How every Monday morning should start.
Missing Identity
Original air date: 1/19/2004 (produced in 2002; first aired in Canada on 11/14/02)
SpongeBob recalls a time where he goes into an existential crisis when he loses his name tag, and tries to retrace his steps in order to recover it.
"Missing Identity" contains examples of:
- Accidental Misnaming: "Hi SpongeBoob!"
- An Aesop:
- Don't overcorrect yourself when trying to retrace your steps.
- Don't put your clothes on backwards.
- Always make sure you're clean and presentable at work.
- Apple for Teacher: Or in this case, employer. Spongebob recounts placing an apple on Mr. Krabs' desk after Patrick saying hi to Old Man Jenkins.
- Aside Glance: Twice in the episode, SpongeBob reacts to a joke by staring blankly at the camera with his hand on his cheek — a Shout-Out to Jack Benny.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: When Patrick is looking for SpongeBob's nametag in the dumpster, he comes across a record of a band he likes and wonders, "why would anyone throw this away?"SpongeBob: Have you FORGOTTEN WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR knee-deep in yesterday's Top 40 songs!?
- Bait-and-Switch Comment:Mr. Krabs: Attention, all employees! Just a quick heads-up, boys. There's going to be a surprise uniform inspection in one hour. Anyone who doesn't pass... gets the boot! [pulls out a big black boot giving off green fumes] This boot, to be exact. It's very stinky, and you'll have to wear it all day. See ya in an hour.
- Bigger on the Inside: When viewing the dumpster from the outside, it's normal size, but after SpongeBob and Patrick jump in, it becomes as big as a swimming pool.
- Big "WHY?!": Well, Big "PORQUOI?!" in this case anyway, but the meaning's still there.
- Bland-Name Product: Gary (and SpongeBob) eat SnailPo, which is the snail version of Alpo pet food.
- Comical Overreacting: SpongeBob starts hyperventilating and eventually faints because he lost his nametag.SpongeBob: I lost my nametag! POURQUOI?!
- Corpsing: SpongeBob's numerous attempts to retrace his steps always end with Patrick flubbing the line in the same vein as a blooper reel. By the end of it, he has the giggles.
- Cruel Twist Ending: SpongeBob manages to find his name tag in time for inspection, but because he crawled in the dumpster thinking it was there, he smells so bad that he possibly fails.
- Disaster Dominoes: SpongeBob's "horrific incident of terror". He wakes up, tosses his blanket over his head which glomps right over him, he falls off the bed, the alarm clock lands on top, stumbles out the door and falls down the stairs, the alarm clock sends him flying into the window, slides up to Gary, feeds him, and finally takes a whiff of SnailPo and is so grossed out the company notices.
- Distant Reaction Shot: When SpongeBob is disgusted from the SnailPo and yells "BLEH!" in response, the camera cuts to outside his pineapple, to the downtown streets, and finally to SnailPo Headquarters where one of the workers seems aware of it.
- Dumpster Dive: SpongeBob and Patrick jump into the Krusty Krab dumpster to look for the nametag.
- Eating Pet Food: After feeding Gary, SpongeBob wonders how SnailPo tastes since he never found out in all his years. He puts his tongue tip in the snail food, and the taste is so disgusting that even the headquarters hear his yelling.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Patrick saying "At least I don't wear my shirt backward" causes SpongeBob to realize he left his shirt on backwards and he was wearing his name tag the whole time.
- Failure Montage: SpongeBob recreating his morning to find out where he left his name tag turns into this, as he keeps starting over when Patrick keeps forgetting to say hi to him.
- Foreshadowing: When SpongeBob gets dressed, eagle-eyed viewers will notice his shirt is missing the front folds.
- Framing Device: The events are told via flashback by SpongeBob at a diner one rainy night.
- Gratuitous French: SpongeBob cries "POURQUOI?!", which means "why" in French.
- Hilarious Outtakes: SpongeBob trying and failing to get Patrick to say hi to him as he retraces his steps is presented as this, complete with Patrick apologizing to the audience for his repeated flubbing.
- Identity Breakdown: Parodied, as misplacing his nametag sends SpongeBob into a spiral.
- Idiot Ball: Granted, SpongeBob isn't the wisest guy around, but even he should still realize that by "retracing his steps", he should just look around to where he was at the moment, not put himself in the same predicament.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
- Patrick trying to say hi to SpongeBob and constantly flubbing his lines is very similar to a blooper reel. After hysterically laughing at accidentally calling his friend "SpongeBoob" he says to the camera "sorry, people."
- When SpongeBob finishes his story at the diner, the waitress tells him that he "managed to kill eleven minutes", which is the typical length of an episode.
- Melodrama: Spongebob has a near-mental breakdown (including screaming "WHY?!" in French and fainting) over losing his nametag.
- My Significance Sense Is Tingling: After SpongeBob tastes Gary's food and goes "Bleagh!", miles away at SnailPo headquarters, an employee says "I feel... a disturbance."
- Overly Long Gag: In trying to retrace his steps, SpongeBob has to recreate his morning exactly — including stumbling down the stairs and tasting Gary's snail food — over and over, because Patrick kept flubbing his lines.
- Rewatch Bonus: Eagle-eyed viewers will notice SpongeBob's clothes actually are on backwards way before he actually notices himself. And during the retracing steps montage, he keeps skipping a step between eating SnailPo and saying hi to Patrick; putting his clothes on.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Both SpongeBob and Patrick were wrong that his name tag was in the apple Mr. Krabs threw out, but they were right about finding it in the dumpster, as they were in the dumpster at the time SpongeBob found his name tag.
- Running Gag: SpongeBob keeping getting his recreations of his morning wrong (waking up still dressed and with the blankets on his head, falling off the stairs inside the his alarm clock, bumping the window after getting hurled by the alarm clock, feeding Gary, tasting the SnailPo ("BLEAGH!") and Patrick keeps messing up his lines when he's supposed to say hello to him). All this in a montage that lasts around one minute and thirty seconds.
- Serious Business: To SpongeBob, losing his nametag was a literal identity crisis.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Turns out SpongeBob has his nametag on all along, he just had his clothes on backwards. Not to mention he still "got the boot" because he just got back from dumpster diving.
- Shout-Out:
- At the SnailPo headquarters, Peterson says that he "feels a disturbance", albeit not a disturbance in the Force.
- In SpongeBob's Imagine Spot, the bank robber wearing his nametag shouts, "ATTICA!"
- Stingray 5000 are a rather on-the-nose homage to Powerman 5000.
- Smart Ball: Patrick grabs it after enough failed attempts at recreating the events of the morning, asking SpongeBob to go over everything else he did that day instead of just repeating the same thing over and over.
- Staircase Tumble: SpongeBob falls down the stairs after waking up. He then has to do it over and over again when trying to retrace his steps.
- Tempting Fate: SpongeBob says that he'll never have to taste Gary's snail food again. He does exactly that while retracing his steps.
- That Came Out Wrong: In one of the attempts at recreating SpongeBob's morning routine, Patrick greets him with "Hi, SpongeBoob". This causes him to burst out laughing.
- Wearing It All Wrong: When SpongeBob puts on his pants, they first end up on his hand, then on his head. He eventually gets it right, but fails to notice that his shirt is backwards.
"Victory, thy name is Plankton!"note
Plankton's Army
Original air date: 1/19/2004 (produced in 2002; first aired in Canada on 11/14/02)
After realizing there's strength in numbers, Plankton hires his relatives to help him get the Krabby Patty formula once and for all, and almost succeeds.
"Plankton's Army" contains examples of:
- An Aesop: Working with others is often much more effective than working alone.
- Artistic License – Physics: As small as Plankton is, he shouldn't have been able to fit inside a two-dimensional dollar bill. Of course, Rule of Funny was probably in effect.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Plankton's family isn't particularly villainous or malicious, nor are many of them especially intelligent... but together they easily take full control of the Krusty Krab and allow Plankton to open the secret formula vault.
- Briar Patching: Mr. Krabs begs Plankton not to read the secret formula, telling him that he won't like what he sees. Naturally, since the secret formula is a decoy, this is exactly what he wants Plankton to do, and Plankton takes the bait.
- Brick Joke: SpongeBob is sent to clean the bathrooms early in the episode. He doesn't appear again until the end, after the whole ordeal with Plankton and his relatives is over.
- Country Cousin: Plankton's relatives all turn out to be hillbillies, much to his surprise.Plankton: I've been away from home longer than I thought.
- Crazy-Prepared: As it turns out, Mr. Krabs anticipated the possibility of Plankton actually succeeding in getting his hands on the formula, so he planted a fake one in which ground plankton was the secret ingredient, sending Plankton and his entire family running for the hills. What he didn't count on was Squidward correctly guessing where the real formula is.Squidward: Let me guess. It's at home, under your mattress.
Mr. Krabs: (runs all the way home) CURSE YOU, SQUIDWARD!!! - A Day in the Limelight: This episode primarily focuses on Plankton's plan to use his relatives to steal the formula. SpongeBob spends the bulk of the episode Out of Focus.
- Demoted to Extra: SpongeBob only appears at the very beginning and the very end of this episode.
- Didn't Think This Through:Mr. Krabs: Plankton! You knew I would never distrust a dollar!
Plankton: That's right, Krabs! Now hand over the Krabby Patty secret formula!
Mr. Krabs: (beat) Or what?
Plankton: I don't know. I never thought I'd get this far. - Disappointing Heritage Reveal: Plankton calls on his many relatives to help him get the Krabby Patty formula, assuming that they're all criminal masterminds like him. Imagine his disappointment when they turn out to be dimwitted backwoods hicks.
- Eat the Camera: The camera zooms into Plankton's open mouth as he and his relatives burst into the Krusty Krab.
- Embarrassing First Name: Plankton's first name is revealed to be Sheldon, much to Karen's amusement.
- Epic Fail: Clem can't interpret that the recipe book was saying that Krabby Patties are made of plankton by stating he's illiterate (he can't read). However, there was a picture of Sheldon himself on that book, and Sheldon was outright audibly reading out the whole recipe.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Despite all the underhanded attempts he's taken to steal the Krabby Patty formula, when Plankton thinks one of the ingredients is ground plankton he runs out screaming like the rest of his familynote .
- Expospeak Gag: Plankton claims to know how to speak to criminals, but then he enters a Bad Guy Bar and gets beaten up after giving them the following line.Plankton: Felicitations, malefactors! I am endeavoring to misappropriate the formulary for the preparation of affordable comestibles! Who will join me?Plankton: (bandaged, bruised and sitting in a wheelchair) I don't get it. No matter what I do, I always end up squashed by someone bigger than me!
- Given Name Reveal: This episode reveals that Plankton’s first name is "Sheldon", and his middle name starts with a J. Naturally, when Karen learns this, she finds it funny and mocks Plankton relentlessly until he finally decides to power her down.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: Seeing that the phony Secret Ingredient for the Krabby Patty is ground plankton causes Plankton and his relatives to run screaming out of the Krusty Krab, except for Clem who can't read.
- Hayseed Name: Plankton's hillbilly relatives; when Clem introduces them all he gets pretty tired of the names:Clem: Of course, you remember Zeke, Rufus, Geke, Billy Bob, Billy Jim, Billy-Billy Bo-Illy Bonana Fanna Fo-Filly, Doug, Enos... (some time later) Hatfield, Fletcher McGee, Rainchild, Zeke Junior—
Plankton: ALRIGHT, I GET IT!!! - Immediate Self-Contradiction: Plankton claims he knows how to speak the language of his potential minions: cue him meeting a bunch of tough guys and talking to them in Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness.
- Never Trust a Trailer: The promos for this episode hyped up Plankton finally learning the Krabby Patty formula. That doesn't happen (the "secret formula" was actually a decoy to scare him and his cousins off).
- Nonstandard Character Design: Clem's antennae are actually part of his hat, unlike Plankton and the rest of his family who have real antennae.
- Not Me This Time: A suspicious-looking robot customer casually enters the Krusty Krab, remarking to itself (but loudly enough for all to hear) that it would like to "sample the wares" of the "quaint restaurant." Mr. Krabs immediately deduces that it's a plot by Plankton and that the "customer" will order a Krabby Patty. Instead, it buys a single serving of chili coral bits, even after Krabs suggests that the robot order a Krabby Patty instead. It is then subverted when Plankton leaps out of a hidden compartment in the dollar the robot used to pay for the food.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: Even though Plankton's relatives turn out to be clueless rednecks instead of the super smart criminal masterminds he had expected them to be, they overpower Mr. Krabs and obtain the supposed formula rather quickly and effectively.
- Privacy by Distraction: At the beginning of the episode, SpongeBob is told to mop the men's bathroom, getting him out of the way so that Mr. Krabs can deal with the robot customer.
- The Secret of Long Pork Pies: Plankton and his relatives are understandably horrified to discover that the meat in a Krabby Patty is made from their kind. Subverted when Mr. Krabs reveals that it was just a decoy recipe.
- Shoo Out the Clowns: SpongeBob is absent from the scene where Plankton has Mr. Krabs and Squidward trapped in the toilet. He reappears, mop in hand, after Plankton and his therebetween find out about the Krabby Patty formula. This is an odd case, as the proceedings that go on without him are just as clownish.
- Southern-Fried Genius:
- While almost all of Plankton's southern cousins are dimwitted, one appears to be a technology buff, as his request for helping Plankton get the formula is to receive some more memory for his laptop.
- They also apparently know about the human anatomy. They're capable of forming a working human ear.
- Species Surname: This episode reveals that Plankton's full name is Sheldon J. Plankton.
- Status Quo Is God: Krabs points out the supposed formula the Plankton family found is just a decoy, and Plankton will almost certainly figure that out soon and revert back to trying to steal the real one.
- Synchronized Swarming: The Planktons, as Lampshaded by Mr. Krabs.Mr. Krabs: Curse you, Plankton, and your ability to join together to form a working human ear!
- That's No Moon: Plankton's family surrounds the Krusty Krab and Mr. Krabs asks "You planted grass?" Then the "grass" starts laughing and reshaping itself into limbs and ears...
- These Are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know:Mr. Krabs: (tied up, while Plankton is about to read the secret Krabby Patty formula/recipe) I'm telling you! You won't be able to handle the truth! There are some things in this world that weren't meant for mortal eyes!
Plankton: Eye.
Mr. Krabs: Eye.
Plankton: I don't care!
(some time later)
Plankton:... mixed together with the most important ingredient of all: four heaping pounds of freshly ground... (turns page, sees picture of himself) plankton!?
Mr. Krabs: I warned ya.
(Plankton screams and runs back to the Chum Bucket)- Fortunately for everyone, the recipe was a decoy.
- Toilet Teleportation: After he sees Plankton jump out of the dollar that the robot gave him, Mr. Krabs flushes Plankton down the toilet. Later, Plankton tries to flush Krabs down the toilet, but fails because Krabs is too big to fit down the pipes.
- Token Minority: Whilst most of Plankton's cousins are from the underwater version of the Deep South, a few appear to be Russian and Mexican.
- Villain Episode: This episode focuses largely on Plankton as he recruits his extended family to get the formula.
- Waxing Lyrical: One of Plankton's cousins is Billy Billy Bo-Illy Bonana Fanna Fo-Filly, a lyric from the Shirley Ellis song "The Name Game".
- What Happened to the Mouse?: We see a robot (built by Plankton, presumably) purchase chilli coral bits, and gives Krabs a "dollar" from which Plankton jumps out of. So, what became of the robot?
- You and What Army?: Mr. Krabs asks this to Plankton, who then introduces him to his relatives.
