I personally think it’s because we’re very paranoid and feel like we are never calm in life but in my experience I find this relaxing and calm but never disturbing but it’s been 10 to 13 years that I saw the credit til today and I’m not saying it’s everyone just our brain response different to our body
I wouldn’t necessarily say it scared me outright, but, it did always give me the odd feeling of “Alright, that’s it, shows over, you can go now…wait…why are you still here? You can go.” Like the feeling you get when leaving a family venue and being the last to leave, to be at school during night time and no one was around, something like that degree for me personally. Like I was the last one to watch the credits, the one left alone in the theatre long after everyone left, I’m the last customer at a closing restaurant, I’m the last to leave the party. It just felt off, but never terrifying…just…odd.
Yes! That’s exactly how I’ve always felt about it. I love the song, don’t get me wrong. But I can’t deny feeling lonely sometimes because the show feels very energetic and often chaotic 😂 The juxtaposition of the mellow music and blank screen felt like your friends leaving after a really fun time. You’re happy but you’re also alone in a room that’s so charged! It was always so weird that even music has a liminal atmosphere to it. Like the outro would be playing on loop in the backrooms lol
The spongebob credit theme for me captured the same feeling you'd get when your friend went home after a playdate, it just feels like the fun is over and everything is winding down ig
Exactly, sometimes when I drop my friends off at their house, I feel so- odd when I’m driving home. I get hit with a realization that the fun/event is over
@@Mmannk My personal hell was the one with the Gorilla I would switch the channel every time it aired. I rewatched the butterfly one recently and it's not as scary as I remember it.(But the gorilla still freaks me out)
My personal theory is that, since the entirety of a SpongeBob episode is full of constant chaos and action, the complete and utter normalcy of the end credits is unsettling by comparison. You’d think a show like SpongeBob would have an outro that matches the energy of the show, but it’s just this little song that plays while the credits flash across the screen. There’s no chaos. There’s no SpongeBob screaming and laughing. There’s no chaos. It’s too calm. And that’s kind of creepy 😂
That's probably right. I'm not young enough to have watched it with any regularity. I forced myself to sit through a couple episodes to see what it was all about when someone much younger than me in my college class (when I went back years later) was obsessed with it.
You're probably right. If the credits had something like squidward angry chasing spongebob and patrick in a goofy manner, but with the exact same song and background, im certain it would feel less lonely and creepy
i remember always having to rush to turn it off once it got to the credits because i was absolutely convinced something bad might happen to me if i didn’t
not armchair diagnosing but that sounds like OCD? i experienced stuff like that as a kid too and now as an adult i have very oddly specific rituals that i have to follow or else "something bad will happen" or "they will find out". got diagnosed with not just OCD but schizo-spec personality disorder as an adult, lmao.
I never thought this was scary, but one thing that was scary was the deafening silence staying up at night, I lived near an airport and every now and then I hear a plane flying noise. I hate being alone.
It’s like a whole Daisy Bell situation, everyone thinks this song is scary when in reality it is supposed to be a charming and whimsical tune to brighten up your day.
Its kinda weird how the song is both goofy and nostalgic but at the same time, very unsettling. Perhaps its the same reason why songs like “Put On your Sunday Clothes” take on a whole different tone when paired with visuals that contrast with the cheerful vibe of the songs
Traumatized? No. Unsettled? Yeah. There's specific reasons for this though, and you would've needed the experience of binge watching spongebob at night when your parents end up going to sleep. I used to do this in the basement with the TV on, and then when those credits rolled off, you knew damn well it was dark. And for me, I was terrified of the dark and the thought of a ghost popping up to scare the shit outta me.
U don't know how happy i am to see someone had the experience as me. But my room used to be in the attic, i had 2 windows facing my bed and the thought of smthing watching me terrified me.
I am hearing this a lot and it sounds like kids started to associate the end credits as a warning that the show is ending and everything is going to be dark in the next 30 seconds. Thinking of it that way is pretty scary.
For me my mom had spongebob on so I would go to sleep(I got upset whenever watching spongebob, I think it's because I related it to- Watching Spongebob=Go to sleep. I think I was a weirdo for not liking spongebob at my age.
someone NEEDS to make a horror game where this song is playing on a TV in the middle of the night in a dark house. The objective could be to simply turn it off but the atmosphere is super creepy and even include some kind of monster or something
I’m one of those that does not find that song traumatizing, but I think your explanation is spot on. I never fell asleep watching tv as a kid, so the experience of waking up to the end credits and being creeped out isn’t one I have. And I think that the explanation of Spongebob as a sort of comfort is accurate. I do remember once, when I had first moved out on my own, going through a rough patch, where I was just stressed out and working hard just to survive. I remember one afternoon turning on the tv, flipping through the channels, and coming across an old Spongebob rerun. It was absolutely comfort. I sat there, a grown man watching Spongebob on my own, and afterward, I felt a little better about things. So I think that description is correct.
I think the outro's creepiness came from the destimulazation of our brains like say your watching something in your room at night and then the app closes and you get un easy because of the environment and the destimulazation
Right I had that feeling sometimes turning off TH-cam there silent in the room and it makes you feel alone and creepy you have to turn back TH-cam back just to keep the noise in the head
This makes sense!! A lot of the kids I knew growing up that watched Spongebob, including myself, were hyper. I think it's the same thing with the little kids who grow up watching cocomelon- it overstimulates their brains and when it turns off they can't deal with the destimulazation.
Righttt good video but he found a small group of his people on tiktok then thought it must be a generational experience from billions of kids who watched it worldwide
Nah I also feel a pretty comforting nostalgia from it. It's very laid-back which definitely contrasts with the chaotic nature of a standard SpongeBob episode, but to me it was always a refreshing juxtaposition rather than a jarring one. The credits felt like the show saying "Wow! That was crazy! Why don't we just take a moment to relax after all that."
I think exactly the same thing. I always come to realize that "i aM NoT tHe OnLy OnE". And it's not only a North American phenomenon: I live in Belgium and I swear that every time I hear about the childhood of some people who live in North America, I can relate and identify on many things; I share the same feelings about these little things. Perhaps it is not a global phenomenon, but a Western one.
@@sebastiaodavila9747I'm from the middle east and I know these feelings. Its always astonishing to me when I realize how there's lot of people experiencing the same thing
honestly my take on this as a person who’s also scared of the credits to SpongeBob is part of the environment and the way the credits roll in, in the daytime its somehow not an issue, but waking up to it in the dead of night, completely silent, the dissonant music playing with the eerily yellow background unfit with the darkness that surrounds the tv, it feels more creepy in the middle of the dark than it is ending in afternoon schedules. it gives off that ‘out of place’ feeling whenever you wake up to it and cannot get up being scared of whats beyond the darkness.
Okay I’m glad that I’m not the only one who felt the ending credits felt a bit..off. It sounded like how it feels to walk in the dark, anxious and uncertain.
I call it liminal ditty phenomenon. It feels as if there's a demonic, crytified version of the characters watching and secretly assessing your reaction to their performance. The same way we feel watched in a liminal space, liminal ditties are just as haunting. Like the credits turn your television screen into one way glass.
Doesn't help when the last time you watched it was in a small cabin in the middle of the woods that has half the house being windows on one side where everyone was asleep behind me and I was facing towards the windows where it was pitch black out there. Actually unnerving
@@dave_the_slick8584 you clearly haven't had this playing while you finished an entire season and now it's 3 in the morning in a dark small cabin with your family sleeping behind you and with the giant windows all you can see is the pitch black darkness outside
I always felt like the End Credits was weird because it's such an innocent and simpatic song that i imagine would be playing when a group of friends or something similar is having a good time. A place where you would hear voices laughing, giggling, cheering. But there's none of that, there's just... *The silence of the song.* A song being played by someone i will never meet and will never know, a song that is actually made to represents the end of the good time i had watching Spongebob, when things stopped being that colorful fun world, bringing you back to reality.
During the day, I actually liked the song. At night, it freaked me out and I would change the channel ASAP. Some other things on TV gave me that intense lonely feeling, too. What a weird unlocked childhood experience
I literally would have to turn it off right away too. I’m not really sure why, but the outro just makes me so uncomfortable almost like I have to leave wherever I am at the moment
You guys aren’t lying, I wonder why it feels so weird to watch such a calm intro. During the day, I wouldn’t care, but the night? I did not feel that comfortable
Maybe I’m in the crazy minority here, but I loved the outro music. I always found it silly and fitting for the show, and have a nostalgic and fond memory of it. I thought it always sounded playful and charming. It also reminds me of the scene in SB-129 with squidward saying “future!”
I wouldn't say the Spongebob outro is scary. It's more like it's expecting you to turn it off because the show is over, but since you're a child and you most likely love Spongebob, you don't really want to. The outro is like an end to the good times... and no kid wants that.
I don't know why but when I was younger the end credits to SpongeBob always made me anxious. I always thought it was because of my anxiety disorder but I guess other kids were scared of it too. Also that intro made me feel like something was gonna jump out at me. Perfect vibe for the spongebob end credits.
@@MatheusF_Official I call it liminal ditty phenomenon. It feels as if there's a demonic, crytified version of the characters watching and secretly assessing your reaction to their performance. The same way we feel watched in a liminal space, liminal ditties are just as haunting. Like the credits turn your television screen into one way glass.
Haven’t watched the video yet, but here is my personal experience. When I was younger, the spongebob outro gave me the sort of feeling you get when being alone after hanging out with family or friends. It emulates a feeling of loneliness, even knowing you should instead have a feeling of fulfillment and happiness at the end. But instead of reflecting on the good times had, you’re just alone. You’re no longer joking or having fun with people you enjoy, even if you just were a minute ago. You’re left to sit there by yourself and reflect on life. A realization that you might be emotionally lonelier than originally thought. It leaves a feeling of utter emptiness. In the outro of SpongeBob, the colourful and ecstatic characters are no longer on the screen joking and having their everyday fun. They were stripped away from you, and It’s over. The party is over. All you have left to do is stare at the screen, seeing yourself through the reflection, and wait for the next episode while a feeling of emptiness and realization hits you.
I remember watching this late as a kid by myself... it's funny how I didn't even realize I had this feeling then until I saw the thumbnail of this video.
The SpongeBob outro always made me feel... deeply nostalgic. Like a memory of a fun time you can't repeat... or of an activity you miss doing or person you miss seeing... Lonely isn't the right word, but... a certain kind of profound sadness is probably the best description
I 100% agree. I never really paid attention to it but I do remember feeling uneasy when the outro would play. I would get my parents to turn it off (or put on another episode) when it would start playing because it made me uncomfortable.
I thought I was the only one who felt this way! I used to watch the SpongeBob DVDs at night when my parents were asleep, and I use to feel existential dread at random times and the end credits would kick start that feeling
@@GeronFletcherhe did not felt like that, it’s just a mass hysteria that the guy from the video created and now kids that watch him are creating stories that they didn’t live.
@@EricNonelessI didn't have any experiences with SpongeBob specifically lol, but I certainly know the feeling of absolute dread and existential terror caused by the most silly things. Thinking of the feeling almost vaguely invokes it back in me. Surely you've experienced something like this at SOME point? Either way, ridiculous to assume everyone's lying just because you haven't experienced it. Kids are weird, we feel weird things idk what to tell you
I remember there was thus ep of Spongebob being scared of the closet at the Krusty Krab. And a floating head of a realistic man with his eerie laugh gives the creep as a kid.
The episode is “Night Light” where SpongeBob is afraid of the dark so he fills the pineapple with night lights. Fun fact: that realistic face is actually Derek Iversen
I remember when I really young, I always put on SpongeBob when I was going to sleep. And I normally woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, and the end credits would be playing. It scared me every single time. I could hide under the covers. It was even worse when it was towards the end and then suddenly my tv turns off because the end credits ended. I would feel like someone was watching me or coming to get me.
Another theory I've heard about (likely from another video) is that it's background music that usually plays under dialogue, but here there isn't any dialogue, like a liminal space.
Here in the states, it was rare to hear the outro since Nick would just have previews play instead. But the first time I heard it was in Mexico. I was 7 or 9 years old, it was at night and I was all alone watching some Bob esponja lol. Then the outro played and I was confused since I’ve never heard it before but I recognized the credits (as I said before, they would play on a small box meanwhile the previews would play). I was creeped out a bit but that was it. Funny how I still remember this memory
0:15 can someone please tell me what is wrong with the SpongeBob ending song? Like I watch SpongeBob before going to bed and now man's video got me spooked about it.
Funny enough they never played the Spongebob credits on Nick when I was growing up. I didn't discover the credits until I watched Spongebob on VHS for the first time
Honestly in my younger years, it wasn’t the outro that gave me the heebie-jeebies. It was actually the Nickelodeon Productions logo from around the time (2008-2009) and it was unnerving to hear after listening to such a calm outro. I get why some people would find the outro itself to be creepy, but it’s the lightbulb that did it for me, lol.
I can completely understand why that would be frightening. Being in an entirely darkened room with nothing but an orange light and the sound of children laughing sounds like the average mental hospital experience.
Yes! Especially because there was no sound at all just silence or the “zappy” electric sound. The outtro didn’t scare me and I enjoyed the song it just made me feel kinda sad and alone but the Nickelodeon logos coming up at the end did make me feel a bit scared and uncomfortable and I never understood why lol
@@Lexisjordan I think you got it mixed up, there’s two different variants, the still black background logo from 2005-2006 on certain programs (the one you’re talking about) and the bright orange 3D one from 2008-2009, the one I grew up with.
It never scared me but it always made me feel so glum. Not just because the episode ended, but the notes and the music in general seems like a bittersweet acceptance of a crappy existence. It's just so down, while trying to be ahp0y about it but failing.
I actually find the outro extremely comforting, but it also makes complete sense to me why so many people would be upset by it; and I think your video touched on it perfectly: it creates an atmosphere of loneliness. I'm high functioning autistic, and being alone/feeling alone was one of the few things that made me comfortable while I was growing up.
And probably that it has a liminal vibe to it, since liminallity is a mix of a sort of Nostalgia, and that that place is somewhere you arent supposed to stay as its merely a "transition" between places
I don’t know why, but when I was a little kid and I would hear this at night, alone in my dark bedroom, it just sent shivers down my spine. I NEVER had the courage to turn it off and just face plain silence and darkness, and usually I’d just close my eyes and wait for it to end, or I would run to my parents room in the middle of the night terrified. Idk why, but I just always felt like I was being watched and the end credits made me have that “you’re not supposed to be here” feeling. This still scares the crap out of me today, and probably always will..
I’m actually so glad I’m not the only one that felt like this. I remember when I was little, during the credits after ANY show, I would genuinely get scared and then at the end when it went quiet and like showed the company’s logo, I WOULD LITERALLY HIDE IN MY CLOSET- I WAS LIKE 4 OR 5 HIDING IN MY CLOSET
He explains it already in the video: it's not really the music itself (although some people have theorized about certain notes) but rather the context of the outro and what it meant to people when they were kids. I don't think the music itself is creepy, but there's definitely a certain feeling of emptiness going with it; and a feeling of emptiness sure is an uneasy thing.
I guess the outro sums up the spongebob experience very well.. the show gives you a very energetic and hype intro, like a kid waking up in a very lively morning looking forward to everything you will do with all the time you have, then brings you spongebob lets you experience and have a great time watching it, laughs and all the fun stuffs, then as everything comes to an end, this outro plays, like its a wrap up, everyones going home, tired and most definitely had the best time for the day, looking back to everything you did during the day while walking back home, thats what the outro feels like to me
For me, it felt like something I wasn’t supposed to see, not like it was something I’d get in trouble for watching, but more like it was a kind of “behind the scenes” type thing, like the strings of a puppet the stage is designed to hide, if that analogy makes sense. It feels like I’m in a movie theater and the song is nice and light and sweet, but at the same time it’s ushering me out of the theater because there nothing left for me to see anymore.
I've never heard of it as being creepy or heard of people being scared by it. I've always been nostalgic when I hear it. I will say, the dissonance and environment theories are definately it. The melodies of the theme and the fact that it's just a still image at the end of the show, and you likely played it in a dark room during night time as a kid. It does have a liminal feeling to it, like imagine hearing that as the last thing you hear during the end of the world.
I always associate this music with one uneasy but also semi-pleasant memory of young me sitting in the back room of my aunt's house by myself watching spongebob on dvd. I remember when the episodes would end I would try and run up to the dvd player and press the skip button. Idk why buy I also feel like this memory has some pleasantness to it.
I think it’s the same affect like when you’re at a sleepover & everyone falls asleep first & you’re the last one up & it’s late at night & you feel “alone” but not in a sense of you’re the only one up, but like the only person on the planet. I think the end credits of a lot of movies trigger that because you’re sort of slapped in the face with reality again that you’re just watching it by yourself & when it’s over, there’s nothing else to distract your mind. I always got that feeling when I was younger when a movie that was directed at my age group was over. It’s weird.
:0 this definitely!! i would usually be the last one awake when watching spongebob with family at night, and it was always a super weird and empty feeling i would get being alone when the credits played!
This describes perfectly the experience I had when I was around 7 years old and watched the first nightmare on elm street film I started watching before dusk, it was scary for me but very enjoyable. When it ended it was dark outside, just the credits playing in a dark room with thr onr two freddys coming for you song. Recalling this sends shivers down my spine. Of course this was a horror film that i loved and have great memories watching because of the horror aspects, but holy shit now i remember i was incredibly terrified at the end when it was dark and i was alone after having watched that for the first time
For me I think it’s the dull colors you see compared to the bright colors throughout the show paired with more meta and calmer music than what would play during the show. As an artist, contrasts like that can throw the viewer off and make them slightly uncomfortable
I don’t mind the outro music, but it’s something about the old, beige-ish/aged yellow wallpaper background that the older episode outros had and the dark, carrot-orange of the font that made me feel like I was being watched by some old imaginary creature I had nightmares about when I was younger.
When I was little I would cry to EVERY ending sequence or end credits, for cartoons and the video games on my GameBoy. It always hit me with a scary sense of impending doom and dread. I also felt this way every night before sunset and ESPECIALLY on Sunday nights, even if everyone else was happy and I was just playing outside in the pool or something, I’d look at the sky and get HIT with a wave of sadness and dread and start crying. I’d also cry and panic when thinking about death, having just learned at the age of 4 or so that eventually one day my family members won’t be here anymore. Was anybody else like this?? Please say someone else went through the same thing 😭😭
100% on the thinking about death and family members part! I also hate Sunday nights because the shift between Sunday to Monday really makes you think “wow, 7 whole days of my life just went right before my eyes”
I totally get that! I also get that at the end of a nice holiday, it’s that feeling that you have to leave the place that was home for a week or two, leave a place you’ve grown to love, there’s no more fun & nights out and you have to go back to your everyday life and bad weather.
I was just like this! I believe we associate things with stuff based off of memories. There are so many subconscious things that may remind us of different ones no matter how different, but I think it's that they share something that we happen to associate with each. When those end credits play, we know it's done. No more happy adventures. I can see how that reminded us of our own lives ending.
There’s a song that captures that feeling perfectly: That Summer Feeling by Johnathan Richman. It’s a beautiful song about reflecting back on your past.
That’s something that a lot of media did in the late 90s and early 2000s. It hits me the hardest in Tekken 4 and Tekken 5 with the way it silently scrolls through the fastest times as the camera circles an empty stage every time you beat a story/arcade battle. The contrast between the intense, over the top world of Tekken 4 and the menus void of any life just breaks the immersion in the best way possible.
Oh my gosh this video was so validating for me! I totally remember the absolute empty and almost eerie feeling of the end credits. I have vivid memories of watching SpongeBob dvd’s in my grandmas room and feeling so weird and empty when the credits would come. Unlocked a whole ass nostalgic feeling for me im amazed that I wasn’t alone in this!
I think they looks at you strange cuz youz an adult talking about SpongeBob, but. That's just me. (I graduated HS in 2006, and had friends that still liked this crap. Whenever I heard this song, I got giddy because I was like "OH THANK GAWD, ITS OVER!? IS ANOTHER EPISODE OF 'LEGENDS OF THE HIDDEN TEMPLE' ON YET!?")
I remember one time in 2020 during the pandemic, a new episode called, swamp mates played and it was kinda unsettling/ lonely and at the end was the first time I saw the SpongeBob outro.
The end sequence gives me the same feeling as when you spend the day at a family party over the holiday and once it’s around 5 pm mostly everyone has left and you’re just sort of alone in the foyer, several of the lights out and the evening sun illuminating everything through the windows and the window in the front door. Almost everyone has left for home by now. Anyone relate?
Imagine the producers used this as a way to get kids to watch more episodes of SpongeBob. Like they’d get freaked out by the song and then they’d watch another episode to feel better, and then it’s just a cycle 💀
probably not as intentional as you described, but that's what a lot of people go through with their comfort shows. and then you're done with the show again, and upset that you have to find another one because you want more comfort
Aside from nostalgic, I feel sadness; Mainly because I associate the song with the golden age era of SpongeBob and Stephen Hillenburg. It reminds me that there isn't another show like that and that Nick won't ever replicate the tone, quality and humor. I can only compare it to the feeling of remembering a childhood pet that you lost and still miss.
Do you remember that episode from Rugrats when Chucky wanted to run away and it was a parody of It's a Wonderful Life. They had a specific background sound that they use for the alternative timeline and then they use that same background sound for the ending credits. I woke up to that sound when I was a child and that creeped me out. If you read this comment I just want to know your opinion on it.
I do recall waking up to the outro feeling eerie, and i would have to rewind it so i could stop feeling creeped out😂 I'd feel better hearing it the second time but i still got that feeling.
Maybe the scariest part about it is that the end credits are played when the show is over. When the colorful and happiness that brings you comfort stops you're pulled into reality again and you realize you're all alone again.
@@catraaaaaa eh, even that is the case, I still find it fun to analyze media content deeper. My thoughts on this piece of media seem to be the similar for most of the people here
I don't get why ppl find the end credit "scary" or "unsettling", I've listened to them at night/in the dark and nothing, this song is a bop, I don't understand
Nostalgic blind? Nah, maybe attention for the sake of "ooo spoopy childhood spooky?" Perhaps. I kinda see what they're coming from, but at the end of the day, I still don't get it, and I don't care.
People are scared of weird stuff as kids. I was scared of the 20th Century Fox logo and refused to watch Scooby-Doo and the Goblin King when I was little after my first viewing of it (oddly enough I wasn't afraid of the first four direct-to-video Scooby movies despite those being classic entries on "childhood trauma" videos).
I had many existential crises throughout my childhood. I can maybe explain a little of this. I loved the song by it's sound, but it reminded me of those existential fears of end and death and pain. I for as many years as I can possibly think of, have had moments of becoming disconnected to reality. Thinking about life and how I almost wasn't me? Basically, what I'm explaining is, is that I personally experienced these feelings because of certain issues I've lived with since I was 3 or younger, which I'm getting help with through therapy. So, if others felt afraid of the end credits, it may have been the existentialism I also experienced. Or maybe something else entirely! It is a great song, but if you're not in the best state of mind, it's gonna remind you of things that disconnect you from life. At least, that's how it is for me. I hope that properly explained it. :D
This may be similar but I have a very clear memory of being at a sleepover with a bunch of other kids watching Napoleon Dynamite. The last scene with the tetherball and the song playing the background gave me the most sad feeling ever, I looked around me and everyone else had fallen asleep, and there I was with the credits and this 80's song playing seemingly alone in this dark basement. Very creepy feeling, but I'm sure it was just environmental.
In my experience, one outro that always made feel uneasy was the one at the end of Jimmy Neutron with the monkey saying "Hi! I'm Paul" or something like that
Okay, I'll give you that one. That three-eyed monkey and the trees swirling abnormally was disturbing af. (When I reached middle school, I realize the trees were turning in a double helix, and the company was called DNA Productions. Doesn't explain the creepy monkey, thought.)
It sometimes spooked me at night when i was little because when the song ends i just hear the noise in the background and im sitting all alone. It's cozy but it's also like if liminal space was a song
I've always loved this theme. Sometimes use it as an alarm in the morning. I got used to it because it was used in an old Flash game on Nickelodeon's website and would just repeatedly play.
this outro always gave me a sense of anxiety. when I was a kid and this outro played, I knew it meant I had to go to bed soon for school the next day. plus there's just something sort of eerie about the isolated ukulele.
I remember vividly that as a kid I didn’t have many fears, but for some reason, I was terrified of any and every credit scene. I’d audibly run and cry whenever a movie ended or something, and the explanations you applied made sense to an extent - I also think there’s the uneasiness of breaking the fourth wall, in a way. Children have the capacity to get sucked in whatever activity they’re doing, see that reality as their own until they get broken off from it, and credits are a great example of that. You’re pulling a mind forcefully from what it just now believed is real. Maybe I’m overanalysing it, but I do think it’s an interesting phenomenon to wonder about 😭
Wow! I'm double your age. There are a couple of 1960s TV show outros that give me a melancholy, sad, and empty feeling. You eloquently and incredibly identify why. Appreciate you addressing this haunting feeling with words and emotions!
I have always been terrified of this song and can't explain why. When I was little I remember hiding behind one of my chairs and sobbing when this song would play even during the day time. The intro to this video made me so scared like to the point where I had my computer almost shut. It just doesn't make sense, all I know is that the outro and intro to the show have always scared me.
I know exactly the feeling you're talking about. As a kid of the 1980's, before there was 24/7 tv, tv stations would end their broadcast day at midnight. Sometimes I fell asleep, and would wake up to the sound of what we all called "the snowstorm" and the creepy static sound that was emitted at the same time (if you know, you know!) when the station went off the air. Waking up to that gave me that same alone, scary feeling. It was very creepy.
that's awesome and sounds so much more genuine than a cartoon credits sequence lol. i'm not old enough to relate to the "snowstorm" but your description brings it to life, definitely sounds eerie and like a unique experience. thanks for sharing that!
More annoying than anything else. Especially when you're half asleep for a while until you're finally awake enough to be all like "what the...? Oh. It's dead air. Dammit. Shut up" then you turn it off and go back to sleep. Like a baby this time.
Imagine waking up at 3 in the morning completely dark with the light from your phone on the other side of the room, playing this music so quietly it’s loud.
My mom was a so disturbed with the outro of spongebob, my mom even told me that when I was younger I talked to the tv as if someone was there in front of me TT.
I’ve seen a few vids about this now, I’ve never understood or been able to relate to it but it’s interesting to see so many people share this uneasy feeling with this outro, sick intro btw
That's called "Coming Down" and it happens when anything that makes you feel good comes to an end. It's a sign of addiction. You can apply it to anything outside yourself that makes you feel good, in life.
It probably triggers a similar response as something like the V of Doom or the S from Hell. That creepy feeling late at night when you’re hyper aware of your surroundings and your brain recalls that sound or song, triggering a response.
hey arnold end credits did it to me. for awhile there it was the last show on before nick at nite started & I tried to get ready for bed. blue screen, yellow letters & smooth jazz, made me realize the night was over, like sand in the hour glass.
It was only unnerving to me when I was alone. When watching an episode, I got attached to the characters and was sucked into the world. The end credits jolted me back to the realization that these characters never existed, and not only was I alone, but I was alone the whole time.
For me I think the dissonance is definitely the closest answer, but in music terms I think it was specifically the last few notes of the melody not resolving. The backing track seems to resolve just fine, but the main melody just hangs on this last note that increases in pitch. Always creeped me out as a kid and I find it interesting how diverse the experience on this topic is.
Same, the song just feels out of tune to me for some reason. The key it’s played in, the E into the B, just the overall song being bouncy makes me feel unsettled.
What the hell are you smoking?
yes
A little bit of this and a little bit of that.
@@theoristyes
@@theoristyesn’t
@@theorist yes
I had no idea people were afraid of the outro. I always found it to be goofy and perfectly fitting for Spongebob.
Same, I always danced to it ahahaha
Yeah, this is new to me. I just thought it was a happy little tune.
My guess is something negative got associated with it. Which can happen to anything, but still is silly af
I personally think it’s because we’re very paranoid and feel like we are never calm in life but in my experience I find this relaxing and calm but never disturbing but it’s been 10 to 13 years that I saw the credit til today and I’m not saying it’s everyone just our brain response different to our body
Me too and its an ending song to boot, others would just change channels anyway so they didnt do much and just do a goofy end
I wouldn’t necessarily say it scared me outright, but, it did always give me the odd feeling of “Alright, that’s it, shows over, you can go now…wait…why are you still here? You can go.” Like the feeling you get when leaving a family venue and being the last to leave, to be at school during night time and no one was around, something like that degree for me personally. Like I was the last one to watch the credits, the one left alone in the theatre long after everyone left, I’m the last customer at a closing restaurant, I’m the last to leave the party. It just felt off, but never terrifying…just…odd.
EXACTLY this comment reminded me of the first time I closed my work by myself and the song gives the the same feeling
The melancholy of something good Ending
Yeah, that describes it well to me
It gives me the same feeling as those photos of liminal spaces...
Yes! That’s exactly how I’ve always felt about it. I love the song, don’t get me wrong. But I can’t deny feeling lonely sometimes because the show feels very energetic and often chaotic 😂 The juxtaposition of the mellow music and blank screen felt like your friends leaving after a really fun time. You’re happy but you’re also alone in a room that’s so charged!
It was always so weird that even music has a liminal atmosphere to it. Like the outro would be playing on loop in the backrooms lol
You think SpongeBob was traumatizing? Try getting woken up at 1am by the George Lopez opening blowing your eardrums out.
That shit was my childhood hype track lmao!
Looow RiiidUURR 🎵🎶
Thats another one that would wake me up a lot actually. I should've talked about it here lmao, would've been perfect
That was usually my signal that I should be asleep lol
Or the dawn is your enemy
The credits theme is the perfect embodiment of the feeling of "...so now what are you gonna do?".
SpongeBob
Carlos Alazaqui
Tom
Carlos Alazaqui
Stunt Director Karen Shaffer Senior Director Technical Services John Powell McDonalds June
I never found this track remotely unsettling, it always relaxed me tbh
inissia
1 Reply
The spongebob credit theme for me captured the same feeling you'd get when your friend went home after a playdate, it just feels like the fun is over and everything is winding down ig
Good comment. I agree with the comparison of coming home/your friend going home.
Exactly, sometimes when I drop my friends off at their house, I feel so- odd when I’m driving home. I get hit with a realization that the fun/event is over
Exactly; it's a "well that was fun" sort of thing
Well I guess it fulfilled it's purpose. It's meant to be an outro for a fun and wacky show. The episode is over and it's time to take a break.
@@ThatOneSpellcaster76 More like time to move to the next episode, lol.
The only sound that was traumatizing from SpongeBob was the future and prehistoric episode where squidward was all “alone” stuck in that white room 😂
Oh god, not the void
for me it was when he was in the freezer after the 1000 years later (or however long it was)
For my sister it was the hyper realistic drawing of a butterfly- she’s now scared of butterflies even in her twenties because of that episode lmao
My sister and I loved that part of the Episode and found it really funny we still reference it sometimes
@@Mmannk My personal hell was the one with the Gorilla I would switch the channel every time it aired. I rewatched the butterfly one recently and it's not as scary as I remember it.(But the gorilla still freaks me out)
My personal theory is that, since the entirety of a SpongeBob episode is full of constant chaos and action, the complete and utter normalcy of the end credits is unsettling by comparison. You’d think a show like SpongeBob would have an outro that matches the energy of the show, but it’s just this little song that plays while the credits flash across the screen. There’s no chaos. There’s no SpongeBob screaming and laughing. There’s no chaos. It’s too calm. And that’s kind of creepy 😂
That's probably right. I'm not young enough to have watched it with any regularity. I forced myself to sit through a couple episodes to see what it was all about when someone much younger than me in my college class (when I went back years later) was obsessed with it.
I remember being able to hear my breathing when the end credits would play it was unsettling
I think you might be onto something. 👍
You're probably right. If the credits had something like squidward angry chasing spongebob and patrick in a goofy manner, but with the exact same song and background, im certain it would feel less lonely and creepy
No, it's most likely the environment theory.
i remember always having to rush to turn it off once it got to the credits because i was absolutely convinced something bad might happen to me if i didn’t
WORDDDDDDDDD
ocd?
@@alexiiconner yes
not armchair diagnosing but that sounds like OCD? i experienced stuff like that as a kid too and now as an adult i have very oddly specific rituals that i have to follow or else "something bad will happen" or "they will find out". got diagnosed with not just OCD but schizo-spec personality disorder as an adult, lmao.
@@pandagrl666 i have in fact been diagnosed with ocd since then lol :)
I never thought this was scary, but one thing that was scary was the deafening silence staying up at night, I lived near an airport and every now and then I hear a plane flying noise. I hate being alone.
1 Reply
It’s like a whole Daisy Bell situation, everyone thinks this song is scary when in reality it is supposed to be a charming and whimsical tune to brighten up your day.
Its like the scary clown or contrast of innocent music being turned scary I guess
Fr and I like that song
Could it also be said for Tiptoe Through the Tulips too?
Gorilla tag 💀
MSM FAN!?
Its kinda weird how the song is both goofy and nostalgic but at the same time, very unsettling. Perhaps its the same reason why songs like “Put On your Sunday Clothes” take on a whole different tone when paired with visuals that contrast with the cheerful vibe of the songs
WALL-E intro, my boy!
@@drewo.127 that's what I was thinking,WALL-E
@@TheCaptainAmelia ÓÒ
🟨
@@drewo.127 oh cool, you made a WALL-E emoticon
@@TheCaptainAmelia 😁
Traumatized? No. Unsettled? Yeah. There's specific reasons for this though, and you would've needed the experience of binge watching spongebob at night when your parents end up going to sleep. I used to do this in the basement with the TV on, and then when those credits rolled off, you knew damn well it was dark. And for me, I was terrified of the dark and the thought of a ghost popping up to scare the shit outta me.
U don't know how happy i am to see someone had the experience as me. But my room used to be in the attic, i had 2 windows facing my bed and the thought of smthing watching me terrified me.
Getting the feeling of waiting for a jump when it doesn't come is worst than it actually coming.
I am hearing this a lot and it sounds like kids started to associate the end credits as a warning that the show is ending and everything is going to be dark in the next 30 seconds. Thinking of it that way is pretty scary.
EXACTLY, you nailed the nail in the head bro
For me my mom had spongebob on so I would go to sleep(I got upset whenever watching spongebob, I think it's because I related it to- Watching Spongebob=Go to sleep. I think I was a weirdo for not liking spongebob at my age.
someone NEEDS to make a horror game where this song is playing on a TV in the middle of the night in a dark house. The objective could be to simply turn it off but the atmosphere is super creepy and even include some kind of monster or something
Carlos
Oak Furniture Land
Tue 2 Jul
Mr. Lawrence
John Powell Senior Director Technical Services
I’m one of those that does not find that song traumatizing, but I think your explanation is spot on.
I never fell asleep watching tv as a kid, so the experience of waking up to the end credits and being creeped out isn’t one I have.
And I think that the explanation of Spongebob as a sort of comfort is accurate. I do remember once, when I had first moved out on my own, going through a rough patch, where I was just stressed out and working hard just to survive. I remember one afternoon turning on the tv, flipping through the channels, and coming across an old Spongebob rerun. It was absolutely comfort. I sat there, a grown man watching Spongebob on my own, and afterward, I felt a little better about things. So I think that description is correct.
Karen Shaffer
1 Reply
I think the outro's creepiness came from the destimulazation of our brains like say your watching something in your room at night and then the app closes and you get un easy because of the environment and the destimulazation
Right I had that feeling sometimes turning off TH-cam there silent in the room and it makes you feel alone and creepy you have to turn back TH-cam back just to keep the noise in the head
@Azurethewolf168bro u have a furry addiction, stfu
@Azurethewolf168 lil bwo
This makes sense!! A lot of the kids I knew growing up that watched Spongebob, including myself, were hyper. I think it's the same thing with the little kids who grow up watching cocomelon- it overstimulates their brains and when it turns off they can't deal with the destimulazation.
Saying it traumatized a generation is a WILD take
i just want to know which generation he's talking about lmao
Its an entertaining vid but yeah youre right
Yeah a bit dramatic
Righttt good video but he found a small group of his people on tiktok then thought it must be a generational experience from billions of kids who watched it worldwide
Why are yall taking hyperbole so seriously? I wasn't ever scared as a kid but like jfc, calm down.
Am I the only one who feels comforted by the outro
edit: thx for all the comments
Edit 2: that's it! I'm liking every reply!
Nah, I always liked it too, I think people are just a bunch of babies.
Nah I also feel a pretty comforting nostalgia from it. It's very laid-back which definitely contrasts with the chaotic nature of a standard SpongeBob episode, but to me it was always a refreshing juxtaposition rather than a jarring one. The credits felt like the show saying "Wow! That was crazy! Why don't we just take a moment to relax after all that."
Same!! I always loved the outro song
nope its great
no, I love it
I love how we all really lived the same childhood and had the same feelings about small things like this
I think exactly the same thing. I always come to realize that "i aM NoT tHe OnLy OnE". And it's not only a North American phenomenon: I live in Belgium and I swear that every time I hear about the childhood of some people who live in North America, I can relate and identify on many things; I share the same feelings about these little things. Perhaps it is not a global phenomenon, but a Western one.
66 Replies
2 Replies
@@sebastiaodavila9747I'm from the middle east and I know these feelings. Its always astonishing to me when I realize how there's lot of people experiencing the same thing
honestly my take on this as a person who’s also scared of the credits to SpongeBob is part of the environment and the way the credits roll in, in the daytime its somehow not an issue, but waking up to it in the dead of night, completely silent, the dissonant music playing with the eerily yellow background unfit with the darkness that surrounds the tv, it feels more creepy in the middle of the dark than it is ending in afternoon schedules. it gives off that ‘out of place’ feeling whenever you wake up to it and cannot get up being scared of whats beyond the darkness.
EXACTLY
Okay I’m glad that I’m not the only one who felt the ending credits felt a bit..off.
It sounded like how it feels to walk in the dark, anxious and uncertain.
I call it liminal ditty phenomenon. It feels as if there's a demonic, crytified version of the characters watching and secretly assessing your reaction to their performance. The same way we feel watched in a liminal space, liminal ditties are just as haunting. Like the credits turn your television screen into one way glass.
Doesn't help when the last time you watched it was in a small cabin in the middle of the woods that has half the house being windows on one side where everyone was asleep behind me and I was facing towards the windows where it was pitch black out there. Actually unnerving
@@audreydoyle5268this is actually a very interesting idea! i would totally play a game about this 😭
I'm sorry but WHAT??? Nothing about that song is off in any fashion.
@@dave_the_slick8584 you clearly haven't had this playing while you finished an entire season and now it's 3 in the morning in a dark small cabin with your family sleeping behind you and with the giant windows all you can see is the pitch black darkness outside
I always felt like the End Credits was weird because it's such an innocent and simpatic song that i imagine would be playing when a group of friends or something similar is having a good time. A place where you would hear voices laughing, giggling, cheering. But there's none of that, there's just... *The silence of the song.* A song being played by someone i will never meet and will never know, a song that is actually made to represents the end of the good time i had watching Spongebob, when things stopped being that colorful fun world, bringing you back to reality.
yes
Digby SpongeBob Dragon
Unknown
3 Replies
During the day, I actually liked the song. At night, it freaked me out and I would change the channel ASAP. Some other things on TV gave me that intense lonely feeling, too. What a weird unlocked childhood experience
I literally would have to turn it off right away too. I’m not really sure why, but the outro just makes me so uncomfortable almost like I have to leave wherever I am at the moment
same here, i always hated hearing the song at night and i had to turn it off so fast.
You guys aren’t lying, I wonder why it feels so weird to watch such a calm intro. During the day, I wouldn’t care, but the night? I did not feel that comfortable
Maybe I’m in the crazy minority here, but I loved the outro music. I always found it silly and fitting for the show, and have a nostalgic and fond memory of it. I thought it always sounded playful and charming. It also reminds me of the scene in SB-129 with squidward saying “future!”
I wouldn't say the Spongebob outro is scary. It's more like it's expecting you to turn it off because the show is over, but since you're a child and you most likely love Spongebob, you don't really want to.
The outro is like an end to the good times... and no kid wants that.
I don't know why but when I was younger the end credits to SpongeBob always made me anxious. I always thought it was because of my anxiety disorder but I guess other kids were scared of it too.
Also that intro made me feel like something was gonna jump out at me. Perfect vibe for the spongebob end credits.
same, the last part of the song always makes me feel anxious asf
Same.
@@MatheusF_Official I call it liminal ditty phenomenon. It feels as if there's a demonic, crytified version of the characters watching and secretly assessing your reaction to their performance. The same way we feel watched in a liminal space, liminal ditties are just as haunting. Like the credits turn your television screen into one way glass.
@@audreydoyle5268okay but why tf this makes a lot of sense tho
Why does it feel "off"? Well, that's because it is..... de tune your instruments and play out of time, and you'll get similar results.
Haven’t watched the video yet, but here is my personal experience.
When I was younger, the spongebob outro gave me the sort of feeling you get when being alone after hanging out with family or friends. It emulates a feeling of loneliness, even knowing you should instead have a feeling of fulfillment and happiness at the end. But instead of reflecting on the good times had, you’re just alone. You’re no longer joking or having fun with people you enjoy, even if you just were a minute ago. You’re left to sit there by yourself and reflect on life. A realization that you might be emotionally lonelier than originally thought. It leaves a feeling of utter emptiness.
In the outro of SpongeBob, the colourful and ecstatic characters are no longer on the screen joking and having their everyday fun. They were stripped away from you, and It’s over. The party is over. All you have left to do is stare at the screen, seeing yourself through the reflection, and wait for the next episode while a feeling of emptiness and realization hits you.
I never had the same experience but this is a good take, and prolly the most plausible reason for that feeling
@@Spiderpunkrocksthank you
YES EXACTLY THIS
Yeah, yeah that's kind of it
I remember watching this late as a kid by myself... it's funny how I didn't even realize I had this feeling then until I saw the thumbnail of this video.
The SpongeBob outro always made me feel... deeply nostalgic. Like a memory of a fun time you can't repeat... or of an activity you miss doing or person you miss seeing... Lonely isn't the right word, but... a certain kind of profound sadness is probably the best description
Reading Eggs App
1 Reply
I 100% agree. I never really paid attention to it but I do remember feeling uneasy when the outro would play. I would get my parents to turn it off (or put on another episode) when it would start playing because it made me uncomfortable.
The end credits of spongebob made me feel like I was in my house in an infinite void while feeling as though something was behind me. Crazy stuff.
Whaaat? I can’t understand that lol it’s so calming to me
I thought I was the only one who felt this way! I used to watch the SpongeBob DVDs at night when my parents were asleep, and I use to feel existential dread at random times and the end credits would kick start that feeling
@@GeronFletcherhe did not felt like that, it’s just a mass hysteria that the guy from the video created and now kids that watch him are creating stories that they didn’t live.
@@EricNonelessI didn't have any experiences with SpongeBob specifically lol, but I certainly know the feeling of absolute dread and existential terror caused by the most silly things. Thinking of the feeling almost vaguely invokes it back in me. Surely you've experienced something like this at SOME point? Either way, ridiculous to assume everyone's lying just because you haven't experienced it. Kids are weird, we feel weird things idk what to tell you
i've literally never heard of this song being considered traumatising or creepy ever.
Me neither
I liked watching shows' credits because of the fire soundtrack, but then shows started playing ads during the effing credits & they never went back!
you just did
Well I have. Where have you been?
Bully for you then
I remember there was thus ep of Spongebob being scared of the closet at the Krusty Krab. And a floating head of a realistic man with his eerie laugh gives the creep as a kid.
oh man, ive always wanted to do a video on those creepy close ups. Thanks for sharing!
I don't remember that episode, what season was that?! Sounds spooky
NOSFERATU!
He was afraid to go in the freezer
The episode is “Night Light” where SpongeBob is afraid of the dark so he fills the pineapple with night lights. Fun fact: that realistic face is actually Derek Iversen
Tiktok appears to be reading your mind because it’s spying on everything you do and constantly recording your surroundings 😂
Yeah I was like "what do you mean 'somehow' it's in the TOS!" haha
It freaked me out
Timothy
John Powell
Michael Brown John Davis
Juli Haschi Hashingchi
I remember when I really young, I always put on SpongeBob when I was going to sleep.
And I normally woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, and the end credits would be playing.
It scared me every single time. I could hide under the covers.
It was even worse when it was towards the end and then suddenly my tv turns off because the end credits ended.
I would feel like someone was watching me or coming to get me.
Another theory I've heard about (likely from another video) is that it's background music that usually plays under dialogue, but here there isn't any dialogue, like a liminal space.
As one of the people who was creeped out by the end credits, that makes a lot of sense to me.
actually you might have nailed it.
Here in the states, it was rare to hear the outro since Nick would just have previews play instead.
But the first time I heard it was in Mexico. I was 7 or 9 years old, it was at night and I was all alone watching some Bob esponja lol. Then the outro played and I was confused since I’ve never heard it before but I recognized the credits (as I said before, they would play on a small box meanwhile the previews would play). I was creeped out a bit but that was it. Funny how I still remember this memory
i had spongebob on dvd (odd i know) so i heard the credits anyways ;-;
0:15 can someone please tell me what is wrong with the SpongeBob ending song? Like I watch SpongeBob before going to bed and now man's video got me spooked about it.
I remember as a kid the song would scare me too but I thought it was just me lol 🤣 I’m okay with it now it’s my bingeing show.
I never felt scared or discomforted by the credits as a kid. But this now is pleasant, too pleasant, which makes it unpleasant.
I've always thought the fake out lost episode of spongebob with the cheap walk cycles was incredibly unsettling. The movements and the music.
Funny enough they never played the Spongebob credits on Nick when I was growing up. I didn't discover the credits until I watched Spongebob on VHS for the first time
Honestly in my younger years, it wasn’t the outro that gave me the heebie-jeebies. It was actually the Nickelodeon Productions logo from around the time (2008-2009) and it was unnerving to hear after listening to such a calm outro. I get why some people would find the outro itself to be creepy, but it’s the lightbulb that did it for me, lol.
I can completely understand why that would be frightening.
Being in an entirely darkened room with nothing but an orange light and the sound of children laughing sounds like the average mental hospital experience.
Yes! Especially because there was no sound at all just silence or the “zappy” electric sound. The outtro didn’t scare me and I enjoyed the song it just made me feel kinda sad and alone but the Nickelodeon logos coming up at the end did make me feel a bit scared and uncomfortable and I never understood why lol
@@Lexisjordan I think you got it mixed up, there’s two different variants, the still black background logo from 2005-2006 on certain programs (the one you’re talking about) and the bright orange 3D one from 2008-2009, the one I grew up with.
It never scared me but it always made me feel so glum. Not just because the episode ended, but the notes and the music in general seems like a bittersweet acceptance of a crappy existence. It's just so down, while trying to be ahp0y about it but failing.
John Powell
1 Reply
I actually find the outro extremely comforting, but it also makes complete sense to me why so many people would be upset by it; and I think your video touched on it perfectly: it creates an atmosphere of loneliness.
I'm high functioning autistic, and being alone/feeling alone was one of the few things that made me comfortable while I was growing up.
ALOOOOONNEEEE
And probably that it has a liminal vibe to it, since liminallity is a mix of a sort of Nostalgia, and that that place is somewhere you arent supposed to stay as its merely a "transition" between places
Hello Alone
SpongeBob
4 Replies
I don’t know why, but when I was a little kid and I would hear this at night, alone in my dark bedroom, it just sent shivers down my spine. I NEVER had the courage to turn it off and just face plain silence and darkness, and usually I’d just close my eyes and wait for it to end, or I would run to my parents room in the middle of the night terrified. Idk why, but I just always felt like I was being watched and the end credits made me have that “you’re not supposed to be here” feeling. This still scares the crap out of me today, and probably always will..
I’m actually so glad I’m not the only one that felt like this. I remember when I was little, during the credits after ANY show, I would genuinely get scared and then at the end when it went quiet and like showed the company’s logo, I WOULD LITERALLY HIDE IN MY CLOSET- I WAS LIKE 4 OR 5 HIDING IN MY CLOSET
My brain cant seem to figure out if it thinks this song is relaxing or uneasy, I keep going back and forth on my opinion.
Exactly
I seem to be the only one who doesn't find this scary , i think the song is just goofy
He explains it already in the video: it's not really the music itself (although some people have theorized about certain notes) but rather the context of the outro and what it meant to people when they were kids. I don't think the music itself is creepy, but there's definitely a certain feeling of emptiness going with it; and a feeling of emptiness sure is an uneasy thing.
@@sebastiaodavila9747 bingo
Sleepy is the word.
I guess the outro sums up the spongebob experience very well.. the show gives you a very energetic and hype intro, like a kid waking up in a very lively morning looking forward to everything you will do with all the time you have, then brings you spongebob lets you experience and have a great time watching it, laughs and all the fun stuffs, then as everything comes to an end, this outro plays, like its a wrap up, everyones going home, tired and most definitely had the best time for the day, looking back to everything you did during the day while walking back home, thats what the outro feels like to me
For me, it felt like something I wasn’t supposed to see, not like it was something I’d get in trouble for watching, but more like it was a kind of “behind the scenes” type thing, like the strings of a puppet the stage is designed to hide, if that analogy makes sense. It feels like I’m in a movie theater and the song is nice and light and sweet, but at the same time it’s ushering me out of the theater because there nothing left for me to see anymore.
this is exactly what I feel. Like it's not like I'd get in trouble but if someone walked in I would get scared?? I don't know lol!
SAME!
same
I've never heard of it as being creepy or heard of people being scared by it. I've always been nostalgic when I hear it. I will say, the dissonance and environment theories are definately it.
The melodies of the theme and the fact that it's just a still image at the end of the show, and you likely played it in a dark room during night time as a kid. It does have a liminal feeling to it, like imagine hearing that as the last thing you hear during the end of the world.
I always associate this music with one uneasy but also semi-pleasant memory of young me sitting in the back room of my aunt's house by myself watching spongebob on dvd. I remember when the episodes would end I would try and run up to the dvd player and press the skip button. Idk why buy I also feel like this memory has some pleasantness to it.
I think it’s the same affect like when you’re at a sleepover & everyone falls asleep first & you’re the last one up & it’s late at night & you feel “alone” but not in a sense of you’re the only one up, but like the only person on the planet. I think the end credits of a lot of movies trigger that because you’re sort of slapped in the face with reality again that you’re just watching it by yourself & when it’s over, there’s nothing else to distract your mind. I always got that feeling when I was younger when a movie that was directed at my age group was over. It’s weird.
YEAH that's it
:0 this definitely!! i would usually be the last one awake when watching spongebob with family at night, and it was always a super weird and empty feeling i would get being alone when the credits played!
This describes perfectly the experience I had when I was around 7 years old and watched the first nightmare on elm street film I started watching before dusk, it was scary for me but very enjoyable. When it ended it was dark outside, just the credits playing in a dark room with thr onr two freddys coming for you song. Recalling this sends shivers down my spine. Of course this was a horror film that i loved and have great memories watching because of the horror aspects, but holy shit now i remember i was incredibly terrified at the end when it was dark and i was alone after having watched that for the first time
For me I think it’s the dull colors you see compared to the bright colors throughout the show paired with more meta and calmer music than what would play during the show. As an artist, contrasts like that can throw the viewer off and make them slightly uncomfortable
I don’t mind the outro music, but it’s something about the old, beige-ish/aged yellow wallpaper background that the older episode outros had and the dark, carrot-orange of the font that made me feel like I was being watched by some old imaginary creature I had nightmares about when I was younger.
I remember when i was 5 and had SpongeBob on DVD and watched it. This ending song played on the episode selection and it'd very nostalgic to me.
0:37 is this real chat?
When I was little I would cry to EVERY ending sequence or end credits, for cartoons and the video games on my GameBoy. It always hit me with a scary sense of impending doom and dread. I also felt this way every night before sunset and ESPECIALLY on Sunday nights, even if everyone else was happy and I was just playing outside in the pool or something, I’d look at the sky and get HIT with a wave of sadness and dread and start crying. I’d also cry and panic when thinking about death, having just learned at the age of 4 or so that eventually one day my family members won’t be here anymore.
Was anybody else like this?? Please say someone else went through the same thing 😭😭
100% on the thinking about death and family members part! I also hate Sunday nights because the shift between Sunday to Monday really makes you think “wow, 7 whole days of my life just went right before my eyes”
I totally get that! I also get that at the end of a nice holiday, it’s that feeling that you have to leave the place that was home for a week or two, leave a place you’ve grown to love, there’s no more fun & nights out and you have to go back to your everyday life and bad weather.
I was just like this! I believe we associate things with stuff based off of memories. There are so many subconscious things that may remind us of different ones no matter how different, but I think it's that they share something that we happen to associate with each. When those end credits play, we know it's done. No more happy adventures. I can see how that reminded us of our own lives ending.
Yea fam you probably have an anxiety disorder cause same
There’s a song that captures that feeling perfectly: That Summer Feeling by Johnathan Richman. It’s a beautiful song about reflecting back on your past.
That’s something that a lot of media did in the late 90s and early 2000s. It hits me the hardest in Tekken 4 and Tekken 5 with the way it silently scrolls through the fastest times as the camera circles an empty stage every time you beat a story/arcade battle. The contrast between the intense, over the top world of Tekken 4 and the menus void of any life just breaks the immersion in the best way possible.
Imagine being in an empty mall that’s abandoned and all of a sudden you hear the end credits song from SpongeBob.
91 replies
“I never thought it was scary just odd” perfectly sums up this for me. (Then again at night it feels off)
Oh my gosh this video was so validating for me! I totally remember the absolute empty and almost eerie feeling of the end credits. I have vivid memories of watching SpongeBob dvd’s in my grandmas room and feeling so weird and empty when the credits would come. Unlocked a whole ass nostalgic feeling for me im amazed that I wasn’t alone in this!
I LITERALLY TELL PEOPLE THIS SONG IS CREEPY AND THEY LOOK AT ME LIKE I AM STRANGE
Because you are...
I can see why this song sounds creepy tho @@JustAnIssac
yeah cuz you're weird, its a BOP
I think they looks at you strange cuz youz an adult talking about SpongeBob, but. That's just me.
(I graduated HS in 2006, and had friends that still liked this crap. Whenever I heard this song, I got giddy because I was like "OH THANK GAWD, ITS OVER!? IS ANOTHER EPISODE OF 'LEGENDS OF THE HIDDEN TEMPLE' ON YET!?")
I agree. Just watching the intro to this video alone made me so uneasy🤣.
Oh, c'mon, the credits song from Spongebob is not THAT scary.
**cuts to watch it all by myself in an alleyway**
Oh, GOD.
You watch phones in an alleyway?
@@dragonempress8367
i'm joking i don't want to do that
I remember one time in 2020 during the pandemic, a new episode called, swamp mates played and it was kinda unsettling/ lonely and at the end was the first time I saw the SpongeBob outro.
Honestly, I just viewed the SpongeBob credits as just credits as a kid.
The end sequence gives me the same feeling as when you spend the day at a family party over the holiday and once it’s around 5 pm mostly everyone has left and you’re just sort of alone in the foyer, several of the lights out and the evening sun illuminating everything through the windows and the window in the front door. Almost everyone has left for home by now. Anyone relate?
Dear god you described it perfectly, well done.
Liminal space
this is exactly how it feels tbh
Liminal space if it was turned into a song
And it's spongebob credits song
Imagine the producers used this as a way to get kids to watch more episodes of SpongeBob. Like they’d get freaked out by the song and then they’d watch another episode to feel better, and then it’s just a cycle 💀
probably not as intentional as you described, but that's what a lot of people go through with their comfort shows.
and then you're done with the show again, and upset that you have to find another one because you want more comfort
Aside from nostalgic, I feel sadness; Mainly because I associate the song with the golden age era of SpongeBob and Stephen Hillenburg. It reminds me that there isn't another show like that and that Nick won't ever replicate the tone, quality and humor.
I can only compare it to the feeling of remembering a childhood pet that you lost and still miss.
Foundpants
1 Reply
Do you remember that episode from Rugrats when Chucky wanted to run away and it was a parody of It's a Wonderful Life. They had a specific background sound that they use for the alternative timeline and then they use that same background sound for the ending credits. I woke up to that sound when I was a child and that creeped me out. If you read this comment I just want to know your opinion on it.
I do recall waking up to the outro feeling eerie, and i would have to rewind it so i could stop feeling creeped out😂 I'd feel better hearing it the second time but i still got that feeling.
Maybe the scariest part about it is that the end credits are played when the show is over. When the colorful and happiness that brings you comfort stops you're pulled into reality again and you realize you're all alone again.
But I didn't like Spongebob (it's headache-inducingly obnoxious to me), and the credits still creeped me out.
its seriously not that deep.
@@catraaaaaa eh, even that is the case, I still find it fun to analyze media content deeper.
My thoughts on this piece of media seem to be the similar for most of the people here
I cried when the credits rolled as a kid, never understood why until this video. Makes a lot of sense
I don't get why ppl find the end credit "scary" or "unsettling", I've listened to them at night/in the dark and nothing, this song is a bop, I don't understand
Nostalgic blind? Nah, maybe attention for the sake of "ooo spoopy childhood spooky?" Perhaps.
I kinda see what they're coming from, but at the end of the day, I still don't get it, and I don't care.
People are scared of weird stuff as kids. I was scared of the 20th Century Fox logo and refused to watch Scooby-Doo and the Goblin King when I was little after my first viewing of it (oddly enough I wasn't afraid of the first four direct-to-video Scooby movies despite those being classic entries on "childhood trauma" videos).
same
I had many existential crises throughout my childhood. I can maybe explain a little of this. I loved the song by it's sound, but it reminded me of those existential fears of end and death and pain. I for as many years as I can possibly think of, have had moments of becoming disconnected to reality. Thinking about life and how I almost wasn't me? Basically, what I'm explaining is, is that I personally experienced these feelings because of certain issues I've lived with since I was 3 or younger, which I'm getting help with through therapy. So, if others felt afraid of the end credits, it may have been the existentialism I also experienced. Or maybe something else entirely! It is a great song, but if you're not in the best state of mind, it's gonna remind you of things that disconnect you from life. At least, that's how it is for me. I hope that properly explained it. :D
@@AutumnPinkyKat ah, I see, it's quite the opposite for me, the song has brought me comfort when I felt down
This may be similar but I have a very clear memory of being at a sleepover with a bunch of other kids watching Napoleon Dynamite. The last scene with the tetherball and the song playing the background gave me the most sad feeling ever, I looked around me and everyone else had fallen asleep, and there I was with the credits and this 80's song playing seemingly alone in this dark basement. Very creepy feeling, but I'm sure it was just environmental.
Rather than fear, I usually feel more so sadness when it comes to the SpongeBob outro.
*insert Spongebob and Patrick on baby roller-coaster*
lmao 😭
In my experience, one outro that always made feel uneasy was the one at the end of Jimmy Neutron with the monkey saying "Hi! I'm Paul" or something like that
YES.
@@stevie3094 It seems this is a shared fear hahaha
That damn thing used to terrify me as a kid for some reason lmao
Paul the monkey still gives me the shivers.
Okay, I'll give you that one. That three-eyed monkey and the trees swirling abnormally was disturbing af.
(When I reached middle school, I realize the trees were turning in a double helix, and the company was called DNA Productions.
Doesn't explain the creepy monkey, thought.)
It sometimes spooked me at night when i was little because when the song ends i just hear the noise in the background and im sitting all alone. It's cozy but it's also like if liminal space was a song
I've always loved this theme. Sometimes use it as an alarm in the morning. I got used to it because it was used in an old Flash game on Nickelodeon's website and would just repeatedly play.
I never knew people were scared of the SpongeBob end credits. Then again I can’t judge I use to be scared of some Video Game and Movie Title Screens.
this outro always gave me a sense of anxiety. when I was a kid and this outro played, I knew it meant I had to go to bed soon for school the next day. plus there's just something sort of eerie about the isolated ukulele.
There are a few TV show outros that give me a creepy “fever dream” kind of feeling. The To Catch a Predator and South Park end credits come to mind.
yes! the old south park outros kinda creep me out a bit but the song is a bop 🗣🔥
@@i_have_too_many_aestheticswat
Bruh u said SP😂😂😂 bruh damn
I remember vividly that as a kid I didn’t have many fears, but for some reason, I was terrified of any and every credit scene. I’d audibly run and cry whenever a movie ended or something, and the explanations you applied made sense to an extent - I also think there’s the uneasiness of breaking the fourth wall, in a way.
Children have the capacity to get sucked in whatever activity they’re doing, see that reality as their own until they get broken off from it, and credits are a great example of that. You’re pulling a mind forcefully from what it just now believed is real. Maybe I’m overanalysing it, but I do think it’s an interesting phenomenon to wonder about 😭
The song was always comforting and reminded me of my childhood the only sadness now comes from stephen hillenburg's passing
Wow! I'm double your age. There are a couple of 1960s TV show outros that give me a melancholy, sad, and empty feeling. You eloquently and incredibly identify why. Appreciate you addressing this haunting feeling with words and emotions!
I have always been terrified of this song and can't explain why. When I was little I remember hiding behind one of my chairs and sobbing when this song would play even during the day time. The intro to this video made me so scared like to the point where I had my computer almost shut. It just doesn't make sense, all I know is that the outro and intro to the show have always scared me.
Great video, you killed it. Sorry I couldn't be apart of it though. Keep it up bro!
I know exactly the feeling you're talking about. As a kid of the 1980's, before there was 24/7 tv, tv stations would end their broadcast day at midnight. Sometimes I fell asleep, and would wake up to the sound of what we all called "the snowstorm" and the creepy static sound that was emitted at the same time (if you know, you know!) when the station went off the air. Waking up to that gave me that same alone, scary feeling. It was very creepy.
Oh Jillian, I bet Brian is disappointed
that's awesome and sounds so much more genuine than a cartoon credits sequence lol. i'm not old enough to relate to the "snowstorm" but your description brings it to life, definitely sounds eerie and like a unique experience. thanks for sharing that!
Tbh it was pretty loud when it came on lol also I thought it was called “static” or “white noise”?
More annoying than anything else. Especially when you're half asleep for a while until you're finally awake enough to be all like "what the...? Oh. It's dead air. Dammit. Shut up" then you turn it off and go back to sleep. Like a baby this time.
I wasn’t scared of the credits, but I was actually scared of the pirate on the intro.
Try falling asleep and sitting on the remote to SpongeBob SquarePants intro of the OH going up and up becuse of how you sat on the remote.
Imagine waking up at 3 in the morning completely dark with the light from your phone on the other side of the room, playing this music so quietly it’s loud.
My mom was a so disturbed with the outro of spongebob, my mom even told me that when I was younger I talked to the tv as if someone was there in front of me TT.
OH MY GOD EVERYDAY THEORIST UPLOAD
:D
@@theorist I JUST GOT SO HAPPY I LOVE UR VIDEOS MAN !! :3
I’ve seen a few vids about this now, I’ve never understood or been able to relate to it but it’s interesting to see so many people share this uneasy feeling with this outro, sick intro btw
I never watch Sponge Bob as a child, but even I get weird creeps from this melody
I'll be honest with you, i find the spongebob outro pretty nostalgic and relaxing
The first note of the SpongeBob credits is already enough to send a chill down your spine. It feels like you're being watched
That's called "Coming Down" and it happens when anything that makes you feel good comes to an end. It's a sign of addiction. You can apply it to anything outside yourself that makes you feel good, in life.
It probably triggers a similar response as something like the V of Doom or the S from Hell. That creepy feeling late at night when you’re hyper aware of your surroundings and your brain recalls that sound or song, triggering a response.
hey arnold end credits did it to me. for awhile there it was the last show on before nick at nite started & I tried to get ready for bed. blue screen, yellow letters & smooth jazz, made me realize the night was over, like sand in the hour glass.
It was only unnerving to me when I was alone. When watching an episode, I got attached to the characters and was sucked into the world. The end credits jolted me back to the realization that these characters never existed, and not only was I alone, but I was alone the whole time.
For me I think the dissonance is definitely the closest answer, but in music terms I think it was specifically the last few notes of the melody not resolving. The backing track seems to resolve just fine, but the main melody just hangs on this last note that increases in pitch.
Always creeped me out as a kid and I find it interesting how diverse the experience on this topic is.
Same, the song just feels out of tune to me for some reason. The key it’s played in, the E into the B, just the overall song being bouncy makes me feel unsettled.