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— Plankton's first lines, in the episode "Plankton!"
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Sheldon J.[4] Plankton,[5] most commonly known as Plankton, is one of the ten main characters of the SpongeBob SquarePants franchise.[6] He is a planktonic copepod who runs the Chum Bucket restaurant alongside Karen, a waterproof computer who is his sidekick and wife. The Chum Bucket is unpopular in Bikini Bottom because it serves chum, a type of bait made from fish meat.[7]
Plankton is the main antagonist of the franchise, as well as the protagonist of Plankton: The Movie, in which Karen takes the role of the main antagonist. There are also many episodes in which Plankton acts as a sympathetic anti-hero. Plankton despises his rival, Mr. Krabs, for running a successful restaurant because the Chum Bucket rarely gets any customers. His main goal is to steal Krabs' secret formula for Krabby Patties and run Mr. Krabs out of business. Karen gives him a variety of plans to steal it, but their efforts always end up failing in the process.
Plankton is voiced by Mr. Lawrence, one of the show's staff writers. Stephen Hillenburg originally planned for Plankton and Karen to be one-time characters, but Lawrence wrote them into many episodes and proved that they could work as the main villains.[8] Both Plankton and Karen first appear in the episode "Plankton!"
Plankton succeeds at stealing the formula in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, but his goal of world domination is eventually thwarted by SpongeBob. In "Friend or Foe," Karen's security footage reveals that Mr. Krabs and Plankton were best friends during their childhood, but a dispute over the Krabby Patty secret formula ended their friendship, meaning that Plankton had a part in the creation of the Krabby Patty.
Description[]
Stock art of Plankton and Karen laughing evilly, with the tagline "Mini Mastermind."
Plankton's original character bio from 2000.
Plankton is, as his name suggests, a tiny deep green planktonic copepod who can fit in the palm of one's hand. He has some stubby appendages and one yellow eye with a red pupil and a white (sometimes pink) highlight. He has two long, skinny antennae with four small green spikes sticking out along them. He also has one black thick eyebrow. He has no ears or nose. In some episodes, he is shown without his skin, like in "Plankton's Regular" and "Single Cell Anniversary." His size constantly changes: in some episodes, he's the size of a Krabby Patty, meanwhile, in others, he can perfectly hide in a Krabby Patty. He usually has no fingers or toes, but he can sprout fingers when a scene requires it, similar to other characters without fingers.
Personality[]
Plankton grinning maniacally.
Plankton and Karen spying on Mr. Krabs.
Plankton is egotistical, aggressive, evil, and power-hungry. He is very jealous of Mr. Krabs and his success. His only goal throughout the series is stealing the Krabby Patty secret formula and running Krabs out of business, a desire that has led him to destroy the Krusty Krab on more than one occasion. He is manipulative, as he manipulated SpongeBob into becoming "assertive" in "Walking Small" to drive everyone in the beach away so he could build another Chum Bucket even though SpongeBob would later figure it out. He also manipulated SpongeBob in "F.U.N." by pretending to be his friend to get a Krabby Patty. He is also deceitful, as he is always trying to convince SpongeBob and the others that he can be trusted, only to use their goodwill to get closer to the formula. Either way, he's too busy plotting revenge to interact with most of the characters. Being a villain might be lonely, but Plankton seems to like it that way.
He also has an obsession with "world domination" as he is always mentioning that he will rule the world once he steals the Krabby Patty formula, becomes more successful, and doesn't really care as he likes to come up with plans to do so. He teamed up with Man Ray in "Super Evil Aquatic Villain Team Up is Go!" and claimed he will rule the world with him, and in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie he enslaved the entirety of Bikini Bottom and created a dictatorship.
He has a minuscule size and overcompensates by being evil and manipulative. He has tried everything from constructing an evil robot to hiring an assassin to kill SpongeBob and Patrick, but all his plans end up failing in the long run.
The barren Chum Bucket dining area.
A furious Plankton.
Plankton's restaurant, the Chum Bucket, has always been extremely unsuccessful, not only because of competition from the Krusty Krab and Plankton's rude and cruel treatment of the people in Bikini Bottom but also due to the extremely poor quality of the food and Plankton's constant failure to clean the place up. As its name implies, the Chum Bucket serves chum-based foods, all of which are shown to taste terrible. In "Plankton's Regular," the Krusty Krab adds chum to its menu in an attempt to steal Plankton's single regular customer.
The customer is disgusted by their chum and says that it is the second foulest thing he has ever tasted. This implies that chum is inherently disgusting, and cannot be made to taste good, although this is shown to be false in the episodes "Greasy Buffoons" and "Chum Fricassee." In the former, Plankton uses excess grease from the Krusty Krab's grease trap that was dumped near the Chum Bucket, to make his sales skyrocket, a goal which he succeeded in. However, his business is lost when the health inspector comes to investigate both the Krusty Krab and the Chum Bucket due to the grease trend.
Plankton selling a chum stick.
It should be noted that in real life, chum is made of grounded-up fish parts that are inedible to humans, such as heads and guts, and is used as bait for sharks and similar creatures. This would mean that Plankton is killing fish, or at least collecting dead fish, and serving their remains to other fish, thus promoting cannibalism. This has only ever been touched upon in "The Krabby Kronicle," where SpongeBob prints a story claiming this. However, SpongeBob was being tricked by Mr. Krabs into printing absurd lies to appeal to customers, so this story was supposedly false. As mentioned in the episode "Spongicus," Plankton uses many odd things to spice up his chum.
Plankton and Karen have no regular employees other than themselves, and are usually alone in the Chum Bucket. They spend most of their time in the Chum Bucket laboratory, due to having no customers. Plankton runs the restaurant only when he has potential customers, but is shown to be a failure fast-food owner. Also, when he does have customers, he uses artificially intelligent machines to cover the other positions.
Plankton trying to analyze a Krabby Patty.
Plankton is also highly intelligent and is one of, if not, the smartest citizen in Bikini Bottom, with his intellect being on par with only Sandy. Unfortunately, he often shows himself to be short-sighted and impulsive, and often lacking common sense. This is shown when all his plans of obtaining the Krabby Patty formula often fail, usually due to oversights, and he doesn't think beforehand of what might go wrong. He also seems unaware the biggest barrier to his success is his insistence on serving food nobody wants to eat, rather than serving something appetizing.
Despite being a villain, Plankton is shown to have a soft side, as he seems to care deeply about his wife Karen, his pet Spot and his son Chip. In "Plankton's Pet," Plankton adopts an amoeba which he named "Spot" and takes the time to train it, take care of it, etc. and was genuinely sad when it ran away, only to be reunited with it later thanks to SpongeBob.
Plankton ruling Planktopolis.
Plankton has an expansive history of deception and committing misdemeanors, all while attempting to obtain the Krabby Patty recipe and do away with Mr. Krabs' business as a part of his plan. He has been arrested five times: in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, "Krabby Road," "Sweet and Sour Squid," "Fiasco!," and "Call the Cops." Plankton's personality traits and actions that came from those include, but are not limited to:
- Deception: Plankton has engaged in many unusual acts of kindness in the name of personal gain not really caring, just caring to steal the formula as he sometimes likes to deceive characters in order to do so:
- In "F.U.N.," Plankton pretends to be in a friendship with SpongeBob to obtain the formula from him.
- In "Walking Small," Plankton deceives SpongeBob in believing that berating the beach attendants is done with kindness so he can make an unauthorized development to the property.
- In The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, Plankton acts disloyally to the king of Bikini Bottom by stealing his crown and eventually enslaving him with a mind-control helmet. Additionally, he betrays the town of Bikini Bottom by renaming it to suit himself and making the city revolve purely around him.
- In "Krabs vs. Plankton," Plankton fakes his injuries in an attempt to sue Krabs.
- In "New Leaf," Plankton claims he's changed his ways and showcases that by turning the Chum Bucket into a gift shop, but this was just a way of deceiving Mr. Krabs.
- In "Krabby Road," Plankton forms a band with SpongeBob, Patrick, and Squidward with the intent to obtain the secret formula.
- Plankton has used many people's identities to steal the formula, namely, Krabs in "Imitation Krabs," Sandy in "Someone's in the Kitchen with Sandy," SpongeBob's great grandmother in "Gramma's Secret Recipe," and Gary in "Shellback Shenanigans."
The Chum Bucket getting shut down.
- As a means of deception, Plankton has posed under many job titles without having the license required or official permission to hold such occupations; he impersonates a therapist in "Fear of a Krabby Patty," a salesman in "Shellback Shenanigans," and a Girl Scout in "Pineapple Invasion."
- Plankton has disguised himself under many fake identities to deceive others and obtain the formula; he uses the identity "robot game show host" in "Imitation Krabs" and "Cashina" in "Married to Money."
- Taking advantage of others: When Plankton enslaves Bikini Bottom in the first movie, he forces Gary to pull a several-ton block of stone. In "Walking Small" Plankton uses SpongeBob for unauthorized land development and manipulates him into following his orders, deceiving him in believing that they are acts of kindness.
- The need for power: As well as wanting the Krabby Patty secret formula, Plankton had a personality based on wanting power over others.
- In the video game Battle for Bikini Bottom, Plankton creates a spade of robots to vandalize and threaten Bikini Bottom to increase his possibility of stealing the formula.
- In The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, Plankton brainwashes the citizens into worshiping him; once SpongeBob frees all the citizens from the bucket helmets, the police discover his motive and deal with him.
- In "Chum Caverns," Plankton enslaves a group of cave dwellers.
- In "Jailbreak!" his chum is used by criminals as knockout gas and disguises, both for robbery.
- In The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, to prevent SpongeBob and Patrick from making it to Shell City, Plankton hires an agent by the name of Dennis to deal with the duo. Dennis is eventually hit by a boat.
- In "Spongicus," Plankton arranges for Patrick to be eaten by a group of lions for the entertainment of others.
- Getting what he wants no matter what: Plankton breaks into SpongeBob's house in "Plankton!" to enter his brain. He also invades Patrick's house in "Salsa Imbecilicus" to get a copy of his DNA.
- Plankton escapes from jail in the episodes "Krabby Road" and "Jailbreak!"
- In The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, he finally gets a hold on the Krabby Patty formula.
- He also steals Sandy's fur pelt in "Someone's in the Kitchen with Sandy" and—albeit unintentionally—a piece of famous art in "Fiasco!," the latter instance of which lands him in jail with Squidward.
- Cutting corners: Plankton has poisoned his customers with his chum in numerous episodes, such as in "Plankton's Regular," "Spongicus," and "For Here or to Go."
- In "Friend or Foe" he and Mr. Krabs poison Old Man Jenkins with their Plab Patty.
Voice[]
From left to right: the voices of Karen (Jill Talley) and Plankton (Mr. Lawrence) with the actors who play their characters in The SpongeBob Musical (Stephanie Hsu as Karen and Wesley Taylor as Plankton).
Plankton is voiced by one of the show's staff writers, Doug Lawrence, who is always credited as "Mr. Lawrence." He also voices other characters on the show; most notably, since season 10, he has been the replacement voice of Potty the Parrot. Lawrence improvises some of his dialog with his co-star Jill Talley, who plays Karen Plankton. He called the improv with Talley one of his "favorite part[s] of the voice over" in 2009.[9] Lawrence also said in 2012: "I always enjoy the back-and-forth. [Talley and I] start to overlap so much talking to each other that [the voice directors] have to tell us, 'hey, stop doing that, separate what you're saying!'"[10]
When the "Plankton!" episode was pitched to Nickelodeon, the series' creator Stephen Hillenburg had already decided that he wanted Lawrence to play Plankton. However, network executives wanted a guest star to provide his voice since Plankton was only set to appear in only one episode. Lawrence mentioned in a podcast interview that the studio said, in his words, "' We could stunt-cast this. You know, we could have Bruce Willis do this voice.' And Steve [Hillenburg] was just like, 'it's Doug, don't you hear it? This is the character!'"[10]
Biography[]
As shown in "Plankton's Army" and "Blood is Thicker Than Grease," Sheldon J. Plankton was born into a very large family of hillbillies who lived on the countryside. Plankton's parents were Ma and Gordon Plankton, and he is the grandson of Granny Plankton and Grand Dad Plankton. Growing up, Plankton always felt like an outcast, since his hillbilly relatives were much less intelligent than him.[11] As a young child, Plankton decided to build himself a friend who matched his intellect: a talking calculator, which became Karen Plankton.
"Friend or Foe" reveals that Plankton and Mr. Krabs were born on the same day. This would place Plankton's birthday on either November 30, 1942 or September 25, 1960, since Mr. Krabs has been given two conflicting birthdates throughout the series. However, Stephen Hillenburg originally planned for Plankton's birthday to be on August 21, 1961, like his own birthday.[12]
During his school years, Plankton was already very intelligent, which earned him the image of a nerd. Along with Mr. Krabs, he was unpopular and bullied by other kids, most notably a school group led by Billy. When Plankton and Krabs discovered that money could bring them out of their poverty, they decided to make money selling hamburger patties and set up a mini-restaurant at the local dump. Plankton installed Karen as a security system at the dump.
Plankton vowing to get revenge on Krabs for the first time.
At first, their burgers were not successful; the first of their patties were tried by Old Man Jenkins, who was knocked out by the contaminated burger. Plankton started complaining about how Jenkins had been old and not able to handle the patty. Offended by this, Krabs tried to take the recipe from Plankton to improve upon. Plankton wanted to do this himself and both he and Krabs argued, but he only ended up with the corner of the recipe, which read: "Add a pinch of chum."
Plankton stormed out of the restaurant and went to create his recipe, using only his memory, the corner of the recipe, and science. At school, Plankton tried to sell his Chum Burgers in a mini-sized chum bucket and failed, while Krabs succeeded with his Krabby Patties, which he had created by accident when Plankton had forcefully slammed the door. Ingredients fell in the patty batter, thus creating the patty.
As young adults, Plankton and Karen got a job working as chefs at a summer camp called Kamp Koral for their college fund. Plankton sold food at the Krusty Kanteen, while Karen helped him make inventions in a secret laboratory underground. At Kamp Koral, Plankton also tasted a Krabby Patty for the first time, which showed him how delicious they are. This gave him the idea to steal the formula.
Plankton later attended college with Karen. He is very proud of his college education, and often announces "I went to college!" to other characters. The major on Plankton's degree is Tank Driving, and he is seen driving a tank in "Teacher's Pests" as well.[13]
Plankton later named his restaurant the Chum Bucket, after the secret ingredient of the original unsuccessful patty recipe. Mr. Krabs named his restaurant the Krusty Krab, after himself
When Plankton and Karen became older adults, they married.}}Komputer Overload}} A photograph of them at their wedding can be seen in "Komputer Overload." At the time, Plankton had hair and a mustache, and Karen was wearing a white bridal dress. In "Girls' Night Out," Karen says that she and Plankton have been married for 26 years. Plankton is ashamed of his first name, Sheldon, and gets embarrassed when Karen calls him Sheldon in "Plankton's Army." However, she calls him Sheldon in many later episodes and he does not seem to mind. It is revealed in "Walking the Plankton" that Plankton and Karen have never had a honeymoon, but Karen would love to have a honeymoon someday.
After seeing the success of Mr. Krabs' restaurant, Plankton became obsessed with obtaining the Krabby Patty formula and running the Krusty Krab out of business. He often goes to incredible and quite ridiculous lengths to do so. In "SpongeBob's Last Stand," for example, he builds a massive highway that goes straight through Jellyfish Fields and over the Krusty Krab, leading right to his restaurant.
In "Dunces and Dragons," two ancestors of the Plankton family are shown: Planktonamor, an evil overlord with magical powers, and Karen the Crystal Ball, a green crystal ball similar to the modern-day Karen. Planktonamor was eventually vanquished by a Krabby Patty. Plankton's other ancestor, Dead Eye Plankton, who appears in the episode "Pest of the West," terrorized Dead Eye Gulch. SpongeBob's ancestor, SpongeBuck SquarePants, defeated him.
Even in the present day of the series, Eugene and Plankton are occasionally shown to get along somewhat, such as in "New Leaf" and "Best Frenemies," though these moments of mutuality tend not to last very long.
Plankton steals the formula from a frozen Mr. Krabs.
In The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, Plankton bemoans how none of the evil plans in his filing cabinet have worked. Karen reminds him of their last resort, "Plan Z," which involves stealing King Neptune's crown and framing Mr. Krabs for the theft. Plankton enacts the plan, and Neptune cryogenically freezes Mr. Krabs, allowing Plankton to finally steal the Krabby Patty secret formula. Plankton pushes a button on Karen, and she activates mind-controlling bucket helmets on the Bikini Bottomites, allowing Plankton to turn the city into a dystopia called named Planktopolis. However, Plankton is eventually stopped by SpongeBob and Patrick, who destroyed the mind-controlling helmets, freed the Bikini Bottomites, and returned Neptune's crown to its rightful owner. Plankton was left crippled from being stepped on by the townsfolk, who incarcerated him in the Institution for the Criminally Tiny.
Family[]
Karen's wall form.
Plankton is married to Karen, a waterproof supercomputer. Plankton built Karen himself out of a calculator and a mass of wires. She was originally a simple security system, as revealed in "Friend or Foe," but has become more advanced as Plankton upgrades her and his other inventions with new technology. Karen lives in the Chum Bucket laboratory and is the source of his evil plans to steal the Krabby Patty formula.
In season 12, Plankton and Karen finally have a child: a son named Chip II Plankton. Plankton initially wants nothing to do with Chip, but he changes his mind after Chip saves him. Chip later grows up to serve as an ATM at the bank. His grandmother Granny Plankton appears in the episode "Gramma's Secret Recipe" and "Grandmum's the Word." Through an experiment, Plankton is also a DNA donor of the combined clone PlanKrab. Being a microscopic organism, Plankton's biological family numbers are in the thousands. In "Plankton's Army," he recruits his entire family to help him steal the formula, thinking them all to be criminal masterminds like himself. However, much to his surprise, his family consists entirely of uneducated, red-necked hillbillies. These relatives include, but are not limited to: Clem, Zeke, Rufus, Jeke, Billy Bob, Billy Jim, Billy Billy Bo Billy Banana Fana Fo Filly, Doug Plankton, Enis, and Rainchild, who are the only ones named.
Plankton has two known ancestors. One is the evil wizard Planktonamor, who lived during the medieval times and appears in the episode "Dunces and Dragons." Another is Dead Eye Plankton, a wealthy citizen who attempted a hostile takeover of Dead Eye Gulch, but was defeated by Sheriff SpongeBuck SquarePants. Dead Eye Plankton lived during the Wild-West era and appears in the episode "Pest of the West."
Relationships[]
Eugene H. Krabs[]
Plankton and Eugene have a long history of a feud over the Krusty Krab. When they were kids they were friends until they had problems over who invented the secret formula as shown in the episode "Friend or Foe." Plankton often makes schemes to steal them but always ends up losing. Though they are enemies, Plankton and Mr. Krabs work together occasionally, most noticeably in "Best Frenemies," "The Other Patty," and "The Krusty Bucket." This proves that they most likely have an on and off rivalry.
Karen Plankton[]
Plankton's photo of Karen.
Karen and Plankton are a married couple. "Friend or Foe" reveals that they started dating while Plankton was still in school. As stated in "Girls' Night Out," they have been married for 26 years. Because they have been married so long, they are prone to bickering and starting fights. Karen is the usual source of Plankton's evil plans to steal the formula, but he often takes credit for her ideas.
SpongeBob SquarePants[]
Plankton and SpongeBob have a confusing relationship. They generally dislike each other, but in the second movie, they have a friendly relationship outside of the business. This is likely due to Plankton trying to steal the formula and SpongeBob for being annoying.
Squidward Tentacles[]
Plankton and Squidward barely interact because Squidward doesn't care about the secret formula. When they do interact they don't like each other, though they have worked together on a few occasions, most notably in "Chum Fricassee" and "Sweet and Sour Squid."
Patrick Star[]
Plankton and Patrick have interacted a few times, but Plankton often dislikes Patrick due to his stupidity. In the episode "Chum Bucket Supreme" however, Patrick gives Plankton a slogan that makes his place boom in popularity, so he treats Patrick well in that episode.
Sandy Cheeks[]
Plankton and Sandy are somewhat frenemies. He stole her fur pelt in the episode "Someone's in the Kitchen with Sandy." They team up in "Perfect Chemistry" and play chess in "Mimic Madness." However, Sandy is aware of him stealing the formula.
Pearl Krabs[]
Plankton was initially afraid of Pearl as he has cetaphobia (the fear of whales). This is shown in the episode "One Coarse Meal." In "Plankton's Intern," Pearl reassures Plankton that she does not eat him, allowing Plankton to accept her job at the Chum Bucket and no longer becomes afraid of her. However, Plankton demeans her by making her do manual labors and insulting her. In The Algae's Always Greener", Plankton (as Pearl's father in the alternate world) only gave him one dollar as her allowance and gets irritated by her complaints.
Gary the Snail[]
Plankton and Gary have a strong dislike for each other. Plankton pretends to be him in "Shellback Shenanigans" and at the end of The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water. Plankton also kidnaps Gary in Operation Krabby Patty and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run. In "Pineapple Invasion," Plankton and Gary fight because Plankton tries to steal the formula. Gary can always see through his disguises.
Mrs. Puff[]
In Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years, Mrs. Puff and Plankton are generally shown to get along. In "Help Not Wanted," they are not bothered by Cecil taking over their jobs and relax on lawn chairs together, and in "In a Nut's Shell," they both want revenge on Krabs for avoiding Prank Day. In "Game Night," it is shown that they, along with Mr. Krabs, regularly play board games together. At the end of the comic Accept No Substitutes!, it is shown that Plankton worked as a substitute teacher at Mrs. Puff's Boating School.
Abilities and talents[]
Inventions[]
Plankton is highly intelligent and has invented numerous things throughout the series:
- Karen Plankton: Plankton built Karen himself from a calculator and a mass of wires. She is a waterproof supercomputer with many talents, like analyzing anything.}}Plankton!}} She can also create holographic food.}}The Algae's Always Greener}} She was Mr. Krabs' and Plankton's security system when they were co-running their first restaurant.
- Hypno-Pod : Hypnotizes jellyfish to be slaves; seen in the online game Plankton's Pernicious Plot.
- Time machine: A time machine Plankton and SpongeBob built together; seen in The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water.
- Mind control bucket helmets: Controls the mind of fish and turns them into Plankton's slaves; seen in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.
- High-Powered Mechanical Bio Arm: Opens anything - revealed but malfunctioned in "Best Frenemies."
- Enlargetron: Makes things bigger, seen in Creature from the Krusty Krab. Although, it was a dream, so this invention probably doesn't exist.
- Robot Krabs: Robot version of Mr. Krabs; seen in "Imitation Krabs," Operation Krabby Patty, "New Leaf," and "Spy Buddies."
- The Transmogrifier. Seen in "The Algae's Always Greener," where Plankton can switch lives with Mr. Krabs.
- A brain-control device, as seen in "Plankton!," where Plankton can control SpongeBob's brain.
- New computer inventions, seen in "Komputer Overload."
- The Dispictulator: A freeze ray Plankton uses in Creature from the Krusty Krab.
- Brain-Powered Sponge Robot: A robot modeled after SpongeBob that runs on brains.
- Pat-Bot 3000: Built with a paddleball, pogo stick, razor blade, and metal claws; seen in SpongeBob SquarePants 4-D: Ride.
- Duplicatotron: A machine that creates seemingly endless amounts of robot soldiers. Seen in Battle for Bikini Bottom.
- Karen 2: Capable of hacking into the Chum Bucket's system.
- Brain Sucker: Capable of getting info from his target/foe.
- Death robot: A robot that has super strength and a built-in mallet. It is destroyed by Mr. Krabs after it attempted to destroy his cash register.
- Majestic Sizzlemaster: A spatula that can fly and talk. Plankton used this in attempts to get the secret formula out of SpongeBob by earning his trust.
- Mechanical clam digger: A multi-form device used to release and control a super goo bubble in "It Came from Goo Lagoon."
- Color nullifier: A mobile machine that can zap an object and takes out its color in "Plankton's Color Nullifier."
- Many more throughout the series.
- The ghost extracting machine, used to turn himself into a ghost to get the formula.
- Petunia, a full-body suit that he operates to gain the trust of the Bikini Bottomites under the guise of a florist new to town.
Schemes[]
Heroic actions[]
- In The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, he teams up with SpongeBob to save Bikini Bottom, and rescue Karen from being imprisoned by savage people. He also gives the Krabby Patty formula back to Mr. Krabs after Burger Beard steals it with a magic book, and then he helps defeat Burger Beard. He transforms himself into one of the superheroes in the film known as Plank-Ton.
- In a short called "Can't Swim," Plankton saves Mr. Krabs from drowning.
- In "Plankton's Good Eye," he attempts to save Bubble Bass from a burning building, although Bubble Bass manages to escape by himself. He also returns the Krabby Patty formula to Mr. Krabs like a nice person.
- In "Karen's Virus," he helps SpongeBob to save Karen by removing a virus from her, and tells SpongeBob that he really needs to save Karen.
- In "Plankton's Pet," when Plankton loses his pet named Spot, he teams up with SpongeBob to find him and prevent him from being lost again.
- In "Karen 2.0," Plankton saves Karen by replacing her old battery and replace it by taking the battery from Karen 2.
- In "The Krusty Bucket," Plankton and Mr. Krabs joined forces to try and stop PlanKrab after he merged the Krusty Krab and the Chum Bucket into one restaurant.
- In "Single Cell Anniversary," he teams with SpongeBob to find Karen a good anniversary gift. Though, it was partly a trick to get the formula.
- In The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, after regretting sending SpongeBob away, which was part of his latest scheme to steal the secret formula, he teams up with Mr. Krabs, Sandy and Squidward to save SpongeBob and Patrick from King Poseidon in the Lost City of Atlantic City.
- In "Something Narwhal This Way Comes," he helps SpongeBob, Narlene, and Nobby scare the Nearwhals away from Bikini Bottom with his family.
- In "Say Awww!," when SpongeBob was unable to yank Q.T.-π's evacuation uvula from the top of the pyramid that the Bikini Bottomites form, Plankton lifts the entire pyramid up slightly closer to the uvula so that SpongeBob could yank it and set everyone free.
- In "Parasite Pals," Plankton goes into SpongeBob's body to catch Paris.
Weaknesses[]
Fears[]
In the episode "One Coarse Meal," it is revealed that Plankton is afraid of whales, enough to go insane and attempt to commit suicide. The reason is that a pod of whales once ate his ancestors. He also fears his plans failing many times.
Appearances in other media[]
Video games[]
Plankton appears in most SpongeBob-related video games, usually as a major antagonist.
- In Legend of the Lost Spatula, he is an NPC who just stands by the Chum Bucket.
- In SuperSponge, Plankton has a brief cameo, in which he yells at SpongeBob for stealing his time machine: "Blast you, SpongeBrat! You have found my secret time machine! Whatever you do, make sure you fill it up before you bring it back!"
- In Battle for Bikini Bottom and Battle for Bikini Bottom: Rehydrated, Plankton devises a plan to take over Bikini Bottom and obtain the Krabby Patty formula by creating a robot machine called the Duplicatotron. However, the robots do not obey him and began mindlessly rampaging across Bikini Bottom because he forgot to set the switch from "Do Not Obey" to "Obey." Plankton convinces SpongeBob and friends to defeat the robots so that he can have enough time to fix the main Duplicatotron to take over the city by controlling the robot army.
- In The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie Game, Plankton is the main antagonist, reprising his role from the movie. Even though he is the main antagonist, he is not a boss.
- In Lights, Camera, Pants!, Plankton appears as a playable character. In the game, he uses a robotic suit to act in the auditions. Also, the "Captive" role, as well as the auditions for it, take place in the Chum Bucket.
- In Nicktoons Unite!, Plankton is one of the four main villains of the game. He uses a crab mech to fight the heroes.
- In Creature from the Krusty Krab, Plankton is one of three playable characters, as well as the final boss of the game. He enlarges a Krabby Patty to massive size, only to have it come to life and began chasing him. Eventually, Plankton enlarges himself to gigantic size and began rampaging across the city in pursuit of the giant patty. He is eventually defeated and reverted to his original size by Patrick, who was playing as his alter-ego Starfishman.
- In SpongeBob SquarePants featuring Nicktoons: Globs of Doom, Plankton and four other villains team up with the heroes to defeat Globulous.
- In Nicktoons Racing, Plankton appears as an unlockable character.
- In The Yellow Avenger, the player does helpful chores for Plankton, who is a minor character.
- In SpongeBob's Boating Bash, Plankton is a playable character from the start of the game.
- In SpongeBob SquigglePants, Plankton makes cameos in various nanogames.
- In Plankton's Robotic Revenge, he is the main antagonist.
- In SpongeBob HeroPants, Plankton is a playable character from the start of the game.
- In Nickverse, Plankton appears as a playable character that can be brought from the playable characters shop for 1,000 coins.
- In The Cosmic Shake, he is an NPC who stands in the Chum Bucket. He has a side quest called "Spot's Hiding Spots," in which the player must find his pet Spot in every world.
- In Nickelodeon Kart Racers 2: Grand Prix and Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway, Plankton appears as a chief member.
- In SpongeBob Simulator, he is a playable character. He also appears on the Buddy-O-Matic and guards entrances to new areas with his robot and his other guardians such as Jellyfish Fields.
- In Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2, he is a playable character.
- In The Patrick Star Game, he appears outside the Chum Bucket, The Dump, and at the Fast Food Coliseum.
- In SpongeBob Tower Defense, he appears as a boss inside the Krusty Krab level.
This list is incomplete, but you can help Encyclopedia SpongeBobia by expanding it.
Alternate versions[]
Mr. Plankton Universe[]
An alternate Plankton exists in a world where Plankton was successful. Like Mr. Krabs, he has a daughter named Pearl.
Trivia[]
General[]
- According to "Bottle Burglars," Plankton has a dimple on his chin.
- Though he does not have a visible nose, he is capable of smelling.
- In "It Came from Goo Lagoon," Plankton is called a "creepy bacteria" by Sandy.
- Although absent from the final product, Plankton appears in a deleted scene from "Sandy's Rocket," where he is captured by SpongeBob and Patrick when trying to sneak into the Krusty Krab. In a chapter book adaptation of the episode, which was based on the original script, this scene is used.
- There is a running gag in many episodes he appears in where he is squished by someone.
- Another running gag is him being projected through the air back to the Chum Bucket, typically by Mr. Krabs, often screaming a sentence (normally "I went to college!") or a prolonged word meanwhile.
- It is revealed in "Single Cell Anniversary" that Plankton is not green; his outfit is. Karen removes the green and the viewer sees an underwear-clad pink Plankton embarrassed by his nakedness. He also has a rack with identical green suits.
- Plankton and Mr. Krabs were born exactly on the same date, as revealed in "Friend or Foe."
- The United Plankton Pictures logo features a planktonic organism that looks very similar to Plankton, only with different feet.
- He is called "Shelly," short for Sheldon by Mr. Krabs in "SpongeBob's Last Stand."
- Plankton is college-educated, which has become a running gag throughout the series, as he would usually shout "I went to college!"
- The Nick Mag Presents Winter 2004 comic Plankton: The College Years and Plankton: The Movie respectively show that he went to Bikini Bottom University and BSU. Plankton, The Art of Evil, The Best Day Ever song "You Will Obey!," SpongeBob's Atlantis SquarePantis SpongeBob's Director's Commentary, and SpongeBob SquarePants Character Guide Refresh indicate that he is a college graduate.
- In "Salsa Imbecilicus," he reattends Bikini Bottom University but drops out.
- The Nick Mag Presents Winter 2004 comic Plankton: The College Years and Plankton: The Movie respectively show that he went to Bikini Bottom University and BSU. Plankton, The Art of Evil, The Best Day Ever song "You Will Obey!," SpongeBob's Atlantis SquarePantis SpongeBob's Director's Commentary, and SpongeBob SquarePants Character Guide Refresh indicate that he is a college graduate.
- In the Japanese dub, he has a female voice actress, similar to Patrick from Seasons 1-9. His Japanese voice is very squeaky, similar to small animal mascot creatures in anime. The exception to this is The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, where he has a male voice actor and sounds more similar to his English voice.
- Plankton is afraid of whales in "One Coarse Meal" and "The Ghost of Plankton," but not in "The Algae's Always Greener," "Jailbreak!," or "Married to Money."
- Out of his whole family, he is the smartest, as the rest of his family is shown to be clueless and unintelligent.
- Plankton's family is made up of hillbillies, and he appears to have forgotten their stereotype after all these years, as in their episode, he believes they are "criminal masterminds" but when he sees them, he is shocked and says "I've been away from home longer than I thought."
- As of "Truth or Square," Plankton has made 1,003 failed attempts to steal the formula.
- At two inches tall, Plankton is gigantic for his kind. The creators did this to make viewers see him on the screen.
- Plankton actually should be half the size of SpongeBob, as the latter is four inches tall.
- In "Plankton!," he has a lab, which is just a real Labrador.
- In "Single Cell Anniversary" and "The Main Drain," when SpongeBob holds Plankton in his hand, he is bigger or SpongeBob's hand is smaller, unlike in "Plankton!"
- In "The Main Drain," Plankton is unusually bigger than he is in other episodes. This also happens in "Sweet and Sour Squid."
- He and Mr. Krabs are the only members in their families to ever make friends with each other; their predecessors are enemies.
- In several episodes from late-season 4 to early season 5, the inside of his mouth is purple. It was corrected back to red in later episodes.
- Season 2 is the season with the least amount of appearances by Plankton, with only five appearances.
- Plankton has inventions for equipment in contrast to Mr. Krabs' spy technology.
- As seen in "Evil Spatula," Plankton is revealed to have a room full of spatulas in the Chum Bucket.
- In "Plankton's Special Sinister Commentary" Plankton reveals that Squidward freaks him out.
- The episode "Plankton's Army" reveals that Plankton's full name is Sheldon Plankton.
- In the episode "Sweet and Sour Squid" Plankton is revealed to have ears.
- Plankton finds Mr. Krabs' life to be worse than his life when he experiences it in "The Algae's Always Greener" and "Spy Buddies." In the former episode, he found numerous reasons that make Mr. Krabs' life difficult:
- SpongeBob is always asking him for a Weekly Performance Review on Tuesday and throws a minor temper tantrum if Plankton refuses. He also suffers nervous breakdowns when finding guilty of minor errors, such as using too much sauce on a Krabby Patty or giving a customer a large drink when a medium-sized one was ordered.
- Squidward complains to Plankton that he does not want to work with SpongeBob. Later, when Plankton puts him in charge of fry cooking, a customer gets angry because the Krabby Patty that Squidward cooked is unappetizing.
- Pearl, his virtual reality daughter, throws a big temper tantrum because she doesn't get more than $1.
- Mr. Krabs tries to steal the Krabby Patty formula while naked, with an annoying persistence that finally convinces Plankton that Mr. Krabs' life is intolerable.
- In all but one of Plankton's appearances in season 5, he plays a major role, the exception being "Stanley S. SquarePants."
- He learns about teamwork in The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water.
- The analysis of what is inside Plankton changes. Karen's screen in "Plankton!" shows he is 1% evil and 99% hot gas. In "Plankton Gets the Boot," he is 30% mean guy, 20% spiteful monster, and 50% evil butt-head, totaling to 100% big jerk.
- Plankton's phone number is 1-800-328-2486 or 1-800-EAT-CHUM according to the episode "Gary's New Toy."
- Plankton once had an official SpongeBob Twitter account, at @SheldonPlankton, but it was suspended. It can still be seen at an archive.
- Plankton dislikes the taste of pineapple.[14]
- So far, "Banned in Bikini Bottom" and "Free Samples" are the only episodes where SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs are unaware of Plankton's plans, nor do they ever see him.
- Plankton's horoscope is a Leo, like Patrick.[15]
- His birthday is four days after Patrick's.
- He is featured in the Just Dance map SpongeBob's Birthday.
Errors[]
- Plankton's sizes drastically vary in the episodes: in some episodes, he is the size of a jelly bean (e.g. "F.U.N."); in others, he is the size of a Krabby Patty (e.g. "For Here or to Go)," in others, it is difficult to see him without a magnifying glass (e.g. "Plankton!"), and in "Patrick SmartPants," he could only be seen with a microscope.
- Sometimes, his size even changes within an episode. The only consistency is his being small enough to fit in the palm of one's hand.
International names and voice actors[]
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Hebrew | שלדון פלנקטון voice צביקה שוורצברג Shaldon Plankton voice Zvika Shwartzberg |
- |
| Spanish | Sheldon J. Plankton voice Ángel Mujica [Latin American] | - |
| Thai | เชลดอน แพลงค์ตัน voice ธนศักดิ์ อุ่นอ่อน | - |
External links[]
References[]
- ^ "Plankton: The Movie"
- ^ "When the Going Gets Tough" rap verse
- ^ "Welcome to the Chum Bucket." SpongeBob SquarePants. Nickelodeon. January 21, 2002. Television.
- ^ "Plankton's Army." SpongeBob SquarePants. Nickelodeon. January 19, 2004. Television.
- ^ "Plankton!." SpongeBob SquarePants. Nickelodeon. July 31, 1999. Television.
- ^ SpongeBob SquarePants Character Guide
- ^ Vincent Waller on Twitter - "Steve has always made very clear..."
- ^ Meet the voice behind a 'SpongeBob' character - Newspapers.com
- ^ SpongeBob Backstage Blog
- ^ a b Big Pop Fun - Mr. Lawrence
- ^ Interview with Jill Talley and Mr. Lawrence
- ^ SpongeBob Bible 1997 - Scribd
- ^ SpongeBob's Director's Commentary of "Tanklantis Plankpantis!" in SpongeBob's Atlantis SquarePantis
- ^ Pineapple Invasion
- ^ SpongeBob SquarePants Annual 2014
| Main characters | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| Chum Bucket (V • E) | |
|---|---|
| Residents: | Sheldon J. Plankton • Karen Plankton • Spot |
| Former employees: | Patrick Star • SpongeBob SquarePants • Squidward Tentacles • Stanley S. SquarePants |
| Variations: | Chum Caverns • Chum Caverns Gift Shop • Chum Coliseum • Chumporium • Cookie Bucket • Crumb Basket • Grease Bucket • FlowerPot Florist • Krusty Bucket • Spud Bucket |
| Machines: | Baby gas • Cashina • Chumbot • Ghost extracting machine • Karen 2 • Majestic Sizzlemaster • Petunia • Plankton's robot • Robot Krabs • Robot SpongeBob • Simmy • SpongeBot SteelPants • Tally • Transmogrifier |
| Food: | Chum • Chumbalaya • Chum Bucket Supreme • Chum Burger • Chum Fricassee • Chum nuggets • Chum Patties • Chumstick • Crispity Crunchities • Free Sample Krabby Patty • Raw Sewage |
| Other: | Chum detonator • Cave dwellers • Chum Bucket bucket helmet • Chum Bucket glove • Sea ants |