Recap / SpongeBob SquarePants S 2 E 14 "Welcome to the Chum Bucket" / "Frankendoodle"

"This kitchen's not the same without you..."

Welcome to the Chum Bucket

Original air date: 1/21/2002 (produced in 2001; first aired in Canada on 1/10/02)

Mr. Krabs loses SpongeBob to Plankton in a game of cards, so now he must work at the Chum Bucket. While Plankton is initially ecstatic to finally have Mr. Krabs' ace-in-the-hole working for him, it doesn't take long for him to get fed up by SpongeBob's attitude.

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"Welcome to the Chum Bucket" contains examples of:

• An Aesop:
  • Discipline is important, but it shouldn't be abused. A boss that cares about his subordinates and encourages them to do their job is a boss worthy of respect. A boss that is apathetic to his subordinates and/or does everything for them is not.
  • Cheaters Never Prosper. It is revealed at the end that Plankton (who was supposed to be terrible at poker) cheated in the game where Mr. Krabs lost SpongeBob.
  • If you are a bad boss, your employees are less likely to listen to you.
  • Don't bet something valuable because you're confident you'll win. What if you don't?
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Plankton builds a robot to cook Krabby Patties because he thinks robots will never disobey their masters' orders. The robot after earning SpongeBob's brain just becomes him, exhibiting the exact same behaviors that got the brain removed in the first place.
• Bad Boss: Plankton is this to SpongeBob at first (threatening to tear out his brain for failure), but then he becomes too lenient of a boss - though it is just as possible SpongeBob refused to make a Krabby Patty for Plankton to keep him from getting the secret formula.
• Big "NO!": One of SpongeBob's responses to Plankton when he refuses to make a patty for him after becoming spoiled.
• Big "WHAT?!": Plankton does not take it well when his robot backtalks him.
  Robot SpongeBob: Beep beep doo da dee doo doo! RESPONSE: Why don't you ask me later?
  Plankton: What?! WHAT?!
• Brain Theft: When Plankton is sick of SpongeBob being a Lazy Bum he straight up removes his brain and sticks it in a robot. This backfires as his personality remains unchanged.
• Buffy Speak: When SpongeBob sees Plankton's replica of the Krusty Krab's kitchen, he points out the details with their exact descriptions, but when he points out a life preserver ring wall decor, he only refers to it as "that thing".
• Cheaters Never Prosper: Near the end, Plankton admitted to Mr. Krabs that he cheated at their game of poker, which led to the consequences of being driven crazy by SpongeBob's rebellious attitude.
• Death Glare: When Spongebob acts as cocky and spoiled around Mr Krabs, he gets an indignant look. While having his brain implanted into a robot failed, this look is enough to get Spongebob to very nervously backtrack and offer to work the whole day free of charge.
• Didn't Think This Through: Plankton ultimately resorts to implanting SpongeBob's brain in a robot when he refuses to take any orders from Plankton. It does not occur to him that this did not change SpongeBob's personality or attitude, and so his robot self remains lazy and disobedient. Lampshaded by Karen who warned him earlier that such schemes "never work".
• Distant Duet: “This Grill Is Not a Home”, where SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs miss each other. It is Lampshaded by Plankton when he watches the action via Karen.
  Plankton: All these tears...and the showtunes?
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Apparently, a few viewers saw Mr. Krabs losing SpongeBob to Plankton as Mr. Krabs losing a custody battle in a divorce. Plankton revealing that he cheated in poker is akin to Plankton lying in court to get custody.
• Failed a Spot Check: Funnily enough, Plankton's forceful control of SpongeBob did nearly cause Mr. Krabs to ultimately go out of business. However, he fails to notice the sign that reads "Out of Business" when he approaches Mr. Krabs with the desperate plea to give SpongeBob back. Seeing that Plankton's finally given up, Mr. Krabs quickly pockets the sign before his nemesis can see it, allowing the fast food joint to resume operations.
• Foreshadowing: Karen tells Plankton putting SpongeBob's brain in the robot "never works", foreshadowing what the robot will do later on in the episode.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: RoboBob is reading a comic book with pictures of SpongeBob, Patrick and Squidward.
• Glad I Thought of It: This marks the start of the Running Gag where Karen comes up with a plan to get the formula, but Plankton dismisses her as interrupting or being random, or acts like he doesn't understand or it's not important, then he says the exact same idea.
  Karen: The answer is obvious: to get to the SpongeBob, you must show him compassion and understanding. Then he'll give you what you want.
  Plankton: Will you be quiet, Karen? I'm thinking. I've got it! To get to the SpongeBob, I'll show him compassion and understanding. Then he'll give me what I want.
• Gone Horribly Right: SpongeBob's requests for Plankton eventually lead him to become a spoiled brat.
• Gory Discretion Shot: We don't actually see SpongeBob's brain being removed before Plankton puts it in the robot, and we don't ever see SpongeBob when the robot is present.
• Hold Your Hippogriffs: The robot SpongeBob tells Plankton off by saying "get welded", presumably a robotic version of "get bent".
• Homesickness Hymn: SpongeBob sings "This Grill is Not a Home", which is about how he misses his old job at the Krusty Krab.
• Hostage for MacGuffin: In an interesting variation, the hostage here effectively is the MacGuffin, knowing how to make a Krabby Patty, so Plankton would effectively get the formula without owning it physically.
• Hustler: Implied, but later subverted. Plankton says he had been throwing the card game for years until Krabs slipped up and bet something really valuable on the game (implied that he was waiting for him to eventually bet the Krabby Patty secret formula), but later states he cheated in order to win SpongeBob off of Krabs.
• Hypocritical Humor: Plankton's line "You shouldn't have been a spoiled brat. You see, I always get what I want..." is itself a statement lacking awareness, and his subsequent tantrum over SpongeBob still refusing to follow his orders just further adds to the irony.
• Imagine Spotting: SpongeBob imagines Plankton escaping his thought bubble to try to steal the Krabby Patty he's holding, then swats him with a flyswatter.
• It Came from the Fridge: SpongeBob's first attempt at cooking a Krabby Patty in Plankton's kitchen sprouts an arm and tries crawling out of the oven.
• Lazy Bum: SpongeBob after he gets very loosened up.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
  • Plankton: "All these tears? And the show tunes?"
  • He does it again by facing the audience and telling them, "I put the brain in the robot, you know!" when he can't decide whether to name his robot SpongeBob slave either just "SpongeBob" or "RobotBob SpongeChefpants"
• Lost Him in a Card Game: Krabs loses SpongeBob's contract to Plankton, who then admits he's been throwing the games waiting for the opportunity.
• Out-of-Character Moment: SpongeBob, who proudly calls fry cooking his passion, telling Plankton that he doesn't feel like making Krabby Patties. Can be justified as either a result of Plankton's Bad Boss tendencies, or SpongeBob intentionally annoying Plankton to get himself out of the Chum Bucket.
• Principles Zealot: Probably the reason that Spongebob refused to make food for Plankton to the point that he lost his brain promptly.
• Rage Breaking Point: Turning SpongeBob into a disobeying spoiled brat is enough to push Plankton's sanity over the limit and remove his brain. Then when the robot with the brain refuses in turn, Plankton gets so furious he is forced to give SpongeBob back to Mr. Krabs.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: After SpongeBob's brain is put into the robot, SpongeBob himself is nowhere to be seen and doesn't reappear until the last scene of the episode.
• Shout-Out:
  • "This Grill is Not a Home", SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs' Distant Duet appears to be an Affectionate Parody of "Somewhere Out There". The song’s title also seems to reference the Burt Bacharach/Hal David song "A House is Not a Home".
  • Mr. Krabs' lines are sung in the style of Louis Armstrong.
• Smash Cut: Just after Plankton announces SpongeBob's brain will be removed after he refuses to make a patty, it cuts right to the scene where the robot chef comes out.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Karen only appears in one scene following the Distant Duet, but her warning Plankton putting SpongeBob's brain in the robot chef won't work and he should give him compassion plays a major plot point in the second half of the episode.
• Spoiled Brat: Plankton's efforts to be nicer to SpongeBob just turn him into a lazy punk. SpongeBob later tries to pull this on Mr. Krabs... and is met with a dagger-shooting glare. That being said, this is a possible interpretation of why he was acting like that.
• Status Quo Is God: In the end, Plankton ends up giving SpongeBob back to Mr. Krabs after his repetitive laziness, and the fact he cheated in the card game.
• Taking Advantage of Generosity: Plankton tries to make SpongeBob as happy and comfortable as possible in order to get his Krabby Patty. It backfires when SpongeBob ends up getting spoiled and lazy, refusing to take any orders, so much so that even his disembodied brain in a robot starts mouthing off to Plankton!
• Too Dumb to Live: SpongeBob apparently forgot the fact that he's in danger of having his brain removed when he started mouthing off to Plankton like a spoiled punk.
• Troll: A possible interpretation of SpongeBob's behavior, rather than becoming a lazy punk, he was most likely acting like that to annoy the crap out of Plankton and let him go back to the Krusty Krab.
• Unwilling Roboticization: Plankton threatens to put SpongeBob's brain inside a robot if he doesn't make him a Krabby Patty. Eventually, he makes good on his word, but finds that a robot with SpongeBob's brain is just as stubborn as the real thing.
• Villainous Breakdown: Plankton can only let out a furious Skyward Scream when not even SpongeBob's brain in a robotic body will cook a Krabby Patty for him.
• Wrong-Name Outburst: When Plankton makes a replica of the Krusty Krab kitchen for SpongeBob, the latter blurts out Mr. Krabs' name by accident.

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He's got the pencil!

Frankendoodle

Original air date: 1/21/2002 (produced in 2001; first aired in Canada on 1/10/02)

When an Artist's pencil lands in Bikini Bottom, SpongeBob and Patrick realize the pencil has magical properties, causing whatever is drawn to become real. While using the pencil to play some pranks on Squidward, SpongeBob makes a doodle version of himself, which takes on a monstrous mind of its own.

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"Frankendoodle" contains examples of:

• All for Nothing: The artist at sea gets his pencil back in the end, but he's unable to draw as he breaks it and he forgot to bring a pencil sharpener.
• Angry Eyebrows: DoodleBob draws himself a pair when confronting SpongeBob at his home. Currently provides the page image.
• Any Last Words?: SpongeBob asks this to DoodleBob before erasing him. DoodleBob drops a bunch of gibberish, and slowly and almost annoyed repeats it when SpongeBob admits he didn't quite catch that.
• Art Initiates Life: The drawings made by the pencil come to life.
• Artistic License – Physics: The pencil sinks like a stone into Bikini Bottom, even though it should've floated because pencils are made of wood.
• Artsy Beret: The episode features the Artist at Sea who wears a beret and apron, with only a pencil as his medium. The narrator gives advice on bringing a spare pencil when one drops a pencil and a sharpener when one breaks a pencil's lead.
• Berserk Button: The artist at sea lets out a Big "NO!" whenever something bad happens to his pencil. First it sinks underwater, then when he gets it back, the point breaks off when he tries to use it.
• Big "NO!": The Artist at Sea has two, first when he loses his pencil and again when it breaks the second he tries to draw.
• Bookends: The episode starts and ends with the Artist At Sea.
• Bowled Over: Happens to Patrick, who gets knocked into a bunch of bowling pins by DoodleBob, complete with the sounds and a couple X's marking strikes.
• Butt-Monkey: Squidward gets pranked by SpongeBob, beaten up by DoodleBob, and gets half of the pencil thrown at him.
• Call-Back: Patrick saying "Take it easy, it's just a drawing" is a Call-Back to "Hall Monitor" where two policemen tell him "Calm down, son. It's just a drawing, not the real thing".
• Cash Lure: SpongeBob and Patrick do this to Squidward.
• Comically Missing the Point: When SpongeBob calls for a surprise attack on DoodleBob, Patrick says "Oh, boy, a surprise party! Is it his birthday?" When DoodleBob ambushes them, Patrick says "Happy birthday!" and gives him a rock as a present. DoodleBob then hits him over the head with it.
  Patrick: You're welcome.
• Create Your Own Villain: SpongeBob is the one who created "Doodlebob".
• Creator Cameo: Writer/voice of Plankton Mr. Lawrence plays the live action role of the Artist At Sea.
• Dodgy Toupee: SpongeBob draws a moustache on Patrick, but it flies away and lands on Squidward's head. Squidward is delighted that he finally has hair, but it flies away again after he falls for the Cash Lure gag.
• Downer Ending: Not for Spongebob but rather for the Artist at Sea. After wallowing in sadness after losing his pencil, he's delighted to have it returned to him only for it to break the second he uses it. Even worse, the poor guy forgot to bring a pencil sharpener.
• Elongating Arm Gag: When the pencil falls to the bottom of the sea, SpongeBob and Patrick are startled by it and hide behind a rock. When SpongeBob goes to investigate, the next shot is of his hand sticking out from offscreen to poke the pencil. The camera pulls back to reveal that SpongeBob has stretched out his arm from their hiding place, several yards away.
• Foreshadowing: While playing Rock–Paper–Scissors with bubbles, SpongeBob asks Patrick why he always chooses paper. He eventually finds out that paper's used to defeat DoodleBob.
• Franken-X: Averted. The living drawing of SpongeBob is named "DoodleBob", not "Frankendoodle."
• From a Single Cell: SpongeBob erases DoodleBob, but accidentally leaves a single arm, which crawls its way back to SpongeBob's home, grabs the pencil, and redraws the rest of him.
• Good Night, Sweet Prince: After drawing a crown on Gary with his newfound magic pencil, SpongeBob tells him "good night, sweet prince" before turning off the light and going to sleep.
• Helping Hands: DoodleBob's one remaining arm follows SpongeBob home, grabs the magic pencil and draws the rest of himself.
• Hope Spot:
  • At first it looks like SpongeBob has erased DoodleBob out of existence, but as he leaves back home, a single arm crawls out from behind a rock.
  • At first, the artist is happy to get his pencil back, but then the pencil snaps. And he didn't think to bring a pencil sharpener.
• Hulk Speak: DoodleBob delivers his sole line this way.
• Hurricane of Puns: About drawing.
  • When SpongeBob's first drawing comes alive, Patrick exclaims "Your drawing’s coming to life!" SpongeBob takes it as a compliment, but Patrick means it quite literally.
  • SpongeBob jokes that the magic pencil got up to "draw" itself a glass of water.
  • As DoodleBob threatens SpongeBob with the magic pencil's eraser: "Who knows what'll happen?" (DoodleBob erases his nose) "I nose!"
  • After taking the front half of the pencil from DoodleBob: "Well, Doodle, it looks like this... is a draw." (DoodleBob sharpens his half of the pencil) "You've made your point."
  • "Page for Mister Doodle!" (traps DoodleBob inside a book.)
  • "We rejoin the artist in a creative slump." Pictured: the artist is slumped on the inside of his boat, half-asleep.
• Insult Friendly Fire: As Patrick and SpongeBob spy on DoodleBob.
  Patrick: He's hideous! He makes me sick; just look at him! Those big, bulgy eyes, that square body, those two buck teeth and that stupid tie!
  SpongeBob: Uh... ahem.
  Patrick: Oh, but it looks good on you, SpongeBob! (chuckles sheepishly)
  • Later on, evolves into Hypocritical Humor.
    Patrick: So... he's a drawing?
    SpongeBob: Exactly! See how happy he is?
    Patrick: (camera pans over to him looking at a picture of SpongeBob instead of DoodleBob) ...He still looks kinda creepy.
• Involuntary Smile of Incapacitation: Patrick gives DoodleBob a rock as a "present". DoodleBob smashes Patrick's head with it, and Patrick grins, looking dizzy.
  Patrick: You're welcome.
• Kill and Replace: After stealing the magic pencil and redrawing himself, DoodleBob attempts to erase SpongeBob with the pencil, stating "You doodle! ME SPONGEBOB!"
• Knight of Cerebus: The episode initially starts off with SpongeBob and Patrick messing around with the magic pencil and getting into various shenanigans as a result of the drawings they create with it. Once they create DoodleBob, however, the tone of the episode gets increasingly dramatic as he proves himself to be a surprisingly big threat, thanks to his lack of inhibitions and eventual determination to Kill and Replace his flesh-and-blood counterpart.
• Large Ham:
  • The Artist at Sea delightfully eats what little scenery is around him.
  • "I AM SPONGEBOB! DESTROYER OF EVIL!" "Take it easy, it's just a drawing."
• Like a Son to Me: SpongeBob says this of DoodleBob after he erased him for the first time.
• Medium Blending: The magic pencil is a photo of a live-action pencil.
• Metronomic Man Mashing: DoodleBob picks up Squidward by the tentacles and swings him back and forth.
• Mobile Shrubbery: SpongeBob and Patrick walk in a bush to get close to DoodleBob, only to fall in a drawn hole.
• Mood Whiplash: Mid-running-around-and-screaming from the magic pencil, Patrick stops, looks at it as if to confirm that it's scary, and then continues running and screaming.
• Mundane Made Awesome: The freaking pencil. 'Nuff said.
• Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: Spongebob claims Doodlebob was this at the end of the episode, after Patrick sees him on Spongebob's wall as a drawing on a piece of paper.
  Patrick: It's the evil doodle!
  Spongebob: No, no, not evil. He was just a two-dimensional creature lost in our three-dimensional aquatic world longing for a purpose.
  Patrick: So...he's a drawing?
  Spongebob: Exactly! See how happy he is?
• No Man Should Have This Power: The end of the episode has SpongeBob and Patrick rocketing the pencil back to the surface, with SpongeBob declaring its powers to be too mighty for the denizens of the sea to handle.
• Non Sequitur, *Thud*: Two from Patrick.
  • After being hit with a wrench: "Where's the leak, ma'am?"
  • And, of course, the unforgettable "FINLAND!" after being hit with a bowling ball.
• Now It's My Turn: Said word-for-word by SpongeBob after DoodleBob partially erased him and laughed at his defaced appearance.
• Oddball Doppelgänger: DoodleBob is a rare self-created version (he's antagonistic to the point of being an Evil Knockoff, but SpongeBob ultimately pities him).
• Offscreen Inertia: The Artist stayed on his boat for an entire night for some reason.
• Oh, Crap!: "He's got the pencil."
• Poor, Predictable Rock: When SpongeBob and Patrick play Rock–Paper–Scissors with bubbles, SpongeBob realizes that Patrick always picks paper.
• Portal Picture: SpongeBob discovers that DoodleBob can be trapped in paper (since he's a living pencil sketch), so he traps him inside a sketchpad. In the end, he has the page with DoodleBob inside hanging on his wall, saying that he's happier there. Patrick still finds him "kinda creepy", though (while looking at a photo of SpongeBob).
• Prank Gone Too Far: Patrick might have (initially) found it funny that DoodleBob effectively pounded Squidward around in Asterix fashion, but it effectively caused SpongeBob to go My God, What Have I Done?
• Stealth Pun: SpongeBob using the pencil to redecorate his bedroom. He literally draws his curtains.
• Stick Figure Animation: All the magic drawings SpongeBob, Patrick and DoodleBob make.
• Suddenly Speaking: When SpongeBob encounters DoodleBob at home, he says verbally, "You doodle! Me SPONGEBOB!"
• Take That!: This little jab at the Animation Age Ghetto.invoked
  SpongeBob: Be careful, Patrick. Being an artist is a heavy responsibility. Each work of art is like a child, and must be treated as such...
  Patrick: C'mon! I was just gonna draw a cartoon!
  SpongeBob: (suddenly excited) Okay! Why didn't you say so?
• Tragic Monster: Despite all the chaos he caused, SpongeBob ultimately perceives DoodleBob as this, claiming he was a lost 2D creature in a 3D environment which was utterly alien and otherworldly for him, and everything he did was out of confusion and desperation to survive.
• The Unintelligible: DoodleBob's speech is nothing but random gibberish. At first.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Zigzagged. While SpongeBob and Patrick are indeed scared of the pencil at first and end up hiding from it, while they're running around and screaming like animals startled from an object crash-landing, Patrick stops in his tracks and looks at the pencil as if it were something always meant to be there.
• Vocal Dissonance: Played to hilarious effect with Mr. Lawrence (The Artist at Sea) doing his best over-the-top Plankton voice whenever he appears. His voice is also obviously dubbed for comic effect.
• What Have I Done: SpongeBob says it after DoodleBob beats up Squidward and takes the pencil.
• Your Size May Vary: The pencil seems to shrink down a bit when in SpongeBob's world.

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