That Sinking Feeling

Template:Episode/144a

Characters

• SpongeBob SquarePants
• Patrick Star
• Squidward Tentacles
• Gary the Snail ^(cameo)
• Sheldon J. Plankton ^(cameo)
• Nat Peterson
• Tom
• Jimmy Gus
• Harold "Bill" Reginald

Synopsis

It is a beautiful day on Conch Street, where SpongeBob and Patrick are giggling and playing by running back and forth between their houses. Squidward finally opens up his blinds to look out of his window, and this annoys him because they are running in his yard the whole time. He finally loses his temper, and he walks outside to confront them. He stops SpongeBob and Patrick with two suction cups, and screams at them about playing in his yard. SpongeBob explains to Squidward about playing in their yard, and that they're using his yard as a walkway. Squidward now wants to make them choose which one of their yards to play, and leave his yard out of this mess. Patrick thinks he's good at choosing, but can't decide which yard to play in today, and finally lets Squidward choose. He puts SpongeBob and Patrick in their own yards, and draws a box around his, and won't let SpongeBob or Patrick step into the box, and goes inside his own house.

They panic and think that they will never see each other again. SpongeBob tries to walk across the road, but the traffic is terrible, and now wants Patrick to do something. Patrick now tries to squeeze himself into the mailbox in order to get to SpongeBob's house, but the mailbox breaks and explodes. SpongeBob now wants Patrick to sit tight, and ties himself to the mailbox, and now slingshots himself over to Patrick but it doesn't work. SpongeBob now has an idea, and wants Patrick to see so they think to dig a tunnel underneath their houses.

File:Dig for your life!.jpg

They eventually meet up and start playing. Squidward can hear them playing, so he goes outside, but they are not in his yard. He looks in Patrick's house, but they are not there. He looks all around SpongeBob's house, but they are not there. He can't find them anywhere and eventually, that sends Squidward into a rage as he believes SpongeBob and Patrick have finally become ghosts, so he shouts "WHERE ARE THEY?!" and starts jumping up and down. This causes the roots underground to wiggle, and SpongeBob and Patrick think they are dancing. So they start dancing. This sinks Squidward's house and Squidward finally realizes that they've been underground the whole time and enters his house through the roof hatch. Squidward comes out of his house and makes SpongeBob and Patrick dig it back out while he relaxes, but Patrick accidentally breaks Squidward's window and SpongeBob accidentally lets all the dirt flood Squidward and SpongeBob out of the house and Squidward threatens SpongeBob and Patrick if they don't obey Squidward and dig out his house by the count of 3, Squidward will turn them into chum. SpongeBob and Patrick dig more, but when Squidward reaches 3, they start running away in panic from Squidward, digging more tunnels. As they are doing this, SpongeBob and Patrick sink all the buildings in Bikini Bottom, including their own houses, downtown, and even The Krusty Krab. Plankton then realizes that The Chum Bucket is the only restaurant in town, but it sinks too. After a whole lot of digging, SpongeBob and Patrick come to a rock, and a furious Squidward corners towards them. After he yells at them, all of Bikini Bottom sinks underground. Sometime later, SpongeBob, Squidward, and the other Bikini Bottomites are digging out Bikini Bottom. The episode ends with SpongeBob saying "Another beautiful day under Bikini Bottom," and Squidward putting on a mining helmet, and saying "I hate neighbours."

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Production

Music

( ‣ ) Production music

( • ) Original music

( ◦ ) SpongeBob music

 ‣ Cream Pie - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [title card]
 ‣ Gator - Steve Belfer [SpongeBob, Patrick running back, forth between their houses]
 ‣ Drama Sting 3 - Squidward's angry
 ‣ Lite Conversation - Gerhard Narholz ["We're not playing in your yard, Squidward."]
 ‣ Unsettled Menace - Phillip Green ["SpongeBob!"/"Patrick!"]
 ‣ Sea Battle - John Fox ["Sit tight, Patrick!"]
 ‣ Steel Licks (a) - Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob, Patrick go back into their houses]
 ‣ Vibe Q Sting - Nicolas Carr ["Hmm..."]
 ‣ Slide Whistle Song - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob, Patrick digging a tunnel between their houses]
 ‣ Solo Steel - Squidward sleeping
 ‣ Cartoon Sting 2 - Gerhard Narholz ["Peek-a-boo, I see you!"]
 ‣ Solo Steel 2 - Squidward goes back to sleep
 ‣ Cartoon Sting 2 - Gerhard Narholz [Squidward woken up by SpongeBob and Patrick]
 ‣ Tension Bits - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Squidward gets angry]
 ‣ ? - Squidward's yard empty
 ‣ ? - Patrick's house empty
 ‣ ? - SpongeBob's house empty
 ‣ The Pollywog Strut - Gerhard Narholz [Gary on the roof]
 ‣ Down in Davy Jone's Locker - Gerhard Narholz [Squidward stomping]
 ‣ Slide Whistle Song - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob, Patrick stomping]
 ‣ Steel Sting (a) - Jeremy Wakefield [Squidward's house underground]
 ‣ Steel Sting (Original Version) - Jeremy Wakefield ["It ate Squidward."]
 ‣ Seaweed - Steve Belfer ["I knew you two reprobates were behind this."]
 ‣ Slide Whistle Song - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Squidward chases SpongeBob, Patrick]
 ‣ Lap Steel - Nicolas Carr ["Oh, boy!"]
 ‣ Skipping to School - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Squidward goes back into his house]
 ‣ Tension Bits (B) - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Squidward counting]
 ‣ ? - "Quick, SpongeBob, dig for your life!"
 ‣ Sponge Monger - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob, Patrick digging while being chased by Squidward]
 ‣ Steel Sting (b) - Jeremy Wakefield [Chum Bucket sinks underground]
 ‣ Scherzo Phrenia - Gregor F. Narholz ["Must dig!"]
 ‣ Steel Licks (b) - Jeremy Wakefield [entire town sinks underground]
 ‣ Earl's Revenge - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [ending]

Release

• This episode is available on the Bikini Bottom Buddies and Complete Seventh Season DVDs.

Trivia

Template:Trivia

• Running Gag: If SpongeBob and Patrick dug too much under a building, it sinks underground and Squidward growling.
• This episode is probably Squidward's darkest role yet, as he tries to separate SpongeBob and Patrick, and he threatens to grind them into chum if they don't put his house back on the count of 3. Chum is fish guts, and this is an underwater show, so Squidward meant he was going to kill them.
• SpongeBob's wringer from "Stuck in the Wringer," "Suds," and "Truth or Square" is seen again.
• When SpongeBob and Patrick wanted to be together, they could have gone behind Squidward's backyard instead of building a tunnel, as Squidward didn't draw a line in his backyard. It might be possible that Squidward did a line in his backyard off screen.
• This is the second time Squidward threatens to kill SpongeBob. The first was "The Lost Mattress."
• When SpongeBob and Patrick were "trapped" by the boulder, they tried to go through it, not around it.
• The gelatin on Squidward's head melted as he became angry at Patrick's knock-knock joke.
• When SpongeBob and Patrick were trapped by the boulder and Squidward comes around the corner, it scared some younger viewers.
• The Brazilian name of this episode is "No Fundo do Poço" (In the Bottom of the Well). This phrase is also an expression to a person with a problem.
• Plankton said that the Chum Bucket was the only restaurant in the city, when the Krusty Krab was buried, but Diner and Fancy! are restaurants located in Bikini Bottom.
• At one point, SpongeBob and Patrick dig a tunnel forming the words "Eat at Krusty Krab." This is a reference to a similar gag used in Warner Bros. cartoons where lights would form the words "Eat at Joe's."
• When Krusty Krab sinks, Plankton is happy, then Chum Bucket also sinks. This is opposite of the scene in "Slide Whistle Stooges," where Squidward destroyed Chum Bucket with a truck, Mr. Krabs is happy, then Squidward also destroyed Krusty Krab.
• This episode premiered on Jeffery Tambor's 66th birthday.

Cultural references

• The title of this episode is a reference to the phrase, "sinking feeling."
• When Squidward tries to keep his house from sinking, he does something similar to what Wall-E, the main character from the 2008 Disney-Pixar movie of the same name, did to stop the Axiom's holo-detector from closing.
• The underground chase is a reference to the NES video game Dig Dug.

Errors

• It would be nearly impossible for Squidward to hear SpongeBob and Patrick playing underground, as the earth would muffle out too much of the noise.
• When Squidward draws the lines, they are perfectly visible. However, when Squidward comes out, they are missing.
• Technically, Bikini Bottom has no need to get out of the ground, there are tunnels that lead to buildings.
• Squidward told SpongeBob and Patrick that they had only three seconds to put Squidward's house back to normal, but that would take much more than three seconds. Also, Squidward did not count to three in three seconds, It technically took ten seconds.
• When Squidward's house sinks into the ground, the "eyes" aren't visible, and the roof hatch is the only above-ground visible object; but later, when Bikini Bottom is underground, there is a large, skylight-like hole around the roof hatch area, the roof hatch is visible underground, and the "eyes" are visible.
• When SpongeBob and Patrick are standing in front of the giant rock while Squidward is yelling at them, SpongeBob blinks his eyes but his corneas are still visible.
• The roof hatch on top of Squidward doesn't appear at the end of the episode.
• Squidward's house sank slowly. The rest of the buildings sank nearly instantly.