Trivia / SpongeBob SquarePants S 1 E 3 "Jellyfishing" / "Plankton!"

• Descended Creator: Writer Doug Lawrence voices Plankton.
• Development Gag: Doug Lawrence auditioned for SpongeBob using the same voice he'd provide Plankton with. Plankton talking through SpongeBob using his own voice is a nod to this fact.
• First Appearance: Of Plankton and Karen in "Plankton!"
• What Could Have Been:
  • Stephen Hillenburg created Plankton and Karen as potential villains for the series, but decided to make them one-off characters, believing that they didn't have much potential and that Plankton's goal of trying to steal the Krabby Patty formula would quickly grow stale. However, Doug Lawrence was much more enthusiastic about the characters and drafted a number of outlines for them that he presented to Hillenberg, which became so popular among the writing team that many of them were used throughout the first three seasons.
  • Since Plankton was originally intended to be a one-off character, Nickelodeon's executives brought up the idea of stunt casting someone like Bruce Willis, but Stephen Hillenburg was firm on sticking with Doug Lawrence's voice.
• Working Title: "Plankton!" was originally going to be called "Deep Cover".
• Written by Cast Member: Doug Lawrence co-wrote "Plankton!" mainly because he saw Plankton's potential as a recurring villain when Stephen Hillenburg couldn't.

---