Sandy's Rocket

If you were looking for the article about the spaceship, then see Sandy's rocket (spaceship).

If you were looking for the article about the book, then see Sandy's Rocket (book).

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Characters

• SpongeBob SquarePants
• Sandy Cheeks
• Gary the Snail
• Patrick Star
• Jellyfish
• Squidward Tentacles
• Eugene H. Krabs
• Mr. Doodles ^{(debut) (cameo)}
• Mrs. Puff
• Flats the Flounder ^{(debut) (cameo)}
• Larry the Lobster ^(cameo)
• Sheldon J. Plankton ^{(deleted scene and book)}
• Pearl Krabs ^{(deleted scene and book)}
• Other Bikini Bottomites

Synopsis

SpongeBob visits Sandy's treedome, and then sees that Sandy had built a rocket ship. Sandy explains to him that she is going to the moon, and SpongeBob begs her to take him with her. Although she immediately insists that he cannot come and that this trip is for science and not for fun, SpongeBob's begging ultimately convinces her to let him come with her.

That night, Patrick comes to SpongeBob's house and gives him some "Alien Repellent," which they sneak into Sandy's treedome to spray on the windows. Even though they agree to only spray the windows, Patrick inadvertently enters the rocket, and SpongeBob follows. After playing with the ship's various features, SpongeBob accidentally starts up the rocket, which makes it loop over the moon a few times and then comes back to Bikini Bottom. SpongeBob and Patrick convinced that they're now on the Moon, think that the aliens are projecting their memories onto the environment to trick them.

They begin catching everyone with Sandy's net guns (intended for harvesting moon rocks), believing the citizens of Bikini Bottom are aliens. Eventually, they capture everyone in Bikini Bottom. When Sandy arrives and tries to chew them out for ruining her experiment, SpongeBob and Patrick shoot their net guns at her, capturing her too. Sandy attempts to explain the truth to them, but they slam the door in her face. Suddenly, SpongeBob is convinced that Patrick is an alien. Patrick attempts to shoot him before he has a chance to capture him but ends up shooting and capturing himself (he had his net gun pointed the wrong way). SpongeBob starts the rocket again to return home, and when it reaches the moon, the rocket crashes on top of it, having run out of gas. Noticing things are different, SpongeBob looks out the window to see the Earth where he realizes his mistake. All the captured fish, who are being stored in the cargo hold of the ship, say: "SpongeBob, we aliens would like a word with you." as the episode ends.

SpongeBob and Patrick capture Sandy, a.k.a. "Ms. AlienPants."

Production

SpongeBob and Patrick in their space suits were designed by Todd White.

Art

13875142-F03E-4AD7-85E0-A9860BC2CA46.jpeg

Music

( ‣ ) Production music

( • ) Original music

( ◦ ) SpongeBob music

 ‣ Rocket Sled to Oahu - The Mel-Tones [title card]
 ‣ Millennium Fanfare (c) - Ron Goodwin [fanfare when rocket is shown]
 ‣ Old Hilo March - Kapono Beamer ["I can fit in here."]
 ‣ Vibe Link (a) - Richard Myhill [SpongeBob talking about aliens]
 ‣ Vibe Link (b) - Richard Myhill ["There's one now!"]
 ‣ Hello Blues - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [alien repellent]
 ‣ Time in Space - Gregor F. Narholz ["Look how big it is, SpongeBob!"]
 ‣ Robo Files B - Wesley Plass, Hannes Treiber [the control room]
 ‣ Moloka'i Nui (a) - Kapono Beamer [Patrick playing a video game]
 ‣ Star Warriors - Richard A. Harvey [SpongeBob starts the rocket]
 ‣ Skaters Waltz - Emile Charles Waldteufel, George Wilson ["Look, we're in space now!"]
 ‣ Clusters - Otto Sieben [the rocket landed in Bikini Bottom]
 ‣ War Lords - Robert Cornford [SpongeBob thinks it's a trick]
 ‣ It Came from Outer Space - Ilona Sekacz [SpongeBob and Patrick enter Squidward's house]
 ‣ Mavericks - The Woodies ["Get this thing off me!"]
 ‣ Shock (u) - Dave Hewson [Mr. Krabs captured]
 ‣ War Blowers - The Blue Hawaiians [SpongeBob, Patrick capturing everyone]
 ‣ Return of the Surfin' Headhunters - The Mel-Tones [Sandy captured]
 ‣ Alien Menace - Frederic Talgorn [SpongeBob and Patrick suspect each other of being aliens (selenites)]
 ‣ Space Explorers A - Gregor F. Narholz [launch]
 ‣ Hawaiian Link (a) - Richard Myhill [ending]

*On The Complete 1st Season and The First 100 Episodes DVDs, "Mavericks" is replaced with "Sharkskin" by The Surfdusters.

Release

• This episode is available on the Home Sweet Pineapple, Complete 1st Season, First 100 Episodes, The First & Second Seasons, Movies & TV Collection, The Best 200 Episodes Ever, and Hall Monitor DVDs.

Reception

• "Sandy's Rocket" was ranked #68 during the Best Day Ever event from November 9–10, 2006.

Trivia

General

• This episode premiered in Canada on July 1, 2000, which is coincidentally Canada Day.
• This episode premiered in Germany on September 4, 2002, exactly three years after it premiered in the United States.
• When Patrick plays on the video game, he makes a face that is now an internet meme.
• In real life, it would take 3 days to get to the moon and 3 days to get back to Earth.
• When SpongeBob looks out at the window towards the moon, the view of Earth from the Moon looks almost exactly like the famed Apollo 8 photograph.

• 

  During a The Rugrats Movie promotion in 1999, a set of scratch-and-sniff stickers were released at specified fast-food restaurants to be used with certain Nicktoons. One of them was used when Patrick squirts toothpaste in SpongeBob's peanut butter. Another one of them was used when SpongeBob pulls out a hot water bottle from Squidward. Also, the symbol that signaled one to "sniff" at the bottom right part of the screen was accidentally filmed along with the episode, and not edited out until late 2002, almost three years after the scratch-and-sniff packs were put out of circulation.
• There is a LEGO set called "Rocket Ride (3831)" which is based on this episode.

  

  Book art for the Plankton scene, drawn by storyboard artist Clint Bond Jr.

• A chapter book based on this episode features extended material: In the extended ending, SpongeBob releases Patrick and Sandy from the bags, and Sandy shoots SpongeBob as punishment before flying the rocket back to Bikini Bottom. The book also shows Sheldon J. Plankton getting captured while stealing a Krabby Patty and SpongeBob and Patrick capture Pearl who was shopping at Whale Watchers Mall. According to the book, it required more than one net to capture Pearl. These scenes are not in the episode version.
• This episode reveals that Mr. Krabs has a pet worm.
• This is the first episode where Mr. Krabs is seen only outside of the Krusty Krab during an episode.
  • This marks the first episode where Mr. Krabs appears without the Krusty Krab appearing. However, Mr. Krabs and the Krusty Krab appear in the chapter book based on this episode.
• This is the first episode that shows that Sandy is interested in science. This would become a more common part of her personality in the post-movie episodes.
• This episode marks the first appearance of Flats the Flounder, who would later appear in "Texas" and "The Bully," the latter of which is his first non-cameo appearance.
• This is the first episode to have Sandy's name in the title.
• This is the first of four episodes transcribed as a comic into the SpongeBob SquarePants/Tokyopop book Gone Nutty!. The other three were "Sandy, SpongeBob, and the Worm," "Pressure" and "Karate Choppers."
• This episode premiered on John DiMaggio's 31st birthday.
• An image of SpongeBob and Patrick in their space suits is featured on the introduction page of The SpongeBob SquarePants Experience: A Deep Dive into the World of Bikini Bottom.

Cultural references

• The sounds heard when Patrick is playing a video game are like the sound effects from the Game Boy version of Tetris.

A book that said 2001 written on its cover which is a reference to the 2001: A Space Odyssey.

• When SpongeBob and Patrick first become weightless in the rocket, a book floats by with "2001" written on its cover. This is a reference to the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
  • Another reference to 2001: A Space Odyssey is when SpongeBob launches into space the first time, the music is a parody of one of the tracks from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
• SpongeBob saying, "You got your toothpaste in my peanut butter!" is a reference to the old Reese's Peanut Butter Cups commercials.
• The scene when SpongeBob and Patrick "analyze" Squidward thinking he's an alien has some references to the 1979 film Alien, most notably when Squidward's tentacle attaches to Patrick's helmet like the series "Facehuggers' in the famous scene from the film, and the way SpongeBob's hands appear under the light in Squidward's water bottle are similar to the way the eggs in Alien appeared.
• The music heard when SpongeBob launches into space the second time is a parody of the Star Wars theme music.

Errors

• At the beginning, there is a ladder to get onto the platform. Then, in the next scene with the platform, the ladder is gone.
• When SpongeBob asks Sandy what she is going to do on the moon, SpongeBob says: "Are we gonna hunt aliens on the moon?" However, the closed-captions said, "Will we hunt aliens on the moon?"
• In one scene where Sandy is showing SpongeBob how the net gun works, she blows on the bubbles coming out of the gun, despite having her helmet on.
• SpongeBob's alarm clock is on the left side on the bed, unlike in most other episodes.
• When SpongeBob says, "a present," his speech is cut off so it sounds like "a prese-."
• When the rocket begins to lift off and smoke is created from the launch, Sandy smells it in her bedroom. This is physically impossible as the rocket was outside of the treedome and the dome is airtight with Sandy inside.
• SpongeBob and Patrick experience gravity turning on and off when leaving the water, but gravity wouldn't change until they left Earth's atmosphere.
• When SpongeBob and Patrick are floating in the rocket and Patrick is trying to get right side up, SpongeBob laughs completely out of tune.
• When Sandy jetpacks up to the Moon and lands, she takes up almost the whole top surface of the moon, which is a size error.
• The rocket leaves a fire trail behind it, but when it crash lands, it uses a propeller.
• Before Squidward wakes up, SpongeBob is holding on to three of his tentacles; the fourth one is still in bed. However, in the next close-up of Squidward, SpongeBob is holding on to all four of them.
• Patrick holds on to Squidward's right tentacle before he wakes up, but after he wakes up, he's holding his left tentacle.
• When the fish holding the parasol is netted, her eyes appear on its canopy. Her eyes should appear underneath the canopy, not on it.
• When SpongeBob and Patrick are trying to stuff everyone into the ship, it appears to be full. However, they have enough room to throw Sandy in later.
• Before throwing Sandy in the rocket to bring to the moon, Patrick laughs, but his mouth does not move in sync with the laugh.
• When the rocket first circles the moon, the rocket is almost as big as the moon, but at the end of the episode when SpongeBob looks out the window, the moon is much bigger.

Running gags

• SpongeBob and Patrick mistakening the citizens of Bikini Bottom as aliens.