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"Rock Bottom" is the second segment of the 17th episode of the first season of the American animated television series ''
SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' is an American animated television series, animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It first aired as a sneak peek after the 1999 Kids' C ...
''. It first aired on
Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...
in the United States on March 15, 2000. In this episode, SpongeBob gets stranded in Rock Bottom, a strange city in the abyssopelagic zone. The episode was written by Paul Tibbitt, Ennio Torresan, and David Fain, and the animation was directed by Tom Yasumi. The premise of the episode was inspired by an incident from series writer and voice of
Plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms that drift in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) but are unable to actively propel themselves against ocean current, currents (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are ca ...
, Mr Lawrence's childhood, wherein he got on to the wrong bus on his way back from school. The idea was simple enough for the storyboarders to create most of the gags and humor. Upon release, "Rock Bottom" was viewed by over two million households. It has received positive reviews from critics, and is widely regarded as one of the best and most scary ''SpongeBob'' episodes. The episode inspired the SpongeBob SquarePants Rock Bottom Plunge ride which opened in 2008 at
Mall of America Mall of America (MoA) is a large shopping mall located in Bloomington, Minnesota. Located within the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, the mall lies southeast of the junction of Interstate 494 and Minnesota State Highway 77, north ...
's
Nickelodeon Universe Nickelodeon Universe is the name of two indoor amusement parks located at Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota and American Dream in East Rutherford, New Jersey, with a third location under construction at the Mall of China in Chongq ...
. It also inspired levels in several ''SpongeBob'' video games.


Plot

Boarding a bus home from Glove World, a glove-themed
amusement park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, and events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often fea ...
, SpongeBob and Patrick accidentally board the wrong bus, which takes them down a 90- degree cliff to Rock Bottom, a town inhabited by many strange deep-sea animals. Patrick is frightened, so SpongeBob leaves him at the bus stop while he goes to get a bus schedule. As soon as SpongeBob leaves, the next bus to Bikini Bottom arrives, and Patrick leaves SpongeBob behind. Unable to climb the 90-degree cliff, SpongeBob waits for the next bus. After a number of mishaps prevent him boarding a bus, SpongeBob heads to a
bus station A bus station, bus depot, or bus interchange is a structure where city buses or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. A bus station is larger than a bus stop, which is usually simply a place on the roadside, where buses can st ...
and waits in a very long line. Reaching the front, he finds that the next bus leaves in 5 seconds; he misses it and learns it was the last one until morning. As the lights go out for the night, SpongeBob hears a noise and dashes back to the cliff in terror. The source of the noise is revealed to be a friendly
anglerfish The anglerfish are ray-finned fish in the order Lophiiformes (). Both the order's common name, common and scientific name comes from the characteristic mode of predation, in which a modified dorsal Fish fin#Ray-fins, fin ray acts as a Aggressiv ...
, who has retrieved SpongeBob's glove balloon. The anglerfish inflates the balloon and ties it to SpongeBob's wrist, allowing him to float up the cliff. Believing that SpongeBob is still stuck in Rock Bottom, Patrick boards a bus and heads down the cliff to fetch him. SpongeBob spots him on the way up, but leaves Patrick on his own as to not get stuck again.


Production

"Rock Bottom" was written by Paul Tibbitt, Ennio Torresan, and David Fain, with Tom Yasumi serving as
animation director An animation director is the director in charge of all aspects of the animation process during the production of an animated or television film, or an animated segment for a live-action film or television show. Alternatively, the animation direct ...
. Tibbitt and Torresan also worked as
storyboard A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of simple illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding proce ...
directors. The premise of the episode was inspired by an incident from series writer and voice of
Plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms that drift in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) but are unable to actively propel themselves against ocean current, currents (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are ca ...
, Mr Lawrence's childhood. One day in the first grade, he had hopped on to the wrong bus on his way back from school. Though the experience lasted for a short time, he described it as a traumatic one for his young self and felt it to be one a lot of other children could relate to. He noted that while an event like this does not mean you are stranded in the middle of nowhere, SpongeBob, contrastively, in the episode was really stranded. Series head writer of the first season Merriwether Williams described the episode as one of the series' best, and one with a simple story. She said "it stayed with one idea" and was "so small that you could explore gags and opportunities for gags." The episode was an example of "a good outline" in the series where the
storyboard A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of simple illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding proce ...
s and humor were done easily. Williams said that in "many ways, my job was to create situations where the board guys could be funny, to create a situation that could be funny, and let them go for the actual, specific jokes."


Broadcast and reception

"Rock Bottom" originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on March 15, 2000 and was watched by 2.1 million households upon its release. The episode has largely received positive reception from critics and fans alike. As of 2022, the episode alongside its accompanying segment, "Arrgh!", rank 9 in the highest rated ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' according to
IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...
. In 2011, Emily Estep of WeGotThisCovered.com ranked the episode 5 on her "Top 10 Episodes of ''SpongeBob SquarePants''" list. She said "While 'Rock Bottom' is mostly a goofy episode, it's also one of the scarier episodes of ''SpongeBob''." She added that the episode had "the ideal balance of cuteness and sheer terror" that made it very memorable. In 2021, Jordan Moreau, Katcy Stephan and David Viramontes of '' Variety'' ranked the episode 14 on their 15 best ''SpongeBob'' episodes list. They noted how the episode flips the usual dynamics of SpongeBob annoying people around him by putting SpongeBob in a setting weirder than him. In 2024, Andrew Firriolo of
BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet mass media, media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John Seward Johnson III, John S. Johnson III to ...
ranked the episode 4 in their 25 Best ''SpongeBob'' episodes list. They highlighted the episode's writing and relatability factor (in the form of boarding the wrong bus) as positives. In 2025, Mike Bedard of ''
/Film ''/Film'', also spelled ''SlashFilm'', is a blog that covers movie news, reviews, interviews, and trailers. It was founded by Peter Sciretta in August 2005. The site's reviews appear on Rotten Tomatoes, and as of 2024, two of its leading film cr ...
'' ranked the episode 10 in their 15 Best ''SpongeBob'' episodes list. The writer praised the episode's abundance of great jokes and commemorated it's memorability due to a scary atmosphere and SpongeBob being placed in an unusually terrifying situation. "Rock Bottom" is notable among ''SpongeBob'' fans and critics as one of the series' more scary episodes. In 2023, Guillermo Kurten, Fawzia Khan, and Robbie Robinson of '' CBR'', ranked it 10 in their 20 Darkest ''SpongeBob'' episodes list. They pointed out that the episode's tone and setting, Rock Bottom, darkly contrasted with that of most of the regular series and its main location, Bikini Bottom. They also commented that the episode might host some commentary on mental health in the "hints of depression and anxiety SpongeBob feels in desperately trying to escape from his literal — and metaphorical — "Rock Bottom."" In 2023, J.S. Gornael of ''
Collider A collider is a type of particle accelerator that brings two opposing particle beams together such that the particles collide. Compared to other particle accelerators in which the moving particles collide with a stationary matter target, collid ...
'' ranked the episode 14 in their 10 Darkest ''SpongeBob'' episodes list. They praised the episodes dark and dimly lit atmosphere, creepy residents of the title town, and
Tom Kenny Thomas James Kenny (born July 13, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He has been voicing SpongeBob SquarePants (character), the titular character in ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' and associated media since its debut in 1999. Kenny has voice ...
's voice acting for effectively creating a chilling experience.


Home media

"Rock Bottom" was released on the DVD compilation called The Best of SpongeBob SquarePants on May 11, 2004. It was also included on the ''SpongeBob SquarePants: The Complete 1st Season'' DVD, released on October 28, 2003.''SpongeBob SquarePants: The Complete 1st Season''. DVD. Paramount Home Entertainment, 2003. On September 22, 2009, the episode was released on the ''SpongeBob SquarePants: The First 100 Episodes'' DVD, alongside all the episodes of seasons one through five.


Legacy


Amusement park ride

"Rock Bottom" served as an inspiration for the SpongeBob SquarePants Rock Bottom Plunge ride. The ride first opened on March 15, 2008, at the
Mall of America Mall of America (MoA) is a large shopping mall located in Bloomington, Minnesota. Located within the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, the mall lies southeast of the junction of Interstate 494 and Minnesota State Highway 77, north ...
's Nickelodeon theme park re-branded from the Mall of America's Park at MOA, formerly Camp Snoopy, to
Nickelodeon Universe Nickelodeon Universe is the name of two indoor amusement parks located at Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota and American Dream in East Rutherford, New Jersey, with a third location under construction at the Mall of China in Chongq ...
in the Minneapolis-St. Paul suburb of
Bloomington, Minnesota Bloomington is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. It is located on the north bank of the Minnesota River above its confluence with the Mississippi River, south of downtown Minneapolis and just south of the Interstate 494/Inter ...
. The SpongeBob SquarePants Rock Bottom Plunge features vertical lifts and 90-degree turns providing the riders a 60-plus foot drop, a maximum speed of over 40 miles per hour and a 4.4 maximum G-force rating. The ride time is approximately two minutes and is the shortest
Gerstlauer Gerstlauer Amusement Rides GmbH is a German manufacturer of stationary and transportable amusement rides and roller coasters, located in Münsterhausen, Germany. As of May 2024, all 113 Gerstlauer-made rollercoasters are still in operation an ...
roller coaster built yet.


Video games

Levels inspired and based on the titular setting of the episode have featured in several ''SpongeBob'' games such as '' Employee of the Month'' (2002), '' Battle for Bikini Bottom'' (2003), and '' The Yellow Avenger'' (2005). A Halloween themed version of Rock Bottom appears in ''The Cosmic Shake'' (2023). One of the most famous gags from the episode, where SpongeBob is repeatedly shafted by the bus at a nearby stop, is incorporated as an easter egg within both ''Battle for Bikini Bottom'' and ''The Cosmic Shake''.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rock Bottom 2000 American television episodes SpongeBob SquarePants episodes