1. Plot summary

2. Production

3. Reception

4. References

5. External links

"What Ever Happened to SpongeBob?", promotionally known as "WhoBob WhatPants?", is the 18th 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.

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.^[1]

Plot summary

SpongeBob wakes up on a normal day as usual and attempts to hang out with Gary, Patrick, Squidward, and Sandy. However, he ends up upsetting them all, as he accidentally breaks Gary's shell, ruins a cake Patrick was making, interrupts Squidward's sleep, destroys Sandy's robot and ends up causing two dollars to get fried and reduced to bits at the Krusty Krab. Crying his way back home after a furious Mr. Krabs kicked him out of his restaurant for the day, a depressed SpongeBob decides to leave Bikini Bottom forever, thinking his friends now hate him after they all cruelly called him "Idiot Boy" and tells Gary that he has a year's supply of snail food to eat since SpongeBob will not be there to feed him while he's gone. After leaving Bikini Bottom, Spongebob gets frightened by bizarre people and runs in fear. Spongebob falls off a cliff and bumps his head which knocked him out unconscious. Back in Bikini Bottom, Patrick and Sandy, both having already forgiven SpongeBob for the other day, enter SpongeBob's house to apologize to him, only to find a bloated and saddened Gary, who shows them his now-empty food bowl which has a note from SpongeBob, saying he has left so that he wouldn't bother anyone ever again. After Sandy reads it, she and Patrick show remorse, especially when the note reminds them that they called SpongeBob "Idiot Boy".

Meanwhile, SpongeBob wakes up and noticing two fishes who have found his clothes and express interest in using them; SpongeBob, suffering from amnesia due to hitting his head, mentions that he cannot remember anything except hitting his head, so the fish tell him that his name is "CheeseHead BrownPants". However, they run away when they find out SpongeBob has a bottle of bubble soap. Spongebob wonders what the problem was and spots New Kelp City. Sandy and Patrick arrive at the Krusty Krab where a crowd of furious customers have gathered, angry about not getting their orders. Sandy then shows the note from SpongeBob to Mr. Krabs. After he reads it, they all become upset about making Spongebob leave, except for Squidward who is happy about SpongeBob being gone, with Patrick and Sandy breaking down in tears. Mr. Krabs has the customers leave the restaurant, so that he and the others can decide on how to find SpongeBob.

SpongeBob wanders around New Kelp City and upon getting accused of pickpocketing by a civilian and noticing his hunger, decides he needs to get a job. Each time he gets a job however, Spongebob uses his bubble blowing skills, resulting in him getting fired. Back in Bikini Bottom, after Squidward, hating SpongeBob to the point where he's determined to make absolutely sure that he remains gone for good, destroys an electronic device that Sandy made to find SpongeBob, Mr. Krabs orders him to look for SpongeBob. Squidward refuses at first, but changes his mind when Mr. Krabs convinces him by offering him a retirement gift (a rare jeweled ornamental egg), and then retracting it, telling Squidward that he will not receive it until he finds SpongeBob.

SpongeBob's activity with blowing bubbles leads to a confrontation with "The Bubble Poppin' Boys", a greaser-like gang who have scared the city into never blowing bubbles because they keep being blinded whenever they pop. After they attack, SpongeBob uses his bubble blowing to trap the gang in a giant bubble that flies them out of town. SpongeBob is rewarded by getting the position of mayor of New Kelp City after the previous mayor retires.

Sandy, Patrick and Squidward arrive at a gas station and, from reading a newspaper article, discover SpongeBob's appointment as mayor of New Kelp City. When they go to New Kelp City to retrieve him, SpongeBob cannot remember who they are because of his amnesia. Squidward hijacks SpongeBob's limousine and gets away from the city with SpongeBob, Patrick and Sandy in tow as they return to the Krusty Krab. Due to his amnesia, SpongeBob still does not recall anything, not even the eatery, and wants to return to New Kelp City to resume his job as mayor. Delighted that SpongeBob is leaving again, Squidward requests his fancy egg, but slips on a greasy spatula and accidentally throws the egg onto SpongeBob's head, which causes his memory to come back. Patrick, Sandy and Mr. Krabs apologize to SpongeBob for running him out of Bikini Bottom and are happy to have him back. However, SpongeBob still wants to return to New Kelp City, claiming that the citizens of the city "need their mayor", much to Squidward's delight and everyone else's shock. However, SpongeBob promptly changes his mind after a breaking news report comes on, saying that New Kelp City has descended into chaos as a result of bubbles continually blinding the citizens and that a lynch mob has been formed to find and kill "CheeseHead BrownPants". SpongeBob starts cooking Krabby Patties again, much to his friends' delight. With a sigh of happiness, SpongeBob announces that he will stay in Bikini Bottom for the foreseeable future. Upon hearing this, a frustrated Squidward removes his brain and drops it in a trash can.

Production

"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.^[1][2] The episode was first announced by Nickelodeon on September 24, 2008 on a press release.^[3] 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.^[4][5]

The episode originally aired in the United States on October 13, 2008.^[6][3] 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.^[6][3] Nick.com, in 2008, presented a new game called "SpongeBob SquarePants: WhoBob WhatPants?" to celebrate the episode's television airing.^[6][3][7] The episode also features SpongeBob's signature sea chanty altered to "WhoBob WhatPants?" during the chorus answers in the title sequence.^[14]

In addition to the regular cast, Ray Liotta guest starred in the episode as the voice of Trevor, the leader of New Kelp City's Bubble Poppin' Boys gang, and the main villain in the episode.^[6][8][9]

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".^[10][3][6] It also became available in the SpongeBob SquarePants: Season 5, Vol. 2 DVD on November 18, 2008.^[11][12][13] On September 22, 2009, "What Ever Happened to SpongeBob?" was released in the SpongeBob SquarePants: The First 100 Episodes DVD, alongside all the episodes of seasons one through five.^[14][15]

Reception

"What Ever Happened to SpongeBob?" was viewed by 7.7 million audiences.^[16] 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.^[17][18][19] 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."^[20]

Maxie Zeus of Toon Zone cited the episode as an example of the series' decline.^[21] 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."^[22] Roy Hrab of DVD Verdict said, "It makes me sad to think about how something so pleasurable has declined into something so tedious."^[23] 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."^[24]

References

External links

• {{imdb episode|1279299}}
• {{tv.com episode|spongebob-squarepants/whatever-happened-to-spongebob-whobob-whatpants-1213951}}

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