Tea at the Treedome

"**Tea at the Treedome**" is a *SpongeBob SquarePants* episode from Season 1. In this episode, SpongeBob meets Sandy Cheeks, and quickly learns that sponges can’t survive without water.

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## Synopsis

The episode starts with SpongeBob jellyfishing, only to stumble upon a land squirrel fighting a clam. He attempts to save her, but she saves herself just before the clam eats SpongeBob. After the squirrel saves SpongeBob, the two greet each other and start bonding. Afterwards, Sandy tells SpongeBob to come over to her treedome for tea and cookies, and gives him a map of where her treedome is.

SpongeBob goes to Patrick to tell him about what he went through. When Patrick hears from SpongeBob that Sandy was talking about the air, he thinks that it is fancy talk, and that he needs to be fancy by putting his pinky out. The next day, SpongeBob arrives to Sandy's home, but when he goes inside, he realizes the treedome is entirely filled with air. SpongeBob starts having trouble breathing, but won't admit this to Sandy.

As Sandy is showing her house, SpongeBob attempts to use a birdbath to absorb water, only for the bird to get angry. Patrick reminds him to put his pinky out, and SpongeBob also brings flowers for Sandy. SpongeBob asks Sandy for water when she asks if he needs anything, but misinterprets this as needing a vase with water inside for the flowers. When Sandy leaves, SpongeBob desperately wants to get out of the treedome, but before he gets out, he gets enough optimism to continue staying the treedome despite the lack of water.

Sandy comes back with the water vase for the flowers, and starts talking to SpongeBob again. When the oven inside her treedome goes on, Sandy leaves again. SpongeBob starts wondering if he needs the water in the vase, repeatedly telling himself he doesn’t need it, but eventually decides that he does need it. SpongeBob drinks all the water and tries to go outside again, only for Patrick to come inside and prevent him from doing so. He says that everything will be fine, but as he walks and stays inside the treedome, he starts choking due to the lack of water.

The two attempt to get out, and when Sandy comes to them with some tea and cookies, the two have dried up. Sandy brings water helmets for them so they can survive in the treedome. The episode ends with the three happily drinking some tea.

### Running Gags

* Patrick constantly telling SpongeBob to hold up his pinky finger, all just to be fancy.

## Cast (in order of appearance)

* Frank Welker as the lavender jellyfish, giant clam, and Birdy
* Paul Winchell as SpongeBob
* June Foray as Sandy
* Bob Weighton as Patrick
* Rob Paulsen as the security system

Additionally, Peter Hawkins does SpongeBob’s dried up voice.

## Production

### Creation of Sandy

She was originally created by Stephen Hillenburg as "a strong female character that could be a friend to SpongeBob but not a love interest." However, when Tim Hill helped Hillenburg created a pitch bible for SpongeBob in 1996, it was suggested that a hint of romance should be added between SpongeBob and Sandy. This idea was included in the bible, but June Foray, the actress who played Sandy, told him that Sandy being a love interest in the show was a bad idea, so he decided to skip it.

### Changes for Nick Jr.

This episode had an extended ending for Nick Jr. (and Noggin) airings as well as home media and digital releases. It goes like this:

* The ending goes like this:
	+ **Sandy:** There, that oughta do it! If y'all needed water, you shoulda asked. *[Sandy carries over a tray with three tea glasses. Everyone takes one]* I propose a toast, to new friends. *[She drinks it. SpongeBob and Patrick lift their drinks up and they clink the glasses on the helmets, causing them to spill]* Hold on a second. *[She places a tea bag in each helmet, allowing the two to drink the tea water]* I hope you like your tea strong. Drink up. *[Patrick nudges SpongeBob and they both put their pinkies up. They sip the tea.]*
	+ **All:** Ahhh... *[a bubble transition occurs. We then see Patrick, Sandy, and SpongeBob sitting at the picnic table near Sandy's tree.]*
	+ **SpongeBob:** *[happily]* I love that story, gets better every time it's told!
	+ **Sandy:** Y'all got another story?
	+ **Patrick:** *[happily]* Ooh, ooh ooh! I got one! Did I ever tell you the time I met a Tyrannosaurus Rex? *[SpongeBob and Sandy are extremely shocked as the screen cuts to black, ending the episode.]*

### Music

**‣** Tales from the Swamp (a) - Ron Goodwin *[Unused Title card]*

**P** ? - Antonio Conde *[Opening]*

**‣** On Fire - Gregor F. Narholz *[Sandy fights a giant clam]*

**‣** Death Trap [#27.2] - Gregor F. Narholz *[The clam attacks Sandy]*

**•** Charge - ? *["Hold on, little squirrel."]*

**‣** The Adventure Begins - Jonathan Neal *["You have fought well, giant clam."/SpongeBob continues trying to open the clam]*

**‣** Wild Panic [#39] - Gregor F. Narholz *["Your shell is mine!"]*

**‣** Return Of The Surfin' Headhunters - The Mel-Tones *["Hold on there, little square dude."]*

**‣** Moloka'i Nui A - Kapono Beamer *[Sandy introduces herself to SpongeBob]*

**‣** Heroes Win [#34] - Gregor F. Narholz *["Oh, yeah? Watch this!"]*

**P** ? - Antonio Conde *[Sandy invites SpongeBob over to her treedome for tea and cookies]*

**‣** Cocktail Lounge - Dick Stephen Walter *["That's just fancy talk."]*

**‣** Armed Attack 1 - Mladen Franko *[SpongeBob bangs on Sandy's door]*

**‣** Merlin's Hill - Jennifer Jones *[Harp music is heard]*

**‣** Aloha - Dick Stephen Walter *["Course there's no water."]*

**‣** Hawaiian Cocktail - Richard Myhill *[Sandy gives SpongeBob a tour]*

**‣** Hippo's In My Bath - Richard Myhill *["Pinky, pinky!"]*

**‣** Dead March 2 - Frederic Chopin, Alfred Kluten *["I brought you some flowers."]*

**‣** Encirclement - Jean Clero *["I gotta get out of here!"]*

**‣** Merlin's Hill - Jennifer Jones *["I like you, SpongeBob."]*

**‣** Encirclement - Jean Clero *[SpongeBob struggles to open the door]*

**‣** Cocktail Lounge - Dick Stephen Walter *["When in doubt, pinky out."]*

**‣** Tribute To The King - Gregor F. Narholz *["I don't need water! Water's for quitters!"]*

**‣** Action Cut A - Gregor F. Narholz *["I don't need it... I don't need it..."]*

**‣** Kung Fu Saturdays - The Mel-Tones *["I need it!"/"What kind of place is this?!"]*

**‣** Dramatic Cue (H) - Ronald Hanmer *[Sandy sees that SpongeBob and Patrick are dried up]*

**P** ? - Antonio Conde *[Ending]*

### Release

* This episode is available on the Sea Stories (DVD), Complete 1st Season, The 1st Season: Volume 1, Tea at the Treedome, Sportingly Sandy, The Tom Kenny Collection, 10 Happiest Moments, First 100 Episodes, SpongeBob SquarePants, iSponge Offer Pack, Best of SpongeBob, Exposed!: The Ultimate Box Set, Really Big Box Set, The SpongeBob Birthday Box, The Ultimate SpongeBob Box Set, Treasure Chest: Double Pack, Double Feature Volume 3, Holiday Cruise Collection, SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 1, Home Sweet Pineapple (Polish only), The Complete First Season, From the Beginning, Pt.1, The SpongeBob SquarePants Collection, The SpongeBob SquarePants 8 Season DVD Collection, Favorite Episodes, The First & Second Seasons, Movies & TV Collection, and The Best 200 Episodes Ever DVDs.
* This episode is available on the Sea Stories and Undersea Antics Volume 1 VHS tapes.

### Reception

* "Tea at the Treedome" was ranked #97 during the Best Day Ever event from November 9–10, 2006.
* In "Super Stuffed Nicksgiving Weekend," which shows the "Top 100 Greatest Moments in Nicktoon History," it was ranked #46 in the countdown.

## Trivia

### General

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

* This episode has 2 animation directors: Edgar Larrazábal and Tom Yasumi.
* This isn't the only episode of the show written by June Foray. She would take on writing duties one more time in "I Had an Accident."
* This episode marks the first for 8 things:
	+ The first episode to **not** have a narrator, or Tom Kenny in the voice cast.
	+ The first appearance of Sandy Cheeks and any female character.
	+ The first episode where Squidward does not appear.
	+ The first episode to use an under angle (the shot of the drain in the Treedome entrance).
		- It would not be used again until the season 9 special “It Came from Goo Lagoon.”
	+ The first episode where SpongeBob and Patrick are shown to dehydrate without water and turn into a live-action sponge and sea star.
		- Likewise, this is the first episode to feature live-action.
	+ The first episode that Doug Lawrence wrote.
		- This is also the first episode to have Noel MacNeal join the crew.

* This is the second episode produced in 1998, the first being Plankton!
* The scene that shows SpongeBob completely dehydrated due to lack of water and attempting to not take the water from the flower vase but eventually saying “I need it!” has become a popular internet meme.
* SpongeBob, Patrick and a jellyfish are the only characters who appear in this episode that do not make their debut in this episode.
	+ However, this is the first appearance of a jellyfish that isn't pink. In this case, it's a lavender-colored jellyfish.
* The water helmets have two openings in this episode.
	+ In episodes following this one, there is only one opening.
	+ The second opening reappears in "What Ever Happened to SpongeBob?," so that SpongeBob can have out water come out of his helmet and damage Sandy's robot.
* **Irony:** Sandy tells SpongeBob that if he wanted water, he should have asked, even though SpongeBob did tell Sandy he wanted water.
* This is the first episode to use an under angle (the shot of the drain in the Treedome entrance).
	+ It would not be used again until the season 9 special "It Came from Goo Lagoon."
* This is one of the few episodes to have the second door in Sandy's treedome be used.
	+ In most of the rest of the series, it is just the door that is on the outside of the dome that is used, even though both doors still exist.
* An image of SpongeBob starting to dry out is shown on the protective case of *The SpongeBob SquarePants Experience: A Deep Dive into the World of Bikini Bottom*.
	+ A storyboard image also appears on the chapter 1 title page of the book.
* The title of this episode is different in other dubs of the show.
	+ In the Croatian dub, this episode is called “Čaj na svježem zraku,” which translates to “Tea on the fresh air.”
	+ In the French dub, this episode is called “Asphyxies en chaîne,” which translates to “Suffocated by string.” This title has nothing to do with the English title.
	+ In the Greek dub, this episode is called “Τσάι Στο Θόλο του Δέντρου,” which translates to “Tea At the tree's Canopy.”
	+ In the Brazilian Portuguese dub, this episode is called “Chá em terra firme,” which translates to “Tea on dry land.”
* In Indonesia, instead of saying, “I need it!,” SpongeBob says “I need water!”
	+ In an interview with June Foray on May 1, 2008, it was confirmed that “it” actually refers to “water.”
* In this episode, SpongeBob and Sandy meet as adults; however, in the *Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years* spinoff, they meet as children.
* This is the last of 2 episodes to uses music from the stop motion children's series *Pingu*. The previous episode to do this was "Bubblestand."

### Errors

Unfortunately, this is the only episode of the series to not have any of the errors fixed for home media and digital releases or international airings. The errors are as follows:

* When SpongeBob puts his binoculars away, his teeth turn yellow for one frame.
* When SpongeBob says "That little squirrel is in trouble," the left part of his belt is missing.
* When Sandy and SpongeBob meet, Sandy's tail is missing.
	+ Sandy's tail is missing throughout the first season when she is in her water protection suit, but every season onward has her tail shown even with her suit on.
* When Patrick tells SpongeBob how to be fancy, he lifts his right-hand pinky finger up. From the front view, the pinky is shown on the left side. From the back view, it is shown on the left side instead of the right and looks like SpongeBob is holding up one of his middle fingers instead of his pinky.
	+ Also, in the next scene where SpongeBob and Patrick approach the treedome, SpongeBob then has his left hand up and it looks like is holding up his index finger rather than his pinky.
* The red light on Sandy's front door where the water gets drained is not there when SpongeBob and Patrick first walk up to the treedome.
* When SpongeBob tries to sneak away to Sandy's birdbath, his sunken-in eyes return to normal until after Sandy leaves.
* The ice cubes in the vase should not be floating and sinking up and down.
* When SpongeBob rockets into the air and bounces off the top of the treedome, what appear to be grid lines meet where SpongeBob ricochets. These lines are never seen on Sandy's treedome any other time in the episode or the series.
* When Patrick tries to open the door to get out, and SpongeBob jumps on his back, his eyes are small dots, but when he falls underneath Patrick, his eyes are back to their original color.
* In the scene where Sandy finds SpongeBob and Patrick dehydrated, if one goes frame by frame, she lifts up the plate to drop it before a shocked expression is seen on her face.
* SpongeBob and Patrick dehydrate at the same time, even though Patrick was only there for about a minute.
	+ The last time SpongeBob and Patrick are seen before they both completely dehydrate, Patrick is lying on top of SpongeBob. But when Sandy comes out, SpongeBob and Patrick are lying side by side.