BOATING SCHOOL

Episode Title: "Boating School"

Episode Airing Number: 4

Episode Production Number: 4

Original Airdate: August 7, 1999

Season: 1

On DVD: "SpongeBob SquarePants: The Complete First Season," "Lost at Sea"

On VHS: "The Sponge Who Could Fly"

Aired With Episode: "Naughty Nautical Neighbors"

Running Time: 11:04

Storyboard Director: Ennio Torresan, Jr.

Storyboard Artists: Erik Wiese

Writers: Ennio Torresan, Jr., Erik Weise, and Mr. Lawrence

Animation Director: Tom Yasumi

Creative Director: Derek Drymon

In Brief: SpongeBob needs an idea to complete his boating test that he cannot pass.

Story: SpongeBob awakes on the morning of his boating (underwater driving in boat-like cars) test at Mrs. Puff's Boating School. He's confident that he can pass until he gets behind the wheel. Though Mrs. Puff tries to tell him not to, SpongeBob floors the boat until it crashes into the school's lighthouse. He has failed another driving test.

That night, SpongeBob sits in bed and is disappointed that he has failed his boating test again. SpongeBob explains to Patrick that he can't pass his test. Patrick comes up with an idea: he sticks a walkie-talkie in SpongeBob's head that he can communicate to him through and give him advice during the test. SpongeBob thinks the idea is great and covers the walkie-talkie antennae on top of his head with a hat so it is unnoticeable.

SpongeBob is about to take another boating test. He can hear Patrick through the walkie-talkie inside his head. Soon, Mrs. Puff comes and starts his thirty-ninth test. She asks questions about what he must do with the boat and Patrick tells him inside his head the answers. Once SpongeBob gets going, he drives very well, and Mrs. Puff is impressed.

The finish line for the test is near, and Mrs. Puff is very happy for SpongeBob. She jokingly asks him if his secret is a radio in his head which someone else is using to tell him the answers. The two laugh until Mrs. Puff says that using the radio would be cheating. SpongeBob reveals that he is using a device and someone is telling him answers, and he freaks out in the car. He crashes into the lighthouse again without passing the test.

Mrs. Puff is placed in an ambulance and driven to the hospital. SpongeBob convinces her that he'll try harder next time. He and Gary ride on his unicycle to the hospital to visit Mrs. Puff.

Song: (none)

Quotes:

Patrick: *hidden behind door* What's pink and square at the same time?

SpongeBob: I don't know, Patrick. *opens door*

Patrick: *in pair of SpongeBob's pants* Patrick SquarePants!

Patrick: Pat to Sponge. Pat to Sponge. Testing. Testing. Testing testing testing testing testing testing testing. TESTING! AHHH! TEST, TE-DO YOU READ?

SpongeBob: Sponge to Pat, I hear you loud and clear.

Patrick: Uh oh, here comes Mrs. Puff! Act nautural. *SpongeBob gets onto the ground on his hands and knees and eats grass and moos like a cow* No, no, get in the boat!

SpongeBob: Don't worry Mrs. Puff. I'll try harder next semester.

Mrs. Puff: *as ambulance drives off* NNNNNNNOOOOO!

Observations:

SpongeBob's Clock SpongeBob wakes up at 8:00 A.M. on the morning of his boating test. Also, his clock has seven dots to represent numbers. The numbers that aren't represented by a dot seem to be 2, 5, 8, 10, and 11.

Date SpongeBob's boating exam takes place on Wednesday, March 3.

Seatbelts At both of his driving tests, SpongeBob doesn't wear a seatbelt, but Mrs. Puff does.

Answers to SpongeBob's Oral Exam:

1. The bow

2. Stern

3. Starboard

4. Port

5. Skipper

6. Deck

7. Cabin

8. Galley

9. Keel

10. 1924

Boat Number The number on SpongeBob's boat he uses in both tests he takes is 18.

Another Pillow In the beginning of the scene where SpongeBob is laying in bed, he has one green pillow. After Gary tells him that he has failed the boating test for the 38th time, he is seen with two pillows on his bed.

Fred The man that SpongeBob walks across the street during the boating test montage is the background character known as Fred.

Animation Error When Patrick runs home after SpongeBob tells Mrs. Puff that he's cheating, there is an area of blue space on the left side of Patrick's rock that goes through the ground.

"My Leg!" The "My leg!" cry done by Mr. Lawrence can be heard when SpongeBob crashes his boat into the lighthouse the second time in this episode.

SpongeBob's Boating School This episode was the inspiration for the game "SpongeBob's Boating School" on Nick.com. The game can be found here