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Recap / SpongeBob SquarePants S 3 E 17 "Krabby Land" / "The Camping Episode"

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Where a kid can have fun! For the right price.

Krabby Land

Original air date: 4/3/2004 (produced in 2002; first aired in Canada on 11/13/02)

Summertime has finally come, and Mr. Krabs takes advantage of the children of Bikini Bottom's freedom from school by creating a playground to attract paying customers, featuring an appearance by the one and only Krabby the Clown! But when Krabby the Clown is too busy counting money in his office, it's up to the Krabby Patty Burglarnote  to stall them long enough for Krabby to make an appearance.


"Krabby Land" contains examples of:

  • Big "NO!": Mr. Krabs lets out one when he sees the kids would rather go to a new park than to his restaurant, causing everyone to stare at him in confusion. This is also his last line in the episode, as he's being forced to eat a truckload of lima beans against his will.
  • Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick:
    SpongeBob: What is it about summertime that makes us so happy? The firefly-lit nights? The intoxicating aroma of a charcoal briquette? The hypnotic sound of a lawnmower running over a flip-flop?
  • Break the Cutie: SpongeBob is absolutely distraught after seeing "Cheapy the Cheapskate".
  • Brick Joke: As he is entertaining the children, SpongeBob gets tied up and force-fed lima beans. At the end, this becomes punishment for Mr. Krabs.
  • Card-Carrying Jerkass: Mr. Krabs tries to deny that he's doing anything wrong, but almost flat-out admits to seeing himself as superior to the children and their parents right before they beat him up.
    Mr. Krabs: The children? I don't care about the children. I just care about their parents' money. Ah, the fact that their feeble minds are easily manipulated by cheap playgrounds and talentless clowns is no skin off my nose. Survival of the fittest, SpongeBob! Survival of the fittest!
  • The Chew Toy: Poor SpongeBob goes through a lot of pain in this episode, just to entertain the children.
  • Comedic Sociopathy: SpongeBob discovers that his pain entertains the children and proceeds to make them laugh with all sorts of painful and humiliating stunts as a ploy to keep them occupied until Krabby the Clown arrives.
  • Comically Missing the Point: Mr. Krabs asks what happened to Spongebob's arms and legs; he replies that the kids are using them as boomerangs. Mr. Krabs is worried... as that will break his windows.
  • Cool and Unusual Punishment: SpongeBob getting tied up and being force-fed lima beans (which also happens to Mr. Krabs at the end).
  • Crappy Carnival: Mr. Krabs decides to open a playground to attract kids to his restaurant, but because he's cheap, he builds it out of random junk.
  • Everyone Has Standards: The two muscular thugs that SpongeBob hires to beat him up in order to keep the kids entertained look utterly bewildered by his increasingly ludicrous demands to be mauled.
  • Exact Words: At the end, Mr. Krabs pleads with the thugs to let him go because he wants "green stuff" (dollars). One of the thugs gives him lima beans, which are green.
    Mr. Krabs: No! Not that green stuff! (truck full of lima beans backs up toward him) NOOOOOOO!!!!!
  • Eye Scream: SpongeBob getting bubble liquid in his eyes. The bloodshot eyes once were bad enough, but the entire canister? Not a pretty sight...
  • Half the Man He Used to Be: Two muscular fish tear SpongeBob in half during the torture montage, but SpongeBob remains alive and conscious.
  • Hypocritical Humor:
    • When Mr. Krabs says he's not cheap, he takes off the tomato on his nose, wipes the blue paint off it, and tells SpongeBob to take it back to the kitchen before it spoils.
    • When SpongeBob complains he can't stall the kids much longer because of the abuse, Krabs mutters SpongeBob is always thinking only of himself. The entire series makes it clear why Krabs is the last person who should call someone self-centered.
  • Jaw Drop: A group one done by SpongeBob and the children as Mr. Krabs reenters his office after pretending to be Krabby the Clown for about ten seconds with no act whatsoever.
  • Just Like Robin Hood: The kids steal their money back from Mr. Krabs, and one of the kids pulls a page out of Robin Hood's book by standing on the Krusty Krab's roof, reaching into a moneybag, and throwing the money to the other kids.
  • Kafka Komedy: SpongeBob is forced to put himself through hell to entertain the children and stall them for a clown that would never come just so Mr. Krabs can count his ill-gotten money. And when poor SpongeBob comes into Krabs' office black and blue and without his limbs, the former tells him to stop being so self-centered.
  • Kids Are Cruel: And said children enjoy watching SpongeBob go through torment.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: Mr. Krabs is hunted down by the kids, gets tied to a pole and is tortured by having to eat lima beans against his will while also losing all of the money he got from the kids.
  • Manchild: SpongeBob is just as excited to see "Krabby the Clown" as the children.
  • Mean Boss: Mr. Krabs is at his worst here. And unlike later episodes, he gets what's coming to him in the end.
  • No OSHA Compliance: Krabby Land is hastily put together, with one kid actually getting hurt while trying to play on one of the "attractions".
  • No Sympathy: Mr. Krabs didn't show any to SpongeBob who had to put himself through various painful stunts just to entertain the children. To wit, Mr. Krabs was more concerned about the possibility of his windows getting broken after SpongeBob's limbs were torn off and used as boomerangs.
  • Pet the Dog: One of the kids respectfully calls SpongeBob "Mr. SquarePants" at the end of the episode and tells him and Squidward about the money shower, implying that the kids did appreciate SpongeBob's efforts to entertain them.
  • Punch-Clock Villain: Two thugs torture, maim, and humiliate SpongeBob, but only because SpongeBob is paying them to abuse him so he can keep the children entertained.
  • Right Behind Me: Just when he's leaving his office through the window, Mr. Krabs admits to SpongeBob that he doesn't care about the children and only wanted their parents' money... only to realize that the children were right behind him and had heard everything.
  • Shout-Out:
  • Stunned Silence: Mr. Krabs' talentless and really short act as Krabby the Clown is enough to reduce the kids, and even SpongeBob, to shocked, jaw-dropping silence.
  • Suck E. Cheese's: Krabby Land.
  • Take That!: Many view this episode as one towards McDonald's, which prominently used a clown named Ronald McDonald in its marketing at the time.
  • Unreliable Voiceover: Krabs sees a hefty kid taking a bite out of a lollipop and complains about children being weak and malnourished.

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♪ C-A-M-P-F-I-R-E S-O-N-G Song! ♪

The Camping Episode

Original air date: 4/3/2004 (produced in 2002; first aired in Canada on 11/13/02)

Squidward is planning a weekend celebration due to SpongeBob and Patrick leaving for a camping trip. But what's this? The two have set up a tent ten yards away from SpongeBob's house. Through a strange and unintentional method of reverse psychology, SpongeBob convinces Squidward to stay and camp with them overnight. But the three will soon discover that after dark, terrible creatures come out, and the only method of protection is an expertly drawn anti-sea bear circle in the dirt!


"The Camping Episode" contains examples of:

  • Always a Bigger Fish: What's worse than a sea bear? A sea rhinoceros!
  • Animals Hate Him:
    • The sea bear does not like Squidward, and expresses it well. SpongeBob lampshades this after it attacks Squidward several times.
    • The sea rhinoceros doesn't seem to like Squidward either...
  • Arbitrary Skepticism: Squidward doesn't believe in sea bears, yet is an anthropomorphic octopusnote  living in a world of anthropomorphic aquatic life, and has also encountered fantastical creatures before this episode, and then we have Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy.
  • Battle Discretion Shot: Although we hear Squidward's screaming and see his resulting injuries, all of his sea bear attacks occur off-screen. From the sounds provided, the sea bear doesn’t maul Squidward so much as it pummels him until he’s black and blue.
  • Bears Are Bad News: Sea bears. SpongeBob and Patrick greatly fear them, though Squidward doesn't believe they exist until one shows up and beats him to a pulp.
  • Berserk Button: The sea bear repeatedly mauls Squidward after his attempts to escape cause gestures that provoke its fury (eg. running, limping, crawling). However, it soon starts attacking Squidward unprovoked, so SpongeBob figures it just doesn't like him.
  • Big "NO!": Twice by SpongeBob and Patrick in a row before the sea bear attacks Squidward.
  • Bittersweet Ending: Despite its maulings, Squidward ultimately survives the sea bear attacks, and is protected within SpongeBob and Patrick's anti-sea bear circle. However, now they have a sea rhinoceros to deal with, and it's implied Squidward is not prepared for that one.
  • Bottle Episode: The whole episode is set at Conch Street, with most of it taking place at SpongeBob's camp outside his house.
  • Break the Haughty: After what the sea bear did to him, Squidward will probably never invoke its wrath ever again.
  • Butt-Monkey: Squidward, who gets burnt marshmallow spit in his face by Patrick and is beaten up by the sea bear multiple times.
  • Camping Episode: Exactly What It Says on the Tin and the first and only one in the series.
  • The Cuckoolander Was Right: SpongeBob and Patrick were right about the sea bear (and sea rhinoceros).
  • Death Glare:
    • The sea bear gives a particularly ferocious one to Squidward after he escapes into SpongeBob's protective circle.
    • The sea rhinoceros also gives Squidward a particularly nasty one when it appears at the end.
  • Department of Redundancy Department:
    • "The Campfire Song Song," which is a campfire song about singing a campfire song... which happens to be this campfire song.
    • "Well, maybe it is stupid, but it's also dumb!"
    • "Why, once I met this guy who knew this guy who knew this guy who knew this guy who knew this guy who knew this guy who knew this guy who knew this guy who knew this guy who knew this guy who knew this guy who knew this guy who knew this guy who knew this guy who knew this guy who knew this guy who knew this guy's cousin..."
  • Dumb and Drummer: Near the end of "The Campfire Song Song", Patrick plays the drums.
  • From Bad to Worse: After getting beat up by a Sea Bear multiple times, Squidward now has to face a Sea Rhinoceros. Given that Squidward has no anti-sea rhinoceros undergarments, it's likely that this won't end well at all.
  • Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Becomes a plot point at the end when Squidward isn't wearing anti-sea rhinoceros undergarments.
  • Here We Go Again!: After being mauled many times by that sea bear, Squidward uses the circle that protected SpongeBob and Patrick from it. Unfortunately, SpongeBob and Patrick then reveal that it wouldn't shield against a sea rhinoceros, which is attracted by the sounds of a sea bear attack (and the octopus isn't wearing anti-sea rhinoceros undergarments)...
  • Injured Self-Drag: When Squidward gets attacked by the sea bear and tries to limp away, the sea bear attacks him again because it hates limping. Squidward then tries to crawl away offscreen, but gets attacked again because, apparently, the sea bear hates crawling, too (or just doesn't like Squidward).
  • I Will Show You X!:
    Squidward: I'll show you camping!
  • Kick Them While They're Down:
    • We can safely assume that this is what the sea rhinoceros does, since it's drawn to those who've been attacked by sea bears beforehand.
    • The sea bear does this to Squidward too; while most of its subsequent attacks were due to Squidward doing provoking gestures (running, limping, crawling), by the fifth time, Squidward does nothing, yet the sea bear still goes after him. SpongeBob chalks it up to Irrational Hatred.
  • Knows a Guy Who Knows a Guy: Exaggerated to the point of being an Overly Long Gag.
    SpongeBob: Why, once I met this guy who knew this guy who knew this guy who knew this guy who knew this guy who knew this guy who knew this guy who knew this guy who knew this guy who knew this guy who knew this guy who knew this guy who knew this guy who knew this guy who knew this guy who knew this guy who knew this guy's cousin...
    Squidward: YOU'RE RIGHT!
  • Major Injury Underreaction: Squidward is only mildly annoyed by the scalding hot marshmallows Patrick keeps blowing into his face.
  • Mix-and-Match Critters: The sea bear is literally a giant fish with a bear head. The same thing applies for the sea rhinoceros, albeit much bigger.
  • No Can Opener: Squidward attempts to eat a can of Swedish barnacle balls while camping, but leaves his can opener in his house, and SpongeBob and Patrick refuse to let him break the camping spirit by going inside to retrieve it. Squidward is then left with no choice but to eat the marshmallows SpongeBob and Patrick brought with them.
  • No Ending: The episode ends right when Squidward is being menaced by a sea rhinoceros.
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: What the sea bear did to Squidward. Although all the attacks were off-screen, it's very clear from Squidward's many injuries and SpongeBob and Patrick's reaction to them that the animal showed no mercy.
  • Now You Tell Me:
    SpongeBob: Don't run, sea bears hate that!
    Squidward: Thanks for the tip. I guess I'll just limp home, then...
  • Oh, Crap!:
    • Squidward's reaction to learning that the sea bear is real.
    • Also near the end, when the sea rhinoceros approaches.
      SpongeBob: Good thing we're all wearing our anti-sea rhinoceros undergarments, right, Squidward?
      Squidward: (unconfidently) ...Uh-huh?
  • Real After All: The sea bear and later, the sea rhinoceros.
  • Reverse Psychology: SpongeBob didn't at all mean it, but him wishing Squidward a fun time inside just makes Squidward want to camp with him and Patrick even more.
  • Rhino Rampage: The sea rhinoceros, who is attracted by the sound of a sea bear attack and is implied to beat up those already attacked by a sea bear.
  • Rockers Smash Guitars: The ending to "The Campfire Song Song" has SpongeBob smash his guitar on the ground to pieces. Patrick follows it up by bringing down the entire drum set on SpongeBob.
  • Rule of Funny: Sea bears are real, they're set off by ridiculous things like wearing a sombrero in a goofy fashion and drawing a circle in the dirt around yourself fends them off. Because reasons.
  • Running Gag:
    • Squidward getting mauled by the sea bear.
    • Patrick blowing hot marshmallow on Squidward.
  • Screams Like a Little Girl: Squidward, when he first encounters and is then attacked repeatedly by the sea bear.
  • Shout-Out: At the end of the song, SpongeBob and Patrick smash their instruments like how The Who do at the end of each set.
  • The Something Song / Spelling Song: "The Campfire Song Song".
  • Stupidest Thing I've Ever Heard: Squidward declares sea bears to be this, until he gets attacked by a real sea bear.
  • Truth in Television: For the most part. With the exception of wearing a sombrero in a goofy fashion, hoop skirt, and clown shoes, things that attract a sea bear can attract a real bear. Real bears have a very acute sense of hearing and smell, and thus playing musical instruments and eating cheese can attract bears. Flashing a flashlight can also attract a bear at night. Stomping on the ground and making animal noises will make the bear think you're challenging it. Lastly, never, ever turn your back on a predator and run/leap, because most predators will immediately pounce, thinking you're a prey.
  • Weaksauce Weakness: The anti-sea bear circle is nothing more than a circle drawn in the ground by a stick, but it is completely effective in keeping Squidward safe from the sea bear. Similarly, SpongeBob mentions that a certain kind of undergarment can protect them from the sea rhinoceros.

 
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"Not THAT Green Stuff!"

After the kids take back all of the money that Mr. Krabs earned and distribute it back to themselves, Mr. Krabs pleads with the thugs to let him go because he wants "green stuff" as in the money. Instead, one of the thugs gives him lima beans, which are also green.

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