Squeaky Boots

If you were looking for the article about the boots, then see Squeaky boots (item).

Template:Episode/8b This was the second episode produced for season 1 (production code #102).

Characters

Note: In production order, this is the first episode to include the background fish characters.

• Eugene H. Krabs
• Pearl Krabs ^(debut)
• SpongeBob SquarePants
• Squidward Tentacles
• Gary the Snail ^(cameo)
• Bikini Bottomites
  • Incidental 1 (Fred)
  • Incidental 2
  • Incidental 3
  • Incidental 4
  • Incidental 5
  • Incidental 6
  • Incidental 7
  • Incidental 8
  • Incidental 9
  • Incidental 10
  • Incidental 11
  • Incidental 18
  • Pearl's blue friend

Synopsis

On Pearl's birthday, Mr. Krabs attempts to cheaply entertain her party guests. When this does not receive a warm reception, he moves on to presenting Pearl with his present. She opens the package, eagerly hoping for a pair of the popular flipper slippers all her friends wear. What she finds instead is a pair of rubber fishing boots, a real bargain for Mr. Krabs but a mortifying gift for her.

SpongeBob in the titular boots

Left stuck with a two-dollar pair of boots, Mr. Krabs wonders what he can do with them. SpongeBob arrives to ask for his paycheck, and Mr. Krabs decides to play up the value of the boots, telling SpongeBob they are meant only for the world's greatest fry cook. SpongeBob longs to wear such a pair, but Mr. Krabs denies his request until SpongeBob offers up his paycheck in exchange.

SpongeBob takes to the squeaky new boots immediately, much to the annoyance of Squidward. To Mr. Krabs' ears, the boots merely make the sound of money. That night, Mr. Krabs begins to dream about the cash lining his register, but the sounds of squeaking invade his slumber. He wakes to realize it's his window making the sound, but as he goes to close it, he steps into a knothole, breaks his leg literally in two and falls outside.

Limping back upstairs, he finally closes the window and returns to sleep, but the window opens once more. Repeated attempts eventually yield success, but he breaks his other leg on the way back to his hammock and becomes entangled in it, just as the window resumes squeaking open and closed.

"I...uhh, I see you're still wearing them boots."

Trudging to work on bandaged legs, the tired Mr. Krabs looks forward to at least having a successful business day. He arrives to find Squidward leaving for vacation in a huff. Mr. Krabs cannot understand what could be wrong when business is booming, but it soon becomes clear as SpongeBob comes squeaking into view. Enthusiastic as ever about wearing the boots of the world's greatest fry cook, SpongeBob demonstrates how he hopes to live up to the title, performing various feats and squeaking all the while. Mr. Krabs grows ever more weak and weary, retreating to his office for peace. The sounds permeate inside, however, and he decides he must get rid of the boots once and for all.

"I didn't write that!"

Sneaking into SpongeBob's house under cover of darkness, Mr. Krabs slips off the boots from the sleeping SpongeBob's feet and brings them back to the Krusty Krab to hide. The next morning, Mr. Krabs is sitting peacefully with his dollar bills when a sobbing SpongeBob enters, apologizing for losing the precious boots, and admitted his belief of his fault. Mr. Krabs attempts to console him with "magic oven mitts," but they do nothing to heal SpongeBob's pain. Unsure of what else to do, Mr. Krabs takes a customer's order. However, the order comes out as a series of squeaks. Horrified, Mr. Krabs soon hears everyone and everything making the dreaded sound.

"I took the boots!"

Driven to madness, Mr. Krabs confesses that he hid the boots underneath the restaurant's floorboards. He pulls the boots out, takes them to the kitchen and dips them into the fryer before devouring the shriveled footwear. Satisfied, he tells the mystified SpongeBob that he doesn't need special boots to be a great fry cook as he already is one, and so gives SpongeBob his long-overdue paycheck, stopping short of giving him an extra bonus. Mr. Krabs then heads off on a week-long vacation with Pearl, having finally bought her a pair of Flipper Slippers for the trip. Much to his dismay, a tell-tale squeak starts hiccuping from him as he drives and continues all the way down the road.

Production

Art

Music

( ‣ ) Production music

( • ) Original music

( ◦ ) SpongeBob music

 ‣ What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor - Okko Bekker [Title card]
 ‣ Captain Lenoe's - Michael Arthur, Colin Cater, Mick Graves, The Folk Players, Sarah Graves, Simon Ritchie [The opening]
 ‣ Music Box [#35.01] - Judith Leonie Cann [Pearl unwraps her presents.]
 ‣ Sailor's Waltz - Heinz Matschurat [At the Krusty Krab]
 • Gator - Steve Belfer ["SpongeBoy-Me-Bob!"]
 ‣ What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor - Okko Bekker [Mr. Krabs describes the boots.]
 ‣ The Tip Top Polka/The Cliff Polka - Chelmsford Folk Band [SpongeBob shows his new boots to Squidward.]
 ‣ Maui Beach - Hans Haider [Krabs dreaming with money/Krabs dreaming again with money]
 ‣ The Rake Hornpipe - Robert Alexander White [Squeaky window]
 ‣ Here's Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy (b) - Tim Laycock, Robert Alexander White [The next day]
 • SpongeBob Closing Theme - Steve Belfer, Nicolas Carr ["Could the greatest fry cook do that, Mr. Krabs?"]
 ‣ Shock (f) - Dave Hewson [Mr. Krabs screams.]
 ‣ Shark Alert [#47] - David Farnon [Mr. Krabs hides in his office.]
 ‣ Footsteps of Horror - W. Merrick Farran [Mr. Krabs sees SpongeBob asleep/Mr. Krabs climbs down the ladder/Mr. Krabs takes the boots while SpongeBob's asleep.]
 ‣ Hawaiian Cocktail - Richard Myhill [SpongeBob apologizes to Mr. Krabs.]
 ‣ Orchestral Effect (f) - Dick Stephen Walter [Magic oven mitts]
 ‣ Botany Bay (b) - Robert Alexander White ["They're not the same!"]
 ‣ Killer Birds - Gregor F. Narholz [Mr. Krabs hears squeaking.]
 ‣ Muscovite Rebellion - David Arnold, Paul Hart [Mr. Krabs goes crazy.]
 ‣ Killer Birds - Gregor F. Narholz ["Oh, please, make it stop!"]
 ‣ Death Trap [#26] - Gregor F. Narholz [Mr. Krabs eats the boots.]
 ‣ The Twin Sisters - Chelmsford Folk Band [SpongeBob did not need the boots after all.]
 • Cream Pie - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [The ending]

Release

• This episode is available on the Christmas, Complete 1st Season, Nick For the Holidays!, Hall Monitor, First 100 Episodes, SpongeBob SquarePants, iSponge Offer Pack, Holidays with SpongeBob 3-DVD Gift Set, SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 1, The Complete First Season, From the Beginning, Pt.1, The First & Second Seasons, Movies & TV Collection, and The Best 200 Episodes Ever DVDs along with Nicktoons Collection Volume 3 on GBA Video.

Trivia

General

Stephen Hillenburg's original sketch from 1996.

• This episode was the second episode produced for season 1 and the third overall (after "Help Wanted" and "Tea at the Treedome"). Its production code is 102.
  • The episode was one of the first ideas that Stephen Hillenburg had for the series, and he outlined its plot in his original 1996 pitch bible. The pitch bible also included a sketch, drawn by Hillenburg, of SpongeBob wearing the squeaky boots.
  • As a result of being the second episode made for the season, the first incidental characters were made specifically for this episode. On the incidental character model sheet, the first row of characters (incidentals 1-11) were all first designed for this episode, and they are at the top of the sheet because this episode's production predates every other episode where incidental characters appear.
• This episode marks Pearl's debut. In production order, she is the seventh main character to debut, followed by Mrs. Puff, Plankton, and Karen. In the airing order, she is the last one to debut.
• Mr. Krabs shouts out "SpongeBoy, me Bob!" when SpongeBob first walks into his office. "SpongeBoy" was his original name, until Nickelodeon found out it was already in use by a mop company.
• The scene where Mr. Krabs eats the boots and says, "The deed is done" has become a popular internet meme.

• 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 Mr. Krabs dropped the boots in the French fry oil. It obviously smelled like French fries. Also, the symbol that signaled one to sniff at the bottom right part of the screen was filmed, and it was not edited over until late 2002, almost three years after the scratch-and-sniff card packs were put out of circulation.
• There is an online game based on this episode called Squeaky Boot Blurbs.
• This episode marks the first appearance of Mr. Krabs and Pearl's house.
• This is the first episode to be centered around clothing.
• This is the first episode where Mr. Krabs pays SpongeBob.
• This is the first episode to be focused on Mr. Krabs.
• This is the first episode to use the APM track "Footsteps of Horror."
• This is the second episode to use CG effects, this being in Mr. Krabs' dream. The first is "Jellyfish Jam."
• This is one of seven episodes in which the 1986 Paramount logo is plastered with the 2002 Paramount logo. The others are "Help Wanted," "F.U.N.," "Squidward the Unfriendly Ghost," "Employee of the Month," "Karate Choppers," and "Rock Bottom."
• In the Croatian dub, the episode title is "Čizme Koje Skviče," which translates to "Boots That Squeak."
• In the Azerbaijani voiceover, the episode title is "Cırıldayan çəkmələr," which translates to "Crazy Boots."

Cultural references

• This episode takes many cues from Edgar Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart, the story of a man who commits a heinous crime and whose guilt and paranoia eventually drives him to confess. Mr. Krabs directly references "the beating of the hideous heart" when he mentions, "the squeaking of the hideous boots," and likewise motions to the floorboards to reveal his crime.

Errors

• When Mr. Krabs lets Pearl open her presents, the cake on the table disappears.
• When SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs walk closer to the boots, SpongeBob's eyes turn yellow.
• When SpongeBob says, "I'm ready! I'm ready! I want those boots!" his upper legs are colored white like his socks.
• After Mr. Krabs breaks his other leg, his broken legs disappear from the holes he stepped on.

The Krusty Krab floorboards painted brown

• When Mr. Krabs tears off the Krusty Krab, the ground floor is not painted green. He also ends up on the left side of the Krusty Krab, even though he was on the right side less than five seconds before.

Running gags

• The boots going into the cash register in Mr. Krabs' dream.
• Mr. Krabs hearing the boots squeaking.