It's a SpongeBob Christmas! (Episode)

It’s a SpongeBob Christmas!
© Viacom
Episode No.:	175
Season:	8
Airdate:	November 23, 2012 (CBS) December 6, 2012 (Nickelodeon)
Previous Episode:	For Here or to Go
Next Episode:	Super Evil Aquatic Villain Team Up is Go!
Characters	Voice actors
SpongeBob SquarePants	Tom Kenny
Sandy Cheeks	Carolyn Lawrence
Sheldon J. Plankton	Doug Lawrence
Karen Plankton	Jill Talley
Patrick Star	Bill Fagerbakke
Squidward Tentacles	Rodger Bumpass
Mr. Krabs	Clancy Brown
Pearl Krabs	Lori Alan
SpongeBob giving out fruitcake.© Paramount Global

It's a SpongeBob Christmas! is a double-length episode from Season 8. In the episode, SpongeBob tries to spread Christmas joy, but it gets hard when Plankton turns everyone into jerks with his Jerktonium-laced fruitcake.

Info

Characters

Patchy the Pirate (animated)
Potty the Parrot (animated)
SpongeBob SquarePants
Patrick Star
Squidward Tentacles
Mr. Krabs
Sheldon J. Plankton
Karen Plankton
Sandy Cheeks
Mrs. Puff
Pearl Krabs
Gary the Snail (cameo)
Santa Claus (animated)
- Fake Santa
  - Imaginary Santa
Bikini Bottomites
ToyBob

Places

Plot

Patchy's cartoon design, introduced in this episode.

SpongeBob wakes up and begins singing a Christmas Carol. All of SpongeBob's friends are preparing for Christmas, and they join in his carol. At the Chum Bucket, Plankton is angered that he gets coal every year for Christmas. Karen tells him that if he hadn't been such a jerk he might get something for Christmas. Plankton pulls out a periodic table of elements and adds in an extra one onto it, Jerktonium, which apparently has the power to turn anyone into a jerk. Plankton decides to make some fruitcake and lace every slice of it with Jerktonium, and give them to people to turn them into jerks, so Santa will think Plankton isn't naughty after all and he will be able to get the Krabby Patty secret formula for Christmas.

Plankton leaves the Chum Bucket to begin giving people the fruitcakes, by dispensing his fruitcakes with his latest invention, the JerkMaker 9000. SpongeBob instantly walks up and Plankton gives him a piece of fruitcake. The Jerktonium doesn't affect SpongeBob as he's immune, so Plankton gives him more fruitcake. SpongeBob simply eats all of the fruitcake, and Plankton is angered to see it does nothing. He gives SpongeBob a key and goes back inside. SpongeBob spots some Christmas carolers and hands them each a slice of fruitcake. The fish begin experiencing the effects of Jerktonium, and they begin to act like jerks. Plankton comes out and notices that the Jerktonium had worked on the citizens.

Downtown, SpongeBob begins passing out fruitcake while singing, and the citizens begin to behave like jerks. SpongeBob is oblivious, and he continues to sing. Plankton rides through town on a unicycle, noticing the citizens wreaking havoc on the city and is delighted. SpongeBob passes a little boy on Santa's lap, and he gives Santa a piece of fruit cake. Santa tells the kid to get a job and buy all of the gifts himself and to brush his teeth. The sleigh driver escapes, and the sleigh falls off a cliff and crashes. Plankton returns to the Chum Bucket, where Karen tells him his plan has failed because SpongeBob's heart protects him from Jerktonium. Plankton unleashes a robotic SpongeBob, named "ToyBob," onto the streets of Bikini Bottom to ruin SpongeBob's reputation. The robot begins destroying stuff to ruin Christmas.

SpongeBob begins riding through Bikini Bottom, and he notices everybody being rude to him. The next day on Christmas Eve, SpongeBob notices the townsfolk treating each other poorly and behaving like jerks. SpongeBob turns to Squidward, and he tells him to go to Sandy's house. ToyBob walks up and begins to anger Squidward, who thinks it is SpongeBob. At Sandy's treedome, Sandy is rude to SpongeBob, and she does not help him with his problem. SpongeBob tries to leave, but accidentally knocks the fruitcake into an analyzer. Sandy indicates that the fruitcake is contaminated with Jerktonium. SpongeBob tells her he got the food from Plankton, at which point she calls him an idiot. SpongeBob says he must be the biggest jerk in town because he ate a lot of fruitcake. She scans SpongeBob and tells him that everyone knows he is immune to Jerktonium. Sandy uses the analyzer to reveal a formula for an antidote; the antidote is a song which SpongeBob hums, and it cures Sandy.

SpongeBob shows up downtown and begins singing to rid everyone of the Jerktonium, curing them. After everyone is rid of the Jerktonium, Santa shows up and tells SpongeBob that everyone in town is on his naughty list besides Plankton. Santa gives Plankton the secret formula, and Santa tells SpongeBob he was the worst of all. ToyBob shows up and begins wreaking havoc, to which Santa points out that SpongeBob is doing it, not realizing at first that it was ToyBob all along. ToyBob tries to destroy Santa, but SpongeBob destroys the robot and saves Santa. Christmas is saved and Mr. Krabs gets the formula back from Plankton. Santa flies off and Patrick sneaks on with him in an attempt to capture him.

Trivia/Goofs

This is the second Christmas-based episode. The first one was Christmas Who?, the third would be Goons on the Moon, the fourth would be SpongeBob's Road to Christmas and the fifth would be Sandy's Country Christmas.
This is the second episode to use stop-motion animation. The first was Truth or Square. This is also the first full stop-motion episode.
This is the only SpongeBob episode to air on CBS.
This is the only Season 8 episode to be produced in High Definition.
- In production order, this is the second episode in general to be produced in HD.
SpongeBob drives a vehicle, the JerkMaker 9000, throughout the episode. Although he does not have his license, the vehicle is not a boat, so it is OK.
The song "Don't Be a Jerk (It's Christmas)" is featured in this episode. The song was first released on July 14, 2009, as one of five new tracks featured in a re-release of SpongeBob's Greatest Hits.
SpongeBob actually went in Sandy's Treedome without his water helmet, yet he's not affected by the lack of water.
The DVD version featured a Patchy the Pirate sub-plot in stop motion, making it the first episode to show Patchy and Potty not in live-action.
In real life, there is no other element with a J on the periodic table.
All ten main characters, plus Patchy and Potty, appear in this episode.
This is one of six holdover episodes from season 8 that aired with a few new Season 9 episodes, and the last of those holdovers to air (as well as the only one of the holdovers to be aired in HD). The other holdovers were Super Evil Aquatic Villain Team Up is Go!, Chum Fricassee, The Good Krabby Name, Move It or Lose It and Hello Bikini Bottom!