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Pablum Plankton

From SpongeBob Wiki

"Pablum Plankton" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season 15. In this episode, Plankton wins a "cutest baby" contest and becomes the face of a baby food brand.

Characters

Synopsis

File:Pablum Plankton 014.png
SpongeBob and Karen looking at Plankton's baby pictures.

Plankton is working in his lab when he overhears SpongeBob and Karen laughing loudly, distracting him. Angered, Plankton goes in to see that they are looking through his adorable baby photos. He confiscates the pictures out of embarrassment, and SpongeBob picks up one left behind, wanting to prove to Plankton that he was a cute baby.

A commercial for Baleen Baby, a brand of food for baby whales, is shown. It is then revealed that Plankton won their Cutest Baby Contest, with his image being put on the jars. Plankton refuses to listen and goes out to buy robot oil, where he sees everyone at the Barg'N-Mart being unusually nice to him and admiring him for something. Walking outside, he sees imagery of his baby pictures plastered and advertised everywhere. He returns to the Chum Bucket and yells at Karen for violating his privacy, where she explains it was SpongeBob's idea to send the pictures in.

File:Pablum Plankton 133.png
"Baleen Baby is Plankton!"

Plankton recruits SpongeBob to cover up all the Baleen Baby billboard and signs in town by painting over them. Then, they buy all the food and merchandise from the store, drive out into the desert, and bury it. They are approached by a mob of hungry whale babies, with Plankton telling SpongeBob to feed them to get them to go away. SpongeBob reads the label and sees that Baleen Baby is made of plankton, meaning the whales are trying to eat him. They run back throughout town, being chased by even more whales. The hypnotic song of the whales transforms SpongeBob into one as well.

Plankton barricades himself in the Chum Bucket and escapes into a giant barrel of chum. When SpongeBob falls in, he wakes up from his hypnosis. A baby whale retrieves Plankton from the chum and tries to eat him, but is disgusted by the taste and spits him out. Plankton leaves the Chum Bucket, where the Baleen Baby spokesperson gives him a huge sum of money for winning the contest. Before he accepts, the baby whales come out and say that baby plankton tastes like chum, making the spokesperson choose the second-best baby photos: Mr. Krabs', which causes him to be carried on the shoulders of his customers. SpongeBob explains that he also sent in Krabs' baby photos, specifically one of him at the beach being wedgied by a worm. Plankton is shocked by this, but finds it adorable, but not before being run over by a bus, which has a picture of baby Krabs on it advertising the baby food.

Production

Art of Chase Mack holding SpongeBob.
Art of Chase Mack holding SpongeBob.

This episode was in production in March 2024, as that was when Chase Mack would freelance on the series.[2]

This episode was confirmed by Cartoonlounge.de on August 4, 2024.[3]

Art

Background design

  • Art direction by Shane Richardson, layouts designed by George Nachev, painted by Amy Lewis.[4]
    • On April 8, 2025, the official SpongeBob SquarePants Instagram account uploaded a reel in collaboration with Amy Lewis, comparing the in-progress background paintings from this episode and its sister to the finished animation of their respective scenes.[4]
File:1445 and 1446 backgrounds reel.mp4

Character design

Storyboards

File:1445NickLauer3.mp4

Music

( ‣ ) Production music
( • ) Original music
( ◦ ) SpongeBob music

 ‣ Hula Festival - George Elliott [Title card.]
 • ? - Nicolas Carr [SpongeBob and Karen laughing.]
 • Sophisticated Conversation - Nicolas Carr, Daniel Stimac [Plankton's baby pictures.]
 • Lap Steel-spce_01 - Nicolas Carr [Karen spills coffee.]
 ‣ Buying Spree - William Loose [Baleen Baby commercial.]
 • Rocket Launch - Nicolas Carr ["Cutest baby" contest winner announced.]
 • Lopey Walk and Talk - Nicolas Carr, Daniel Stimac [Karen cheering.]
 ‣ Buying Spree - William Loose [Commercial continues.]
 ‣ Me For You - George Callert [Plankton at Barg'N-Mart.]
 ‣ Disastrous Event 2 - Harry Lubin [Plankton notices Baleen Baby ads.]
 ‣ Comedy Punctuations And Bridges 3 - Fredric Bayco [Plankton scolds Karen.]
 ‣ Comedy Punctuations And Bridges 4 - Fredric Bayco ["As much as I'd like to, Sheldon, I can't take credit for this one."]
 • Hello Blues - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield ["I did it!"]
 ‣ Comical Clowns - Ronald Hanmer [SpongeBob and Plankton covering the ads.]
 • ? - Nicolas Carr [Transition to next scene.]
 ‣ Bobmatisme - Achille Alberto Scotti [SpongeBob and Plankton buy all the baby food.]
 • ? - Nicolas Carr [Transition to next scene.]
 • Patchys Parched Blues - Nicolas Carr [In the desert.]
 ‣ ? [Baby whales appear.]
 • New Vibe Hits - Nicolas Carr ["Gulp? What the heck is gulp?"]
 • ? - Nicolas Carr [Baleen Baby is actually 100% plankton.]
 ‣ ? [SpongeBob grabs Plankton.]
 ‣ Pursuit - Wilfred Burns [SpongeBob and Plankton run away/Plankton runs to the Chum Bucket.]
 • Hot Steel and Slide Licks 35 - Jeremy Wakefield ["Ew, chum!"]
 ‣ Hawaiian Party - Peter Dennis [Plankton covered in chum.]
 ‣ Buying Spree - William Loose ["I'd know that heinie anywhere!"]
 • Salty Squid Jig 1 - Michael Bolger, Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, James King [Ending.]

Trivia

General

File:SB1445-316a OG title.png

Episode references

  • The baby Plankton design was first used in "Friend or Foe."
  • This episode makes a reference to "Plankton's Intern" where Pearl claims that plankton is considered to be baby food for whales.

Cultural references

  • The "cutest baby" contest and Baleen Baby reference the real-life baby food brand, Gerber.
  • The whale baby in the commercial is named Moby, referencing the 1851 novel Moby Dick.
  • A baby whale in a stroller imitates the 1963 cartoon character, Rat Fink.
  • A striped RV with two chairs set up in front of it can be spotted in the background where SpongeBob and Plankton are burying Baleen Baby in the desert. This is a reference to the 2008 crime drama series Breaking Bad.
    • Additonally, this is the first time an adult television series has been referenced in the franchise.
  • Plankton shouting "Baleen Baby is Plankton!" references the line "Soylent Green is people!" from the 1973 film, Soylent Green, where a brand of food being made from humans is a plot point.
  • The image of baby Mr. Krabs is based on an ad for Coppertone sunscreen.
  • This episode's title is a reference to Pablum, a processed cereal for infants.

Videos

Names in other languages

Language Name Meaning
Polish Amciu Plantkon Sugar Sweet Plankton
Russian Питательный Планктон
Pitatel'nyy Plankton		 Nutritious Plankton
Spanish (Latin America) Pablum Plankton Pablum Plankton

References

  1. ↑ Nickelodeon UK - May 7, 2025
  2. ↑ Chase Mack on Instagram - "beyond extra ecstatified to announce..."
  3. ↑ Pablum Plankton (Episode 316a) - SpongeBob SquarePants - Cartoonlounge
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 SpongeBob SquarePants on Instagram - "we still can’t get over the artistry..."
  5. ↑ Dave Cunningham on Bluesky - "Prelim sketch for baby Plankton..."
  6. ↑ Nick Lauer on Instagram - "Drawings from recent SpongeBob episodes 🫧"
  7. ↑ Nick Lauer on Instagram - "some Rat Fink action from..."
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