Pizza Delivery (SpongeBob SquarePants)

For other uses, see pizza delivery.

"Pizza Delivery (SpongeBob SquarePants)"

"Pizza Delivery" is the first segment of the fifth episode of the American animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants, written by Sherm Cohen, Aaron Springer and Peter Burns, with Sean Dempsey serving as animation director and Cohen as storyboard director. It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on August 14, 1999. The series follows the adventures of the title character in the underwater city of Bikini Bottom. In the episode, Squidward and SpongeBob get lost in the middle of nowhere while delivering a Krabby Patty Pizza. The episode received positive reviews.

Plot summary

Squidward (left) and SpongeBob (right) deliver the pizza on foot in the middle of a desert after losing their boatmobile.

The Krusty Krab restaurant receives a call from a customer demanding to deliver him a pizza, and Mr. Krabs decides to have Squidward deliver it. Squidward hesitates and asks why SpongeBob cannot just deliver it by himself. Mr. Krabs obviously was not listening clearly and declares "Great idea, take him with ya!", so SpongeBob and Squidward go to deliver a pizza. However, SpongeBob cannot drive, and is still in boating school. When he tries to shift into reverse, Korean texts for "go forward" and "go backward" appear in SpongeBob's illusion as he starts to hesitate. Then he "backs it up" whereupon Squidward and SpongeBob become stranded in a desert. SpongeBob then suggests to deliver the pizza on foot, and they start walking.

SpongeBob begins singing a song about the Krusty Krab pizza, and how it is the best pizza in the sea. Then they get whirled into a tornado, and Squidward tells SpongeBob to let go of the pizza, but the pizza saves their lives when SpongeBob transforms it into a parachute. SpongeBob shows Squidward some pioneer tricks, such as hitchhiking, eating coral, telling where civilization is by looking at what direction moss points, and even using rocks as vehicles. The eternally sceptic Squidward does not believe SpongeBob but has to reconsider when they end up driving the rock all the way to the customer's house. Sadly, their journey did not pay off too well. The customer gets extremely angry that he did not get the soda he says he ordered. SpongeBob starts crying. Angered that the customer made SpongeBob cry, Squidward knocks on the door and smacks the pizza on his face. After the confrontation, the two drive back to work, which ironically is only a few feet away but Squidward is already very worn out from the long pizza delivery.

Production

"Pizza Delivery" was written by Sherm Cohen, Aaron Springer and Peter Burns, with Sean Dempsey serving as animation director. Series creator Stephen Hillenburg's original idea for the series pitch was that the writers would write a storyboard for a possible episode and pitch it to Nickelodeon. Hillenburg wanted to write an episode with SpongeBob and Squidward on a road trip, inspired by the 1989 film Powwow Highway. Derek Drymon said "It's a road trip movie staring Gary Farmer, who is an innocent, kid-like character who is traveling with a curmudgeon." Eventually, the idea developed while they were working on it, but Hillenburg gave up the idea for the initial pitch. Instead, they used another idea for the pitch which was in the series pilot episode called "Help Wanted". They resurrected the road trip idea during the first season and used a lot of the ideas for "Pizza Delivery".

Release

The episode originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on August 14, 1999. It was released on DVD compilation called SpongeBob SquarePants: Christmas on September 30, 2003. It was also included in SpongeBob SquarePants: The Complete 1st Season DVD released on October 28, 2003. On September 22, 2009, the episode was released on the SpongeBob SquarePants: The First 100 Episodes DVD, alongside all the episodes of seasons one through five.

Reception

"Pizza Delivery" received very positive reviews upon release. Nancy Basile of About.com ranked the episode No. 2 on her "Best SpongeBob SquarePants Episodes" list. She said "[It] is the perfect episode to depict SpongeBob's enthusiasm for all things Krusty Krab against Squidward's apathy and cynical nature." Basile cited her favorite scene in the episode where "After the customer slams his door in SpongeBob's face, Squidward makes sure he swallows the pizza 'in one bite.'" Giving the episode 5 out of 5 stars, Bill Treadway of DVD Verdict said the episode is his "personal favorite all the episodes," writing that "this one is loaded with enough unique twists and hilarious comedy to bear repeat viewings."

Emily Estep of WeGotThisCovered.com ranked the episode No. 1 on her "Top 10 Episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants" list, saying "But – the pizza is for the customer, and flawless employee SpongeBob won't let Squidward eat any of it." She wrote "[The episode] has the undervalued nostalgia of being episode five of the entire series and it benefits from the aforementioned chemistry of Spongebob and Squidward." She also praised the episode as "an in-depth look at their [SpongeBob and Squidward] relationship, and it set the tone for just how strange the show could be." Estep lauded the hitchhiking dances by SpongeBob, saying "These moves are amusing and charming, while Squidward's bitterness is easy to relate to."

External links

• "Pizza Delivery" at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com episode