The Great Patty Caper (Season 7, Episode 17)
Original Airdate: November 11 2010
Episode 275 in standard order, Episode 280 in airing order
Plot: SpongeBob’s tasked with getting the secret formula from a secure vault via train, with Plankton and Patrick in tow (guess which one’s the greater threat)
Written by Casey Alexander, Zeus Cervas, Steven Banks and Dani Michaeli
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Title Card Music: Salty Squid Jig
Out of all the Season 6-7 specials, this seems to have been the only one that left a positive impression on me. In fact, the startling revelation they could still pull off 22 minute stories single-handedly earned this episode a 9/10! While I wouldn’t hand this rating out like candy today, it speaks volumes about how I was still willing to give Season 7 a chance when it did something good. Now my thoughts on it have become a bit more mixed. It’s definitely around that Ugh zone where I remember it being a lot better, but that doesn’t mean it completely stinks upon more recent viewings.
The story starts with the Krusty Krab running out of patties, and SpongeBob making a big deal out of it as per usual. Mr Krabs manages to calm him down, and gets him to help with making a new batch of Krabby Patty mix. For the first time in the show’s history, we’re given a few hints as to what the secret formula contains- flour and barnacle shavings, but the duo can’t remember if the next ingredient is sea salt or turmeric. It’s rather exciting to see them list a few ingredients, potential or otherwise, without making that big a deal out of it, in polar contrast to Truth or Square. The opportunity to list off more of the formula is cut short however when they discover Plankton trying to take it from the safe via rocket, but he’s quickly thwarted. If I were him, I’d have just taken it out of the bottle and read it by now in these sorts of close shaves.
Realising the formula’s no longer safe in the Krusty Krab, Mr Krabs takes the initiative to store it away in a secure vault halfway across the world, without even reading it to make sure he and SpongeBob had the right ingredients in an admittedly funny realization gag. Knowing the fate of the Krusty Krab rests in the now far away formula, SpongeBob promises he’ll retrieve it. It’s a shame he’s going to have a pretty hard time though, considering he’s bringing Patrick along and is planning on going by train to this far-off vault. Before they head off however, Mr Krabs hands SpongeBob the key to its safe, introducing the audience to a symbol of SpongeBob’s competence- if he can keep the key safe, he’s a good employee. If not, well, we’ve got 22 minutes to fill, we can sneak in some Agatha Christie parodies.
Unbeknownst to them, Plankton’s sneaking aboard, even if he has a rough landing a couple times. They’re introduced to the train’s bellboy and their fellow passengers, a few of which don’t look like the friendliest folk. SpongeBob tries to gloat about the key again, but find it missing from his pocket, providing them with a mystery. But what will be the twistery? Yeah, this episode has a couple names, including Mystery With a Twistery and Plankton Chugs Along, but they stuck with the one that sounds almost exactly like a previous episode name for some baffling reason. I’m not fine with any of these names personally, as the following few minutes are the only time a real mystery is a part of the episode.
Intermixed somewhere in this turmoil is a scene of the Krusty Krab descending into chaos, as the Krustomers are fed up with waiting and Squidward wants SpongeBob to be back as soon as possible. First thing wrong with this scene, why didn’t Mr Krabs just close the restaurant for a couple days? I’m sure that wouldn’t be too hard, and it’d save the Krustomers from getting angry. Second, if I hear a crowd chant “We want Krabby Patties!” one more time, I’m going to celebrate Go Jump Off a Cliff Day the next chance I get. I’m just glad this is the only really pointless detour in this story, which for a special this far into the show’s lifespan, is quite an achievement.
Back at the now-halted train, SpongeBob tries to emulate the accusation scene in mystery stories by pointing to the people he thinks are the guiltiest, but ends up solving crimes he didn’t know were happening. For instance, the lady and the baby she’s carrying around are really 3 evil triplets stealing diamonds, which despite their gross appearances, is a decent payoff that makes a bit of sense. However, it turns out Patrick was using the key to clean his teeth all along, and while this may lead to some The Card flashbacks for more sensitive fans, I see it as an unpredictable explanation that takes advantage of Patrick as a character, so it works well as a mystery.
While SpongeBob, Patrick and Plankton are later stowed away in a tight place, Plankton kicks the other two out the window and steals the key, which is his own words, was too easy. This results in a pretty long chase scene that takes up the entirety of the third act, where SpongeBob and Patrick try to get back on the train and retrieve the key. You get a couple awesome/funny moments, like SpongeBob turning into a paraglider to float down to the train from a cliff, and the emergency helpline for the train being destroyed by the train. However, Patrick only being used as a tool for bad luck isn’t funny the third or fourth time he screws something up. Sure him breaking the brakes is a funny play on words, but they should’ve quit the joke while they were ahead.
They manage to stop the head of the train before it destroys an old folks’ home (which seems to be a mark of property damage in this show),
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and turn around to get back to the vault that the formula’s contained within. Unfortunately, they’re too late, as both Plankton and Mr Krabs are already there. Although we get some flavoured dialogue coming from them, it seems like an abrupt ending to quite an awesome third act, what with everyone conveniently meeting up in one place and a joke about Mr Krabs having to pay for the train crashing into the vault. It all seems like an odd way to end the special, but it gets even more odd when we go 75 years into the future and see SpongeBob telling this story to his grandson. I like the idea of SpongeBob telling a daft story like this to his offspring, especially as a quick joke where you don’t need to question much about his future, and it at least sends the special out on a good note.
Every once in a while, you’ll get a joke that doesn’t work, like Patrick making the situation with the head of the train worse just by existing, or SpongeBob’s constant mistaking of a bellboy for a butler, both of which weren’t very funny to begin with, but outstay their welcome. I’m glad to say I laughed at most of the jokes however, like SpongeBob and Mr Krabs trying to remember the mnemonic for the secret formula, their slow and painfully realistic acknowledgement that the formula is now far away when they get back to work on the ingredients, the old people playing cards with one of them trying to cheat, this episode’s filled with some rather amusing gags. It’s always good to see a special where it seems they had dozens of jokes to tell, as opposed to the others where they can barely fill a standard episode. Basically, it’s mostly good stuff here.
This is another unfortunate case of a special not offering much. Sure the designs for some of the buildings are nice, but my own major highlights are one positive and one negative. To get the negative out of the way, the triplets are rather gross before you know who exactly they are, and I don’t find the stinky diaper to be a mature joke at all. For its brief appearance and how little it contributes, it’s far from being Rock-a-Bye Bivalve levels of funny. The on positive I can give to the episode is the design of the train. Sure it isn’t breathtaking, but the vintage aesthetics make it look pleasing, and tie into the ending joke of this all taking place years ago.
Characterization in this episode is pretty standard as far as SpongeBob goes, but that isn’t really a bad thing. SpongeBob himself has the responsibility of keeping the key safe, sure, but they never treat it as an arc for him or anything, the key’s percieved as a macguffin for most of the story. Patrick is a little subpar in terms of being comic relief, but the only real damage he does is in a chase scene where he doesn’t need to add much tension. The feud between Mr Krabs and Plankton in the climax is pretty fun, and it feels like a reward for sitting through so many mediocre side characters.
Again, I feel like I should stress it wasn’t the characters that made this episode worthwhile, it was the story and jokes that ultimately made this the best SpongeBob special since Friend or Foe. I feel like a heist story was a good fit and a logical step forward as far as Plankton plots went, and the comedy can occasionally give me something I’ll remember fondly. Don’t get me wrong, it has its downsides, like how uninteresting the characters are and how you can’t seperate this from your standard episode excluding running time, but as far as SpongeBob specials for the previous 3 years go, this felt like a breath of fresh air in comparison.
Final rating: Average 6/10 (flawed but not that bad)
Chum Bucket Supreme < The Great Patty Caper < A Life in A Day
Question of the Day: Do you want Krabby Patties?
Join me tomorrow for an episode that should stay buried in obscurity. Until then,
play me out Thomas.
:sbthumbs: