Driven to Tears

Characters

• French Narrator
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• Patrick Star
• Mrs. Puff
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  • Incidental 48
  • Tuck Tucker (Inc 37A)
  • Incidental 31
  • Dale
  • Incidental 42
  • Incidental 104
  • Incidental 92
  • Steve
  • Incidental 27
  • Scooter (Inc 37B)
  • Incidental 93
  • Incidental 103
  • Incidental 41
  • Incidental 106
  • Incidental 81
  • Incidental 49
  • Fred
  • Tom
  • Incidental 118
  • Incidental 23
  • Incidental 23A
  • Harold (Inc 40)
  • Harold (Inc 36)
  • Incidental 7 ^(green)
  • Incidental 14
  • Incidental 63 ^{(mother on poster)}
  • Incidental 150 ^{(child on poster)}
  • Prison guard 2
• DMV award giver Template:Debut
• Gary the Snail
• Eugene H. Krabs
• Harold SquarePants
• Margaret SquarePants

Synopsis

The narrator opens the episode by stating "It is a very special day in Bikini Bottom." The camera then shows SpongeBob and Patrick heading down to Mrs. Puff's Boating School. Once they arrive at the entrance, Patrick says he brought SpongeBob's special learning cards that has everything he needs to pass the boating school test. However, Patrick then eats the cards and claims learning tastes good. Even though SpongeBob needed those learning cards, Patrick convinces SpongeBob that he is a winner and does not need them. SpongeBob then claims he is a winner and takes his boating school driving test.

File:Driven to Tears 050.png

The New Bass Blaster 3000

Unfortunately, after one minute and thirty-seven seconds, SpongeBob fails the driving test for the 58th time. Patrick, thinking the test is rigged, decides to take the test himself and passes with a perfect score on the first try, much to SpongeBob's surprise and jealousy. They go to receive Patrick's license, but while his picture is being taken, an announcer comes out to reveal that since he is the one millionth person to pass the test, he has won a brand new hot red boatmobile, the new Bass Blaster 3000.

SpongeBob and Patrick drive home in Patrick's new boatmobile while Patrick talks about how fun driving is, much to SpongeBob's disappointment. That night, Patrick is heard working on his boatmobile and comes to SpongeBob's door at 4 AM to show his new license. SpongeBob tries to get some sleep, but is woken up the next minute by his alarm clock.

SpongeBob, now very tired, tries to walk to work, but, unable to walk because of his tiredness, he eventually gets a ride from Patrick, who rubs his license in SpongeBob's face and brags even more. When SpongeBob gets to work, he tries to talk himself out of riding with Patrick, but finds out that Mr. Krabs has chosen him to run the Krusty Krab's new drive-thru. He meets Patrick and his boat again.

File:Driven to Tears 127.png

Patrick in a racing outfit.

At closing time, Patrick drives up, now wearing a racing outfit, claiming that he must keep up his image as an "expert driver." While driving around, Patrick rubs his license in SpongeBob's face even more, even stopping to talk to SpongeBob's parents about it and embarrass SpongeBob. Patrick then starts driving slightly above the speed limit, which prompts SpongeBob to try and get him in trouble for speeding, but he fails since he tells Patrick to stop and a police officer tells him he's going far under the limit. Patrick then runs three red lights, before making an offscreen illegal U-turn through an orphanage.

Furious, SpongeBob finally snaps after Patrick calls himself a "driving genius," admitting his jealousy toward him and this would have been his boat if he passed. Patrick calls out SpongeBob for his jealousy and that he should be happy for him getting his license, but SpongeBob chews his friend back for rubbing his license in his face. Patrick denies this accusation and literally shoves his license between SpongeBob's eyes. In a final fit of fury, an enraged SpongeBob tears up the license and throws it out the window, much to Patrick's despair. This gets the attention of the police officer from earlier and causes a whole squad of cop cars to chase after SpongeBob and Patrick. When the police yell for Patrick to pull over, he instead begins driving out of control, not knowing what to do since he no longer has his license, and eventually drives off of a cliff into the Bikini Bottom Jail yard with the police following after him.

Patrick is put on trial and found guilty of littering. The judge gives him 90 days in jail to hold him accountable. However, a remorseful SpongeBob admits the truth and gets the 90 day jail sentence in Patrick's place. When SpongeBob is happily released, he gives a delighted Patrick a new license plate for his boatmobile, but Patrick reveals that he threw out the boatmobile because it stopped working when it got to "e" which he thought meant "end," which really meant "empty" as in out of gas. As the episode concludes, SpongeBob and Patrick pretend to play boats with SpongeBob putting the license on Patrick's butt and riding him away.

Production

This episode was confirmed on October 15, 2006.

Test storyboards

• Storyboard test by Craig Kemplin.

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Model sheets

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Release

Broadcast

• This episode and its sister premiered during the Patrick For President marathon.

Distribution

• This episode is available on the Season 4 Volume 2, First 100 Episodes, SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 6, Complete Fourth Season, Slimy Dancing, The Ultimate SpongeBob Box Set, The SpongeBob SquarePants Collection, 2-Season TV Pack, The Best 300 Episodes Ever, The SpongeBob SquarePants 8 Season DVD Collection, Patrick's Day, Nickelodeon Collection, From the Beginning, Part 2, SpongeBob and Friends: Patrick SquarePants, The Third & Fourth Seasons, and The Best 200 Episodes Ever DVDs.

Reception

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Trivia

General

• This episode was released on the Season 4 Volume 2 DVD box set, released on January 9, 2007, one month before it aired on American television.
• This episode originally had the packaging number of 77b, but was switched to 77a.
• This episode proves once again that Patrick knows the rules of the road. The other episode was "Boating School."
• The Bass Blaster 3000 boat Patrick won in this episode is also a boat that can be driven in the SpongeBob SquarePants video game SpongeBob's Boating Bash.
• This is the first episode for a few things:
  • The first episode in which Patrick is shown having a driving license.
  • The first episode where a drive-thru is open in the Krusty Krab.
    • Although a drive-thru could be seen in the background in a couple of episodes in the past.
  • The first episode of season 4 to feature the Krusty Krab without Squidward.
  • The first episode to be bookended by an original soundtrack, as the others were bookended by regular APM soundtracks.
• According to Patrick's driver license, he weighs two ounces.
• Patrick's driver's license would have expired exactly the same day as his identification card from "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy III." The card can be seen clearly in The SpongeBob SquarePants Experience: A Deep Dive into the World of Bikini Bottom.
• This episode shows that SpongeBob's parents are frustrated with him not getting his driver's license.

File:Driven to Tears 191.png

• The "PALS 4 EVER" license plate looks similar to the "IM-RDY" license plate in "No Free Rides" and "Pineapple RV."
• In this episode, "Boating School" and "Mrs. Puff, You're Fired," SpongeBob cries when he fails his driving test; in most episodes, he does not care about failing.
  • This is the only episode where SpongeBob is jealous over not getting his license.
• This is the second episode for a few things:
  • The second episode to show Patrick in Mrs. Puff's class. The first is "New Student Starfish."
  • The second episode where the police call SpongeBob a "tattletale." The first is "SpongeBob Meets the Strangler."
  • The second episode where SpongeBob fights with someone in a boatmobile. The first is in "No Free Rides."
  • The second episode where SpongeBob says that Patrick is innocent. The first is "The Smoking Peanut."
• This is the third episode where SpongeBob gets arrested, only this time as a convicted felon. The first is "Life of Crime" and the second is "Party Pooper Pants."
• The title is a play on words; it is using "driven" in this context to refer to being lead to do something, but also uses the word as a pun on the driving theme of the episode, with the "tears" part referring to SpongeBob's jealousy.
• This is currently the last episode to date where the track "Andy Anorak" plays in the main series. It has, however, returned in the Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years episode "Wise Kraken."

File:Driven to Tears 161.png

File:Drive Safely Billboard in SpongeBob Simulator.png

• The Drive Safely billboard later appears in SpongeBob Simulator.
• Patrick's "Hot-Rod" outfit appears as a playable costume in The Patrick Star Game.

Dub facts

• The German title of this episode is "Eine Träne im Schlagloch," which translates to "A Tear in the Pothole," a pun on a German saying.
• In the Greek dub, this episode is called "Το δίπλωμα," which translates to "the diploma," another Greek word.
• In the Russian dub of this episode, Harold (SpongeBob's father) is voiced by the same actor as Spongebob.
• In the Welsh dub, Tom Yasumi is credited instead of Andrew Overtoom. The same error also happens in other episodes from the Welsh dub.

Cultural references

• The name of this episode is a reference to The Police song of the same name, from the album Zenyatta Mondatta.
• The announcer for Patrick's new car says, "Women will want you. And men will want to be you." This is a quote from Austin Powers.
• Patrick's horn plays the song "La Cucaracha."
• Music from The People's Court is heard.

Errors

• When Patrick blows his horn the second time, the horn sounds completely different.
• When a second close-up of Patrick's license is shown after he tells Mr. and Mrs. SquarePants about it, his red glove is not on him anymore.
• The traffic light turns red after green, which skipped the yellow light.

File:Patrick's eyelid mistake.jpg

Patrick's pink eyelids.

• When Patrick blinks right before he and SpongeBob say, "It's the police!," his eyelids are pink instead of purple.
• SpongeBob says he threw Patrick's license out the window. However, the vehicle did not have any windows.
• When Patrick tells SpongeBob his boat's needle was on "E," SpongeBob's pants have a darker shade of brown.
• Throughout the episode, the car slopes forward more and more.
• The Chum Bucket is missing when Patrick gives SpongeBob a ride to work at the Krusty Krab.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Finnish	Patrik ei lopeta ajoissa	Patrick Doesn't Stop in Time
French	Le permis de bateau	The Boating License
German	Eine Träne im Schlagloch	A Tear in the Pothole
Greek	Το δίπλωμα	The Diploma
Hungarian	Jogosítvány	Driver's License
Italian	La patente della discordia	The Controversial Driver's License
Japanese	58回目の運転免許試験 58-Kai-me no unten menkyo shiken	58th Driver's License Test
Russian	Довозить до слёз Dovozit' do slyoz	To Bring to Tears
Spanish	Conducido a las lágrimas	Driven to Tears
Spanish (American)	Conducido hasta las lágrimas	Driven to Tears