"Student Driver Survivor" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season 15. In this episode, when a competitor threatens to shut down Mrs. Puff's driving school, she must rely on SpongeBob to stay in business.
Characters[]
- SpongeBob SquarePants
- Mrs. Puff
- Patrick Star
- Gary the Snail
- Incidentals
- Incidental 7
- Incidental 31
- Incidental 33
- Tuck Tucker (purple)
- Scooter (Inc 37B)
- Scooter
- Harold
- Harris
- Old Man Walker (pictured)
- Mary (pictured)
- Lenny
- Incidental 118 (alternate colors)
- Incidental 118A (alternate colors)
- Officer Nancy
- Incidental 118D
- Incidental 150
- Billy (Prehibernation Week)
- Incidental 174
- Teen 7
- Teen 8
- Teen 9
- Teen 15
- Doctor 2 (Code Yellow) (as a disguise)
- Acceleration T. Greenlight (single appearance)
- Teen 15's boyfriend
- Cindy
- Nurse
- Shelley (cameo)
- King Neptune (as statue)
- Carlos Eel (pictured)
- Policeman 2
- Cop (alternate colors)
Synopsis[]
Acceleration T. Greenlight introduces himself.
At Mrs. Puff's Boating School, SpongeBob is giving a re-enactment of the trouble he had on his last driving test, piloting his desk around class and causing damage. Another instructor named Acceleration T. Greenlight makes his introduction after claiming to be a new student, promising that he will give a driver's license to anyone who can drive around the block, and at half the cost of Mrs. Puff's school. Mrs. Puff tries to keep her students, but they all head to Greenlight Driving School, with the exception of SpongeBob.
SpongeBob takes his test and fails. Across the street, Greenlight is passing every student, even those who cannot drive well. Mrs. Puff kicks her mailbox in frustration and sees a bunch of overdue bills, and worries that she cannot stay in business by only teaching SpongeBob once a week. To compensate, she begins charging him for lessons every day, stopping him on his way to work. Their lesson goes badly once again, and SpongeBob points out Greenlight, who is now passing even blind students without testing them. SpongeBob pledges his loyalty to Mrs. Puff, but ends up accelerating and crashing into a fountain.
Exhausted, SpongeBob is ready to go to bed, but Mrs. Puff wants to give him an extra lesson on night driving. She plays loud music and gives him coffee to help him stay awake, but he steers badly and into a fog bank. They return to SpongeBob's house in the morning, where SpongeBob is extremely tired.
Mrs. Puff appears while SpongeBob is ice skating.
SpongeBob tries to have free time to himself, going ice skating and mountain hiking, but Mrs. Puff repeatedly shows up to give him more lessons. After a crash, SpongeBob winds up in the hospital, where Mrs. Puff is disguised as the doctor and wants him to have another lesson. But SpongeBob confesses he is out of money and cannot pay for more lessons, so Mrs. Puff heads to close her school, and sees the destruction SpongeBob has caused on her course. She then gets an idea.
Mrs. Puff decides to test Greenlight's offer to give any student a license in one lesson by making him drive with SpongeBob. SpongeBob accelerates in reverse, driving through the school and destroying it. He tries to show what Mrs. Puff has taught him by driving through the mountains and into a fog bank, to Greenlight's horror. They drive to the police station, where a policeman reveals that Greenlight is actually a criminal wanted for selling phony driver's licenses. Greenlight is arrested and the next day, Mrs. Puff happily lets SpongeBob recap his "lesson" with Greenlight.
Production[]
On April 4, 2024, Sherm Cohen hinted on Twitter that Scooter would return in a future episode. He would be referring to this episode, which was likely in development at that time.[2]
This episode was confirmed by Cartoonlounge.de on July 29, 2024.[3]
Art[]
Background design[]
- Layouts by Rebekie Bennington and George Nachev, traditionally painted by Amy Lewis in gouache. Scanned in with lines drawn digitally on top.[4][5]
Storyboards[]
- Directed by Sherm Cohen, storyboarded by Zeus Cervas, and plussed by Tobias Krebs.[6]
Music[]
| ( ‣ ) Production music |
| ( • ) Original music |
| ( ◦ ) SpongeBob music |
‣ Horlepiep - Jan Rap [Title card.]
‣ Bucaneers 4 [#11] - Harry Bluestone, Emil Cadkin [Opening.]
‣ The Achterhoek Dances - Jan Rap ["Thank you, SpongeBob..."]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 30A - Jeremy Wakefield ["Wall came out of nowhere."]
‣ The Achterhoek Dances - Jan Rap ["Settle down, class."]
‣ Silly Season A - David Bell, Otto Sieben [Acceleration T. Greenlight appears.]
• B.B.P.D. Suspense MIX - Nicolas Carr [Mrs. Puff's weapons.]
‣ Silly Season A - David Bell, Otto Sieben [Greenlight Driving School.]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 6B - Jeremy Wakefield ["I can't believe everyone left me."]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 6D - Jeremy Wakefield ["SpongeBob. I might've known."]
‣ Comic Walk - Sidney Torch [SpongeBob takes his driving lesson.]
• Tension Bits - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Mrs. Puff reading bills.]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 7A - Jeremy Wakefield [Mrs. Puff rips her hair out.]
• Slide Whistle Stooges 2 No Whistle - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob's next lesson.]
• Spongemonger - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob driving erratically.]
‣ Silly Season A - David Bell, Otto Sieben [Acceleration giving out licenses.]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 10F - Jeremy Wakefield ["Don't worry, Mrs. Puff."]
• Spongemonger - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob continues driving.]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 4B - Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob gets into bed.]
‣ The Achterhoek Dances - Jan Rap ["SpongeBob, time for your next lesson!"]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 11E - Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob walking tiredly.]
‣ Fight for Ol' Schaefer U. - Will Schaefer [Music on the radio.]
• Hooka - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob drives back home.]
‣ Interlude For Organ - Andrew Fenner [SpongeBob ice skating.]
• Ripped Hide - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield ["Today's lesson: ice driving!"]
• Lap Steel-spce_01 - Nicolas Carr [Boat falls through the ice.]
‣ Full Of Beans - Robert Schreier [SpongeBob hiking.]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 31A - Jeremy Wakefield [Mrs. Puff appears.]
• Greenhorn Rag 2 - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Mountain driving.]
• ? - Nicolas Carr [Transition to next scene.]
• Soapy Organ - Hiram Titus [SpongeBob at the hospital.]
• Skipping to School - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Mrs. Puff disguised as a doctor.]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 35 - Jeremy Wakefield ["But, Mrs. Puff, I'm totally broke."]
• Koa Constrictor 2 Instrumental Intro - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Mrs. Puff's Boating School out of business.]
• Credit Card Heaven 2 - Nicolas Carr [Mrs. Puff gets an idea.]
• SpongeBob Comic Tag 4 - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield ["I can't believe I've been going about this all wrong!"]
‣ A Cute Angle 59 - John Fiddy [Mrs. Puff challenges Acceleration.]
• Hawaiian Misadventures B - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob driving erratically with Acceleration.]
• B.B.P.D. Suspense Mix - Nicolas Carr [Acceleration arrested.]
• New Vibe Hits - Nicolas Carr ["I wonder who he meant by that."]
‣ Horlepiep - Jan Rap [Ending.]
Trivia[]
General[]
- This is the last episode to use the opening credits style from season 13.
- This is the first episode to credit the special guest in the opening credits since "Sandy's Country Christmas."
- The title card is extremely similar to a frame from this episode's sister when Mr. Krabs' brake is taken out.
- This is the first episode to feature Carlos Alazraqui as the voice of Scooter since "Party Pooper Pants" in season 3.
Episode references[]
- Scooter's new license says that he lives at the address 1434 Goo Lagoon. "1434" references the episode's production code (325-1434), and the fact that he lives at Goo Lagoon appears to callback to how he was usually portrayed as a beach dude who often hung around the area, with some of his more famous appearances being in "Ripped Pants" and "Bubble Buddy" at the beach.
- Mary's driver's license states that her full name is "Lazy Mary," referencing "Chocolate with Nuts," and that she lives at "87 Sirena Street," referencing her incidental number (87) and her voice actor Sirena Irwin.
- Old Man Walker's license shows that his address starts with 083, referencing his incidental number, 83.
- However, in "We ♥ Hoops," his address to his house is 17 Main St, Bikini Bottom 10776.
- The eel's driver's license lists his full name as "Carlos Eel." This is a reference to his voice actor, Carlos Alazraqui. He is said to live at 2515 133rd Street, referencing the production code of "Walking Small," the first episode he appeared in.
Cultural references[]
- Acceleration saying "And I would have gotten away with it, too. If it wasn't for the worst driver in all the oceans!" is a reference to every villain that was said from the Scooby-Doo franchise, "And I would have gotten away with it, too. If it weren't for you meddling kids!"
Errors[]
Incidental 40's missing eyebrows.
- When SpongeBob drives through the students' desks at the ending, Incidental 40's eyebrows are missing.
- This error also occurs in "License to Milkshake," "Pat Hearts Squid," "Allergy Attack!," and "Pet the Rock."
- In the premiere of the episode, despite it being a new episode, it doesn't have the "ALL NEW" screenbug.
Names in other languages[]
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Italian | Scuola di guida e sopravvivenza | School of Driving and Survival |
References[]
- ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20241123174038/https://epgs.vimn.com/spongebob_pop_up/xmltvlegal/ita/20241110.xml
- ^ https://x.com/ShermCohen/status/1775817064227487895
- ^ Student Driver Suvivor - Episode 310b (SpongeBob SquarePants) - Cartoonlounge
- ^ Amy Lewis on Twitter - "A few more background paintings..."
- ^ Amy Lewis on Twitter - "WIP paints"
- ^ Tobias Krebs on Twitter - "Some storyboards to final animation..."