A Taste of Plankton

Characters

• Template:Data:Links
• Sheldon J. Plankton
• Karen Plankton
• Realistic Fish Head
• Squidward Tentacles
• Eugene H. Krabs
• Patrick Star
• Ice Cream King
• Hillbilly
• Kelpy G ^(pictured)
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  • Fred ^{(Incidental 111)}
  • Incidental 3
  • Steven
  • Incidental 7
  • Incidental 8
  • Incidental 12
  • Incidental 13
  • Incidental 14
  • Incidental 15
  • Incidental 20
  • Charlie
  • Incidental 24
  • Harold
  • Incidental 41
  • Incidental 46
  • Incidental 47
  • Incidental 48
  • Incidental 49
  • Incidental 64
  • Incidental 95 ^{(alternate colors)}
  • Incidental 103
  • Steve
  • Dale
  • Incidental 111 ^{(color palette only)}
  • Incidental 118C

Synopsis

At the Chum Bucket, Plankton watches a TV show about strange sea creatures, featuring a parasitic isopod that lives on fish tongues. Inspired, he comes up with a plan to glue himself to SpongeBob’s tongue to steal a sample of a Krabby Patty. Disguising himself in pink to blend in with a tongue, he grabs some glue and a sample jar. SpongeBob is at home ironing his pants when Karen, disguised as a candy vendor, rings the doorbell. After reciting a dull poem, she gives him a free box of bon-bons, with Plankton hidden inside as one piece of chocolate. SpongeBob eats the entire box except for the last piece, which is Plankton, and leaves it for Gary. After Plankton gets through Gary's intestine, SpongeBob tosses him into the trash, leaving Plankton to rethink his strategy. Just then, SpongeBob unknowingly steps on him, mistakes him for discarded chewing gum, and pops him into his mouth instead of wasting it.

File:A Taste of Plankton 067.png

Plankton as SpongeBob's tongue.

As Plankton is chewed and inflated like a gum, he attempts to use his glue to attach himself to SpongeBob’s tongue, but he struggles to open the bottle. However, SpongeBob accidentally bites it, causing the glue to spill all over his tongue and Plankton, fusing them together. On his way to work, SpongeBob practices tongue twisters from a book, unknowingly causing Plankton pain. Upon arriving at the Krusty Krab, SpongeBob greets Squidward, who complains about his bad breath. To freshen up, SpongeBob uses a breath spray, which irritates Plankton’s eye. SpongeBob then heads to get frozen patties but finds the freezer empty. Deciding to make his own, he opens a cabinet filled with mysterious secret ingredients from A to Z, much to Plankton's dismay. After mixing the components, SpongeBob tastes the mixture but can’t detect any flavor because the glue covered his taste buds.

He adds Limburger cheese but still can’t taste it — unlike Plankton, who suffers greatly. He then throws in sauerkraut, Flying Dutchman peppers, and even the Dutchman’s toe jam. While SpongeBob remains unfazed when tasting it again, Plankton experiences overwhelming agony, realizing his plan was a huge mistake. Since SpongeBob can’t taste anything, he uses the bad mixture to make Krabby Patties, which turn out horribly. When SpongeBob serves them to the customers, they are disgusted, with one even claiming they’re worse than chum, catching Mr. Krabs’ attention while he bathes in his money. After he rushes out of his office to taste a Krabby Patty himself, Mr. Krabs is appalled and demands an explanation from SpongeBob. SpongeBob tells that, for some reason, the Krabby Patties have no flavor, while Mr. Krabs finds them very intense, leading him to believe that SpongeBob has a problem with his tongue. Upon taking a closer look at his tongue, Mr. Krabs concludes that SpongeBob's taste buds are worn out and sends him home to rest. As SpongeBob walks out of the Krusty Krab sadly, Plankton, seeing his plan as a failure, tries to remove his disguise and abandon the scheme, but the zipper is stuck because of the glue.

File:A Taste of Plankton 196.png

Patrick competes in the Chum Eating Contest.

SpongeBob seeks advice from Patrick, who assumes his tongue is just dirty, since the same thing always happens to him. SpongeBob washes his tongue (and Plankton) with soap at home, and even takes it further by an intense cleaning at the Boat Wash. After the procedure, SpongeBob asks a man for his hat to lick, but it remains flavorless. At home, SpongeBob finally realizes his tongue is truly worn out. He heads to his tongue collection and replaces it with a fresh one, immediately wondering why he didn't think of this sooner. Soon after, Patrick is at the door, asking to borrow SpongeBob’s old tongue — the one with Plankton still attached to it. Plankton is overjoyed, believing he finally has a chance to obtain a Krabby Patty sample since Patrick eats so many. However, his excitement quickly fades when he discovers that Patrick is actually entering the Chum Eating Contest at the Chum Bucket. Forced to consume chum, Plankton laments about his fate, wishing he had a removable tongue of his own.

Production

This episode was confirmed by Cartoonlounge.de on July 29, 2024.

Art

Background design

• Layouts designed by George Nachev, traditionally painted by Amy Lewis in gouache. Scanned in with lines drawn digitally on top.

• Close-up of Patrick's tongue
  Close-up of Patrick's tongue
• Close-up of Patrick's mouth
  Close-up of Patrick's mouth
• Process photo #1
  Process photo #1
• Process photo #2
  Process photo #2

Storyboards

• Storyboarded by Zeus Cervas, supervised by Dave Cunningham, plussed by Benjamin Arcand and Nick Lauer.
  • Lauer's board panel of Krabs taking a money bath was altered in the final episode, while the panel of SpongeBob sucking on a lemon was removed altogether.

File:1442BenjaminArcand.mp4

• File:1442 Nick Lauer boards 1.jpg
• File:1442 Nick Lauer boards 2.jpg

Deleted scenes

• Proposed intro scene for the episode, plussed by Nick Lauer.

• File:1442 Nick Lauer deleted scene 1.jpg
• File:1442 Nick Lauer deleted scene 2.jpg
• File:1442 Nick Lauer deleted scene 3.jpg
• File:1442 Nick Lauer deleted scene 4.jpg

Trivia

General

• The title card represents tongue prints.
• This episode premiered as part of the 2025 event "Friday Night Hits."
• Plankton breaks the fourth wall twice by looking at the camera.
• This is the fourth episode where SpongeBob is unaware that Plankton is in the same location as him, following "20,000 Patties Under the Sea," "Banned in Bikini Bottom," and "Free Samples."
• This is the fourth episode where SpongeBob's tongue is shown to be detachable, after "Karate Choppers," "Fools in April," and "The Main Drain."
• This episode marks the seventh instance of Plankton going inside SpongeBob's body. The first is "Plankton!," the second is "The Inside Job," the third is The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, the fourth is "House Worming," the fifth is "The Krusty Slammer," and the sixth is "Parasite Pals." Ironically, both this episode and "The Inside Job" are written by Luke Brookshier.

Episode references

• When Plankton is stuck to the glue and Karen pulls him out, his lower half is pink with underwear, like in "Single Cell Anniversary."
• One of the contestants in the chum-eating contest is the hillbilly who bought 20 chocolate bars to "make him sound smart" in "Chocolate with Nuts."

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Polish	Smak Planktona	The taste of Plankton
Russian	Вкус Планктона Vkus Planktona	A Taste of Plankton
Spanish	Sabor a Plankton	Taste of Plankton