Jellyfishing (Episode)

Jellyfishing
© Paramount Global
Episode No.:	3a
Season:	1
Airdate:	July 31, 1999
Previous Episode:	Ripped Pants
Next Episode:	Plankton!
Characters	Voice actors
SpongeBob SquarePants	Tom Kenny
Patrick Star	Bill Fagerbakke
Squidward	Rodger Bumpass
Squidward’s encounter with the Queen Jellyfish. © Paramount Global

Jellyfishing is an episode from season 1. In the episode, Squidward is left wheelchair-bound after a accident, so SpongeBob and Patrick want to make Squidward’s day his "best day ever." The highlight is to go Jellyfishing with Squidward.

Info

Songs

The Blue Danube

Characters

Places

Plot

SpongeBob and Patrick prepare for jellyfishing, but then meet Squidward and ask him if he wants to join them. He refuses and decides to go bicycling instead. SpongeBob asks Squidward if he can join them next time, and Squidward says yes sarcastically and rides off; unfortunately, while he is bicycling, he has an enormous, extremely violent accident when a jellyfish tucks itself into his shirt, leading to him getting his tentacles caught in the bicycle, tumbling down a cliff and inexplicably exploding, and leaving him wheelchair-bound.

SpongeBob and Patrick decide that what Squidward needs is a "Best Day Ever" jellyfishing expedition. After an alphabet soup and SpongeBob’s clarinet solo, (in which he didn’t play), they took Squidward to Jellyfish Fields to demonstrate how to jellyfish. He is not into it at first, but when a jellyfish stings him, he goes after it for revenge. He manages to catch the jellyfish, but in doing so angers a queen jellyfish. The queen jellyfish chases after him, attacking him with an extremely massive sting. The next day, SpongeBob and Patrick, both covered in bandages from being stung multiple times by jellyfish during the disastrous "Best Day Ever," meet outside Squidward’s house and attempt to give a now life-support-bound Squidward the jellyfish that he caught the previous day. Squidward, still mad, opens the jar and lets the jellyfish attack SpongeBob and Patrick. As Squidward laughs, the royal giant discovers him and stings him, destroying his life-support. A now-slightly blackened Squidward can only say, "Ow."

Cultural References

Clips from this episode appeared in the 2003 film Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life. The characters' lines were spoken in Mandarin Chinese.

Trivia/Goofs

This is the first episode to focus on jellyfishing, but SpongeBob first jellyfished in Tea at the Treedome.
First appearance of the pink jellyfish. "Tea at the Treedome"’s jellyfish was a whitish-red.
In this episode, Squidward does not know Patrick’s name. This would means that, chronologically, this would be one of the series' earliest episodes. However, Patrick mentions Christmas, which is not learned about until Christmas Who?, and in that episode Squidward knows Patrick’s name.
This episode is the first episode to use "Dangerous A," an APM track similar to John Williams' score from Steven Spielberg’s 1975 film Jaws (specifically, the great white shark’s theme). The other main episodes with the Dangerous A track are Clams, Something Smells, The Camping Episode, and Valentine’s Day.
When Squidward went after the jellyfish, he is holding the net in his left hand. When he was catching the jellyfish, the net is in his right hand. When he was chased by a huge jellyfish, the net is inexplicably back in his left hand.
When SpongeBob and Patrick teach Squidward how to jellyfish, the Blue Danube is heard.
This is the only time Squidward’s nose makes a sound when he laughs.