Dunces and Dragons

"**Dunces and Dragons**" is a *SpongeBob SquarePants* episode from Season 4. In this episode, after a jousting accident, SpongeBob and Patrick accidentally travel back to the Middle Ages.

## Synopsis

### Foreword

The episode begins with Dream Gary trying to get King Arthur’s sword out of the stone; he proceeds to tell the viewer that whoever can get the sword out of the stone without using magic will receive a royal egg courtesy of him, and that he’s doing it for hi parrot Potty. Potty then flies in and attempts to get the sword himself; while that happens, Dream Gary tells the story of how SpongeBob and Patrick, through unknowingly courageous effort, became the heroes of the medieval Bikini Bottom.

### Act 1

SpongeBob and Patrick are running up to the Medieval Moments stadium/restaurant to watch the jousting tournament. Upon their arrival, Morrie announces the tournament of The Horse Fight and asks for two volunteers to take part in the jousting, choosing SpongeBob and Patrick. Unaware that they are actually going to be in the tournament, and not just watching up close, they are forced to mount seahorses and start jousting against each other. They are both launched off of their seahorses into the air and land in a small field in 12th Century Bikini Bottom.

A large group of knights on seahorses surround the duo. They lock SpongeBob and Patrick in the dungeons, because they think they are evil. There they see an octopus playing a clarinet and failing. He expresses displeasure at this and promptly curses his descendant should he continue to fail. They think it is Squidward, but the octopus' name is actually Squidly. In the meantime, SpongeBob and Patrick still think this is part of the Medieval Moments tournament, until Squidly tells them about a Dragon Jellyfish zapping around the village, making SpongeBob and Patrick realize they went back in time.

Later, SpongeBob, Patrick, and Squidly are sent to King Krabs, who orders them to be executed because of an insulting song they sing in front of him. However, Princess Pearl reminds her dad of a prophecy in a stained glass window, which says that two brave knights will fall from the sky and will be sent by the king and defeat the dragon controlled by the evil wizard Merlock Dappermane that is destroying the kingdom. Just then, the Dragon Jellyfish smashes through the wall with the prophecy on it.

Under the wizard’s orders, it kidnaps Pearl in order to kill her and effortlessly flicks King Krabs into the guillotine, smashing it just before SpongeBob can be executed. The dragon flies away, and King Krabs, who realized they are the chosen ones, begs SpongeBob and Patrick with forgiveness and tells them to rescue his daughter, treating them like royalty, and Squidly comes along as well after orders from King Krabs.

### Act 2

On the way, they stop off at the Blacksmith's shop to get some armor and weapons, only to find that all of the weapons are too heavy except for the jellyfish net. As they reach the bridge to Merlock's tower, they are attacked by a Dark Knight, who guards the bridge. The Dark Knight is revealed to be none-other than a medieval Sandy. A duel ensues, with SpongeBob ultimately winning due to his karate prowess. After the battle, SpongeBob decides to spare her life. Amazed, the Dark Knight decides to follow SpongeBob, Patrick, and Squidly on their quest and learn a trifle of karate, according to her.

Back at the King's castle, Krabs receives a note saying that Princess Pearl will die if he does not hand over the village and his throne. SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidly, and the Dark Knight make an incredibly long journey to the top of the tower, where SpongeBob distracts Merlock while Patrick, Squidly, and the Dark Knight try to rescue Pearl. However, the Dragon soon arrives and manages to zap the heroes. Merlock then shatters his crystal ball and ties the Dragon to a chain for coming in at the wrong time, zapping him, SpongeBob, Patrick and the princess. Squidly, seeing how much pain the four are in, pushes the wizard off of the tower, plummeting to his demise and death. SpongeBob and Patrick free the princess and Dragon, and Squidly gives a Krabby Patty to the Dragon. The heroes return to the village to have their victory celebrated, and King Krabs is seen cooking Krabby Patties for the dragon. However, as soon as Squidly starts playing his clarinet, everybody hates it, and someone throws a rock at him. The seahorses become scared and launch SpongeBob and Patrick into the air.

They land back at the jousting tournament in the present, where SpongeBob thinks and tells Patrick that all of this was just a dream, however, Patrick is seen squashing underneath Squidly, who is accidentally sent to the present as well.

### Afterword

Dream Gary welcomes the viewer back as Potty successfully gets the sword out. The two head to King Arthur’s castle and are rewarded with the royal egg; it turns out to be a bubble-breathing dragon egg, as it creates bubble art no different than SpongeBob did many years ago. Dream Gary and Potty bid farewell to the viewer as the episode ends.

## Cast

* Hugh Johns as the voice of Dream Gary (the narrator)

### Voice Talent

* Paul Winchell as SpongeBob / Merlock Dappermane
* Bob Weighton as Patrick
* Mel Brooks as Squidly
* Sean Connery as King Krabs
* June Foray as Nazz-Mimi / Princess Pearl/Dark Knight (true voice)
* Mary Jo Catlett as Morrie's queen
* Jill Talley as the Medieval Moments announcer / Female peasant
* Tom Kenny as Gatekeeper / King Morrie / Male peasant 2
* Rob Paulsen as Male Peasant 1 / Blacksmith
* Frank Welker, Rob Rackstraw and Keith Wickham as additional voices
* Andrew Sachs as Potty / Squidly’s singing voice

### Puppeteers (live-action only)

* Melford Epsey Jr. as Dream Gary (the narrator)
	+ Noel MacNeal provides the facial puppetry for Dream Gary.
* Nigel Plaskitt as Potty
	+ Tim Lagasse as Potty’s hands
* David Barclay (with assistance from Matt Vogel) as the Baby Bubble Dragon

## Production

### Deleted scene

On Lost in Time and the Season 4 DVD, the storyboard shows SpongeBob and Patrick making sure they are okay after falling out of the sky. The rough storyboard also included a scene in which human-like “doppelgängers” of SpongeBob and Patrick appear. Patrick's doppelgänger wears a pointed hat and SpongeBob's doppelgänger has a neat, square-trimmed haircut.

## Trivia

* Going by production order, this is the fourth episode of the fourth season.

* This episode had 8.56 million viewers during its premiere, making it the second most-watched episode of *SpongeBob SquarePants*, with the most being Atlantis SquarePantis at 8.757 million.

* + However, in terms of overall viewership, this is the most-watched episode, having over 3.95 billion viewers watched it as of December 2023.

* Burger King released a promotional toyline based on this episode in 2006. It consisted of 20 different figures and rolled out a global promotional sweepstakes called “Lost in Time With SpongeBob SquarePants,” which offered customers a trip to SpongeBob’s home country of the United Kingdom along with neighboring countries France and Belgium, both of which helped co-produce the series starting with season 2.

* Of the medieval characters, Merlock Dappermane and his guards were the only ones to speak proper Shakeapearean English.