"Missing Identity" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season 3. In this episode, SpongeBob recalls a day where he loses his name tag.

Characters

• Waitress ^{(single appearance)}
• Ted ^(debut)
• SpongeBob SquarePants
• Shelley
• Gary the Snail
• Larry the Snail ^{(Snail-Po mascot)}
• Patrick Star
• Squidward Tentacles
• Incidentals
  • Fred ^(daydream)
  • Incidental 2 ^(daydream)
  • Suzy ^{(storyboard only)}
  • Incidental 12 ^(daydream)
  • Morty
  • Lou
  • Incidental 41 ^{(named Peterson)}
  • Incidental 42 ^(daydream)
  • Incidental 49
  • Old Man Jenkins (Inc 86)
  • Incidental 104
  • Incidental 115 ^(daydream)
• Bank robber ^(debut)
• Eugene H. Krabs
• Two guys who threw SpongeBob in the dumpster ^(mentioned)
• Stingray 5000 band member ^{(single appearance)}
• Clams ^{(written on CD)}
• Betty ^(mentioned)

Synopsis

As the episode opens, SpongeBob is at a diner on a dark and weary morning, while rain is pouring down outside. A patron is solving a crossword puzzle and realizes that he has lost his pen. A waitress says he can borrow hers, and he does. It then shows SpongeBob sitting at a table, he says he once lost something he could not live without: his identity.

Even though no one asked or wants to know, he recounts the events of last Monday. In the flashback, he wakes up and throws his blanket into the air, and says "Good morning, world, and all who inhabit it!" The blanket falls on him, and SpongeBob, being unable to see, falls off of his bed, and his alarm clock falls on top of his head. He falls down the stairs and the alarm propels him into the window. He feeds Gary and comments that he has been feeding Gary snail food for years and does not even know what it tastes like. He tastes it and is revolted, and his screaming of disgust is sensed at the headquarters of the company that makes the snail food. He looks at the clock and realizes that he is late for work, and quickly gets changed and skips to work. While he is skipping to work, Patrick greets SpongeBob.

After SpongeBob tells the diner people about greeting Patrick, he decides to skip to the part when he was about to serve a customer.

As SpongeBob serves food to a customer, the customer tells him that he should wear a name tag so that she can thank him properly. He indicates that he is indeed wearing a name tag, but then realizes that his name tag is missing. He panics, hyperventilates, and eventually faints.

When he wakes up, he asks Squidward what happened. Squidward tells him that he fainted because he lost his name tag, but he assures him that his name tag is not that important, and SpongeBob hyperventilates once again until Squidward stops him, saying it is not the end of the world. However, just as he says this, Mr. Krabs comes out of his office and informs them that there is a uniform inspection in one hour and anyone who fails has to wear a very stinky boot all day. Squidward suggests to SpongeBob that he should retrace his steps.

SpongeBob repeats (almost) everything he did that morning several times, including his "horrific incident of terror" with the alarm clock and eating the snail food. SpongeBob repeats this many times since Patrick continuously fails to properly say "Hi" to him. For instance, Patrick accidentally says "Hi, SpongeBoob" and laughs immediately afterward. Still, SpongeBob fails to find his name tag. Patrick then asks him what he did after he greeted him before noticing he lost his name tag, and SpongeBob explains that he skipped merrily to Krusty Krab, said hello to Old Man Jenkins, put an apple on Mr. Krabs' desk, and was thrown into a dumpster by two thugs. Patrick predicts his name tag is in the apple he placed on Mr. Krabs' desk. SpongeBob likes Patrick's prediction, but claims Mr. Krabs has probably thrown that apple away by now, so Patrick suggests looking in the dumpster, and they go to search there.

During the search, SpongeBob gives Patrick two hints but he is still confused. SpongeBob does a double-take of Jack Benny while wondering, but panics that he has one minute left. Patrick then sees SpongeBob's name tag on the back of his shirt, but when he alerts him to this and SpongeBob turns around, it seems to disappear and Patrick cannot remember where it was. SpongeBob gets irritated after he does this twice, and he soon tells Patrick to go home since he is no help. However, after an annoyed Patrick replies "Well, at least I don't wear my shirt backwards!" When SpongeBob hears this, he looks at his back and realizes that he had his name tag all along, and his shirt was supposed to correct to wear the pants not backwards on his name tag, and his shirt was just on backwards. SpongeBob thanks Patrick for his help as the latter accepts his gratitude.

At the uniform inspection, Mr. Krabs tells Squidward all he needs to do is shave and he passes inspection however, Mr. Krabs smells SpongeBob and is disgusted by the stench of the dumpster. He probably ejects SpongeBob from the restaurant and seemingly suspends him from working at the Krusty Krab.

As the episode ends with SpongeBob finishing telling his story, thanking the waitress for listening and explaining that he managed to kill eleven minutes, calling her "Betty," she says that her name is not Betty and that she is just borrowing someone else's uniform while hers is getting cleaned. When SpongeBob learns this, he does another Jack Benny double-take.

Production

Art

Model sheets

Animatic

Deleted scene

On the storyboard featured on the Sponge for Hire DVD, there is a scene of Patrick tearfully saying, "But, I am a helper" after SpongeBob tells him to crawl back under his rock since he is no help.

Music

( ‣ ) Production music

( • ) Original music

( ◦ ) SpongeBob music

 ‣ Marching to Honolulu - Kapono Beamer [Title card]
 ‣ Eastside Story (A) - Trevor Duncan [Opening]
 ‣ On The Beach - Kapono Beamer ["Good morning, world, and all who inhabit it."/"That was the worst thing I've ever tasted."]
 ‣ The Tip Top Polka/The Cliff Polka - Chelmsford Folk Band [At the Krusty Krab]
 • Vibe & Harp Hits - Nicolas Carr ["Thanks... uh..."]
 ‣ On Fire - Gregor F. Narholz [SpongeBob notices his name tag is missing]
 ‣ Pua Paoakalani B - Kapono Beamer, Queen Lili'uokalani [SpongeBob cries]
 ‣ Against The Law (C) - Wilfred William Burns [Bank robbery]
 ‣ On Fire - Gregor F. Narholz [SpongeBob panics]
 ‣ The Rake Hornpipe - Robert Alexander White ["Attention, all employees!"]
 ‣ On Fire - Gregor F. Narholz [SpongeBob panics again]
 • Thats It ! - Nicolas Carr ["Squidward, you're a genius!"]
 ‣ Hawaiian Happiness - Jon Jelmer [SpongeBob going back home/SpongeBob tells Patrick to say hello him again]
 ‣ On Fire - Gregor F. Narholz [Patrick panics]
 ‣ On The Beach - Kapono Beamer [SpongeBob retracing his steps]
 ‣ Vergnügungspark - Gerhard Trede [Patrick flubbing his lines]
 ‣ Ulkereien - Gerhard Trede [SpongeBob remembering what else he did that morning]
 ‣ Hawaiian Link (B) - Richard Myhill [SpongeBob and Patrick standing in front of the dumpster]
 ‣ Witty Fellow - Gerhard Trede [Looking for SpongeBob's name tag in the dumpster]
 • Steel Licks 22 - Jeremy Wakefield ["Could I have another hint?"]
 ‣ Dramatic Cue (B) - Ronald Hanmer ["One minute?"]
 • Idea Sting - Nicolas Carr [Patrick sees SpongeBob's name tag]
 • Closing Theme 1 - Steve Belfer ["Uh... I can't remember."]
 ‣ Marching to Honolulu - Kapono Beamer [SpongeBob's shirt is on backwards]
 ‣ Up She Rises - Sam Spence [Uniform inspection]
 ‣ Eastside Story (A) - Trevor Duncan [SpongeBob finishes his story]
 • Steel Licks 22 - Jeremy Wakefield [The very end. (low-pitched -1)]

Release

Broadcast

• When this episode premiered in the United States, it aired second, while "Plankton's Army" aired first. This was due to "Plankton's Army" being heavily advertised as the episode where Plankton finally gets the Krabby Patty secret formula.^[3]

Distribution

• This episode is available on the Sponge for Hire (with storyboard version on the special features), Complete 3rd Season, The Best 200 Episodes Ever, The Ultimate SpongeBob Box Set, The SpongeBob SquarePants Collection, Favorite Episodes, SpongeBob on DVD, 3 DVD Pack, Double DVD Fun 2, The Best 300 Episodes Ever, 2-Season TV Pack, The SpongeBob SquarePants 8 Season DVD Collection, From the Beginning, Part 2, SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 5, Absorbingly SpongeBob, The Third & Fourth Seasons, First 100 Episodes, and Complete Third Season DVDs.
• This episode is also available on the Sponge for Hire VHS tape.

Reception

• "Missing Identity" was ranked #75 during the Best Day Ever event from November 9–10, 2006.
• "Missing Identity" was ranked #89 during the SpongeBob's Top 100 event in the UK and Ireland from June 4-8, 2012.

Trivia

General

• This episode was originally called "Missing Party," according to production art. Earlier on, the episode was known as "MementoBob," and "F*ckYouKentBob."
• This episode was originally planned as a season 1 episode, according to Stephen Hillenburg's 1996-97 pitch bible.^[4]
• This is the first episode in which SpongeBob is called "SpongeBoob."
  • While said name is used accidentally by Patrick, later instances of this, starting with The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, have said name used as a case of insulting or mocking, usually by Plankton.
• The fourth wall is broken four times in this episode:
  • SpongeBob looks at the camera twice. The first time is after Patrick asks SpongeBob for giving him another hint, and the second time is after the waitress tells him that she's borrowing Betty's work shirt.
  • The waitress says, "Well, ya managed to kill eleven minutes," referencing the length of a normal SpongeBob episode.
  • Patrick apologizes to the audience after saying, "SpongeBoob."
• The title card background for this episode is similar to the one for "Reef Blower," but it is green instead.
• In 2003, a clip from this episode was used for an event called Nickelodeon LunchToon in Nickelodeon Australia.^[5]

• SpongeBob yells "Pourquoi?" to Squidward when he was crying about losing his name tag at the Krusty Krab in this episode. "Pourquoi" means "why" (more literally, "for what") in French.
• The snail in the Snail-Po logo in this episode has a shell identical to the one of Larry the Snail.
• Old Man Jenkins makes a cameo appearance in this episode with his jalopy car, like in "Sailor Mouth."
• At the beginning of the episode, there is a crossword. The words written are "Squid," "Chum," "Wet," "Seaweed," "Conch," and "Coral."
• This is the first episode where Zeus Cervas is credited in the opening credits.
• The beginning scene where SpongeBob says that he lost his identity one day at the café became an internet meme.
• While SpongeBob is retracing his steps, he keeps missing a step between eating SnailPo and saying hi to Patrick: putting his clothes on. That's the reason why he doesn't realize his shirt is on backwards until Patrick points it out.
• SpongeBob's shirt collar is not visible throughout his story, hinting at the reveal that he was wearing it backwards.
  • However, when his back is visible, no collar is shown there either. This can be seen when he is first retracing his steps, right before he feeds Gary, when he recalls waving to Old Man Jenkins, and when he and Patrick are looking at the dumpster.
• Suzy was originally going to be the customer that SpongeBob served instead of Incidental 104.

Dub facts

• In the German dub, the title of the episode is "Namenlos," which either translates to "Nameless" or "Unnamed."
  • It also has the same title card background as "Pickles."
• This episode has three Hungarian versions with different titles (See Names in other languages).
• In the Serbian dub, when Patrick finds a StingRay 5000 record in the Krusty Krab dumpster, its name is localized as Pasta ZZ, a real-life Serbian band. ^{[citation needed]} Đole Rahaja (Đorđe Lukić), the voice of the French Narrator and Squilliam Fancyson in the B92 version, was a past member of the band.
• In the Hebrew dub:
  • When SpongeBob tries to spell Patrick the word "name-tag," it sounds wrong since in Hebrew it is: "tagit shem" - "tag of" and "name," and he said: "name" and "tag of."^{[citation needed]}
  • SpongeBob calls Gary "Garshon (גרשון)."^{[citation needed]}
• In the Korean dub (JEI TV) when Incidental 41 appears in the scene where he works at Snailpo World Headquarters, Saddie calls him Bogus (the protagonist of Mr. Bogus).^{[citation needed]}
• In the Filipino dub, Incidental 115 has a speaking line.
  • However, the "Attica" line yelled by the bank robber was replaced by sounds of begging for mercy.^[6]

Cultural references

• In two separate instances, SpongeBob places his left arm on his right elbow with his right hand on his chin and looks at the viewers, like Jack Benny did on his 1950s TV show.
• SpongeBob's quote "The boy who cried name tag" is a pun on The Boy Who Cried Wolf.
• SpongeBob mentions the game Twenty Questions in the dumpster scene.
• The band Patrick finds in the dumpster, Stingray 5000, is a parody of the band Powerman 5000.
• Snail-Po is a parody of Alpo dog food.
• The bank robber yelling "Attica" references Al Pacino's character yelling the same in Dog Day Afternoon. This in turn is a reference to the Attica Prison riot of 1971.

Errors

• In early airings, the episode had an incorrect copyright date of 2001 in the credits. Later airings (and the original print of this episode) have the correct date of 2002.^[7]
  • This mistake may be attributed to the fact that this episode was mostly in production in 2001, but wasn't actually finished until the early part of 2002.
• The cash register is missing when Squidward brags about being a "genius."
• When SpongeBob turns around, showing his collar and name tag, the amount of filth on his shirt changes between scenes.

• At the Krusty Krab, during the second collapse SpongeBob suffers after passing out, there is no animation of Squidward crossing his arms. They simply cut from hanging down to bent resting on his hips.

• When SpongeBob is trying to retrace his steps with Patrick, Squidward's house is not shown between SpongeBob's and Patrick's house.
  • In the same scene when Patrick is telling SpongeBob to "Retrace his steps," he has fingers instead of a large hand with a thumb.
• When SpongeBob is retracing his steps and it shows all of Conch Street and Patrick, there is a window on the top left corner of SpongeBob's house, where there never is.
• During the split-screen of SpongeBob's attempt to retrace his steps, when he says "Bleh!" the lower right box has him slamming into the window though this happened earlier. Also, he does not say "Bleh!" when hitting the window, but he does when he eats Snail-Po.
• SpongeBob says "name tag" after saying "my." He also claims "name tag" is the second word, but he said three instead. Though he technically might be correct, as "name tag" can sometimes be spelled as "nametag."

• SpongeBob's name tag was on his back the whole time, but the few times that he is seen from behind before the reveal (when sliding to Gary, going inside the second time he retraces his steps, and when looking at the dumpster), the name tag is not there. Similarly, his shirt folds, which should be on his back as they are missing on his front throughout the episode, are not visible from behind until after Patrick sees the name tag.
• When SpongeBob is tumbling downstairs, the stairwell wraps around the right side of the pineapple instead of the left side in this episode.
• When SpongeBob gets thrown into the garbage can, and when he and Patrick are looking at the dumpster, it appears to be small and the same size as it is in other episodes. But when he and Patrick are in the dumpster, it is way larger than it was before.

Video

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
French	Mon nom est personne	My Name Is No One
German	Namenlos	Nameless
Greek	Η Χαμένη Ταυτότητα I Chaméni Taftótita	The Lost Identity
Hungarian	Az Elveszett Személyazonosság (first dub) Személyazonosság nélkül (second dub) Elveszett identitás (third dub)	Lost Identity Without an Identity Missing Identity
Italian	Identità perduta	Lost Identity
Japanese	消えた名札 Kieta nafuda	Missing Name Tag
Portuguese	Identidade Perdida	Missing Identity
Russian	В поисках себя V poiskakh sebya	In Search of Myself
Spanish	Identidad perdida	Missing Identity

References

1. ^ Nick UK - New Spongebob episodes in January - Nickdisk - December 24, 2002
2. ^ Mon nom est personne ; Plankton et son armée - Ina
3. ^ January 19, 2004 - Nickstory
4. ^ SpongeBob Bible 1997 - Scribd
5. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuAskvdsUAk
6. ^ Spongebob Tagalog/Filipino dub – This is a bank robbery!
7. ^ Nickelodeon Commercials (01/19/2004)