2000 years? There were obviously frozen Krabby Patties in there. He needs to open the freezer and get them out to cook them.
  • As listed under YMMV's Fridge Brilliance, Squidward finally returning to the present created a bootstrap paradox in which he returned to the beginning of the episode, therefore erasing the time he spent in the freezer. As for why he didn't do that in the original "future" timeline, I guess it’s nothing more than Rule of Funny.
  • Does the OP mean why didn't SpongeBob open the door and save Squidward from being frozen for 2 millennia?

Karate Choppers

• Wouldn't have it been reasonable for Mr. Krabs to simply ban Spongebob from doing karate at his job since it was only inconveniencing at his job?? Why would Krabs fire Spongebob when he was doing it outside the Krusty Krab?
  • Because Mr. Krabs thinks SpongeBob won't be able to control himself in resisting the desire to do karate while working shifts as a fry cook if he's still allowed to do karate outside of work. Mr. Krabs stated "It's poisoning your mind!"
  • Also, Mr. Krabs has a lazy morality, all he cares about is maximizing how much money he makes off of SpongeBob. He thinks he controls SpongeBob's personal life.
• Why is a fish fishing for other fish?? Isn't that illegal in Bikini Bottom cause that's the equivalent to manslaughter and homicide?
  • The same reason fire is underwater, and the same reason there's a beach underwater as well. It's Rule of Funny for the show.

Walk cycles

• Why would the lost episode be on the same tape as the walk cycle? If it were the real walk cycle (which it obviously isn't, but go with it) then it would have been made towards the very start of production, after the characters were designed, but before any episodes were written, let alone animated—probably years earlier, considering SpongeBob's lengthy development time. And the content of the lost episode isn't the pilot or anything, but has the characters and setting already established, making even less sense that they would reuse the tape. I know the real reason is Rule of Funny, but what would the Watsonian explanation be?

Economy

• So, exactly how amazing is Bikini Bottom's economy? Considering fast food workers can afford fully-furnished, multi-story homes on minimum wage, as well as the insurance to replace it whenever, for example, Squidward's house gets destroyed.
  • It's as good as the plot needs it to be, just like any other cartoon.

Band Geeks

• SpongeBob claims that "Squidward's always been there for us when it was convenient for him!" Really? Like when? I know there was "Christmas Who" but only Squidward and Santa knew that Squidward did that good deed.
  • I think after getting different answers from Evelyn and Larry, SpongeBob decided to change his approach by having everyone pretend that Squidward was the fireman/guy in the ambulance/someone of importance in their lives so they can find the motivation to help him.

Censors

• Why is the dolphin chirp used when Mr. Krabs said “With a side of…”?
  • Because he obviously used a swear word? It's not that hard to infer.
    • Couldn’t there be a different censor?
    • Guess not.

No nametag... No cool?

• So in Squilliam Returns, SpongeBob empties his mind of everything other than fine dining and breathing, and can't even remember his name, which leads to him destroying Squidward's hard work. And after all of that, the sequence ends with Squidward's nametag dropping onto his polo. My question is... Why didn't SpongeBob have one of those? Especially on a night when they're trying to convince Squilliam that they're a fancy restaurant? Furthermore, later on you have Missing Identity, where he had a nametag that he was desperately looking for and ultimately was just on backwards the whole time. So where was that here when it would've helped?
  • SpongeBob was in panic and this episode aired before Missing Identity.

Prospector's "Wild Ones"

• Did the prospector make up the story of the "Wild Ones"?
  • Possibly, or he had mistaken the Mild Ones for a more vicious biker gang that actually exists.
    • And that gang is the "Wild" Ones. He knows them probably because they wrecked his city.
    • To back things up, SpongeBob stops a jellyfish from going on the road and he is run over by the Mild Ones and holds onto Incidental 80's shirt and sees "Ild Ones". He falls off with the piece ripped and discovers "W". SpongeBob then says "They're not the 'Ild Ones'. They must be the 'WILD Ones'." Then the prospector hears this and says SB if knows who the Wild Ones are. It means that "Wild Ones" are a real biker gang that destroy cities and towns in the Pacific Ocean. Maybe they're the tough fish from the movie or Reg and his tough fish pals at the Salty Spittoon.

Believing The Prospector

• As a follow up to the question above, why did SpongeBob have to believe the prospector? He is just hillbilly (maybe even a "trenchbilly").
  • SpongeBob is notoriously naive. It's very in-character for him to believe something sight-unseen.

SpongeBob, Patrick and Prison

How come SpongeBob and Patrick hadn't gotten arrested yet? Cause...

• With all the constant harassment, murders, aiding and abetting, breaking and entering, animal endangerment, and of course, reckless driving crimes SpongeBob did in the show, you would think he'd be in jail for all of this, but no... especially since Mrs. Puff is the one getting jailed for the latter crime.
• Patrick hadn't gotten sent to prison for starting that 'Mad Snail Disease' hoax in "Once Bitten", which resulted in mass chaos across town and Gary nearly getting killed.
  • Plot armor.

"K" Vs. "C"

• Clearly everything Mr. Krabs has owned a words that begin with C but are spelt with a K (e.g.: Krusty, Katering, Kamp, Koral). Why does he prefer Ks over Cs?
  • Because his last name is "Krabs". He's essentially slapping his brand on those items.
    • But he's a crab. His name isn't even in the Kamp Koral name so couldn't he call it Camp Coral.
    • But his name is still Mr. "Krabs", with a K. It's really not that deep.

Dan the Burglar

• Why is Dan the burglar in "Ain't That The Tooth"? He is a getaway driver. Was Stickyfins too busy planning his escape or even the Strangler or is it due to the size.
  • Maybe he felt like doing the job himself for once.

MM & BB Stop DB

• Couldn't SpongeBob have Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy stop the Dirty Bubble in "Dirty Bubble Returns"? Even give him a huge wash to be the "Clean Bubble"?
  • The actual reason they weren't there is because Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy were shelved after Ernest Borgnine's death. The metacontextual reason is that Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy are still by and large retired, so SpongeBob wouldn't want to bother them out of courtesy.
  • They were still in episodes like "Captain Pipsqueak" and "Karen for Spot". But also, they were old men. Couldn't they have found new voice actor for both of them? Yes, Tim Conway died too.
    • Ideally, it would've been nice to see the subterranean heroes be recasted, but there's a chance that the showrunners decided against it out of respect for the deceased originals.

SpongeBob Shouldn't Be Surprised

• At the end of "I Had An Accident", one of halves of SpongeBob wonders what a gorilla is doing underwater which made him and George blow their cover. This is ironic since there's Sandy in the bag.
  • Unlike Sandy, who has clearly prepared for living underwater (and was later revealed to be there as part of a research deployment), the gorilla seemingly just wanted to beat the shit out of a couple of unsuspecting sea creatures with no prior claim.
    • More a land creature and two sea creatures.

Patrick's Hat Crisis

• "No Hat For Pat" reveals that Patrick falls down when wearing a KK employee's hat. But he has worn one in "Fools In April", "Bummer Vacation", and "That's Not Lady". Even in "Restraining SpongeBob" which is after NHFP, he doesn't fall down. He doesn't seem to remember his falling when wearing it. When Mr. Krabs yanks it off him, his head deflates. Maybe that had to do with falling.
  • This show isn't known for strict adherence to continuity.

Where's Harold

• When SpongeBob shrinks everyone in Bikini Bottom in "Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy IV", Margaret to her son about what he's done. What about Harold? How come he didn't have anything to offer to SpongeBob?
  • Maybe Margaret was usually the one who handled things like that during SpongeBob's formative years.
    • But he shrunk everyone (except Plankton) in Bikini Bottom so he must've shrunk his father too.
    • This reads as a non-sequitur, as it has no bearing on the response above.
    • It's important to hear what your father says too.

SpongeBob, what do YOU have to say for yourself?

• In "A Pal For Gary", when Fluffy leaves, SpongeBob says "Gary, what do you have to say for yourself?" Seriously, what does SB have to say for himself?
  • SpongeBob was written horribly in that episode, so he probably doesn't think he did anything wrong.
    • But he saw Fluffy become ravage.
    • He likely saw that as Gary provoking him.
    • Could't he believe Gary?
    • Again, he was written horribly.

Booger Indestructibility

• How can't water not defeat Dirty Bubble after having booger?

Pyrite Ponderer

• Was the Pyrite Ponderer like the Pete Best and he was replaced with Quickster?

Arrests For Ditching

In the episode "Ditchin", the cops arrest both Dale for ditching class and Mrs. Puff for ditching the jury but they didn’t even arrest SpongeBob for ditching class. Same goes with the earlier episode “The Bully” both SpongeBob and Flatts don’t get arrested by the cops. Especially the latter since he ditched not only school to catch SB but also to head to Patrick’s house.

• For starters, Dale wasn't arrested for truancy, at least not in this instance. He was arrested for violating his parole by carrying fish gummies (an obvious analog for drugs). Second, there was no way for the cops to know that SpongeBob, and by extension Flatts, were skipping school, so they couldn't arrest them with no
  • Maybe SB could've confessed?

Patrick's Locomotive

• How is Patrick able to go into his small locomotive and eventually escape the trash can?
  • Stranger things have happened on this show.
  • Or Patrick is a magician.

Bubble Gary

• Why would SpongeBob Gary while he was sleeping in "Rodeo Daze"?

Gorilla's Good Excuse

• When hearing SpongeBob ask "What's a gorilla doing underwater in the first place?", the gorilla explains "Uh, well, it, uh… It's funny, you should… I mean, you see, the…" before telling George that "they're onto them". Couldn't the gorilla take his time to explain clearly to SB.
  • That wouldn't be funny though.
    • But at least the gorilla would answer SB's question.
    • It would ruin the joke, which is that there's no rational explanation for the gorilla and his horse-giraffe thing to be underwater.
    • Regardless if it would be funny or not, SpongeBob wanted an answer. Maybe the gorilla said "You see the thing is that there's also a squirrel in my bag."

Under Animal Suits

• Who is under the animal suits? Are George and the gorilla person fish? They seem to breathe fine without spacesuits like Sandy.
  • Does it really matter?

Bubble Bass' Eating

• How was Bubble Bass able to eat car keys?
  • Technically he didn't eat them. He hid them under his tongue.
    • Regardless, why did he want to hide a lady's car keys?
    • Bubble Bass is a massive glutton, almost as much as Patrick.

---