Clams

Characters

• Squidward Tentacles
• Template:Data:Links
• Live-action orchestra Template:Debut
• Eugene H. Krabs
• Incidentals
  • Sandals
  • Incidental 13 ^{(blue torso, red shorts)}
  • Incidental 37A
  • Fred Template:Cameo
  • Incidental 20
  • Incidental 48
  • Incidental 16
  • Incidental 69
  • Incidental 36
  • Incidental 18
  • Incidental 22
  • Incidental 103
  • Incidental 41 Template:Cameo
  • Incidental 60
  • Incidental 64 Template:Cameo
  • Incidental 150
  • Incidental 42
  • Incidental 4
  • Incidental 106
  • Incidental 12
• Small Clams
• Old Bluelip Template:Debut
• Hans
• Gary the Snail Template:Cameo
• Victor Krabs ^{(debut; deleted scene)}

Synopsis

When a customer at the Krusty Krab buys coral bits for one dollar, Mr. Krabs excitedly announces that this particular dollar is his one millionth earned. He tells SpongeBob and Squidward that they are going on a surprise trip to celebrate. To Squidward's dismay, they go clam fishing in a boat called the S.S. Cheapskate on a smelly lagoon.

While fishing, SpongeBob accidentally hooks the back of Mr. Krabs' pants, which he has taped his millionth dollar to, and rips it off. Once the dollar is thrown into the lagoon, dramatic music played by a live-action orchestra starts up, signaling an incoming clam attack. SpongeBob reels the dollar back into the boat, but a blue-lipped clam suddenly jumps out of the lagoon, grabs the dollar from Mr. Krabs, and swims away. Mr. Krabs cries until Squidward reluctantly promises to help him get his dollar back. Mr. Krabs is happy to hear this, and gives everyone supplies so that they can prepare themselves for catching the clam. Mr. Krabs then starts keeping a lookout for the clam.

After three days, the clam still has not returned. SpongeBob and Squidward have grown tired of waiting, so they try to fool Mr. Krabs by giving him a dollar out of Squidward's wallet. Mr. Krabs sees through their scheme and states that he will give a sandwich to whoever retrieves his dollar. He goes so far as to toss the other sandwiches and the entire fridge into the lagoon, making the sandwich the only piece of food onboard. Squidward and SpongeBob realize that their boss has succumbed to madness and try to escape, only for Mr. Krabs to catch them and use them as bait for the clam.

File:Clams 192.jpg

Krabs goes crazy over a dollar.

Soon, the dramatic music starts again, with Mr. Krabs being the conductor. The clam advances toward the boat with Mr. Krabs' dollar lying on his tongue. Mr. Krabs jumps onto the clam's tongue and grabs the dollar, only for the clam to shut its mouth and dive back into the lagoon. SpongeBob and Squidward are distraught until Mr. Krabs' head pops out of the lagoon. He reveals that he and the clam fought until Mr. Krabs agreed to trade his entire body (minus his head and arm) for the dollar.

Production

Deleted scene

In the storyboard version featured on the SpongeGuard on Duty DVD, after Mr. Krabs gets his 1,000,000th dollar at the Krusty Krab, he uses the restaurant's phone to call his parents Victor Krabs and Betsy Krabs at the Bikini Bottom Graveyard to tell them about it. The reason this scene was cut from the final episode is unknown.

Storyboard

• File:Clams storyboard-1.png
• File:Clams storyboard-2.png

Art

• File:FB4C7DC2-F41C-4DA9-B387-12AFA787A69B.jpeg
• File:1619886794184.png
• File:13433066 1123401524368503 4172910284603661530 o.jpg
• File:13497547 1372253229456589 608817852253750461 o.jpg

Release

• This episode is available on the SpongeGuard on Duty (with storyboard version on the special features), Complete 3rd Season, Beach Bob, First 100 Episodes, The Ultimate SpongeBob Box Set, SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 5, Complete Third Season, Beware the Hooks, From the Beginning, Part 2, Celebrate the Sea, The SpongeBob SquarePants Collection, On the Road Again, The SpongeBob SquarePants 8 Season DVD Collection, Favorite Episodes, 2-Season TV Pack, The Third & Fourth Seasons, and The Best 200 Episodes Ever DVDs.
• This episode is also available on the UK version of the SpongeGuard on Duty VHS tape.

Reception

• Template:Rank
• This episode and "New Student Starfish" were nominated for an Emmy at the 2003 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour).

Trivia

General

• Mr. Krabs breaks the fourth wall by acknowledging the existence of the dramatic music while SpongeBob reels his dollar in and again by conducting the same music to lure in Old Bluelip.
  • He then opens a double-door on the boat which reveals an orchestra playing the same music.
  • Later, when he is using them as bait, SpongeBob and Squidward question why the clam would appear then when it would not before.
  • The camera pans to Mr. Krabs dressed as a conductor in front of the orchestra, revealing that it is the ominous background music that draws the clam's attention.
• In this episode, the sky gradient is a darker shade of blue at the top and lighter at the bottom. In most other episodes, it is darker at the bottom and lighter at the top.
• Old Bluelip's roaring was performed by Dee Bradley Baker and pitched down.
• This is the first episode for two things:
  • The first episode to play "Hawaiian Cocktail" in its entirety and the only episode to play it without any kind of alteration.
  • The first episode where SpongeBob wears red swimming shorts until season 8 with the episode "Patrick's Staycation." The shorts ever since are now SpongeBob's normal swimming shorts.
• The French title for this episode is "Courage, rien n'est jamais perdu," which means "Courage, something that is never lost."
• For unknown reasons, this episode and its sister episode were rated 13+ on Amazon Prime Video in August 2020.
  • This has since been corrected as of October 2020, and the episode is back to being rated its original TV-Y7 rating on Amazon Prime Video.
• During the Best Day Ever marathon, this episode was paired with "Tea at the Treedome."
• During the SpongeBob vs. The Goo marathon, this episode was paired with "A Life in a Day."
• In the animatic, there's a line from Mr. Krabs (after SpongeBob rips off Squidward's nose) that isn't present in the final version: "What's a nose or two?"

Cultural references

• This episode is a spoof of the Jaws movie series.
  • The references to the film include the title card, the title, the musical score, and three main characters on a boat chasing a larger than normal animal.
  • Mr. Krabs fills the role of Quint, who was portrayed by Robert Shaw in the movie.
  • SpongeBob fills the role of Martin Brody, who was portrayed by Roy Scheider.
  • Squidward fills the role of Matt Hooper, who was portrayed by Richard Dreyfuss.
  • The theme music which plays throughout the episode is similar to the John Williams score to the film.
  • The original name of this episode was "SpongeJaws," a pun of the movie's title.
• The episode also features numerous references to Moby Dick, including Mr. Krabs' obsessive pursuit of the clam and nailing a sandwich to a flagpole on the boat.
• The episode's plot is similar to the 1995 Rocko's Modern Life episode "Fish-N-Chumps." Both episodes were also directed by Stephen Hillenburg and written by Mark O'Hare.
• Bikini Bottom Folk Village appears to be modeled after living museums such as Colonial Williamsburg and Plimouth Plantation.

Errors

• In early airings, the episode had an incorrect copyright date of 2001 in the credits. Later airings (and the original print of this episode) have the correct date of 2002.
• When the curtains open in the Krusty Krab, it covers up the part of the wall where SpongeBob and Squidward work.
• After SpongeBob hooks the flag, it is gone. However, while Mr. Krabs is telling SpongeBob he hooked his dollar, the flag reappears.
  • This may have been for the sake of a joke.
• S.S. Cheapskate is referred to numerous times as a boat, so it should not be called "S.S. Cheapskate," as "S.S." stands for "Steam Ship," and S.S. Cheapskate is not a ship.

File:Clams 148.jpg

The lipstick is gone.

• When Squidward clobbers SpongeBob before he can finish saying "Actually, it's coral blue number thre-," the lipstick he put on his lips disappears even after Squidward lifted the blunt object off of him.
• For most of the episode, the S.S. Cheapskate does not have a bowsprit. However, in the final scene of the episode, it does.
  • In the animatics, the boat consistently has a bowsprit throughout the episode. It is possible that the animators didn't notice the bowsprit in the animatic until the end scene, which explains why the boat suddenly has a bowsprit at the end.