Alternate Aesop Interpretation: Police officers and other cop-adjacent authorities are unreliable, untrustworthy, and oftentimes pose as much of a danger to their communities as actual criminals.
At the end of the episode, Mrs. Puff is the one who gets arrested for all the trouble that SpongeBob caused. This is because she made the mistake of declaring SpongeBob "[her] responsibility" in front of a bunch of police officers. Later "boating school" episodes would have this happen so often and for such contrived reasons that it's not funny anymore.
This is arguably also the first time Patrick is truly Too Dumb to Live. However, unlike in many post-movie episodes, his stupidity is actually funny rather than obnoxious.
"He's just standing there... MENACINGLY!" Frequently combined with panels or screenshots from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure due to the latter's use of "menacing" as an Unsound Effect.
"Calm down, son, it's just a drawing." Often used to mock people who get worked up by fanservicy cartoon characters.
Awesome Art: The final shot of SpongeBob and Gary standing on top of a cliffside while the jellyfish dance in a single-file line is beautifully drawn, especially for the first season's standards.
Awesome Music: This episode features two of the most beloved pieces of music in the whole show, "Stadium Rave" (the stock rave music that SpongeBob and the jellyfish dance to) and the end song "Jellyfish Jam".
I Am Not Shazam: A musical example. Since the rave music in the middle of the episode is better known than the subsequent song played after that one, people often mistake that rave song as being named eponymously as "Jellyfish Jam", while that song in question wasn't even composed for the show. The later song in question is actually called "Jellyfish Jam", while the better known one is called "Stadium Rave" and was composed one year before the show even debuted.
Jerkass Woobie: Squidward should've known better than to antagonize the jellyfish, but seeing all the sleep he lost because of them, you can feel a little bad for him.
Suspiciously Similar Song: "Stadium Rave" sounds very similar to "Get Ready For This" by 2 UNLIMITED.
Visual Effects of Awesome: Considering the first season was completely drawn frame-by-frame using cels, the dance party SpongeBob and the jellyfish have in its technicolor glory is an absolute marvel in its animation quality.
