Plankton!

This is the page about the Season 1 episode. For other uses, see Plankton (disambiguation).

Plankton!
General
Production code:	114
Season №:	1
Episode №:	3b
Airdate:	July 31, 1999 March 18, 2000 May 2, 2002 (Nicktoons TV) See more... November 7, 1999 February 8, 2000 March 11, 2000 March 20, 2000 July 11, 2001 (EBS) August 16, 2002 August 23, 2002 2003 September 6, 2004 November 30, 2005 July 21, 2007 July 10, 2008 June 28, 2009 February 9, 2017 April 19, 2019
U.S. premiere time (ET):	10:15 am
Copyright year:	1999
U.S. viewers (millions):	2.89
Running time:	11 minutes, 1 second
Sister episode(s):	"Jellyfishing"
Credits
Guest(s):	Alex, Labrador Retriever
Writer(s):	Ennio Torresan, Jr. Erik Wiese Doug Lawrence
Storyboard Artist(s):	Erik Wiese
Storyboard:	Ennio Torresan, Jr.
Animation:	Edgar Larrazábal
Creative:	Derek Drymon
Chronology
Previous	"Jellyfishing"
Next	"Naughty Nautical Neighbors"

"Plankton!" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season 1. In this episode, Plankton uses mind control to obtain the Krabby Patty formula.

Characters

• Sheldon J. Plankton ^(debut)
• SpongeBob SquarePants
• Karen Plankton ^(debut)
• Eugene H. Krabs
• Squidward Tentacles
• Incidental 6
• Incidental 18
• Gary the Snail
• Singer of "The Alphabet Song" ^{(voice only; debut)}
• Patrick Star ^(cameo)
• Plankton's lab ^(debut)
• Chum Bucket glove ^(debut)

Synopsis

At the Krusty Krab Squidward sends SpongeBob an order for a Krabby Patty, and it ends up in his nose. After SpongeBob makes the patty, it begins to "move" and makes its way towards the front door. Mr. Krabs pulls a tiny person out of the patty, who is none other than his nemesis, Plankton, and uses a plate to fling him back to the Chum Bucket. Mr. Krabs explains that Plankton is his arch-competitor, and has been trying to steal the Krabby Patties secret formula for years.

Later that night, after the Krusty Krab closes, Plankton tries to convince SpongeBob, he and the fry cook are friends, and that as such SpongeBob should come to Plankton's birthday, as it is supposedly the following day. Plankton says that friends give each other things. Plankton asks SpongeBob what he thinks he'd like for a birthday present, and SpongeBob then guesses a booster seat. Plankton is very happy with that proposition, but refuses. Plankton tells SpongeBob that, for his birthday, he wants SpongeBob to give him a Krabby Patty. SpongeBob loudly and boldly refuses and runs back home, but Plankton promises that SpongeBob will "hand deliver it to (him) personally."

SpongeBob being possessed by Plankton.

Later that night, Plankton enters SpongeBob's head through a pore and makes his way to SpongeBob's brain. He attaches a mind control device to the brain and bends SpongeBob to his will, forcing him to walk to the Krusty Krab, get a Krabby Patty, and bring it to the Chum Bucket's Laboratory. He brings it to an analyzer, which is designed to figure out the ingredients of whatever is dropped into it. As Plankton gloats over his victory and begins to force SpongeBob to drop the Krabby Patty, SpongeBob laments his failure to save it, lovingly describing the Krabby Patty's ingredients and succulence. A hungry Plankton leaps out of SpongeBob's head and onto the Krabby Patty, but bounces off of it and falls into the analyzer, thus trapping him inside his computer screen. SpongeBob walks home with the Krabby Patty in hand, ignoring Plankton's angry demands for him to bring it back, his last plea being "I'll settle for some fries!" closing the episode.

Production

Art

"Get out of my head, leave my brain alone. Never, NEVER."

"Gee, and I though you were stupid."

Development

In the audio commentary, Doug Lawrence reveals he won the voice of Plankton in an auditioning contest held at the beginning of production.

The audio commentary also reveals that there was originally going to be a scene involving Squidward being naked (possibly during the scene in his bedroom), but it was cut due to nudity.

Creation of Plankton and Karen

Plankton was first created by Stephen Hillenburg as a potential villain for the show. However, he later feared that Plankton's stories would get repetitive and predictable. During the production of season one, Hillenburg demoted Plankton from a main character to a minor one; he insisted that Plankton would work better as a one-time guest star.

However, Doug Lawrence loved the character. He summarized Plankton's origins in 2015, saying that he "was only supposed to be in one or two episodes, but I was a writer on the show and I really liked this character." Lawrence wrote episode ideas for Plankton and passed them to Hillenburg. From then on, Plankton began to appear more often. Lawrence's most notable contribution was giving a personality to Plankton's "waterproof computer," named Karen after Stephen Hillenburg's wife. He decided that Plankton and Karen should be an inseparable duo, with Karen as the brains of the operation, always supplying Plankton with evil plans.

Since Plankton's "reinvention" by Lawrence, he and Karen have appeared in many episodes. They were both officially promoted to main characters in the credits of the 2004 film and have been part of the main cast ever since. Plankton has also appeared in various video games.

Karen was first introduced as Plankton's computer system who would be a part of all of his inventions. She was named after Karen Hillenburg, the wife of the series creator Stephen Hillenburg. Her voice is provided by Jill Talley, who is the wife of SpongeBob's voice actor, Tom Kenny.

Music

( ‣ ) Production music

( • ) Original music

( ◦ ) SpongeBob music

 ‣ Chill Out - The Surfdusters [Title card]
 ‣ Titi De Paris - Daniel Jean Jeannin [opening]
 ‣ Heavenly Voices (b) - David Farnon [shot of Krabby Patty]
 ‣ Death Trap [#27.02] - Gregor F. Narholz ["That Krabby Patty is haunted!"]
 ‣ Phantom Train - The Surfdusters [Plankton revealed]
 ‣ The Tip Top Polka/The Cliff Polka - Chelmsford Folk Band [Plankton thrown back to Chum Bucket]
 ‣ Holiday Dream - Max Mahlmann [that night...]
 ‣ Haunted Surf - The Surfdusters ["Psst... young man."]
 ‣ Background Blues - Otto Sieben ["I just want to talk."]
 ‣ Black Stockings - David Lindup [Plankton drooling]
 ‣ Drama Link (d) - Hubert Clifford [SpongeBob gasps]
 ‣ Verve - Jack Shaindlin [dramatic music on Plankton's record]
 ‣ Hawaiian Link (b) - Richard Myhill [SpongeBob in bed]
 ‣ Haunted Surf - The Surfdusters [Plankton disguised as a flower]
 ‣ The Alphabet Song (a) - Peter Gosling [wrong side of record]
 ‣ Verve - Jack Shaindlin [dramatic music again]
 ‣ House of Horror - William Farran [Plankton gets in SpongeBob's head/Plankton presses the total control button]
 ‣ Phantom Train - The Surfdusters [SpongeBob wakes up]
 ‣ Monks (c) - Dave Hewson [Plankton talking through SpongeBob]
 ‣ Shock (r) - Dave Hewson ["Something must be wrong with my brain!"]
 ‣ Shock (u) - Dave Hewson ["Plankton! What kind of friend are you?"]
 ‣ Phantom Train - The Surfdusters [Squidward faints]
 ‣ The Nightmare Begins (a) - John Devereaux [Plankton's lab]
 ‣ Verve - Jack Shaindlin [dramatic music on record]
 ‣ Enter the Villain - Chris Payne, Paul Rogers [Plankton's analyzer]
 ‣ Panic Stricken - Chris Payne, Paul Rogers ["This little piggy brought home a Krabby Patty."]
 ‣ Heavenly Voices (b) - David Farnon [SpongeBob's last words]
 ‣ Maui Beach - Hans Haider [SpongeBob describing the Krabby Patty]
 ‣ Hilo March - The Hawaiian Serenaders [ending]

Release

• This episode is available on the Lost at Sea, Complete 1st Season, The 1st Season: Volume 1, Tea at the Treedome, Beach Bob, First 100 Episodes, SpongeBob SquarePants, iSponge Offer Pack, Exposed!: The Ultimate Box Set, The Ultimate SpongeBob Box Set, SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 1, The Complete First Season, Orange Collection, From the Beginning, Pt.1, The SpongeBob SquarePants Collection, The SpongeBob SquarePants 8 Season DVD Collection, The First & Second Seasons, Movies & TV Collection, and The Best 200 Episodes Ever DVDs along with SpongeBob SquarePants Volume 1 on GBA Video and on VideoNow.
• This episode is also available on the Lost at Sea and The Sponge Who Could Fly VHS tapes.

Reception

• "Plankton!" was ranked #90 during the SpongeBob's Top 100 event in the UK and Ireland from June 4-8, 2012.

Trivia

General

• This episode marks the debut of Plankton and Karen in the series.
  • This also marks the first appearance of the Chum Bucket analyzer.
• A short snippet of SpongeBob's laugh in this episode is one of the unused sound files in the video game Revenge of the Flying Dutchman.
• Plankton is noticeably a lot smaller in this episode than in following episodes; he is revealed at the beginning as nearly microscopic and difficult to spot without the magnifying glass that Mr. Krabs used. It is likely he was meant to resemble a more realistic size of a micro-organism, but was enlargened in later episodes so he'd be easier to animate and emote.
• When SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs laugh, SpongeBob's laugh is different than it is in other episodes.
• Plankton has a record player which he uses to dramatize his evil schemes. The record is Verve by Jack Shaindlin, and its B-side is "The Alphabet Song" sung by Peter Gosling.

• As Plankton says, "This is my lab," a real-life Labrador Retriever is shown. This also appears on the second SpongeBob SquarePants level in the console version of the video game Nicktoons Unite!
  • The end credits of this episode list the dog as "Alex."
• In Plankton's laboratory, Karen is on the right wall from the doors, rather than the usual location straight ahead of the doors.
• Several of Plankton's strategies and tactics are used in later episodes such as his ability to hide in small places, sneak into someone's body, and use two levers to control a machine.
• Starting with this episode, the top of SpongeBob's head is now green, instead of yellow for the rest of the series, until "Lost in Bikini Bottom."
• The quotes "AHHHHHH!" and "I just want to talk," would later appear in the online game Reef Rumble.
  • The quote "AHHHHHH!" also was heard in the online game Merry Mayhem!
• In the audio commentary for the episode, Bill Fagerbakke comments that there has never been a Patrick episode with an exclamation mark after the title. Years after this commentary was recorded, two were released in season 9. They are "Patrick-Man!" and "Patrick! The Game."
• This episode features audio commentary on The Complete 1st Season, The Complete First Season, The First & Second Seasons, and Movies & TV Collection DVDs. It's also the first episode of the series to use this feature.
  • However, this is not the first time an episode had an audio commentary, as it had already been done as early as "The Sponge Who Could Fly" on Lost at Sea released on March 4, 2003.
• This is the first episode to have a character's name in the title, other than the fact that plankton is a class of unicellular.
• This is the first episode where the German dub version has the exact same title card as the English version.
  • This is because the word "Plankton" in English is the same as in German.
• This is the first time Plankton goes inside of SpongeBob's brain. The second is in "The Inside Job" and the third is in The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water.
• This is the first episode to use the APM tracks "Hilo March" and "House of Horror."
  • However, only parts 2 and 3 of the latter are used in this episode.
• This is one of the few season 1 episodes where the Krabby Patty buns' sesame seeds are colored white. In most season 1 and early season 2 episodes, they are colored black.
• This is the last episode of the series where the "a"s in the crew members' names were filled in. All episodes starting with "Naughty Nautical Neighbors" have the "a"s unfilled.
• There is a LEGO set called "Build-A-Bob (3826)" which is based on this episode.
• There is an online game based on this episode called Invasion of the Patty Snatchers.

SpongeBob clip in The Big Bang Theory.

• In The Big Bang Theory episode "The Long Distance Dissonance," Sheldon Cooper is seen watching this episode on his phone, specifically during the scene where SpongeBob breaks through a wall in Squidward's house while being controlled by Plankton.

Cultural references

• When Plankton says, "You weak-minded fool!," this is a reference to the 1983 film Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.
• Plankton recites the foot tickle rhyme "This Little Piggy" on SpongeBob while trying to force him to drop the Krabby Patty.

Errors

• When Mr. Krabs first appears in this episode, his first lines are "Avast ye patty pirate! This is no ghost. This is... Plankton!" When he says, "This is no ghost," his mouth is visible, but his mouth remains closed.

Krusty Krab missing error.

• At night when SpongeBob is walking home, he moves his head to his left to right and the Krusty Krab across the Chum Bucket is missing.
  • Also, SpongeBob passes by the Chum Bucket as he walks, even though the Chum Bucket is right across the Krusty Krab.
• When SpongeBob drops the golden spatula it is right next to him. When he walks away from Plankton, it is gone.
• The words "Total Control" disappear and reappear on the controller Plankton uses.

Black tie.

• When SpongeBob first walks toward his pants, his tie is red. When SpongeBob's pants are pulled across his face, his tie is black. Right after his pants are back in their normal spot on the hanger, his tie is red again.
  • This error also occurs in "SB-129" and "Rock-a-Bye Bivalve."

Squidward's bedroom mistakenly being on the first floor.

• When SpongeBob walks into Squidward's bedroom, it is on the first floor. However, in all other episodes, it is on the second floor.
• When being forced into the Chum Bucket lab and screaming, SpongeBob's mouth doesn't move at all.

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The first half of SpongeBob's head disappears.

• When SpongeBob jumps in the Chum Bucket the first half of his head disappears for a split second.

Running gags

• Plankton playing an evil song on his record player.

Video

SpongeBob SquarePants - "Plankton!" Premiere Promo (July 31, 1999)