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Encyclopedia SpongeBobia
If you were looking for the article about the DVD, then see Whale of a Birthday (DVD).

"Whale of a Birthday" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season 4. In this episode, Mr. Krabs sends SpongeBob to get Pearl a birthday present.

Characters[]

Synopsis[]

Pearl has had fifteen horrible birthday parties due to the stingy ways of her father Mr. Krabs and how they caused him to throw her birthday parties that were just unbelievably cheap lemons that collapsed under their own weight instead of the cool fancy ones she wanted, and her sixteenth birthday is just one day away. Mr. Krabs is forced to promise that he will not be cheap and will give her the best birthday ever, or else Pearl's high school reputation will collapse and he will have to "support Pearl for the rest of her life." Pearl gives him a long list of everything she wants at the party. While Mr. Krabs works on the party, SpongeBob is assigned the task of figuring out what Pearl would like for a birthday present. Mr. Krabs hands SpongeBob his credit card, so that if something Pearl wants should be bought, it can be bought with the credit card. While SpongeBob trails Pearl and her friends through the Bikini Bottom Mall, he uses the credit card to buy practically everything Pearl even mentions having an interest in owning.

Whale of Birthday 285

Pearl gets mad at Mr. Krabs.

Once Pearl arrives at her birthday party with her friends, everyone is horrified to find that her dad broke his promise and his miserly ways have won out once again to the point where he threw her another party that was an irrationally cheap knockoff version of what Pearl wanted: the popcorn is stale, the drinks are dishwater, Pearl's "ice" sculpture is made out of four-hundred pounds of raw Krabby Patties (something that everyone finds so gross that it makes Eugene wish he had hired an ice sculpter to make Pearl the ice sculpture of her she wanted), and the cake is made out of cardboard and frosting. To make matters worse, instead of Pearl's favorite boy band, Boys Who Cry, Squidward performs a cover of their song "Four-Ply." Pearl’s birthday party is ruined. Pearl’s also extremely hurt that her father would not stop being cheap even for her and never did anything she asked for on the list she gave him. Mr. Krabs feels bad and tells Pearl that he will try to make it up to her, somehow.

Just then, a delivery truck arrives with all of the items that SpongeBob bought for her, including the Boys Who Cry. SpongeBob hands Mr. Krabs the receipt for all the presents, which is excessively large. Before he can do anything about it, Pearl thanks her father for making it up to her, although SpongeBob is still in hot water with his boss.

Production[]

Art[]

Storyboards[]

  • Plussed by Sean Orlanda.[1]

Music[]

 ) Production music
 ) Original music
 ) SpongeBob music

  Happy Sponge Chase Vibes - Nicolas Carr [Title card]
  Whale of a Birthday - Tom King, Andy Paley [plays on the radio]
  Whats This Sting - Nicolas Carr [Pearl wakes up.]
  The Achterhoek Dances - Jan Rap ["Morning, Daddy!"/"Very special! Very, very special, indeed!"/"I'm going to be 16!"]
  Lap Steel - Nicolas Carr [Hawaiian sting]
  Surfer Baby D - Jerry Burnham [Pearl at high school]
  SpongeBob Flashback Vibes - Nicolas Carr [start of flashback]
  Jenny's Music Box - Peter Dennis [flashback to earlier birthday party]
  SpongeBob Flashback Vibes - Nicolas Carr [end of flashback]
  Hawaiian Cocktail - Richard Myhill [Pearl crying]
  Steel Licks 22 - Jeremy Wakefield ["Bubble wrap!"]
  Steel Licks 54 - Jeremy Wakefield [Pearl's list of things she wants at the party]
  The Tip Top Polka/The Cliff Polka - Chelmsford Folk Band [Mr. Krabs assigns SpongeBob to buy Pearl's gift]
  Vibe Q Sting - Nicolas Carr ["I can buy stuff with this piece of plastic?"]
  Credit Card Heaven - Nicolas Carr [choir]
  The Tip Top Polka/The Cliff Polka - Chelmsford Folk Band ["Remember, nothing's too good for me little Pearl."]
  Sponge Burgler - Nicolas Carr ["Do some detective work."]
  Bond Chord Surfs Up - Nicolas Carr ["I'm going undercover."]
  Poppin' Around - Bruce Campbell [Pearl at the mall]
  Harp Gliss - Nicolas Carr [shot of comb]
  Poppin' Around - Bruce Campbell [Pearl at the mall]
  The Dreadnought Tea Clipper (B) - Tim Laycock, Robert Alexander White ["I've had that since the day she was born."]
  Holiday Magic - Malcom Lockyer, Bert Weedon [sea pony]
  SpongeBob Flashback Vibes - Nicolas Carr [Pearl imagines herself riding the pony]
  Steel Licks 46 - Jeremy Wakefield [Pearl riding pony]
  Lovely Scenery C - Mladen Franko [pony crushed]
  Holiday Magic - Malcolm Lockyer, Bert Weedon [SpongeBob disguised as dog fish]
  The King's Codpiece - Paddy Kingsland [Krabby Patty sculpture of Pearl]
  Keel Row - Brian Peters ["Well, we've got the decor covered."]
  Four & Three - Harold Geller [SpongeBob getting Pearl's gifts]
  Steel Licks 40 - Jeremy Wakefield ["I'm back, Mr. Krabs!"]
  Nude Sting - Nicolas Carr ["It's a boy?!"]
  The Achterhoek Dances - Jan Rap [stale popcorn]
  4-Ply - Vincent Waller, Andy Paley [Squidward sings this]
  Steel Licks 78 - Jeremy Wakefield [Pearl crying]
  Cream Pie - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [delivery truck arrives]
  Whale of a Birthday - Tom King, Andy Paley [ending]

Release[]

Reception[]

  • "Whale of a Birthday" was ranked #60 during the Best Day Ever event from November 9–10, 2006.
  • "Whale of a Birthday" was ranked #51 during the SpongeBob's Top 100 event in the UK and Ireland from June 4-8, 2012.

Trivia[]

General[]

  • This episode is very similar to The Fairly OddParents episode, "Birthday Wish", as both episodes involve the main characters trying to prevent a side character's (Pearl and Tootie's) birthday party from being ruined by an antagonistic major character (Mr. Krabs, Vicky, and Mr. Crocker).
  • The title card background was previously used in "Wormy" during the song "That's What Friends Do," albeit more pink.
  • In "Mid-Life Crustacean," Pearl states that the term "coral" is outdated. However, it is used in this episode.
  • Most of the Bikini Bottomites that were attending the prom in "The Chaperone" appear in this episode.
  • This is the first episode for two things:
  • This is the second episode for two things:
    • The second episode to have hearts on the title card. The first is "Valentine's Day."
    • The second episode in which Pearl wears her prom dress.
  • In the Croatian dub, the episode's title is "Koraljkin Rođendan," which translates to "Pearl's Birthday."
  • In the Russian dub, this episode's title is "День рождения дочурки," which translates to "Daughter's Birthday."
  • Squidward states that "Boys Who Cry" charge a million dollars just to show up. This means SpongeBob must have spent over a million dollars on gifts with Mr. Krabs' credit card.
  • While Boys Who Cry sing during the imagination sequence, Pearl's friends have copies of themselves: Three of her friends with the blue hair and two yellow-haired.
  • During the Best Day Ever marathon, this episode was paired up with "The Fry Cook Games."[3]
  • At the end of this episode, Mr. Krabs' line "Don't push your luck, boy," is cut on all American and British television broadcasts, the Amazon Prime Video version, and the Paramount+ streaming release. This is due to the line being said after the screen cuts to black, which was unintentionally cropped out. Despite this unusual edit, the occasional "best of" compilations on Nickelodeon USA airings, international non-US airings, the iTunes version, and all DVD releases retain the line.[4]
    • Even though the scene was left intact on the May 27, 2021 airing, the scene was cut for the July 8, 2021 airing.

Episode references[]

  • During the Boys Who Cry song and the scene where Pearl comes into the Krusty Krab and for the rest of the episode, she wears her prom dress from "The Chaperone."

Cultural references[]

  • The credit card company "Master-Carp" is a spoof of the real-life credit card company MasterCard.
  • The name of the group Boys Who Cry might be based on the song "Boys Don't Cry" by The Cure.

Errors[]

Pearl sleeping

Pearl's overlapping lipstick.

  • At the beginning of the episode, when Pearl wakes up, her lipstick is stuck to the upper lip of her mouth. After one scene, it returns to its normal position on the front of her snout.
  • When Pearl smashes her bedroom floor, the mat does not fall through the floor, as it is indestructible.
    • Also, the mat disappears.
    • Furthermore, when Pearl says "Morning, daddy," the wooden pieces are gone.
  • At the beginning of the episode, Pearl mentions that her birthday is "the next day," but there does not seem to be any transition between day and night or any other indication that an entire day has passed.
  • Bikini Bottom High School is located across the street from the Krusty Krab in this episode, but that is where the Chum Bucket is supposed to be.
  • When Pearl runs into the patrons of the Krusty Krab crying, the tables are plain beige instead of their normal designs.
Whale of Birthday 093

Pearl's gray eyelid.

  • After Pearl says "Now promise me, you won't be cheap," the color of her eyelid is gray instead of purple.
  • When Pearl gives a long list to Mr. Krabs, the bubble wrap is gone after he rolls up the list.
WoaB Error

One of the reflection spots on Mr. Krabs' claws is missing in this frame.

  • When Mr. Krabs says "I wanted to give her nothing...," the bottom reflection on his right claw disappears for a couple of frames.
  • Pearl puts on the glitter gloss lipstick on her lips. After several scenes, however, when one certain scene is either the flashback of Pearl riding the sea pony or when Judy tells Pearl to come here about something "coral," the lipstick is gone.
  • When Pearl and her friends are at the mall and she looks at the sea pony, the first shot shows the dog fish tank right next to it, with a clear separation of the two tanks. A few seconds later, the sea pony shares a tank with the dog fish.
  • When Pearl and her friends meet Billy Fishkins, when facing in front, her lipstick disappears by one frame.
  • When the cashier says “Price check on four,” her arms disappeared briefly after.
  • When Judy and her friends laugh after looking at the banner that reads "It's a boy," Pearl's skin is dark gray instead of a normal gray.
  • When Pearl is angry, looking at Mr. Krabs while he says, "...and frosting," she is holding a fork with cardboard and frosting. However, when Pearl looks at Judy, the fork is gone.
  • When Squidward says the last word, "Huh!," while performing "4-Ply," he throws a tissue on the right side of himself. However, after a couple of scenes, the tissue is gone.
  • Near the end, when Boys Who Cry sing, the red fish sings the line "You get your very own spotlight tonight" while the blue and green fish vocalize, the fish were mouthing the line.
  • On the April 27, 2022 airing of this episode on Nicktoons USA, there are a couple of errors. The first one is that while Squidward singing his song, in the American English version it briefly pauses then Squidward says, "Hola, chicos," in Spanish.[citation needed]
    • The other error is that later when Boys Who Cry appear from in the present box that SpongeBob brings, in English, they sing "...on your sixteenth birthday," but it briefly shows a Spanish clip of their actors singing the line in Spanish.
      • These errors were eventually corrected on the December 15, 2022 airing.

Video[]

SpongeBob_SquarePants_-_4_Ply

SpongeBob SquarePants - 4 Ply

References[]

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