The Sponge Who Could Fly

"The Sponge Who Could Fly", also known as "The SpongeBob SquarePants Lost Episode" and "SpongeBob's Lost Episode", is the 59th episode of SpongeBob SquarePants. It was originally released on the SpongeBob SquarePants: The Sponge Who Could Fly VHS and Lost at Sea DVD on March 4, 2003, before airing on Nickelodeon on March 21st. The episode's plot was used as the basis for the plot of SpongeBob Live!, a musical that toured in Britain in 2009 (not to be confused with SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical).
==Synopsis==
The French Narrator announces that a lost episode of SpongeBob SquarePants was discovered "under a desk at Nickelodeon Studios" and is to be presented by Patchy the Pirate. However, Patchy says that he has lost the lost episode, and tells the audience to forget about SpongeBob. After a musical montage of clips from past episodes titled "Remembering SpongeBob", Patchy finds a treasure map to the lost episode, and after searching for it, he excitedly starts the tape. The tape shows a long video of SpongeBob doing walk cycles down the road (like squishing his body up and walking with his tongue sticking out of his mouth) to upbeat music before abruptly cutting to the EBS color bars. Patchy, furious at this, throws out all his SpongeBob merchandise and runs away crying. However, Potty informs him that the real lost episode is playing next, at which point Patchy come back in and, through playing the footage in reverse, puts all his SpongeBob collectibles back in place.
In the episode, SpongeBob wishes he could fly with the jellyfish. He makes several failed attempts to do so, including a biplane, bat wings, a garden chair with balloons, and a giant kite pulled by a bicycle, and is ridiculed by the others. He tells the people that "it is a sad day in Bikini Bottom, when a guy is ridiculed for having dreams!" The people tell him that they all had unfulfilled dreams, and start chasing him for thinking he is more important than them. SpongeBob runs off a cliff and falls into a truck of mud, then into a truck of feathers.
Back home, having given up on his dream, SpongeBob dries himself out when he receives an insulting phone call and puts the hair dryer in his pants. While he talks, the hair dryer inflates his pants, lifting him into the air and giving him the ability to fly. He goes around helping people, earning their admiration and becoming a superhero of sorts. However, the people continue to ask increasingly unnecessary favors of him, leaving him no time to fly with the jellyfish like he wanted.
When SpongeBob tries to escape to Jellyfish Fields, the people form a mob and chase him, to no avail. Old Man Jenkins (who's mad at SpongeBob for accidentally wrecking his farm equipment and his boat earlier in the episode, emphasizing his dislike for flying machines) launches himself at SpongeBob, destroying the pants and sending him plummeting to the ground. The people then hold a funeral for his now-deflated pants. Depressed, SpongeBob decides to go home, but the jellyfish help him fly and take him back home. SpongeBob decides to leave the flying to the jellyfish.
After the episode, Patchy attempts to play it again, but due to not knowing a thing about technology, he ends up ruining the tape.
==Home video releases==
;VHS
* SpongeBob SquarePants: The Sponge Who Could Fly
;DVD
* SpongeBob SquarePants: Lost At Sea
* SpongeBob SquarePants: Absorbing Favorites
* SpongeBob SquarePants: The Complete 3rd Season
* SpongeBob SquarePants: The First 100 Episodes
;iTunes
* SpongeBob SquarePants: Volume 5
* SpongeBob SquarePants: From the Beginning - Part 2
==Trivia==
* Clips from the following episodes were shown in the "Remembering SpongeBob" montage: "As Seen on TV", "Bubblestand", "The Chaperone", Pizza Delivery", "Help Wanted", "Valentine's Day", "Tea at the Treedome", "Ripped Pants", "Karate Choppers", "Grandma's Kisses", "F.U.N.", "Naughty Nautical Neighbors", "MuscleBob BuffPants", "Home Sweet Pineapple", "Boating School", "Band Geeks", "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy", "Nature Pants", "Reef Blower", and "The Paper".
* Mrs. Puff's snail looks noticeably similar to Squidward's snail, Snelly, from "The Great Snail Race". This could imply that Squidward gave Snelly to Mrs. Puff after he lost the race. However, Mrs. Puff clearly states in the song, "I've had her since I was a little girl," which could mean that perhaps Mrs. Puff lent Snelly to Squidward and after he lost, he returned Snelly to Mrs. Puff. But this is unlikely as well, as Squidward clearly ordered Snelly.
* The narrator asking "Will SpongeBob be able to fly? Stay tuned," right before the commercial break is cut from the video releases.
* Nancy Suzy Fish wears pink clothes in this episode other than her usual green clothing.
* The storyboard includes a deleted scene with Patchy ripping off a SpongeBob band-aid as he's destroying his SpongeBob stuff, although he isn't seen ripping it off in reverse.
* All of Patchy's SpongeBob merchandise depicts SpongeBob wearing a bow tie instead of his usual necktie. This is because real-life merchandise for a children's television show is not allowed to be seen in the actual show.
===Cultural references===
*The title is in some ways similar to The Boy Who Could Fly, specifically everything but the second word.
*SpongeBob's ideas for his flying machine allude many other flying machines, such as the plane at Kitty Hawk, the bat suit from , and a lawnchair with balloons attached to it from Lawnchair Larry (with balloons whose colors may be a reference to Cosmo and Wanda).
==Videos==
The Sponge Who Could Fly 🩳 5 Minute Episode - SpongeBob
SpongeBob Flies through Bikini Bottom 🎈... IRL! - "The Sponge Who Could Fly" Recreation
==External links==
* 
Category:Direct-to-video productions
Category:Musical episodes
Category:Censored episodes