The Bully

The Bully
General
Season №:	3
Episode №:	43b
Airdate:	October 5, 2001 December 28, 2001 November 29, 2004 See more... March 11, 2003 September 3, 2003 October 9, 2004 January 16, 2011 July 6, 2019 U.S. premiere time (ET): 8:00 pm Copyright year: 2001 U.S. viewers (millions): 2.92 Running time: 11 minutes Sister episode(s): "Just One Bite"
U.S. premiere time (ET):	8:00 pm
Copyright year:	2001
U.S. viewers (millions):	2.92
Running time:	11 minutes
Sister episode(s):	"Just One Bite"
Credits
Writer(s):	Aaron Springer C.H. Greenblatt Merriwether Williams
Storyboard Artist(s):	C.H. Greenblatt
Storyboard:	Aaron Springer
Animation:	Frank Weiss
Creative:	Derek Drymon
Chronology
Previous	"Just One Bite"
Next	"Nasty Patty"

"The Bully" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season 3. In this episode, Flats the Flounder joins SpongeBob's boating class.

Characters

• Incidental 41
• Incidental 45
• Incidental 93
• Incidental 20
• Incidental 31
• Incidental 49
• Incidental 7
• SpongeBob SquarePants
• Mrs. Puff
• Flats the Flounder ^{(name revealed)}
• Whale ^(mentioned)
• Incidental 37B
• Patrick Star
• Mario ^(mentioned)
• Incidental 42
• Incidental 107
• Flats' Dad ^(debut)
• Incidental 65
• Incidental 60
• Incidental 73
• Incidental 13
• Fred
• Incidental 9
• restaurant anchovy
• Archie
• Incidental 4
• Incidental 23 ^(purple)
• Incidental 27
• Incidental 40
• Incidental 85
• Dr. Gill Gilliam
• Gary the Snail
• Jellyfish
• King Neptune ^(mentioned)

Synopsis

SpongeBob is at boating school, and Mrs. Puff announces a new student will be joining the class. His name is Flats the Flounder, and he tells SpongeBob that he is going to "kick his butt." SpongeBob at first assumes him to be joking, but Flats soon makes it clear that he really means to beat up SpongeBob. An extremely paranoid SpongeBob tries to seek help and to reason with Flats, but to no avail.

SpongeBob asks Patrick for help, only to learn that he and Flats were buddies back in community college. He then tries to go to Mrs. Puff to help, who talks to Flats and explains to SpongeBob that "kicking his butt" means that Flats wants to become his friend, which is obviously not true. He then encounters Flats' dad in a boat and confronts him about his son's actions, only for the latter to go up to his father and threaten him as well. SpongeBob panics and sprints away.

He eventually runs away into town, where Flats attempts to run him over with a garbage truck, while he eventually drives over a banana peel SpongeBob drops, causing it to flip over. Flats awakens in the hospital, where he learns that SpongeBob saved his life by performing CPR on him for five hours straight.

Despite this, Flats continues to pursue SpongeBob; when SpongeBob runs through town, some people kick an old man's butt who they think is going to kick SpongeBob's butt. The old man was by a bus stop and Harold asks how many times they have to teach him this lesson. Eventually, he corners SpongeBob in his own home, where he proceeds to beat him up.

However, due to SpongeBob's spongy body, he absorbs the blows without harm. Flats continues to hit SpongeBob nonstop throughout all of next week, until he finally faints from exhaustion; his classmates cheer for SpongeBob. However, pitying Flats, SpongeBob starts a speech about how violence leads to nowhere, which ends with him making a fist. Mrs. Puff enters and sees Flats unconscious and SpongeBob making a fist, and believes SpongeBob beat up Flats. The episode ends with Mrs. Puff shouting "I'm going to kick your butt!" to SpongeBob.

Production

Storyboards

Music

( ‣ ) Production music

( • ) Original music

( ◦ ) SpongeBob music

 ‣ Marching to Honolulu - Kapono Beamer [Title card.]
 ‣ Hello Sailor (b) - Richard Myhill [Opening at Boating School.]
 ‣ Dangerous B - Mladen Franko [Flats the Flounder introduced.]
 ‣ Wooden Bear - Gil Flat, Tony Tape, Florian Voelxen [Flats says he's gonna kick SpongeBob's butt.]
 ‣ Horror Chords (b) - Paddy Kingsland [Flats rips off chest hair.]
 ‣ Wooden Bear - Gil Flat, Tony Tape, Florian Voelxen [Flats draws himself beating up SpongeBob.]
 ‣ Dramatic Cue (b) - Ronald Hanmer [SpongeBob hides in the bathroom.]
 ‣ Unease - Dick Stephen Walter ["I just don't understand."]
 ‣ Dramatic Climax - Mike Sunderland ["What am I gonna do?"]
 • Steel Sting - Jeremy Wakefield ["Oh, that's real nice."]
 ‣ Zelle 506 - Gerhard Trede [Flats enters.]
 ‣ Zelle 505 - Gerhard Trede [SpongeBob talks to Flats.]
 ‣ Funeral March - Frederic Chopin, R.A.F Music Library [Phone call.]
 ‣ Harp Ding - Nicolas Carr ["Patrick, is that you?"]
 ‣ Epic Struggle - Fredric Bayco [Flats at Patrick's house.]
 ‣ Danger Zone - Mike Sunderland [SpongeBob runs away from the phone.]
 • Steel Licks 3 - Jeremy Wakefield ["Come in, SpongeBob."]
 ‣ Romance and Rhapsody - Felton Rapley [SpongeBob talks to Mrs. Puff.]
 ‣ Dramatic Cue (d) - Ronald Hanmer ["You what?!"]
 ‣ Dramatic Cue (e) - Ronald Hanmer ["I got diarrhea!"]
 • Vibe Sting - Nicolas Carr [Flats' dad.]
 ‣ Unpreventable - Gregor F. Narholz ["Dad, what are you doing?"]
 ‣ Flight in Panic 1 - Gregor F. Narholz [SpongeBob running away.]
 ‣ Dramatic Cue (f) - Ronald Hanmer [SpongeBob hides in a garbage can.]
 ‣ Dramatic Encounter - Gregor F. Narholz [SpongeBob gasps.]
 ‣ Flight in Panic 1 - Gregor F. Narholz [Flats chasing SpongeBob.]
 ‣ Dramatic Stabs - John Fox [Banana peel.]
 ‣ Hawaiian Flower - Jon Jelmer [Flats in the hospital.]
 ‣ Flight in Panic 1 - Gregor F. Narholz [SpongeBob runs home/SpongeBob arrives home]
 ‣ Dramatic Encounter - Gregor F. Narholz [Flats getting ready to beat up SpongeBob.]
 ‣ Chief Taravana - Kapono Beamer [SpongeBob absorbing Flats' blows.]
 ‣ Whisper from the Past [#64] - Gregor F. Narholz ["Flats was the real victim here."]
 ‣ Tales from the Swamp (c) - Ron Goodwin [Mrs. Puff gasps.]
 • Steel Licks 9 - Jeremy Wakefield [Ending.]

Release

• This episode is available on the Tide and Seek, Complete 3rd Season, First 100 Episodes, SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 4, Complete Third Season, From the Beginning, Pt.1, The Third & Fourth Seasons, and The Best 200 Episodes Ever DVDs.
• This episode is also available on the Tide and Seek and Sponge-a-Rama VHS tapes.

Trivia

General

• This is Flats' third appearance on the show. His previous two were in "Sandy's Rocket" and "Texas." This is also his first speaking and major role.
• In this episode, it is shown that because he is a sponge, punches do not hurt SpongeBob. However, in numerous other episodes, SpongeBob is hurt by them.
• Flats is seen driving a dump truck, which makes the fact that he is in boating school seem illogical. However, it's possible that as Flats lacked a license, he was driving it illegally.
• When Patrick is talking to SpongeBob on the phone, he says Flats was his "community college buddy," revealing that Patrick went to college.

• The drawing Flats makes of himself beating up SpongeBob can be seen on Squidward's chalkboard in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie video game (PC version).
• When SpongeBob runs to the bathroom, there is a flyer that reads "Join the Glee Club" in the background.
• Charlie appears purple instead of blue, and wears green pants instead of red in this episode.
• This is the first episode to fully reveal the boating school hallways and bathrooms.
• Flats is voiced by Thomas F. Wilson, whose best-known role outside of SpongeBob is the similar bully character of Biff Tannen in the Back to the Future films.
• This episode was originally planned to be in the Best of the Baddies Marathon, but was replaced with its sister episode by mistake.
• The two lines "Hi there young people! Nice day today!," and "I love beating young people" became a popular meme.
• When Flats first walks into the classroom, it shows that the school leads outside. Later, SpongeBob is standing in a hallway, where the door would lead to.

"I think it goes stuck inside your-"

• Innuendo: Nancy Suzy Fish saying the pencil should go "stuck inside your–"
• In this episode and "New Student Starfish", the inside of the Boating School is a real school complete with hallways and a locker. In most of the series, it's a one-room school.
• When SpongeBob said "i got diarrhea" it became a popular internet meme and popular for YouTube Poop

Errors

• When Mrs. Puff enters the classroom for the first time, SpongeBob is behind the group of students. However, when the students clap for Flats when he first enters the class, SpongeBob is behind Nat Peterson, who covers him entirely.
• When Flats first walks into the classroom, it shows that the school leads outside. Later, SpongeBob is standing in a hallway, where the door would lead to.
• When SpongeBob crashes into Flats' dad's boat, there is only one seat. Later, Flats is shown in the car, too.
• When the garbage truck idles behind SpongeBob, it reads "Bikini Bottom Garbage." In the next scene, it is missing.
• When Flats makes a sand sculpture of SpongeBob and kicks it, the viewer can see that Mrs. Puff's mouth is not moving while she is heard talking.

SpongeBob's missing eyelashes

• SpongeBob's eyelashes are missing for a short amount of time while Mrs. Puff says "And maybe play some sports with you on weekends."
• At the beginning and end of the episode, Mrs. Puff walks directly into the classroom from the outside of the building. However, in the middle of the episode, her classroom is located within the building.

Running gags

• Twice during the episode, SpongeBob runs in fear from Flats and inadvertently points to an old fish when he says Flats is going to kick his butt. The citizens of Bikini Bottom, led by Harold, are angry at this, and try to beat up the old man.
• People mentioning butts.