The episode begins with SpongeBob waking up and realizing that it is April Fool's Day. Squidward sees him and wonders what SpongeBob is so pleased about, until he looks at the calendar, and realizes that it is April Fool's Day, which he says is SpongeBob's favorite holiday. Fearing the worst has to come, Squidward calls Mr. Krabs saying he caught something terrible and that he just could not be able to make it to work. Mr. Krabs says that there is an art collector in his office who wants to buy Squidward's art and name him the artist of the month. So, Squidward immediately rushes to the Krusty Krab, only to find that it was a silly prank by SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs. Squidward attempts to resign from his job, but SpongeBob persuades him to stay, promising not to pull any further pranks on him.
Squidward gets pranked.
However, SpongeBob continues to prank the customers inside the Krusty Krab while not pranking Squidward but getting carried away with it. The customers do not take offense to SpongeBob's pranks as they are harmless and playful in nature and they even laugh with SpongeBob. Although Squidward is not receiving any more tricks as SpongeBob promised, he gets furious over his and the customers' laughter. Eventually, SpongeBob's tongue falls off and they both laugh uncontrollably, which starts to discomfort the customers, and an angry Squidward finally gets fed up and decides to get revenge on SpongeBob by showing him what he feels is a "real" prank.
Squidward laughing at a pranked SpongeBob.
Squidward sets an elaborate rope trap attached to an anchor suspended from the ceiling and squirts a blob of mustard in the middle of the lasso. As SpongeBob goes to clean it up, Squidward cuts the rope holding the heavy anchor, causing SpongeBob to get his foot caught in the rope, triggering a chain reaction that sends him flying around the restaurant, colliding into several objects and areas, ending with him landing in a garbage can. Squidward laughs hysterically at him, but a hurt SpongeBob runs out of the restaurant crying. Bewildered and confused by SpongeBob's reaction, Squidward calls out to him, saying that he was just kidding, but the customers are equally appalled by Squidward's prank, seeing it as far too harsh and nasty to be funny. They all storm out of the restaurant in disgust, with one customer calling Squidward out for what he committed. Distressed at their reaction, Squidward frantically insists that it was only a joke, but as he looks around at the damage his prank did to the restaurant, it slowly dawns on him that SpongeBob's pranks were not only actually funny, but also harmless, and they meant to make people laugh, so that SpongeBob could laugh with them, whereas his prank was just cruel and meant to hurt and humiliate SpongeBob so that he could laugh at him as he couldn't tolerate the latter being happy on his favorite holiday. Overcome with immense guilt, Squidward realizes that he has no choice but to apologize to SpongeBob, albeit without any confidence.
Squidward goes to SpongeBob's house and sees SpongeBob's hat behind a rock. He goes over to apologize but then sees that it is just Patrick wearing the hat while digging. Squidward asks why he is wearing the hat and where SpongeBob is, and Patrick tells Squidward that SpongeBob is in the house "impressed" (instead of depressed) and was crying a lot. This, of course, makes Squidward feel even more guilt and he rushes over to SpongeBob's house and bangs on the door. He has gone so far as to force his way in, but SpongeBob slides his arm through the door and removes the doorknob, clearly in no mood to talk to him. Losing patience, Squidward gets his clarinet and starts playing badly, refusing to stop until SpongeBob reluctantly answers him. Squidward sadly attempts to apologize, but considering that apologizing to people is not something Squidward usually does, especially to the one person whom he despises the most, it is not so easy.
Squidward tries other methods of apologizing to SpongeBob, including sending him an apology note in a bottle but shoving the cork all the way in the bottle and apologizing to SpongeBob far away via two cans attached to a string, but these are foiled by SpongeBob not having a bottle opener and Patrick using the string as floss, respectively. Eventually, he is able to apologize by putting a bubble over his head, so that SpongeBob cannot even hear his apology. Squidward walks away, saying that his conscience is clear, but is confronted by memories of what he did. After he imagines his mother telling him he stinks, he runs back and genuinely apologizes to SpongeBob, even admitting he likes him, his friends, and everyone else in Bikini Bottom, but tells SpongeBob not to tell anyone. SpongeBob promises not to tell and forgives him, but then fully opens his front door, revealing that everyone else is inside behind him, and witnessed Squidward's apology. They all say "April Fools!" to Squidward, who is flabbergasted by this because it revealed SpongeBob was never really upset from Squidward's prank earlier, it was all part of a prank he along with the other Bikini Bottomites pull on Squidward. Squidward states that he was fooling them as well before running away to his house, while laughing maniacally, causing SpongeBob to ask, "What would we do without Squidward?," ending the episode.
On November 14, 2016, recording scripts for every episode from season 1 were publicly released, found on one of the asset discs for the PlayStation video game, SuperSponge. This included the recording script for "Fools in April."[2]
Art[]
Art inspired by the episode created by series storyboard artist, Eliza Herndon
with prod. label (v1; "The Bus" and rougher colors for Bubble Bass' pants)
with prod. label (v2; fixed title, and Bubble Bass' pants are brighter)
with prod. label (v3; named "butt dent")
Storyboards[]
Music[]
( ‣ ) Production music
( • ) Original music
( ◦ ) SpongeBob music
•12th St Rag - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Title card] ‣Aloha - Dick Stephen Walter [Opening] ‣Courting Clarinets - Stefan Maciejewski ["We're gonna become peasants!"] ‣Me for You - George Callert [Huge pitcher of lemonade/SpongeBob laughing] ‣Dramatic Impact (3) - Ivor Slaney [Shot of calendar] ‣Captain Lenoe's - Michael Arthur, Colin Cater, Mick Graves, The Folk Players, Sarah Graves, Simon Ritchie [Squidward calls Mr. Krabs] ‣Airs And Graces (B) - Paddy Kingsland ["I have arrived."] ‣The Tip Top Polka/The Cliff Polka - Chelmsford Folk Band [SpongeBob and Krabs laughing] ‣Blue Blood F - Gregor F. Narholz ["Squidward, wait!"] •12th St Rag - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob playing pranks on people] ‣Heavy Footsteps (a) - Paddy Kingsland [Squidward setting a trap] ‣Shock (U) - Dave Hewson [Anchor falls] ‣On with the Race - Dennis Farnon [Rope sends SpongeBob flying everywhere] ‣Pua Paoakalani B - Kapono Beamer, Queen Lili'uokalani ["April Fools, you little sausage!"] ‣Royal Hawaiian Hula - Kapono Beamer [Patrick is busy digging.] ‣Fates [#62.02] - Gregor F. Narholz ["SpongeBob, let me in there!"] •Squid Clarinet27 - Brad Carow [Squidward playing clarinet] ‣Hawaiian Cocktail - Richard Myhill [Squidward trying to apologize to SpongeBob in the first place.] •Seaweed 2 - Steve Belfer [Message in a bottle] ‣Killer Birds - Gregor F. Narholz [Squidward remembering what others said] ‣Paradise Isle - George de Fretes, Jan Rap [Squidward apologizes] ‣Nostalgic Hawaii - George de Fretes, Jan Rap [Ending]
"Fools in April" was ranked #84 during the Best Day Ever event from November 9–10, 2006.
Trivia[]
General[]
This episode was originally called "April Fools," as seen on the old Nickelodeon website and various production material. It was also originally known as "Poisson D'Avril" and "Instant Karma."[5]
"Poisson D'Avril" is French for "April Fish."
This episode was originally packaged as episode 19b, as it is listed as the second segment in the dual script for it and "Neptune's Spatula."[6] It would later be swapped with its sister episode to be 19a.
This is the first episode for a few things:
The first episode to use "12th St Rag" for title card music.
This is Bubble Bass' final appearance in the series until 11 years later. He would later return in "Plankton's Good Eye" and would stay on the series as a recurring character since then.
However, his skin tone in this episode is mauve rather than olive green. This is the only time he appears this way.
The line "You stink!" is a recycled line from "Pickles."
Squidward laughs harder.
Nickelodeon, SpongeBob's home channel, was created on April 1, 1979; thus making this episode air during the channel's 21st anniversary.
In real life, if SpongeBob had given Gary salted shells, he would have died as salt is dangerous for sea snails.
On April 1, 2013,[10] after Squidward says, "I was just kidding," it was interrupted by Nick Studio 10 (which ran from March to mid-June) for 30 seconds by showing an alpaca singing, and cut back to Squidward saying, "It was just a joke." after everyone is out of the Krusty Krab.[11]
This episode was referenced in "Friendiversary" when Squidward tries to restore SpongeBob's memories. Specifically, he tries to make SpongeBob remember the incident involving "the lima beans and the car chase" SpongeBob mentions in this episode.[13][14]
Cultural references[]
The part where Squidward hears everyone's voices scolding him references a scene from the 1990 Christmas movie Home Alone, where Kevin hears his family's voices scolding him.
Errors[]
When Squidward glances at the calendar, his lip movements are out of sync with his dialogue.
After being pranked the first time, Squidward places his hat on Mr. Krabs' desk, but he has it in his hand when he leaves Mr. Krabs' room.
During the scene of Squidward's prank, Incidental 71 is naked and everyone except for Squidward is poorly drawn. However, when he says "April Fools, jerk," he is better drawn and is wearing a purple shirt and shorts.
When Squidward's head explodes while apologizing, neither his house nor Patrick's house is there anymore.
When Squidward gives SpongeBob a message in a bottle, he puts a cork in it, which disappears as it rolls towards SpongeBob.
When Squidward sees Patrick, the hat is down to Patrick's eyebrows. However, when Squidward says, "Why are you wearing that hat?!" the hat is farther up Patrick's forehead.
Fish clone simultaneously.
When SpongeBob and the others say "April Fools!" to Squidward, SpongeBob's mouth does not move.
Squidward's April Fools prank propels SpongeBob with an anchor. However, when the anchor drops, SpongeBob flies like usual, but the anchor is gone completely. Also when the anchor drops, the rope is tied to both of SpongeBob's legs, but through the rest, it is tied to one of his legs.
SpongeBob's yellow tooth.
When the fish leave the Krusty Krab, multiple far-distance fish clone simultaneously.
When SpongeBob tells Gary that they are moving, Gary has an eyebrow that vanishes in the next shot.
The first time Squidward tries to apologize to SpongeBob, when he blinks, his eyelids turn to the teal color they would become in season 2 rather than the seafoam they are for this season.
When SpongeBob pranks Incidental 41, his right tooth turns yellow for a split second.
SpongeBob with black pores.
When SpongeBob passes through Bubble Bass' rear, his shirt is white and his shorts are dark blue, but when Squidward sees the injury afterward, his shirt is light green and his shorts are purple.
Right before passing through Bubble Bass' rear, SpongeBob's right pores were colored black.
When SpongeBob is taken around the bar, there is a frame with his mouth missing.
SpongeBob without a mouth.
When SpongeBob says "What?!," his house's doorknob is missing as it should be; in the next shot, it appears.
The wrong fish appears in a flashback.
Even after SpongeBob reveals to the old lady his prank of giving her a spoon rather than a fork, she still walks away with the spoon.
When Squidward imagines the fish telling him, "April Fools, jerk," Incidental 6 was shown in the illusion; earlier, Incidental 71 told him this.
While Squidward is running through the restaurant to "catch" SpongeBob, the same characters can be seen over and over again, as if he was running in a circle, but is actually running in a straight line.
When SpongeBob and the others say "April Fools!" to Squidward, Sandy's head and eyes duplicate themselves.
This error has been fixed on Nicktoons airings.
SpongeBob with black teeth.
When SpongeBob mentions the lima beans and car chase to Squidward, his two teeth are colored black.
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