The Call of the Spongesons

The Call of the Spongesons

Plot: The family get lost in the wild.

Season: 1 Episode: 7

Total Episode Count: 7

Production Code: 7G06

Plot
Spongebob is jealous of Squidward Tentacles' new RV and goes shopping for one of his own. Bob, the owner of the RV store shows the family the Ultimate Behemoth. During the tour, Patrick and Pearl are impressed, but Sandy is concerned about the cost. However, Bob does a credit check on the computer and learns that Spongebob has bad credit scores. As a result, he is unable to afford a new RV, and is forced to settle for a dilapidated, second hand RV instead. The family packs everything into their new RV and head off on a camping trip. Against Sandy's wishes, Spongebob takes an unwise, off-road shortcut that soon results in the RV dangling precariously on the edge of a cliff. The family manages to inch out of the vehicle just before it plummets off the cliff, stranding them in the wilderness.

Sandy and Pearl set up camp while Spongebob and Patrick head off to look for civilization. Plankton follows them, but quickly gets separated and is cared for by an adoptive family of sea-bears. Spongebob and Patrick's attempts to find food prove fruitless, and soon they fall into a river and lose their clothes. Spongebob finds a beehive and attempts to get the honey, but is repeatedly stung by bees that cause his mouth to swell, rendering him incomprehensible. He staggers into mud, where an amateur cameraman captures a video of him and, mistaking him for Bigfoot, sells it to the local news.

Soon the forest is swarming with Bigfoot hunters. Pearl and Sandy are found and rescued. Sandy sees a picture of "Bigfoot" and announces that he is actually her husband, causing a minor tabloid scandal. Spongebob and Patrick encounter a sea-bear, but Plankton calms it before it attacks them. Plankton leaves with Spongebob and Patrick as they wander back into civilization, where Spongebob is immediately tranquilized and brought to a research lab for study. They keep him for several days, but eventually are forced to release him. The results of their study are inconclusive.

Reception
In its original American broadcast on February 18, 1990, "The Call of the Spongesons" finished third place in the ratings for that day, with a Nielsen rating of 14.6 and a 22 percent audience share. The episode was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1990 in the category "Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy Series or a Special". IGN.com named Albert Brooks' guest performance in this episode, along with his four other appearances on The Spongesons, the best guest appearance in the show's history. "The Call of the Spongesons" received mixed reviews from critics. Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, the authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Spongesons Guide, both criticized and praised the episode saying: "This episode is a bit less than the sum of its parts. The early stuff at the RV Round-Up is much better than the main camping story, although there's some nice Sandy-Pearl bonding, and who could resist Plankton and the bears?" Jon Bonné at MSNBC called the episode "a perfect example of the first season’s bizarre and fruitful balance between edgy humor and softly-drawn neuroses" and stated that "it was this combination that made JellyfishJam’s shorts for the Fishman show so compelling, and ultimately what made it possible for The Spongesons to break the molds of network television." Colin Jacobson at DVD Movie Guide said in a review that "while [the episode] doesn’t offer the continuous highs of the best Spongesons, it’s a generally solid show" and added that "the episode uses a wackier tone than usual for this era, but it works, and the program is consistently fun".

Trivia

 * The motto of Bob's RV Roundup is "We'd rather make a friend than a profit."
 * The episode marks the first appearance of recurring guest star Albert Brooks. In this episode, and all of his subsequent appearances he is credited as A. Brooks.
 * Squidward makes $27 more a week than Spongebob does (although this is based on Squidward's original job at a pharmaceutical company, not the Leftorium). This would mean as a pharmacologist Squidward Tentacles made $1,404 a year greater than Spongebob's salary, although Squidward makes far better use of his credit.
 * Signs at Bob's RV-Roundup (formerly RVs R Us): "We want to make friends :-) Not Profit :-(" "We give credit to everyone!"; "Bad Credit. Good!"; "Bankruptcy Shmankruptcy."
 * The Ultimate Behemoth RV: two-stories high with a fireplace, a full kitchen, four deep fryers---"one for each part of the chicken," a big-screen television set, and its own satellite, the Vanstar I.
 * The breaking Bigfoot report interrupts the president's address.
 * Signs advertising the Bigfoot cottage industry include "Half-Fish, Half-Ape Burgers" and "Get Your Photo Taken with Bigfoot."
 * The fact that Spongebob is indeed the missing link is referenced again in season 16's "The Monkey Suit".
 * Patrick wears his "lucky red hat" for the first time in this episode (but coughs it out multiple times in Patrick the General). Also, this is the only time the hat is totally red (other episodes depict it as red with a white visor).
 * This is the first episode in which Squiddy Tentacles (Squidward's son) appears, though only briefly, and he does not make a second appearance until the next season, and would not speak again until "Patrick the Daredevil".
 * This episode was the theme of a Burger King promotion including kids meal toys and collectable cups.
 * At the time of production, the writers and producers felt that this episode had the potential to be made into a two-part story. However, they eventually decided to make it as a single episode.
 * The scene with Patrick and Spongebob making a trap was used in the season four episode "So It's Come To This: A Spongesons Clip Show" (the first clip show on The Spongesons). The part where Spongebob is naked after losing his clothes in the waterfall dive was used during the "hardcore nudity" montage at the end of the season seven clip show episode "The Spongesons 138th Episode Spectacular!".
 * In the United Kingdom, this was one of the first episodes released on video cassette in the early 1990s (on a tape paired with "Patrick the Genius"), and thus was many viewers' introduction to the series (especially in the days before the series was shown on terrestrial television). A second tape featuring "Patrick the General" and "There's No Disgrace Like Home" was released at the same time.

Rating
TV-PG-D