Who lets you ride on his coffin?
Slaps you hard and often?
What do you and me have in common?
We're idiot friends!
Slaps you hard and often?
What do you and me have in common?
We're idiot friends!
Original air date: 4/11/2008 (produced in 2007)
SpongeBob is upset that he doesn't have any famous relatives like his friends. Wanting to help, Sandy helps SpongeBob search through his family tree. There he learns of his ancestor SpongeBuck SquarePants, who saved Bikini Bottom from being taken over by Dead Eye Plankton.
"Pest of the West" contains examples of:
- All There in the Script: The names of Patrick, Squidward, Mr. Krabs and Mrs. Puff's ancestors are not mentioned in the show, but revealed in the credits:
- Patrick: Pecos Patrick Star
- Squidward: Hopalong Tentacles
- Mr. Krabs: William Krabs
- Mrs. Puff: Polene Puff
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:
- The Dead Eye Funeral Parlor and Ice Cream Parlor.
- When Dead Eye Plankton runs SpongeBuck out of the town, SpongeBuck later comments that he's run out of food, water, and lip balm.
- Bait-and-Switch: Right before "The Villain Sucks" Song, Hopalong sits at the piano looking like he's about to play it, but then inserts a coin into the piano and it starts playing itself.
- Upon hearing that sheriffs in Dead Eye Gulch are called "coffin jockeys", SpongeBuck panics and runs away with Dead Eye believing he scared off another sheriff, only for SpongeBuck to come back moments later, riding a coffin in a jockey outfit.
- Bird-Poop Gag: The ending has SpongeBob clean jellyfish droppings from the statue of his Wild West ancestor SpongeBuck.
- Coattail-Riding Relative: Patrick believes the best part of having a famous relative is not having to accomplish anything because the famous relative already did it and that eliminates the pressure.
- Comedic Underwear Exposure: Dead Eye leaves Hopalong, Krabs, and Puff in their underwear after literally taking the clothes off their back.
- Cowboy Episode: The episode has all the trappings of a typical western.
- Cuckoo Finger Twirl: In Patrick's flashback, one of the colonial Bikini Bottomites does this when Patrick Revere tries to warn everyone that the mollusks are coming.
- Dastardly Whiplash: Dead Eye Plankton, complete with a whip and a curly moustache.
- Drunk on Milk: SpongeBuck orders "a shot... of milk, two percent" at the Krusty Kantina, to which Hopalong replies, "Think you can handle it?"
- Framing Device: The events are told in flashback by Sandy as she and SpongeBob research his history.
- Friendship Song: "Idiot Friends"
- From Nobody to Nightmare: A colossal Inversion; after the climax Dead Eye goes from the scourge of the town to, in the most literal way possible, its punching bag.
- Huddle Power: Subverted. SpongeBuck huddles the citizens together to whisper a plan, which is only heard in whispering noises.Hopalong: Uh, SpongeBuck, why do you keep saying bzbzbzbzbzbzb?
SpongeBuck: Umm...
Hopalong: You don't have a plan, do you?
SpongeBuck: No. To be honest, I didn't think I'd get this far. - Identical Ancestor:
- SpongeBuck, Pecos Patrick, Hopalong Tentacles, William Krabs, Dead Eye Plankton, and Polene Puff.
- Patrick Revere, who rode through Bikini Bottom to warn everyone of the oncoming hordes of man-eating mollusks.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: SpongeBuck tells everyone that he's come to like Dead Eye Gulch in the short twenty minutes he's come to know them.
- Lip Losses: What happens when SpongeBuck runs out of lip balm.
- Literal-Minded: Dead Eye tries to threaten SpongeBuck by telling him that sheriffs are also known as "coffin jockeys" around Dead Eye Gulch. SpongeBuck runs off, only to show up riding a coffin in a jockey outfit.
- Logical Weakness: Dead Eye Plankton runs the town like a tyrant using fear and violence, but he is still a small insect-like creature who can be easily crushed. Once everyone realizes this, Dead Eye loses all of his power immediately as everyone starts stamping the crap outta him.
- Meaningful Rename: Bikini Gulch was renamed Dead Eye Gulch when Dead Eye Plankton seized control.
- Naked People Are Funny: Pecos Patrick says that Dead Eye wronged him by pulling his pants down. When Dead Eye arrives at the Krusty Kantina, he ups the ante by ripping off Pecos Patrick's overalls, leaving him naked.Pecos Patrick: Aww. Again?
- Offstage Villainy: Dead Eye Plankton has a surprisingly large body count for the show. Although their deaths are off-screen, enough sheriffs have been killed that Dead Eye Gulch requires two separate cemeteries.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: "You won't be laughing when you see... his... big... RED... DEAD EYE!"
- Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: In-Universe, Dead Eye thinks that historians will fondly remember him despite how much the citizens of Dead Eye Gulch hate him. Unfortunately for him, SpongeBuck was still remembered as a hero who defeated him.Dead Eye: History will vindicate me!
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Dead Eye tries to stop Polene from stepping on him by pointing out how wealthy he is, but it doesn't work.Polene: Take that, ya' no-good, little varmint!
Dead Eye: I have a lot of money! (gets squashed) - Shaking the Rump: Dead Eye Plankton does this after stealing everything in town.
- Shout-Out:
- Patrick Revere and the mollusks are a reference to Paul Revere and his midnight ride during the battle of Lexington and Concord, the first battle of the Revolutionary War, the mollusks being the British or as he called them, the Redcoats.
- Hopalong Tentacles is named for famous fictional cowboy hero Hopalong Cassidy
. Pecos Patrick is named for another famous fictional cowboy, Pecos Bill. - Sandy's line, "That boy ain't hooked up right," is a reference to Hank Hill's catchphrase, "That boy ain't right," from King of the Hill.
- Showdown at High Noon: Dead Eye Plankton challenges SpongeBuck to one appropriately. Surprisingly, it ends minutes after the showdown begins when SpongeBuck steps on Dead Eye.
- Tasty Gold: When he enters the Krusty Kantina, Dead Eye Plankton dunks a coin into a glass of milk as if it's a cookie, then bites into it until it bends.
- Too Dumb to Live: The entire plot hinges on everyone in Bikini Bottom Gulch being too stupid to realize that they can just stomp on Dead Eye Plankton, until SpongeBuck does the deed by pure accident.
- "The Villain Sucks" Song: Pecos Patrick's song about Dead Eye Plankton.
- The Western: The majority of the episode is stylized after this trope.
- Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: "What beith the deal with ye olde nutcase?"
