"Hall Monitor" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season 1. In this episode, SpongeBob takes his role as the hall monitor of Mrs. Puff's Boating School too far.

Characters

• French Narrator
• SpongeBob SquarePants
• Mrs. Puff
• Patrick Star
• Motorist ^(debut)
• Incidentals
  • Fred
  • Incidental 3
  • Incidental 4
  • Tom
  • Incidental 8 ^{(named Tina)}
  • Incidental 9
  • Incidental 10
  • Incidental 12
  • Incidental 13
  • Incidental 27 ^{(named Jimmy)}
  • Incidental 28 ^(debut)
  • Incidental 31
  • Incidental 36
  • Incidental 37A
  • Morty ^{(debut as the newsie)}
  • Harold
  • Incidental 46
  • "Cop" incidentals ^(debut)
    • Cop 1
    • Cop 2
    • Cop 3
    • Cop 4
• Unknown students
  • Bill ^{(voice heard only)}
  • Henry ^(mentioned)
  • Vera ^(mentioned)
  • Clayton ^(mentioned)
  • Bart ^(mentioned)
  • Ralph ^(mentioned)
  • Mimi ^{(name listed on clipboard)}
  • Buddy ^{(name listed on clipboard)}
  • Beth ^(mentioned)

Synopsis

At Mrs. Puff's Boating School, it is time to select the hall monitor for the day. Mrs. Puff notices that SpongeBob is the only one who has yet to serve as hall monitor. SpongeBob then approaches Mrs. Puff, and after desperately attempting to find another candidate, she is forced to give the hall monitor duties to SpongeBob.

After being elected as Boating School Hall Monitor, SpongeBob gives an extremely long speech, which ends up lasting the entire school day (and thus his whole tenure as hall monitor), which puts Mrs. Puff and all of his schoolmates to sleep until the dismissal bell rings. Out of sympathy, Mrs. Puff allows SpongeBob to at least wear his uniform until the next day, though privately apprehensive of her decision.

Unfortunately, SpongeBob goes above and beyond the call of duty and decides to become the "hall monitor" of the city, with disastrous results. His activities include an atrociously vain attempt to direct traffic, resulting in a massive crash pile-up, and scaring a couple out of their house in the guise of the "Open Window Maniac," with the intention of showing them the "dangers" of leaving a house window open. Later, SpongeBob comes across Patrick eating a strawberry ice cream cone and labels him a criminal after Patrick drops the ice cream on the ground.

Then, a newspaper boy comes up to SpongeBob and Patrick, and gives them a newspaper with the headline "Maniac strikes Bikini Bottom." SpongeBob looks at the newspaper headline alerting about a maniac causing trouble around town, blind to the fact that he is himself the article's subject. SpongeBob suggests they stop this maniac, which gives a saddened Patrick the chance to, in his words, "be good" by becoming SpongeBob's "deputy." They end up getting ice cream twice as part of Patrick's "ex-criminal" advice and then decide to split up to find the maniac, communicating using walkie-talkies.

Seconds after SpongeBob runs off, two police officers pull up next to Patrick. They ask him if he has seen the maniac, showing him a wanted poster with a picture of SpongeBob, which he at first mistakes for an imagined, separate maniac, and screams with terror at the mere sight of the poster.

The cops patiently assure him that it's just a drawing and not the real thing and instruct him to tell them if he has seen the person when they show the picture. Patrick agrees to cooperate, but he keeps screaming whenever the police show him the sketch. Eventually, the cops decide to have a little fun and repeatedly show and hide the picture as Patrick screams every single time. The officers then drive off, suggesting to Patrick that he stays indoors and take the ice cream cone off his head.

Soon, night suddenly falls, and Patrick becomes scared. He calls SpongeBob and asks him to return to home. SpongeBob comes back as Patrick finds a poster of the maniac before he sees SpongeBob in the distance across the street under a streetlight. However, Patrick recognizes him as the maniac rather than SpongeBob, who doesn't realize what Patrick really means and thinks the maniac is directly above him whom he can't see. He then alerts SpongeBob through his walkie-talkie, and SpongeBob attempts to escape the maniac. Everywhere he goes, Patrick tells him the maniac is there, causing SpongeBob to hide in a mailbox for safety. Upon being told that the maniac is also in there, he bursts his arms and legs out of the mailbox, sprinting around the city in a blind panic. In his terrified state, he topples several buildings and crashes through a fence covered in the wanted posters. After seeing a poster from the fence, he finally realizes that he is the maniac who has been reported in the newspaper and is being pursued by law enforcement, causing Patrick to scream and run away offscreen.

Shortly afterward, the police arrive to arrest SpongeBob as they'll take that as a confession, but Mrs. Puff appears and berates him for causing the destruction of Bikini Bottom. She then explains and confesses the situation to the police, letting out that he is her responsibility. The police interpret this as taking responsibility for the crimes, and she is arrested instead.

Sometime later at Boating School, Mrs. Puff is working with the class on their essay while she is being broadcast on TV from jail, until she tells SpongeBob that he needs to see her after class, "six months from now." and the episode ends with a sound of a cell door slamming.

Production

The recording script for this episode was completed on January 11, 1999.

Script

• On November 14, 2016, recording scripts for every episode from season 1 were publicly released, found on one of the asset discs for the PlayStation video game, SuperSponge. This included the recording script for "Hall Monitor."^[3]

Cels

Sketches

Model sheets

Paintings

Music

( ‣ ) Production music

( • ) Original music

( ◦ ) SpongeBob music

 • Sponge Bob Theme - Brad Carow [Title card.]
 ‣ Horlepiep - Jan Rap [Opening.]
 ‣ Dramatic Cue (H) - Ronald Hanmer ["Sponge... Bob..."]
 ‣ Menace from the Deep - Robert Cornford ["It's Jimmy! Jimmy's the hall monitor."]
 ‣ Glory Road - Sam Fonteyn ["Yahoo!"]
 ‣ Pomp and Circumstance March #1 - Edward Elgar, Fiachra Trench [SpongeBob's speech.]
 ‣ Send them Victorious (B) - Graham De Wilde ["Hall monitor!"]
 ‣ Stack of Leis - Kapono Beamer [SpongeBob gives back the uniform.]
 ‣ Honolulu March - Hans Haider [Broken traffic light.]
 ‣ Send them Victorious (B) - Graham De Wilde ["This looks like a job for the hall monitor!"]
 • War Blower - The Blue Hawaiians [SpongeBob directing traffic.]
 ‣ The Mob - Sam Spence [Pile of wrecked cars.]
 ‣ Point of Departure K - Gregor F. Narholz ["I'm the open window maniac!"]
 ‣ The Mob - Sam Spence [Spilled ice cream.]
 • Closing Theme 2 - Steve Belfer [Patrick eating ice cream.]
 ‣ The Mob - Sam Spence ["Sorry's not good enough, Patrick."]
 ‣ Hit and Run - Sam Spence [Shot of ice cream on the ground/"Extra! Extra!"]
 ‣ King Kong Coming [#33.03] - Gregor F. Narholz [SpongeBob reads the newspaper.]
 ‣ Send them Victorious (B) - Graham De Wilde ["...the hall monitor!"]
 ‣ Taking Up Positions - Laurie Johnson [Patrick wears an ice cream cone for a hat.]
 ‣ The Mob - Sam Spence [Getting ice cream/Getting ice cream again.]
 ‣ Troop Movement Alt. End - Sam Fonteyn [SpongeBob imitates a siren.]
 ‣ Dramatic Impact (2) - Ivor Slaney ["Have you seen.... this man?"/"It's the maniac!"]
 ‣ The Mob - Sam Spence ["Come in, SpongeBob."]
 ‣ The Killing Ground (a) - Richard A. Harvey [Patrick nervously imitates a siren.]
 ‣ Night Butcher - Richard A. Harvey [Patrick sees the maniac.]
 ‣ Flight In Panic 1 - Gregor F. Narholz [SpongeBob hiding everywhere.]
 ‣ House Of Horror [#10.5] - W. Merrick Farran [SpongeBob going crazy.]
 ‣ Dramatic Impact (2) - Ivor Slaney ["I'm the maniac!"]
 ‣ Hawaiian Link (B) - Richard Myhill ["You should be ashamed of yourself."]
 ‣ Hawaiian Link (A) - Richard Myhill ["Uh-oh..."]
 ‣ Horlepiep - Jan Rap [Ending.]

*"Pomp and Circumstance March #1" is only heard in non-remastered prints of this episode (as broadcast on Nick@Nite, occasional "best of" compilations on Nickelodeon USA, international non-US airings, DVD releases, and VHS tape releases). "Land of Hope and Glory" by Edward Elgar and the R.A.F. Music Library is only heard in remastered prints of this episode (as broadcast on Nickelodeon USA, Nicktoons USA, as well as all digital and streaming releases on Amazon Prime Video, Paramount+, and iTunes).
^[4]

Release

Distribution

• This episode is available on the Tales from the Deep, Complete 1st Season, Nicktoons Kids DVD, SpongeBob on DVD, Hall Monitor, Nature Pants, Home Sweet Pineapple (Greece), The Ultimate Box Set, Hall Monitor (Toys "R" Us DVD), Best of SpongeBob, First 100 Episodes, SpongeBob SquarePants, iSponge Offer Pack, Double Feature Volume 3, The Underwater Stories, Exposed!: The Ultimate Box Set, Really Big Box Set, The Ultimate SpongeBob Box Set, All Aboard for Laughs, SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 1, Rockin' Bikini Bottom, The Complete First Season, From the Beginning, Part 1, The SpongeBob SquarePants Collection, Bob Esponja, The SpongeBob SquarePants 8 Season DVD Collection, The First & Second Seasons, Movies & TV Collection, The Best 200 Episodes Ever, and The Best 300 Episodes Ever DVDs along with SpongeBob SquarePants Volume 2 on GBA Video and on VideoNow.
• This episode is also available on the Bikini Bottom Bash! and Tales from the Deep VHS tapes.

Reception

• "Hall Monitor" was ranked #99 during the Best Day Ever event from November 9–10, 2006.

Trivia

General

• In this episode and its sister episode, the word "strawberry" is muttered by a main character.
• On Mrs. Puff's hall monitor sheet, SpongeBob's name is written in red text, while the other names on the sheet are written in black text.
• When Mrs. Puff looks at the list of hall monitors, the names listed are:
  • Bart
  • Jimmy
  • Tina
  • Ralph
  • Beth
  • Mimi
  • Buddy
  • SpongeBob
• When Mrs. Puff sees SpongeBob is next and tries to substitute another student, she names:
  • Jimmy
  • Tina
  • Beth
  • Phil (not on the list)
  • Henry (not on the list)
  • Vera (not on the list)
  • Clayton (not on the list)
    • The names, Vera and Clayton, are references to Derek Drymon's daughter, Vera, and Stephen Hillenburg's son, Clayton.
• Incidental 28, despite being one of SpongeBob's fellow classmates in this episode, can only be seen in the classroom when SpongeBob begins his speech. He is not seen when the class rushes out after SpongeBob's speech.
• My leg!: When the pile-up is shown, which marks the second time it is heard in the series.
• Patrick's line "I wanna be good!" from this episode can also be heard in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie 3D game.
• The jail door closing sound is usually cut off due to the screen cutting to black at an inappropriate time.
• This episode marks the first for several things:
  • The first boating school episode that does not focus on SpongeBob's driving test.
  • The first episode where SpongeBob wears a belt that covers his clothes for the majority of the episode. This would not happen again until "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy IV."
  • The first episode where Mrs. Puff goes to jail.
  • The first usage of the tracks "Horlepiep," "King Kong Coming," "Flight In Panic 1," Part 5 of "House Of Horror," and "Dramatic Impact (2)."
  • The first episode in production order where SpongeBob screams in a high-pitched tone.
  • The first episode written by Jay Lender.
• There are 61 police officers surrounding SpongeBob. Many are duplicates.
• A storyboard image appears on the chapter 1 title page of The SpongeBob SquarePants Experience: A Deep Dive into the World of Bikini Bottom.
• The Sponge Bob Theme can be heard in this episode.
  • The theme was originally used during the title sequence of the 1997 pilot version of "Help Wanted," before being replaced with the now-iconic theme song. Thus, "Hall Monitor" marks its first usage in a broadcast episode.
  • The theme was not played again until almost 13 years later, when it was played in the season 8 episode "For Here or to Go" during the entrance scene of the Bogus Business Bureau.
• Patrick wearing an ice cream cone as his "uniform" is referenced on page 2 of The Pilot a Mini-Movie and the Square Shorts.
• When SpongeBob is walking on the side of the road, before he sees the broken traffic light, one of his Boating School classmates drives by him. When SpongeBob is attempting to direct traffic, another classmate is seen driving. This may mean that these classmates are driving illegally.

• This episode is referenced in "Friendiversary," which briefly includes a "Wanted Maniac" poster.

• Patrick's ice cream cone hat would later appear as a First Look reward in SpongeBob Simulator.
  • SpongeBob's Hall Monitor outfit from this episode is also planned as a skin in SpongeBob Simulator.
• One of the cop's lines, "It's just a drawing," has become an internet meme.
  • Patrick's line "He's just standing there... menacingly," has become an internet meme too.

Dub facts

• In the Filipino dub, Incidental 13 is Incidental 12's father.^{[citation needed]}
• In the European Spanish dub, Mrs. Puff is called Doña Puff in this episode.

Cultural references

• SpongeBob's speech includes the line "Friends, students, juvenile delinquents...," a parody of Mark Antony's "Friends, Romans, countrymen..." from William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.
  • Timmy, Ryan, and Incidentals 163 and 166 and Plankton would quote the original line, with Timmy, Ryan, and Incidentals 163 and 166 in "All Out of Idea Bricks" and Plankton in "Who's Afraid of Mr. Snippers?", respectively.
  • The music that plays in the background during the speech is Edward Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance," which is played at graduation ceremonies.

Errors

• Mrs. Puff's list does not correspond to the actual amount of students in her class. The genders of the names on the list do not correspond with the seen students, either. In addition, she does not even attempt to appoint half the listed students to hall monitor duties before relenting.
• When Patrick says it is getting dark, some buildings move slightly to the right.
• If Beth graduated, her name should not still be on the list of potential hall monitors.
• When SpongeBob first starts directing traffic, he turns left, and the whistle in his mouth is upside-down. When he turns right, the whistle is right-side up. The orientation of the whistle continues to alternate based on which direction SpongeBob faces for the rest of the shot.
• Throughout this episode, the lines of Patrick's belly button frequently alternate between being pink and black, at one point at night even doing so within the same shot.
• When SpongeBob determines the spilled ice cream is strawberry-flavored, the road disappears. It briefly reappears during the close-up of the ice cream, but disappears again, even in wider-angle shots of the same ice cream cone.
• When SpongeBob tells Patrick to come down from the wall, Patrick stands once he gets off the wall; but when the camera is zoomed out, Patrick is seen sitting on SpongeBob.

• When the police arrive and ask Patrick about the maniac, the orange cop's eyelids are the same color as the teal cop's. However, when they talk to Patrick, the orange cop's eyelids are orange.
• Whether the "Wanted - Maniac" poster depicts SpongeBob with clothing varies practically poster-by-poster. The poster the officers show Patrick and the one Patrick stumbles on does not depict clothing, while the one placed in the background of SpongeBob during his patrol does. Posters with and without clothing can be found on the wall SpongeBob crashes into towards the end of the episode.
  • In addition, the shape of the clothing more resembles SpongeBob's regular clothing, despite him wearing the hall monitor gear while performing the acts that would be lead him to be labeled as a maniac.
• When Patrick spots the maniac (SpongeBob) in the dusk of night, he states the maniac is standing at the intersection of Conch Street and Coral Avenue. There is even a sign to indicate the intersection. But from where Patrick is standing, the intersection looks like just one straight road.
• After SpongeBob crashes through the fence while in the mailbox, he lies on the ground as a wanted sign floats down and lands on his face. It is evident that the paper is upside-down from his point of view until he looks at it, turns it around, and holds it up. Then, it is upright.
• The fence, the mailbox, and the surrounding buildings completely disappear after SpongeBob crashes through the fence.
• In the credits, Doug Lawrence is erroneously credited as the voice of the newsie, when he was actually voiced by Tom Kenny in the episode itself.

Videos

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Czech	Hlídka	The Patrol
Dutch	Klaar-over	Crossing Guard
French	La jeune recrue	The Young Recruit
German	Die Aufsichtsperson	The Supervisor
Greek	Επιτηρητής Κτιρίου Epitiritís Ktiríou	Building Supervisor
Hebrew	תורן המסדרון Toran Hamisdaron	The Corridor's Pole
Hungarian	Az osztály rendfelelőse	Monitor of the Class
Italian	Il guardiano della scuola	The School Guardian
Kazakh	Мектеп кезекшілігі Mektep kezekshiligi	School Watchman
Polish	Dyżurny	On Duty
Portuguese (Brazil)	Monitor da classe	Class Monitor
Portuguese (Portugal)	Vigia do Corredor	Corridor Sentry
Russian	Дежурный по школе Dezhurnyy po shkole	School Watchman
Spanish (Latin America)	Vigilante del aula	Watchman of the Hall
Spanish (Spain)	Vigilante de pasillo	Watchman of the Hall

References

1. ^ Cable Guide (UK) January 2000 - pg. 76
2. ^ Juice! - 2000 - YouTube
3. ^ SpongeBob SquarePants: SuperSponge Development Archives - Internet Archive
4. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E63KfGml9wo