Idiot Box

"Idiot Box" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season three. In this episode, SpongeBob and Patrick play with a box.

Characters

• SpongeBob SquarePants
• Patrick Star
• Incidental 154
• Squidward Tentacles
• Helicopter pilot ^{(heard only)}
• Police ^{(heard only)}
• Criminal ^{(heard only)}
• King Neptune ^(mentioned)
• Box "How it's made" Narrator ^{(heard only)}
• Old professor
• Incidental 41 ^(cameo)
• Incidental 48
• Boxing Championship announcer ^(debut)
• Incidental 5 ^(cameo)
• Incidental 7 ^(cameo)
• Incidental 27 ^(cameo)
• Other Boxing Crowd Members
• Cowboys ^(mentioned)
• Robots ^{(heard only)}
• Pirates ^{(heard only)}
• Gary the Snail

Synopsis

Squidward comes outside his house to see a TV getting delivered to SpongeBob and Patrick in a box. He is shocked that they ordered such a large TV, only for them to use the box rather than the TV. He asks the two why they are playing in the box instead of using the TV, and they say that with imagination, they can do anything they want to do. Squidward takes the TV, while the other two play Mountain Climbing Adventure in the box.

When Squidward gets annoyed by the two playing with each other, he kicks the box, only to cause an avalanche inside. He opens the box to see if the two are alright, only for them to have just been imagining themselves mountain climbing. Squidward goes back to his house and tries to find a box, but he can't find one big enough. After kicking the box, he hears the police and thinks he got in trouble for kicking the box, but it turns out to just be coming from SpongeBob and Patrick in their box.

Angry, Squidward kicks the box away and SpongeBob and Patrick take it. He watches TV to get his mind off of boxes, only for all the channels to be about boxes. He thinks the two are using a tape recorder to make all the noises, so he goes inside to find out. When he finds out they don't, he goes inside the box and starts playing with them to see how they play. However, the sounds that come from the box don't occur, so he goes back to his house.

At night, when the two get out of the box and go to bed, Squidward goes inside the box to find the button but he doesn't find it. When he starts pretending to drive a race boat, a garbage truck picks up the box and dumps it off into The Dump, making Squidward think he's actually driving a boat. The next morning, SpongeBob and Patrick find out that their box is gone and then go see Squidward, unaware that he is gone.

Running gags

• While Squidward is watching TV, it is all about boxes in respective channels: documentary, educational, soap opera, and sports.
• SpongeBob saying "Imagination" whilst showing a rainbow with his hands.
• SpongeBob and Patrick making noises inside the box, but whenever the box is opened, the noises stop.

Production

Art

Storyboard #1

Storyboard #2

Storyboard #3

Storyboard #4

Storyboard #5

Storyboard #5

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Music

 ‣ Vergnügungspark - Gerhard Trede [SpongeBob and Patrick hopping]
 ‣ Awakening Memories - Paul Fenoulhet ["Squidward, we don't need television."]
 ‣ Full of Beans - Robert Schreier [mountain climbing adventure]
 ‣ Dramatic Climax - Mike Sunderland ["Hang in there, buddy. The chopper's on the way."]
 ‣ Joust - Fredric Bayco ["Attention, climbers! Please hold on!"]
 ‣ Death in the City - Jack Beaver [police sirens]
 ‣ City Desk - Ronald Hanmer [show about boxes being made]
 ‣ Once Upon a Dream - Clive Richardson ["I couldn't afford a present this year..."]
 ‣ Parallel Dimension - Gregor F. Narholz [rocket launch]
 • Steel Sting - Jeremy Wakefield ["Laugh at me, will they?"]
 ‣ Journey to the Magic Island - Gregor F. Narholz ["Welcome aboard, Squidward!"]
 ‣ Comic Walk - Sidney Torch ["Why won't this thing turn on?"]
 • Steel Licks 3 - Jeremy Wakefield [that night]
 ‣ Hawaiian Happiness - Jon Jelmer [SpongeBob and Patrick go home]
 ‣ Finders Creepers - Paddy Kingsland [Squidward sneaks into the box]
 • Vibe Sting - Nicolas Carr ["Hello, what's this?"]
 • Vibe Q Sting - Nicolas Carr ["What the...?"]
 • You're Nice - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [box taken to dump]
 ‣ Tympup A - Sammy Burdson, John Charles Fiddy [ending]

Release

• This episode is available on the Halloween, Complete 3rd Season, The Tom Kenny Collection, First 100 Episodes, Holidays with SpongeBob 3-DVD Gift Set, Sponge in Service, The Ultimate SpongeBob Box Set, SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 4, Complete Third Season, From the Beginning, Pt.1, The SpongeBob SquarePants Collection, SpongeBob ScaryPants Collection, The SpongeBob SquarePants 8 Season DVD Collection, 2-Season TV Pack, The Third & Fourth Seasons, and The Best 200 Episodes Ever DVDs.
• This episode is also available on VideoNow.

Reception

• "Idiot Box" was ranked #62 during the Best Day Ever event from November 9–10, 2006.
• This episode is number 5 on The Tom Kenny Collection on iTunes and Amazon.com. His description says:

"SpongeBob and Patrick turn an empty box into a fantasy play land using only their "imaginations."_[sic] Since Squidward lacks any imagination, he resents anyone who does! The ultra-dramatic and over-the-top action movie fantasy scenarios that our boys playact in the box are really funny (sounds can only be heard)."

• "Idiot Box" was ranked #2 during the SpongeBob's Top 100 event in the UK and Ireland from June 4-8, 2012.

Trivia

General

• The title card is an animated television transition. This is mostly seen on vintage televisions when one changes the channel.
  • This is also one of only a few episodes to have an animated title card.
• "Idiot box" is a slang term for TV.
• Plots of this episode were later used in the first part of the LeapPad Interactive Book and Cartridge SpongeBob SquarePants: Salty Sea Stories, which was released in 2003 by LeapFrog Enterprises, exactly 1 year after this episode aired on television. The music was composed by Jay Cloidt in the Interactive Book and Cartridge.
• Music from "Count Duckula" and "Danger Mouse" is used in this episode.
• On September 27, 2017, there was a National EAS alert that appeared about 5 minutes into the episode (2:20 PM EDT).^{[citation needed]}
• Squidward finds a sombrero in the hatbox and wonders why he hadn't worn it before. He later does wear it in "The Camping Episode."
  • This means that this episode takes place before "The Camping Episode."
• This is a list of things SpongeBob, Patrick, and Squidward thought of in the box:
  • Mountain Climbing
  • Police Chase
  • Space Shuttle Launch
  • Battle of Robot-Pirate Island
  • Race Car Driving
• During the "space shuttle launch" portion, a brief bit of audio from STS-51-L, on which the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster occurred, could be heard.
• SpongeBob's imagination sequence has become a popular internet meme.
• When SpongeBob is reading in bed, his pillow is nowhere to be seen.
  • It could be possible all his pillows are in the laundry.
• This is the third episode where its title card is animated. The first being "SB-129" and the second being "Prehibernation Week."

  

• When Squidward went inside the box, SpongeBob and Patrick were using their imaginations, but they were not making noises. It is probably because Squidward left the box open.
• In Battle for Bikini Bottom, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie video game, SpongeBob's Truth or Square, and Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated, boxes can be used to teleport around the levels which resembles the box from this episode.
• In Indonesia, instead of saying, "Boxing Championship," the narrator says "Box Boxing Championship," because "box" and "boxing" have different meanings.
• This episode was reenacted in a live table read during the San Diego Comic-Con in 2015, and was the most voted for the episode to be reenacted.^[1]
• Because its sister episode "Nasty Patty" was banned in Israel due to its dark content, this episode was also banned as well.^{[citation needed]} However, it is still available in English in the night marathon, along with "Nasty Patty."
• When Squidward ends up in the dump, he lands face first in a pie. This is the second time that Squidward gets hit in the face with a pie. The first was in the episode "Dying for Pie."
• In the EBS version of the Korean dub, this episode was permanently paired up with "Doing Time," due to its sister episode being banned.
• According to the production code (5572-178), this was produced as a season 2 episode.
  • The same happened to "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy IV" and "As Seen on TV."

Cultural references

• One of the equations, F = ma², is a reference to Newton's Second Law, (F = ma) and Einstein's Mass-Energy Equivalence formula, (E = mc²).

Errors

• When SpongeBob makes a rainbow with his hands, the colors are upside-down.
• When Squidward says, "Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!" his voice is out of sync with the animation.
• Squidward's mouth does not close when he says, "Where's that remote?"

• When Squidward is planning to get inside of the box, his forehead wrinkles are gone for a couple of seconds.
• Squidward tears up the note that SpongeBob had written, but in the next shot, all the pieces of the note disappear.

• When the garbage truck drives away, SpongeBob's house is missing. Also, an arrow appears on the box.

• At the end of the episode, the path to Patrick's house is missing.

Video

References

This page uses content from Wikipedia (original • authors). Both Encyclopedia SpongeBobia and Wikipedia are licensed under the CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported license.