Nickelodeon will treat viewers to a spooky stop-motion special with the premiere of SpongeBob SquarePants: The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom, on Friday, Oct. 13th, at 7p.m. (ET/PT). The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom tells the story of the Flying Dutchman (Brian Doyle-Murray) coming to Bikini Bottom to make sure everyone in town is scared–especially SpongeBob, who seems to be unflappable in his belief that spooky things are actually funny.

Inspired by the visual style of classic Rankin-Bass stop-motion animation TV specials, Bikini Bottom is decked out for Halloween and features Sandy’s treedome as a mad scientist’s lab, including a giant remotely operated Acorn Monster; Mr. Krabs’ restaurant as “The Horrors of the Chum Bucket,” displaying scenes of Plankton torturing food; and Plankton’s restaurant as “The Horrors of the Krusty Krab,” telling the story of Mr. Krabs turning customers into Krabby Patties and more. Check out the trailer:

The characters wear Halloween costumes, with SpongeBob as a flower, Patrick as a knight, Sandy as a mad scientist, Mr. Krabs as a dollar bill, Plankton as a devil, Squidward as himself, and Karen as a cat. SpongeBob SquarePants: The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom features an original song, “The Scare Song,” written by Mr. Lawrence, music by Eban Schletter and performed by the Flying Dutchman’s crew of pirate ghosts.

The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom was produced at Screen Novelties, a Los Angeles-based stop-motion animation production company, where miniature puppets and sets brought Bikini Bottom to life in three dimensions. The production featured 27 unique sets, across five stages, where 15 boxes of breakfast cereal were used to create texture on Bikini Bottom’s coral reefs; eight pounds of glitter were used to decorate SpongeBob’s Halloween pineapple house; hundreds of popsicle sticks created the planks of the rollercoaster track that Patrick and SpongeBob ride; and “black lights” were used to create a fluorescent glow across the puppets and sets.

The special features various production techniques including: stop-motion puppet animation, marionette puppeteering, hand puppets and 2D hand-drawn animation designed by Sally Cruikshank.

Marc Ceccarelli and Vincent Waller are co-executive producers on SpongeBob SquarePants. The special was written by Mr. Lawrence, with Brian Morante serving as the storyboard director and Jennie Monica as producer. The special is being directed by Mark Caballero and Seamus Walsh, and produced by Chris Finnegan of Screen Novelties. This is the second time Nickelodeon has partnered with Screen Novelties on a SpongeBob SquarePants stop-motion episode.

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Jerry Beck

Writer, cartoon producer and author of more than 15 books on animation history. A former studio exec with Nickelodeon and Disney; currently on the faculty at both CalArts in Valencia and Woodbury University in Burbank, California.

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