The Video (SpongeBob SquarePants)

The Video is an upcoming episode of SpongeBob SquarePants. The episode was directed by Vincent Waller and Marc Ceccarelli. The episode was also written by Aaron Springer, Derek Drymon, C.H. Greenblatt, Tim Hill, Merriwether Williams, and Sherm Cohen.

The episode was released to high acclaim, being praised for its sassy humor, wit, pop culture references, satire, and intelligence.

Synopsis
SpongeBob and Patrick attempt to submit a homemade movie to a movie company in the outskirts of Bikini Bottom. Little did SpongBob and Patrick know, that they had some competition.

Trivia

 * The fourth wall is broken several times in this episode:
 * Patrick once again questions the possibility of having fire underwater.
 * Nancy Suzy Fish says at one point, "Don't look at me I'm just a background character".
 * Bubble soap splashes on the camera.
 * SpongeBob explains that he has gotten into trouble many times, and goes on to say that "one moment I'm in trouble, and the next I'm free like nothing happened", a reference to the shift back to the status quo at the end of episodes.
 * SpongeBob mentions that he had been working at the Krusty Krab for over twenty years, a reference to the premiere date of SBSP.
 * While Squidward is ranting about how unrealistic Patrick's ideas are, Patrick replies "You can't happen in real life, and yet here we are".

Cultural References

 * When SpongeBob and Patrick attempt to redress, their outfits reference several popular media.
 * Their first outfit resembled Bart and Lisa Simpson.
 * Their second outfit resembled Goku and Krillin from Dragon Ball Z.
 * Their last outfit resembles Huey and Riley Freeman's from The Boondocks.
 * There are several references to South Park throughout the episode.
 * Patrick, while donning a Santa hat, salutes SpongeBob with a high-pitched greeting, "Howdy-ho", which is a reference to Mr. Hankey.
 * "What Would Brian Boitano Do?" and "Blame Canada" from South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut appear on SpongeBob's playlist.
 * The first story SpongeBob and Patrick attempt to submit to the movie department is a parody of "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe". The story is about Gary getting abducted by aliens. Sandy's role in the story is also very similar to Wendy Testaburger's. The animation sequence also utilized in paper-cutout stop motion techniques, and the big heads on tiny bodies evoke the animation-style of South Park. Additionally the animators underwent a laborious process involved creating hundreds of construction paper cutouts—including individual mouth shapes, and many of the characters in several different sizes—, and photographing every frame of the show with an overhead camera, to the dialog that had been recorded earlier, much like how Parker and Stone animated Cartman Gets an Anal Probe. Supplementary animation techniques involved creating the starry night sky by putting holes into a black posterboard and illuminating it from behind. The characters also speak in the same high-pitched, slightly sped up tone as the show’s characters. The characters' eyes and mouths are also similar to South Park characters. Additionally, the short film SpongeBob and Patrick created takes place on land, and they along with Squidward and Mr. Krabs stand at a bus stop that looks identical to the iconic bus stop from South Park. Squidward gets run over by a police car. SpongeBob exclaims "Oh my gosh, they killed Squidward!", and which Patrick replies to "You batards!", which is an obvious reference to "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!".
 * The Comic Con scene spoofs the South Park fanbase, with subtle tweaks to their designs.
 * Squidward wears an orange parka that covers most of his face, like Kenny's.
 * Fred states that he was once abducted by aliens, and Patrick asks "Did they give you an anal probe?".
 * SpongeBob wears a blue hat with a yellow puffball on it, a red jacket, and yellow mittens dressed exactly like Cartman.
 * While SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward, and Mr. Krabs hang out and drink root beers in front of a fence, they also parody the opening sequence of King of the Hill.
 * Squidward exclaims, "What the deuce!?", which is a reference to Stewie Griffin's catchphrase from Family Guy.
 * Patrick's hat bears a very close resemblance to that of Super Mario's.
 * When Squidward tries restyling his wig one part of the episode, one of the hairstyles resemble Sonic's quills.
 * Sandy tells SpongeBob, "Move it, football head!" while he is shaped like a football and his hat resembles that of Arnold Shortman's from Hey Arnold!.
 * Perch Perkins does a news report in the voice of Klaus Heisler from American Dad!, incidentally, they are voiced by the same person.
 * SpongeBob's toy doll bears a strong resemblance to Elmo from Sesame Street.
 * When Patrick wants to call a Tv show he came up with, "The Big Bang Theory", SpongeBob tells him "Patrick, there's already a show called 'The Big Bang Theory'", which is a reference to the television sitcom of the same name.
 * The fish who are SpongeBob and Patrick's rivals in the episode are a parody of the Gravity Falls fanbase. Additionally, the attire they cosplay are heavily based on that of the Pines family although the designs had subtle tweaks to avoid copyright infringement problems. The production team also had to consult legal advice to make sure the designs were not too similar as they did not want their spoofing of the fanbase too obvious.
 * The fish also claim that "SpongeBob rigged the award show back in 2016, and we're blowing the lid off this conspiracy! SpongeBob UNFAIR-PANTS, are we right?". This is a reference to SpongeBob winning the Kids Choice Awards back in 2016. They go own to promote hashtags called "#DownwiththeSponge" and leave threatening messages on SpongeBob's house. This further burlesques the fanbase and this tweet made by Gravity Falls series creator, Alex Hirsch.
 * While SpongeBob and Patrick were waiting in line, their is a fish who is dressed exactly like Lincoln Loud from The Loud House. He says to the duo, "You two are overrated, I've got this battle in the bag!". Patrick wittily replies, "Gee kid, I wonder if Neptune would grant you a dictionary as you would be more clear if your parents were second cousins instead of first. Put some dirt in your eye, ya Loud House ripoff".
 * Two judges in the movie department are a parody of Beavis and Butt-Head.
 * The Comic Con scene lampoons many perceived "toxic" fanbases. The fanbases of Nintendo, Sonic the Hedgehog, Steven Universe, Five Nights at Freddy's, The Simpsons, South Park, Undertale, Marvel Comics, DC Comics, etc were all caricatured. And yet again, all the costumes were tweaked slightly specifically for legal purposes.
 * The songs on SpongeBob's playlist contains many pop culture references:
 * "Do the Bartman", "Every Summer With You", and "Flaming Moe's" from The Simpsons appear on SpongeBob's playlist, with the characters's names being listed as Bart Simpson, Homer Simpson, Marge Simpson, and Moe Szyslak.
 * "Spirit of Massachusetts" and "Christmastime Is Killing Us", with the characters' names being listed as Brian Griffin, Stewie Griffin, and Santa Claus.
 * "Balls Deep in Love" from The Cleveland Show appear on the playlist, with the characters' names being listed as Cleveland Jr., Cleveland Brown, and Scottie Pippen.
 * Leela's Song by Philip J. Fry from Futurama appear on the playlist.
 * "Tomorrow" and "It's the Hard Knock Life" from Annie appear on the playlist.
 * A few songs from South Park: Bigger, Longer &amp; Uncut can be seen on the playlist, including "What Would Brian Boitano Do?" and Blame Canada, with The Boys' names being listed as E. Cartman, K. Broflovski, and S. Marsh.
 * "No More Gi", "The Honesty Rap", "Because We're Men", "Pizza Rap", "My Little Ones", "Who's Gettin' Candy?", "Make the Most of It", "Life Can Make You Smile", "I'm On My Way", and "Without You" from The Amazing World of Gumball  appear on the playlist as well, with the singers being listed as G-Ball Watterson, D. Watterson, A. Watterson, R. Watterson, and S. Small.
 * "Leave It All to Me" from ICarly appear on the playlist.
 * "Make It Shine" from Victorious appear on the playlist.
 * "Open Your Heart", "It Doesn't Matter", "Live and Learn", "Escape from the City", "What I'm Made of", "Catch Me If You Can", "His World", and "Endless Possibility" from the Sonic the Hedgehog series appear on SpongeBob's playlist, with the performers being listed as Crush 40, Tony Harnell, Runblebee, and Jaret Reddick.

Continuity

 * Pictures from "Help Wanted", "Pizza Delivery", "Scaredy Pants", "Rock Bottom", "Texas", "Your Shoe's Untied", "Something Smells", "Bubble Buddy", "Christmas Who?", "Dying for Pie", "Wormy", "Life of Crime", "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy III", "Pressure", "Welcome to the Chum Bucket", "Frankendoodle", "Band Geeks", "Sailor Mouth, "Sandy, SpongeBob, and the Worm", "Club SpongeBob", "My Pretty Seahorse", "The Bully", "Snowball Effect", "Wet Painters", "Chocolate with Nuts", "The Camping Episode", "SpongeBob Meets the Strangler", "Fear of a Krabby Patty", "Have You Seen This Snail?", "Dunces and Dragons", "Krusty Towers", "Best Day Ever", and "The Gift of Gum" appear in SpongeBob's "precious memories" room.