Mid-Life Crustacean

"Mid-Life Crustacean" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season 3. In this episode, Mr. Krabs joins SpongeBob and Patrick for a night out in the town.

Characters

• K-OLD DJ ^{(heard only)}
• Eugene H. Krabs
• "You're Old" Singers ^{(heard only)}
  • Martin Olson ^{(main singer)}
• Pearl Krabs
• Jenny ^(mentioned)
• Scout ^{(single appearance)}
• Incidentals
  • Incidental 6
  • Incidental 13
  • Incidental 18
  • Incidental 25
  • Harold (Inc 36)
  • Tuck Tucker (Inc 37A)
  • Lou
  • Harold (Inc 40)
  • Incidental 41
  • Incidental 48
  • Incidental 49
  • Old Man Jenkins (Inc 80)
  • Incidental 81
  • Mabel (Inc 82)
  • Old Man Walker
  • Incidental 85
  • Old Man Jenkins (Inc 86)
  • Mary
  • Apollow
  • Incidental 91
  • Incidental 92
  • Incidental 93
  • Victoria Ellen
  • Incidental 102
  • Incidental 103
  • Stretch
  • Steve
  • Dale
  • Incidental 116
  • Incidental 151
  • Incidental 152
  • Incidental 153
• Patrick Star
• SpongeBob SquarePants
• Squidward Tentacles ^(cameo)
• Hot rod dude ^(debut)
• Hot rod chick ^(debut)
• Barnacle ^(mentioned)
• Robot rabbit ^(debut)
• Betsy Krabs
• Krabs Senior ^{(possible photo)}

Synopsis

The episode starts with Mr. Krabs feeling old as he struggles to get out of his hammock bed. He goes into his kitchen to find that Pearl has made him breakfast. Pearl reminds him to take his pill and Mr. Krabs asks her if she thinks he is old. To his dismay, Pearl says she does, but she seems fine with her father being her "old man." Later in the morning, he is walking along the street and again denies that he is old, but then discovers a boy-scout fish helping him walk. When Mr. Krabs tries to walk off, his arm comes off into the boy-scout's hands, and Mr. Krabs apologizes as he retrieves his arm.

File:Mid-Life Crustacean 013.png

"Open up, it's time for the pill!"

At the Krusty Krab, Mr. Krabs is feeling upset when he overhears Incidental 103 complaining that his Krabby Patty tastes funny. His mother, Incidental 48, tells him that it is "all old and dried out" in an insulting comparison to Mr. Krabs. Patrick enters the Krusty Krab, and SpongeBob yells at him from the kitchen, asking if he is ready for the big night out, and Patrick yells back saying he is. After Squidward yells at them to keep it down, they continue the conversation in the kitchen, where Mr. Krabs eavesdrops on them from the door to his office. Mr. Krabs asks them if he could come with them on their night out, but Patrick thinks he might cramp their "style" and he tests Mr. Krabs to see if he knows the "secret cool guy hand shake." It turns out he does, and Patrick says he is in.

At 8:01 PM, SpongeBob and Patrick arrive at Mr. Krabs' house as part of their "fashionably late" promise, ready for the big night out. They first go to The Wash! to watch their faces spin in the mirror reflection of a washing machine, but Mr. Krabs is not amused by this activity and wants to see more of the night life. The scene then changes to them doing many other bizarre activities in various settings such as at the highway, dentist, roof redoing, a game of Dungeons and Dragons in Old England, and library, none of which have yet succeeded in remotely amusing Mr. Krabs.

File:Mid-Life Crustacean 141.png

"Art thou feeling it now, Mr. Krabs?"

Finally, they are at a children's arcade called Bunny Buns, and SpongeBob once again asks if Mr. Krabs is feeling it. Multiple kids at once ask him this over and over, which results in Mr. Krabs getting furious and berating the incidentals for embarrassing him. He then chastises SpongeBob and Patrick, calling them 'lame' for taking him out on these bizarre occurrences that do not seem to live up to their promise of coolness. He then angrily decides to cancel the night and go home, but Patrick tries to change his mind by saying that he will miss out on the "Panty Raid," an occurrence in which the trio will be invading a woman's house at night to steal her underpants. It is at this moment that Mr. Krabs reconsiders and has finally found a highlight of his night out, promising to take back his comments about SpongeBob and Patrick being 'lame' if they succeed.

SpongeBob, Patrick, and Mr. Krabs arrive at a house, and are successful in obtaining an unspecified woman's underwear. However, they are caught red-handed when the woman turns on the light and catches the boys in the middle of the act, revealing her to be Mr. Krabs' mother, something SpongeBob didn't tell him because he didn't ask. As a result, Mr. Krabs is grounded for the remainder of the night and sent to his room, being assisted by the boy scout from earlier. SpongeBob apologizes for what happened, but Mr. Krabs forgives him, as being in his old bedroom made him feel younger. The camera pans to show Mr. Krabs' room as a child. After SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs say goodnight and SpongeBob starts to head home, Betsy orders him to turn off the lights and Mr. Krabs says, "Yes, Mommy." He then turns off the lights, ending the episode.

Production

Art

• Title card background.
  Title card background.
• File:MIDLIFE LIGHTs.jpg
• File:SB210-SC.067.png
• File:Wash bg mlc.jpeg
• File:Ride bg mlc.jpeg
• File:Bunny bg mlc.jpeg
• File:Bed bg mlc.jpeg

Storyboards

• File:GpSxkgVXoAAXVW2.png
• File:GpSxkgzXcAAiu4K.png
• File:GKcwcdaXoAA7xjR.jpg
• File:GnypipWUAA6Nqs.png
• File:GnyplRBWoAEYbEj.png
• File:GpM5r6nWwAAjE04.jpg

Model sheets

• File:Production pose - Pearl gives Mr Krabs the pill.jpg
• File:020 BOY SCOUT.png
• File:091 HOT ROD DUDE.png
• File:091 HOT ROD CHICK.png
• File:137 SB IN FANTASY GARB.png
• File:137 PATRICK IN FANTASY GARB.png
• File:137 MR. KRABS IN FANTASY GARB.png
• File:140 6 AND 25 AS DENTISTS.png
• File:182 MOMMA KRABS.png

Music

( ‣ ) Production music

( • ) Original music

( ◦ ) SpongeBob music

 ‣ Drunken Sailor (B) - Robin Jeffrey, Tim Laycock [Title card.]
 ◦ You're Old - Eban Schletter, Stephen Hillenburg [Plays on the radio.]
 ‣ Hawaiian Party - Peter Dennis [Breakfast.]
 ‣ The Tip Top Polka/The Cliff Polka - Chelmsford Folk Band [Krabs going to work.]
 ‣ Hawaiian Link (B) - Richard Myhill [Krabs sighs.]
 • Death Bell - Nicolas Carr [Cemetery.]
 ‣ Dramatic Cue (E) - Ronald Hanmer [Krabs runs away.]
 • Steel Licks 41 - Jeremy Wakefield [Exterior of the Krusty Krab.]
 ‣ Botany Bay (b) - Robert Alexander White [Old Krabby Patty.]
 ‣ Hilo Rag - Guy Fletcher ["Good morning, Krusty Krew!"]
 ‣ Police Car - Sam Spence ["Style!"]
 ‣ Unease - Dick Stephen Walter [Secret cool guy handshake.]
 • Steel Licks 22 - Jeremy Wakefield [8:01 PM.]
 • Steel Licks 40 - Jeremy Wakefield ["You're embarrassing me, Dad!"]
 ‣ Tympup A - Sammy Burdson, John Charles Fiddy [SpongeBob's bike.]
 • Steel Licks 54 - Jeremy Wakefield [Krabs in a wagon.]
 ‣ Gruesome - The Surfdusters ["Hey, you guys must be lost."]
 ‣ Konfetti - Claude Carrasu, Krys Moram, Jan Tyski [In the laundromat.]
 ‣ Psychedelic Guitar - Ian Henry Marsh, Phil Pickett ["Oh, yeah!"]
 ‣ Konfetti - Claude Carrasu, Krys Moram, Jan Tyski ["You guys want another rinse cycle?"]
 ‣ Ulk-Fox Nr. 2 - Gerhard Trede [Picking up trash.]
 ‣ Dombummel - Gerhard Trede [Bunny Buns.]
 ‣ Kamakani B - Kapono Beamer ["Lame?"]
 • Idea Sting - Nicolas Carr ["The what?"]
 ‣ Police Car - Sam Spence ["Not lame!"]
 ‣ Tomfoolery - David Snell [Panty raid.]
 ‣ The Plot Thickens - Dick Stephen Walter [Mama Krabs appears.]
 ‣ Drunken Sailor (B) - Robin Jeffrey, Tim Laycock [Krabs grounded.]
 ‣ Emotion Blues - Francois Fournet, Eric Gemsa [Ending.]

Release

Distribution

• This episode is available on the Sponge for Hire, Complete 3rd Season, First 100 Episodes, Double DVD Fun 2, The Ultimate SpongeBob Box Set, SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 5, Mighty Sporting of You, Complete Third Season, From the Beginning, Part 2, 3 DVD Pack, The SpongeBob SquarePants Collection, The SpongeBob SquarePants 8 Season DVD Collection, Favorite Episodes, 2-Season TV Pack, The Third & Fourth Seasons, SpongeBob on DVD, The Best 200 Episodes Ever, and The Best 300 Episodes Ever DVDs and on VideoNow.

Reception

• This episode and "The Great Snail Race" won a Golden Reel award in 2003 for Outstanding Music Editing in TV Animation.
  • This episode was also nominated for Outstanding Sound Editing in TV Animation.
• "Mid-Life Crustacean" was ranked #86 during the SpongeBob's Top 100 event in the UK and Ireland from June 4-8, 2012.

Trivia

General

• This episode and its sister episode were originally scheduled to premiere on Friday, November 22, 2002 in the United States, but reruns of "Wet Painters" and "Krusty Krab Training Video" aired in their place instead.
  • The episodes were rescheduled to air on Friday, December 20, 2002 in the United States, but reruns of "Sailor Mouth" and "Artist Unknown" aired in their place instead.
• The title card background is similar to those of "Shanghaied," "Club SpongeBob," and "Wet Painters."
• At the beginning of this episode, a song plays on the radio called "You're Old." It is sung by writer Martin Olson, who appears as the live-action chief of the I.J.L.S.A. in "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V," "Swamp Mates," and "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout."
• SpongeBob and Patrick's night-out activities:
  • Watch clothes get rinsed in the washer.
  • Pick up trash under a highway.
  • Go swimming in a wading pool.
  • Ride kiddie rides at the Barg'N-Mart.
  • Go to the dentist.
  • Fix a roof.
  • Play a fantasy role-playing game.
  • Go to the library.
  • Go to Bunny Buns.
  • Panty raid Mama Krabs' house.
• There are a few hints prior to SpongeBob and Patrick's night out that what they do are just normal everyday activities:
  • The "secret cook guy handshake" Patrick gives Mr. Krabs is just a regular friendly handshake.
  • When Mr. Krabs asks SpongeBob and Patrick to pick him up at 8:00, SpongeBob replies he and Patrick tend to be "fashionably late". They arrive at 8:01.
• A picture of Krabs Senior can be seen when Mr. Krabs tries to explain why he was going through his mother's drawer.
• This is the first episode where the Bikini Bottom Library appears.
• This is the last episode for two things:
  • The final episode where Paul Tibbitt voices Betsy Krabs. In future episodes, she is voiced by Sirena Irwin.
  • The last episode to premiere during Friday Night Nicktoons.
• During the Bikini Bottom's Most Wanted, this episode was paired up with "Doing Time."

File:The Great Snail Race and Gary in Love are available on SpongeBob Season 3 on American iTunes.png

"The Great Snail Race" repaired up with "Gary in Love" on season 3 on American iTunes.

File:SpongeBob SquarePants Episode 55 missing from Season 3 on iTunes.png

"The Great Snail Race" and "Mid-Life Crustacean" missing from season 3 on Canadian iTunes.

File:SpongeBob SquarePants Episode 55 still included on From the Beginning, Pt.2 on iTunes.png

"The Great Snail Race" and "Mid-Life Crustacean" are still included on the From the Beginning, Part 2 collection on iTunes in the United States and Canada.

File:Mid-Life Crustacean unavailable on SpongeBob Season 3 on Amazon Prime Video.png

"Mid-Life Crustacean" unavailable from season 3 on Amazon Prime Video.

• According to a Nickelodeon representative quoted in an IGN article on March 27, 2021, this episode has been confirmed to be pulled from further reruns on American television due to storyline concerns, likely because of the panty raid scene being considered a bad influence for young children that watch the program. Despite this, there have been other installments in the SpongeBob franchise with controversial jokes that aren't censored. The last time Nickelodeon USA aired this episode was on August 14, 2018. Although Nicktoons USA continued to broadcast this episode on occasion, the last time it was shown on the network was on February 25, 2021 during the Every SpongeBob Ever event.
  • This episode is currently missing from Paramount+ (formerly CBS All Access), though it was available for streaming prior to the service's rebranding on March 4, 2021. Its sister episode "The Great Snail Race" was also missing for a time, but has since been re-added by itself as a stand-alone episode. It was later added back on November 25, 2023, only to be removed again the same day.
    • However, it continued to air in the SpongeBob Universe live channel, along with its sister episode, until 2022, when the episode went out of rotation from the live channel.
      • By 2023, the episode was brought back on Amazon Prime Video, but only exclusively to the Prime version of Paramount+, until it was removed two days later.
  • This episode was available on season 3 and the Mighty Sporting of You collection as a purchase on American iTunes, but it was removed on March 27, 2021.
    • This episode is still available on the From the Beginning, Part 2 collection on iTunes in the United States and Canada.
  • This episode was available to stream on Amazon Prime Video until March 27, 2021, when it was removed from season 3.
    • Despite being banned, its sister episode "The Great Snail Race" would later be paired up with the season 7 episode "Gary in Love" on American iTunes and some streaming services.
  • In Canada, this episode was available on season 3 and the Mighty Sporting of You collection as a purchase on Canadian iTunes, but it was removed in August 2021. It is currently unknown if YTV is still airing this episode. YTV is owned by Corus Entertainment, the same company that runs Nickelodeon Canada and formerly ran Nick+ in Canada until August 31, 2022.
  • This episode is unavailable for purchase on Vudu in the United States.
  • The episode is available on the Google Play store in the US and Canada for purchase along with its sister episode "The Great Snail Race."
  • This episode is currently airing on the Spanish feed of Nickelodeon on Pluto TV in the United States.
  • This episode is still available on DVD releases.
  • In the UK and Ireland, this episode was still available to be purchased from Sky Store, but it was removed sometime in 2022 or 2023.
  • As a result of the pulling of the episode, this and "Kwarantined Krab" are the only two episodes so far that have been banned in the United States. This episode was banned due to being considered not kid-appropriate by Nickelodeon, likely due to the "panty raid" scene, and "Kwarantined Krab" was banned from The Complete Twelfth Season DVD and various countries for a while due to its plot being unintentionally similar to the COVID-19 pandemic.
    • Despite this, "Kwarantined Krab" eventually premiered in the United States on April 29, 2022.
    • This is also the first banned episode in the SpongeBob franchise, the second being "Kwarantined Krab."
  • Despite being banned in the US, it is still unbanned in several other countries:
    • MBC 3 (Arabia) aired this episode, but with the panty raid scene cut. Nicktoons Arabia airs this episode regularly with the panty raid scene left intact.
    • Nickelodeon Poland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Latin America, Scandinavia, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Central and Eastern Europe, Nicktoons Central and Eastern Europe, Russia (until it was closed down on December 14, 2022), Greece, and Israel still air this episode regularly during season 3 reruns.
      • This episode also airs regularly on MTV Germany and Comedy Central Germany.
    • India, Bangladesh, and Bhutan all air this episode uncut.
    • The Ukrainian television channel PLUSPLUS also airs this episode regularly during season 3 reruns.
      • However, this episode is missing on 1plus1.video, a Ukrainian video on demand service which is related to Paramount+.
    • As of September 2023, SkyShowtime in Nordic countries (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland) carries this episode as season 3 episode 15 on the service, paired with "The Great Snail Race." It is completely uncensored.
      • However, the episode title and description only refer to "The Great Snail Race."
      • Seasons 1 to 5 (including "The Great Snail Race"/"Mid-Life Crustacean") were later suddenly removed from SkyShowtime in Nordic countries somewhere around August 2024.
    • Indonesia also still airs this episode, but with some scenes removed.
    • On YOYOTV in Taiwan, the panty raid scene and ending are cut.
    • This episode stopped airing in the UK and Ireland after its ban. However, the UK and Ireland started rerunning this episode again occasionally starting on April 2, 2024 on Nicktoons with the only edit being the scene showing SpongeBob, Patrick, and Mr. Krabs watching a washing machine edited to slow down fast motion. Despite this, the panty raid scene is unedited. The episode has not aired in the UK and Ireland since July 25, 2024.

Cultural references

• This episode's title is a pun on the phrase "mid-life crisis."
• The scene where Mr. Krabs struggles to swallow a gigantic pill and sighs upon swallowing it is a reference to the phrase "a hard pill to swallow," which means a difficult truth to accept.
• "P and P," the game that SpongeBob, Mr. Krabs, and Patrick were playing, is a parody of Dungeons & Dragons.
• One of the locations SpongeBob and Patrick bring Mr. Krabs to is Bunny Buns, which is a parody of Chuck E. Cheese.

Errors

File:C.H. Greenblatt ender.jpg

C.H. Greenblatt ender.

• In the French dub, C.H. Greenblatt has the word "ender" after his name in the "written by" section of the credits.
  • It might be part of crew member Jay Lender's name that the editor forgot to delete.
• During the shot of the cemetery, the ice cream stand is not seen at the front of the line, but after he ran away, the stand was there.

File:Mid-Life Crustacean 047.png

Invisible bubble transition.

• During the scene transition from the ice cream stand to the Krusty Krab, bubble sounds can be heard, but no bubbles actually appear.

File:Mid-Life Crustacean 075.png

Patrick's "M" shaped eyebrows.

• When SpongeBob and Patrick say, "Style," Patrick's eyebrows are M-shaped (as they were in season 1 and early season 2) instead of the regular Z-shaped.
• During the "Panty raid" scene, Mrs. Krabs' house is first shown as blue.

File:Mid-Life Crustacean 184.png

Betsy Krabs' boxers.

• When Mrs. Krabs' bloomers are first seen during the panty raid, they are shaped like normal panties, but when Mr. Krabs pulls one out, it is instantly rather shaped like boxers.

File:Mid-Life Crustacean 193.png

Betsy Krabs with no hair.

• When Betsy says, "Go to your room, mister," her hair is missing, but when it zooms in, her hair is back when she grounds Mr. Krabs.

File:Vlcsnap-2021-04-17-14h28m29s778.png

The end credits from this episode, with an incorrect copyright year, during the December 7, 2020 airing on Nicktoons.

• In early airings, this episode had an incorrect copyright year of 2001 in the closing credits. Later airings (and the original print of this episode) have the correct date of 2002.
  • Until later airings up to February 25, 2021, the on-screen end credits also referenced the copyright year of 2001 as well.

Video

File:Nickelodeon - Friday Night Nicktoons Commercial Breaks (January 24, 2003)

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Finnish	Ikäkriisi	Midlife Crisis
French	Une nuit mouvementée	An Eventful Night
German	Einmal wieder jung sein	Being Young Again for Once
Hungarian	Kapuzárási pánik	Midlife Crisis
Italian	Una serata folle	A Crazy Evening
Japanese	私はクール Watashi wa kūru	I'm Cool
Russian	Ракообразное средних лет Rakoobraznoye srednikh let	Middle-Aged Crustacean
Spanish (Latin America)	Crustáceo maduro	Mature Crustacean
Spanish (Spain)	Un crustáceo de mediana edad	A Middle-Aged Crustacean