Whelk Attack

"Whelk Attack" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season 7. In this episode, large sea whelks invade Bikini Bottom.

Characters

• Jellyfish
• SpongeBob SquarePants
• Patrick Star
• Sea whelks ^(debut)
  • Mother sea whelk ^{(single appearance)}
• Realistic Fish Head
• Gary the Snail ^(cameo)
• Squidward Tentacles
• Incidentals
  • Incidental 48
  • Incidental 107
  • Incidental 37A
  • Incidental 106
  • Incidental 27
  • Incidental 7
  • Incidental 105
  • Incidental 104
  • Incidental 64
  • Incidental 60
  • Incidental 36
  • Incidental 41
  • Dale
  • Lenny
  • Incidental 115
  • Incidental 40
  • Incidental 1D
  • Steven
  • Incidental 37B
  • Incidental 13
  • Incidental 42
  • Incidental 155
  • Incidental 150
  • Incidental 151
• Eugene H. Krabs
• Sandy Cheeks
• Margaret SquarePants ^(mentioned) (mentioned as BubbleBottom in the episode)

Synopsis

SpongeBob and Patrick are in Jellyfish Fields when they hear a strange noise. Soon, a stampede of large whelks make their way through Jellyfish Fields, destroying anything in their path. The whelks cover SpongeBob and Patrick in purple goo, which SpongeBob cleans up. As the whelks make their way to Bikini Bottom, SpongeBob and Patrick decide to warn the Bikini Bottomites about the whelks, but the whelks are already chasing and terrorizing everyone, blowing purple goo bubbles around their victims and swallowing the bubbles with their victims inside. SpongeBob and Patrick wonder what the whelks are.

The Realistic Fish Head explains the whelks on TV, suddenly signing off the news when he is eaten by a whelk. Patrick claims that he is not scared of whelks and provokes one by blowing a raspberry at it, causing it to chase him and SpongeBob to the Krusty Krab. When they arrive, they warn Mr. Krabs about the coming danger. Soon after, the whelks make their way to the Krusty Krab, but Mr. Krabs thinks they are just plain old customers.

File:Whelk Attack 109.png

The whelks inhaling the Krusty Krab.

A larger mother whelk is then revealed, assisting her "babies." When Mr. Krabs offers them all Krabby Patties, the mother not only dislikes and spits them out but swallows him, along with Squidward and the entire Krusty Krab. SpongeBob and Patrick then run to Sandy's treedome, where Sandy only allows them to enter after confirming that they are not whelks. Sandy puts metal armor around the Treedome for protection against the whelks and tells SpongeBob and Patrick her plan to defeat the whelks.

File:Whelk Attack 148.png

Sandy's treedome destroyed.

Suddenly, the whelks crack and destroy the Treedome and Sandy, SpongeBob and Patrick are swallowed by the mother whelk, where the latter two find the Krusty Krab and enter to see everyone there. Inside the Krusty Krab, Sandy examines SpongeBob and Patrick's corneas with her microscope and discovers that the whelks are sick. SpongeBob then simply sucks up the whelk snot to make the mother whelk better again, revealing her true form to be tiny and helpless. He does this to the babies and restores them to their real forms as well. All of the "eaten" victims are rescued, and the episode ends with Squidward complaining about the whelks acting crazy only because they "had the sniffles," as a baby whelk sneezes and douses him with its purple goo.

Production

This episode was confirmed and added to the United States Copyright Office on August 13, 2010, alongside its sister episode.

Music

( ‣ ) Production music

( • ) Original music

( ◦ ) SpongeBob music

 ‣ The Creature [#44] - Gregor F. Narholz [Title card]
 • Aloha Lui Lui - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Opening]
 • Earls Revenge - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob and Patrick jellyfishing]
 ‣ Monster Bug A - Gregor F. Narholz [rumbling]
 • Light Conversation 1 Full Mix - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [SpongeBob and Patrick covered in slime]
 ‣ Fight for Your Life! - Gregor F. Narholz [Whelks invading Bikini Bottom]
 • Bikini Bottom News Theme - Nicolas Carr [news on TV]
 ‣ Drama Link (D) - Hubert Clifford [SpongeBob screams]
 • Steel Licks 22 - Jeremy Wakefield ["Hey, Gary."]
 • Noodly Shinanigans - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [Patrick teases a whelk/Patrick drinks a glass of water]
 ‣ The Creature (a) - Gregor F. Narholz [Whelk roars at him/SpongeBob and Patrick run to the Krusty Krab]
 ‣ Attack - Anthony Hymas [SpongeBob warning Krabs about the whelks]
 • Hgliss & Bell - Nicolas Carr ["That means hungry!"]
 ‣ Monster Bug A - Gregor F. Narholz [Whelks approaching Krusty Krab]
 • Jovial Pirate's Jig - Michael Bolger, Nicolas Carr ["Krabby Patties! Get your Krabby Patties!"]
 ‣ Monster Bug A - Gregor F. Narholz [Giant mother whelk appears]
 ‣ The Creature (a) - Gregor F. Narholz [Mother whelk eats Krusty Krab]
 ‣ Attack of the Giant Robots - Cris Velasco [Sandy lets SpongeBob and Patrick in]
 • Karate Action 1 - Nicolas Carr [Action-packed answer]
 ‣ Fight the Beast! [#20] - Gregor F. Narholz [Whelks invade treedome]
 ‣ Command Post 2 - Harry Bluestone, Emil Cadkin ["Follow me!"]
 ‣ Death Throws [#9] - Harry Bluestone, Emil Cadkin ["I guess this is it, Patrick."]
 ‣ Fight the Beast! [#20] - Gregor F. Narholz [Mother whelk eats Sandy, SpongeBob and Patrick]
 ‣ Desperate Situation - Phil Green [SpongeBob and Patrick inside the whelk's stomach]
 ‣ Fighting Legions A - Gregor F. Narholz ["The Krusty Krab!"]
 • New Vibe Hits - Nicolas Carr ["Hmm..."]
 ‣ Sneaking About - Phil Green [SpongeBob and Patrick lend Sandy their corneas]
 ‣ Lonely Stranger - Laurie Johnson [Sandy examining the whelks' slime under a microscope]
 • Steel Licks 37 - Jeremy Wakefield ["I know just what to do!"]
 ‣ Lionheart - Larry Hochman [SpongeBob absorbing the whelks' snot]
 • Lap Steel - Nicolas Carr [SpongeBob laughs]
 • Wahini Wobble Faster - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Ending]

Release

Broadcast

• This episode and "The Masterpiece" aired in a marathon that led up to the series premieres of the Nickelodeon animated series Planet Sheen and T.U.F.F. Puppy.

Distribution

Format	Title	Region
DVD	The Complete Seventh Season	United States
	It Came from Goo Lagoon	Global
Box set	The SpongeBob SquarePants Collection	United States
	The Seventh & Eighth Seasons	United States
	The SpongeBob SquarePants 8 Season DVD Collection	United States
	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. 11	Global
	20,000 Leagues of Laughs!	Global
	Beware the Hooks	Global

Trivia

General

• It is revealed that SpongeBob's mother's maiden name is "BubbleBottom."
• A clip of this episode was used in the commercials of Comedy Rules Primetime on Nicktoons in August 2010. However, this episode did not premiere in the United States until October 2010.
• Even though the episode focuses mainly on the whelks, there appear to be sea urchins on the title card.
• In this episode, to put a metal shield over her treedome, Sandy presses a button on her tree, but in "Texas," it was a lever.
  • The metal sheeting also goes much slower in this episode than it did in "Texas."
• When Sandy lets in SpongeBob and Patrick, she's wearing her spacesuit, but when they're all in her treedome, Sandy is in her bikini. Sandy removes her spacesuit offscreen when they arrive at her treedome.
• When Sandy uses SpongeBob's helmet, it does not have a flower on the top, but when Sandy is at the Krusty Krab in the whelk's stomach, the helmet has a flower.
• This episode is one of two episodes in season seven to use the Crowd Scream sound effect, the other being "SpongeBob's Last Stand."
• During the Craziest Creatures marathon, this episode was paired up with "The Krabby Patty That Ate Bikini Bottom."
• This is the second episode in which Mr. Krabs has interpreted the word "ravenous" to mean hungry for Krabby Patties. The first was "Born to Be Wild."

File:Whelk Attack 171.png

SpongeBob and Patrick without their corneas.

• In the UK and Ireland, the shot of SpongeBob and Patrick without pupils was cut. However, the scene has been restored as of 2024.

Episode references

• SpongeBob references the season 1 episode "Suds" when he mentions the titular illness.

Errors

• When the tower is raising from the Krusty Krab, in one frame, SpongeBob has his uniform hat on; while in the previous and following frame, he does not.
• When the Krusty Krab gets eaten, the chum bucket is gone.
• When the whelk eats the Krabby Patties Mr. Krabs offers, he charges 54.95. However, there were 22 Krabby Patties on the plate, which at that price would actually add up to 87.78.

File:Whelk Attack 178.png

Sandy's missing eyelashes.

• When all the customers watch SpongeBob helping to make the whelks better again, Sandy's eyelashes are missing.
• When Sandy was eaten by the whelk, she has no flower on her helmet (because she used SpongeBob's helmet). However, once SpongeBob and Patrick enter the Krusty Krab and later on, she has it again.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
French	Des bulots en rage	The Raging Whelks
German	Verschleimt und verschlungen	Slimy and Engulfed
Hungarian	Nyálkás támadás	Slimey Attack
Italian	Lumache all'attacco!	Snails on the Attack!
Russian	Атака улиток Ataka ulitok	Snail Attack
Spanish (Latin America)	El ataque de los whelks	The Attack of the Whelks
Spanish (Spain)	El ataque de los caracoles marinos	The Attack of the Sea Snails