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Encyclopedia SpongeBobia

"Walking Small" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season 1. In this episode, Plankton tricks SpongeBob into becoming assertive.

Characters[]

Synopsis[]

The episode begins at Goo Lagoon, where Plankton arrives in his bulldozer to turn the beach into the future site of the "Chum Bucket Mega Bucket," and demands everyone to leave. However, due to his tiny size and small voice nobody pays attention to him. He concludes that he needs someone bigger to assist him, and encounters SpongeBob. Plankton decides to trick SpongeBob into being "assertive" in order to get what he wants.

Walking Small 094

SpongeBob tries to buy ice cream, but gets cut off once and then has his ice cream stolen before the vendor runs out. However, he finds Plankton "complaining" about having an extra ice cream cone he did not want. SpongeBob offers to take the extra one, and as he eats it, Plankton offers to teach SpongeBob how to be "assertive." He tries to get SpongeBob to take his ice cream back from the person who stole it, but SpongeBob's kindly nature prevents him from being able to take it. Plankton, unhappy with SpongeBob's performance, climbs into SpongeBob's mouth and uses his words to forcefully take the ice cream. Afterward, the guy who stole SpongeBob's ice cream runs off crying. When SpongeBob points this out, Plankton lies and says those were the "tears of joy," saying that the guy was happy that SpongeBob was "assertive."

Next, Plankton attempts to have SpongeBob forcefully take back his metal detector that he lent to another beach-goer, yet SpongeBob misinterprets Plankton's instructions and the person he lent the detector to is led to buried treasure by SpongeBob.

Walking Small 162

"You used me... for land development!"

By this point, Plankton decides to give up, but SpongeBob promises to prove to him his ability to be assertive. Therefore, Plankton allows SpongeBob another chance. SpongeBob commits a series of both assertive and antagonistic acts to other beach-goers, including stealing the hot dogs of people waiting in line to buy them and cutting the strings of people's kites, and even worse, popping a volleyball that the beach-goers wanted to play with, resulting in everyone leaving the beach.

Plankton then reveals his true intentions to SpongeBob, making him very upset. SpongeBob defeats Plankton by becoming "aggressively nice," and he undoes the actions that led everyone to leave Goo Lagoon. Plankton sadly leaves the beach due to the crowd returning in response to the overwhelmingly generous acts of kindness that SpongeBob performed. Lastly, everyone plays volleyball using SpongeBob as their ball, as the episode ends.

Production[]

Art[]

Model sheets[]

Music[]

 ) Production music
 ) Original music
 ) SpongeBob music

  Chill Out - The Surfdusters [Title card]
  Gruesome - The Surfdusters [Plankton talking on megaphone/"Okay, have it your way. I don't mind bulldozing over each and every one..."]
  Static Time - John Scott ["You'll see! You'll all see!"/"I need someone big to clear the beach for me."]
  Grass Skirts Blowing (Hilo March) - The Hawaiian Serenaders [stepping on the beach]
  Hawaiian Breeze - Jon Jelmer [Plankton crying/Plankton continues crying]
  Gator - Steve Belfer ["Isn't it great to get the things you desire?"]
  The Nightmare Begins (A) - John Devereaux [Plankton laughs evilly]
  Seaweed 1 - Steve Belfer ["Um, excuse me, sir."]
  The Beast Within - Paddy Kingsland ["There's the guy who took your ice cream."]
  Zelle 506 - Gerhard Trede ["Hey, pencil neck!"]
  The Beast Within - Paddy Kingsland ["...when you're maniacal?!"]
  Hawaiian Link (A) - Richard Myhill [later...]
  Italian Summer - Hendric Haydegg [metal detector]
  Hawaiian Flower - Jon Jelmer ["Oh, nothing, SpongeBob."]
  Showtime Fill (i) - Gary Kettel [rimshot]
  Showtime Fill (j) - Gary Kettel [rimshot]
  Cravin' the Big Wave - Vince Caputo, Tom Hedden, David Robidoux [SpongeBob shakes sand off his towel]
  Brave and Bold - Chris Payne, Paul Rogers [hot dog stand]
  Arnold Is Back 1 - Gregor F. Narholz [kite flyers]
  Unpreventable - Gregor F. Narholz [SpongeBob pops the volleyball]
  Hawaiian Link (B) - Richard Myhill ["Plankton?"]
  House Of Horror [#10.5] - W. Merrick Farran ["Mega Bucket?!"]
  Fates [#62.02] - Gregor F. Narholz ["You used me... for land development!"]
  Missile Disaster - John Fox ["Only aggressive people conquer the world!"]
  Orchestral Effect (f) - Dick Stephen Walter ["What about aggressively nice people?"]
  Vergnügungspark - Gerhard Trede [SpongeBob being aggressively nice]
  Hawaiian Cocktail - Richard Myhill [Plankton crying]
  Surfing Crazy - Warren Bennett [ending]

Release[]

Trivia[]

General[]

  • This is the first episode for a few things:
    • Plankton's first major role without Karen or Mr. Krabs appearing.
    • The first episode where Plankton plays a major role, but does not directly attempt to steal the Krabby Patty secret formula. This does not happen again until "Atlantis SquarePantis" in season 5.
    • The first Goo Lagoon episode that Sandy does not appear in.
    • The first episode to use the production music tracks "Arnold Is Back," "Zelle," and "Hawaiian Flower."
      • It is also the only season 1 episode to use any of these tracks.
  • This is the second episode in which SpongeBob does not wear his normal clothes at any point. The first is "Ripped Pants."
  • This is the last episode to air during March Toon Mania.
  • This episode was originally titled "Walking Tall."[2][3] This original title was listed on the old Nickelodeon website.
  • "Walking small" literally means to walk a short distance.
  • The title card design is similar to that of "Ripped Pants," only that the title card is slightly zoomed in, there is a light, and the title card is green instead of yellow.
    • Fittingly enough, both episodes take place primarily at Goo Lagoon.
  • The part where SpongeBob sings "Steppin' on the Beach" has become a highly popular internet meme.
  • "My leg!": SpongeBob blows sand around with a towel.
  • The United Plankton Pictures, Inc. logo for this episode's credits has the sound of cows mooing due to being paired with "Texas."[4]
  • A production image from this episode appears on the opposite page of the introduction page in The SpongeBob SquarePants Experience: A Deep Dive into the World of Bikini Bottom.
Walking Small 106

SpongeBob's skin tone is orange in the remastered print of this episode.

Walking Small 127

SpongeBob's skin tone is brown in the old non-remastered print of this episode.

  • In the remastered print of this episode on digital and streaming releases, the scene where SpongeBob gets a tan is different; his skin tone is orange instead of brown.[5][6][7][8] The original brown colored SpongeBob remains intact on the SpongeGuard on Duty VHS tape release, DVD releases, and international non-US airings of this episode.
  • When the beachgoers return and trample over Plankton, he screams in pain but at one point he says, "ooh" in a pleasured tone.
  • In the Polish dub, the episode's title is "Niskie pobudki," which translates to "Base Motives."[citation needed]
  • In the Croatian dub, the episode title is "Malen sam" or "I'm small."[citation needed]
  • In the Arabic dub, the episode's title is "خطة شمشون" which translates to "Samson's Plan." "Samson" is the Arabic name for Plankton.[citation needed]
  • In the European Spanish dub, this episode is titled "Insignificante," which translates to "Insignificant."
  • During the SpongeBob vs. The Goo marathon, this episode was paired up with "No Weenies Allowed."[9]


Cultural references[]

  • The title is a parody of the 1973 film, Walking Tall.
  • SpongeBob's stand-up routine is patterned after Jerry Seinfeld's "What's the deal with...?"
  • When Plankton is seen packing his suitcase, one of the items his puts in it is a shirt that looks similar to the one Charlie Brown wears in the Peanuts comic strips, except the zig-zag on the shirt is red instead of black.

Errors[]

Walking Small 193

Scooter's pants are green.

  • After Scooter rides with SpongeBob, his pants are green. Later, when Plankton is seen moping away in public, his pants are purple.
Walking Small 196

His pants are now purple.

  • SpongeBob's tan permanently disappears after appearing for a single shot.
  • There are six fish lined up at the snack bar when first seen, and the vendor gives out six hot dogs. When SpongeBob extends his tongue, there are only four kids and four hot dogs. When the fish are seen leaving, there are five of them.
  • SpongeBob cleans the sand off a kid's ice cream, but when all the fish are surrounding Plankton as he is crying, the ice cream is dirty again.
  • When SpongeBob returns the hot dogs he took, four different fish come to eat them, despite more being seen earlier.
  • In the French dub, the bubble wipe after the opening credits goes to a blank transition for a full second before the episode starts.[citation needed]


References[]

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