Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy
Original air date: 8/21/1999 (produced in 1998)
SpongeBob and Patrick meet their heroes from their favorite TV show, but they are disappointed to find out that they are retired. This prompts the two to try and get them out of retirement and fight crime again.
"Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy" contains examples of:
- Accidental Marriage: A delusional, senile Mermaid Man, a confused SpongeBob and the warden of Shady Shoals take part in this hilarious exchange.Mermaid Man: Listen up you villains! I wanna eat my meat loaf! If you don't get out of here, then by the power invested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife!
Warden: WHAT IS GOING ON IN HERE?!
Mermaid Man: (to the warden; points at SpongeBob) You may kiss the bride!
(A wedding theme is played as SpongeBob is thrown out of Shady Shoals and rolls home, where Patrick is waiting for him)
Patrick: Did you reunite our heroes?
SpongeBob: No. But I'm married. - Actor Allusion: Ernest Borgnine and Tim Conway previously starred together in a different nautical-themed TV show, McHale's Navy, albeit with the roles reversed: Borgnine was the straight man and Conway was the funny one.
- Bad "Bad Acting": SpongeBob and Patrick, pretending to be a helpless young woman and a crook, respectively, to get their heroes back into crime fighting. It doesn't work.
- Batman Parody: Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy, specifically the 1960s version of Batman and Robin (with an Aquaman twist, of course).
- Berserk Button:
- Mermaid Man goes absolutely bonkers whenever someone says "There's evil afoot!"
- Never paint the Invisible Boatmobile. SpongeBob and Patrick learn that the hard way, though they don't actually mind.
- Brick Joke: At the start of the episode, SpongeBob and Patrick use donuts as makeshift rings during their roleplaying as Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy, with Patrick gleefully shouting "donuts!" when his friend opens the box. Later, when the real Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy finally come out of retirement solely to get rid of SpongeBob and Patrick, Mermaid Man initially mistakes their rings for donuts thanks to the shape of the box, gleefully shouting "donuts!" with the same cadence as Patrick.
- Characterization Marches On: Mermaid Man's portrayal here is much different than in later episodes, with his senility being far more overt and his character being closer to a Shell-Shocked Veteran than a wistful retiree. He's also much more antagonistic towards SpongeBob here than in later episodes (though to be fair, SpongeBob is repeatedly sneaking into his place of residence and trying to force him out of retirement, so perhaps he has reason to be). It's implied both at the end of this episode and in later ones that coming out of retirement ended up helping his mental health by getting him to end his previously sedentary lifestyle.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Mermaid Man. Of course, he's probably just senile.
- Cool Old Guy: SpongeBob's speech about old people being great as it regards to Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy. Complete with a live-action shot of an actual Cool Old Guy giving him an approving gesture.
- Crazy-Prepared: "Ever alert, Mermaid Man has trained himself to sleep with his eyes open!"
- Early-Installment Weirdness:
- This is the first time that we see apparently human characters, and they are depicted as the same size and in the same style as the rest of the cast. Most future episodes show Bikini Bottomites as far smaller than humans, and often depict humans in live-action. Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy would continue to be depicted as the same size and in the same style as the rest of the cast for the rest of the series. It's usually implied that the two of them were ordinary humans (or at least Ambiguously Human) before they became superheroes — "Mermaid Man Begins" makes this most apparent — but because their origin is left deliberately vague, it's unclear why exactly they are different from other humans.
- Another example of Early-Installment Weirdness is Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy's hideout being called the "Sea Cave" rather than the "Mermalair".
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy finally come out of retirement thanks to SpongeBob and Patrick, though they are the ones who they fight, and with that, they start a new show.
- Expy: In addition to the title characters being Aquaman and Aqualad parodies, The Invisible Boatmobile is a mix of the Batmobile and Wonder Woman's Invisible Jet.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: While the "School Drop Out Rate Soars" headline on the rest home employee's newspaper is easily visible, you may have to pause to notice that the headline below it is "Global Ocean Warming".
- Funny Background Event:
- When Mermaid Man is attacking the water fountain, one of the other residents can be seen shaking his head in disapproval.
- When SpongeBob tells the duo that they're almost finished painting the Invisible Boatmobile, Mermaid Man seems to approve of this. At least until Barnacle Boy yells about how it's supposed to be invisible.
- Gross-Up Close-Up: When Barnacle Boy shouts "It's not me, you old coot," the camera zooms in on his face, showing all his wrinkles and liver spots as well as his bloodshot eyes.
- Harmless Villain: Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy go out of retirement to put a stop to evil...by stopping two idiots such as SpongeBob and Patrick.
- Mundane Made Awesome: The next episode of Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy features the two of them...playing checkers against each other, and it's presented as an intense "battle of wits".
- Old Superhero: The titular dynamic duo, of course. They're old and retired in a quiet community, at least until a certain sponge keeps bothering them. They come out of retirement in the end.
- Protagonist-Centered Morality: Invoked. SpongeBob and Patrick go all out to convince the now very elderly Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy to come out of retirement to continue fighting evil, never realizing that they're essentially forcing two tired old men (one of whom is now notoriously senile) to satisfy a fanboy obsession and putting everyone in their retirement home through hell in the process. Their pride once they've accomplished their mission at the end is all the more hilarious as a result.
- Rage Breaking Point: The elderly heroes get increasingly annoyed by SpongeBob and Patrick, but it's painting the Invisible Boatmobile so that it's visible that causes Barnacle Boy to declare their retirement is over.
- Rousing Speech: SpongeBob gives one as he vows to reunite their heroes.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: It's implied that years of crime-fighting have taken a toll on Mermaid Man's psyche, with him freaking out when SpongeBob states that "there's evil afoot." Barnacle Boy even implies that the word "evil" is a trigger for Mermaid Man, and when he himself invokes it, it's done much more carefully. This aspect of Mermaid Man's portrayal would be discarded in later appearances.
- Sleeps with Both Eyes Open: Barnacle Boy warns SpongeBob that Mermaid Man can get annoyed if his nap is disturbed; we are then treated to a shot of Mermaid Man sitting still with a big smile on his face. It then turns out that he actually is asleep, as he responds to Barnacle Boy accosting SpongeBob by yelling "Stop shoutin', I'm nappin'!"SpongeBob: Ever alert, Mermaid Man has trained himself to sleep with his eyes open.
- Southern Belle: When Disguised in Drag, SpongeBob puts on these mannerisms.
- Special Guest: This is the first episode to have guest stars. Ernest Borgnine and Tim Conway voice Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy for the first time here.
- Strange Minds Think Alike: When SpongeBob and Patrick are playing, they use donuts as rings. When Barnacle Boy presents the actual rings, Mermaid Man happily exclaims "DONUTS!"
- Trauma Button: Mermaid Man will lose his mind whenever he hears the word "evil". He starts showing signs of recuperating from this by bringing back his superpowers to destroy the "evil" sponge and starfish.
- Unsound Effect: The new Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy show is full of them ("Sit!" "King Me!" "Hang up!"). At the end SpongeBob winks at the camera and is followed by a graphic that reads "Wink!"
- When Elders Attack: "Fighting" SpongeBob and Patrick, the elderly heroes summon sea creatures for help. The other fish at the retirement home respond and, despite their age, get rid of the young pests.Barnacle Boy: (surrounded by old fish) Huh. The creatures of the deep seem to have lost some of their luster.
"Let me guess, Tiny. A small salad?"
Pickles
Original air date: 8/21/1999 (produced in 1998)
When SpongeBob believes that he forgot the pickles on a Krabby Patty during a run-in with old nemesis Bubble Bass, his life is turned upside down, prompting Mr. Krabs to help sort things out.
"Pickles" contains examples of:
- Abuse of Return Policy: Bubble Bass exploits the microscopic 'Money Back Guarantee' clause on the Krusty Krab menu to force Mr. Krabs to give him a refund of $2.00.
- Annoying Laugh: Bubble Bass's shrill, whinny-like cackle makes SpongeBob's famous "dolphin cry" laugh sound like a harp by comparison.
- Bait-and-Switch: After trying to re-learn how to make a Krabby Patty again for several days, SpongeBob seems to have a breakthrough as he tells Mr. Krabs that it's all very clear to him now. But "what's clear to him" is that he can't do it, and he's a failure. Subverted right afterward though, as he then proceeds to make a perfect patty while ranting that he can't.
- Benevolent Boss: As greedy as he is, Mr. Krabs sees that SpongeBob is in bad shape after supposedly messing up Bubble Bass' order, and kindly lets him take some time off. And when it's clear his restaurant's survival depends on SpongeBob's return, he personally goes to SpongeBob's house and waits day and night for the little guy to figure it out.
- Beyond the Impossible: Squidward somehow manages to burn a shake.
- Big Bad: Bubble Bass.
- Big Eater: Bubble Bass' morbidly obese physique and ludicrously large menu order speaks for itself.
- Butt-Monkey:
- Poor Squidward getting tossed around by Bubble Bass. And that's just in the opening of the episode. He gets forced to fill in for SpongeBob's absence, but just burns everyone's orders and himself. Then gets booed at by the crowd for having burnt all their food.
- SpongeBob also qualifies, given that his lack of confidence-related mishaps leave quite a number on him, coupled with Bubble Bass' bullying.
- Centipede's Dilemma: The intro to the episode shows SpongeBob effortlessly serving up burger after burger. Forgetting the pickles shakes him up, and he has to actively think about his Krabby Patty assembly to avoid making the mistake again — which leads to him not even being able to make them at all, making mistakes like putting the ketchup on top of his hand on the top bun, or using shoes and frying pans as burger ingredients.
- Confidence Sabotage: Thinking he forgot to put pickles on a Krabby Patty really messes up SpongeBob, so much he can't even find the front door or figure out how to go to bed. By the time Mr. Krabs catches up with him, he's such a wreck that he can't even speak properly, regularly mixing up the order of words.
- Deadpan Snarker: Squidward is in fine form this episode, and gets a brilliant putdown in response to Bubble Bass' absurdly specific order that's all the funnier for how drily it's delivered.Squidward: (When Bubble Bass walks in) Let me guess, Tiny. A small salad?
Squidward: (after hearing Bubble Bass' Overcomplicated Menu Order) We serve food here, sir. - Early-Installment Weirdness:
- Since this episode was written before Plankton had become a recurring character, it seems pretty jarring seeing SpongeBob explicitly reveal the Krabby Patty's recipe to the audience... twice!note
- Mr. Krabs is shown walking normally to SpongeBob's house.
- When SpongeBob is making Krabby Patties at the Krusty Krab, he does it at a table, unlike future episodes where he's seen making them while still at the grill.
- Even the Loving Hero Has Hated Ones: Of everyone in Bikini Bottom, Bubble Bass is the only fish that SpongeBob outright hates. His distain towards Bubble Bass isn't unwarranted, given that they used to have an old personal grudge towards each other and the latter nearly caused SpongeBob to lose his ability to prepare Krabby Patties in his very first appearance.
- Epic Fail:
- After being subjected to Bubble Bass's trickery, SpongeBob becomes pretty much incapable of doing anything: He momentarily forgets where the Krusty Krab's front door is, he tries to sleep between his bed's mattresses, stuffs Gary into his alarm clock to turn it off, walks through a wall, and even talks mixed up.
- Squidward, as substitute cook, manages to burn a Krabby Patty, French Fries, and a milkshake.
- Evil Is Petty:
- Missing an ingredient as simple as pickles on a burger is something that can easily be fixed by a restaurant, especially a fast food restaurant. But Bubble Bass demands an entire refund for his order just to spite Mr. Krabs.
- Knocking Squidward into kingdom come the first time around, you could argue Bubble Bass had a reason to be angry with him given his insults towards his weight and order. The second time when he flings Squidward away again while going to confront Mr. Krabs? It's clearly gone beyond petty at this point.
- Within seconds of SpongeBob rehabilitating himself and going back to work, Bubble Bass busts into the Krusty Krab to gaslight him a second time and laugh, loudly and obnoxiously, in his face. This ends up getting his trick caught out.
- Fat Bastard: Bubble Bass. It's in the name.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: When SpongeBob wakes Mr. Krabs up, his amnesia seemed to wear off as he was able to speak in complete sentences normally, and then makes a Krabby Patty perfectly seconds later.
- Foreshadowing:
- When Bubble Bass says SpongeBob forgot the pickles, note that he has his tongue inside his mouth when he laughs, hinting he put the pickles under his tongue to throw SpongeBob off.
- Bubble Bass's order, if translated by an experienced chef, never specifically mentions pickles as a topping. For anybody who was able to keep up with the order before Bubble Bass first claimed the pickles were missing, they would've caught onto his lie well before the end of the episode.
- For the Evulz: Bubble Bass clearly got a kick out of screwing with SpongeBob by saying he had messed up his order, and aside from the two bucks he demanded as a refund for the supposedly botched burger, he didn't really gain anything from the scam aside from some sadistic amusement.
- Gaslighting: Bubble Bass deliberately hides the pickles under his tongue so he can trick SpongeBob into thinking he forgot them for no reason other than to break his confidence for kicks (though scamming Krabs out of two bucks wasn't a bad incentive either).
- Gross-Up Close-Up: The pickles hidden under Bubble Bass' tongue are painted in heavy detail, showing the tongue as rubberlike and dripping with saliva.
- Group Reacts Individually: Everyone at the Krusty Krab is waiting with bated breath as Bubble Bass passes judgement on SpongeBob's Krabby Patty. Everyone, that is, except Squidward, who couldn't care less and is busy looking at himself in a hand mirror before realizing what is happening and then pretends to look interested.
- Hash House Lingo: SpongeBob has his own version, while Bubble Bass is quite fluent in it. Someone actually deciphered it.
◊note Bubble Bass: I'll take a double triple bossy deluxe, on a raft, 4x4 animal style, extra shingles with a shimmy and a squeeze, light axle grease, make it cry, burn it, and let it swim.
(beat)
Squidward: We serve food here, sir. - Heroic BSoD: SpongeBob, after Bubble Bass tells him that he forgot the pickles.
- Impact Silhouette: SpongeBob makes one in the door to his kitchen when he loses his confidence.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: SpongeBob finally manages to make a perfect Krabby Patty again while ranting about how he can't do it.
- Jerkass:
- Bubble Bass. His Establishing Character Moment paints him as a shrill snob and he's eventually revealed to be a crook, since he had SpongeBob's pickles under his tongue the whole time, not to mention someone's car keys.
- Squidward as well in the opening scene, making rude and sarcastic remarks to customers' perfectly normal orders.
- Karma Houdini: Subverted. Bubble Bass, as he runs away as soon as the crowd angrily surrounds him, avoiding the punishments he likely would’ve received if he didn’t flee the scene. He is still exposed as a lying cheat to the entire town who are furious with him for it, putting SpongeBob through hell, and condemning everyone to Squidward's poor cooking; and if one ignores future seasons, can presumably never come back to the Krusty Krab due to it.
- Kick the Dog: Bubble Bass' Gaslighting of SpongeBob definitely counts.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Squidward getting boo-ed by the customers at the end of the episode counts as karma due to his rude attitude in the beginning.
- Lethal Chef: Squidward while subbing for SpongeBob at the grill.Customer #1: Hey, he burnt my Krabby Patty.
Customer #2: He burnt my fries!
Customer #3: He burnt my shake! - Market-Based Title: The German version of the episode names it "Memory Loss".
- Mind Screw: SpongeBob's house after he loses his confidence could give Salvador Dalà a run for his money. Furniture is thrown all over the place, the TV antennae are used to hang a shoe and skewer a sausage, a toaster is hanging on the front door, a bicycle is boiling in a pot on the stove, and SpongeBob (who Mr. Krabs finds wearing his underwear as a mask) makes a habit out of nailing toast to the kitchen table.
- Mouth Screen: When Bubble Bass is gloating when he claims SpongeBob forgot the pickles again, the camera cuts to a close up of his mouth as he laughs. This is how SpongeBob is able to notice that Bubble Bass keeps tucking his tongue behind his teeth and, as a result, how Bubble Bass has been deceiving everyone.
- Mundane Made Awesome: SpongeBob trying to make a Krabby Patty in front of Mr. Krabs. And later, the rematch between SpongeBob and Bubble Bass is treated with all the gravitas of a Showdown at High Noon, complete with an Ennio Morricone Pastiche on the soundtrack.
- Oh, Crap!:
- SpongeBob has his reaction when Bubble Bass reveals he forgot the pickles, which sets off his emotional crisis. He gets another near the end when Bubble Bass says he forgot again even though he remembered, just moments before realizing he was tricked.
- Bubble Bass realizes that he's in a lot of trouble when his cover is blown and pathetically runs out of the Krusty Krab to escape punishment.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: An early example that nevertheless holds throughout the rest of the series: anyone viewed by SpongeBob with genuine enmity has to be a real piece of work.
- Overcomplicated Menu Order: Bubble Bass orders the Double Triple Bossy Deluxe on a raft, 4 x 4, animal style, extra shingles with a shimmy and a squeeze, light axle grease, make it cry, burn it, and let it swim. However, SpongeBob has no trouble deciphering it.
- Read the Fine Print: Mr. Krabs tries to hide the money back guarantee by putting it in very tiny text at the bottom of the menu, hoping no one would find out about it. Unfortunately, Bubble Bass did.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Mr. Krabs becomes this when he understands what SpongeBob is going through and helps him regain his confidence.
- Running Gag: Bubble Bass knocking or throwing Squidward out of his way.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When the crowd angrily surrounds Bubble Bass, he says his ride arrived and runs out of the Krusty Krab.
- Serious Business: Forgetting the pickles on a hamburger sends SpongeBob into an existential crisis!
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Turns out SpongeBob never forgot the pickles the entire time — Bubble Bass put them under his tongue to mess with him and claim an unnecessary refund.
- Shout-Out: "Four-by-four animal style" is a recipe used by In-N-Out, four patties cooked with mustard and served with four slices of cheese, grilled onions, lettuce, and tomato. Seeing how there's an In-N-Out Burger within a short drive from the Nickelodeon Animation Studio, this can't be anything but.
- Showdown at High Noon: SpongeBob's showdown with Bubble Bass reeks of it. It even includes dramatic stares and appropriate music.
- Shown Their Work: The abomination of an order that Bubble Bass gives is almost entirely accurate Hash House Lingo. Not only can it be decoded into an actual recipe, but said recipe does indeed produce an appropriately gargantuan monstrosity of a sandwich far too big for one person to eat on their own. Perfect for a Fat Bastard like Bubble Bass.
- Spaghetti Western: SpongeBob's rivalry with Bubble Bass is played as this as a joke.
- Stout Strength: Bubble Bass is horribly obese, but he's strong enough to send Squidward flying with a casual slap, and later throws him across the restaurant like a toy. He later effortlessly knocks the entire crowd at the Krusty Krab aside without batting an eye. That said, while he has strength, he doesn't have endurance, as he's pathetically wheezing for dear life as he slowly tries to jog away at the end.
- Strange-Syntax Speaker: SpongeBob becomes one after his breakdown.
- This Cannot Be!: SpongeBob has this reaction the first time Bubble Bass tells the former that he forgot the pickles.
- Title Drop: Pickles get mentioned several times thanks to them serving as the plot's linchpin.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Attempted by SpongeBob when he asks for three cheers for Squidward for filling his post while he was away. Subverted when they boo him instead, given that he regularly carbonized the customers' orders with his shoddy cooking.
- Too Upset to Create: SpongeBob gets so upset about forgetting to put pickles on a Krabby Patty that he is unable to remember how to prepare one. It gets so bad he can't do anything at all, even talk with proper syntax. Once he is able to relearn how to make a Krabby Patty, he returns back to normal.
- Unreadable Disclaimer: The Krusty Krab's menu features a literally microscopic money-back guarantee, which requires several zoom-ins to render it legible.
- Unsatisfiable Customer: Bubble Bass isn't just demanding, he's downright sadistic, hiding the pickles from his Krabby Patties under his tongue just to trick Spongebob into thinking he failed at his job and get a refund of $2. When Spongebob pulls out of a nasty Heroic BSoD, Bubble Bass returns in all of a few seconds of his return to service just to gaslight him again.
- Very Special Episode: About believing in yourself, and to an extent, dealing with bullies/enemies.
- Villain Ball: When SpongeBob breaks out of his BSOD, Bubble Bass can't resist kicking him down again with the same trick and laughing in his face, inadvertently exposing his trick to everyone.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Bubble Bass makes a break for the front door after he realizes the jig is up.Bubble Bass: And... there's my ride!
- Wearing It All Wrong: When Mr. Krabs visits SpongeBob, the latter is wearing his underwear on his head until Mr. Krabs pulls it off.
- Wham Shot: SpongeBob pulls out Bubble Bass's tongue revealing he's been hiding the pickles since the beginning.
- You Are Fat: Squidward doesn't mince his words when Bubble Bass first approaches the counter.Squidward: Let me guess, Tiny. A small salad?
