The Dated Game
"The Dated Game" is a The Patrick Star Show episode from season 4. In this episode, GrandPat competes for Granny Tentacles' love on a dating game show.
Characters
- Patrick Star
- Squidina Star
- Bunny Star
- Cecil Star
- GrandPat Star
- Slappy
- Larry the Lobster
- Granny Tentacles
- Slippy
Synopsis
Patrick is at the park, featuring Granny Tentacles and GrandPat's date on his show. As they have a picnic, Granny Tentacles complains about GrandPat taking the picnic blanket for himself, and he insults her cooking. After an argument, Granny Tentacles declares she is breaking up with GrandPat, making him depressed.
At dinner, GrandPat does not show up. Bunny finds him sitting on a rocking chair in the middle of the road, not wanting to move. This ends up causing a traffic jam, with the loud honking keeping Squidina and Patrick awake. They decide to get him back together with Granny Tentacles through a dating show. On the show, Granny Tentacles asks questions to three unseen bachelors: Slappy, GrandPat, and Larry.
Granny Tentacles first asks the bachelors what their favorite colors are: Slappy's is periwinkle, GrandPat cannot answer because of his cataracts, and Larry says red. Granny Tentacles likes Larry's voice and assumes he is strong, and wants to hear more about his muscles. Squidina and Patrick swap GrandPat and Larry's places, making Granny Tentacles' request change to Larry describing GrandPat's muscles. Larry only sees his wrinkles, which go on so deep that he gets literally lost in them.
Her next question is the definition of a perfect date. GrandPat answers it was the day he invented fire and roasted woolly clammoth. When Granny Tentacles clarifies that she means a romantic date, GrandPat sticks to his answer. Slappy's ideal date sounds quite pleasant, although he envisions it in his usual morbid fashion, and Granny Tentacles likes it. Squidina decides to call in a special guest, which turns out to be Slappy's girlfriend, who drags him away.
As the only contestant left, GrandPat begins to confess how lonely he is, before covering it up. Patrick declares that GrandPat is the winner by default, offending Granny Tentacles and making her leave. GrandPat leaves, noting that Patrick forgot to put on pants the entire time he was hosting. Granny Tentacles laughs and the two of them begin to insult Patrick, realizing they have the same sense of humor and intolerance of stupidity. They get back together and ride off together on GrandPat's scooter.
Production
This episode was confirmed by Dave Cunningham on Twitter on February 13, 2025.[2]
On March 27, 2025, Eliza Herndon confirmed in the hashtags of one of her Tumblr posts for her boards for the episode "Swaptoberfest," that she worked on this episode, confirming that Tim Prendergast directed it, as Herndon is a storyboard artist on his team. At the time, she was drawing promotional art for the episode.[3]
Promotional art
- Art by Eliza Herndon.[3]
Storyboards
Music
| ( ‣ ) Production music |
| ( • ) Original music |
| ( ◦ ) SpongeBob music |
‣ Shopping Centre - Manfred Minnich [Title card and opening.]
‣ One Over the Eight - Len Stevens [GrandPat and Granny Tentacles have a picnic.]
‣ Tabu - Daryl Griffith [GrandPat cries.]
‣ La Bas - Jean-Jacques Perrey, Gilbert Sigrist [Dinner time.]
‣ Lonely Heart's Club A - David Bell, Otto Sieben [Rocking chair of sadness.]
‣ Quand On Dort On Perd Du Temps - Jo Moutet ["I Guess You'll Do!" intro.]
‣ Dating Games (30) Full Mix - Leif Shires ["Our three eligible bachelors will now compete for love."]
‣ Game Show Brass TV [#42] - Christophe Battaglia, Bruno Dandrimont ["Bachelor #1, what's your favorite color?"/"Bachelor #2?"/"Bachelor #3?"]
‣ Phare West - Jean Paul Voegelin [Granny Tentacles loves Larry.]
‣ Game Show Brass TV [#42] - Christophe Battaglia, Bruno Dandrimont ["Why don't you keep telling me about bachelor #3's big muscles?"]
‣ Parallel Dimension - Gregor F. Narholz [GrandPat's wrinkes.]
‣ Dating Games (30) Full Mix - Leif Shires ["Looks like bachelor #2 had to step out."]
‣ Game Show Brass TV [#42] - Christophe Battaglia, Bruno Dandrimont ["What is your idea of a perfect date?"]
‣ Primitive Force - Raymond Jones [GrandPat's perfect date.]
‣ Sophisticated Party - Tommy Reilly, James Moody [Granny Tentacles reminisces.]
‣ Forever and a Day (a) - Jerry Burnham, Raun Burnham ["What would you do for a romantic date?"]
‣ Game Show Brass TV [#42] - Christophe Battaglia, Bruno Dandrimont ["How about you, bachelor #1?"]
‣ 24 Piano Preludes 1 - Krzysztof Meyer [Slappy's perfect date.]
‣ Sophisticated Party - Tommy Reilly, James Moody [Granny Tentacles loves Slappy.]
‣ Flight In Panic 1 - Gregor F. Narholz [Slippy appears.]
‣ ? [Slippy takes Slappy away.]
‣ Quand On Dort On Perd Du Temps - Jo Moutet [GrandPat wins by default.]
‣ Tabu - Daryl Griffith ["I feel like my heart's been shattered into a million pieces!"]
‣ Battle March Link (3) - Keith Mansfield ["I don't feel nothing!"]
‣ Quand On Dort On Perd Du Temps - Jo Moutet ["You heard him, folks! Whatever!"]
‣ One Over the Eight - Len Stevens [GrandPat and Granny Tentacles insult Patrick.]
‣ Bridge Of Stars - Alan Braden [Ending.]
Release
- This episode premiered as part of the 2025 event "Friday Night Hits."
- This episode along with its sister episode, "Ice Cream Headache," were originally scheduled to premiere on Friday, April 4, 2025 at 7:00 PM,[2][6] but was pulled and instead moved to Friday, March 28, 2025.
Trivia
General
- This is Miggs Perez's first episode credited as a storyboard director, after previously being credited as a storyboard artist starting with "Dad's Stache Stash" in season 1.
Cultural references
- This episode's title is a reference to the 1965 game show, The Dating Game.
- Slappy's idea of a perfect date is a reference to the 1920 silent German Expressionist horror film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Slappy imagines himself as Cesare the somnambulist and Granny Tentacles as Jane from the movie. Cesare in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is played by Conrad Veidt who was good friends with and starred in a handful of movies with Peter Lorre- who Slappy is based on. Peter Lorre had his start in his own iconic German Expressionist horror film which also explains for the aesthetic of Slappy's perfect date.
- This is the 3rd time The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari has been referenced within the Spongebob franchise.
Errors
- When this episode and "Ice Cream Headache" were released on Nick.com, the episodes had no vocal track, only music and sound effects.[7]
Video
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Russian | Свидание вкривую Svidaniye vkrivuyu |
Awry Date (a reference to "Blind date") |
References
- ↑ Nickelodeon UK Program Guide - September 9, 2025
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://x.com/MancieRaines/status/1890201817818235090
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Eliza Herndon on Tumblr - "My last art post just made me..."
- ↑ Eliza Herndon on Bluesky - "A snippet of some stuff I did..."
- ↑ Eliza Herndon on Tumblr - "A snippet of some stuff I did..."
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20250316073755/https://www.nickalive.net/2025/02/march-2025-on-nickelodeon-usa-premiere.html
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4_tKn_T08Q
| File:Sleepy Time 057.png |
This article is in need of expansion, but it is not a stub. You can help Encyclopedia SpongeBobia by adding more information. Please remove this template when done.
|
|---|
