Big Top Flop

Characters

• Template:Data:Links
  • Sponge-O the Incompetent Template:Single appearance
• Squidward Tentacles
  • Squid-O Template:Single appearance
• Patrick Star
  • Sea bear Template:Single appearance
• Eugene H. Krabs
  • Ringmaster Template:Single appearance
• Template:Data:Links
  • Incidental 34
  • Incidental 64
  • Incidental 151
  • Incidental 152
  • Incidental 153
  • Trick-or-treat inc
  • Mom inc
  • Dad inc
  • Audience inc 2
  • Audience inc 3
  • Audience inc 5
  • Vendor inc
  • Incidental C17
• Ringmaster Mudkrab Template:Single appearance
• Ms. Mayor ^(mentioned)
• Big fish four-eyes
• Motorcyclist
• Fish cowboy
• Showgirl fish
• Ringmaster's assistant
• Canonball Jenkins
• Sea bears
• Giraffes
• Sea urchins
• Football player
• Pearl's cyan friend

Synopsis

File:Big Top Flop 020.png

Mr. Krabs sees Mudkrab.

Mr. Krabs notices that the Krusty Krab is empty, and is unable to figure out why. He suddenly hears calliope music and realizes that the circus is in town. The leader, Ringmaster Mudkrab, shows up and tells Krabs that he has legal permission to build his circus in front of the Krusty Krab. He offers Krabs a free ticket to the circus and brags about stealing his business. Krabs takes SpongeBob, Squidward, and Patrick to the circus in order to sabotage it.

Mudkrab talks to his circus crew inside a trailer, but Krabs barricades it shut. He decides to put on intentionally bad circus acts to ruin its reputation. He announces the show and insults the audience, but they actually enjoy it. For the first act, he has SpongeBob use a unicycle on a tightrope. SpongeBob is surprisingly able to keep his balance, and when Krabs tries to sabotage it by throwing urchins on him, he bounces off the net and into the audience. Meanwhile, back in the trailer, the circus magician summons a small saw from his hat, which Mudkrab uses to saw open the trailer doors.

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Squidward the sad clown's act.

Krabs' next act is Squidward as a sad clown, which unexpectedly manages to win the audience over with its emotion. For the last performance, Krabs lets the sea bears loose and has Patrick act as a circus animal instead. Krabs wants Patrick to balance on a ball, but gets impatient and tries to shove him over it. The audience gets mad at Krabs, and Patrick and the audience threaten Krabs into doing the ball performance instead, which they end up enjoying.

Mudkrab finally escapes the trailer and storms into the circus tent. Krabs uses the circus equipment to try to avoid him, but Mudkrab keeps chasing after him. When Krabs gets stuck on the tightrope, he throws urchins at Mudkrab, and he gets knocked off. The urchins then gnaw the rope and knock Krabs off. Krabs escapes on a unicycle, with Mudkrab riding a motorcycle. The two eventually hop into cannons and fire at each other. The resulting collision is unseen, but results in applause from the audience and circus staff.

A week later, SpongeBob and Squidward stand in the middle of a deserted Krusty Krab. SpongeBob asks if Mr. Krabs will ever want to come back from the circus. Squidward suspects he will not because of how much money he is making. A pan back to the circus shows Krabs and Mudkrab fused together as a new freak show attraction, with a cheering crowd around them.

Production

This episode was confirmed on January 13, 2023.

On October 8, 2023, "Mr. Fox" confirmed he was present for this episode's ADR records: "ADR means Automated Dialogue Replacement. So when they didn't get everything they needed in the original records made before the animation, they bring the actors back in after the episode is animated to fix timings or get efforts or other little things." He told viewers to go watch and support the episode.

Art

Background design

• Layouts designed by Sterling Richter.

• Exterior of circus
  Exterior of circus
• Interior of circus
  Interior of circus

Storyboards

• Plussed by Kyle Morrison, who also may have modeled Squidward's clown close-up, and Jeffrey Shea. Revised by Chris Tabares.

• File:Big top flop 3.jpg

File:KyleMorrison boards.mp4

• File:Big top flop 1.jpg
• File:Big top flop 4.jpg
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File:Jeff Shea 1351 revisions.mp4

Production notes

Kyle Morrison:

• "My last Season 13 scene was Squidward's sad clown act. We thought it would be way funnier if it was an artsy performance Squid was deliberately putting his all into (and a subtle "take that" to Krabs for ridiculing him earlier in the episode). This wouldn't have been nearly as good had Ian Vazquez not choreographed the heck out of the silent acting, and it's probably my favorite Squid scene I've plussed so far!"

Release

• This episode is available on The Complete Thirteenth Season DVD.

Trivia

General

• This is the third episode to have a circus play a major role in its plot after "Don't Feed the Clowns" and "Under the Small Top."
  • Coincidentally, "Under the Small Top" is another season 13 episode.
• This is the first episode in the franchise to premiere on Halloween in the United States.
  • Ironically, this episode has nothing to do with the holiday.
• This is the first episode for the opening credits to credit Ian Vazquez as a supervising director instead of a storyboard supervisor.
  • Additionally, this is the fourteenth episode that was directed by him.
• The track "Broken Ride" returns after not being used for 11 years.
• The ending of characters being conjoined is similar to "SquidBob TentaclePants" and "Teacher's Pests," although Mr. Krabs and Mudkrab take advantage of their position, racking up money at the circus.
• This episode was originally going to premiere at 5:00pm, but it was moved to 4:00pm.

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Simulcasting. By the time Nick had started the episode, Nicktoons was already airing it.

• This episode's premiere, alongside the other three in its premiere week, have been simulcast on Nicktoons. It aired early on Nicktoons compared to Nickelodeon, which aired the episode after a 5-minute commercial break. This is due to Nicktoons positioning commercial breaks after the show ends, rather than before it.
  • A similar occurrence happened during the season 4 premiere of Big City Greens, in which the episode "Truck Stop" began 4 minutes before on Disney XD rather than its home network, Disney Channel.
• This episode was paired up with a rerun of "Allergy Attack!" during the original American airing.
• This episode marks the last definitive participation of Latin American voice actor Luis Pérez Pons as the voice of Mr. Krabs, before his death on October 24, 2023.

Cultural references

• Patrick's stance when he falls from the sky and later when he is called by Mr. Krabs to get into the Sea Bear cage bears resemblance to the infamous "Family Guy Death Pose", in which a character lays facing away from the viewer with an arm laid behind their back after getting injured.
  • This previously occurred in "Slappy Daze."
• During the sad clown performance, Squidward does an impression of Jimmy Durante while even mimicking his famous catchphrase, "Ha-cha-cha-cha-cha-chaaaaa!"
  • Durante was previously referenced in "The Ballad of Filthy Muck" and The Patrick Star Show episode "I Smell a Pat."

The face Mr. Krabs makes when he says "And it will be fun for all ages" is similar to Chaim's face from the first episode "Pilot" from Schutz Family

Episode references

File:Big Top Flop 150.png

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• The work calendar read "Septebuary," which was previously mentioned as a gag month in "SquidBird." However, in that episode, Patrick called it "Septembuary."
• The dances Mr. Krabs does on the ball references his birthday dance from "Squeaky Boots" and his robot dance from "Krab Borg."
• The audience of the circus includes characters from "Scaredy Pants" and "MuscleBob BuffPants."

Errors

File:Big Top Flop 055.png

The tag on Patrick's costume is brown like his fins

• When Squidward in his clown outfit is revealed, the white tag on Patrick's sea bear costume is colored the same brown as his fins.

Videos

File:SpongeBob SquarePants - Season 13 and 14 Official Promo (Starting October 30, 2023)

File:Catch Up Now on Your DVR or Nick OnDemand Promo (November 3, 2023)