SpongeBob and Patrick are strolling through Bikini Bottom and see Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy in the invisible boatmobile, without gas. SpongeBob and Patrick push the boat over several hills.
Barnacle Boy invites them into their warehouse full of memorabilia from their T.V. show so long as they don't touch anything. Barnacle Boy shows them a time machine which they have never used, and warns them not to use it, because they could mess up the timeline.
Almost immediately Patrick mistakes it for a vending machine, and all of them are transported to 1954 when Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy were young. The heroes scold Patrick for his actions and travel the area, due to his stupidity. They see Man Ray tormenting old Bikini Bottom. Past Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy are unsuccessful at foiling Man Ray due to Patrick eating the tartar sauce they were originally going to trap him in.
The superheroes from their time are now dead and buried inside of the restaurant while the past superheroes now work there. Mermaid Man is the fry cook, SpongeBob's position, and Barnacle Boy is the cashier, Template:Data:Links's position realising that they created an alternate timeline by preventing Man Ray's defeat. They go back to stop Patrick from eating the tartar sauce, but the heroes who were sent by accident believe they are impostors. The Mermaid Men fight which creates the perfect distraction for Man Ray. The young Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy attempt to foil Man Ray with the tartar sauce, but the two Patricks end up eating it. Another warehouse appears.
SpongeBob and Patrick from a different time period emerge from the warehouse screaming "Patrick, don't eat the tartar sauce!" Another warehouse appears above of Man Ray and out fall SpongeBob and Patrick. Yet another one appears with SpongeBob saying to Patrick "I told you we had to go back further!"
Another one pops to Man Ray's left with Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy leaping out of it exclaiming, "Up, up and away!" They both fall headfirst into the ground. Another one appears above of the previous warehouse with the superheroes. SpongeBob and Patrick appear and throw a batch of tartar sauce over the fallen superheroes from the previous warehouse.
Another one appears next to the pair of warehouses. Man Ray flies out of it, destroys it, says, "I took care of your blasted time machine!" and leaves. All of the warehouses appearing in random locations confuses Man Ray. Man Ray sits down on a log and thinks about what is happening, but gets arrested by the superheroes. Then all of a sudden, many warehouses appear all over the planet, all of them containing multiple copies of SpongeBob and Patrick.
Although this episode premiered in 2010, it was made in 2009 according to the credits.
The title card of this episode is very similar to that of "Patty Caper" from season 6.
In this episode, Barnacle Boy refers to the Invisible Boatmobile as "The Invisiboat."
This episode aired in the UK on April 2, 2010, two months after the American premiere.
The original past when Man Ray is brought to justice via tartar sauce is a reference to "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy III," where Man Ray is shown to be entombed in frozen tartar sauce.
It could possibly explain why Man Ray turns good in "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy III," but is evil in most other episodes after it. As they altered the future, Man Ray was never frozen in tartar sauce to later be awakened, and turned good. Instead, he went straight to jail. Thus, he remained evil.
Because of this, the sister episode is eight minutes long.
When tons of objects fall down on Mermaid Man, Man Ray's head is visible and can be seen falling down on Mermaid Man's.
This is the third episode to have time traveling. The first is "SB-129," and the second is "Dunces and Dragons."
SpongeBob says "jaywalking" in this episode. The term "jaywalking" was first cited in the dictionary in the same year as Ernest Borgnine's birth.
This episode heavily uses the butterfly effect during the time traveling scenes.
This is the only episode to feature Squilliam without Squidward and overall his last appearance in general, not counting his cameo in "Code Yellow" in season ten (as that was just a nose and not the character himself).
This episode supposedly premiered on Annoy Squidward Day (if the date of the holiday is correct).
This is the 100th episode to use the track "Lap Steel."
Cultural references
The title of this episode is a reference to the film Back to the Future.
Another reference to Back to the Future is that SpongeBob and Patrick time travel to 1954, while Marty McFly traveled to 1955.
Mermaid Man says "Let the lighthouse of justice shine on Ray Man!" which is a reference to the Ubisoft character, Rayman.
Errors
When SpongeBob and Patrick are traveling back to the present, the clocks are moving backwards instead of forwards.File:Images-0.jpegThe clocks are going backwards
Near the end, SpongeBob's body color is a lot darker than normal.
Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy drive an Invisible Boatmobile, but the gas tank was shown when Barnacle Boy reminded Mermaid Man they were out. It should be an invisible gas tank.
On the December 7th, 2019 airing of the episode in Nick CEE, the entire episode is skipped to SpongeBob and Patrick traveling to Man Rayopolis.
Running gags
Whenever there is tartar sauce, Patrick eats it up.
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