The Algae's Always Greener (Episode)

The Algae's Always Greener
© Viacom
Episode No.:	41a
Season:	3/2001
Airdate:	March 22, 2002
Previous Episode:	Sandy, SpongeBob, and the Worm
Next Episode:	SpongeGuard on Duty
Characters	Voice actors
Sheldon J. Plankton	Doug Lawrence
SpongeBob SquarePants	Tom Kenny
Squidward Tentacles	Rodger Bumpass
Mr. Krabs	Clancy Brown
Holographic Meatloaf

Info

Characters

Sheldon J. Plankton
- Mr. Plankton (debut)
SpongeBob SquarePants
- Alternate-Universe SpongeBob
Karen
Old Man Jenkins
Mr. Krabs
- Alternate-Universe Mr. Krabs (debut)
Tom
Fred
Bikini Bottomites
Pearl Krabs (mentioned)
- Pearl Plankton (debut)
Nancy
Harold
Squidward Tentacles
- Alternate-Universe Squidward (debut)

Plot

At the Krusty Krab, Old Man Jenkins grabs a bottle of ketchup and heads to a table. Since he is old, he accidentally shoots it at a wall. Plankton is inside a capsule that is inside the bottle of ketchup, and doesn’t expect this. He has been fired, through the wall, and landed in Mr. Krabs office. Mr. Krabs throws him back to the Chum Bucket, and he tries to think of a new plan. Karen insists that he use the machine he made last Tuesday. So he uses the machine to swap lives with Mr. Krabs (and gets rid of Mr. Krabs), then he wakes up in Mr. Krabs' desk. There is a name plate reading Mr. Plankton, and there is a photo of him with Mr. Krabs' teenage daughter, Pearl. He only cares about the Krabby Patties, and neglects everyone else. SpongeBob is promoted to co-cashier, where he tears the restaurant down. Squidward is at the grill and makes horrible garbage burgers, because he says he likes his life to be a little less yellow (without SpongeBob). Then, Pearl rushes into the Krusty Krab, and she asks Plankton to have some allowance.Plankton gives her only 1 dollar, and Pearl cries and cries until Plankton swallows all the tear water, then Nat presses hard on Plankton and tells him SpongeBob and Squidward gave him a nasty patty and a large-sized soda ("I soiled the name of the Krusty Krab! Soiled it! Soiled it!" SpongeBob says). Then, just as Plankton gets ready to snap, an alarm goes off, and the naked Mr. Krabs (who is now playing Plankton's role as the villain), now named "Krabs", comes in, destroying the restaurant and trying to steal the Krabby Patty formula. SpongeBob shoots a bikini at Krabs, and he must throw the Krabby Patty back. Then, SpongeBob and the customers have a "victory screech," and Krabs says that he'll come back tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day, and so on (even repeating "And the next day..." on the telephone to the point where Plankton screams). Plankton rips out his Mr. Krabs uniform to reveal a button strapped to his waist, and presses the button to go back to the present time in real life, and eats Holographic Meatloaf.

Trivia/Goofs

The title is a parody of the sayings "The Grass Is Always Greener on the Other Side of the Hill" or "The Grass Is Always Greener on the Other Side of the Fence."
A live shrimp is featured in this episode when Mr. Krabs says "So long, shrimp!" before launching Plankton.
The patty that Plankton takes a closer look at resembles the nasty patty from the episode: Nasty Patty.
It seems that although Plankton had switched lives with Mr. Krabs, the restaurant is still called the Krusty Krab and the burger is still called the Krabby Patty.
The quote Plankton says to Karen before he switches lives with Mr. Krabs ("A rolling stone gathers no algae") is similar to an old saying, "A rolling stone gathers no moss."
When SpongeBob says "he is around here somewhere" the captions read "he's around here somewhere."
Plankton can afford holographs but not food.
This is the first time Mr. Krabs is completely naked. The second time will be in the episode Best Frenemies.
Several lines are deleted in the comic version:
- "Ouch."
- "No..."
- "Ahh."
- "Corporate casual!"
- "But I've never reviewed anything, except for those foreign exercise videos my cousin sent me."
- "Oh, please sir! I wanna make you so happy and proud!"
- "What?"
- "The sauce."
- "So have you two known each other or what?"
- "Hope you like gray."
- "In a cosmic sort of way, yes."
- "Well, Mr. Funny Man, is this how you get your sick kicks?"
- "I tried, Mr. Plankton, I really did."
- "Where's the off-button on this thing?"
- "I don't understand. Is there a gas leak in here?"
A deleted scene takes place after Plankton goes back to his regular life; the other universe characters remark that Mr. Plankton needs help and has become a nut job.