Sandy's Rocket (Episode)

Sandy's Rocket
© Viacom
Episode No.:	8a
Season:	1
Airdate:	4 September 1999
Previous Episode:	Jellyfish Jam
Next Episode:	Squeaky Boots
Characters	Voice actors
SpongeBob SquarePants	Tom Kenny
Sandy Cheeks	Carolyn Lawrence
Patrick Star	Bill Fagerbakke

Sandy's Rocket is an episode from season 1.

Info

Sandy going to the moon.

Characters

Places

Plot

When Sandy creates a rocket and tells SpongeBob that she's going to the moon, SpongeBob begs her to take him with her. Sandy tells him that there's not enough room, and SpongeBob compacts himself so he can fit into a small container. Sandy explains that she needs all of the containers and drawers, and tells him that this trip is for science, not fun. SpongeBob keeps on begging her, and she eventually accepts to take him. SpongeBob runs around the walls chanting "Going to the moon! Moon ride! Moon ride!", and annoys Sandy. Sandy has small net guns that she uses to harvest moon rocks, and denies the existence of aliens on the moon. Patrick comes to SpongeBob in the night and gives him some 'Alien repellent' (for windows), and they go to the rocket to spray it. Even though they're supposed to just spray the windows, Patrick goes inside and SpongeBob accidentally starts up the rocket. No-one is at the controls, so it goes into space, loops around the moon, and comes back to Bikini Bottom. SpongeBob and Patrick, convinced that they're on the Moon, think that the aliens are projecting their memories onto the environment to trick them. They start catching everyone with the net guns, believing they're aliens. The two then deduce that each other is an alien so they try to capture each other. Patrick accidentally captures himself, and SpongeBob puts him in the rocket. He starts the rocket up again, and it crashes on the moon. Suddenly, SpongeBob realizes his terrible mistake and everybody (Sandy, Patrick, Mr. Krabs, Squidward, Larry the Lobster, etc.) says "SpongeBob, the aliens would like to have a word with you".

Cultural References

SpongeBob makes reference to "cowlicks" as evidence of aliens. This is most likely homage to Pete and Pete.
When Patrick is messing around with a control in Sandy's rocket while "playing a game", a sound effect in the background is the rotating block sound from Tetris.
When SpongeBob and Patrick first become weightless in the rocket, a book floats by with "2001" written on its cover. This is a reference to Arthur C. Clark's novel 2001: A Space Odyssey.
A crop circle reference is in the episode.
When SpongeBob tosses his first captured "alien" (Gary), a ticker on the rocket clicks to one and a "ding" sound is heard. This ding used to be a common sound on CBS game shows, but it is most famous for being used on the current US version of The Price is Right.
This show is a spoof of alien films, specifically the 1986 James Cameron film, Aliens involving battles between marines and aliens, except in this episode the so called "aliens" do not retaliate or carry any weapons.
SpongeBob’s belief that the "aliens" are "projecting" his and Patrick's memories of their home, Bikini Bottom, onto the lunar surface to put them into a false sense of security seems to be inspired from a short story, "The Third Expedition", from Ray Bradbury's book, the Martian Chronicles.
When SpongeBob looks out at the window towards the moon, the view of Earth from the Moon looks almost exactly like the famed Apollo 8 photograph.

Trivia/Goofs

During a Nickelodeon movie promotion in 1999, a set of scratch and sniff stickers were released at specified fast-food restaurants to be used with certain Nicktoons. One of them was used when Patrick squirted toothpaste in some peanut butter. Also, the symbol that signaled you to "sniff" at the bottom right part of the screen was accidentally filmed along with the episode, and not edited over until late 2002, almost 3 years after the scratch and sniff packs were put out of circulation.
First appearance of Flats the Flounder. The second and third were the episodes Texas and The Bully.
A LEGO set based on this episode was released in 2008.
Sandy's Rocket's scale changes between Bikini Bottom and the Moon.
When SpongeBob and Patrick are having a tough time filling the "aliens" in the rocket ship, there were still many Bikini Bottomites captured and left on the ground. But after SpongeBob caught Patrick and Sandy, all the Bikini Bottomites were captured and the rocket was still half empty.
Smoke from the rocket get into Sandy's treedome, despite the fact that the rocket is outside.