ONE
Nighttime in Bikini Bottom. Spongebob takes off his shoes and socks, which come off as one unit. Beside the bed, Gary puts his eyes in the shoes and comes out with socks on his stalks. (Lol — that’s a rhyme I only caught after writing it.) Spongebob pulls up his covers and falls immediately to sleep.
TWO
Cloud thought-bubbles appear. Bikini Bottom is now a kind of chef-land, with Krabby Patty houses and spatula trees. Spongebob body parts assemble, and suddenly he’s dropped into a racing car/boat. A driver’s license, something Spongebob doesn’t have in his real life, pops into existence. While he’s busy admiring it the car drives by itself and goes through a “road ends” sign. Crash.
Ejected, Spongebob sails on, past the Krusty Krab and over a flying Mrs. Puff. Lol, she’s frowny. She rips up his dream driver’s license. Upset, Spongebob crashes through and out of his dream.
THREE
While real Spongebob sleeps, a little Dream Spongebob lands on the bed and looks at himself. Who’s the true Spongebob? While he ponders, a meow from Gary draws his attention. Asleep, Gary has a cloud bubble over his shell. Spongebob pops in.
FOUR
He falls through the cloud and into a library. Studying a tome at a lectern is a tall figure in a high-collared robe. Turn, and Gary, shell and all, is its head. He talks in a cultivated voice and quotes Dickinson. It’s all too smart for Spongebob, and he pops out again.
As he prepares to climb back into his own dream cloud, he sees Patrick’s cloud out the window. He runs over to the rock house and jumps into the bubble. Patrick rides a coin-operated sea horse. “Hi, Spongebob.” You can do anything you want in a dream, Patrick. Spongebob demonstrates a bunch of crazy mutations of himself, while Patrick squeaks onward. Bored, Spongebob leaves. The sea horse stops, Patrick pulls out a quarter, and loses it down a drain grate.
SWITCH
Ah, the Easter Island head. Here we go. (From here on Spongebob doesn’t just observe the dreams, he intervenes.)
FIVE
Squid in powdered wig plays the clarinet before a refined audience. In the front row, Spongebob calls out and waves, annoying Squidward. Some kind of fish king in a high box seat becomes angry. While Squid resumes playing, the king starts laughing. Spongebob is next to him, whispering. Frustrated, Squidward snaps his clarinet in two. Now the king’s really angry. A yellow clarinet with Spongebob’s face appears and winks at Squid. He has no choice. As he begins to play, the sponge-clarinet begins a grating la-la of a famous classical piece. Everybody is aghast but the king, who begins to weep. Much applause, but then Squid is tossed in the vegetable cart so that the sponge-clarinet can be admired by fish in powdered wigs. Changing back, Spongebob laughs and dashes out of the dream.
He lands on the tree dome. He steps into the dream, which is a step that takes him out of a plane. Sandy is sky-diving. He distracts her and her parachute doesn’t deploy in time. Crash into a manure truck. Oof. Spongebob falls through the ground and out of the cloud.
No more, he says. Ah, but there’s the anchor house. Oh, haha! It’s a pink candyland dream. It’s Pearl having a tea party with stuffed animals. He leaves and finds Mr. Krabs’ dream. On the ocean in a little boat Krabs fishes for money. Heh — Moby Dollar. Get the net! Spongebob opens Mr. Krabs’ wallet and catches the bill. Away it hops and the dollar-fish escapes back into the ocean. Krabs tosses him out of the dream.
He flies from that one into a bubble over the Chum Bucket. (Yes, Plankton!) A godzilla-sized Plankton stomps through Bikini Bottom, burning down houses with his eye beam. He steps on the KK and flattens it. This is a nightmare! Spongebob says.
SIX
Then, a plaintive meow. Gary! Monster Plankton heads right for him. Here, kitty-kitty.
SEVEN
Spongebob dashes to hold Gary as the foot comes down on them. Ow. Spongebob changes into a tack that Plankton steps on. Aw, air escapes from his foot and he deflates. Angry fish step on him and he wakes up, ejecting Spongebob from his dream.
EIGHT
Returning home Spongebob finds his own dream bubble, which is of a bed. It’s good to be back in his own dream cloud. As he lies back, heads of all the people he bothered earlier circle the bed and say his name. The real Spongebob awakens to find all his friends around his bed. Everyone has hands on hips, lol. Sandy wears curlers and Pearl has a stuffed bear under her arm. They chastise him and tell him to stay out of their dreams.
NINE
In comes Patrick. Does anyone have a quarter?