Graveyard Shift (SpongeBob SquarePants)
| "Graveyard Shift" | |
|---|---|
| SpongeBob SquarePants episode | |
Title card
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| Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 16 (36a) |
| Directed by |
Nick Jennings (art) Sean Dempsey (animation) Jay Lender (storyboard) Dan Povenmire (storyboard) Alan Smart (supervising) |
| Written by |
Mr. Lawrence Jay Lender Dan Povenmire |
| Original air date | September 6, 2002 |
| Running time | 11 minutes |
"Graveyard Shift" is the first part of the 16th episode of the second season, and the 36th episode overall, of the American animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants. The episode was written by Mr. Lawrence, Jay Lender, and Dan Povenmire, and the animation was directed by Sean Dempsey. Lender and Povenmire also served as storyboard directors. It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on September 6, 2002, one year after "Band Geeks."
The series follows the adventures and endeavours of the title character and his various friends in the underwater city of Bikini Bottom. In this episode, Squidward and SpongeBob are forced to work 24 hours a day by Mr. Krabs, so that he can get more money. Squidward soon gets bored, and tells SpongeBob a scary story to have some fun with him. After scaring SpongeBob, Squidward tells him that the story is fictional. However, when Squidward and SpongeBob are alone, the events in Squidward's story begin to occur.
The episode featured Max Schreck as Count Orlok, of the 1922 silent film Nosferatu, via . Episode writer Lender proposed the idea as a gag at the end of the episode, which series creator Stephen Hillenburg accepted. Before the idea of Count Orlok, Lender thought of "Floorboard Harry", an idea that was deleted. The episode received glowing positive reviews upon release.
Mr. Krabs is inspired by a group of interested customers to create a night shift for the Krusty Krab, leaving an anticipating SpongeBob and a chagrined, irritated Squidward to work all day. Exasperated with his boss's demands, Squidward attempts to scare SpongeBob into disliking the night shift by creating the legend of the "Hash-Slinging Slasher", a former fry cook employed by the restaurant during the night shift, who accidentally sliced off his own arm and was run over by a transportation bus late one night, causing his death. He cautions SpongeBob about the multiple warning indications signaling the ghost's impending arrival: lights flickering on and off, the phone ringing and nobody being on the other line, and the ghost of the bus arriving to deliver the slasher.
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