WhoBob WhatPants?

"What Ever Happened to SpongeBob?", promotionally known as "WhoBob WhatPants?", is the 21st episode of the fifth season and the 98th overall episode of the American animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants. It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on October 13, 2008.

"What Ever Happened to SpongeBob?"
SpongeBob SquarePants episode
Promotional artwork for the episode depicting a scene where SpongeBob is in New Kelp City with the Bubble Poppin' Boys gang about to assault him.
Episode no.Season 5
Episode 21
Directed byAlan Smart (animation and supervising)
Tom Yasumi (animation)
Casey Alexander (storyboard)
Zeus Cervas (storyboard)
Written byCasey Alexander
Zeus Cervas
Steven Banks
Produced byPaul Tibbitt
Original air dateOctober 13, 2008 (2008-10-13)
Running time21 minutes, 51 seconds
Guest appearance(s)

The series follows the adventures and endeavors of the title character and his various friends in the underwater city of Bikini Bottom. In this episode, SpongeBob feels neglected and ends up a nuisance when he tries to hang out with the other characters. They all angrily call him "Idiot Boy", so SpongeBob decides to pack up and leave Bikini Bottom. Along the way, he accidentally bumps his head, making him lose his memory. SpongeBob wanders away into a new place called New Kelp City and attempts to get a new job, unaware he is becoming a target for a criminal gang known as the Bubble Poppin' Boys, while Patrick, Sandy and a reluctant Squidward try to find him.

The episode was written by Casey Alexander, Zeus Cervas, and Steven Banks, and the animation was directed by supervising director, Alan Smart and Tom Yasumi. The episode features guest appearance by Ray Liotta as the voice of the leader of the Bubble Poppin' Boys. The episode's premiere pulled an average of 7.7 million viewers, but received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics.[1]

Plot summary

SpongeBob wakes up on a normal day as usual and wants to spend time with his friends, only to end up angering them. SpongeBob decides to leave Bikini Bottom, believing his friends now hate him after each of them cruelly calls him "idiot boy". As he leaves, he falls off a cliff and bumps his head, knocking himself unconscious. Back in Bikini Bottom, everybody feels sorry for making SpongeBob leave, with the exception of Squidward, who is delighted that SpongeBob is gone. Even worse, without SpongeBob making Krabby Patties to calm people, the city breaks out into massive chaos. Sandy invents a special device that can track any sponge within a radius of 50 miles to help find SpongeBob, but Squidward, hating SpongeBob enough to want him to remain gone for good, intentionally destroys the device with a mallet and pretends to have dropped it. Nobody buys this lie in the slightest and Mr. Krabs assigns Squidward to find SpongeBob since he destroyed the device. Initially, Squidward refuses, and is even unfazed when Mr. Krabs threatens to fire him. However, Squidward immediately changes his mind when Mr. Krabs offers to reward him with a vintage Fabergé egg if he finds SpongeBob.

Meanwhile, SpongeBob wakes up with amnesia. He meets a couple of fish, but they run in fear when they find out SpongeBob has a bottle of bubble soap. He wanders around until he ends up in New Kelp City where he attempts to get a job. Each time he gets a job he uses his bubble blowing ability, but this strikes fear into all the residents of the city. SpongeBob's bubble-blowing activity brings up a confrontation with "the Bubble Poppin' Boys", who have scared the city into never blowing bubbles because they keep being blinded by the bubbles. SpongeBob uses his ability to get rid of the gang in a giant bubble that he blew out of town. He is rewarded by getting the position of mayor of New Kelp City. While searching for SpongeBob, Sandy, Patrick, and Squidward learn that the latter became the new mayor of New Kelp City. However, when they go to New Kelp City to retrieve him, SpongeBob cannot remember who they are. They manage to take SpongeBob and return him to the Krusty Krab, but he wants to return to New Kelp City. Squidward is delighted that SpongeBob is leaving again and requests his fancy egg from Mr. Krabs, only to slip and accidentally throw it against SpongeBob's head, which causes his memory to come back. Overjoyed that SpongeBob got his memory back, Mr. Krabs told him how really sorry he and everyone are for running him out of town. But even so, SpongeBob still wants to return to New Kelp City. At that moment, a breaking news report comes on, saying that the bubbles in New Kelp City are blinding the citizens, and SpongeBob is being threatened by a thug. This makes SpongeBob change his mind and he says that he will stay in Bikini Bottom as a frustrated Squidward removes his brain and throws it in the trash can.

Production
Ray Liotta guest starred in the episode.

"What Ever Happened to SpongeBob?", also known as "WhoBob WhatPants?", was a special episode written by Casey Alexander, Zeus Cervas, and Steven Banks. The animation and supervising director was Alan Smart. Alexander and Cervas also functioned as storyboard directors.[2][3] The episode was first announced by Nickelodeon on September 24, 2008 on a press release.[4] According to the network, SpongeBob "wanders the ocean, a stranger in his own pants," and finds himself in a rough part of New Kelp City, where he faces off against the Boys' gangleader, Liotta's character.[5][6]

The episode originally aired in the United States on October 13, 2008.[7][4] From October 3, 2008, TurboNick featured a special playlist of content dedicated to the episode, including a sneak-peek of the special, themed episodes, short-form content, song clips, and an instant replay of the special following the television premiere.[7][4] Nick.com, in 2008, presented a new game called "SpongeBob SquarePants: WhoBob WhatPants?" to celebrate the episode's television airing.[7][4][8] The episode also features SpongeBob's signature sea chanty altered to "WhoBob WhatPants?" during the chorus answers in the title sequence.[9]

In addition to the regular cast, Ray Liotta guest starred in the episode as the voice of the leader of New Kelp City's Bubble Poppin' Boys gang, and the main villain in the episode.[7][10][11]

On October 14, 2008, "What Ever Happened to SpongeBob?" became available in the DVD compilation called SpongeBob's WhoBob WhatPants, along with six other episodes including "Goo Goo Gas", "The Two Faces of Squidward", "SpongeHenge", "Banned in Bikini Bottom", and "Stanley S. SquarePants".[12][4][7] It also became available in the SpongeBob SquarePants: Season 5, Vol. 2 DVD on November 18, 2008.[13][14][15] On September 22, 2009, "What Ever Happened to SpongeBob?" was released on the SpongeBob SquarePants: The First 100 Episodes DVD, alongside all the episodes of seasons one through five.[16][17]

Reception

"What Ever Happened to SpongeBob?" was viewed by 7.7 million audiences.[1] This ranked the program the number one most viewed entertainment show of the night, and the number two most viewed show in all categories after ESPN Monday Night Football.[18][19][20] Despite the high ratings, the episode received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics. Maddy Pumila said that the episode was "extremely fun and entertaining. I hadn't watched SpongeBob in a while, but the laughs in this episode provided more laughs than I would get in an entire day."[21]

Maxie Zeus of Toon Zone cited the episode as an example of the series' decline.[22] Lesley Aeschliman of Yahoo! Voices wrote "I have to look at this special like the 'Friend or Foe?' special. While 'WhoBob WhatPants?' works well as a regular story for SpongeBob SquarePants, I'm not entirely convinced that it deserved to be hyped up as a special. While this story had the potential to be 'special material,' it just didn't materialize in the final produced product."[23] Roy Hrab of DVD Verdict said, "It makes me sad to think about how something so pleasurable has declined into something so tedious."[24] Paul Mavis of DVD Talk said, "With a laugh-skimpy script, 'What Ever Happened to SpongeBob?' may be confirming a trend I noticed back with the last original SpongeBob toon to get its own disc release, Pest of the West: SpongeBob shorts are starting to get tired. And 'What Ever Happened to SpongeBob?' is even less funny than 'Pest of the West'," adding the episode was "Not a good sign."[9]

References
  1. Nordyke, Kimberly (October 15, 2008). "Monday's 'SpongeBob' draws 7.7 mil viewers". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
  2. "SpongeBob SquarePants - WhoBob WhatPants?". Film Club. Retrieved May 30, 2013.
  3. "WhoBob WhatPants?". SpongeBob SquarePants. Season 5. October 13, 2008. Nickelodeon.
  4. Liu, Ed (September 25, 2008). ""WhoBob WhatPants?" to Air on Oct 13, 2008, Guest-Starring Ray Liotta". Toonzone. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
  5. "Ray Liotta Plays SpongeBob Villain". People. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
  6. "Ray Liotta to voice criminal on Spongebob Squarepants". 3 News. October 2, 2008. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
  7. Moody, Annemary (September 25, 2008). "Ray Liotta To Guest Star In SpongeBob Special Oct. 13". Animation World Network. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
  8. Maclntyre, April (October 8, 2008). "Ray Liotta squares off with SpongeBob Monday, Oct. 13". Monsters and Critics. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved May 30, 2013.
  9. Mavis, Paul (October 13, 2008). "SpongeBob SquarePants - WhoBob WhatPants?". DVD Talk. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
  10. "Ray Liotta guesting on Nickelodeon's 'SpongeBob SquarePants'". Media Life Magazine. September 26, 2008. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
  11. "Ray Liotta Voices Criminal on Spongebob Squarepants". Babble.com. October 4, 2008. Archived from the original on June 28, 2013. Retrieved May 30, 2013.
  12. "SpongeBob SquarePants Stars In 'WhoBob What Pants?'". Starpulse.com. October 5, 2008. Archived from the original on October 6, 2008. Retrieved October 18, 2008.
  13. SpongeBob SquarePants: Season 5, Vol. 2. DVD. Paramount Home Entertainment. 2008.
  14. Mavis, Paul (November 5, 2009). "SpongeBob SquarePants - Season 5, Vol. 2". DVD Talk. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
  15. Prince, Dennis (November 27, 2008). "SpongeBob SquarePants: Season 5, Volume 2". DVD Verdict. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved September 14, 2013.
  16. SpongeBob SquarePants: The First 100 Episodes. DVD. Paramount Home Entertainment, 2009.
  17. Lacey, Gord (September 29, 2009). "SpongeBob SquarePants - The First 100 Episodes (Seasons 1-5) Review". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
  18. "7.7 million watched SpongeBob special". UPI. October 15, 2008. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
  19. Gorman, Bill (October 15, 2008). "Monday's 'SpongeBob' draws 7.7 mil total viewers". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved May 4, 2013.
  20. Moody, Annemarie (October 16, 2008). "WhoBob WhatPants Finds 8 Million Viewers". Animation World Network. Retrieved May 4, 2013.
  21. Pumilia, Maddy (October 16, 2008). "DVD Review: SpongeBob SquarePants - Who Bob What Pants". Blog Critics. Archived from the original on December 8, 2013. Retrieved May 4, 2013.
  22. Zeus, Maxie (October 12, 2008). ""Whatever Happened to SpongeBob?": Good Question!". Toon Zone. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
  23. Aeschliman, Lesley (October 14, 2008). "SpongeBob SquarePants: WhoBob WhatPants?". Yahoo!. Archived from the original on September 14, 2013. Retrieved May 4, 2013.
  24. Hrab, Roy (November 13, 2008). "Spongebob Squarepants: Who Bob What Pants?". DVD Verdict. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved May 30, 2013.
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