"Sheldon SquarePants" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season 14. In this episode, Plankton joins the SquarePants family in the hope of becoming closer with SpongeBob (and the secret formula).
Characters
- SpongeBob SquarePants
- Sheldon J. Plankton
- Margaret SquarePants
- Harold SquarePants
- Gary the Snail
- Patrick Star
- Eugene H. Krabs (cameo)
- Bunny Star
- Cecil Star
- Mermaid baby (single appearance)
- Squeakers the Clown (single appearance)
- Baby Prunes
- Zookeeper (cameo)
- Anchovy triplets (single appearance)
- Sea baboon (cameo)
- Incidentals
Synopsis
SpongeBob sees his parents.
SpongeBob is playing checkers with Patrick when he gets a phone call from his parents, who tell him they have a surprise for him. He leaves Gary to play checkers, and he wins, then Patrick eats the entire board. At Avocondo Acres, SpongeBob looks around for his new surprise until he finds it under his foot: Plankton. That morning, Plankton had shown up in a baby basket right outside the house and got himself adopted by the SquarePants family. Saying that brothers do not keep secrets, Plankton tries to get SpongeBob to tell him the Krabby Patty secret formula, but SpongeBob wants to have bonding experiences first.
They go out and play catch, where Plankton is repeatedly squashed by the baseball. He asks to share secrets, but SpongeBob claims their "brotherly love meter" is not yet full and suggests they bond through helping their neighbors. They offer to do housework for Baby Prunes and Mary, who tell them to mow their kelp lawn. Plankton starts the lawn mower while SpongeBob steers it, but Plankton ends up getting shredded by the blades, and they are paid a nickel for their work.
As they head to the junkyard, Plankton has had it with SpongeBob's bonding and is about to give up, when they stop outside the clown college. An angry clown shows up and threatens Plankton, but SpongeBob saves him by getting in the way of the clown's foot and bouncing him away. Plankton is touched and accepts SpongeBob as his big brother. They go out to do more activities, such as visiting the zoo and going jellyfishing.
They finish by watching the clouds outside SpongeBob's parents' house. Plankton confesses that while he had a lot of siblings growing up, none of them were nice to him like SpongeBob is. SpongeBob feels ready to share secrets, when Plankton confesses he only acts tough because he does not want the world to hurt him, but he is afraid of pushing everyone away and ending up alone. SpongeBob is about to share his own secret, and Plankton expects to hear the secret formula. However, SpongeBob just says that he never learned how to tie a tie and wears a clip-on.
Cecil and Bunny adopt Plankton.
Plankton is outraged and explains his plan, when SpongeBob says he keeps the formula locked up in his brain. Plankton tries to chainsaw SpongeBob to get it, when SpongeBob's parents decide to send him to another home: Bunny and Cecil Star's. They take Plankton in and call for Patrick, who spits out the checkers game and bashes Plankton against the board, to his dismay.
Production
Ibrahim J. Corona submitted his storyboards for this episode prior to or on August 25, 2023.[3]
This episode was confirmed on November 23, 2023.[4]
On March 18, 2024,[5] Rough Draft Korea published an article about their animation process. This included an image of a layout artist drawing a frame from SpongeBob,[6] which turned out to be from this episode.
Art
Background design
- Art direction by Peter Bennett, layouts by George Nachev and other artists, traditionally painted in gouache by Abril Aello Fregozo and Amy Lewis, lines drawn digitally on top in Adobe Photoshop.[7][8][9][10][11]
Character design
- Designed by Shakeh Haghnazarian.[12][13]
Storyboards
- Rough boarded by Fred Osmond, directed by Dave Cunningham, plussed by Dylan 'Houston' King and Simon Edwards, revisions by Brad Vandergrift and Cunningham.[12][14][13][15]
Production notes
Dylan "Houston" King:
- King said he was "pretty satisfied" with his storyboards for the episode.[14]
Dave Cunningham:
- Cunningham praised Shakeh Haghnazarian for her character designs on the episode, saying she "takes good board drawings and pushes them to 'great' every time."[13]
- Cunningham complimented Simon Edwards for his plussing work, calling one particular drawing of Plankton with a devilish grin "a [Simon Edwards] beauty."[15]
Abril Aello Fregozo:
- Fregozo called this episode and "Big League Bob," which both aired during the Nick's Big Summer Vacation premiere week, "two super fun episodes" she got to work on.[8]
Music
| ( ‣ ) Production music |
| ( • ) Original music |
| ( ◦ ) SpongeBob music |
• Earl's Revenge - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Title card.]
‣ Country Air [#16] - Harry Bluestone [SpongeBob gets a phone call.]
‣ Bond Street - Harry Bluestone, Emil Cadkin [SpongeBob calls his parents.]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 39A - Jeremy Wakefield [Patrick eats the checkerboard.]
‣ Around The Town - Harry Bluestone, Emil Cadkin [SpongeBob visits his parents.]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 38A - Jeremy Wakefield [Plankton stepped on.]
• Vibe Q Sting - Nicolas Carr ["Plankton?"]
• SpongeBob Flashback Vibes - Nicolas Carr [Start of flashback.]
‣ Sculpture - Georges Behar [Plankton laughing evilly.]
‣ Zoo Doings 60 - Jack Shaindlin [Plankton imitating a baby.]
• SpongeBob Flashback Vibes - Nicolas Carr [End of flashback.]
‣ Zoo Doings 60 - Jack Shaindlin ["I'm your new brother!"]
‣ A Cute Angle 59 - John Charles Fiddy ["You're right, Plankton."]
• Lap Steel-spce_01 - Nicolas Carr [Transition to next scene.]
‣ Dog's Day - Cedric King Palmer [SpongeBob and Plankton playing catch.]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 31D - Jeremy Wakefield [Transition to next scene.]
‣ Spindlelegs - Cedric King-Palmer [Baby Prunes appears.]
• Tension Bits - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Plankton tugging the starter cord.]
• Grass Skirt Chase - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Lawn mower goes out of control.]
‣ Spindlelegs - Cedric King-Palmer [Lazy Mary pays SpongeBob and Plankton.]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 25E - Jeremy Wakefield ["We're rich!"]
• Whats This Sting - Nicolas Carr ["Wait a second."]
• Nude Sting - Nicolas Carr [Slippin' Peel's School O' Yucks.]
‣ Punctuations - Ralph Dollimore [Squeakers the Clown appears.]
‣ Mutations (c) [#55] - Trevor Duncan [Squeakers confronts Plankton.]
‣ Superquick B - Daniel Jean Jeannin [SpongeBob saves Plankton.]
‣ Now Is The Time (a) - David Robidoux [Plankton thanks SpongeBob.]
• 60's Happy Times Faster - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [Montage of SpongeBob and Plankton together.]
• Koa Constrictor - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob and Plankton watching clouds.]
‣ Woodwind Comedy Transitions - Part 18 - Van Phillips [Plankton smiling evilly.]
‣ Tragic Romance - Anthony Gilbert [Plankton shares his secret.]
‣ Surrealist Waltz - Remastered - Ronald Binge ["Now it's my turn."]
‣ Epic Tragedy - Gerhard Trede [SpongeBob reveals his secret.]
• Humorous Conversation Full Mix - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony ["That's it?! That's your secret?!"]
• Vibraphone Bits and Pieces - Nicolas Carr ["The secret formula?"]
• Hot Steel and Slide Licks 22C - Jeremy Wakefield ["SpongeBob's brain box."]
‣ Eight Dramatic Bridges - Remastered - Ronald Hanmer [Plankton wielding a chainsaw.]
‣ Burlesque - Jack Shaindlin [Harold grabs Plankton.]
‣ Cartoon Cameo 6 - Remastered - Ronald Hanmer [Ending.]
Release
| Format | Title | Region |
|---|---|---|
| DVD | The Complete Fourteenth Season | United States |
| Box set | Another 100 Episodes | United States |
| The Best 300 Episodes Ever | United States |
Trivia
General
- Plankton had previously tried to join SpongeBob's family in "Gramma's Secret Recipe," where he pretended to be SpongeBob's great-grandma in order to gain access to the secret formula.
- Plankton had previously acted like SpongeBob in "The Inside Job," "Plankton's Good Eye," and "Mimic Madness."
- SpongeBob claiming he never learned to tie a necktie contradicts "Squid on Strike" when he first appears tying a necktie himself. Though in "SquidBob TentaclePants," it's shown as a clip-on tie.
- The ending of this episode shows that Bunny and Cecil Star are canonically still alive. They also made previous non-speaking appearances in the main series episodes "A Skin Wrinkle in Time," "Ride Patrick Ride," and "Pet the Rock."
- This is the only episode where Bunny and Cecil are shown as elderly people. "SpongeBob and Patrick's Timeline Twist-Up," which also takes place in the current timeline, shows Bunny and Cecil looking the same as they do in The Patrick Star Show.
- Both this episode and its sister episode involve two characters coming together in some way.
- In the UK and Ireland, two edits were made: firstly, the screen is darkened from the opening credits to the scene where SpongeBob presses his tie; secondly, the scene where Plankton is stung by a jellyfish is shortened due to a flashing image.[16]
Artwork depicting Ibrahim's OC (original character) waving goodbye to Bikini Bottom, while riding on Squidward's bicycle.
- This was the last episode with storyboard plussing by Ibrahim J. Corona before he left the series in August 2023, after working as a storyboard artist on Dave Cunningham's team since June 2021; however, he would briefly return to work on "Unidentified Flailing Octopus" and "My Father the Boat" in season 15.
- This is the last episode in packaging order to use the 2017 Nickelodeon Productions logo at the end of the credits, along with its sister episode. In airing order, however, "Snow Yellow" is the last.
Dub facts
- This is the last episode to air in Latin America where Margaret SquarePants is voiced by Maythe Guedes before her death on November 6, 2025 at the age of 55.
Videos
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
 French (France) |
Sheldon l'éponge | Sheldon the Sponge |
 German |
Sheldon Schwammkopf | Sheldon SquarePants |
 Italian |
Sheldon SquarePants | - |
 Russian |
Шелдон Квадратные Штаны Sheldon Kvadratnyye Shtany |
Sheldon SquarePants |
 Slovenian |
Sheldon Kvadratnik | Sheldon SquarePants |
 Spanish (Latin America) |
Sheldon Esponja | Sheldon Sponge |
 Spanish (Spain) |
Mi hermano Sheldon | My Brother Sheldon |
References
- ^ Nickelodeon UK - November 19, 2024
- ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20241123173031/https://epgs.vimn.com/spongebob_pop_up/xmltvlegal/ita/20241111.xml
- ^ Ibrahim J. Corona on Twitter - "After 2 and a half years of..."
- ^ File:305b.webp
- ^ https://x.com/ArtofSpongebob/status/1769942059270447498
- ^ 라프드래프트코리아
- ^ Abril Aello - Professional
- ^ a b Abril Aello Fregozo on Instagram - "Yay ✨✨another two super fun episodes..."
- ^ Amy Lewis on Instagram - "More SpongeBob episodes aired this week..."
- ^ Amy Lewis on Twitter - "More SpongeBob episodes aired this week...
- ^ Amy Lewis on Twitter - "Some more Bg paints..."
- ^ a b Dave Cunningham on X/Twitter - "My sketch, Shakeh Haghnazarian's design..."
- ^ a b c Dave Cunningham on X/Twitter - "Shakeh takes good board drawings..."
- ^ a b Dylan 'Houston' King on Instagram - "Clips from 'Sheldon SquarePants'..."
- ^ a b Dave Cunningham on Twitter - "a @psimonster beauty"
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJ4xppj0cd4
