Squidward has just completed a wax sculpture of himself, proclaiming that he has "conquered all artistic media". He then goes to take a bath, irritated by the loud game that SpongeBob and Patrick are playing. Meanwhile, SpongeBob and Patrick start playing catch with a shell, which ends up flying into Squidward's house and knocking over the wax sculpture. Believing they have hurt Squidward, SpongeBob and Patrick try to "revive" him, eventually concluding that he has passed away.
As Squidward emerges from his bath, wrapped in a white bathrobe and covered in talcum powder, SpongeBob and Patrick are convinced they are seeing Squidward's ghost. Instead of telling them the truth, Squidward decides to take advantage of the situation and pretends to be a ghost to make them wait on him and do his chores. While tidying one of Squidward's rooms, SpongeBob and Patrick find a comic book about the Flying Dutchman, who haunts the ocean because his corpse was used as a shop window display instead of being laid to rest. Sensing a parallel between the Dutchman and Squidward, the two friends decide to give Squidward a proper funeral, much to his dismay.
Eventually, Squidward admits his charade, but SpongeBob and Patrick believe that he is simply in denial about his death. In an attempt to help him move on, SpongeBob blows a large bubble that lifts Squidward into the air and carries him away to "the great beyond". Surrounded by a flock of seagulls, Squidward is left in distress.
Production
This episode's recording script was completed on February 23, 1999.
The episode storyboard was shipped on April 21, 1999.
On November 14, 2016, recording scripts for every episode from season 1 were publicly released, found on one of the asset discs for the PlayStation video game, SuperSponge. This included the recording script for "Squidward the Unfriendly Ghost."[5]
‣Tales From The Swamp (A) - Ron Goodwin [Title card.] ‣Smoke and Dreams - Otto Sieben [opening] ‣Grass Skirts Blowing (Hilo March) - The Hawaiian Serenaders [SpongeBob and Patrick play games.] ‣Bossa Cubana - Gerhard Narholz [Squidward takes a bath.] •Seaweed 1 - Steve Belfer [SpongeBob and Patrick are tossing a shell back and forth.] ‣Bossa Cubana - Gerhard Narholz [Squidward hears a thump.] •Seaweed 1 - Steve Belfer [SpongeBob and Patrick enter Squidward's house.] ‣Lovely Scenery C - Mladen Franko ["Squidward! Ahhh!"] ‣Bossa Cubana - Gerhard Narholz [Squidward puts on a towel.] ‣Dangerous B - Mladen Franko [SpongeBob and Patrick attempt to put the sculpture back together.] ‣Dramatic Cue (H) - Ronald Hanmer [The sculpture's eyes turn over.] ‣Deep Grief 1 - Otto Sieben ["He's pushing up daisies!"] ‣Tales From The Swamp (A) - Ron Goodwin [Squidward comes out of the bathroom.] ‣Dramatic Cue (D) - Ronald Hanmer ["Look what you've done to me!"] ‣In the Crypt - Dave Hewson ["Enough! Listen up!"] ‣Tales From The Swamp (C) - Ron Goodwin [The end of Squidward's speech] •Gator - Steve Belfer [SpongeBob and Patrick take Squidward outside.] ‣The Rake Hornpipe - Robert Alexander White [SpongeBob and Patrick feed Squidward.] ‣Stack of Leis - Kapono Beamer [Night passes.] ‣In the Crypt - Dave Hewson ["What's this? Napping on the job?"] ‣The Achterhoek Dances - Jan Rap [SpongeBob and Patrick clean the back room.] ‣In the Cradle (b) - Dick Stephen Walter [SpongeBob and Patrick find a comic book about the Flying Dutchman.] ‣Tales From The Swamp (D) - Ron Goodwin ["Now he haunts the seven seas."] •Seaweed 1 - Steve Belfer [SpongeBob and Patrick put Squidward to rest.] ‣Funeral Music - Alfred Kluten [The mourners] ‣Hawaiian Happiness - Jon Jelmer [Squidward confesses.] ‣Vibe Link (B) - Richard Myhill ["Patrick, say that again."] ‣Queen's Aloha Oe C - Kapono Beamer, Queen Lili'uokalani [The ending]
This episode is also available on the Halloween VHS tape.
Reception
"Squidward the Unfriendly Ghost" was ranked #95 during the Best Day Ever event from November 9–10, 2006.
Trivia
General
According to Sherm Cohen, this episode was originally going to be called "Squidward's House of Wax."[6][7]
According to the recording script for this episode, this episode was originally packaged as episode 11a, but was later swapped with its sister episode, "MuscleBob BuffPants."[8]
This is the first episode for a few things:
The debut of the Flying Dutchman, although he is only seen in pictures. His first physical appearance is in the episode "Scaredy Pants." This is however, is the character's second production appearance as this episode was produced after that episode.
"Jellyfish Hunter": When he tries to open the door to the jellyfish's compartment.
The scene where SpongeBob says, "Okay, get in" and Patrick opens a coffin for Squidward has become a popular meme.
Paired with this, the shot of Squid's wax figure with flattened face in the shape of Patrick's buttocks has become a popular meme as well, used as reaction to videos and photos of women with large buttocks.
A scene from this episode was briefly featured in the 2019 film Pet Sematary, namely, the scene where SpongeBob and Patrick cling to each other and get scared. Coincidentally enough, Clancy Brown, who generally voices Mr. Krabs and has a cameo in this episode, had previously starred in Pet Sematary Two as Gus Gilbert, the sheriff of Ludlow who gets killed by his stepson's reanimated dog and then reanimated as a murderous zombie.
This episode was referenced in "Friendiversary" when Squidward gets trapped in a bubble and floats up when Squidward is trying to restore SpongeBob's memories. This is a reference to the scene that Squidward floats in a bubble.
The "Now do me a favor and stop doing me favors!" quote from this episode is used in SpongeBob Simulator as a chat line.
When Patrick and SpongeBob are carrying Squidward around in servitude to him, they stumble upon an aquatic version of the 1895 painting Can-can. Squidward quips that it is "Too loose, Lautrec," a pun on the name of the artist, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, with an accompanying rim shot.
The part where Squidward statue melts due to the sun. References the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, where The Wicked Witch of the West melt due to water.
Squidward saying are you trying to put me in the nuthouse. References a similar line from the 1989 film National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.
When Squidward is on the royal bed, SpongeBob's house is missing.
When SpongeBob and Patrick enter Squidward's house to retrieve the shell, they exit from the lift to Squidward's room. Additionally, Squidward's door has a different appearance. In other episodes, the appearance of his door is different from how it is depicted in this episode.
When SpongeBob and Patrick bring the Squidward sculpture in front of the window, SpongeBob's eyes are partially closed, but his eyelashes are still seen as they are walking.
When SpongeBob says, "Never mind," his eyelashes are missing.
File:Squidward the Unfriendly Ghost 170.pngMr. Krabs without an undershirt and Sandy without a zipper.When Mr. Krabs says, "We all came when we were sure you were dead," his white undershirt is gone. It then returns again.
Among the mourners, Sandy's zipper is missing.
When SpongeBob is running to the green coral, the shell is never seen lying near the coral.
When Squidward shouts, "Hey," a small white bubble is seen for a split second on the left side of the screen.
The rock SpongeBob throws does not appear to be broken after he and Patrick try to figure out what to do next.
When Patrick is blown around the room, it shows that he lands vertically across the face, while the next still frame indicates he landed on his face horizontally.
When the camera pans down to reveal that the Squidward sculpture has melted, SpongeBob and Patrick are standing next to each other. However, in the next shot, SpongeBob and Patrick are standing across from each other.
When SpongeBob and Patrick send Squidward to the great beyond, Patrick's house is nonexistent.
When the bubble carrying Squidward to the great beyond leaves the ocean, the water surrounding Bikini Atoll freezes for the last few frames.
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