"Under the Small Top" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from Season 13. In this episode, Squidward's house becomes infested with a mail-order flea circus meant for SpongeBob.
Contents
Characters
- SpongeBob SquarePants
- Squidward Tentacles
- Sea fleas
- Purple teen fish (blue-green)
- Boy fish (orange-yellow)
- Bummer Dude! action figures (debut)
- Sad Sponge action figure
- Incidental 154
- TV fitness instructor (debut)
- Incidental 12 (cameo on TV)
- Incidental 13 (cameo on TV)
- Incidental 48 (cameo on TV)
- Incidental 115 (cameo on TV)
Synopsis
The episode begins with circus of fleas performing in a circus. It was revealed that SpongeBob was watching it on his TV outside. A Bummer Dude commercial plays as the mailfish comes to SpongeBob to give him his mail. He was hoping that one of those would have the flea circus but none of it was the flea circus. Squidward is watching a fitness instructor on TV when the mailfish goes to his house to give him a package. Squidward gets the package and sees that it had SpongeBob's name on it. Squidwards throws the package away instead of giving it to SpongeBob. Right when he walks away, fleas start flying out of the box.
Squidward is oblivious to the fleas going around his house as he has headphones on and his eyes closed. He eventually notices the fleas and starts freaking out. He goes to sleep and then notices that a flea circus has been set up on his bed. He is angry and decides to take a look at the circus. The fleas start going after him and biting him. He falls down the stairs and into his living room. He looks in a mirror and sees that the fleas are making it look like he has hair, however they continue to bite him. They then hit him with a bag of flour and sprayed him with water which knocks him into his oven. He eventually jumps out of it.
SpongeBob is still waiting outside for his flea circus to arrive when he hears something coming from Squidward's house. He goes inside and realizes that his flea circus was delivered to Squidward by mistake.
SpongeBob brings all the fleas back to his house, but Squidward notices there was a whistle left behind. He blows it, and all the fleas come back to his house, attacking Squidward, and the episode ends.
Production
The episode was confirmed by Vincent Waller on December 28, 2020.[3]
Music
| ( ‣ ) Associated production music |
| ( • ) Original music |
| ( ◦ ) SpongeBob music |
• ? - Title card
‣ Charivari Clowns - Daniel Jean Jeannin [Circus sea fleas commercial on TV]
‣ Flash Harry - Dick Walter [Bummer dude action figures commercial on TV]
‣ March Of The Plotters (a) - Frank Thomas [Mailman gives SpongeBob stuff but no packages]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 3D - Jeremy Wakefield ["What makes you think I'm disappointed?"]
‣ Four More Comical Cuts - Ronald Hanmer [Sad sponge action figure commercial on TV]
• Chiho O's Disco - Nicolas Carr [Squidward trying to exercise following the leg movements on TV/"Feel the burn!"]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 30 - Jeremy Wakefield [Squidward opens his house's door to the mailman]
‣ Eccentric March - Peter Hope [Mailman gives Squidward a package]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 9C - Jeremy Wakefield ["Uh... He's right."]
‣ Guitar A Go Go - Stuart Crombie ["Hello, fashion school? I'm coming back! I'm reborn!"]
‣ Zoo Doings - Jack Shaindlin [Squidward notices the package is for SpongeBob and throws it into the trash can]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 19 - Jeremy Wakefield [Camera zooms to the trash can]
‣ Circus Life - Laurent Couson [Circus sea fleas come outside the package and hide at Squidward's house]
‣ Capering Clowns - Max Saunders [Squidward preparing his breakfast and notices his house items are in movement]
‣ Aloha - Dick Walter ["Calm down, Squidward. You're just seeing things because you're so tired."]
‣ Space Horizons - Wolf Helling [Circus sea fleas enter Squidward's bedroom and climb onto his bed]
‣ Entry Of The Gladiators - Eric Banks [Squidward sees the sea fleas acting in their circus]
‣ Clowns' Cavalcade - Dick Walter [Sea fleas take a whistle to their circus and blow it]
‣ Punctuations - Ralph Dollimore ["Lunch time!!"]
‣ Invasion - Oleksandr Rodin [Circus sea fleas start biting Squidward and make him run away]
‣ ? - [ProjectSAM Symphobia Colours: Animator] [Circus sea fleas form a beret on Squidward's head]
‣ ? - [ProjectSAM Symphobia Colours: Animator] ["Oh! Hmm... Not bad..."]
‣ Return Of The Keystone Cops - David Lindup [Squidward notices circus sea fleas biting his head]
‣ Tiptoe Quick Peek - [ProjectSAM Symphobia Colours: Animator] [Circus sea fleas form a beard on Squidward's chin]
‣ ? - [ProjectSAM Symphobia Colours: Animator] ["I look amazing."]
‣ ? - [ProjectSAM Symphobia Colours: Animator] ["Please, don't ruin this by biting my face."]
‣ Damsel In Distress - David Lindup [Circus sea fleas continue biting Squidward's chin and get him in the oven]
• Tension Bits - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield ["You're trying to cook me! Get me out of here...!!"]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 1A - Jeremy Wakefield [Squidward spits out the parsnip and gets out of the oven]
• Shop O Rama - Nicolas Carr, Fabian Fernandez [Squidward uses lemons and pepper as the ingredients to serve himself and gets back in the oven]
‣ Oh My Trill! - [ProjectSAM Symphobia Colours: Animator] ["Oh, let me out of here!"]
‣ Uh Oh Flutter-Eyed - [ProjectSAM Symphobia Colours: Animator] [Squidward runs out of the oven]
• Chiho O's Disco - Nicolas Carr [Squidward running hysterically around his house while circus sea fleas chase him]
• Humorous Conversation - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [SpongeBob still waiting for his package outside his house]
‣ Circus Clowns - Ronald Hanmer [SpongeBob hears circus music coming from Squidward's house]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 28 - Jeremy Wakefield [Squidward's face full of circus sea fleas' bites]
‣ Travelling Circus - Eric Jupp [SpongeBob sees circus sea fleas' package at Squidward's trash can]
• What's This - Nicolas Carr ["Hey, this box is empty. Where'd the fleas go?"]
‣ Danse Comique - Kenny Graham [SpongeBob discovers his circus sea fleas biting Squidward's body]
• ? - SpongeBob takes his circus sea fleas to his house
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 25B - Jeremy Wakefield ["Hm... Stupid circus fleas..."]
• ? Vibes - Nicolas Carr [Squidward sees a whistle in his bed]
• ? - Circus sea fleas go back to Squidward's house and start biting him again
Trivia
General
- This is Mike Dougherty's first episode as a storyboard director. He has previously been a storyboard artist and character designer.
- This is the second episode where Squidward's house becomes infested, with the first being "Jolly Lodgers."
- This and "Squidward's Sick Daze" are the first season 13 episodes to premiere in 2021. They are also the first episodes of 2021 not to be released on DVD.
- This is the second flea-focused SpongeBob SquarePants episode, with the first being "A Flea in Her Dome."
- At one part of the episode, Squidward breaks the fourth wall by talking to the viewers and saying "Why is this happening to me?"
- This is the third Nicktoon episode involving a flea circus, the first being The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius episode "Jimmy Goes to College," and the second being the Pig Goat Banana Cricket episode "The Ding-A-Ling Circus."
- This is the first episode since "Who R Zoo?" to premiere in the US without being leaked or aired in another country first.
- The title card is similar to the title card of "ChefBob," but the rocky background is replaced with a blue background.
- The blue background is similar to "The Clash of Triton."
- This is the third episode Squidward has his dancing outfit, the first two being "Slimy Dancing" and "I ♥ Dancing"
- However, his wristbands and headband in "I ♥ Dancing" are orange and in this episode and "Slimy Dancing", they're pink.
- This is the tenth episode in which, at no point, SpongeBob wears his normal clothes. The first was "Ripped Pants," the second was "Walking Small," the third was "The Fry Cook Games," the fourth was "SpongeGuard on Duty" (not counting live-action SpongeBob costume), the fifth was "Mermaid Man vs. SpongeBob," the sixth was "The Inmates of Summer," the seventh was "Jailbreak!," the eighth was "Don't Wake Patrick," and the ninth was "High Sea Diving."
- This episode marks the purple teen fish's first appearance since the season 6 episode "The Clash of Triton," except she is now colored green.
Cultural references
- The title is a reference to the 1938 film Under the Big Top. Both this episode and the film both have circus related elements.
- Kelp Loops are a parody of the popular cereal Froot Loops.
- The fitness instructor on Squidward's television bears resemblance to Richard Simmons.
Running gags
- Bummer Dudes toy commercials on SpongeBob's TV.
Videos
References
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