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BassWard

If you were looking for the article about the season 15 episode with a similar name, then see "UpWard."

"BassWard" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season 14. In this episode, Squidward and Bubble Bass are forced to tolerate each other's company on a trip to Jetsam City.

Characters

Synopsis

Squidward is at the Bikini Bottom Station, preparing to board a train to the Jetsam City clarinet convention. He runs into Bubble Bass, who is headed to the comic convention in the same city. Squidward is the last to board the train and is unable to get any seats, with the only one left being next to Bubble Bass. Bubble Bass orders fondue, which drips on Squidward and burns him when the train suddenly moves forward. During the ride, Bubble Bass falls asleep and keeps leaning on Squidward.

BassWard 043

A woman tasks Squidward to look after her baby. Bubble Bass wakes up, feeling hot, and opens the window. Squidward and the baby are cold, so he closes it. As they fight over the window, the baby eventually flies out of it, to Squidward and Bubble Bass' concern. When the mother returns, Bubble Bass sends her out of the window as well. A ticket taker walks by, and when Squidward and Bubble Bass show their tickets, they also get sucked out of the window. The ticket taker throws them off the train. After hiding from the mother and her baby, who are now seeking revenge, they decide to walk along the tracks.

Squidward and Bubble Bass walk until they find Old Man Jenkins' farm. They see him fixing his plane and he gives them a ride to Jetsam City. Bubble Bass' weight and shaking the plane causes their half of the plane to crash. Squidward and Bubble Bass argue over who has to pull the other there, with Squidward deciding on a coin flip. The coin lands in Bubble Bass's belly button, and Squidward gives up and pulls Bubble Bass to the city.

BassWard 143

When they arrive to the city that night, they check in at their hotel. The receptionist tells them they have missed their reservations, and their rooms have been given away. When they break down crying, he gives them a slightly worse room. Squidward still likes the room and relaxes until Bubble Bass tries to sleep next to him. When Bubble Bass snacks and spills crumbs all over the bed, Squidward tries to sleep in the bathroom, but finds that Bubble Bass has already wrecked it. After stepping on a carpet covered in Bubble Bass' body hair, he is unable to get any sleep.

The next morning, Squidward and Bubble Bass argue over whose convention is lamer. They arrive, where both conventions are in adjacent buildings. However, Old Man Jenkins' half of the plane is still loose and flying around. It crashes into the Mermaid Man statue outside the convention and blows up. Squidward cheers at Bubble Bass' convention being destroyed, but the statue comes back down from the sky and destroys Squidward's.

Squidward and Bubble Bass suddenly hear the train leaving and are denied entry by the ticket taker. They use a handcar to travel back along the train tracks. However, the mother and her baby from the train who are now more muscular from all of the handcar pumping are still after them, as they start pumping faster and telling each others how much they loathe each others.

Production

This episode was confirmed on September 5, 2023.[4]

Art

Background design

  • Art direction by Peter Bennett, traditionally painted by Amy Lewis in gouache then scanned in and line drawn digitally on top.[5] Layout designers are unknown.[6]

Storyboards

Production notes

Kyle Morrison:

  • "I loved drawing Squidward and [Bubble Bass] getting cutesy and way too into the "Old Man Jenkins Had a Farm" song.[1]
  • "The hotel manager [shark] also has some of my favorite acting I've done for a non-main character, especially for the Frank Nelson-esque "I live to screw with people like you" vibes."[7]

Music

( ‣ ) Production music
( • ) Original music
( ◦ ) SpongeBob music

 • Cream Pie - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Title card and opening.]
 ‣ Hippos And A Stranger - Dennis Farnon [Bubble Bass appears.]
 ‣ Happy Hurries - Part 3 - Ronald Hanmer [Train pulls into the station.]
 ‣ Happy Hurries - Ronald Hanmer [Squidward can't find a seat.]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks 7A - Jeremy Wakefield ["Oh, you?!"]
 ‣ Five More Comical Cuts - Remastered - Ronald Hanmer [Squidward sits next to Bubble Bass.]
 ‣ Forty Comedy Punctuations And Bridges 27-40 - Remastered - Fredric Bayco [Bubble Bass spilling his yogurt.]
 • Cheese Fondue for Two - Nicolas Carr [Fondue woman serves Bubble Bass.]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks 16C - Jeremy Wakefield [Squidward steaming.]
 ‣ Woodwind Comedy Transitions - Part 18 - Van Phillips [Bubble Bass sleeping.]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks 27A - Jeremy Wakefield ["Aren't you too the best of friends?"]
 ‣ Flitting Along - Ernest Tomlinson [Squidward watches the friendly lady's baby.]
 ‣ Hippomania - John Fox, Mac Prindy [Baby gets sucked out of the window.]
 ‣ Flitting Along - Ernest Tomlinson [Friendly lady gets sucked out of the window.]
 • Untitled Tracks - Nicolas Carr ["I hope she finds her baby."]
 ‣ Four More Comical Cuts - Remastered - Ronald Hanmer [Train conductor asking for tickets.]
 • Nude Sting - Nicolas Carr [Squidward and Bubble Bass kicked off the train.]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks 12D - Jeremy Wakefield ["I loathe you."]
 ‣ Comic Consequences - Part 6 - Ronald Hanmer ["When mommy finds those two, she's ground them... into dust!"]
 ‣ Woodwind Comedy Transitions - Part 18 - Van Phillips ["I'm walking!"]
 • Cymbal Swell - Nicolas Carr [Transition to next scene.]
 • Patchys Parched Blues Pt 2 - Nicolas Carr [Squidward and Bubble Bass in the desert.]
 • Patchys Parched Blues - Nicolas Carr ["We're going to die out here!"]
 ◦ Old Man Jenkins Had a Farm - Mike Bell [Squidward and Bubble Bass sing this.]
 • Old Man Jenkins Had a Farm Instrumental Stereo Mix - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Background music to "Old Man Jenkins Had a Farm."]
 • Lap Steel-spce_01 - Nicolas Carr [Transition to next scene.]
 ‣ Happy Go Lucky - Maynard Nelson [Old Man Jenkins flying his plane.]
 ‣ Dramatic Cue (C) - Ronald Hanmer [Squidward and Bubble Bass fall from the plane.]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks 7A - Jeremy Wakefield ["Now what do we do?"]
 ‣ Hippomania - John Fox, Mac Prindy [Squidward pulls Bubble Bass to Jetsam City.]
 • Triangle - Nicolas Carr ["Keep the change!"]
 ‣ Commercial Links 2 - Remastered - Ronald Hanmer [Inside the Grand Tug Hotel.]
 ‣ Eight Comical Cuts - Remastered - Ronald Hanmer [Squidward and Bubble Bass crying.]
 ‣ Aloha - Dick Walter [Squidward and Bubble Bass' hotel room.]
 ‣ Four More Comical Cuts - Remastered - Ronald Hanmer [Bubble Bass eating on the bed.]
 ‣ Five More Comical Cuts - Remastered - Ronald Hanmer [Squidward steps on a "shag carpet."]
 • Nude Sting - Nicolas Carr ["Is this your... body hair?!"]
 ‣ Comedy Grotesque - Peter Winslow ["What is wrong with you?!"]
 • Slide Whistle Stooges 2 No Whistle - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [The next morning.]
 ‣ Charlie's Bike C - Peter Balding, Otto Sieben ["Your clarinet con is by far the lamer of the two."]
 • New Fish Duet - Barry Anthony, Nicolas Carr [Kid playing the clarinet.]
 • Squid Clarinet 4 - Barry Anthony, Nicolas Carr [Kid falls over.]
 ‣ Charlie's Bike C - Peter Balding, Otto Sieben ["You were saying?"]
 ‣ Carnival At The Fair - William Merrick Farran [Old Man Jenkins flying above the convention centers.]
 • Tentacally Speaking - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Comic convention center destroyed.]
 • Clownfish Capers - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Clarinet convention center destroyed.]
 • Cream Pie - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Ending.]

Release

Format Title Region
DVD The Complete Fourteenth Season United States
Box set Another 100 Episodes United States
The Best 300 Episodes Ever United States

Trivia

General

  • On Nickelodeon, this episode was originally going to premiere at 5:00 PM, but it was moved to 4:00 PM.
NickVsNicktoonsBW
BassWard TV description with Shell City instead of Jetsam City
  • The original pre-aired synopsis and TV descriptions suggested this episode was going to take place in Shell City instead of Jetsam City.
    • The UK and Ireland have the original synopsis, and a bumper before the break before the premiere of this episode has the announcer mistaken Squidward and Bubble Bass going to Shell City.
  • A picture of the IJLSA is on the comic convention building.
  • Squidward's scream at the end of this episode was reused from the episode "Jolly Lodgers."
  • This is the first episode for several things:
    • The first episode Mike Bell has written for the main SpongeBob series since "Good Neighbors," which premiered 18 years prior to this episode.
    • The first episode in the franchise to premiere on Thanksgiving in the United States.
    • The first (and so far only) episode in the entire series where SpongeBob SquarePants or his alternative universe counterparts does not appear in any way outside the shorts, nor is he even mentioned. However, as listed in the credits, Tom Kenny voiced minor characters such as train passengers and convention goers.
      • This is also the second episode not to feature any sponge characters, following "Welcome to Binary Bottom." Coincidentally, both episodes premiered in 2023, where "Welcome to Binary Bottom" premiered eleven months and 10 days prior to this episode in January 2023.
    • The first season 14 episode to not credit the animation director, continuing the tradition from most of Ian Vazquez's season 13 episodes.
    • This episode marks Bubble Bass' first major role in season 14.
    • The first episode in which the other nine main characters on the show have been completely absent for at least one episode.
  • In the Romanian dub, this episode is called "în direcția bass" which means "in the bass direction."

Episode references

SB Prod 6B Char bubblebass
BassWard 129
  • While at the hotel, Bubble Bass assumes a pose based on his model sheet design from "Pickles."


Cultural references

Errors

BassWard 004
  • When Bubble Bass is seen for the first time in this episode, his fin is missing.
BassWard error
  • For a brief frame, Incidental 11's eyes are either closed or the same color as her skin.


Videos

Names in other languages

Language Name Meaning
German Comic oder Klarinette Comic or Clarinet
Russian Бассвард
Bassvard		 Bassward
Spanish (American) La convención The Convention
Spanish (European) Lubimardo BassWard

References

  1. ^ a b c d Kyle Morrison on Twitter - "Bassward" Thread..."
  2. ^ a b Chris Tabares on Instagram - "Some of my Storyboard drawings..."
  3. ^ Nickelodeon UK - July 15, 2024
  4. ^ File:295-98.jpeg
  5. ^ Amy Lewis on Twitter - "More SpongeBob background paintings. Traditionally..."
  6. ^ Amy Lewis Art - SpongeBob SquarePants
  7. ^ Kyle Morrison on Twitter - "The hotel manager also has..."
  8. ^ SpongeBob SquarePants - Nicktoons G.L.O.B.E. Archives
  9. ^ Nickstory - November 23, 2023
  10. ^ File:BassWard OG title.jpeg
  11. ^ Sterling Ritcher on Twitter - "Yeee ya that was..."