"SpongeBob TrashPants" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season 16. In this episode, SpongeBob decides to clean up Goo Lagoon.
Characters[]
- SpongeBob SquarePants
- Sheldon J. Plankton
- Patrick Star (cameo)
- Larry the Lobster
- Bubble Bass
- Slappy
- Nosferatu (cameo)
- Mr. Sun
- Shrimp (female)
- Hammerhead juvenile delinquent
- Fondue man
- Giant trevally
- Orca kid (cameo)
- Octopus vendor (cameo)
- Flats the Flounder (cameo)
- Hot rod dude
- Lady
- Grubby Grouper (cameo)
- Seahorse
- Incidentals
- Fred
- Incidental 2
- Incidental 5
- Incidental 14
- Incidental 17
- Incidental 20
- Incidental 22
- Incidental 24
- Incidental 24C
- Incidental 30
- Incidental 31
- Don the Whale
- Incidental 33
- Incidental 34
- Incidental 35
- Incidental 37A
- Incidental 41
- Incidental 46
- Incidental 60
- Incidental 61
- Incidental 70
- Incidental 103
- Police fish
- Incidental 155
- Sandals
- Carlos Eel
- "F" incidentals
- "Crowd" incidentals
- "Senior" incidentals
- Other beachgoers
Synopsis[]
SpongeBob picking up trash on the beach.
SpongeBob happily heads to the crowded Goo Lagoon to sunbathe after finding the "perfect spot." As he begins to relax, he is disturbed by passersby who throw their trash onto him, so he picks it all up and tosses it into a garbage can. When a piece of wrapping paper flies past, he chases after it, bumping into everyone on the beach. The paper eventually lands in the trash can, and SpongeBob realizes the chaos he's caused. Deciding to become a volunteer cleaner, he starts singing cheerfully as he tidies up the beach.
By accident, he skewers a sunbathing Plankton with his litter spike, mistaking him for a discarded pickle, and warns others not to eat it. Realizing that cleaning with the trash picker is too slow, he switches to a vacuum cleaner, which instantly sucks up all the sand, revealing a metallic layer beneath. The sun heats up the metal, burning the beachgoers, though Larry deems it perfect for tanning.
Later, SpongeBob spots Bubble Bass littering at a carnival and spears him with a harpoon, prompting Bubble Bass to flee. SpongeBob chases him through a farmers market until Bubble Bass tires out, launching SpongeBob far into the distance. SpongeBob crashes into Slappy's seahorse carriage, causing it to tip over and drop a coffin containing Nosferatu. Exposed to the sunlight, Nosferatu burns to ash, which SpongeBob helps clean up. He then looks around the freshly cleaned area and spots a single crumpled piece of paper.
Every time he tries to pick it up with his spike, the paper moves away, so he tries a different method. He digs a hole to trap it, but the plan fails, and he falls in instead. Pretending to cry out of frustration, he tricks the paper into coming closer and finally managing to catch it. However, it escapes from out of his pocket and rolls to a building, where SpongeBob corners it.
It turns out that Plankton is controlling the paper from inside, intent on driving SpongeBob crazy after being impaled on his litter spear earlier. SpongeBob gets to the top of the building to catch the paper, but it develops propellers and starts flying around him. When SpongeBob falls, he happens to stab the trash with his spike, flying along with it. Plankton tries to shake him off by spinning and diving, but SpongeBob refuses to let go.
Despite being flung into the lagoon's water, slammed to a mini-golf windmill, and electrocuted by a radio tower, SpongeBob refuses to let go. Eventually, Plankton's flying litter machine runs out of fuel and crashes onto the beach, covering everything in rubbish once more. As SpongeBob wonders how Plankton had been inside the paper all along, Larry, furious by the mess both of them made, ends up fining them $100 and orders both of them to clean the entire beach for the rest of the year. The two begin their endless cleanup in despair.
Production[]
This episode was confirmed by Cartoonlounge.de on March 21, 2025.[2]
Art[]
Background design[]
- Art direction by Shane Richardson, layouts designed by Hena Hong and George Nachev, traditionally painted in gouache by Amy Lewis, before being scanned in with layouts drawn digitally on top.[3]
Music[]
| ( ‣ ) Production music |
| ( • ) Original music |
| ( ◦ ) SpongeBob music |
• Festive Hawaiian Luau - Nicolas Carr, Fabian Fernandez, Jeremy Wakefield [Title card.]
◦ By the Goo - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Kaz [The opening.]
• By the Goo Instrumental - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton [Instrumental to "By the Goo."]
• ? - Nicolas Carr [SpongeBob smiles.]
‣ Allons A Tahiti - Lionel Wendling, Lisa Doby [SpongeBob lays out his towel.]
• ? - Nicolas Carr [Beachgoers running.]
‣ Allons A Tahiti - Lionel Wendling, Lisa Doby [SpongeBob throws away trash.]
• Porous Pursuit - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob chases the wrapper.]
• ? - Nicolas Carr [Fruit hat dance.]
• Porous Pursuit - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob continues chasing.]
• Lap Steel-spce_01 - Nicolas Carr ["200 whoopsies later..."]
• Porous Pursuit - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob catches the wrapper.]
‣ Disastrous Event 2 - Harry Lubin [Trash covering the beach.]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 32B - Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob talks to the wrapper.]
‣ Hall Of Fame [#79] - Harry Bluestone, Emil Cadkin [SpongeBob's heroic voice.]
• ? - Nicolas Carr [Transition to next scene.]
◦ Trash Song - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield, Kaz [SpongeBob sings this.]
• Trash Song Instrumental Demo Mix 1 - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Instrumental to "Trash Song."]
• Rip Tide - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Plankton gets picked.]
• Vibe Q Sting - Nicolas Carr [SpongeBob thinks.]
• Thats It ! - Nicolas Carr ["Ooh, I know!"]
‣ A Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight - Theo A Metz, Jack Emblow [SpongeBob vacuums the sand.]
• The Garbage Patrol - Nicolas Carr [SpongeBob spots Bubble Bass.]
‣ Salute To Caesar 2 [#20.02] - Gregor F. Narholz ["Friends, yeomen, countryfish! Lend me your litter!"]
• Slide Whistle Stooges No Whistle - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Bubble Bass flees.]
• ? - Nicolas Carr [Cop fish in love.]
• Slide Whistle Stooges No Whistle - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob crashes.]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 35 - Jeremy Wakefield ["I'm sorry, Slappy!"]
‣ Haunted House - Holley Gray [The Home Of Happy] [Nosferatu burns.]
‣ Evil Pumpkin - Joshua Gallanagh-Edwards, Alistair Hetherington [The Home Of Happy] [Slappy leaves.]
• Blazing Baloney Western - Nicolas Carr [SpongeBob spots a crumpled ball.]
• High Noon at the Softy Spittoon - Nicolas Carr ["I thought I cleaned up this town."]
• ? - Nicolas Carr [Whacking windmill style.]
‣ A Hunting We Will Go - John Fox [SpongeBob digs a hole.]
‣ Sports Session - Roger Barsotti [SpongeBob kicking the hole.]
‣ Five Dual Bridges - Sad-Gay 5 - Remastered - Bruce Campbell [SpongeBob laments.]
‣ Goodbye Rodney - Peter Winslow [SpongeBob cries.]
‣ Hall Of Fame [#79] - Harry Bluestone, Emil Cadkin [SpongeBob catches the crumpled ball.]
‣ Comedy Punctuations And Bridges 3 - Fredric Bayco [Crumpled ball escapes.]
‣ Robots And Mechanoid - Raymond Jones ["I am a mean, clean, trash machine."]
‣ Secret Army - Leopold Zeitlberger [SpongeBob corners the crumpled ball.]
‣ Comedy Chase Sequence - Remastered - Paul Williams ["Leapin' litter!"]
‣ The Fugitive - Ronald Hanmer [Plankton controlling the ball.]
• ? - Nicolas Carr ["Come to papa, TrashPants."]
• ? - Nicolas Carr [SpongeBob pursuing the ball/Ball runs out of gas.]
• Festive Hawaiian Luau - Nicolas Carr, Fabian Fernandez, Jeremy Wakefield ["Litterbugs!"]
• Don't Breathe the Water - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [The ending.]
Release[]
- This episode alongside "The Haunted Bucket," "Go Fetch!," "Laundro-Madness," "Hog Huntin'," and "Krusty Kafeteria" premiered as part of the 2025 Halloween event "Shocktober."
Trivia[]
General[]
- This episode's premise is similar to that of season 7's "Keep Bikini Bottom Beautiful" and season 11's "Sanitation Insanity," as all three episodes involve the main character(s) picking up trash.
- Unlike those episodes, Squidward does not appear.
- This episode was originally set to premiere with its sister episode on October 17, 2025 before the latter episode was pulled, and both episodes were rescheduled for October 24.
- The opening credits from this episode are the same from season 15's "Firehouse Bob."
- The title card background is similar to those of "Jellyfish Hunter," "Chocolate with Nuts," and "Krabs à la Mode" albeit with trash around the text. Additionally, it seems to have been designed in the style of season 1 title cards.
- A WH20 radio boat tower appears, referencing the station of the same name from The Best Day Ever album. This is the first time that an album made for the franchise has been referenced in the show itself.
- Text on the station that reads "Nothin' but chase music since 2006!" referencing the release date of the album.
Episode references[]
- SpongeBob's uniform is nearly identical to his union soldier outfit from season 6's "Pineapple Fever," except in white and with a different, taller cap.
- The boat rental kiosk from season 13's "Abandon Twits" reappears, both when SpongeBob is chasing the airborne wrapper and during the ending.
- SpongeBob acquiring a deep, heroic voice and growing a large chin references a similar gag from season 1's "Hall Monitor."
- The hot rod dude from season 3's "Mid-Life Crustacean" appears, receiving a traffic ticket from a cop, which he then receives flowers and chocolate and gives it to the cop.
- Bubble Bass wears the same clothes he wore in season 1's "Fools in April."
- When Bubble Bass attempts to run away from SpongeBob on the boardwalk, Patrick can be briefly seen in the background, hanging from a prize hook at one of the game booths, referencing his attempt to hide from SpongeBob at the Bikini Bottom Fair in "The Whole Tooth."
- Several establishments from previous episodes reappear:
- Mattresses & Then Some from "The Lost Mattress."
- Martha's Craft Zone from "Have You Seen This Snail?"
- Weenie Hut, Pizza Piehole, and Taco Sombrero from "SpongeBob You're Fired."
- As SpongeBob flies into Slappy's carriage, the same sky tunnel that Mrs. Puff and SpongeBob flew through from "Doing Time" reappears.
- The title card is a reference to season 2's "Jellyfish Hunter" with the exception of trash around the title itself.
Cultural references[]
- The song "By the Goo" is a reference to the 1914 song "By the Beautiful Sea," composed by Harry Carroll and written by Harold Atteridge.
- The woman dancing with an assortment of fruits on her head references the late Brazilian actress, singer and dancer Carmen Miranda, who was famous for her signature fruit hat.
- SpongeBob's uniform resembles those worn by the "White Wings" sanitation workers of the New York City Department of Sanitation during the early twentieth century.
- SpongeBob's line "Friends, yeomen, country fish! Lend me your litter!" references the first line of a speech by Mark Antony in the 1599 play Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare: "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears."
- Slappy's outfit, as well as him driving a Victorian horse-drawn hearse is a reference to Peter Lorre in the 1963 horror comedy film, The Comedy of Terrors.
- Plankton saying "Well, this is another fine mess you've gotten us into!", followed by SpongeBob whimpering, references the Laurel and Hardy shorts, where Oliver Hardy would say the same thing to Stan Laurel.
Video[]
You watching a new SpongeBob, Up Next Patrick Star Show Spot - October 10, 2025 (Nickelodeon U.S.)