Trivia / Sponge Bob Square Pants S 12 E 13 Sponge Bobs Big Birthday Blowout

• Acting for Two: Tom Kenny voices SpongeBob and plays Patchy as he always does, with the ending for the episode being the first time the two characters directly talk to each other.
• Ascended Fanon: Like the musical's depiction of Plankton, Charleston has an eyepatch, a choice that has been used in humanized fanart for over a decade prior to the episode.
• The Danza: Carolyn Lawrence plays Carol, the human version of Sandy (who she also voices).
• Edited for Syndication: In October 2019, Nick began airing a shortened version of the episode, which focused more on the tour. As a result, several scenes, such as the party planning, were removed, some of the dialogue was changed, the ending was altered so that SpongeBob's house isn't destroyed, and Patrick is next to SpongeBob in the beginning of the birthday song instead of being in the crowd of characters that join in.
• In Memoriam: A message reading "Thank You Steve Hillenburg" on a black screen ends the episode as a nod to the show's creator Stephen Hillenburg, who sadly passed away about seven months prior to the episode's premiere.
• Late Export for You: While most countries got this episode in 2019, this wasn't the case for Japan, which first aired the episode in April 2022 on NHK.
• Marth Debuted in "Smash Bros.": In Japan, this episode was the first appearance of teen popstar JoJo Siwa, who cameos in the special to wish SpongeBob a happy bitthday.
• Milestone Celebration: Celebrates 20 years of SpongeBob, airing just two days before the July 14th birthdate on the driver's license seen in his dream in "Sleepy Time", and five days before the premiere of "Bubblestand"/"Ripped Pants", which is considered the regular series premiere.
• Sequel Gap: This was the third so-called "TV movie" in the series, airing ten years after "Truth or Square" and twelve years after "Atlantis SquarePantis".
• So My Kids Can Watch: Gilbert Gottfried's cameo can be seen as this, as this special aired the year his son Max turned ten.
• What Could Have Been: There was apparently supposed to also have been a human version of Mrs. Puff, but her scenes were cut from the final version.

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