Eek, an Urchin!

Characters

• Template:Data:Links
• Eugene H. Krabs
• Squidward Tentacles
• Sheldon J. Plankton
• Karen Plankton ^{(mentioned; only heard)}
• Plankton's death robot Template:Debut
• Sea urchins
• King Neptune ^(mentioned)
• Template:Data:Links
  • Incidental 42
  • Incidental 13
  • Incidental 46
  • Incidental 14
  • Steve
  • Stretch
  • Charlie (Inc 23)
  • Unknown old fish Template:Single appearance
  • Gale

Synopsis

File:Eek, an Urchin! 049.png

The urchin.

The episode opens with SpongeBob cooking a Krabby Patty. When he pours ketchup on it, he accidentally gets some on the floor. He then proceeds to clean it up with a spray bottle and a cloth, but he ends up spraying himself in the face and drops the can of spray under the grill. SpongeBob goes to grab at the spray the first time but pulls out a skull. He throws it away and then he tries again, only to pull out a sea urchin. The urchin crawls around SpongeBob, and he tries to get Squidward to help him. Squidward eventually comes to the kitchen to see what is going on, only to find that the urchin is on his foot. Both SpongeBob and Squidward call Mr. Krabs for help, and Mr. Krabs enters the kitchen. He does not believe them at first, until he finds the urchin on his claw, and he jumps onto the grill along with SpongeBob and Squidward. Unfortunately for them, the grill is still on, and all of their feet get burned. SpongeBob, Squidward, and Mr. Krabs each jump into a bathroom stall to cool off their feet. The three try new ways to get the urchin out of the Krusty Krab. SpongeBob tries to catch it in a bucket but ends up getting smashed into the wall and ends up in the bucket himself. Mr. Krabs tries to hurt the urchin by smashing a broom on it, but Mr. Krabs gets beaten up in the process. SpongeBob then tells Squidward to stop the urchin before it gets into the dining room, but he only steps aside, allowing the urchin to pass by. The urchin causes trouble in the dining room by being on a Krabby Patty, being swallowed then coughed back out by a fish, and even has a lady eat off one of its quills. The urchin then goes back into the kitchen, much to SpongeBob, Mr. Krabs, and Squidward's reliefs. However, when SpongeBob mentions the urchin, the customers suddenly start running all over the place causing chaos.

Plankton, meanwhile, is heading up to the Krusty Krab with another plan at stealing the secret formula by using glasses as a disguise. However, he ends up being trampled by the customers and heads inside to see what is going on. Mr. Krabs is not happy to see him, as he states that they have enough pests already. Plankton is confused, until he looks over to see the urchin. Plankton jumps onto SpongeBob's face, expressing his disdain for them. He concludes that he cannot steal the secret formula with the urchin running around and promises that he will not steal the formula until after the urchin is caught. Mr. Krabs reluctantly agrees to the temporary truce, claiming it will take a pest to catch a pest. Plankton then calls Karen on his cell phone, telling her to send over his Death Robot. Then, after he calls Karen, the robot appears in the Krusty Krab, with Plankton saying that this is their champion. Mr. Krabs is angry, but Plankton says it is not in action mode yet. Plankton sets the robot to take out the urchin where it begins chasing it down. However, the robot viciously begins destroying everything in its path while trying to smash the urchin. The urchin eventually hides in Mr. Krabs' cash register, and when the Death Robot tries to attack the register, Mr. Krabs gets in the way. The robot accidentally rips off Mr. Krabs' shell and arms, then puts him back together. Mr. Krabs asks for the mallet from the robot, then starts to smash it over and over again, eventually turning it into a lunchbox. Mr. Krabs then calls for SpongeBob to open the register while he catches the urchin in the lunchbox. When SpongeBob opens the cash register, the urchin is seen eating Mr. Krabs' money. Mr. Krabs, furious, then begins to smash apart his cash register, hoping he got the urchin. However, the urchin is on his mallet, freaking out Mr. Krabs. Squidward then appears grateful because his prickly plant is safe. When Plankton walks beside the plant, SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs have an idea, much to Plankton's worry.

File:Eek, an Urchin! 150.png

Mr. Krabs and SpongeBob then start to create a cactus costume for Plankton, trying to make him look like the urchin. They also paint the costume blue and puts a pink bow on top, thus making Plankton look like a female sea urchin (even calling him Planktonella). Mr. Krabs then throws Plankton into the kitchen, hoping that he will try to lure the urchin out by charming it. Plankton walks around slowly until he finds the urchin. He works his charms, with the urchin actually falling in love with him. Things get too tense for Plankton after the urchin touches him, and Plankton ends up under the kitchen grill. Plankton then finds 100 more sea urchins that then proceed to chase after him. Mr. Krabs and SpongeBob then block off the hole with the cash register boat and board up the back door, preventing the urchins and Plankton from escaping. Plankton is soon taken by the urchins, asking for help. Squidward then wants to put an end to all of this and uses the thermostat to turn down the temperature in the kitchen, causing Plankton and the urchins to slow down. He turns it all the way down, causing them to freeze in place. SpongeBob is then ready with a trash can, with Mr. Krabs turning back up the heat, causing the urchins to defrost and fall into the trash can. Mr. Krabs then tells SpongeBob to take the urchins farther and farther away many times. SpongeBob then stops and releases the urchins into the Krusty Krab unknowingly. SpongeBob then walks off whistling, as the episode closes.

Production

A character design from this episode is dated May 1, 2012 in its metadata.

Model sheets

• File:SB921sc137 spongebob doctor scrubs.png
• File:SB921sc137 mr krabs doctor scrubs.png

Character design

• Designed by Virginia Hawes.

• Plankton frozen in an ice block with his urchin outfit
  Plankton frozen in an ice block with his urchin outfit

Release

Broadcast

• This episode was paired up with "Patrick-Man!" during the original airing, but has since been re-airing with "Squid Defense."

Distribution

Format	Title	Region
DVD	The Complete Ninth Season	United States, Australia
	It Came from Goo Lagoon	Europe, Australia, Japan, South Africa
Box set	The Next 100 Episodes	United States
	The Best 200 Episodes Ever	United States
	The Best 300 Episodes Ever	United States
Digital release	SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 15	Global
	SpongeBob SquarePants Has Hit Rock Bottom	Canada
	Bizarro Bikini Bottom	United States

Trivia

General

• This episode was originally supposed to premiere on October 28, 2012 at 7:30 PM, initially continuing the weekly premieres for the series on Sunday nights.
• This episode premiered the earliest in the day out of any episode in the series.
• This episode is called "Eek, an Urchin!," but some television guides mistakenly display the title as "Eek! An Urchin."
• The sea urchin in this episode is about the same size as Plankton.
• In this episode, the sea urchin is a reference to household cockroaches in the human world; most of the characters are afraid of the sea urchin, the sea urchin crawls fast like cockroaches, and the sea urchin lives in a dark place with its own kind like cockroaches.
• This is the third episode in which the Krusty Krab thermostat is used. The first was in "Krabs à la Mode," and the second was in "Planet of the Jellyfish."
• On a July 9, 2016 airing, the 16:9 HDTV/widescreen version of the theme song was shown with this episode and "Squid Defense" for the first time, being the first episode to use the HD intro.
  • The first new episode to feature the new HD intro was "Lame and Fortune."

Dub facts

• During a rerun of this episode in Japan on March 20, 2021, it was interrupted by the Earthquake Early Warning in the Tōhoku region of Honshu.

Errors

• When the urchin is being chased, it jumps on the soda dispenser, but when the fish pushes the trigger to dispense the soda, the urchin falls out even though it was on the dispenser, not in it.

File:Eek, an Urchin! 038.png

SpongeBob's right arm is missing.

• When SpongeBob, Squidward, and Mr. Krabs all jump into the toilets to cool off their feet (after being burned by the grill), SpongeBob's right arm is missing.
• When Plankton first enters the Krusty Krab and saw SpongeBob, Mr. Krabs, and Squidward together, they are all in front of the register and closer to the front door. When Plankton jumps onto SpongeBob's face after seeing the urchin, they are all suddenly beside the register and closer to the kitchen.
• When Plankton's robot first enters the Krusty Krab through the front door, the Chum Bucket cannot be seen.
• After Mr. Krabs destroys Plankton's robot with the mallet, he throws it away. When he sees the urchin in his register eating his money, he suddenly has the mallet again.
• Despite spray-painting the cactus after putting Plankton in it and him coughing, only the cactus becomes purple.
• When Mr. Krabs is boarding up the door to the kitchen, the thermostat is not seen. When Squidward appears again, the thermostat is there.
  • Also, after Squidward turned down the thermostat way down and Mr. Krabs and SpongeBob go into the kitchen, the door is not boarded anymore.
• When Mr. Krabs is turning the thermostat back up, a table (which Plankton was sitting on) is suddenly there.
• When Mr. Krabs is turning up the thermostat, Plankton, still with the female urchin suit, does not have lipstick on and the spines on his lower body have disappeared to make room for the blanket.
• When SpongeBob sprays his eyes with the spray, he throws it and the napkin he's holding, but when SpongeBob sees the spray rolling towards the grill, the napkin is back in his hands.
• At the end of the episode, the urchins returning to the Krusty Krab are not visible through the windows.

Video

File:SpongeBob SquarePants - Eek, an Urchin! Nickelodeon

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
French	Aaahhh, un oursin !	Aaahhh, a Sea Urchin!
Hebrew	איכס, קיפוד ים! ikas, kipud yim!	Yuck, Sea Urchin!
Italian	L'invasione di ricci	The Urchin Invasion
Russian	Морской ёж! Morskoy yozh!	A Sea Urchin!
Spanish (American)	Eek, ¡Un erizo!	Eek, an Urchin!
Spanish (European)	¡Qué horror, un erizo!	How Awful, an Urchin!