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Christmas Who?

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If you were looking for the article about the Russian DVD, then see Christmas Who? (DVD).

Template:Episode

Characters

Synopsis

Act 1

Patchy prologue

File:Christmas Who 013.png
"It sure is a magical time of year."

It is almost Christmas in Encino, California, and Patchy the Pirate, president of the SpongeBob SquarePants fan club, is deep in preparations for the holiday. With the help of his unenthusiastic assistant, Potty the Parrot, Patchy sets pictures of SpongeBob and Patrick on the mantelpiece, puts up his various SpongeBob-themed ornaments, and bakes Christmas cookies, the dough of which Potty eats. Patchy also takes time to open a letter from a fan, who asks if SpongeBob likes Christmas as much as he does. Patchy remarks that despite the fan's letter, SpongeBob didn't always celebrate Christmas before as there was once a time when Christmas in Bikini Bottom was unheard of and decides to tell the tale just as he realizes that Potty ate all the cookie dough.

"Christmas Who?"

File:Christmas Who 098.png
"Just like a genie!"

Outside Template:Data:Links, SpongeBob, in his karate gear, is preparing to give Sandy a surprise sneak attack. Inside, Sandy is putting up Christmas lights, which SpongeBob mistakes for fire and tries to put it out with sea water. After recovering from the drenching, Sandy is shocked to find out that SpongeBob has never heard of Christmas and tells him all about it.

Later at the Krusty Krab, SpongeBob passes the story of Christmas on to Patrick, Squidward, and Mr. Krabs. Everyone in Bikini Bottom, except Squidward, is excited at the idea of Santa Claus bearing gifts, and they all, except Squidward, put their Christmas letters into glass bottles, which are then shot up to the surface for Santa to receive. The Bikini Bottomites decorate for Christmas as SpongeBob and Patrick sing a song. They even decorate Template:Data:Links, which Squidward does not agree with. After the song, Squidward closes his blinds.

Act 2

"Christmas Who?"

SpongeBob sends the last of the letters to Santa and finds out Squidward still has not written his letter yet. SpongeBob and a few citizens try to get him to write a letter and be in the Christmas spirit, but it fails. In the days leading up to Christmas, the people of Bikini Bottom heartily celebrate, and on Christmas Eve, they stand in front of the large, decorated coral tree and sing, eagerly awaiting the arrival of Santa. Squidward, refusing to believe in Santa Claus, takes no part in any of the mirths.

The people continue to sing until morning, when they realize that Santa has not come. Everyone leaves in disappointment, and they call SpongeBob out on his lying. Patrick tries to tell the people that Santa had stopped for a snack and so SpongeBob and Patrick are waiting for Santa, until they realize that he really does not exist, SpongeBob becomes heartbroken. (In reality, Santa didn't come because they were supposed to be asleep.) Squidward wakes and comes out, at last, laughing at SpongeBob's humiliation, and even takes a photo to commemorate the occasion.

File:Christmas Who 250.png
The embarrassing (and heartbreaking) snapshot.

SpongeBob sadly admits that Squidward was right about Christmas being a stupid holiday, but he hands Squidward a present so he would not feel left out when Santa arrives before trudging away in tears. Squidward, still skeptical, opens it to find a hand-carved driftwood clarinet. Squidward sees how SpongeBob has only been trying to spread holiday joy, feeling very remorseful for what he did and decides to make up for his rudeness and inconsideration. He dresses up as Santa and surprises SpongeBob, who thanks him for bringing Christmas to Bikini Bottom.

Squidward prepares to go back inside his house but is approached by a little girl, asking him for a present. Out of desperation, Squidward gives the child a large wrench, which pleases her greatly. A large crowd arrives asking for presents, and he ends up giving away everything he owns. Squidward realizes the lengths he has gone to in preserving SpongeBob's dream, and after shooing away an excited SpongeBob, he discovers a note on his doorstep, which turns out to be a message from Santa thanking him for his help. He looks up in time to see the real Santa Claus soaring overhead in his sleigh, as he is shocked that he was wrong about his existence. At a loss at seeing Santa, he dismisses himself as being insane and plays his new clarinet before going back inside.

Patchy epilogue

File:Christmas Who 364.png
Welcome to Christmas Island.

After finishing his story, Patchy has to deal with Potty perching on his head. However, it turns out the parrot merely lays him a gift of goodwill, which touches Patchy's heart. Patchy then proceeds to step under the mistletoe, inviting the ladies to come by for a smooch, only for Potty to start swooping after him. With Patchy preoccupied, the narrator rounds the special off by wishing the viewers a "Good night, and Happy Holidays."

Production

Art

Model sheets

Storyboards and sketches

Animatic

File:SpongeBob SquarePants - Christmas Who? (storyboard)

Deleted scenes

Four scenes and lines were deleted. They all can be found on the Christmas DVD in the special features on the Christmas Who? storyboard.

  • When they sing "The Very First Christmas," instead of Plankton and Mr. Krabs singing together (♪ People seem a little more brotherly ♪), two Bikini Bottomites sing together.
  • Squidward (as Santa) gives the first girl a plant resembling himself instead of a wrench.
  • After Squidward gives the first girl the gift, SpongeBob says, "I told you he was real!" enthusiastically. This was cut for unknown reasons.
  • While waiting in line for Santa (as Squidward), Mr. Krabs says, "And don't forget about me pony!" referencing his earlier Christmas wish for a pony "with saddlebags full of money." This was cut for unknown reasons.

Music

Template:MLegend

File:ChrizzmasWHOinstrumental.wav
The Instrumental of the Intro

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Release

Distribution

Format Title Region
DVD Christmas United States, Philippines, Australia, Europe, Poland
Nicktoons Christmas United States and Australia
The Party Italy
Nick Picks Holiday United States
Christmas Who? South Korea and Russia
Arrgh! Greece
10 Happiest Moments United Kingdom and United States
Spongicus Europe
Let's Party at Christmas! Japan
The SpongeBob Birthday Box Germany
The Complete 2nd Season United States, France, Spain, United Kingdom, Australia, Japan
The Complete Second Season United States, Germany, Australia
Box set Nick For the Holidays! United States
SpongeBob on DVD France, Brazil, Latin America
Really Big Box Set United Kingdom
Holidays with SpongeBob 3-DVD Gift Set United States and France
The Ultimate SpongeBob Box Set Australia
Treasure Chest: Double Pack United Kingdom
Bob Esponja Cumple 10 Años Spain
Christmas DVD Double Pack United States
The SpongeBob SquarePants Collection Australia
Triple Pack 3 United States
Big Hits: Volume 2 United States
SpongeBob's Legendary Adventures United Kingdom
The SpongeBob SquarePants 8 Season DVD Collection Germany
Collection Triple Spain
The First & Second Seasons United States
The First 100 Episodes United States
The Best 200 Episodes Ever United States
The Best 300 Episodes Ever United States
Digital release Bundled Up in Bikini Bottom United States
Nick X-Mas Special Germany
Holly Jolly Holiday Specials United States
Nickelodeon Holly Jolly Holiday Specials International
Special Christmas box France
Jolly Saint Nick United States
Nickelodeon's Happy Holiday Pack United States
Nickelodeon Christmas France
From the Beginning, Part 1 Global
SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 2 Global
VHS Christmas United States

Reception

Trivia

General

  • This episode marks the first of several things:
    • The first appearances of Patchy the Pirate and Potty the Parrot.
    • The first double-length episode of the series.
    • The first Christmas-themed episode in the series.
    • The first episode to use an alternate theme song.
    • The first episode to show Patrick with just one tooth; it can be seen when he says, "Just like a genie!" Patrick's single tooth would later appear in more episodes.
    • The first episode where Sandy does not wear her air helmet in any scenes whatsoever.
    • The first usage of the track "Drowsey Reef."
    • The first episode from the series to have two non-consecutive production codes, with the Patchy segments having the production code of 5571-153, and the SpongeBob segments having the production code of 5571-155.
    • In airing order, the first appearance of Sandy and Plankton in season 2. However, in packaging and production order, their first appearances in the season were "Wormy" and "Imitation Krabs" respectively.
  • This is the last episode for two things:
    • The last appearance of Incidental 70, until The Patrick Star Show episode "The Yard Sale."
    • The last episode to premiere in the 2nd millennium and the 20th century. However, in production and packaging order, the last episode to be made during the 20th century as well in 2000 was "Squirrel Jokes".
  • This is one of the few special episodes in the series to have only one animation director. This also happens in "Party Pooper Pants," "Ugh," and "Atlantis SquarePantis."
  • This marks the third time the arrow on top of Patrick's rock falls off, after "Home Sweet Pineapple" and "Big Pink Loser."
  • The title card for this episode is similar to that of "Employee of the Month."
  • Squidward's growling during the scene where SpongeBob asks him about his wish is reused from "Naughty Nautical Neighbors."
  • Patchy's line "you, I'm ignoring" to Potty the Parrot is Tom Kenny's favorite line, and a line he wishes was more popular.[2]
  • At the beginning of this episode, in the opening theme song, the captain has a wreath around him and instead of saying the usual line, "Are you ready, kids?" he says, "Ready for Christmas, kids?"
    • He also has a wreath around him and says the same line in "It's a SpongeBob Christmas!"
    • Instead of him singing the opening, a female chorus sings the intro. Additionally, the logo card was changed to a Christmas title card.
  • Despite the introduction of Christmas to Bikini Bottom in this episode, the holiday or its related elements are mentioned in previous episodes:
  • This is the only double-length episode of season 2, unless the extended version of "Shanghaied" is counted.
  • This episode was originally titled "Patchy the Pirate Presents: The SpongeBob SquarePants Christmas Special."[3] This alternate title is used by various cable TV providers and the Nickelodeon website.[4] Amazon Prime Video shortens this title to "The SpongeBob Christmas Special."[5]
  • There are two books based on this episode, called SpongeBob's Christmas Wish and Jingle Smells.
  • On the Complete 2nd Season DVD, at the beginning of the second half of the episode when Patchy says, "It's about time you got back! Now I can finish me story!" is cut because there are no commercials on the DVD.
  • On the Nick Picks Holiday DVD, Patchy's appearance before and after the commercial break is cut entirely.[6]
  • According to the audio commentary for this episode, the cookie dough Patchy made was actually mashed potatoes.
  • The fan letter's envelope lists its sender as "Mike Miller," but this can only be seen for a split-second.
  • According to the audio commentary for this episode, they used a dummy for the puppeteer instead of an actual person.
  • During the song "The Very First Christmas," Mr. Krabs' falsetto voice was done by Dee Bradley Baker, because Clancy Brown could not hit the high notes.
  • After Sandy tells SpongeBob about Christmas, she is not seen for the rest of the episode.
  • The music on the phonograph that Squidward has played while he pretends to play with his clarinet is the same song he plays in "Bubblestand."
  • When Squidward feels guilty for bullying SpongeBob, he says, "I feel like a..." and a picture of a donkey appears. A similar joke is made in "Fools in April."
  • Patchy pretends that SpongeBob and Patrick go to Christmas Island, a real territory of Australia.
  • Sandy's wintertime activities are not set in stone, because in this episode, she is clearly present in Bikini Bottom and wide awake during regular hours. However, in "Bubble Buddy," she migrates for the winter. Furthermore, the episodes "Prehibernation Week" and "Survival of the Idiots" center around Sandy preparing to hibernate and SpongeBob and Patrick breaking and entering into her house while she hibernates respectively.
File:SquidwardSanta.jpg
Squidward Santa.
File:Santa Squidward in Nickverse.png
Squidward's Santa costume in Nickverse.
File:Nickverse vs. Original Christmas Conch Street.png
Christmas Conch Street.
  • In the game SpongeBob's Truth or Square, a reference to this episode appears in level 4, where Squidward is seen dressed as Santa.
    • In Nickverse, two references to this episode appear in Winter Wonderland. Squidward is seen dressed as Santa and Conch Street is very similar to its Christmas version in the episode.
  • In this episode, Potty is portrayed more realistically to an actual parrot, by simply mimicking words and saying short phrases. In later episodes, Potty is more sentient.
  • This episode was originally scheduled to air on December 6, 2000 at 8:30pm, but was delayed to the following evening for unknown reasons.
  • For unknown reasons, this episode was rated 13+ on Amazon Prime Video in August 2020.[citation needed]
    • 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.
  • Along with the future episodes, It's a SpongeBob Christmas! and SpongeBob's Road to Christmas only airs during December unless a special occasion occurs.
  • SpongeBob is shown to be ambidextrous in this episode. When he writes his letter at the Krusty Krab, he uses his right hand, while later when he tries to write a letter for Squidward, he uses his left hand.
  • SpongeBob mentions the episode's title when he says, "Christmas Who?."
File:Christmas Who 250.png
Origin of "Sad SpongeBob" and "Spunch Bop"
File:Grandma's Kisses 173.png
"Sad SpongeBob" in "Grandma's Kisses."
  • The snapshot of SpongeBob being heartbroken has since become an internet meme, where either the meme is used for sad events, or the meme is usually spammed by sound effects and calls SpongeBob "Spunch Bop."
File:Friendiversary 170p.png
This episode is seen briefly through SpongeBob's eyes.
  • Frames from this episode are later used in "Friendiversary" when SpongeBob remembers Squidward.
  • Excluding the opening theme song intro and end credits, this episode is bookended by the soundtrack "Happy Christmas Melody."
File:Wendy's The Krabby Patty Kollab 2024 Commercial 1


Dub facts

  • In the Brazilian dub of this episode, the line "I hope [Santa] can read Portuguese" was changed to "I hope he can understand my calligraphy," because Portuguese is already Brazil's official language.[10]
  • In the Romanian dub, Squidward says "Mă simt ca un măgar!", which means "I feel like a donkey!."
  • In the Filipino dub, the original audio is replaced with the Tagalog voice actors redubbing the song into English.[11] In Squidward's line "Go away before I harm you bodily," the word bodily is replaced with badly.

Cultural references

Errors

File:Floating water helmet.png
SpongeBob's water helmet floating.
  • When Patchy blows into his pipe, there are some bubbles that do not come out of the pipe, but instead, they come on the bottom of the screen.
  • As SpongeBob runs to Sandy's treedome to show off his new karate move, his water helmet is floating and is separated from his head for one frame.
  • Despite Squidward being unenthusiastic about Christmas, he is heard singing along to the final line of "The Very First Christmas," which was meant to be joyous. The camera also cuts to him at this time, and he is not even physically singing.
File:Christmas Who 187.png
Incidental 69 with his original design.
  • At one point during "The Very First Christmas," Incidental 69 has his Season 1 design instead of his current one.
File:Christmas Who 089.png
Bubbles appearing despite Sandy not being in the water.
  • Towards the end of the sequence where Sandy tells SpongeBob about Christmas, bubbles are shown when she moves, even though they are both in the air-filled treedome.
  • A few seconds after Patrick says, "Like a genie," his eyebrows turn red for a split second as he blinks.
  • The strings roping on the window side of the Krusty Krab windows are gone.
File:Christmas Who 115.png
Transparent shoes.
  • When SpongeBob gives Patrick his second sheet of paper, his black shoes are transparent.
File:Ermwhat.png
Crossed-eyed girl.
  • The girl who asked for front teeth is crossed-eyed in one scene.
  • During the song, when SpongeBob and Patrick are showing Squidward the decorations they have put on his house, SpongeBob's house next-door is missing.
  • When Mr. Krabs gives Plankton the fruitcake, it is sunset in the evening. However, when the fruitcake lands in the trash, it is instantly night.
File:Christmas Who 330.png
Squidward's incorrectly colored eyelids.
  • When Squidward as Santa talks to SpongeBob, his eyelids briefly change color for a split second to a lighter teal.
File:Christmas Who 299.png
Squidward with only two legs.
  • When SpongeBob says, "Where's your reindeer, and your flying machine?" Squidward has two legs instead of four.
File:IMG 7109.jpeg
Black clothes.
File:Christmas Who 250.png
Photo error.
  • Harold's white shirt and shorts turn black in a few scenes.
  • SpongeBob's tie is invisible in the sequence leading up to the picture being taken, and in the physical picture.
  • The photograph that Squidward took when SpongeBob was crying has multiple errors:
    • When Squidward holds the photo, the background around it is sand instead of snow.
    • In the photo, the background is not the winter sky or snow; it is the typical sky that is seen in the other episodes, even though the coral tree is still visible.
  • Before SpongeBob gives Patrick his paper to write to Santa Claus, numbers appear on the bottom of the screen for a split second.
  • When the fish sing "Santa's coming tonight, tonight":
    • Incidental 103's pants seems to disappear and reappear.
    • SpongeBob's mouth, as well as Incidental 48's eyes, disappear on the word "Santa's."
  • When Santa's sleigh is going from Squidward's house to Bikini Atoll, one of Santa's reindeer appear in the ocean when Santa is going past Bikini Atoll.
  • When SpongeBob walks over to Squidward's house to take down his decorations, the string of candy canes is not there until the scene switches to a close-up shot.
File:SantaDeerError.png
Santa's reindeer error.
  • When everyone is singing "The Very First Christmas," the boy's shorts disappear when he leans forward, and his arms go from long to short as he is leaning.


Videos

Names in other languages

Language Name Meaning
Finnish Mikä ihmeen Joulu? What on Earth Is Christmas?
French Le premier Noël The First Christmas
German Weihnachten Unter Wasser Christmas Underwater
Hungarian Karácsony Christmas
Italian Natale negli abissi
Aspettando Babbo Natale		 Christmas in the Depths
Waiting for Santa
Polish Jakie Święta? What Christmas?
Russian Рождество — это кто?
Rozhdestvo — eto kto?		 Who is Christmas?
Spanish (American) Navidad ¿quién? Christmas Who?
Spanish (European) Navidad ¿qué? Christmas What?

References

  1. ↑ Annie Awards - 29th Annie Awards
  2. ↑ Tom Kenny Answers YOUR Questions About SpongeBob SquarePants! | Tom Kenny AMA
  3. ↑ https://www.bcdb.com/cartoon/29948-Christmas-Who
  4. ↑ Patchy the Pirate Presents the SpongeBob SquarePants Christmas Special. Nick.com. Archived from the original on December 20, 2017.
  5. ↑ Watch SpongeBob SquarePants Season 2 - Prime Video
  6. ↑ SpongeBob - "Christmas Who?" Edits (Nick Picks Holiday DVD)
  7. ↑ July 25, 2020 - Nicktoons Globe Archives
  8. ↑ Nickstory - July 25, 2020
  9. ↑ August 14, 2020 - Nicktoons Globe Archives
  10. ↑ Natal Quem? - Parte 4 - Bob Esponja
  11. ↑ Spongebob Squarepants - The Very First Christmas (Tagalog, LQ)

Notes

es:Navidad ¿Quién? fr:Le Premier Noël hr:Božić tko? id:Christmas Who? nl:Kerstmis wie? pl:Jakie święta? pt-br:Natal Quem? ru:Рождество — это кто?

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