Earworm

If you were looking for the article about the character, then see Earworm (character).

Characters

• Template:Data:Links
• Squidward Tentacles
• Eugene H. Krabs
• The Sonars ^{(heard only)}
• DJ ^{(heard only)}
• Gary the Snail
• Incidental 63
• Incidental 85
• Incidental 107
• Incidental 40
• Incidental 48
• Fred ^(blue)
• Incidental 92
• Incidental 14
• Incidental 41
• Incidental 105
• Incidental 67
• Incidental 27
• Incidental 64
• Incidental 155
• Sandy Cheeks
• Incidental 49 Template:Cameo
• Incidental 73 Template:Cameo
• Scooter Template:Cameo
• Incidental 37A Template:Cameo
• Incidental 2
• Patrick Star
• Earworm Template:Debut

Synopsis

SpongeBob is shown at the Krusty Krab during closing time with Mr. Krabs and Squidward. He is in the kitchen and starts singing a song. Squidward gets annoyed by SpongeBob's singing. Mr. Krabs comes and says to mop the floor. Squidward tells SpongeBob again to stop singing and then puts on the radio, but it's playing "Musical Doodle," so SpongeBob picks up the radio and starts dancing and singing to it. After it ends, SpongeBob sighs happily. Afterwards, Mr. Krabs says it's closing time again and Squidward runs out saying "Freedom!" SpongeBob is sitting down on a table, singing to the song and Mr. Krabs yells his name.

SpongeBob floats out of the Krusty Krab and lands outside a Record Shop. He hears "Musical Doodle" playing. He then buys the record and goes home, opens up Gary's shell, revealing a record player, and plays the song until bedtime.

File:Listening To The Musical Doodle.png

"La-la-la-la-la."

SpongeBob says "Come to bed when you feel like it." He goes to sleep but then starts whistling the song. He goes back downstairs to listen to the song again.

He is then shown at the Krusty Krab the next day, looking very tired. Mr. Krabs warns him to get to work. Mr. Krabs hears SpongeBob singing the "Musical Doodle." He is warned to stop singing that song again, but finds it very hard not to. He hands out Template:Data:Links while singing the song, annoying the customers in the process. Mr. Krabs comes out of his office to see what's wrong. All the customers blame SpongeBob for annoying them. Mr. Krabs warns SpongeBob once again to stop singing the song or else he will send him home. In the kitchen, SpongeBob's eyelids form into mouths and start singing the song - the same thing happens with his back.

In the next scene, the kitchen is shown absolutely wrecked, with "doodle" written on the walls and everything else wrecked as well. Also, there are condiments and patty batter all over the wall. After Mr. Krabs tells SpongeBob to leave, the latter seems that he has completely lost it.

He goes home while singing the song - Sandy, Mr. Krabs, Patrick, and Squidward follow him, tie him to a chair, and gag him. Sandy explains that he has an "earworm" which is an infection in which someone is stuck on a catchy song and is unable to stop singing; the more the person sings the song, the more infected and stronger the infection gets and more crazier the person gets.

File:Checking Ears.png

"Don't do that Mr. Krabs!"

Mr. Krabs wants to just pull the earworm out, but Sandy says that they can't do that or else it will damage SpongeBob's brain and it can only be cured if another song gets stuck in their head.

Mr. Krabs sings a sea-shanty and Sandy sings a Western song, but none succeed. Sandy says "someone with musical talent" can cure him (in this case, Squidward). Squidward starts playing his clarinet. The earworm gets annoyed and leaves. Squidward is then shown in bed, praising himself. The earworm comes and goes into Squidward, and now the latter has the earworm and is humming his song. Squidward then screams loudly as the episode ends for unknown reasons, inferring he probably found out he caught the earworm.

Production

Release

• This episode is available on the Complete Seventh Season, SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 12, Rockin' Bikini Bottom, Season 7 Volume 4, SpongeBob on Tour, The SpongeBob SquarePants Collection, Back to the Past, The SpongeBob SquarePants 8 Season DVD Collection, Sunđer Bob Kockalone DVD 8, Next 100 Episodes, and The Best 200 Episodes Ever DVDs.

Trivia

General

• This episode was originally going to premiere with "Buried in Time," as said from a brief crew meeting in August 2010, but it was paired up with its sister episode "The Abrasive Side" instead.
• The title card background is identical to that of "Bubblestand," except the letters are written in pink and there are no bubbles.
• The song SpongeBob bought was on a record instead of a CD or a digital download like it would be in modern times.
• This is the second appearance of Gary's record player. The first was "Your Shoe's Untied."
• The snail clock from "Gary Takes a Bath" and "Procrastination" appears again in this episode.
• Foreshadowing: The song lyrics match what happens in the episode. For example, "The song that you ran from is back again! You wonder if the madness will ever end! Trying to stop it is futile! So just listen now to my Musical Doodle! Listen again to the Musical Doodle!"
• Sandy mentions the episode title when she says, "You're suffering from a condition known as Earworm. You see, when your brain becomes stuck on a catchy tune, you're spectacle with Earworm infection and you've got a nasty one there."
• This is Tuck Tucker's last episode to be credited as Supervising storyboard director, until he died on December 22, 2020.

File:Screen Shot 2018-08-29 at 4.51.35 AM.png

SpongeBob's blue brain with the earworm.

• Usually SpongeBob's brain is pink, but in this episode, it is blue.

Errors

• After Mr. Krabs tells SpongeBob to stop singing, his eyelids turn a paler red for a second.
• Sandy said they couldn't rip the earworm out or it would damage SpongeBob's brain. However, she stuck her hand all the way into SpongeBob's head and put a hat on the earworm, nearly touching the brain.