Sammy Suckerfish

"Sammy Suckerfish" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season 15. In this episode, when the Krusty Krab is left filthy, a magical fish teaches SpongeBob how to keep surfaces looking spiffy, lickety split.

Characters[]

• SpongeBob SquarePants
• Sammy Suckerfish ^{(single appearance)}
• Sheldon J. Plankton
• Squidward Tentacles ^(cameo)
  • Graffiti Squidward ^{(single appearance)}
• Eugene H. Krabs
  • Graffiti Mr. Krabs ^{(single appearance)}
• Moppy ^{(single appearance)}
  • Moppettes ^{(single appearance)}
• Sewer monster

Synopsis[]

SpongeBob is saying goodbye to his work tools for the day when he leaves the kitchen and finds the place covered in green grime, which Mr. Krabs explains came from a recent sewer dweller's convention. Krabs gives him a mop and tells him not to leave until the place is spotless. SpongeBob starts picking up some trash, but does not get very far and wishes that he had a friend to help him clean up. Suddenly, a magical janitor named Sammy Suckerfish drifts in on the winds to offer his assistance. Through a song, Sammy explains that his preferred cleaning method is by using his tongue to lick the entire place clean. SpongeBob tries to get into it, but he has to have Sammy tie up his nose to be able to handle the taste. They both manage to clean up the entire dining room and kitchen with their tongues.

Next, they lick the bathroom clean, but the graffiti on the stall door is really stubborn. Sammy uses his magic soap to turn himself and SpongeBob into graffiti drawings who drive the other graffiti away. Sammy then uses his mop to sniff out other dirt, which ends up being in Krabs' office. He cleans the room by licking up everything, including the safe and secret formula, with the printing of the formula getting stuck to his tongue. While chasing Sammy, SpongeBob accidentally trips an alarm that alerts Krabs, who thinks Plankton is attacking. Krabs arrives and thinks Sammy is Plankton, until the real Plankton shows up and teams up with Krabs to stop Sammy. Sammy splits his mop up into smaller versions and licks everywhere while singing, turning the place even cleaner.

SpongeBob and Krabs catch Sammy and point out a spot of dirt on his face. He decides to clean himself by licking up his body, removing everything except his face. Before he goes, he spits out the secret formula from his tongue onto SpongeBob's face and gives him his hat. Plankton takes a picture of the formula on SpongeBob's face, but Sammy's mops eat the picture chase him away. SpongeBob wipes the formula back onto the paper and Krabs comments he hopes it's clear why he doesn't want SpongeBob to let strangers in the Krusty Krab ever again. SpongeBob smacks into the extremely-polished doors of the Krusty Krab while walking away and says, "crystal clear," then laughs.

Production[]

This episode was confirmed on June 23, 2024.^[1]

Art[]

Background design[]

• Supervised by Ann Lee and Lucy Tanashian-Gentry, traditionally painted in gouache by Amy Lewis. Scanned in with lines painted digitally on top.^[2][3][4]

Character design[]

• Preliminary sketches by Dave Cunningham.^[5]

Storyboards[]

• Rough boarded by Dan Becker, supervised by Dave Cunningham, plussed by Dylan 'Houston' King, revised by Cunningham and Brad Vandergrift.^[6] Story notes by King.^[7]

Music[]

( ‣ ) Production music

( • ) Original music

( ◦ ) SpongeBob music

 ‣ Cock A Hoop - Harry Bluestone, Emil Cadkin [Title card.]
 • Another Krusty Krab Day 2 - Michael Bolger, Nicolas Carr [Opening.]
 ‣ Dramatic Cue (A) - Ronald Hanmer ["Galloping garbage!"]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks 7A - Jeremy Wakefield [The Krusty Krab is filthy.]
 • In a Minor Mood Jig - Michael Bolger, Nicolas Carr [Sewer dwellers convention.]
 • ? - Nicolas Carr [SpongeBob steps in dirt.]
 • Fooling Around 2 w e gtr - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [SpongeBob starts cleaning.]
 ‣ Earthquake Disaster - Harry Lubin [Wind blowing outside.]
 • ? - Eban Schletter [Sammy Suckerfish appears.]
 • Vibraphone Bits and Pieces - Nicolas Carr ["Who are you?"]
 • ? - Eban Schletter [Sammy introduces himself.]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks 26 - Jeremy Wakefield ["Hiya, Moppy."]
 ‣ Around The Houses - Harry Lubin ["What should we clean first?"]
 ◦ Sammy Suckerfish Song - Doug Lawrence, Eban Schletter [Sammy sings this.]
 • ? - Eban Schletter [SpongeBob tries licking dirt.]
 • ? - Nicolas Carr ["Sammy, that tastes horrible."]
 • ? - Eban Schletter [Sammy ties SpongeBob's nose.]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks 7I - Jeremy Wakefield ["Now I can't taste anything."]
 ◦ Sammy Suckerfish Song - Doug Lawrence, Eban Schletter [Sammy and SpongeBob sing this.]
 • Lap Steel-spce_01 - Nicolas Carr [Transition to next scene.]
 ‣ Box Office [#81] - Harry Bluestone, Emil Cadkin [Inside the bathroom.]
 • ? - Nicolas Carr [Shot of filthy bathroom.]
 ‣ Box Of Tricks [#17] - Harry Bluestone, Emil Cadkin [SpongeBob and Sammy clean the bathroom.]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks 38A - Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob and Sammy vanish.]
 ‣ Cock A Hoop - Harry Bluestone, Emil Cadkin [SpongeBob and Sammy as graffiti drawings.]
 ‣ Chase To The Death - Harry Bluestone, Emil Cadkin [Graffiti drawings attack.]
 ‣ Cock A Hoop - Harry Bluestone, Emil Cadkin ["Graffiti boo!"]
 • ? - Eban Schletter [Inside Mr. Krabs' office.]
 ‣ Dramatic Cue (H) - Ronald Hanmer ["Not the secret formula!"]
 • Vibe Q Sting - Nicolas Carr ["Secret formula?"]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks 22D - Jeremy Wakefield [Secret formula on Sammy's tongue.]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks 18 - Jeremy Wakefield ["I can't stop cleaning!"]
 • Spongemonger - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob chases Sammy.]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks 6B - Jeremy Wakefield ["Oh, Mr. Krabs, I'm so sorry!"]
 • Melodramatic Moments - Michael Bolger, Nicolas Carr ["Step aside, boy-o."]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks 31C - Jeremy Wakefield [Plankton appears.]
 • ? - Nicolas Carr ["If he's not Plankton, then who is he?"]
 ‣ Bird Table - Harry Bluestone, Emil Cadkin [Sammy shows Krabs the formula.]
 ◦ Sammy Suckerfish Song - Doug Lawrence, Eban Schletter [Everyone chases Sammy.]
 ‣ Cat Duel - Harry Bluestone, Emil Cadkin [SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs catch Sammy.]
 • ? - Eban Schletter [Sammy licks himself clean.]
 • On Fire - Nicolas Carr ["The secret formula!"]
 • ? - Eban Schletter ["That was fun, eh, Spongey?"]
 • ? - Nicolas Carr [Sammy spits the formula.]
 • ? - Eban Schletter [Sammy disappears.]
 ‣ Comic Walk - Sidney Torch [Plankton takes a photo of SpongeBob.]
 • ? - Eban Schletter [Ending.]

Trivia[]

General[]

• This episode was originally called "Dirty Krusty Krab."
• This episode was paired up with a rerun of "Sheldon SquarePants" during the original airing, but has since been re-airing with "Big League Bob."^[8]

• This episode was originally produced in the production cycle of season 14. However, Nickelodeon split the packaged season in half during production, thus becoming a season 15 episode.
  • This episode, alongside "Big League Bob" were called season 14 episodes in TV guides on their premiere, subsequent reruns, Amazon Prime Video, and Nick.com.

• In the opening exterior shot of the Krusty Krab, one of the versions from season 5 is reused.

• This is the first episode in airing order to use the 2024 Nickelodeon Productions logo at the end of the credits to represent the splat rebrand, along with its sister episode. In packaging order, however, "Sandy's Country Christmas" is the first.
  • Because of the Paramount byline in the Nickelodeon Productions logo, the copyright info is baked onto the credits, after the Executive in Charge of Nickelodeon credit, unlike what happened to "Spongicus"/"Suction Cup Symphony." These two episodes used the byline-less logo without moving that byline to the end credits.

Episode references[]

• The graffiti that reads "Squidward smells" and "Krabs is a-" from "Sailor Mouth" appears on the bathroom stall door.
  • However, the "Krabs is a-" thing is simplified to "Mr. Krabs is cheap."
• The sewer monster from "The Krabby Kronicle" appears as a customer.
• The sterilized Krusty Krab is similar to SpongeBob's sterilized kitchen in "Procrastination."

Cultural references[]

• This episode contains multiple references to the 1964 Walt Disney film, Mary Poppins.
  • The episode's plotline along with the titular character himself is based on Mary Poppins.
    • The title card is based on the film's initial release poster.
  • Sammy Suckerfish himself is based on Bert the chimney sweep, a prominent character in Mary Poppins.
  • Moppy is also based on Mary Poppins' sentient umbrella.
  • Sammy's cleanup song is a reference to "A Spoonful of Sugar" when Mary Poppins was helping Michael and Jane Banks clean their bedroom.
• When Squidward was riding his bike in the magical twister it's a reference to Almira Gulch riding her bike in the twister before turning into the Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz.
• When Mr. Krabs asks the sewer monster to leave the Krusty Krab, he says a lyric variation of the 1998 Semisonic song "Closing Time": "You don't have to go to the sewer, but you can't stay here."

Errors[]

• The Chum Bucket is not seen during the wide shot of the wind, but it appears when Plankton comes over.
• When Sammy cleans the safe, his feet disappear for a few frames.

Videos[]

Names in other languages[]

Language	Name	Meaning
Dutch	Sander Zuigvis	Sander Suckerfish
Russian	Сэмми-чистоплюй Semmi-chistoplyuy	Sammy the Lover of Cleanliness
Spanish	Sammy Rémora	Sammy Suckerfish

References[]

1. ^ https://www.tvinsider.com/show/spongebob-squarepants/
2. ^ Amy Lewis on Twitter - "A couple of background paintings from a new episode..."
3. ^ Amy Lewis on Twitter - "Couple more dirty SpongeBob background paintings..."
4. ^ Amy Lewis on Instagram - "WARNING: Filthy SpongeBob background paintings..."
5. ^ Dave Cunningham on Bluesky - "Early prelim sketches for Sammy Suckerfish..."
6. ^ Dylan 'Houston' King on Instagram - "Clips from 'Sammy Suckerfish'"...
7. ^ Dylan 'Houston' King on Twitter - "Story notes for 'Sammy Suckerfish'..."
8. ^ Nickstory - July 24, 2024