"Pet or Pests" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season 6. In this episode, SpongeBob adopts a stray worm who gives birth to worm babies overnight.
Characters
- Patrick Star
- SpongeBob SquarePants
- Spotted Glistening Meadow Worm (debut)
- Mrs. Wormsley (debut)
- Wormsley children (debut)
- King Neptune's mother (mentioned)
- King Neptune (mentioned)
- Gary the Snail
- Squidward Tentacles
- Mrs. Puff
- Incidental 40 (cameo)
- Incidental 93 (cameo)
- Incidental 41
- Incidental 45
- Incidental 150
- Incidental 151
- Larry the Lobster
- Incidental 107
- Incidental 42
- Incidental 37B
- Eugene H. Krabs
- Garbage Fish (normal; blue)
- Fred (blue)
- Incidental 92 (cameo)
- Incidental 37A
- Incidental 106
- Incidental 27
- Incidental 152
- Incidental 46 (cameo)
- Incidental 49
- Incidental 115 (pink)
Synopsis
One day, SpongeBob and Patrick are playing leapfrog, when they land in a bush. They destroy it, and the two find a worm that lived in the bush. SpongeBob takes it home and introduces him to Gary, who takes an immediate dislike to it. They fight, and SpongeBob pulls them apart. Later that night, SpongeBob lets his new pet stay where Gary usually sleeps, and Gary is sent to the guest room, which he does not like.
Mrs. Wormsley and Gary growling at each other
The next morning, SpongeBob wakes up and sees the worm is a type of pain. He runs to Patrick because he does not know what to do. They go back to SpongeBob's house and see that the worm has given birth to baby worms. SpongeBob and Patrick try and put Gary and Mrs. Wormsley together, but she attacks Gary again, and Gary chases Mrs. Wormsley out of town on a bus, so SpongeBob is left to take care of the worm babies. Because Patrick is not willing to help with this situation, SpongeBob tries to find a person who will adopt the baby worms.
He first takes the worms to Squidward's house. Squidward is disgusted by them for vomiting a type of acid at his face. He then takes it to Mrs. Puff, in which she is shocked by them and puffs, damaging her house. SpongeBob then proceeds to go to a grocery store, stumbling upon Larry the Lobster. He decides to take them, but only to eat them alive due to raw protein, in which SpongeBob knocks them out of Larry's hand. The worms land in the middle of the road right in front of a moving truck, in which SpongeBob reacts. He goes inside the truck to pull out the connections to the engine, and unscrews and gets rid of the engine, forcing the truck to halt.
SpongeBob then scoops up the meadow worms and puts them in the box that they were in. After this, SpongeBob tries to sell them to Mr. Krabs, in which he declines because the worms spit up on his face as well, and forces him to take the worms out of his restaurant. SpongeBob puts them by the garbage, but the babies spit on him too. Garbage men come up and they are about to take the garbage away when they see the acid on SpongeBob's face. They see that it is a very rare type of worm, and Mr. Krabs comes out, hearing how it is rare and they would bring a lot of money. In the end, SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs sell the worms to the people of Bikini Bottom.
Running gags
- Baby worms throwing up and people rejecting the worms.
- Gary and Mrs. Wormsley battling each other.
- When SpongeBob goes to Mrs. Puff’s house, he rings the doorbell for a whole 30 seconds.
Production
Art
Music
| ( ‣ ) Production music |
| ( • ) Original music |
| ( ◦ ) SpongeBob music |
• Kalua Jubalee - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [title card]
• 12th Street Rag 3 with Bass - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob and Patrick playing leapfrog]
‣ Lap Steel - Nicolas Carr [SpongeBob finds a "ball"]
‣ Dramatic Impact 6 - Ivor Slaney [it's really a worm]
‣ Drama Link (g) - Hubert Clifford ["Mother of Neptune, get it away from me!"]
‣ A Jolly Jaunt (a) - Dick Stephen Walter ["It's just a little worm."]
‣ One Over the Eight - Len Stevens [Gary wakes up]
‣ The Jitters - Raymond C. Jones [Gary hisses at the worm]
‣ Dachshund Walk - John Fox, Mac Prindy ["Let's touch soft parts in a friendly manner."]
‣ Killer Birds - Gregor F. Narholz [Gary attacks SpongeBob]
‣ Jolly Clarinet - Ilan Harel [guest newspaper]
‣ Lap Steel - Nicolas Carr [the next morning]
• Silly Shenanigans - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [SpongeBob hears howling]
‣ Epic Tragedy - Gerhard Trede [worm howling]
‣ Tympup A - Sammy Burdson, John Charles Fiddy [baby worms]
‣ Box Melody - Leo Nissim ["Oh Patrick, it's a miracle!"]
‣ Unpreventable - Gregor F. Narholz [Gary and the worm growl at each other]
‣ Dramatic Cue (g) - Ronald Hanmer [they fight]
• Steel Licks 1 - Jeremy Wakefield [worm leaves on a bus]
• Skipping to School - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob asks Squidward if he wants a baby worm]
‣ Happy Bridge 1 - Harry Bluestone, Emil Cadkin [SpongeBob rings Mrs. Puff's doorbell]
• Steel Licks 2 - Jeremy Wakefield ["Good morning, Mrs. Puff."]
‣ Dramatic Impact 2 - Ivor Slaney [Mrs. Puff screams]
• Steel Licks 6 - Jeremy Wakefield ["I'll just come back later, Mrs. Puff."]
‣ Happy Bridge 3 - Harry Bluestone, Emil Cadkin ["Don't worry, little worms."]
‣ Happy Choo Choo (a) - Otto Sieben [at the supermarket]
‣ Death and Destruction 1 - Harry Bluestone, Emil Cadkin [the worms are about to get run over]
‣ Fantasy Princess [#50] - Harry Bluestone, Emil Cadkin ["Oh, little wormies, I'm so glad you're safe."]
‣ Drama Link (d) - Hubert Clifford [SpongeBob screams]
• Daily Chores Jig - Michael Bolger, Nicolas Carr ["SpongeBob, are you sure you're feeling ship shape?"]
• Vibe Q Sting - Nicolas Carr ["Babies?"]
‣ Toy Piano - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [Krabs looks at the baby worms]
‣ Dramatic Impact 6 - Ivor Slaney ["Get that disgusting vermin out of me restaurant pronto!"]
• Steel Licks 9 - Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob runs out crying]
• Solo Steel 3 - Jeremy Wakefield ["Oh, well, at least I still have you guys."]
• What the Huh Vibe Sting - Nicolas Carr [garbageman sniffs]
‣ Spellweaver - Magnum Opus ["What is it?"]
• Wahini Wobble - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [ending]
Release
- This episode is available on the SpongeBob's Last Stand, Season 6 Volume 2, SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 9, The Ultimate SpongeBob Box Set, The SpongeBob SquarePants Collection, The SpongeBob SquarePants 8 Season DVD Collection, Triple Pack 2, 3 DVD Value Pack Volume 2, Complete Sixth Season, Spužva Bob Skockani DVD 1, SpongeBob SquarePants Has Hit Rock Bottom, Big Hits: Volume 1, Next 100 Episodes, and The Best 200 Episodes Ever DVDs.
Trivia
General
- This is the third episode to premiere during Nickelodeon's "The Bob Squad."
- Gary hates worms because in "Sandy's Rocket" and "As Seen on TV," a worm is considered as a sea dog, which would make snails sea cats.
- Larry apparently does not know who SpongeBob is in this episode, even though he has interacted with him in previous episodes, such as "Ripped Pants" and "SpongeGuard on Duty." This also happens in "A Life in a Day."
- This is the fourth episode where SpongeBob lets a wild animal stay at his house. The first is "Jellyfish Jam," the second is "My Pretty Seahorse," and the third is "Rock-a-Bye Bivalve."
- Mable appears to be pink, but in usual episodes, she is olive-green. This confusion also happens in "Le Big Switch."
- In the December 21, 2013 airing, this episode was paired up with "The Great Snail Race" as they are both pet-themed episodes.[citation needed]
- Starting with this episode, while the title card is showing, a description of the music appears as a caption (TV airings only).
- This marks the longest time SpongeBob has been late for work, by three hours.
- Irony: SpongeBob should have picked up the babies before the truck ran over them instead of trying to make the truck stop.
Cultural references
- Mrs. Puff says, "I hate Mondays," which is Garfield's catchphrase.
Errors
- When SpongeBob puts Gary in the guest room, he turns on a light. When he closes the door, it becomes dark.
- When SpongeBob picks up the worms, his hands are spread apart slightly, yet the slime on the worms did not drip through the space between his hands and look as if it were flat.
- The garbage fish who smells the slime of the worms changes color from blue to green.
- In the ending where Mr. Krabs is giving spotted glistening meadow worms, the letter u on the Krusty Krab sign is backward.
The letter U of the Krusty Krab sign is backwards
- Towards the end of the episode when SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs are selling the worms, one of SpongeBob's green holes turns red for less than a second.
- At the end of the episode when the female fish buys the baby worm for $5.99, Mr. Krabs only holds up one bill.
- This could be because it's a $5 bill.
- There is no driver in the truck in the scene where the worms almost get run over.
