Written by Marc Ceccarelli, Luke Brookshier, Derek Iversen, and Mr. Lawrence
Animation Director: Alan Smart and Tom Yasumi
Original air date: 2/17/2014 (produced in 2012)
A giant super goo bubble has formed over Goo Lagoon, scaring Bikini Bottom!
"It Came from Goo Lagoon" contains example of:
- Batman Gambit: Plankton let himself get captured so he could incapacitate SpongeBob, Sandy and Patrick.
- Either/Or Title: SpongeBob vs the Goo.
- Epic Fail: Sandy attempts to destroy a statue of Neptune to prevent its trident from popping the goo bubble; the statue is turned into a skeleton holding the still-intact trident.
- Healing Factor: SpongeBob grows a new one after his old hands got covered in goo.
- I Lied: Plankton holds the town at ransom for the Krabby Patty secret formula. He still pops the bubble after getting what he wanted, but it turns out Krabs gave him a fake formula in retaliation.
- Mundane Made Awesome: This episode starts off slow, but once Plankton gets involved with the plot, it becomes this trope. The second act of this episode is mainly action packed.
- Mundane Utility: Sandy uses rockets on her sub in case she gets stuck in traffic.
- Non-Protagonist Resolver: Even though Mr. Krabs didn't appear until the last few minutes of the episode, he's the one who ends up thwarting Plankton by giving him a fake formula with a bomb.
- Not So Above It All: Squidward critiques SpongeBob and Patrick for ignoring Sandy's warning how dangerous the goo bubbles are, but is quick to change his tune when he finds out he can fashion them as wigs.
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: The title is a reference to It Came from Outer Space.
- Pun: "Howdy, SpongeBlob! I'm so glad you could stick around."
- Sadistic Choice: Plankton threatens to pop the goo bubble if Mr. Krabs doesn't give him the formula. When he does, he pops it anyway.
- Shamed by a Mob: Mr. Krabs initially didn't give into Plankton's threats, but ended up getting coerced by the citizens who didn't want the city covered in goo. Fortunately, Mr. Krabs gave Plankton a fake formula.
- Ship Tease: After Plankton wrecks the submarine, Sandy is upset by this action. SpongeBob comforts her, and their body language is notably intimate. They hold each other’s hands and have the other on each other’s shoulder.
- Shout-Out: "Time to do the electric goo boogaloo!"
- The Cassandra: Sandy tries to warn everyone about the dangers of the goo, and of course, they ignore her.
- When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Patrick argues that SpongeBob's answer to everything is to blow bubbles. They turn out to be just what he needed, though.
