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SpongeBob SquarePants episode
""Rule of Dumb""
Season №:	4
Episode №:	77b
Production №:	77b
Airdate:	February 19, 2007
Credits
Writer(s):	Zeus Cervas Erik Wiese Dani Michaeli
Supervising Producer:	Paul Tibbitt
Directors
Storyboard:	Zeus Cervas Erik Wiese
Animation:	Tom Yasumi
Technical:	Vincent Waller
Episode List Select show to expand.
Premiere Order Season 1 May 1, 1999 – April 8, 2000 1. Help Wanted / Reef Blower / Tea at the Treedome 2. Bubblestand / Ripped Pants 3. Jellyfishing / Plankton! 4. Naughty Nautical Neighbors / Boating School 5. Pizza Delivery / Home Sweet Pineapple 6. Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy / Pickles 7. Hall Monitor / Jellyfish Jam 8. Sandy's Rocket / Squeaky Boots 9. Nature Pants / Opposite Day 10. Culture Shock / F.U.N. 11. MuscleBob BuffPants / Squidward the Unfriendly Ghost 12. The Chaperone / Employee of the Month 13. Scaredy Pants / I Was a Teenage Gary 14. SB-129 / Karate Choppers 15. Sleepy Time / Suds 16. Valentine's Day / The Paper 17. Arrgh! / Rock Bottom 18. Texas / Walking Small 19. Fools in April / Neptune's Spatula 20. Hooky / Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy II Season 2 October 26, 2000 – November 30, 2001 21. Something Smells / Bossy Boots 22. Your Shoe's Untied / Squid's Day Off 23. Big Pink Loser / Bubble Buddy 24. Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy III / Squirrel Jokes 25. Christmas Who? 26. Dying for Pie / Imitation Krabs 27. Wormy / Patty Hype 28. Survival of the Idiots / Dumped 29. Grandma's Kisses / Squidville 30. No Free Rides / I'm Your Biggest Fanatic 31. Shanghaied / Gary Takes a Bath 32. Pressure / The Smoking Peanut 33. Pre-Hibernation Week / Life of Crime 34. The Secret Box / Band Geeks 35. Sailor Mouth / Artist Unknown 36. Jellyfish Hunter / The Fry Cook Games 37. The Bully / Just One Bite 38. Sandy, SpongeBob, and the Worm / Squid on Strike 39. Procrastination / I'm with Stupid Season 3 January 21, 2002 – October 11, 2004 40. Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy IV / Doing Time 41. Welcome to the Chum Bucket / Frankendoodle 42. Snowball Effect / One Krabs Trash 43. Nasty Patty / Idiot Box 44. As Seen on TV / Can You Spare a Dime? 45. No Weenies Allowed / Squilliam Returns 46. The Algae's Always Greener / SpongeGuard on Duty 47. Krab Borg / Rock-a-Bye Bivalve 48. Wet Painters / Krusty Krab Training Video 49. Party Pooper Pants 50. Chocolate With Nuts / Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V 51. Club SpongeBob / My Pretty Seahorse 52. Graveyard Shift / Krusty Love 53. New Student Starfish / Clams 54. The Great Snail Race / Mid-Life Crustacean 55. The Sponge Who Could Fly 56. Born Again Krabs / I Had an Accident 57. Plankton's Army / Missing Identity 58. SpongeBob B.C. 59. Krabby Land / The Camping Episode 60. SpongeBob Meets the Strangler / Pranks a Lot Season 4 May 6, 2005 – 2007 61. Fear of a Krabby Patty / Shell of a Man 62. The Lost Mattress / Krabs vs. Plankton 63. Skill Crane / Good Neighbors 64. Selling Out / Funny Pants 65. Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy VI: The Motion Picture / Enemy In-Law 66. Patrick SmartPants / SquidBob TentaclePants 67. Have You Seen This Snail? 68. Dunces and Dragons 69. Krusty Towers / Mrs. Puff, You're Fired 70. Chimps Ahoy / Ghost Host 71. Whale of a Birthday / Karate Island 72. All That Glitters / Wishing You Well 73. New Leaf / Once Bitten 74A. Squidtastic Voyage 75A. Bummer Vacation 76A. Best Day Ever 75B. Wigstruck 74B. That's No Lady 77. The Thing / Hocus Pocus 78. Driven to Tears / Rule of Dumb 79A. The Pink Purloinier 76B. The Gift of Gum 80. Rise and Shine / Waiting / Sing a Song of Patrick 79B. Squid Wood 81. Best Frenemies / Born to be Wild Season 5 2007 – TBA 82. Friend or Foe? 83. Night Light / The Original Fry Cook 84. Fungus Among Us / Spy Buddies Season 6 TBA – TBA Other 2001 – Present 1. Patrick the Snowman 2. Plankton's Holiday Hits 3. 12 Days of Nickmas 4. How You-Know-Who Stole You-Know-What 5. Nickelodeon Holiday Party 6. A Chuckie Finster Christmas 6. The Endless Summer 7. Nicktoons Battle
Production Order Season 1 1. Help Wanted / Reef Blower / Tea at the Treedome 2. Bubblestand / Ripped Pants 3. Jellyfishing / Plankton! 4. Naughty Nautical Neighbors / Boating School 5. Pizza Delivery / Home Sweet Pineapple 6. Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy / Pickles 7. Hall Monitor / Jellyfish Jam 8. Sandy's Rocket / Squeaky Boots 9. Nature Pants / Opposite Day 10. Culture Shock / F.U.N. 11. MuscleBob BuffPants / Squidward the Unfriendly Ghost 12. The Chaperone / Employee of the Month 13. Scaredy Pants / I Was a Teenage Gary 14. SB-129 / Karate Choppers 15. Sleepy Time / Suds 16. Valentine's Day / The Paper 17. Arrgh! / Rock Bottom 18. Texas / Walking Small 19. Fools in April / Neptune's Spatula 20. Hooky / Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy II Season 2 21. Your Shoe's Untied / Squid's Day Off 22. Something Smells / Bossy Boots 23. Big Pink Loser / Bubble Buddy 24. Dying for Pie / Imitation Krabs 25. Wormy / Patty Hype 26. Grandma's Kisses / Squidville 27. Pre-Hibernation Week / Life of Crime 28. Christmas Who? 29. Survival of the Idiots / Dumped 30. No Free Rides / I'm Your Biggest Fanatic 31. Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy III / Squirrel Jokes 32. Pressure / The Smoking Peanut 33. Shanghaied / Gary Takes a Bath 34. Welcome to the Chum Bucket / Frankendoodle 35. The Secret Box / Band Geeks 36. Graveyard Shift / Krusty Love 37. Procratination / I'm with Stupid 38. Sailor Mouth / Artist Unknown 39. Jellyfish Hunter / The Fry Cook Games 40. Sandy, SpongeBob, and the Worm / Squid on Strike Season 3 41. The Algae's Always Greener / SpongeGuard on Duty 42. Club SpongeBob / My Pretty Seahorse 43. The Bully / Just One Bite 44. Nasty Patty / Idiot Box 45. Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy IV / Doing Time 46. Snowball Effect / One Krabs Trash 47. As Seen on TV / Can You Spare a Dime? 48. No Weenies Allowed / Squilliam Returns 49. Krab Borg / Rock-a-Bye Bivalve 50. Wet Painters / Krusty Krab Training Video 51. Party Pooper Pants 52. Chocolate With Nuts / Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V 53. New Student Starfish / Clams 54. SpongeBob B.C. 55. The Great Snail Race / Mid-Life Crustacean 56. Born Again Krabs / I Had an Accident 57. Krabby Land / The Camping Episode 58. Plankton's Army / Missing Identity 59. The Sponge Who Could Fly 60. SpongeBob Meets the Strangler / Pranks a Lot Season 4 61. Fear of a Krabby Patty / Shell of a Man 62. The Lost Mattress / Krabs vs. Plankton 63. Have You Seen This Snail? 64. Skill Crane / Good Neighbors 65. Selling Out / Funny Pants 66. Dunces and Dragons 67. Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy VI: The Motion Picture / Enemy In-Law 68. Patrick SmartPants / SquidBob TentaclePants 69. Krusty Towers / Mrs. Puff, You're Fired 70. Ghost Host / Wishing You Well 71. Chimps Ahoy / Whale of a Birthday 72. Karate Island / All That Glitters 73. New Leaf / Once Bitten 74. Bummer Vacation / Wigstruck 75. Squidtastic Voyage / That's No Lady 76. Hocus Pocus / The Thing 77. Driven to Tears / Rule of Dumb 78. Born to Be Wild / Best Frenemies 79. The Pink Purloinier / Squid Wood 80. Best Day Ever / The Gift of Gum Season 5 81. Friend or Foe? 82. Night Light / The Original Fry Cook 83. Rise and Shine / Waiting / Sing a Song of Patrick 84. Fungus Among Us / Spy Buddies Season 6 TBA

"Rule of Dumb" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season four.

Brief Summary: Patrick becomes the legal king of Bikini Bottom, but during his reign, he becomes a mean tyrant.

Time/Date: Unknown

Characters Present:

• SpongeBob SquarePants
• Patrick Star
• Mr. Krabs
• Squidward Tentacles
• Construction Worker
• Gary the Snail
• Starfish Minister
• Mirror Monster
• Old Man Jenkins
• Soap Actress
• Soap Actor
• Nerdy Fish

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cultural References 3 Trivia/Goofs 4 External links

A handsomely dressed starfish comes up to Patrick's house and says that he is the heir to the royal throne of Bikini Bottom. Patrick is pleased when he gets a shiny crown. SpongeBob decides to help out by becoming Patrick's assistant. However, Patrick starts misusing his royal authority over all the people of Bikini Bottom to get whatever he wants. He gets, among other things, a plasma screen TV, a satellite dish, a set of comic books from a geek, and a swimming pool, and turns his rock into a castle. He even goes so far as to hire a construction team to move away Squidward's house! Then, Squidward tells everyone that Patrick isn't a king and they all believe him and don't do stuff for Patrick anymore. Eventually, Patrick looks at himself in the mirror and finds out that he's literally turning into a monster. He decides that friendship is more important than power. The the hamdsomely dressed starfish comes back and says that Patrick is not a real king. Then he gives his throne to... Gary!!!

• Rule of Dumb is a pun of the idiom rule of thumb. Rule of thumb means a principle with broad application that is not intended to be strictly accurate or reliable for every situation.
• Shriek is a spoof of Shrek.
• Music from Dunces and Dragons can be heard at the Banquet.^{[citation needed]}
• When Patrick hides in SpongeBob's house, he makes a mess. If you look carefully, you can see a book called Guide to Fitness by Richard Salmons. This could be a reference to fitness instructor Richard Simmons.

• This episode aired in England before it aired in the United States.
• After Patrick abdicates, it is found that Gary is the next ruler of Bikini Bottom. In the family tree it is revealed that they are cousins. Gary's father, Sluggo is shown as an older brother of Herb Star. Thus, Gary being the correct heir.
• There is a closed captioning error when Patrick starts to become a tyrant. After SpongeBob says, "what being king is all about.", the captions suddenly freeze during the scene where Patrick takes the comic books away from the comic book collector, then, the captions fast forward to the point where Patrick says, "I love being king!", at the point where the captions play correctly. Although, this goof may only apply for the 1st airing.
• Clips of this appeared in an edition of Nick Extra.
• Patrick keeps on being seen with ketchup on his mouth whenever he is eating.
• The German title -- Königlicher Quatsch -- in English, means "Kingly Nonsense".
• The other people in the family line are: King Amoeba, Queen Mildew, Shriek, Princess Tulsa, Prince Callows, Prince Dingus, Carl, Billy Bob, Maw Titter, Sluggo, Herb and Margie and Gary.
• When Patrick is taking items from the citizens there is a small gray tower on his rock. When he is annexing Squidward's house the tower is missing and his old antenna is shown again. When Squidward is saying that Patrick is a bad king, the gray tower is back on the rock.
• The snails "Shriek" and "Princess Tulsa" are parodies of "Shrek" and "Princess Fiona" from Shrek.
• When Patrick began throwing his overdue library books, there is a book called "How to Read".

• Watch (German) episode here

Preceded by "Driven to Tears"

SpongeBob SquarePants episodes

Followed by "The Pink Purloiner"