"To SquarePants or Not to SquarePants" is an episode from the American

animated television series An animated series is a set of Animation, animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can ...

''SpongeBob SquarePants'', acting as the second half of the 16th episode of the sixth season, and the 116th episode overall. It first aired on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

in the United States on July 17, 2009, and was written by Luke Brookshier, Nate Cash and

Steven Banks Steven Craig Banks (born November 27, 1954) is an American actor, musician, comedian, and writer of television, plays, books and cartoons, including ''CatDog'', ''Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi'', and ''SpongeBob SquarePants''. Performing In 1987, Banks ...

. In the episode, SpongeBob accidentally shrinks his pants in the clothes dryer and after being unable to find a new pair, tries on some round pants, which causes people to be unable to recognize him. The episode's release date of July 17 was chosen due to it coinciding with tenth anniversary of the series;July 17, 1999 is considered the series' official, although it technically premiered on May 1, 1999. upon release, the episode was met with generally mixed reviews.

Plot

The episode begins with the French Narrator recalling the day SpongeBob "changed" his pants, which happened three days ago. It is laundry day, and SpongeBob is drying a whole load of his "square pants". But while all his pants are in the dryer, SpongeBob gets distracted by

Patrick Patrick may refer to: * Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name * Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People * Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint *Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick ...

who wants SpongeBob to hear him make funny sounds with his

tongue The tongue is a muscular organ (anatomy), organ in the mouth of a typical tetrapod. It manipulates food for mastication and swallowing as part of the digestive system, digestive process, and is the primary organ of taste. The tongue's upper surfa ...

for a long time. Eventually, SpongeBob goes to check on his pants which all shrunk in the dryer; he heads to the mall to buy new pairs. Upon hearing there will not be another shipping of "square pants" for months, SpongeBob tries out several different styles of pants at the mall until he finally chooses a pair of "round pants". SpongeBob wanders around town and Patrick is unable to recognize him because of the new pants. SpongeBob is greeted by Sandy who teases SpongeBob by pretending she does not recognize him and makes comments about his clothes in a good way. SpongeBob sees Squidward who also pretends he does not know him. SpongeBob heads home, although Patrick does not let him in because the house belongs to SpongeBob SquarePants before he "left". Feeling discouraged by the idea nobody knows who he is, SpongeBob decides to start a new life as "SpongeBob RoundPants", to which he decides to re-apply to his job at the

Krusty Krab The Krusty Krab is a fictional fast food restaurant in the American animated television series ''SpongeBob SquarePants''. It is famous for its signature burger, the Krabby Patty, the formula to which is a closely guarded trade secret. The resta ...

. When he meets Squidward at the restaurant, SpongeBob acts as if this is his first time applying at the Krusty Krab and has never met Squidward before. Squidward decides to take advantage of this by training SpongeBob to act like him, a horrible employee, in hopes SpongeBob will later get fired. After a series of complaints from the customers,

Mr. Krabs Eugene Harold Krabs, better known as simply Mr. Krabs, is a fictional character in the American animated television series ''SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' (or simply ''SpongeBob'') is an American animated comedy tel ...

confronts SpongeBob for his lousy work, to which SpongeBob explains since he has new pants, he is no longer "SpongeBob SquarePants". Mr. Krabs then convinces SpongeBob that he should take his pants off then. SpongeBob, no longer wearing pants, then continues to be his normal self and go back to being a good employee. When Sandy comes in seeing SpongeBob in his

underwear Undergarments, underclothing, or underwear are items of clothing worn beneath outer clothes, usually in direct contact with the skin, although they may comprise more than a single layer. They serve to keep outer garments from being soiled o ...

, however, she (teasingly) calls him "SpongeBob UnderPants". SpongeBob looks at his underwear and screams in horror, ending the episode.

Production

"To SquarePants or Not to SquarePants" was written by

Luke Brookshier Brian Darrell "Luke" Brookshier (born August 31, 1971) is an American writer, director, and storyboard artist known for his work on Nickelodeon's ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' and he was nominated for an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Animated Program" ...

, Nate Cash, and

, and the animation was directed by supervising director,

Alan Smart Alan Smart is a retired animator and an animation director best known for his work as the supervising director on ''SpongeBob SquarePants'', which he has been involved with since the pilot, and as assistant director and layout artist on ''The Sim ...

. Brookshier and Cash also functioned as

storyboard A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding process, i ...

directors. The episode originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on July 17, 2009, with a

TV-Y7 The TV Parental Guidelines are a television content rating system in the United States that was first proposed on December 19, 1996, by the United States Congress, the television industry and the federal communication commission (FCC), and went ...

parental rating. The episode was a part of the network's tenth anniversary celebration of ''SpongeBob SquarePants''. Starting July 17, 2009 at 8:00 pm EDT, Nickelodeon aired a 50-hour ''SpongeBob'' marathon titled "The Ultimate SpongeBob SpongeBash Weekend". The marathon started with the premiere of "To SquarePants or Not to SquarePants" at 8 pm. On July 21, 2009, the episode became available on the DVD compilation of the same name, along with fellow sixth-season episodes "Squid's Visit", "The Splinter", "Slide Whistle Stooges", "Boating Buddies", "The Krabby Kronicle", "The Slumber Party", and "Grooming Gary". "To SquarePants or Not to SquarePants" was also released in the series' season six DVD compilation. On June 4, 2019, "To SquarePants or Not to SquarePants" was released on the ''SpongeBob SquarePants: The Next 100 Episodes'' DVD, alongside all the episodes of seasons six through nine.

Reception

The episode and its DVD release received mixed reviews. Paul Mavis of

DVD Talk DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman. History Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...

positively responded to the episode and wrote that "There ''are'' laughs in 'To SquarePants or Not to SquarePants.'" Gordon Sullivan of

DVD Verdict DVD Verdict was a judicial-themed website for DVD reviews. The site was founded in 1999. The editor-in-chief was Michael Stailey, who owned the website between 2004 and 2016, and the site employed a large editorial staff of critics, whose reviews ...

gave the episode a score of 5 out of 10 and said " he episodewas one of the slighter entries n the DVD with the core joke being fairly well-handled with no one recognizing SpongeBob, but it went on just a little too long. Many fans have criticized it however due to its plot. April Pohren of the

Blogcritics Blogcritics is a blog network and online magazine of news and opinion. The site was founded in 2002 by Eric Olsen and Phillip Winn. Blogcritics features more than 100 original articles every week, and maintains an archive of all its published con ...

said " he episodeis original and comical."

Notes

References

External links