"Library Cards" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season 11. In this episode, when Patrick discovers the pineapple's library, SpongeBob introduces him to the wonderful world of books.

Characters

• SpongeBob SquarePants
• Patrick Star
  • Patrick's brain
• Gary the Snail
• Sir Urchin ^(debut)
• Snail Fail ^(debut)
• Incidental 103 ^{(blue; pictured; cameo)}

Synopsis

The episode begins with Patrick going into SpongeBob's house to watch television with him. When he sees SpongeBob, he wonders what he is doing, leading to SpongeBob telling Patrick all about the wonders of reading books and the different kinds of books there are.

SpongeBob gives Patrick a book to read and he enjoys it a lot. Patrick ends up reading so many books that he becomes extremely intelligent. Unfortunately, Patrick's head is so big that he cannot get out through the door, so SpongeBob starts to devise plans to get Patrick out.

SpongeBob tries several attempts to make Patrick's head smaller, but they all fail. Eventually he comes up with the plan to make Patrick dumber so his head shrinks, so he shows Patrick The Sir Urchin & Snail Fail Show! to make him dumb again. The episode ends with Patrick becoming dim witted again, only to start playing with the books again.

Production

The episode was confirmed by Vincent Waller on March 22, 2018.^[2]

Art

Storyboards

Music

( ‣ ) Production music

( • ) Original music

( ◦ ) SpongeBob music

 • Another Best Day Ever - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Title card]
 • Sir Urchin and Snail Fail Theme - Nicolas Carr [The Sir Urchin & Snail Fail Show!]
 • A Simple Conversation 1 - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [Patrick looking for SpongeBob at his house]
 • SpongeBob Flashback Vibes - Nicolas Carr
 • The Pollywog Strut - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [Patrick imagines a playground for his mind]
 • SpongeBob Flashback Vibes - Nicolas Carr
 • Sir Urchin and Snail Fail Theme - Nicolas Carr [Patrick throws the TV downstairs]
 • Lap Steel - Nicolas Carr [Transition to next scene]
 • Seaweed 2 - Steve Belfer [Patrick having fun in SpongeBob's library]
 ‣ Happy Links 6-9 - Remastered - Paul Fenoulhet ["Oh, tender, naïve Patrick, it's not that kind of playground."]
 • Seaweed 2 - Steve Belfer [Patrick throwing books at SpongeBob]
 • Parting of the Clouds Sting - Nicolas Carr ["Behold the books, Patrick. Each one has a story to tell."]
 ‣ The Silver Blade - Ilona Sekacz ["Look Out! Those books are cliffhangers, stories for the adventurers."]
 ‣ Rule Britannia (a) - Dick Walter ["...Books with bridges!"]
 ‣ Fairies A - John Fox, Otto Sieben ["Listen to the soothing sounds of the Audio Books."]
 • Scary Old Ghost - Nicolas Carr [Dust ghost emerges from the book]
 ‣ Fairies A - John Fox, Otto Sieben [Patrick trying to read a book]
 • Breathing Underwater. Short - Nicolas Carr [SpongeBob turning pages]
 • New Vibe Hits - Nicolas Carr [Patrick's brain sees something]
 ‣ Bobbins and Spindles - Ronald Hanmer [Knowledge entering in Patrick's head]
 • Bell Tree Gliss - Nicolas Carr
 • Tymp Hits - Nicolas Carr
 ‣ Symphony No.5 In C Minor 1st Mov. Allegro Con Brio - Ludwig Beethoven, Cornelius Oberhauser, Ferdinand Oberhauser [Patrick absorbing much more knowledge]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks 37A - Jeremy Wakefield ["Uh, Patrick I think that's enough knowledge for one day."]
 • The Museum Incident 2 - Nicolas Carr ["Nonsense, dear boy."]
 • Tension Bits - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob trying to stuff Patrick's head through the door]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks 12D - Jeremy Wakefield ["You really got your melon jammed in there, didn't you?"]
 ‣ Mechanical Matinee - Sam Fonteyn [Patrick explaining SpongeBob how to solve the problem]
 ‣ Drama Link (C) - Hubert Clifford [SpongeBob connects an electromagnet to Patrick's head]
 ‣ Drama Link (F) - Hubert Clifford ["Gary! Speak to me!"]
 • Hgliss & Bell - Nicolas Carr ["Slime, that's it!"]
 • Ripped Hide - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Gary slimes Patrick's head]
 • Vibe Q Sting - Nicolas Carr [SpongeBob sees "Head Shrinking for Beginners!"]
 • Headhunters - Nicolas Carr [SpongeBob as witch doctor]
 • Nude Sting - Nicolas Carr [SpongeBob's head shrinks]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks 8A - Jeremy Wakefield ["I guess we'll have to live here in the library forever, Gary."]
 • Goofy Conversation 2 - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [Patrick has the solution to the problem]
 • Grass Skirt Chase - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield ["All right, Patrick, let's get stupid!"]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks 12E - Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob plugs in the TV]
 • White Noise - Nicolas Carr
 • Sir Urchin and Snail Fail Theme - Nicolas Carr [The Sir Urchin & Snail Fail Show! again]
 ‣ Wheels Within Wheels - Ronald Hanmer [Patrick's knowledge is taken out of his head by a hose]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks 7A - Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob picks up Patrick's brain]
 • Another Best Day Ever - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Patrick's back to normal]
 • Vibe Q Sting - Nicolas Carr ["A book?"]
 • A Pinapple Luau W-bongos - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Ending]

Release

Broadcast

• This was the second episode to premiere during the September 2018 premiere week.
  • It was also the highest-viewed episode in the event.
• This episode was paired up with a rerun of "Shopping List" during the original airing, but has since been re-airing with "Plankton Paranoia."^[3]

Distribution

Format	Title	Region
DVD	The Complete Eleventh Season	United States, Australia
Box set	Another 100 Episodes	United States
	The Best 300 Episodes Ever	United States
Digital release	SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 19	Global

Trivia

General

• If "Krusty Krab Bed N' Breakfast" and "Village Idiots" weren't scrapped, "Squirrel Jelly" wasn't extended, and "Sandy's Nutty Nieces" was not moved to season 12 and swapped with "The String," this would have been the final episode produced for season 11.
• In packaging order, this marks the 450th episode segment of the series.
• This marks the second episode where Patrick is smart. The first was "Patrick SmartPants."
• This is the second episode where SpongeBob is called "SpongeRobert." The first one was "SpongeBob LongPants."
• Ironically, despite being called "Library Cards," none are mentioned or seen in the episode.
  • However, the title could be referring to SpongeBob and Patrick's antics in the library, as the word card also means "a person who is odd or amusing," which describes SpongeBob and Patrick.
• Patrick has visited SpongeBob's library before in "Boating School," "Something Smells," and "Sportz?," but he acts like he has never seen it until this episode.
  • Furthermore, Patrick does not even know what the word "library" means at the beginning of the episode, but says he has overdue library books in "Rule of Dumb."
• Very little characters appear in this episode, with seven in total making an appearance. Even less characters appear in-person, as Sir Urchin and Snail Fail are only shown on TV.
• A majority of this episode takes place inside SpongeBob's house, as the outdoors are only shown at the beginning of the episode for at least 30 seconds.
• Gary is shown reading a book called Cooking Without Salt, alluding to the fact that salt kills snails. This phobia was previously alluded to in "Pet Sitter Pat."
• An image of Patrick with a giant brain became a popular meme.

• The clip of The Sir Urchin & Snail Fail Show! in the opening was used in The Patrick Star Show episodes "Bunny the Barbarian" and "Olly Olly Organ Free" and the season 13 episode "Arbor Day Disarray."

Dub facts

• This episode was originally scheduled to air on October 9, 2018 at 5:40 PM on Nickelodeon Central and Eastern Europe, but was pulled for unknown reasons.^[4]

Cultural references

• Numerous famous books are referenced in this episode:
  • When SpongeBob shows Patrick the contents of his library, he shows Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace as an example of an unabridged book.
    • The novel is later referenced when a book called Clam and Peace appears.
  • One of the books shown at the end of the episode is called Moby D, referencing Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick.
  • Another book shown is called The Old Fish and the Sea, referencing Ernest Hemingway's novel The Old Man and the Sea.
  • Another book shown is called Modest Expectations by Slim Dickens, referencing Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.
• The way SpongeBob bangs the books to the soundtrack while filling Patrick's brain with words is a reference to the rhythm game genre.

Errors

• In the opening credits, the labels "supervising director" and "animation director" have the "S" and "A" in uppercase.
• At the start of the episode, the plank pathway between Squidward's house and the road is missing.
• When Patrick's brain first appears huge, his eyebrows are missing.
• In one scene, a window is on the books from the library.
  • The same error also occurs in "Glove World R.I.P."
• In the beginning of the episode, there is a cable connecting Patrick's television to his rock. This cable is missing in later scenes.
• In one scene where Patrick's brain is taken out, when he closes his eyes, his pupils do not disappear.

Videos

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
French	Indigestion cérébrale	Cerebral Indigestion
German	Der Bücherwurm	The Bookworm
Italian	Patrick e i libri	Patrick and the Books
Russian	В библиотеке V biblioteke	In Library
Spanish (Latin America)	Tarjetas de biblioteca	Library Cards
Spanish (Spain)	Tarjetas de la biblioteca	Library Cards

References

1. ^ Nicktoons UK - October 15, 2018
2. ^ Vincent Waller on Twitter: "It is."
3. ^ Nickstory - September 25, 2018
4. ^ October 2018 on Nickelodeon Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) | Rise of the TMNT | I Am Frankie | The Thundermans | ALVINNN | Halloween + More - NickALive!