The Fish Bowl

"The Fish Bowl" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season 9. In this episode, when Sandy tries to study SpongeBob and Patrick's behavioral patterns, her science experiment goes awry.

Characters

• Sandy Cheeks
  • Mr. Pavlovi ^{(single appearance)}
• Jellyfish ^(cameo)
• Incidentals
  • Troutenheimer
  • Stretch ^{(lime; cameo)}
  • Incidental 48 ^(cameo)
  • Charlie
  • Incidental 14 ^(cameo)
  • Incidental 37B ^(cameo)
  • Incidental 46 ^(cameo)
  • Incidental 150 ^(cameo)
  • Incidental 64 ^(cameo)
• Bill
• Charlie's wife ^(mentioned)
• Lady fish ^{(single appearance)}
• Amanda ^(mentioned)
• Patrick Star
  • Patrick Corp President
• SpongeBob SquarePants
  • Daydream SpongeBob ^{(cameo in a picture)}
• Walter Haddock ^{(2 cameos)}
• Gary the Snail
• Harold SquarePants ^{(cameo in a picture)}
• Margaret SquarePants ^{(cameo in a picture)}
• Squidward Tentacles

Synopsis

The episode starts off with Sandy sitting in her pool lounge chair listening to music, when suddenly, a book she ordered arrives at her dome. The book is about behavioral psychology, which Sandy uses to observe the behavior of fishes underwater. She begins off by riding a bus full of fish, who seem to act naturally. However, she disturbs and annoys the Bikini Bottomites by eavesdropping and reading her observations out loud. The fish throw her and her equipment out of the bus and she decides to find someone who will not mind being observed. She then sees SpongeBob and Patrick playing with each other, and decides to ask them. The two do not know what they are supposed to do during natural observance and just stand straight while saying actions and forms of the word "natural." They are also very nervous due to the microphone and recorder; their nervousness immediately goes away when Sandy ends her experiment. Despite her experiment being unsuccessful, she gives them both an A+ for their effort, and when they start cheering, she observes them again, only to provoke the same reaction. She proceeds to give up.

File:Vlcsnap-2016-05-07-18h30m44s786.png

Sandy observing SpongeBob and Patrick.

Reading from the book again, Sandy learns that the test subject will behave abnormally if they are aware that they are being watched and may cause inaccurate results, so she decides to watch them in secret. She starts off by assigning them to go to the beach, to fill one bucket with white sand and one bucket with black sand to count. She also puts Patrick in charge. After that, Sandy hides microphones and cameras everywhere, puts Gary in charge of spying on the two, and observes the cameras from a van disguised as an ice cream truck.

When SpongeBob and Patrick get back home, Patrick is unable to stop thinking about being in charge. SpongeBob asks which method they will use to count the sand, but Patrick does not pay attention and continues to think about the phrase "I'm in charge." After SpongeBob asks how he wants to count the sand, he simply says that first suggestion, which is both of them counting the white sand first and then the black sand. While counting the sand, Patrick continues to think about being in charge and imagines himself running an organization called "Patrick Corp." When SpongeBob snaps him back into reality, having been stuck at 47 grains, Patrick decides he does not like how they are doing it and has SpongeBob count the black sand while he counts the white sand. He has trouble counting the sand, but SpongeBob does it flawlessly. Patrick then makes the error of missing the digit in the tens place as SpongeBob has the same digit in the ones place as him, causing him to get frustrated with SpongeBob.

Sandy then starts her second experiment by putting two scoops of the same amount of ice cream into two different sized bowls to confuse Patrick, which she gives to the two disguised as a mustached ice cream man. Squidward tries to get the ice cream, but when he comes, Sandy says the ice cream is sold out and slams the window on his nose, leaving him annoyed. Patrick likes the bigger bowl but believes the ice cream in the other bowl is bigger, and SpongeBob and Patrick constantly trade before Patrick says the only way for it to be fair is for him to eat both, causing SpongeBob to protest before Patrick selfishly reminds him that he is in charge.

Sandy then begins observing them both in her third experiment, when she hands them two ice cream cones exactly the same size. Squidward again tries to get the ice cream, but she says that they are sold out again and slams the window on his leg. Patrick takes both cones and SpongeBob begs to have his but Patrick forces him to rub his feet and then count the sand while his ice cream melts. SpongeBob then counts the black sand after finishing with the white sand, but Patrick cruelly knocks over the bucket and mixes it all together, forcing him to start over. Angry, SpongeBob gives Patrick's ice cream "sprinkles" by covering it with white sand, only for Patrick to retaliate by dropping his ice cream in the sand and eating SpongeBob's melted ice cream whole, finally causing SpongeBob's patience to run out.

Sandy then realizes Patrick is taking advantage of his privileges and taking advantage of SpongeBob due to his power of being in charge. SpongeBob angrily fights back, with Gary telling Sandy that the situation is bad. She runs towards the door and asks them to open it, but they have a fight about who opens it for her and she is forced to break the door down. Still wearing the mustache, Patrick believes that she is a real ice cream lady, and asks her to tell SpongeBob to open the door. She then reveals herself to Patrick, shocking him. Sandy reveals her experiment towards SpongeBob and Patrick. She shows them the cameras and microphones which leads to their affected behavior again, with SpongeBob upset that Gary was in on it too.

Upon hearing this, Patrick realizes that he got carried away with being in charge and apologizes to SpongeBob for his selfish behavior with him saying that he deserved a Z-. SpongeBob tells him not to be so hard on himself as it was the experiment's fault, causing Patrick to blame science. Sandy tells them that they all get an A+ and ice cream. Squidward starts begging for a drop of the ice cream which Sandy, SpongeBob, Patrick, and Gary all ate, and they end up observing Squidward's desire for the ice cream in the house, now revealed to be a cage, as the episode ends.

Production

In July 2015, Junpei Takayama began work on the series as a character designer. "The Fish Bowl" would be his first credited episode.

Vincent Waller confirmed this episode on Twitter on February 25, 2016.

One and a half months later, during a tour of Rough Draft Korea for students of Yongsan International School of Seoul in 2016, various SpongeBob color background books were discovered for many episode segments. One of the books found was created for "The Fish Bowl," proving that the episode was shipped to Korea on September 18, 2015.

Art

Sketches

• Drawn by Dave Cunningham.

• A drawing of Sandy with unibrows
  A drawing of Sandy with unibrows

Background design

• Designed by Marco Cinello and painted by Dustin D'Arnault.

• File:The Fish Bowl background 1.jpg
• File:The Fish Bowl background painting 2.jpg
• File:The Fish Bowl background 2.jpg
• File:The Fish Bowl background painting 1.jpg

Model sheets

• File:Pan.png

File:12967920 473910576130180 5318106348810033595 o.png

A picture of various SpongeBob color background books, going as far back as episode #507, "Best Day Ever."

Storyboards

• File:Chjuc XWwAAMfjO.jpg
• File:ChPRBGEU4AE NJS.jpeg.jpg
• File:ChQCRgaU0AEgRNN.jpeg.jpg
• Revised by Dave Cunningham.[9]
  Revised by Dave Cunningham.

Music

( ‣ ) Production music

( • ) Original music

( ◦ ) SpongeBob music

 • Kailua Jubilee - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Title card.]
 • Sandy's Texas Swing - Nicolas Carr [Opening.]
 • AHAAA! - Nicolas Carr [Sandy gets the idea to study underwater people.]
 • Silly Bob Conversation 2 - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [Sandy does the experiment on the bus.]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks 23A - Jeremy Wakefield [Sandy's recording device is thrown back at her.]
 • The Donut Dilema - Nicolas Carr [Sandy asks SpongeBob and Patrick to be part of her experiment.]
 • DP09 ITS THE ALIEN - Nicolas Carr [SpongeBob and Patrick stiltedly greet each other.]
 • The Donut Dilema - Nicolas Carr [Sandy says the experiment's done.]
 • Cream Pie - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob and Patrick ask how they did.]
 • DP09 ITS THE ALIEN - Nicolas Carr [Sandy resumes observation.]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks 20D - Jeremy Wakefield ["Oh, forget it."]
 • Vibe Q Sting - Nicolas Carr ["Hmm..."]
 • DP09 ITS THE ALIEN - Nicolas Carr [SpongeBob and Patrick get stilted]
 • Hello Blues - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield ["Are you guys up for another experiment?"]
 • Mission Improbable - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony ["Time to get to work."]
 • Skipping to School - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob and Patrick return from the beach.]
 • Short Military Bridge 1 - Nicolas Carr ["Aye, aye, Captain Sandy."]
 • Nude Sting - Nicolas Carr [Sandy tells Patrick he's in charge.]
 • The Fruitcake Vendor 2 - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [Sandy observing from inside an ice cream truck.]
 ‣ Bobbins and Spindles - Ronald Hanmer [Patrick's daydream.]
 • The Fruitcake Vendor 2 - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony ["We were at forty-seven"/Patrick counting sand.]
 ‣ Cockney Capers - Ray Davies [Strip Sounds] ["Time to initiate the first variable."]
 • Popcycles and Ice Cream - Nicolas Carr ["Free ice cream!"]
 • Humorous Conversation Full Mix - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [Sandy gives SpongeBob and Patrick ice cream.]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks 7A - Jeremy Wakefield [Squidward's nose crushed.]
 • Humorous Conversation Full Mix - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [Patrick eats all the ice cream.]
 • Popcycles and Ice Cream - Nicholas Carr ["More free ice cream here!"]
 • Fooling Around 2 w e gtr - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony ["I'll take those, my good man."]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks 19B - Jeremy Wakefield [Squidward's hands crushed.]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks 19E - Jeremy Wakefield ["For the love of Pete!"]
 • Fooling Around 2 w e gtr - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [Patrick wants SpongeBob to rub his feet.]
 ‣ House Of Horror [#10.5] - William Merrick Farran [Closeup of Patrick's foot.]
 • Fooling Around 2 w e gtr - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [Ice cream starts to melt.]
 • Lap Steel - Nicolas Carr ["All right, I will."]
 • Light Conversation 1 Full Mix - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [Patrick mixes white and black sand.]
 • Tension Bits - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield ["Jeepers! I didn't see that coming."]
 • Shark Frenzy - Steve Marston [SpongeBob and Patrick glare at each other.]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks 37D - Jeremy Wakefield ["Aha!"]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks 31D - Jeremy Wakefield [The door throws Squidward to the floor.]
 ‣ Drama Sting 3 - Steve Marston ["Open the door! The experiment is over!"]
 • Vibe Q Sting - Nicolas Carr ["Cameras?"]
 • DP09 ITS THE ALIEN - Nicolas Carr ["Et tu, Gary?"]
 • Drowsey Reef - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Patrick crying.]
 • Popcycles and Ice Cream - Nicolas Carr ["...and ice cream!"]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks 11E - Jeremy Wakefield [Everyone eating ice cream.]
 • Grass Skirt Chase - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Ending with Squidward crying.]

Release

Broadcast

• This episode's premiere followed the premiere of the Nickelodeon animated series The Loud House.

Distribution

Format	Title	Region
DVD	SpongeBob LongPants	Spain, Netherlands, Germany, Australia, Japan
	The Complete Ninth Season	United States, Australia
Box set	The Next 100 Episodes	United States
	The Best 200 Episodes Ever	United States
	The Best 300 Episodes Ever	United States
Digital release	SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 16	Global

Trivia

General

• This episode was originally called "The Fishbowl," with "fish" and "bowl" merged into a compound word, and "Fish Bowl," without "The."
• The episode's title refers to an alternate meaning of the term "fish bowl," being a place that is intensely scrutinized. This connects to how Sandy puts cameras around SpongeBob's house and monitors it during her observation.
• This is the first episode to be storyboarded by John Trabbic.
• This is only the Season 9 episode to use the track "Kailua Jubilee."
• The title card background is the same as "The Algae's Always Greener," but overlapped with blue and a reflective glare.
  • The title card's letters are also similar to those of "The Main Drain."
  • They also appear as a visual "fish bowl" effect, similar to ones used on cell phones and image editing software.

Episode references

• Squidward's "Art Wonk" magazine features his "canned bread" portrait from "Atlantis SquarePantis" and his distorted cubist portrait from "Squid's Visit" on the cover.

Cultural references

• The plot is a reference to the Stanford prison experiment.
• The ice cream truck and alias that Sandy used for her experiment is a reference to Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist primarily known for his work in classical conditioning. It also references the 1937 Marx Brothers film A Day at the Races, in which one of the characters sells "tootsie frootsie ice cream" as a front for ulterior motives.
• SpongeBob and Patrick's standoff is reminiscent of the final showdown from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
• SpongeBob's line "Et tu, Gary?" is in reference to "Et tu, Brute?," Julius Caesar's last words in the William Shakespeare play of the same name.
  • "Et tu" translates to "And you" in Latin and French.

Errors

• After SpongeBob and Patrick are elated to get ice cream, the tub that Sandy is holding with her left hand changes from green to pink.
• When the camera zooms in on Sandy when she's reading the book by SpongeBob's house, the window next to her changes lighting.

Video

File:SpongeBob SquarePants Sandy's Studies Nickelodeon UK

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
French	Les rats de laboratoire	Lab Rats
German	Das Experiment	The Experiment
Hebrew	האקווריום hakvariyum	The Aquarium
Italian	Sotto osservazione	Under Observation
Russian	За стеклом аквариума Za steklom akvariuma	Behind the Glass of the Aquarium
Spanish (Latin America)	La pecera	The Fishtank
Spanish (Spain)	El experimento helado	The Ice Cream Experiment