"Swimming Fools" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season 13. In this episode, SpongeBob builds a pool in his backyard and Squidward tries to resist taking a dip.
Characters[]
- Squidward Tentacles
- Squidward's face
- SpongeBob SquarePants
- Patrick Star
- SpongeBob's pool (as a part of Squidward's subconscious)
- Gary the Snail
- Guest #1 (single appearance)
- Lady Squidwards (single appearance)
- Squid whose look Kyle Morrison tried to base on John Lennon[3] (single appearance)
- Incidentals
Synopsis[]
Patrick dives into the pool.
The episode opens with Squidward floating face-down in a swimming pool. He narrates the events that led up to it: yesterday, he was relaxing in his backyard when SpongeBob distracted him with digging a hole in his backyard. SpongeBob explains that he is making a pool and invites Squidward to join when it is finished. Squidward refuses and goes back to relaxation, only to see SpongeBob finish his pool a few seconds later, with it coming out impressive and well-built. Squidward is overcome by jealousy as SpongeBob and Patrick begin playing in the pool.
Squidward tries to distract himself with painting, but paints a pool shaped like his head instead. His air conditioner breaks, leaving him sweating heavily from the heat. That night, he hallucinates the pool beckoning to him and decides to sneak out and swim. After a brief encounter with Gary, he realizes that SpongeBob is preparing to go to bed, leaving him to swim in peace. He climbs onto a pool float and goes into a dream of him playing the clarinet for a crowd of party guests. When he awakes, it is morning, and he realizes he spent all night in the pool.
Patrick uses Squidward as a pool toy.
When SpongeBob and Patrick run out to use the pool, Squidward tries to hide. He goes into the pool shed and disguises himself as a pool toy. Patrick mistakes him for one and inflates him, as he and SpongeBob play in the pool. Finally having enough, Squidward comes untied and sadly admits to SpongeBob that he is jealous of the pool. SpongeBob reminds him that he is welcome and offers him a jump off the diving board. As Squidward is caught in his pool party fantasy, SpongeBob and Patrick turn up the adjustable diving board. This leaves Squidward in outer space, and he shouts that it is too high. As he clings to the underside of the board, Patrick pulls the lever out and sends the board falling. Squidward slams into the surface of the water as SpongeBob and Patrick compliment his dive. Squidward's body then falls apart and his head is sucked into the pool filter.
Production[]
This episode's track recording script was completed on November 21, 2022.[1]
This episode was confirmed on January 13, 2023.[4]
Art[]
Background design[]
Storyboards[]
- Plussed by Jeff Shea[6] and Kyle Morrison.[7]
Script[]
- Posted by Vincent Waller.[1]
Music[]
| ( ‣ ) Production music |
| ( • ) Original music |
| ( ◦ ) SpongeBob music |
• Clownfish Capers - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Title card.]
‣ Peril Unseen - Cecil Milner [Opening.]
• Sophisticated Conversation - Nicolas Carr, Daniel Stimac [Flashback to Squidward lounging in his backyard.]
• Remember This - Nicolas Carr [Squidward gets a mouthful of dirt.]
• Sorry No Pets Allowed - Nicolas Carr [Squidward coughs the dirt out of his mouth.]
• Sophisticated Conversation - Nicolas Carr, Daniel Stimac [SpongeBob tells Squidward that he's putting in a pool.]
• Solo Steel and Vibes 1 - Nicolas Carr, Jeremy Wakefield [Squidward sees the completed pool.]
• Hey Sucker - Nicolas Carr ["Why does he get to have a pool?!"]
• Rip Tide - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob and Patrick playing in the pool.]
• Nude Sting - Nicolas Carr [Squidward's air conditioning unit malfunctions.]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 8B - Jeremy Wakefield ["Whew, it's a little hot."]
• Humorous Conversation Full Mix - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [Patrick leaves SpongeBob's house for the night.]
‣ House Of Horror [#10.4] - W. Merrick Farran [Squidward hears the pool calling to him.]
• Bad Performance 2.1.1 - Nicolas Carr [Squidward falls out of his window.]
• Mission Improbable - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [Squidward sneaking around the pool.]
• Smashing Entrance - Nicolas Carr [Squidward sees Gary staring angrily at him.]
• Hawaiian Solo Steel - Jeremy Wakefield [Squidward paddles into a pool float.]
• Squidwards Pool Party - Nicolas Carr [Squidward dreams about having a pool party.]
• Squidwards Pool Party Clarinet - James King [Squidward plays the clarinet for his pool party guests.]
• Pool Party Plunge - Nicolas Carr [Squidward falls off the pool float.]
‣ Paroxysms j - Trevor Duncan [Squidward hears SpongeBob and Patrick walking towards the pool.]
• 12th St Rag Slo - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Patrick thinks Squidward is a pool float.]
• Clownfish Capers - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob and Patrick play with Squidward as a pool float.]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 31B - Jeremy Wakefield ["That's the greatest magic trick I've ever seen!"]
• Saltwaterworks - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Squidward confesses to SpongeBob.]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 13D - Jeremy Wakefield ["How'd you like to take a divey-wivey on the boardy-woardy?"]
• Carrol Chimes - Nicolas Carr ["Huh?"]
• Squidwards Pool Party - Nicolas Carr [Squidward climbs SpongeBob's diving board as Patrick raises it.]
‣ Five Dramatic Bridges B - Remastered - Kurt Rehfeld [Squidward notices that the diving board is in space.]
• Slide Whistle Stooges No Whistle - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Squidward hurtling towards Earth on the diving board.]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 31C - Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob and Patrick give Squidward a score.]
‣ Peril Unseen - Cecil Milner [Squidward floating motionless in the pool.]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 7F - Jeremy Wakefield [Ending.]
Release[]
- This episode is available on the SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 23, The Complete Thirteenth Season, Another 100 Episodes, and The Best 300 Episodes Ever DVDs.
Trivia[]
General[]
- This episode was originally scheduled to premiere on the same day at 1:00 PM, but it was moved to 5:00 PM.
- The original 1:00 PM slot on that day was replaced with the premiere of The Smurfs episodes "Wanna Bet?" and "Gargamel, Queen of the Prom."[8]
- This episode initially had the packaging code of 291b, but was later switched around with "The Goobfather," likely due to being completed first.[4]
- Vincent Waller said that the crew had to "move some episodes around to make room for an extended episode and a short," so this episode may have been one of them.[9]
- This episode was paired up with a rerun of "Gary's Playhouse" during the original airing.[8]
- This episode's title is a spoof of the words "swimming pools."
SpongeBob SquarePants Kraft Macaroni and Cheese Commercials
The Kraft SpongeBob SquarePants Macaroni and Cheese commercial.
- The plot of this episode is the opposite of the plot for a Kraft SpongeBob SquarePants Macaroni and Cheese commercial short where Squidward has a front-yard pool that SpongeBob dives into.
- This and its sister episode both end with Squidward saying, "Typical."
- The word "pool" is said a total of 37 times throughout the episode.
- This is the last episode where Ian Vazquez is credited as a storyboard supervisor in the opening credits.
- Starting with "Big Top Flop," Vazquez is now promoted to the supervising director role, which is just a different name for that position.
- This is the only episode so far where the animation director is credited alongside the writer and the storyboard director.
Episode references[]
- The angle of Squidward's POV when jumping down the diving board is the same as when SpongeBob couldn't get off the Krusty Krab roof in "Stuck on the Roof."
Cultural references[]
- The opening of this episode, with Squidward laying face-down in a swimming pool and narrating how he ended up there, is a homage to the 1950 film, Sunset Boulevard.
The John Lennon squid.
- One of the guests at SpongeBob's pool is meant to be a squid caricature of John Lennon. Storyboard artist Kyle Morrison drew this in, believing that it "just ended up looking like [themself] with these colors." According to people who know them, Lennon is their celebrity look-alike. They labeled it as a possible "unofficial artist cameo."[3]
- In Squidward's fantasy sequence, two mermaids kiss his cheeks. One of them looks similar to Ariel from the 1989 Walt Disney Pictures animated film, The Little Mermaid.
Errors[]
The pet door is missing.
- SpongeBob's back door has a pet door on it throughout the episode. However, it disappears when Patrick jumps off the diving board during his first cannonball.
Squidward's house's window is square-shaped.
- In this episode during a few shots, one of Squidward's house's windows are square-shaped while the other is circle-shaped, even though they should both be circle-shaped.
Patrick's house's arrow is missing.
- When Squidward screams as he dives down with the diving board, the weather vane on top of Patrick's house is missing.
Video[]
Names in other languages[]
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| French | Carlo se jette à l'eau | Squidward Takes the Plunge |
| German | Thaddäus und der Pool | Squidward and the Pool |
| Russian | Недотёпы в бассейне Nedotyopy v basseyne |
Duffers in Pool |
References[]
- ^ a b c Vincent Waller on Twitter - "That was Mr.Lawrence..."
- ^ a b Sterling Richter on Twitter - "BG designs I produced..."
- ^ a b Kyle Morrison on Twitter - "Special nod to this squid..."
- ^ a b SpongeBob SquarePants - LeakDB
- ^ Amy Lewis on Twitter - "Couple more SpongeBob background..."
- ^ Jeff Shea on Twitter - "SWIMMING FOOLS..."
- ^ Kyle Morrison on Twitter - "Swimming Fools" Supercut..."
- ^ a b Nickstory - August 8, 2023
- ^ Vincent Waller on Twitter - "On that subject…"