Back to the Past

If you were looking for the article about the Japanese DVD, then see Back to the Past (DVD).

Characters

• Patrick Star
• Template:Data:Links
• Barnacle Boy
• Mermaid Man
• Dirty Bubble
• Early Bikini Bottomites
  • Undertaker
• Seahorse
• Man Ray
• Man Ray's minions Template:Single appearance
• Alternate timeline Man Ray
• Alternate timeline Mermaid Man
  • Mermaid Man (Man Ray timeline)
• Alternate timeline Barnacle Boy
  • Barnacle Boy (Man Ray timeline)
• Alternate timeline Squilliam Fancyson Template:Cameo
• Fish in the Man Ray poster
• Prisoners
  • Alternate timeline Incidental 37B
  • Alternate timeline Incidental 6
  • Alternate timeline Incidental 64
  • Alternate timeline Fred
  • Alternate timeline Incidental 23 Template:Cameo
  • Alternate timeline Incidental 155
• Alternate timeline Incidental 20 ^(green)
• Alternate timeline Incidental 25
• Robot police officer Template:Single appearance
• Alternate timeline Incidental 42 Template:Cameo
• Alternate timeline Incidental 14
• Alternate timeline Incidental 15 Template:Cameo
• Alternate timeline Incidental 46

Synopsis

File:Time Machine (device).png

The time travel machine.

In the beginning of the episode, 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 that 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.

SpongeBob and Patrick escape old Bikini Bottom, leaving their Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy behind. When SpongeBob and Patrick return to Bikini Bottom, it is no longer called Bikini Bottom, but Man Rayopolis. They go to the Krusty Krab which is now called "The Designated Area Where You Are Permitted by Man Ray, Your Ruler, to Obtain Sandwiches Using Man Ray Dollars."

File:Back to the Past 148.png

The superheroes from their time are now dead and buried inside 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 realizing 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 outfall 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 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 revisiting the day that evil was defeated for good, as the episode ends.

Running gags

• Whenever there is tartar sauce, Patrick eats it up.

Production

Art

• File:3730434519 56325c9362 k.jpg
• File:3730512887 580cb1c67e b.jpg
• File:3730536861 3cd9341c33 h.jpg
• File:3731333166 688c6ac2be h.jpg

Release

• This episode is available on the Heroes of Bikini Bottom, Back to the Past DVD, SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 11, The Best 200 Episodes Ever, The SpongeBob SquarePants Collection, 3 DVD Value Pack, The SpongeBob SquarePants 8 Season DVD Collection, The Best of Bikini Bottom, Easter with SpongeBob, Big Hits: Volume 2, Triple Pack 3, Kids Double Pack: Volume 2, Kids Double Pack: Volume 3, Complete Seventh Season, and Next 100 Episodes DVDs.

Trivia

General

• This and "The Bad Guy Club for Villains" are the first episodes to use the 2009 Nickelodeon logo in the end credits.
• The title card of this episode is similar to those of "Nasty Patty" and "Patty Caper."
• This episode marks the only time Adam West voiced young Mermaid Man, before his death in 2017, and the only time Burt Ward voices young Barnacle Boy to date.
• In this episode, Barnacle Boy refers to the Invisible Boatmobile as "The Invisiboat."
• 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.
• Just like "Shanghaied," "Feral Friends," "Squirrel Jelly," "Swamp Mates," "Handemonium," "Krusty Koncessionaires," and "Squidferatu," this episode is longer than 11 minutes but shorter than 22 minutes.
  • 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 episode's credits can be seen near the end of its sister episode on the TV screen.
• In New Zealand, this episode was advertised as "Out of Time."
• SpongeBob mentions the episode title when he says: "Back to the past, gents!"
• 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 10 (as that was just his head appearing as a nose and not the character himself). Though SpongeBob is about to mention Squidward until he realizes the cashier is Barnacle Boy.
• Coincidentally, this episode's sister episode is also a Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy-themed episode.
• This was the last usage of "Happy Sponge Chase Vibes" until "The Krusty Bucket." It was its last usage as title card music until "Ma and Pa's Big Hurrah."
• This episode supposedly premiered on Annoy Squidward Day (if the date of the holiday is correct).
• During the Mermaid Man-a-Thon, it was paired up with "Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy VI: The Motion Picture."
• This is the 100th episode to use the track "Lap Steel."
• This was one of the two season 7 episodes to use "Chief Taravana." The other was "Buried in Time."
• This is the fourth Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy episode to not play "The Lineman." The first three were "Night Light," "The Card," and "Ditchin'" respectively.

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.
• The scene where SpongeBob and Patrick are walking pass by a poster of Man Ray that reads "I am watching you" is a reference to the phrase from George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984 "Big Brother is watching you."

Errors

• When SpongeBob and Patrick are traveling back to the present, the clocks are moving backward instead of forwards.

  File:Back to the Past 122.png

  The 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 7, 2019 airing of the episode in Nick CEE, the entire episode is skipped to SpongeBob and Patrick traveling to Man Rayopolis.
• In the European Spanish dub, Squilliam is called Squidward (Calamardo) and also has the latter's voice actor.

Video

File:Nickelodeon Split Screen Credits (February 15, 2010)