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Dopey Dick

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If you were looking for the article about the character, then see Dopey Dick (character).

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Characters

Synopsis

File:Dopey Dick 033.png
Pat-Buck telling Fishmael about a gig on SpongeHab's ship.

The episode begins with a great-white jellyfish known as Dopey Dick opening a book titled after him. The story's narrated by Fishmael Tentacles, an ancestor of Squidward, looking for work from town to town, ending up in a seaside town. He comes across and subsequently slips on jellyfish jelly, leading him into The Jelly Squirt Inn, landing right at the bar's counter, meeting an old-timey Capn' A. Krabs and a parakeet version of Plankton named Planky. Planky offers him some jelly, but Fishmael explains that he's only here to find an occupation, suggesting a potential career as a cashier to Krabs. Unfortunately, Fishmael is denied of a job - but thankfully for him, Pat-Buck snatches him under a table and tells him of a gig as a crew member on Captain SpongeHab's pineapple ship. Fishmael refuses to work on a ship, thinking it's too low-brow, but Pat-Buck ignores his reply, knocks him out, and kidnaps him.

Fishmael finds himself on SpongeHab's quarters, and Pat explains that the captain has a special job for him, so the star shows him the "ropes," literally, going on with teaching him. All of that ropey education was only meant for Fishmael to be tied up to the ship's pole with his tentacles, and Pat-Buck along with the rest of the sailors (jellyspotter anchovies) frolic around enjoying themselves. That is, until Captain SpongeHab enters the scene with a frightening presence, telling the crew all about great-white jellyfish Dopey Dick with bubble-gum imagery, and saying to give him a holler if they see him. Quickly enough, Dopey's spotted and the crew scrambles to catch him. SpongeHab tells Fishmael he's got a special job for him, and it ends up being used a harpoon to reel in the jellyfish. Dopey and Fishmael are on a wild chase for quite a while, so Fishmael uses his awful recorder-playing skills to calm Dopey down. This ends up working, and Dopey is caught and pulled just above the ship's platform. SpongeHab then shows the crew the best part of hunting down and catching a jellyfish - releasing it. The anchovies and Pat-Buck are initially disappointed, but it later warms their heart. Everything seems like it's off to a good conclusion, but it abruptly comes to a pause when Dopey is hooked in by another ship.

That ship turns to be the ones owned by Capn' A Krabs and Planky, who instead of catching and releasing Dopey Dick, plan to exploit his jelly and kill him off. SpongeHab, Fishmael, and Pat-Buck angrily rebel against this, but the anchovy sailors quickly switch sides and Planky destroys the near entirety of their ship with the power of nematodes. Despite all the destruction, SpongeHab still wants to save Dopey, and Pat-Buck is commanded to use his oar and follow the evil duo who kidnapped the great-white.

File:Dopey Dick 241.png
SpongeHab's crew rescuing Dopey Dick from Krabs' crew.

Day turns to night, and the crew quietly sneaks onto Krabs and Planky's ship while they're asleep and rescue Dopey Dick, who thanks them and escapes. Their plans are immediately foiled when the opposing crew awakes, and they seem doomed, but Dopey snatches them from the ship. Krabs and Planky try to harpoon Dopey back onto the ship, but the jellyfish turns around and rams into it, leaving the boat destroyed. Krabs and Planky try to avoid Dopey in the ocean, but their harpoons leave them tied onto him when brought out of the water. After a day of complete mania, a frightened Fishmael states that he doesn't want to work with SpongeHab anymore, causing the sponge and Pat-Buck to laugh. Dopey then jumps into the remains of Krabs and Planky's ship, creating a whirlpool and leaving Fishmael as the lone survivor of "Dopey Dick."

The scene cuts to Fishmael back at the Jelly Squirt Inn, turning out to be a story that he told all along. Everyone at the inn laughs at how he over-exaggerates himself as the hero, as they were all there themselves. Fishmael angrily leaves the inn, and everyone gets another round of jellyfish jelly on the house. Dopey Dick squirts jelly to all of the inn's customers, even Fishmael, who grumpily stands outside. Dopey subsequently closes the book he opened in the beginning of the episode and Fishmael states "The End," concluding the segment.

Production

This episode was confirmed by Cartoonlounge.de on December 20, 2022.[2]

Art

Character design

Background design

Storyboards

File:1330 morrison.mp4
SpongeHab is introduced.

Production notes

Ian Vazquez:

  • Vazquez thought that for this episode, it would be cool to lean into the cool, desaturated palette to create a pen-and-ink illustration feel. The color red was spared for Capn' Krabs and parts of the disloyal anchovies.[3]
  • Most of 1830s versions of the characters are directly based off of the designs found in Benjamin Arcand's rough boards.[1]
  • Following the Jellyspotters' addition to the episode, Vazquez thought it would be fun to make up a backstory for Kevin: "Kevin was a nobleman who pursued Jellyfish whaling as a hobby and took the credit while Krabs did all the hard work. But Krabs was smart & sneaky and Kevin bad with money so..."[7]

Kyle Morrison:

  • Morrison said that despite the moments featuring the Jellyspotters being very "brief," they said that they were "a lot of fun to give personality to and make them each unique."[6]
    • This episode also featured some of their favorite SpongeBob closeups they've done on the show.[6]

Music

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Release

Format Title Region
DVD The Complete Thirteenth Season United States
Box set Another 100 Episodes United States
The Best 300 Episodes Ever United States
Digital release SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 23 United States

Trivia

General

  • This episode was paired up with a rerun of "Breakin'" during the original airing.[8]
  • This episode's title is the same name of the shark in the Looney Tunes cartoon "Rabbitson Crusoe."
  • Both this and its sister episode have the same credits, except Sherm Cohen co-directs this episode.
  • This episode is set during the 1830s.
  • This episode is inspired by a comic that parodied multiple classic stories. However, in the comic, Patrick takes on the role of Queequeg rather than Starbuck.
  • In the UK and Ireland, the scene where Fishmael Tentacles flies through the air and says, "I don't have anything left to throw up!" is cut. In the same shot where he says the line, it is darkened a bit to prevent seizures for viewers.[9]
  • All of the incidental characters who appear in this episode are anchovies.
    • Ian Vazquez has stated that the anchovies are his favorite characters, likely explaining why they're the only incidentals to appear in the episode.[10]
  • Various similarities and differences can be made with the past and modern incarnations of the main cast from this episode.
    • SpongeHab retains SpongeBob's love and respect for jellyfish, and his "catch and release" technique is retained as well. The pineapple boat that the '30s captain uses foreshadows his house that's seen throughout the series. Unlike SpongeBob, SpongeHab is slightly more intimidating and commanding and pertains a strong leadership position, whereas SpongeBob is rarely frightening and is easily stepped on.
    • Fishmael retains Squidward's love for instruments, evolving from liking recorders to clarinets, although he's equally bad at them. Fishmael also suggests working as a cashier at the Jelly Squirt Inn - to which Krabs denies. Squidward himself would later be presented as a cashier in the series. Squidward also pertains Fishmael's sense of misery and egotism, which the former would expand into his own character. Unlike Squidward, Fishmael is willing to go along with SpongeHab's manic adventures, while Squidward always tries to avoid getting in any of SpongeBob's.
    • Capn' A. Krabs retains Mr. Krabs' love for money and owns a restaurant, but unlike the main series where he's Plankton's rival, Capn' A. Krabs and Planky are on the same team in this episode. Capn' A. Krabs is also portrayed as a villain and isn't involved in SpongeHab or Fishmael's antics, but Mr. Krabs is always stuck with them at the Krusty Krab.
    • While Plankton is no longer friends with Mr. Krabs, Planky was Capn' A. Krabs' co-worker and pet parakeet, also working on the same level as the crustacean. Otherwise, Planky is about as equally as antagonistic as modern Plankton is.
  • This episode is 15 minutes long, while its sister is 7 minutes long, following the same formula as "Shanghaied," "Back to the Past," "Feral Friends," "Squirrel Jelly," "Swamp Mates," "Handemonium," "Krusty Koncessionaires," and "Squidferatu."
  • This is the third episode in which only an alternate version of SpongeBob appears instead of the main-universe SpongeBob. The first was "The Algae's Always Greener" (where he only appears in the Mr. Plankton universe) and the second was "Welcome to Binary Bottom" (which features his robot counterpart SpongeBot).
  • This episode's first production code (#325-1330) represents the first 11 minutes of this episode, directed by Ian Vazquez, while the second code (#325-1355) represents the last 4 minutes directed by Sherm Cohen.
    • The second production code, (#1355) despite having a higher number than the final episode of the season (#1352 "Sandy, Help Us!") was actually in production at the same time as the first part. The code is an extra number added in after a set number of production segments (52) was made. Despite that, this episode was actually the 30th episode from that season of being produced.
      • It is similar to The Simpsons' handling of production numbers. For example, the season 9-produced episodes #5F23 ("The Joy of Sect") and #5F24 ("All Singing, All Dancing") have higher numbers than #5F22 ("Bart the Mother"), yet they were written earlier. This is because there were already 22 episodes set for the season.

Cultural references

  • This episode's title and plot is a spoof of the 1851 novel Moby-Dick.
  • Pat-Buck's name is a spoof of Starbuck from Herman Melville's novel, Moby-Dick. The difference is the "buck" bit in Starbuck's name was used in Pat-Buck's name.
    • Both this and its sister episode have plots and titles inspired by classic English literature, with "Plankton and the Beanstalk" clearly taking influence from the English fairytale, Jack and the Beanstalk.
    • "Fishmael" is a spoof of the main character's name in the book, Ishmael.
  • Fishmael saying, "We're gonna need a bigger pineapple." is a reference to the famous line "You're gonna need a bigger boat" from the 1975 Steven Spielberg movie, Jaws.
  • Sponge-Hab's outfit was inspired by Captain Ahab's from the 1956 Moby Dick film and Capn' Krabs was inspired by Ahab's in the 2011 miniseries.[1]

Episode references

  • The Jellyspotter anchovies are quick to abandon their original leaders out of fear and switch to opposing sides, just like they did in "I'm Your Biggest Fanatic."
    • They also repeat their "wah-wah-wah" line from that episode when SpongeHab's ship is torn to shreds, just as they did when all of Kevin's attempts to injure SpongeBob failed.
      • The "Fanatic" references seem to have been intentional, as Ian Vazquez states: "While some were anchovies in the script, with their easily changing loyalties & the jellyfishing theme I thought it'd be fun if the crew was just the same 5 Jellyspotters from "I'm Your Biggest Fanatic!"[11]
  • The nematodes quickly shred up SpongeHab's ship as they did to SpongeBob's house in "Home Sweet Pineapple."
  • Capn' A. Krabs exploits jellyfish jelly for profit just like Template:Data:Links did in "Jellyfish Hunter."
  • The town that Fishmael enters was designed to have similar wood to the pre-painted boat in "Abandon Twits."[3]

Errors

File:Dopey Dick 052.png
Pat-Buck's head is cut off.
  • After Pat-Buck shows Fishmael the smiley rope, his head is cut off for a few frames.
File:Dopey Dick missing mouth error.png
Dopey Dick is missing his mouth.
  • When Dopey Dick dances to Fishmael's music, his mouth disappears for a frame.
  • When Captain SpongeHab frees Dopey Dick after he, Fishmael, Pat-Buck, and the anchovies hunt Dopey down, Pat-Buck's eyebrows are missing.
  • In the Hebrew dub, nematodes are translated as silkworms.
    • In the same dubbing, Planky's line "Hardy har-poon, sucker" is said in the voice of Capn' A. Krabs.


Videos

Names in other languages

Language Name Meaning
German Fischmaels Abenteuer Fishmael's Adventure
Russian Пустолобый Дик
Pustolobyy Dik		 Empty-Foreheaded Dick
Spanish (American) Bobi Dick Dopey Dick
Spanish (European) Bobín Dick Dopey Dick

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Ian Vazquez on Twitter - "Previz for 1830s versions..."
  2. ↑ SPONGEBOB SCHWAMMKOPF - EPISODE GUIDE | Cartoonlounge.de
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named vaz1
  4. ↑ Sterling Richter on Twitter - "A pan and some ext..."
  5. ↑ Benjamin Arcand on Twitter - "As promised, here's…"
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Kyle Morrison on Twitter - "Dopey Dick" Supercut!..."
  7. ↑ Ian Vazquez on Twitter - "After the Jellyspotters were added..."
  8. ↑ Nickstory - June 29, 2023
  9. ↑ SpongeBob SquarePants UK edits - Dopey Dick
  10. ↑ Ian Vazquez on Twitter - "Last two, anchovy bride..."
  11. ↑ Ian Vazquez on Twitter - "While there were some anchovies in the script..."

ru:Пустолобый Дик

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