A Skin Wrinkle in Time

"A Skin Wrinkle in Time" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season 13. In this episode, GrandPat travels through time and space to get back home

Characters

• SpongeBob SquarePants ^(cameo)
• GrandPat Star
• French Narrator
• Painty the Pirate
• Hans
• Cecil Star ^(cameo)
• Bunny Star ^(cameo)
• Patrick Star ^(cameo)
• Squidina Star ^(cameo)
• Cowboy 1 ^{(single appearance)}
• Cowboy 2 ^{(single appearance)}
• Incidentals
  • Incidental 64
  • Incidental 82
  • Incidental 6
  • Incidental 150
  • Incidental 7
• King Neptune ^(mentioned)

Synopsis

File:A Skin Wrinkle in Time 003.png

GrandPat making his way through the wormhole.

The episode begins with GrandPat flying through a wormhole, avoiding various junk on his way. However, he stops when he notices a huge Painty the Pirate on his way, flying into his mouth and replacing SpongeBob in his theme song. He wants to get out of the theme song, and luckily finds a time closet door nearby, flying into the Wild West era, where the two cowboys are engaging in a stand-off. It's interrupted by GrandPat, who flies out of the time closet and grabs the second cowboy, leaving with him. The two fly through the wormhole again, seeing a baby version of GrandPat on the way. Their trip ends when they notice a seahorse on the way, with the cowboy telling that it's his as he jumps on it and flies away. After a while, GrandPat finally arrives in his home timeline, but as he sits down to watch TV, he notices that his family became fly-like beings. He doesn't mind that and continues to watch the French Narrator on TV, until he turns it off, to GrandPat's disdain.

Production

Arielle Phillips drew promotional art referencing this episode for the Tidal Zone's San Diego Comic-Con poster during February and March 2022.

This episode was confirmed by Cartoonlounge.de on August 2, 2022.

An image from this episode was showcased at New York Comic-Con on October 9, 2022.

This episode, along with "Welcome to Binary Bottom" and "You're Going to Pay... Phone" were officially completed in September 2022. However, they were delivered on December 2, 2022, because of the Kamp Koral Tidal Zone segment being completed and delivered on the same date.

Promotional art

File:The Tidal Zone.png

Comic-Con Tidal Zone poster, drawn by Arielle Phillips.

Storyboards

• Directed by Sherm Cohen, "funny roughs" by Fred Osmond, plussed by Zach Heffelfinger with "some help from Ted Seko on a couple scenes."

File:Skin Wrinkle Storyboards 1.mp4

• File:Skin Wrinkle Storyboards 2.jpg
• File:Skin Wrinkle Storyboards 3.jpg
• File:Skin Wrinkle Storyboards 4.jpg
• File:Skin Wrinkle Storyboards 5.jpg
• File:Skin Wrinkle Storyboards 6.jpg
• File:Skin Wrinkle Storyboards 7.jpg

Workprint

• File:Skin Wrinkle Storyboards 8.jpg
• File:Skin Wrinkle Storyboards 9.jpg

Production notes

Zach Heffelfinger:

• This episode was one of Heffelfinger's favorite assignments, as "[he] got to reimagine the SpongeBob Theme Song with [GrandPat] from "The Tidal Zone" Special."

Music

( ‣ ) Production music

( • ) Original music

( ◦ ) SpongeBob music

 ‣ Dramatic Background - Kurt Rehfeld [Title card.]
 ◦ GrandPat Sea Star - Andrew Goodman, Eban Schletter [GrandPat's theme song.]
 ‣ The Monkey Cage - Dennis Farnon ["I gotta get outta this nightmare!"]
 • Blazing Baloney Western - Nicolas Carr [Cowboys in a standoff.]
 • ? [Overlays "Blazing Baloney Western"]
 ‣ Scandinavian Polka - Thomas Howe, Michael Reed, Matthew Robertson [GrandPat crashes into a cowboy.]
 • Blazing Baloney Western - Nicolas Carr ["This town ain't big enough for the both of us."]
 • ? [Overlays "Blazing Baloney Western"]
 • Descent Into Madness - Nicolas Carr [GrandPat and the cowboy travel through time.]
 ‣ John Hardy - Saul Brody, Zan S McLeod, Michael Morgan, Stephen Wade [Cowboy rides away.]
 ‣ Comedy Punctuations and Bridges 4 - Fredric Bayco [GrandPat goes through a door.]
 ‣ German Dizzy Dance - Daniel Backes, Peter Moslener [GrandPat returns home.]
 • Tidal Zone Theme - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Ending.]

Release

• This episode is available on the digital media of the same name, SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 22 digital release, The Complete Thirteenth Season, Kamp Koral Season 1, Volume 2, and The Patrick Star Show Season 1, Volume 2 DVDs.

Trivia

General

• This episode premiered as a part of "The Tidal Zone" special event.
• On its original airing, and all subsequent Tidal Zone re-airings, this segment, alongside "You're Going to Pay...Phone," were paired with the Kamp Koral segment, "The Switch Glitch."
• This episode was originally scheduled to premiere on Friday, November 25, 2022 in the United States at 7:22PM, but it instead got replaced with the Nickelodeon premiere of the 2021 film The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run due to this episode not being delivered at its intended release date.
  • This episode was later scheduled to premiere at this exact time on the January 13, 2023, but it instead premiered at 7:52PM, mirroring its proposed chronological order in The Tidal Zone.
  • This episode was also scheduled to premiere in Italy on Thursday, February 16, 2023 at 8:22PM, but the segment (along with the entire "Tidal Zone" event) was later postponed for unknown reasons.
• This is the second SpongeBob episode to share the exact same production code with another segment, with this and both "You're Going to Pay...Phone" using the production number of 325-1324.
  • For this reason, it appears as if the episode is not treated as a standalone segment production wise. The late scene number (SC106) during the midpoint of the episode's storyboards implies that it is merely an extension of the prior episode.
    • This also explains why this episode does not have upfront credits, and as such, Fred Osmond went uncredited.
  • The fact that Zeus Cervas boarded the first half of #1324 and Fred Osmond did the second half indicates that it was done in a similar way to how "Sir Urchin and Snail Fail," "Plane to Sea," and "Friendiversary" shared two storyboard directors, where one did the first seven minutes of the storyboard, and the other did the last four.
• This is the first third segment since "BlackJack" in season 5 and the seventh third segment overall after "Tea at the Treedome," "Fungus Among Us," "Good Ol' Whatshisname," "Slimy Dancing," "The Krusty Plate," and "BlackJack."
• This is SpongeBob's fourth non-speaking appearance after "Reef Blower," "Whale Watching," and "Lockdown for Love." Unlike in the other three (where he silently mouths a "You!" subtitle, laughs, and pants and groans as a part of Larry's jogging group respectively), he does not even make any noise.
• This is the sixth episode of the main SpongeBob SquarePants series to feature a character from a spin-off series. The first was "Something Narwhal This Way Comes," the second was "Upturn Girls," the third was "Slappy Daze," the fourth was "Welcome to Binary Bottom," and the fifth was "You're Going to Pay...Phone."
  • This was due to the episode being part of "The Tidal Zone" crossover event, intended to include characters from a spin-off series.
• This is the second episode that features an animated character on the title card. The first was "Trident Trouble," which featured all the members of the Greek chorus speaking to the viewers.
• This is the 11th episode of the main series (and the 12th overall in the SpongeBob franchise) to feature the SpongeBob SquarePants Theme Song (with a new recording), but all instances of SpongeBob's name are changed to GrandPat's name.
  • This is, as well, the fourth time someone else does the theme song besides SpongeBob. The previous instances are Squidward, Patrick, and Mr. Krabs in "Truth or Square."
• This is the second episode to have no onscreen credits, following "Reef Blower."
• This is the first episode to not only play instantly after another episode, but to have the title card play after the intro and first scene.
• GrandPat questioning if he's reached the beginning of the universe as he's about to fly into Painty's lips is an in-joke on how the series' theme song serves as the "beginning" of the SpongeBob universe; it was also the first piece of series media to be released in full, with the song obviously playing prior to the premiere of "Help Wanted."

Episode references

• The Krusty Kantina appears in the background of GrandPat's encounter with the two cowboys, which first appears in the season 5 special "Pest of the West."

Cultural references

• This episode's title is a pun of the 1962 science fantasy novel A Wrinkle in Time.

Errors

• At the end of the theme song, when the camera pans to GrandPat, a white border can be seen at the bottom of the screen.
• During a wider shot of the cowboys' stand-off, the font on the Krusty Kantina is hand written and spells "Krusty Kanting".

File:A Skin Wrinkle in Time 030.png

Krusty Kanting instead of Krusty Kantina.

• In the Hebrew dub, the title card isn't translated.

Videos

• File:⚠️ THE TIDAL ZONE IS COMING! ⚠️ SpongeBob Universe Special Trailer - 3-Night Crossover Event
• File:The Tidal Zone SpongeBob Universe Special Promo - January 13, 2023 (Nickelodeon U.S.)
• File:The Tidal Zone SpongeBob Universe Special Promo 2 - January 13, 2023 (Nickelodeon U.S.)
• File:The Tidal Zone SpongeBob Universe Special Promo 3 - January 13, 2023 (Nickelodeon U.S.)
• File:The Tidal Zone SpongeBob Universe Special Promo 4 - January 13, 2023 (Nickelodeon U.S.)
• File:The Tidal Zone SpongeBob Universe Special Promo 5 - January 13, 2023 (Nickelodeon U.S.)
• File:The Tidal Zone SpongeBob Universe Special Promo 6 - January 13, 2023 (Nickelodeon U.S.)
• File:The Tidal Zone SpongeBob Universe Special Promo 7 - January 13, 2023 (Nickelodeon U.S.)
• File:New on Nick in 2023 Promo 1 (Nickelodeon U.S.)
• File:SpongeBob Universe - "The Tidal Zone" Event Promo
• File:The Tidal Zone SpongeBob Universe Special Promo January 14, 2023