Plankton Retires

Template:Episode/211a

Characters

• SpongeBob SquarePants
• Sheldon J. Plankton
• Eugene H. Krabs
• Karen Plankton
• Squidward Tentacles
• Perch Perkins
• French Narrator
• Bus driver ^(cameo)
• Plankton Robot
• Robot SpongeBob
• Robot Krabs
• Robot horse ^(debut)
• Nathiel Waters
• Tom
• Fred
• Nat Peterson
• Harold Bill Reginald Scott
• Nancy Suzy Fish
• Tina Fran
• Jellyfish ^(cameo)
• Chum Bucket glove ^{(as a living character)}

Synopsis

The episode starts off with Bikini Bottom News broadcasting an interview with Plankton and his evil schemes. Plankton initially tells the newsman some of his evil schemes, but gets fed up when the cameraman frequently takes advantage of Plankton's interview.

Later on, Plankton rides a robot seahorse to the Krusty Krab. Plankton peeks into the Krusty Krab to find Mr. Krabs' office safe appear open, appearing as though the Krabby Patty secret formula is exposed outside of the safe. Plankton rockets his way there, only to get hit by a paper photocopy of the safe that has been pinned on the wall. Mr. Krabs soon rolls him up into the piece of paper and feeds it to his robot seahorse.

Plankton tries a variety of other different techniques to take advantage of getting the formula. All of them failed: firstly by grabbing a sea-urchin-infested Krabby Patty, secondly by getting intercepted by Mr. Krabs while flying, shoving a jellyfish-hive into a hole which causes jellyfish to sting Plankton, and even by Mr. Krabs hiding in the same stomach as another Krusty Krab customer.

He tells Karen about all those failures, and Karen tries to calm him down. Plankton tells her about giving up the Krabby Patty Secret Formula. Karen criticizes how he frequently gives up, but Plankton unplugged the power before she could say anymore. He then steps outside to bury the Chum Bucket, with the help of the Chum Bucket hand, to show that he has retired.

Meanwhile, SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs notice Plankton's strange activity. They soon quickly follow the bus using a fishing rod as a grapple rope. They reach a town named Dullsville, a town full of retired people and elderly-people-targeted shops. Mr. Krabs and SpongeBob soon follow Plankton to Plankton's new hotel room at Dullsville Senior Living. They watch all his activities in a ceiling fan.

Mr. Krabs and SpongeBob suddenly fall from the ceiling fan, and Mr. Krabs explains that he is happy to be retiring. Plankton then states he is already at the Krusty Krab stealing the formula. This is revealed that Plankton is actually a decoy of Robot Plankton.

Meanwhile, the real Plankton casually walks to Mr. Krabs' office to steal the secret formula, unseen by anyone. Soon afterwards, the real Mr. Krabs and SpongeBob walk in to catch him with the formula. They soon tell him the two in Dullsville are simply robots disguised as decoys. Then the real Plankton gets really annoyed and bashes his head on the ground multiple times. Later it shows the undisguised Robot Krabs, Robot SpongeBob, and Robot Plankton, talking about themselves as decoys.

Back at the Krusty Krab, Plankton is convinced the real Mr. Krabs and SpongeBob are the real ones. He soon runs with the Krabby Patty Secret Formula, constantly crashing into fellow customers, while SpongeBob gets a call from someone and answers it. Meanwhile, with the robot characters, Robot Krabs, Robot SpongeBob, and Robot Plankton are enjoying their holiday time with each other. The episode ends with them cheering and suddenly exploding.

Production

The episode name was confirmed in a tweet by Vincent Waller on November 12, 2016.

Music

( ‣ ) Production music

( • ) Original music

( ◦ ) SpongeBob music

 • Pineapple Luau - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Title card]
 ‣ Bikini Bottom News Theme - Nicolas Carr [Opening.]
 ‣ A Fishy Conversation - Barry Anthony [Perch Perkins interviews Plankton.]
 ‣ Rodeo Rascals - Barry Anthony ["Secret formula, ho!"]
 ‣ Zelle 502 - Gerhard Trede ["Ha, ha, ha! The fool! He left the safe open!"]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks (a) - Jeremy Wakefield [The safe open was a drawing.]
 ‣ Rodeo Rascals - Barry Anthony [Krabs feeds Plankton to the robot seahorse.]
 ‣ Murder in Mind - Kenny Graham [Plankton spying on Krabs.]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks (l) - Jeremy Wakefield [Tons of urchins get out of the Krabby Patty.]
 ‣ Battle at Sea - Johnny Pearson [Krabs launched from catapult to avoid Plankton of stealing a Krabby Patty.]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks (d) - Jeremy Wakefield [Krabs as an aeroplane.]
 ‣ Hiding Place - Marc Dall'Anese [Plankton cuts a hole in the wall of the Krusty Krab with a laser.]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks (e) - Jeremy Wakefield [Plankton stung by jellyfish.]
 ‣ Humorous Conversation - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [Plankton goes inside a customer's stomach to steal a Krabby Patty.]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks (k) - Jeremy Wakefield [Plankton gets angry and rips his antennas off.]
 ‣ Drowsy Reef - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Plankton complaining to Karen.]
 ‣ A Simple Conversation - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [Plankton decides to shut down the Chum Bucket.]
 ‣ Taps - Plays on a record while the Chum Bucket is buried underground.
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks (j) - Jeremy Wakefield [Plankton gets sadly on a bus.]
 ‣ Seven Seas - Oded Tzur [Krabs hooks a fishing rod to the bus to follow Plankton.]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks (a) - Jeremy Wakefield [82 kilometers later...]
 ‣ Stool Pigeon - Kenny Graham ["Snap your trap, boy-o! You'll blow our cover!"]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks (u) - Jeremy Wakefield [Plankton enters a shoe store.]
 ‣ Mission Improbable - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [SpongeBob and Krabs spying Plankton in disguise.]
 ‣ Aloha Oe - Hans Haider, Queen Lili'uokalani [Plankton enters at Dullsville Senior Living.]
 ‣ Quirky Tension B - John Epping [Plankton enters his room.]
 ‣ Mutations (a) [#50] - Trevor Duncan ["Yes! My plan is almost complete!"]
 ‣ Final Fate - Max Saunders ["Ooh, this is it, boy-o!"]
 ‣ Champagne Music - [Optigan sample] [Plankton turns on the TV.]
 ‣ Dramatic Impact 3 - Ivor Slaney [SpongeBob and Krabs fall from the ceiling.]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks (n) - Jeremy Wakefield ["Now that I sees it, I believes it."]
 ‣ The Fruitcake Vendor - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony ["Krabs! What are you doing in my hotel room?"]
 ‣ Drama Link (g) - Hubert Clifford [Robot Plankton revealed.]
 ‣ Nude Sting - Nicolas Carr ["WHAT?!"]
 ‣ Zelle 501 - Gerhard Trede [Plankton at the Krusty Krab stealing the formula.]
 • Pineapple Luau - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield ["Krabs? SpongeBoob? W-w-why aren't you in Dullsville?"]
 ‣ The Donut Dilemma - Nicolas Carr [Robot SpongeBob and Krabs revealed.]
 ‣ Grass Skirt Chase - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Plankton takes the formula.]
 ‣ Sixties Happy Times - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [The ending]

Release

• This episode is available on Factory Fresh, SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 17 and The Complete Tenth Season DVDs.

Trivia

General

• The title card is similar to the title card from "Lame and Fortune," except it is upside down and with less flower clouds.
• At one point, a truck in front of the Krusty Krab, which reads "Krusty Katering," is seen. This is a reference to the episode of the same name.
• 82 kilometers is about 51 miles.
• The design of the Robot Plankton is just like the one from the second movie, while Robot Krabs and Robot SpongeBob are new designs.
• This episode's plot is similar to that of the season 4 episode "New Leaf," in that Plankton retires his interest in stealing the formula only to turn on against Mr. Krabs at the end of the episode.
• In airing order, this is the 400th episode segment.
• This is the first usage of the track "Sixties Happy Times" since the season 6 episode "Gone."
• This episode marks the third time Plankton gets stung by jellyfish. The first time is in the episode "SpongeBob's Last Stand" and the second time is in the short "Plankton Pays."
• This episode premiered seven years after "One Coarse Meal" premiered and on Gene Shalit's 91st birthday.
• This episode premiered in Canada on the tenth anniversary of Charles Nelson Reilly's death and seven years after Comic Crazy: Take 2 was released and "Gullible Pants" and "Overbooked" premiered in Poland.

Cultural references

• Dull-Mart is a parody of the retail chain Walmart.
• When Plankton is watching TV, the sound effects heard are similar to those in The Price is Right.

Errors

"Timing director" instead of "animation director."

• There is a mistake in the opening credits, where Bob Jaques, the animation director, is credited as "timing director."
• When Perch Perkins reveals to Plankton that his plan is being broadcast, Plankton turns around to face the cameraman without moving.
• When Plankton picks up the patty, the Krusty Katering truck is gone.
• When Karen comes in the room and gives Plankton baby milk, she appears to have nothing attached to her, but in the next few scenes when Plankton jumps out of her hands, she is attached to an electrical outlet.
• When Plankton runs into the real Mr. Krabs and SpongeBob while stealing the formula, SpongeBob does not have his Krusty Krab hat on, but in the next scene where Plankton says, "So you're the real Krabs and SpongeBob," he does appear to have his hat back on. However, he could have put his hat back on in between scenes.
• When SpongeBob says "I hope our robot lookalikes are doing okay," he appears to have no arms.

Running gags

• Mr. Krabs saying, "Gotcha!" when Plankton's plan fails.

Video

SpongeBob SquarePants - Gotchaaa! Nickelodeon