"Karate Choppers" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season 1. In this episode, SpongeBob and Sandy's karate disturbs the Krusty Krab.
Characters[]
- SpongeBob SquarePants
- Sandy Cheeks
- Squidward Tentacles
- Eugene H. Krabs
- Unnamed worm (single appearance)
- TV fish
- Volcano Sauce drop (debut)
- Unnamed fisher (single appearance)
- Incidentals
Synopsis[]
SpongeBob and Sandy are practicing karate against each other. After fighting in SpongeBob's house, Sandy tells him that she will sneak up on him and fight him tomorrow. At the Barg'N-Mart, their battle continues. Later, Sandy pulls out SpongeBob's tongue and grabs a bottle of Volcano Sauce to have him surrender. SpongeBob imagines a face on the drop of hot sauce and quickly gives up. At the Krusty Krab the next day, SpongeBob thinks anyone or anything can be Sandy, so he is cautious and does not work much. When SpongeBob attacks one of the customers, Mr. Krabs demands to know what is going on, so SpongeBob explains to him that he is doing karate.
Eventually, Mr. Krabs warns SpongeBob to stop doing karate or he will be fired. Later, Sandy appears and attacks SpongeBob, although he tries to explain Mr. Krabs' warning to her, she does not listen. Mr. Krabs witnesses and fires SpongeBob, who cries and runs around the place hysterically. Feeling guilty, Sandy explains that it was her fault and begs Mr. Krabs to give SpongeBob his job back. Mr. Krabs agrees on the condition that they try to swear off karate, saying it is poisoning SpongeBob's mind.
The two try to swear off karate and they try to do different things, or go to Seashell Park for a picnic. However, everything reminds them of karate, particularly when SpongeBob slices bologna using karate chops. They eventually can't resist the urge and slice up all kinds of ingredients and make several sandwiches in the process. They eventually take up karate again and have a great deal of fun.
Mr. Krabs, who is taking a walk in the park, catches them surrounded by sandwiches and the surroundings are really trashed, clearly having broken their promise. SpongeBob admits the truth, saying he cannot help himself and asks Mr. Krabs to simply fire him. Mr. Krabs asks "Fire ya?" before replying that he has something else in mind.
Back at the Krusty Krab, SpongeBob and Sandy make Krabby Patties at an exceptional rate, using their karate skills to slice and assemble the ingredients, bringing in lots of customers and makes Mr. Krabs more money than before, while Squidward expresses his hate for everyone.
Production[]
This episode was announced on December 29, 1999,[1] along with its sister episode "SB-129."
Art[]
Music[]
( ‣ ) Production music |
( • ) Original music |
( ◦ ) SpongeBob music |
‣ Take That! (a) - Helene Muddiman [Title card]
‣ Panther Prowl - David Farnon [Opening]
‣ Cieszyn Polka - Władyslaw Raczkowski [TV show]
‣ Police Car - Sam Spence [SpongeBob screams]
‣ Take That! (a) - Helene Muddiman [SpongeBob and Sandy doing karate]
‣ Police Car - Sam Spence [SpongeBob throws Sandy through the door]
‣ Hawaiian Link (A) - Richard Myhill [SpongeBob does a karate dance]
‣ Take That! (a) - Helene Muddiman [Karate over the phone]
‣ Bossa Cubana - Gerhard Narholz [Sandy shopping]
‣ Hit and Run - Sam Spence [Sandy bumps into SpongeBob]
‣ Bossa Cubana - Gerhard Narholz ["Hey Sandy, have you ever heard the one about the squirrel and the tin cans?"]
‣ Take That! (a) - Helene Muddiman [Tin cans]
‣ Police Car - Sam Spence [SpongeBob laughs]
‣ Dancing The Hula - Kapono Beamer ["What a beautiful day!"]
‣ Take That! (a) - Helene Muddiman [More karate]
‣ House Of Horror [#10.5] - W. Merrick Farran [Volcano sauce]
‣ Death Trap [#26.03] - Gregor F. Narholz ["By the powers of naughtiness..."]
‣ Panther Prowl - David Farnon [Sandy drinking volcano sauce.]
‣ Take That! (a) - Helene Muddiman [Novelty toy]
‣ The Rake Hornpipe - Robert Alexander White [At the Krusty Krab]
‣ Keep Cool - Jean Christophe Thomas, Laurence Peter Cottle [Customer swatting a fly/"I'm fast, I'm mean, and I can do this!"]
‣ Blow the Man Down (B) - Tim Laycock, Robert Alexander White [Mr. Krabs tells SpongeBob to get back to work]
‣ Keep Cool - Jean Christophe Thomas, Laurence Peter Cottle [SpongeBob enters the bathroom]
‣ Sailor's Waltz - Heinz Matschurat [Mr. Krabs tells SpongeBob to stop doing karate or he is fired]
‣ Hawaiian Link (B) - Richard Myhill ["Fired?"]
‣ Take That! (a) - Helene Muddiman [Sandy starts karate chopping SpongeBob/Sandy continues karate chopping SpongeBob/Sandy karate chopping SpongeBob again]
‣ Stack of Leis - Kapono Beamer [Fired and Broken/"Aww, shoot, SpongeBob. I guess you ain't fibbing."]
‣ Hit and Run - Sam Spence [Sandy chops SpongeBob's face]
‣ Vibe Link (B) - Richard Myhill ["We can?"]
‣ Nostalgic Hawaii - George de Fretes, Jan Rap [SpongeBob squeezes a rock]
‣ On The Beach - Kapono Beamer [SpongeBob and Sandy on a picnic]
‣ Hit and Run - Sam Spence [Sandy chops the barnacle loaf]
‣ Mavericks - The Woodies [Making sandwiches]
‣ Police Car - Sam Spence [Sting]
‣ Take That! (a) - Helene Muddiman [They fight]
‣ Hawaiian Link (A) - Richard Myhill [Everything cut in half]
‣ Dramatic Cue (D) - Ronald Hanmer [SpongeBob shrieks]
‣ O Makalapua B - Kapono Beamer ["Oh, all right, Mr. Krabs, you caught me."]
‣ Take That! (a) - Helene Muddiman [Ending]
*On The Complete 1st Season and The First 100 Episodes DVDs "Mavericks" is replaced with "El Dementia" by The Surfdusters while the Amazon Prime Video version has the "Mavericks" music.
Release[]
- This episode is available on The Complete 1st Season, Fear of a Krabby Patty, Absorbing Favorites, Karate Choppers, Karate Cutting, Sportingly Sandy, 10 Happiest Moments, First 100 Episodes, The Best of SpongeBob SquarePants, Really Big Box Set, The SpongeBob Birthday Box, The Ultimate SpongeBob Box Set, Treasure Chest: Double Pack, SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 2, The Complete First Season, Extreme Kah-Rah-Tay (digital version only), From the Beginning, Part 1, The SpongeBob SquarePants Collection, Deep-Sea Games, Triple Pack 3, The SpongeBob SquarePants 8 Season DVD Collection, The First & Second Seasons, Movies & TV Collection, Big Hits: Volume 2, The Best 200 Episodes Ever, and The Best 300 Episodes Ever DVDs.
- This episode is also available on the Absorbing Favorites VHS tape and the UK version of the Fear of a Krabby Patty VHS tape.
Reception[]
- "Karate Choppers" was ranked #44 during the Best Day Ever event from November 9–10, 2006.
- "Karate Choppers" was ranked #29 during the SpongeBob's Top 100 event in the UK and Ireland from June 4-8, 2012.
Trivia[]
General[]
- The title card is similar to those of Barg'N-Mart and "Naughty Nautical Neighbors," "Nature Pants," "MuscleBob BuffPants," and "Scaredy Pants," but it is red instead of yellow, there are no pineapples, and the bamboo is broken.
- This episode uses "Giant Karate Chop Underlay," which is the first time it has appeared on the show. It is a reoccurring background for later episodes such as "Mid-Life Crustacean," as well as being used for the title card background to "The Endless Summer" short.
- SpongeBob tip toes over to the couch, but makes duck sounds as he tip toes. It's revealed that he's been stepping on three squeaky toy ducks before he sits down to watch TV. "Stepping on ducks" is a euphemism for flatulence.
- Later in the episode, SpongeBob suggests he "cut the cheese," another euphemism for flatulence, although, in this case, it is literally slicing cheese.
- The fish shown on SpongeBob's TV is a royal gramma (Gramma loreto), a tropical aquarium fish.
- Tom Kenny portrays the Volcano Sauce drop.
- In the season 1 DVD commentary, Kenny explains that the scene was shot in the Nickelodeon restroom, and he had to wear red makeup all over his face to portray the character. He also had an audition on that same day the scene was shot, but the red makeup did not completely come off in time. As a result, he still had a little bit of red makeup on his face and it made him look like he was having high blood pressure.
- The Volcano Sauce drop is credited as "Hot Sauce Drop."
- This episode, along with "Plankton!," features audio commentary on The Complete 1st Season, The Complete First Season, The First & Second Seasons, and Movies & TV Collection DVDs.
- The face SpongeBob makes when he is crying from being fired is seen on the cover on the Thai release of Season 6 Volume 2.
- The face was also seen in the console version of the video game Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots when SpongeBob is at low health.
- It was also seen on the title screen in the online game Barnacles! My Face!
- The face was also seen in the console version of the video game Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots when SpongeBob is at low health.
- A fish is seen fishing for fish with a fishing pole at the park.
- At the end of the episode, Mr. Krabs says, "I love money-ay!" and after that, he looks at the screen. The fourth wall is broken here.
- In this episode, SpongeBob is a karate master like Sandy. However, in all other episodes, SpongeBob is much less skilled.
- This episode includes the only instance in which SpongeBob defeats Sandy in a karate fight.
- There is an online game based on this episode called Kah Rah Tay Contest.
- There is a Russian DVD based on this episode called "Karate Choppers."
- This is Dan Povenmire's favorite episode he didn't work on. He called it "one of the funniest things he'd ever seen"
- This is the first episode for several things:
- Merriwether Williams' first episode as a writer. Her final episode was "Pranks a Lot."
- The first episode in which SpongeBob gets fired (albeit briefly) from the Krusty Krab.
- The first episode in which Sandy gets a job at the Krusty Krab.
- The first episode where "Dancing The Hula" plays normally instead of in reverse, like it did in its debut in "Pickles."
- The first episode to confirm that Fred is the character behind the "My leg!" running gag.
- This is one of four episodes transcribed as a comic into the SpongeBob SquarePants/Tokyopop book Gone Nutty! The other three were "Sandy, SpongeBob, and the Worm," "Pressure," and "Sandy's Rocket."
- SpongeBob's reaction to getting fired has become a popular meme on YouTube.
- Squidward's line at the end "I hate all of you." has also become a popular meme.
- Two clips of this episode were featured in the 2010 film Date Night. Also, Ray Liotta, who voices the leader of The Bubble Poppin' Boys in "What Ever Happened to SpongeBob?," also appeared in the movie as crime boss Joe Miletto.
- A short clip of SpongeBob crying from this episode was featured in the music video for "Hallelujah Money," a 2017 single by British virtual band Gorillaz.
- This episode was paired up with different episodes in different marathons:
- During the Nicktoons Butt-Kicking Marathon, this episode was paired up with "Ripped Pants."[2]
- During the Best Day Ever marathon, this episode was paired up with "Nature Pants."[3]
- On the July 20, 2018 airing, this episode was paired up with "Karate Star."[4]
- In the Romanian dub, the barnacle loaf is simply referred to as "salami."
- As this episode premiered on December 31 at 8:15 PM, this episode holds the record for the latest into a calendar year for an episode to premiere.
- This is the second episode to have a soundtrack altered in its pitch, in this case, Take That! (a).
- The said soundtrack also bookends the episode, making this the first kind of occurrence to happen in the SpongeBob franchise.
Dub facts[]
- In the Japanese dub, the Volcano Sauce drop is dubbed over by Keijin Okuda. He is the Japanese voice of Mr. Krabs, Patchy, Larry, and the French Narrator.
- In the Croatian dub, instead of Sandy saying "Wanna go to the park?", she says "Are you out of your mind?"
Cultural references[]
- When SpongeBob is caught off guard by Squidward's orders, he calls him "ma'am," "sir," "boss," then "Pooh-Bah." Grand Poohbah is a character from the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, The Mikado, later made famous as a title given to the head of the Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes on The Flintstones.
- During the scene of Sandy's treedome at night, Sandy hums "The Yellow Rose of Texas."
- Barnacle loaf is a parody of meatloaf.
Errors[]
- When Sandy is at SpongeBob's door, she has an extra stripe on her sleeve. The colors of the stripes also change rapidly.
- SpongeBob leaves the kitchen with a tray of six Krabby Patties. When he tosses the Krabby Patties onto Squidward's head, all six stick to it. In the next shot, there are eight Krabby Patties. In the final zoom shot of Squidward's head after SpongeBob says "Nice hairpiece, Squidward," 10 Krabby Patties can be seen.
- When SpongeBob is cutting the food, on his first cut, the mustard dispenser seems to disappear.
- SpongeBob's arm disappears when Sandy hangs up on him after his attempt at phone karate.
- During the fight between SpongeBob and Sandy, a brick can be seen in their dust cloud.
- After the bubble transition cuts to the Krusty Krab, some of the bubbles freeze in mid-air.
- When SpongeBob talks to Mr. Krabs and says, "No, sir," SpongeBob blinks his eyes, but his eyelashes are still seen for a split second.
- When SpongeBob slices the first slice of salami, the mustard bottle is missing.
- A second window is added to SpongeBob's pineapple house near the lower-right corner. Before, there was only one window on the upper left corner.
- Mr. Krabs tells Squidward that he was in his office. However, Mr. Krabs' office is the first door on the left, and when he comes in, he is on the right, but when SpongeBob talks to him, Mr. Krabs is on his office side, next to Squidward.
- When SpongeBob goes into the restroom at the Krusty Krab, there is the "Please wash your fins" sign on it. Later, when SpongeBob is walking, it disappears.
- In the scene with SpongeBob holding the rock together to hide it from Mr. Krabs, a tree can be seen in the background chopped in half. The "leaves" of the tree are also chopped in half, even though they would not be touched just from chopping the tree in half.
- In the scene where SpongeBob captures Sandy with the novelty toy tongue, she has her left arm inside her suit while she guzzles down hot sauce. Once SpongeBob loops the tongue around her, her arm immediately appears outside of the suit.
- When SpongeBob gets fired, his face wrinkles up. In this shot, one of his holes goes above his head.
- The Chum Bucket is missing from across the street when SpongeBob is caught and Sandy apologizes.
Video[]
Names in other languages[]
Language | Name | Meaning |
---|---|---|
Russian | Любители каратэ Lyubiteli karate |
Karate Lovers |
Spanish (American) | Cortadores karatecas | Karate Cutters |
Spanish (European) | Karatekas | Karatekas |
References[]
- ^ [https://web.archive.org/web/20030930234150/http://www.viacom.com/press.tin?ixPressRelease=45001839 NICKELODEON'S NEW YEAR'S EVE LINEUP FEATURES FUTURISTIC AND MILLENNIUM THEMES]
- ^ Nickstory - February 24, 2002
- ^ Nickstory - November 10, 2006
- ^ Nickstory - July 20, 2018
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