"Lighthouse Louie" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season 12. In this episode, SpongeBob cleans up the boating school's lighthouse, where he finds a cute but uncomfortable companion.
Characters[]
- SpongeBob SquarePants
- Eugene H. Krabs
- Mrs. Puff
- Big Fat Meanie (drawing cameo)
- Lighthouse Louie (single appearance)
- Perch Perkins (orange)
- Squidward Tentacles (statue cameo)
- Bubble Bass
- Larry the Lobster
- Incidentals
- Dale
- Incidental 8
- Fred
- Harris
- Dodo
- Incidental 118 (cardboard cutout cameo)
- Ghost toast (single appearance)
- Snail babies (debut)
Synopsis[]
The episode begins with SpongeBob taking his boating test yet again at Mrs. Puff's Boating School. SpongeBob attempts to read while driving, but does not notice that they are about to crash into a brick wall. SpongeBob takes a sharp turn to avoid the brick wall, but starts driving towards Mrs. Puff's lighthouse. SpongeBob is able to brake in time to avoid crashing into the lighthouse, but a wave of junk from inside the lighthouse ends up spilling onto them anyway. SpongeBob pulls Mrs. Puff out of the rubble, and tries to make up for the damage he caused, but nothing pleases her. Mrs. Puff exclaims that SpongeBob should clean up her lighthouse, since she has been tossing old junk in there for 20 years. She leaves SpongeBob to the task, and heads back into her classroom to listen to heavy metal music. SpongeBob heads into the lighthouse, and cleans it fairly quickly by eating all of the assorted objects and spitting them back out into boxes. He then notices that the lighthouse is extremely dusty, so he cleans the place up using a mop. As SpongeBob is about to head into the next room to shine the lighthouse's lantern, he hears moaning on the other side of the door.
SpongeBob meets Louie.
He assumes the lighthouse is haunted, just like his toaster. After a cutaway reveals SpongeBob's toaster really is haunted, SpongeBob slowly opens the door. Suddenly, a box drops from the ceiling, scaring SpongeBob into stumbling down the stairs, and onto a box, causing all the trash that SpongeBob just cleaned up to flood everywhere. SpongeBob is terrified as the box slowly approaches him, only to be relieved when it is revealed that a stray snail was inside. SpongeBob decides to name the snail "Louie" as he gets back to work cleaning. However, when SpongeBob tries to continue cleaning, he trips over Louie, prompting SpongeBob to leave Louie outside so he does not get in the way. Although when SpongeBob goes back inside, Louie is also somehow back inside, so SpongeBob decides to tie Louie to a nearby boat so he will be out of his hair. Once again though, Louie is somehow back inside the lighthouse, so SpongeBob attempts to throw him out, only to be thrown out himself. SpongeBob refuses to be outsmarted by a snail, and in the next scene, we see SpongeBob trying to trap Louie in a box by using a can of Krabby Patties as bait. However, SpongeBob is outsmarted yet again, as Louie traps him inside of a box. When SpongeBob is unable to lift up the box himself, he eats some Krabby Patty grease (in a reference to Popeye the Sailor Man) to grow buff and lift the box off of him. Soon after, SpongeBob finds Louie in the room with the lighthouse's lantern, but Louie suddenly becomes feral and attacks SpongeBob, biting him all over his face. In the scuffle, SpongeBob accidentally turns on the lighthouse's light switch, shining a very bright light into Bikini Bottom. Bubble Bass, Larry the Lobster, and a third fish notice the light, as SpongeBob and Louie's shadows are being cast onto it. Larry thinks that they are a couple of buff dudes, while Bubble Bass thinks they are giant monsters, causing the trio to panic.
The lighthouse heads towards the Krusty Krab.
The ruckus eventually causes the lighthouse to tip over and start rolling around Bikini Bottom (unbeknownst to Mrs. Puff, who is still listening to her heavy metal music). Larry and the other fish run away, but Bubble Bass ends up getting flattened by the lighthouse. Afterwards, Perch Perkins is seen interviewing Fred on the news, as Fred frantically explains that a lighthouse caused all the destruction. Perch Perkins asks Fred if the lighthouse injured "HIS LEGS," to which Fred sadly replies no. Mr. Krabs sees this on the news, and tells all of his customers to protect the Krusty Krab. They all run away however, and SpongeBob, not wanting to destroy the Krusty Krab, turns the lighthouse around with his feet. Although, when Louie attacks him again, the lighthouse turns back around and ends up destroying the Krusty Krab anyway, injuring Mr. Krabs in the process. The lighthouse ends up rolling back to Mrs. Puff's boating school and is thrown back into its original position. After the chaos, SpongeBob frantically wonders where Louie is, only to find out that Louie was actually a mother taking care of her babies. SpongeBob comments on how he should start calling her "Louise" instead. In the next scene, SpongeBob shows Mrs. Puff the clean lighthouse, to which Mrs. Puff exclaims how proud she is of SpongeBob, giving him a gold star. SpongeBob then shows Mrs. Puff "Louise" and her babies, telling her how they were hiding inside the lighthouse. Mrs. Puff finds the snails adorable. SpongeBob leaves boating school for the day, as Mrs. Puff is relieved that SpongeBob did not create a huge disaster. Just then, she is confronted by several Bikini Bottomites, including Mr. Krabs, Bubble Bass, and Larry the Lobster. They are furious that Mrs. Puff's lighthouse has caused so much damage in town, and demand to know what she is going to do about it. In response, Mrs. Puff puts on her headphones and (along with Louise and her babies) start jamming out to her heavy metal music, as the episode ends.
Production[]
John Trabbic posted rough storyboard panels from this episode on December 18, 2018,[1] January 8, 2019,[2] and January 15, 2019, the day that the episode's storyboard was pitched.[3] In the first post, Trabbic said that the snail character that was seen in the storyboards he posted was not Gary.
Teale Reon Wang posted a plussed storyboard from this episode on March 20, 2019, confirming the snail's name to be Louie, and by that logic, confirming the episode.[4]
Storyboards[]
Art[]
- Various developmental designs for Louie by Ian Vazquez.
Production notes[]
Ian Vazquez:
- Vazquez said that the cleaning scene was fun because he tried to add as many references to Mrs. Puff's past as humanly possible.[6]
Music[]
| ( ‣ ) Production music |
| ( • ) Original music |
| ( ◦ ) SpongeBob music |
‣ The Achterhoek Dances - Jan Rap [Title card]
‣ Feeling Happy - Alan Perry [Opening at Mrs. Puff's Boating School]
‣ Tiptoe Footsteps - [ProjectSAM Symphobia Colours: Animator] ["Assuming crash position."]
‣ Uh Oh Flutter-Eyed - [ProjectSAM Symphobia Colours: Animator] [Boat approaches to the wall]
• Monster Wave No Sax - Nicolas Carr, Fabian Fernandez [Boat about to crash into the lighthouse]
• Got It - Nicolas Carr ["Oh, there you are."]
‣ Charlie's Bike C - Peter Balding, Otto Sieben [SpongeBob trying to make it up]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 11D - Jeremy Wakefield [Mrs. Puff removes off his body the oil]
‣ Charlie's Bike C - Peter Balding, Otto Sieben ["Oh, I love cleaning!"]
• Bathroom Nirvana - Nicolas Carr [Mrs. Puff puts relaxing music on her headphones]
• Don't Eat the Pufferfish - Nicolas Carr [Mrs. Puff puts rock music on her headphones]
• 12th St Rag w Bass - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob dives into lighthouse trash and starts cleaning it]
• 12th St Rag - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob spits the trash out of his pores]
• Lap Steel - Nicolas Carr [Transition to next scene]
‣ Marching Along the Ocean Wave - Colin Frechter [SpongeBob scrubbing the lighthouse]
‣ Med Evil A - Alexander Rudd [SpongeBob hears noises from inside the lighthouse lantern's room]
‣ Neutral Mood - Simon May [A walking box comes out and follows SpongeBob]
‣ Five Dramatic Bridges B - Kurt Rehfeld [A snail comes from the box]
‣ Whimsey - Arthur Wilkinson [SpongeBob calls the snail Louie]
• Lap Steel - Nicolas Carr [Transition to next scene]
• Hello Blues - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Louie keeps staying around the lighthouse]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 38A - Jeremy Wakefield [Transition to next scene]
‣ Spooks - Fredric Bayco [SpongeBob puts a trap to catch Louie]
• Whats This Sting - Nicolas Carr ["I don't got ya."]
‣ Spooks - Fredric Bayco [Louie traps SpongeBob in its own trap]
‣ Charlie's Bike E - Peter Balding, Otto Sieben [SpongeBob trying to lift the box]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 13D - Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob tastes a pinch of the Krabby Patty in a Can]
‣ Jolly Jack Tar - Frederick Charrosin [SpongeBob gets strength and lifts the box ]
• Vibe Q Sting - Nicolas Carr ["Huh? Where'd Louie go?"]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 7A - Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob's arm deflates]
‣ Alone And Lost - Norman Dane [SpongeBob finds Louie at the top of the lighthouse's lantern]
‣ Neutral Mood - Simon May [Louie attacks SpongeBob]
• But I Have an Idea - Nicolas Carr ["Those monsters have vanished." / "We're saved!"]
‣ Brickbat (Battle) - Laurie Johnson [Lighthouse crushes Bubble Bass]
• Bikini Bottom News Theme - Nicolas Carr [News on TV]
‣ Dramatic Cue (H) - Ronald Hanmer [Fred telling Perch Perkins the cause of the destruction]
‣ Finger of Fear - Fredric Bayco [Lighthouse rolling to the Krusty Krab]
• Melodramatic Moments - Michael Bolger, Nicolas Carr [Krabs tells his customers to put in front of the lighthouse]
‣ Project X - Cedric Palmer [Customers run out of the Krusty Krab]
• Grass Skirt Chase - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Lighthouse rolls away from the Krusty Krab]
‣ Project X - Cedric Palmer [Lighthouse crushes the Krusty Krab]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 35 - Jeremy Wakefield ["Oh. It came back."]
‣ Project X - Cedric Palmer [Lighthouse returns to Mrs. Puff's boating school]
• Don't Eat the Pufferfish - Nicolas Carr [Mrs. Puff still listening to rock music]
‣ Project X - Cedric Palmer [Lighthouse returns to the exact place it was]
• My Three Fish - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [Louie's babies are revealed]
‣ Horlepiep - Jan Rap [SpongeBob gives them to Mrs. Puff]
• Cheap and Frozen Jig - Michael Bolger, Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [People complaining to Mrs. Puff]
• Don't Eat the Pufferfish - Nicolas Carr [Ending]
Release[]
- This episode is available on the SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 22 digital collection and The Complete Twelfth Season DVD.
Trivia[]
General[]
- This episode was released on The Complete Twelfth Season DVD on January 12, 2021, six days before airing on American television.
- This episode was paired up with "My Two Krabses" during the original American airing, but has been re-airing with "Hiccup Plague."[7]
- Both episodes preceded an exclusive look of The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run.
- During the Every SpongeBob Ever marathon, this episode was paired up with "Who R Zoo?"
- In the promos, Nickelodeon erroneously claimed that this is the episode where SpongeBob finally gets his driving license, and everyone in Bikini Bottom is in a panic.[8] However, in the actual episode, SpongeBob has to clean inside Mrs. Puff's lighthouse and finds a cute and uncomfortable companion named Louie.
- Mrs. Puff breaks the fourth wall by saying she has been throwing junk in the lighthouse for 20 years, as at the time this episode was produced and copyrighted (which was in 2019), SpongeBob SquarePants was celebrating its 20th anniversary.
- SpongeBob mentions this episode's title when he says, "How about I call you Louie? Lighthouse Louie!"
- "My leg!:" Perch Perkins yells "Your legs!" when he interviews Fred to see if himself and his legs were injured from the Boating School lighthouse, which Fred denies.
- In this episode, the Krusty Krab is shown to have hills in front of it, despite this never being shown in any other episodes.
- SpongeBob's gold star is a reference to the Good Noodle Board in "New Student Starfish."
- At the end of the episode, the final frame from the sister episode "Hiccup Plague" was revealed by accident in the UK and Ireland airing.
- This episode shows the complete interior of the boating school's lighthouse.
- This is the third episode where SpongeBob owns a pet whom he initially thinks is male, but is later revealed to be female. The first was "Pet or Pests" with Mrs. Wormsley, and the second was "Sanctuary!" with Esmerelda.
- Just like with Mrs. Wormsley, Louie is revealed to be a female when she is seen with babies, and SpongeBob further confirms it when he jokes that he should have named her "Louise."
- When this episode first aired in South Korea, it was paired up with "The Goofy Newbie."
Every "MY LEG!" Ever in SpongeBob 🦵 ft. Fred the Fish
A clip from this episode is seen at 6:53.
- Before its premiere date in the United States, a clip from this episode at the 6 minutes and 53 seconds mark where Fred is making an interview on the Bikini Bottom News was used in a "My Leg!" compilation video called "Every "MY LEG!" Ever in SpongeBob 🦵 ft. Fred the Fish" uploaded by the SpongeBob SquarePants Official YouTube channel on May 1, 2020.
- Louie's babies later appear in SpongeBob Simulator.
Episode references[]
- When SpongeBob falls into the trash pile, many objects from previous episodes can be seen:
- Bold and Brash ("Artist Unknown")
- Big Fat Meanie, the flashlight ("New Student Starfish")[10]
- Mrs. Puff's hat and coat, a teddy bear,[10] surfboard, clock, and her washing machine. ("Krusty Love")
- One of the enchanted tikis ("Enchanted Tiki Dreams")
- The #1 hat and swordfish skull ("One Krabs Trash")
- Krusty Krab Pizza ("Pizza Delivery")
- Patrick's shoes ("Your Shoe's Untied")
- Squidward's piggy bank, Mrs. Wiggles, Clown Frown ("Skill Crane")
- Seahorse plush ("Stuck in the Wringer")
- Help Wanted sign ("Help Wanted")
- Penny, Used Napkin, Chip ("I Had an Accident")
- "Wanted Maniac" poster, hall monitor's belt, and cap ("Hall Monitor")
- Mrs. Puff's hair curlers ("Life of Crime")
- "Save the Jellyfish" sign ("SpongeBob's Last Stand")
- Mermaid Man's belt ("Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy IV")
- Mrs. Puff's nameplate ("Mrs. Puff, You're Fired")
- Part of the ripped "extra credit" test ("No Free Rides")[10]
- Radio, SpongeBob's diary, Mrs. Puff's boating helmet[10] ("Boating School")
- A brown treasure chest ("Arrgh!")
- An empty box ("Idiot Box")
- A license ("Sleepy Time," "No Free Rides," "Nautical Novice," and Girls' Night Out")
- SpongeBob's paper clip "S" necklace ("Sandy, SpongeBob, and the Worm")
- When SpongeBob shakes things from his ear, one of the things that falls out is Mrs. Puff's "Bad Punz" drum from The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water. This is in of itself a "bad pun," with the whole joke building a visual gag around the word "eardrum."[6]
- One of the many objects within the lighthouse is a newspaper about Mrs. Puff with the headline "Deranged Boat Teacher Makes Getaway" and the subtitle "Distracts authorities with balloon animals." This is referring to an incident Mrs. Puff implies to in "No Free Rides," where she moved towns and changed her name and her ability to make balloon animals shown in the same episode. The picture of Mrs. Puff on the newspaper is taken from the same episode. Ian Vazquez was surprised that this reference actually made it into the episode: "So THIS prop is the one I can NOT believe made it and is probably my absolute proudest moment on this show hands down. When I drew this in I absolutely *knew* they would cut it or remove the words, but SOMEHOW IT MADE IT (sans a couple details seen here). IT'S CANON."[11]
- The newspaper featuring the story is called the "New Kelp Post," which is a reference to New Kelp City from "What Ever Happened to SpongeBob?"[12]
- Mrs. Puff's crimes occurred during February 1997, not long after the second draft of the series' pitch bible was completed. This seems to imply that Mrs. Puff opened her boating school not long before the show began in May 1999.[12]
- Puff lost the cops who chased her down in Rock Bottom,[12] tying with her quote "Don't ask questions you aren't prepared to handle the answer to" from the 2003 SpongeBob video game Battle for Bikini Bottom.[13]
Cultural references[]
- SpongeBob flexes his arm like Popeye when he eats the Krabby Patty substance in the can.
Errors[]
- A pearl necklace in front of a TV in the pile changes from white to green in one frame.
- When SpongeBob scrubs the lighthouse, the front door is open, but when it shows the lighthouse from the top of the stairs, the front door is closed.
SpongeBob's eyelashes disappear for a second.
- When SpongeBob starts to open the door and hears a meow, his eyelashes are missing.
Part of Bubble Bass' face is orange.
- During a couple frames, a part of Bubble Bass' face is orange between his glasses.
The lighthouse is missing.
- During the scene where Mr. Krabs watches the lighthouse head to destroy the Krusty Krab, the lighthouse is missing.
- The Chum Bucket is not in front of the Krusty Krab in this episode.
The lighthouse can be seen in the school when it is rolling back.
- When the lighthouse rolls back to Mrs. Puff's Boating School, the lighthouse can also be seen in the Boating School.
Videos[]
Names in other languages[]
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| German | Leuchtturm-Louie | Lighthouse Louie |
References[]
- ^ a b John Trabbic on Instagram - "A face only a mother..."
- ^ a b John Trabbic on Instagram - "Bubble bass"
- ^ a b John Trabbic on Instagram - "Pitch day..."
- ^ Teale Reon Wang on Instagram
- ^ Ian Vazquez on Twitter - "Why not, I'm going to..."
- ^ a b Ian Vazquez on Twitter - "The cleaning scene was a lot..."
- ^ April 23, 2022 - Nickstory
- ^ SpongeBob SquarePants: "Lighthouse Louie" | Official Promo - YouTube
- ^ SpongeBob on Twitter - "hos shirt has magic..."
- ^ a b c d Ian Vazquez on Twitter - "AND THE BELT: So..."
- ^ Ian Vazquez on Twitter - "So THIS prop is the..."
- ^ a b c Ian Vazquez on Twitter - "Date 1997 to imply..."
- ^ Ian Vazquez on Twitter - "YUP."