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Ghoul Fools

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If you were looking for the article about the DVD, then see Ghouls Fools.
If you were looking for the article about the original track with a similar name, then see Ghoulish Fools.

"Ghoul Fools" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season 8. In this episode, SpongeBob and Patrick find a houseboat haunted by ghost pirates.

Characters[]

Synopsis[]

The episode opens up with SpongeBob and Patrick in Jellyfish Fields lying on the ground watching the clouds, imagining what they look like. They're having a relaxing time until they see a haunted houseboat fly by, leaving a trail of night sky in its wake before crashing to the ground near them. Patrick thinks it's a haunted house amusement park attraction while SpongeBob says that it looks genuinely scary. Patrick decides to check it out and SpongeBob goes with him. Patrick thinks the boat is lame, but SpongeBob takes its ominous nature seriously. They pass by paintings of skeletons while one appears to be a still life of a vase holding flowers. SpongeBob takes a liking to this one until the flowers turn into snakes and jump out of the painting and into his pores. He runs panicking while Patrick barely even notices him until he returns to the picture frame and the snakes return to their place in the painting. They reform back into flowers, leaving SpongeBob terrified. He rejoins Patrick, who finds a fake spider hanging from one of the lights. Patrick still believes there's nothing scary about this place and goes on to explain that something like a big hairy hand popping out of a closet would be scary. He doesn't even notice when SpongeBob is snatched up by a big hairy hand just like Patrick was hoping for. He has a nightmarish time in the closet he's dragged into and the hand places him right back where it got him next to Patrick, leaving him traumatized, but nonetheless agreeing that Patrick's idea sounds cool. Suddenly, they hear ominous music coming from the next room and see a ghost playing the pipe organ.

Ghoul Fools 069

The ghost is Lord Poltergeist, who Patrick believes is just another one of the special effects designed to keep up he illusion of a fake haunted house attraction. After evaluating the "authenticity," Patrick ultimately comes to the conclusion that the two of them are inside a pizza joint with an animatronic music band. Lord Poltergeist has no patience for Patrick's ridiculous conclusions until Patrick asks him to sing a song for them. To that end, Lord Poltergeist says that he will sing a sea shanty to make SpongeBob and Patrick believe he is a real ghost. At the end of the song, Poltergeist asks if they believe now; SpongeBob does, but all Patrick does is demand pizza, so Lord Poltergeist gives him pizza that has anchovies on it, which scares them out of their wits. This causes them to bow down repeatedly and acknowledge him as a real ghost, even causing a scared Patrick to be willing to sacrifice SpongeBob to save himself while the unamused Lord Poltergeist sarcastically remarks "Ah, great friend you have here." SpongeBob then asks what brings Lord Poltergeist to Bikini Bottom, and he explains that they were just passing through when their engine blew a head gasket. The only way the houseboat is getting airborne again is with a new one, so Lord Poltergeist tasks SpongeBob and Patrick with getting it for them. As an incentive to make them return, he takes their souls as deposit and puts them in glass bottles, then gives SpongeBob a golden doubloon to buy a new head gasket. However, he warns them that if they do not return with a new head gasket in 24 hours, their souls will be his and the two of them will be turned into ghosts to be part of his ghastly crew for all eternity.

SpongeBob and Patrick run to the Krusty Krab and tell the customers about the ghosts, though their freaked out behavior causes the customers to flee. Mr. Krabs orders SpongeBob to calm down, as he wants to know what is with the chaos. SpongeBob calms down and tells Mr. Krabs about how Lord Poltergeist stole their souls and gave them a doubloon to buy a head gasket. Mr. Krabs takes the doubloon and, after seeing it is real, he takes a head gasket from a boat that is outside the Krusty Krab, to the owner's ire. Mr. Krabs forces Squidward to come along with them after promising him a break room if he does come along and steal the ghost's treasure. Sandy then appears with ghost equipment, claiming she was looking for "milkshake gremlins" and wants to catch some ghosts.

Ghoul Fools 244

The five go back to the boat where Lord Poltergeist was seen. Mr. Krabs steals the doubloons and hands bags of them to Squidward and Patrick. Mr. Krabs then sees a doubloon that is stuck to the bottom of the chest. He tries to pull it out, but ends up setting off a trap which causes Lord Poltergeist to appear. SpongeBob gives him the replacement head gasket and the lord returns the souls of SpongeBob and Patrick just as he agreed on. However, when he does, he reveals that what he had in the bottles were just old orange sodas instead of their souls and reveals that he never took their souls in the first place, revealing his ultimatum to just be a cruel trick to make the two of them complete their task in a timely manner, which they did. He sucks Mr. Krabs, Squidward, and Patrick (who are trying to escape with the gold) into a void, and shows them their greatest fears.

First, Mr. Krabs has to use the restroom and finds a portable bathroom, but to use it, he must pay one doubloon and he screams at the thought of spending his loot. Next, Patrick wishes for a doughnut and then a talking one comes up on his head that Patrick annoys and the doughnut yells at him to pick something already. Patrick wishes for a doughnut with sprinkles, then chocolate, then a bagel, then a stack of pancakes, then a Krabby Patty, until he decides to go back to a plain doughnut, causing the doughnut to scream at the fact that it must deal with Patrick for eternity, as the starfish is oblivious to the fact that he had outsmarted his worst nightmare, something Lord Poltergeist intended to be impossible. Finally, Squidward encounters a giant SpongeBob, which makes him scream. Sandy sucks the three back into her ghost hunting equipment. Then, Mr. Krabs and Lord Poltergeist fight for the chest of doubloons. They fling it into the air and SpongeBob catches it and sees a "Property of the Flying Dutchman" stamp at the bottom of the chest followed by a phone number. The Flying Dutchman comes by to reclaim his doubloons (but ends up being tricked by Lord Poltergeist that they were looking for him to give him back the gold). Lord Poltergeist runs away until the boat breaks down.

Finally, the Flying Dutchman declares he will curse them like they've never been cursed before and turns into a torpedo that makes a huge void that sucks everyone inside. As the episode finishes with the Krusty Krab (now called the Kursed Krab) in the void with new workers and customers, SpongeBob tells everyone to hold on to something, he tells Giant Demonic SpongeBob from the void to flip the restaurant. He does so, and then as his face turns into the Flying Dutchman's, he laughs evilly.

Production[]

Vincent Waller shared a doodle he drew on the back of this episode's storyboard on his "Welcome to Incoherent-Thought" blog on July 28, 2010.[3]

This episode was confirmed on June 23, 2011.[4]

On October 20, 2011, Derek Iversen confirmed that he wrote this episode.[5]

Art[]

Storyboard[]

Music[]

( ‣ ) Production music
( • ) Original music
( ◦ ) SpongeBob music

 • Ghostly Carousel - Eban Schletter [Title card]
 • Undertow - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Opening]
 • Another Krusty Krab Day - Michael Bolger, Nicolas Carr [Mr. Krabs-shaped cloud]
 • Poltergeists - Eban Schletter [Flying houseboat appears]
 • Deep Shadows - Eban Schletter ["It's probably just one of those fake haunted houses, you know, for babies."]
 • Intrigue - Eban Schletter [SpongeBob and Patrick get on the houseboat]
 • Monster Sting - Eban Schletter [?]
 • Dark Forces 2 - Eban Schletter [SpongeBob and Patrick enter the houseboat.]
 • Something Looming - Eban Schletter [SpongeBob enters the houseboat]
 • Universal Monsters - Eban Schletter [Flowers turn into snakes]
 • Strange Shadows - Eban Schletter ["Even the spiders are fake."]
 • Universal Monsters - Eban Schletter [Giant hand grabs SpongeBob]
 • Enter the Phantom of the Haunted Houseboat - Nicolas Carr [Organ music/Lord Poltergeist goes over to SpongeBob and Patrick]
 • Ghostly Scoundrel - Eban Schletter [Patrick looks in captain's mouth]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks 7A - Jeremy Wakefield ["His bad breath is incredible."]
 • Ghostly Scoundrel - Eban Schletter ["His hair is very authentic too."]
 • Munster Bash - Eban Schletter ["Pizza parlors?! Arrgh..."]
 • Hgliss & Bell - Nicolas Carr [Shot of coin]
 • Freakazoids - Eban Schletter ["So you want me to sing you a shanty, eh?"]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks 31B - Jeremy Wakefield ["This show's gonna be so awesome."]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks 31C - Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob's arm falls off]
 • Carrol Chimes - Nicolas Carr ["Hit it, fingers!"]
 ◦ Ghouls O The Briny Deep - Luke Brookshier, Eban Schletter, Mark Rivers [Ghost pirates sing this.]
 • Down in Davie Jones Locker - Nicolas Carr ["Do you believe we're real ghosts now?"]
 ‣ Drama Link (C) - Hubert Clifford [Lord Poltergeist poofs up pizza]
 • New Vibe Hits - Nicolas Carr [Pizza box opens]
 ‣ Drama Link (B) - Hubert Clifford [Live anchovies on pizza]
 ‣ Out of the Crypt [#1] - Harry Lubin ["You are real ghosts! You are real ghosts!"/"Why have you come to Bikini Bottom, oh mighty dead person, sir?"]
 • Deep Shadows - Eban Schletter ["Our engine room broke down."]
 ‣ Out of the Crypt [#1] - Harry Lubin ["Yes, you! And just as a little incident to make you return..."]
 ‣ Gothic Adventure - Mark Cousins, Adam Saunders [Lord Poltergeist takes SpongeBob and Patrick's souls]
 • Ghoulish Fools - Nicolas Carr [Lord Poltergeist gives SpongeBob a doubloon]
 • Ghostly Scoundrel - Eban Schletter [Captain checks his calendar]
 ‣ Dramatic Impact (6) - Ivor Slaney ["...forever!"]
 • Ghostly Scoundrel - Eban Schletter ["Can we run screaming in horror from your ship now?"]
 ‣ The Creature (a) - Gregor F. Narholz [SpongeBob and Patrick run screaming/SpongeBob and Patrick continue running and screaming]
 • Popcycles and Ice Cream - Nicolas Carr [SpongeBob and Patrick order an ice cream]
 ‣ The Creature (a) - Gregor F. Narholz [SpongeBob and Patrick run screaming to the Krusty Krab]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks 7A - Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob and Patrick run into the Krusty Krab doors]
 ‣ Sword Fight - Harry Bluestone, Emil Cadkin ["Ghosts, ghosts, a haunted houseboat!"]
 ‣ From the Dead - Ronald Hanmer [Customers run away]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks 8B - Jeremy Wakefield ["Come back!"]
 ‣ Cellar Search - Philippe Pares ["Mr. Krabs, it was awful! We just had a spooky encounter of the ghostly kind!"]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks 18 - Jeremy Wakefield [Mr. Krabs lets go of Patrick's tongue]
 ‣ Cellar Search - Philippe Pares ["The captain of the ghost gave us this doubloon and told us to buy him a new head gasket!"]
 • Daily Chores Jig - Michael Bolger, Nicolas Carr ["Did you say... doubloon?"]
 • Retro Horror Sting - Eban Schletter [Sandy appears]
 • Happy Crusty Crew 2 - Michael Bolger, Nicolas Carr ["Great, then it's settled, let's go catch us some ghost gold!"]
 • SpongeBob Flashback Vibes - Nicolas Carr [Start of Squidward's daydream]
 • Shop O Rama - Nicolas Carr, Fabian Fernandez [Squidward's daydream]
 • In a Minor Mood Jig - Michael Bolger, Nicolas Carr ["Super! Let's go catch us some treasure!"]
 • Enter the Phantom of the Haunted Houseboat - Nicolas Carr ["So, here it is."]
 • Enter the Phantom of the Haunted Houseboat 2 - Nicolas Carr ["This place looks like it hasn't been lived in for years."]
 ‣ A Pirate's Life For Me (A) - Ron Goodwin [Treasure chest]
 ‣ Ghostly Presence - Harry Lubin ["That gold probably has ghost germs all over it."]
 • In a Minor Mood Jig - Michael Bolger, Nicolas Carr [Mr. Krabs takes doubloons from the treasure chest]
 • New Vibe Hits - Nicolas Carr ["Ooh! Looks like I missed one."]
 • Tension Bits - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Mr. Krabs tries to take the last doubloon]
 ‣ Straight From Hell [#81] - Gregor F. Narholz [Lord Poltergeist reappears]
 • Something Creepy Looming - Eban Schletter ["So if it's not too much trouble, do you think you could give us our souls back... now... maybeee."]
 • Ghostly Scoundrel - Eban Schletter ["Those weren't your souls. Those were just a couple of old orange sodas that have been sitting in the sun too long."]
 ‣ Frightmare - Magnum Opus ["Me gold!"]
 • Lost in Limbo 4 - Nicolas Carr [Mr. Krabs and Patrick in the void.]
 • The Donut Dilema - Nicolas Carr [Donut grants Patrick requests.]
 • Triangle - Nicolas Carr [Overlays The Donut Dilema]
 • Lost in Limbo 4 - Nicolas Carr [Squidward in the void.]
 • Phantom of the Haunted Houseboat - Nicolas Carr [Lord Poltergeist laughs.]
 ‣ Terror Hunt - Phil Green ["You better let my friends out of there if you know what's good for ya!"]
 ‣ Death And Destruction 1 - Harry Bluestone, Emil Cadkin [Sandy activates the ghost catcher]
 ‣ Expectant Stab [#28] - Harry Bluestone, Emil Cadkin [Explosion]
 • Ghostly Scoundrel - Eban Schletter ["Not so fast! That there booty be mine!"]
 • In a Minor Mood Jig - Michael Bolger, Nicolas Carr ["Hey, you thieving bilge rat! I stole this gold fair and square!"]
 ‣ Comic Capers B - Charlie Brissette, Norman Mamey [Mr. Krabs and the captain fight over the gold]
 • New Vibe Hits - Nicolas Carr [Property of the Flying Dutchman]
 • Spooky Depths - Eban Schletter ["The Flying Dutchman? You ain't afraid he's gonna want it back?"]
 ‣ Malleus Mallificarum (A) - Dave Hewson [Flying Dutchman appears]
 • In the Tomb - Nicolas Carr ["The Dutchman! How did he track us down?"]
 ‣ Surrender 7 - Harry Bluestone, Emil Cadkin ["Why, you scurvy little scum-scrubber! You've ruined everything!"]
 ‣ Spooks Appear 1 - Harry Lubin [Everyone comes outside]
 ‣ Spectre Sting - Christopher Payne ["So, it be me old first mate who stole me gold and me crew!"]
 • Sad Sack Shanty - Michael Bolger, Nicolas Carr ["We just went out to get pizza."]
 ‣ Flight of the Witches - Cris Velasco [Captain runs over Flying Dutchman]
 ‣ Halloween Antics A - Kevin Riepl [Flying Dutchman follows Lord Poltergeist]
 ‣ Day of Reckoning - Andrew Blaney ["Don't go anywhere, kiddies! Cause you're about to be cursed like you've never been cursed before!"]
 ‣ Footsteps of Horror - W. Merrick Farran [Flying Dutchman turns into a torpedo]
 • Jovial Pirate's Jig - Michael Bolger, Nicolas Carr [Later, in the void...]
 • Tymp Boing - Nicolas Carr [Shot of bill.]
 • Jovial Pirate's Jig - Michael Bolger, Nicolas Carr [Ending.]

Release[]

Distribution[]

Trivia[]

General[]

  • This episode reveals that Patrick has inner demons.
  • The title card background is similar to that of "Big Sister Sam" and "Sentimental Sponge," except it is in black and white.
  • The song "Ghouls O The Briny Deep" is used again as instrumental background music in a scene from the season 9 episode "Séance Shméance" where ghosts invade the Krusty Krab, and when Patrick is running around the Krusty Krab at the end of that episode.
  • In this episode, Mr. Krabs suggests using treasures to buy a break room for the Krusty Krab. Although in "Breakin'," Mr. Krabs is actually shown to have a break room hidden inside of a wall in the Krusty Krab.
  • It is revealed Mr. Krabs does not believe in germs, at least on money.
  • Squidward breaks the fourth wall by saying, "I guess this is the part where I start screaming."
Lord Poltergeist in Nickelodeon Mystery Mansion

Lord Poltergeist in Nickelodeon Mystery Mansion.

Ghoul Fools credits
  • Lord Poltergeist's name is not said in this episode. However, his name is revealed in the online game Nickelodeon Mystery Mansion.
    • He is listed as "Captain" in the credits.
Thisonewithnewoldbyline

The Paramount logo from the end of this episode.

Dub facts[]

  • In certain foreign language dubs, the "Later, in the Void" time card is left unspoken.

Cultural references[]

  • The symbol all over the purple wallpaper in the haunted houseboat is a Fleur-de-lis, a noble decorative/design symbol that literally translates to "flower" and "Lily" in French.
  • When Patrick calls Lord Poltergeist "a singing robotic puppet" from "those pizza joints with the singing animated robots," he is referring to the animatronics from the Chuck E. Cheese restaurants.
  • The cereal Frosted Brains is a parody of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes.
  • The cat-o-nine-tails bears a resemblance to the Kitsune of Japanese folklore. However, the Kitsune is a fox, not a cat.
    • Historically, a cat-o-nine-tails was a whip with nine ends used to punish sailors in the navy.
  • When Squidward says, "Boring, representational art," the painting he points at is a ghost parody of American Gothic.
  • Patrick's punishment in the void is a reference to the Greek mythological figure Tantalus, who was punished in Tartarus by being forced to stand in a pool of water beneath a tree with fruit on low branches that he was unable to reach, and the water receding before he could take a drink.
  • The void may be a reference to "The Further" as seen in the Insidious horror franchise.
  • The milkshake gremlin bears a strong resemblance in appearance to the Gremlins from the horror comedy movie of the same name.

Errors[]

Polish 20200126 172210378

6 instead of 7 and Halloween begins on November 1st on the calendar.

  • As the hand returns to the closet after putting down SpongeBob, it disappears for a frame.
  • Lord Poltergeist's calendar only has six days in a week instead of seven.
    • On top of that, Lord Poltergeist's calendar has a Halloween pumpkin placed after October 31.
  • When Squidward is sucked into the void, the bag of money that he was holding vanishes in the next shot.
Characters eyelids color error in Ghoul Fools

Patrick's pink eyelids, as well as Squidward's light turquoise eyelids.

  • In the scene when SpongeBob says, "Uh-oh. I don't like the sound of that!," Patrick's eyelids are pink instead of purple and Squidward's eyelids are light turquoise instead of teal.


Videos[]

Names in other languages[]

Language Name Meaning
French Le bateau fantôme The Ghost Ship
German Geisterdeppen Ghost Dorks
Italian La casa fantasma The Ghost House
Russian Глупые призраки
Glupyye prizraki		 Foolish Ghosts
Spanish (Latin America) Fantasmas piratas Ghostly Pirates
Spanish (Spain) Los fantasmas tontorrones The Silly Ghosts

References[]

  1. ^ Nickelodeon UK Announces The Spooky Programming Line-Up For Week 3 Of "Make My Monday" On Monday 22nd October 2012 - New "iCarly", New "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" And New "SpongeBob SquarePants"! - Wednesday, October 10, 2012 - NickALive!
  2. ^ Nickelodeon's Blog - Throng
  3. ^ Nose - Welcome to Incoherent-Thought
  4. ^ https://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=199&ti=226,199&SEQ=20231112003135&Search%5FArg=SpongeBob%20SquarePants&Search%5FCode=TALL&CNT=25&PID=ea3xcHHeARK-1cLOwJ0IiYLplYnMH&SID=2
  5. ^ Derek Iversen on Facebook: "My scary SpongeBob special..."
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