34a. Welcome to the Chum Bucket

SlipperytheTotodile

The Pokemon Enthusiast
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9/10

I like this one a lot. I love the jokes, the plot is nice, but the real highlight is the song. It's heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time, and is my second favorite song in the series, right behind Gary Come Home. It shows that Mr. Krabs cares for SpongeBob, and doesn't just see him as a money-machine. Other than that, it's a pretty good episode. Not the absolute best, but it is what it is.

Big Pink Loser: (10/10)
Something Smells: (10/10)
Squidville: (10/10)
Imitation Krabs: (10/10)
Patty Hype: (10/10)
Christmas Who?: (9.5/10)
Shanghaied: (9.5/10)
Squids Day Off: (9.5/10)
Dying for Pie: (9/10)
Welcome to the Chum Bucket: (9/10)
MM&BB III: (9/10)
No Free Rides: (9/10)
Wormy: (9/10)
Your Shoes Untied: (9/10)
Survival of the Idiots: (8.5/10)
I'm Your Biggest Fanatic: (8.5/10)
Bossy Boots: (8.5/10)
The Smoking Peanut: (8.5/10)
Pre-Hibernation Week: (6.5/10)
Grandma's Kisses: (6.5/10)
Gary Takes A Bath: (5/10)
Life of Crime: (5.5/10)
Bubble Buddy: (4/10)
Squirrel Jokes: (3.5/10)
Dumped: (1.5/10)
I dont think this as a heartwarming episode when PLANKTON LITERALLY THREATENED SPONGEBOB TO CUT OUT HIS BRAIN
 

SlipperytheTotodile

The Pokemon Enthusiast
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Welcome to the Chum Bucket:
SpongeBob must work for Plankton after a card game between Krabs and the evil green bean. With nothing else to do, he must deal with working in a new frycooking fashion. This episode is very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very mean to SpongeBob.
1.7/10
I agree...
 

TheThomas5252

Baby Clam
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Welcome to the Chum Bucket is a bit of a weird episode to me, it has several jokes like most of pre movie, but it also feels a bit confusing in tone, like you have a sad song that we're supposed to take seriously, but then it shifts to SpongeBob torturing Plankton (which is funny but still a sudden change), I'd give it a 6/10 if for the jokes alone
 

SlipperytheTotodile

The Pokemon Enthusiast
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I dont like this episode because Plankton was a jerk! Plankton why did you threaten poor poor poor SpongeBob? I like the song though...

Rating: Bad episode

Rankings:
Dying For Pie (Golden)
Survival of the Idiots (Golden)
Shanghaied (Perfect)
Pressure (Perfect)
Big Pink Loser (Perfect)
No Free Rides (Amazing!)
MMABBIII (Delightful)
Christmas Who? (Sublime)
Imitation Krabs (Superb)
The Smoking Peanut (Awesome)
Squidville (Tolerant)
Squid's Day Off (Tolerant)
Life of Crime (Great)
Dumped (Great)
Something Smells (Polite)
Bubble Buddy (Polite)
Bossy Boots (Polite)
Gary Takes a Bath (Okay)
Your Shoe's Untied (Dull)
PreHibernation Week (Bad)
Welcome to the Chum Bucket (Bad)
Patty Hype (Sucky)
Wormy (Pathetic)
I'm Your Biggest Fanatic (Stupid)
Grandma's Kisses (Garbage)
Squirrel Jokes (Trash)
 

Pugs4Thugs

#1 SpongeBob Reviewer
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Am I the only one who feels like "Welcome to the Chum Bucket" is a special??? I always get that vibe. Maybe it's the song. It just feels longer than an 11-minute runtime. This has nothing to do with the review, other than sometimes making the episode feel like it drags out for no reason. I think it's because the first half of the episode feels like a lot of build up that the second half doesn't exactly deliver on (which is the point, SpongeBob is refusing to work for Plankton, which would've been what the first half was building up to).

Anyway, let's get to the bulk of this review. I like how this episode hints to a certain almost friendly relationship towards Mr. Krabs and Plankton (or at least a relationship built on mutual respect). I also really like the transition between the night and morning scene, I think that was very well done. This episode gets right into the plot in about a minute, which is always great to see in a short-segment show like SpongeBob SquarePants. Plankton is delightfully devious (or should I say...devilish?? Sorry, stuck in 2018) in this episode, breaking apart the tearful goodbye with glee, taking out SpongeBob's brain, the whole works.

And then of course we have the song, which is one of my absolute favorites in the show (definitely top 5, maybe even top 3 material). I have every line of it memorized, if that tells you anything (it doesn't, I have the lines memorized to many of the show's songs). The song is also a great way of moving the emotional stakes of the plot. The song closes out the episode's excellent first half.

The main issue with "Welcome to the Chum Bucket" is that it falls apart in the last act/second half. Seeing SpongeBob get increasingly selfish is entertaining at points, especially once Plankton gets fed up and SpongeBob "loses his brain privileges", but it's also very annoying to me almost as much as it is to Plankton, even if it is kind of funny, especially once the robot gets in on it. I go back in forth on whether I find it funny or annoying, as you can see. It depends largely on my mood. The SpongeBob Wiki says that this is a "trick" from SpongeBob, but based on the end of the episode, I really think this was genuine from him? Because that changes things if SpongeBob really is pulling something like we've seen in "April Fools" and will see in "SpongeBob Meets The Strangler". But I'm going with my own reading of the episode here, and I find this behavior annoying and largely not entertaining. Thankfully it exists mostly in montage form.

Things pick up again once SpongeBob returns to the Krusty Krab, and we get a good joke combining call-back with SpongeBob's relationship with Mr. Krabs (where just a glare from the latter makes SpongeBob switch up real quick). This is a great note to end the episode on too.

Because of all of this, "Welcome to the Chum Bucket" sits right in my "Great" tier, right at the edge of falling into "Good". The second half can just be painfully disappointing at times, so my mood is really what saves this episode from always being in the "Good" tier. It also helps that the first half is great and contains an excellent song.

Episode Tier: Great
Episode Score: 8/10
 

GetWelded

Welcome to the Chum Bucket #1 fan
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I dont like this episode because Plankton was a jerk! Plankton why did you threaten poor poor poor SpongeBob? I like the song though...

Rating: Bad episode

Rankings:
Dying For Pie (Golden)
Survival of the Idiots (Golden)
Shanghaied (Perfect)
Pressure (Perfect)
Big Pink Loser (Perfect)
No Free Rides (Amazing!)
MMABBIII (Delightful)
Christmas Who? (Sublime)
Imitation Krabs (Superb)
The Smoking Peanut (Awesome)
Squidville (Tolerant)
Squid's Day Off (Tolerant)
Life of Crime (Great)
Dumped (Great)
Something Smells (Polite)
Bubble Buddy (Polite)
Bossy Boots (Polite)
Gary Takes a Bath (Okay)
Your Shoe's Untied (Dull)
PreHibernation Week (Bad)
Welcome to the Chum Bucket (Bad)
Patty Hype (Sucky)
Wormy (Pathetic)
I'm Your Biggest Fanatic (Stupid)
Grandma's Kisses (Garbage)
Squirrel Jokes (Trash)
Plankton HAD A REASON to take SpongeBob's brain out (because he was being a jerk and it was funny). And, it backfired because Robot SpongeBob wouldn't make a Krabby patty for Plankton. I respect your opinion tho
 

SpongebobMaster

The Guy Who Reviews UHHHHH
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Why does Mr Krabs sound so weird? he sounds like Louis Armstrong (in the song)
 
Last edited:

Hugs4Softie

South Park Elementary Student of the Month
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Feb 19, 2024
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Minnesota
I've been waiting to review this one, I love this episode, in my top 10 for sure. It's commonly liked among the community, but I really like this one.

The beginning was great. It's fitting for Mr. Krabs. And it's actually a great Mr. Krabs moment, he's actually shown to care for SpongeBob unlike that one time when he sold SpongeBob for 62 cents. But he geniunely seems to care about SpongeBob, and not just because SpongeBob is the only reason his resturaunt up and running. It's a great start, I love Plankton's quote:

"What kind of cruel and heartless person would break up such a loving relationship? I would!" (I probably butchered that, I'm trying my best okay)

But then, I like "This Grill is not a Home" as a song, it was a good song. Reminds me of when I got moved to another lunch time in my school. Off topic, but I thought it'd be fun to bring up.
Why does Mr Krabs sound so weird? he sounds like Louis Armstrong
This made me audibly laugh btw.

And then there's the Plankton part, I like the Karen part with her suggestion and then Plankton saying the same thing a minute later about "compassion and understanding". As you may know, Plankton is my favorite. This was a great Plankton episode.

I loved when SpongeBob just became a spoiled brat, that part was really funny. "Nah, I don't really feel like it, why don't you ask me later, Planky?". And then how that transfered over to the robot too. "Get welded."

I found it funny that SpongeBob basically drove Plankton insane to the point where Plankton just gave him back to Krabs, and the ending was great too. (I really thought it was funny how SpongeBob looked when his brain got put back in, it was one of my pfp contenders actually).

10/10 Loved it!
 
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