222b. Teacher's Pests

THIS EPISODE WAS SO AMAZING OH MY GOOOOD!

But seriously though this felt like a breath of fresh air. It's not everyday that I get to see a Mr. Krabs and Plankton-centric episode without the formula or money being involved. Just wow. At first I actually wasn't too excited about this one because I thought it was just going to be a rehash of Tutor Sauce. Boy, was I wrong. This episode was original, creative, energetic, and overall just great. THIS is what I expect of a season 11 episode. I liked the idea of Mr. Krabs and Plankton being in Boating School. I liked all the jokes, especially the part where Krabs and Plankton fight over a seat, the last minute was exceptional, and everyone was in character. Teacher's Pests is DEFINITELY up there with other great post-sequel episodes like Patrick! The Game, Mimic Madness, and Mermaid Pants. 10/10.
 
This episode was actually great and probably perhaps the best Season 11 episode yet

The ending saves it :P

10/10
 
Wow, where do I begin?

This is a really, really really good episode. Like, "I'm debating if this is a 10/10 episode" kind of good. The character interactions with Mr. Krabs, Plankton, SpongeBob, and Mrs. Puff are all pretty hilarious, and it's really fun to have an episode built around their rivalry without the formula in play. I love the sense of escalation it creates, and actually having SpongeBob be a straight man of sorts to Krabs and Plankton's antics. The animation is especially fun here, but Plankton and Krabs constantly trying to one-up each other is just a delight to watch. From Krabs shaving while driving, to Plankton just owning a tank he casually takes on the road, to SpongeBob bursting through the movie screen, to the nuclear explosion at the end, the gags in this episode hit fast and hard, and this would easily take its spot as the best Season 11 episode, if not for another particular favorite of mine, which they just so happened to pair this one with! How delightful!

So with little else to say... I'm gonna go slide this the perfect score. I don't hand it out frequently, but if I have to stop to think about considering the score, chances are it's worth it. This is an episode I nearly immediately rewatched, and had me laughing hard constantly.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS: 10/10

I did notice that re-used animation, though. Not sure if it was intentional or not, but I noticed it.
 
Ben Gruber, you finally did it! After writing weaker and weaker scripts with characters acting like their post-movie selves (and very out of character most of the time for post-sequel era standards) and fast pacing, you finally made an episode after Unreal Estate that feels close to classic era. Though I for applaud to Gruber for writing tons of different subjects instead of relying on the same type of plots. After making episodes focusing on SpongeBob and Squidward, Plankton, two Krusty Krab themed, a King Neptune episode, a clam fest and a Larry story, he comes up with a boating school plot. Now I hope he can do a Patrick and Sandy episode before he leaves the show. Anyway, this is such a great and hilarious Gruber-written episode of SpongeBob. I'm relieved that he wrote another Plankton episode that doesn't had him get after the secret Krabby Patty formula. I mean, it's another Krabs vs Plankton competition episode, but putting them at boating school was a nice plot device. It looks like Sandy is next, if that episoder ever happens (Squidward went there twice and Patrick attended in season 3). My only flaws with this episode is a few jokes - of course this is Gruber's bread and butter - can get a little too extreme for my likings and sometimes loud. There's also a few predictable moments, making it slightly worse than KPCF. But luckily the characters are NORMAL, and not the exaggerated characterization they had in the certain episodes. Even Gruber managed to make the pacing normal and not the Mighty Magiswords-esque pacing we've been seeing in his episodes. This overall a GREAT episode of the 11th season, which is already looking to be a great season. Most jokes hit and the funniest ones were the instruction video (it's basically Boat Smarts 2.0) and that ending. I did not see it coming. If you didn't know there's callbacks and they were welcome here. Especially the good noodles. Anyway, that's all I gotta say about this episode.
 
Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh............


There's no excuse, Krabs and Plankton are terribly written in this episode.

So the plot of this episode is a relatively simple one. Krabs and Plankton are constantly battling each other when they're both forced to attend Boating School. It's like...Boating Buddies if...it had good pacing...but even weaker dialogue...

The premise of this episode isn't exactly a bad one. An episode in which two enemies attempt to be better than one another at a goal can be done right. Just look at the Fry Cook Games, that's one of my favorite episodes in the series. But what this episode fails at is picking the right characters to place in this scenario. I'd give it a pass if the main conflict revolved around Plankton and Krabs trying to outwit each other in different attempts to prove whose the better driver (Since they both consider each other lousy drivers at the start of the episode), but no! Their actions have no proper motivations! Plankton just acts completely out of character, like an immature kid in elementary school. If there was a reason for Plankton to act this way I'd understand, but there's no explanation as to why he's so out of character! Salsa Imbecillicus had an excuse for the duo to act like kids, since their knowledge was stripped away from them. It was interesting to see how they responded to one another as if they're totally different people (A similar comparison being Rick and Morty's interactions in Morty's Mind Blowers, and even in Rest and Ricklaxation. They acted like completely different people, yes, but there was a reason why they're acted different. They were stripped away of their personality, whereas in this case Plankton and Krabs' personality just completely alter for no given explanation. Maybe Plankton's want for domination in the class motivates Krabs to go beserk and challenge him, and even then there's no excuse for Plankton to do half the things he does in this episode, especially in that chair sequence, ooh, that drives me nuts).

These two were written more like ignorant TTG characters, especially after they both crash into each other for the final time. Krabs' simple agreement with Plankton sounds completely like Cyborg from TTG, completely differing from how Mr. Krabs should react. Again, there is no explanation for why these two act the way they do. Plankton wants to be a pain in the butt, but it's not even the type of pain Plankton usually is! Plankton acts like Patrick at his worst in this episode, not at all like the calm and sophisticated evil genius he is. There's really no excuse for how lazy these two were written. The way I see it, they should've picked two other characters. How about Bubble Bass and Squidward? This would a perfect character team-up to make this episode work! Bubble Bass could fill in Plankton's spot, and drive Squidward over the edge into Krabs' spot, and have to two constantly try to one-up one another out of pure hatred. Yeah, this idea could severely screw up, but it'd make more sense than this team-up!

The only actual good character in this episode is Mrs. Puff. She is perfectly in character in this episode, and even gets out a few laughs (Especially the Mega-Dose prescription line, that was a hilariously dark and twisted line). SpongeBob is likable enough in this episode, though he's definitely not as entertaining as Puff is.

There are definitely a lot of jokes in this episode that are decent to say the least, like the gag with Krabs shaving while driving, but there are a few really funny gags like the one with the prisoners in the car. A lot of the jokes rely on Plankton and Krabs angry at each other, which I've already expressed my frustration about. The main climax of the episode, involving the two racing each other in the cars did have some decent visual gags, especially the one with Krabs' car jumping off it's wheels, but for the most part, it felt lack-luster. The ending had serious SquidBob TentaclePants vibes. It wasn't really needed in this episode, but since it is paired with a Halloween episode, I can give it more of an excuse compared to SquidBob.

Overall, it's a Bad Episode.

I give it a 4.2/10
 
McSpook said:
These two were written more like ignorant TTG characters, especially after they both crash into each other for the final time. Krabs' simple agreement with Plankton sounds completely like Cyborg from TTG, completely differing from how Mr. Krabs should react.
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I mean it was written by a TTG writer so..........


Anyway though, I don't see how they were OOC. Mr. Krabs and Plankton have always been rivals, of course they were going to act that way to each other.
 
Wintermelon43 said:
I mean it was written by a TTG writer so..........


Anyway though, I don't see how they were OOC. Mr. Krabs and Plankton have always been rivals, of course they were going to act that way to each other.
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Yeah, it makes sense they acted like that since a TTG writer wrote the episode, but he's done such a great job retaining the style of SpongeBob's writing in his past episodes that I felt as though it was necessary to critique this, making a comparison to his work on TTG.

As for Krabs and Plankton always being rivals, yes it's expected for the two to not get along. However, the way they don't get along in this episode is a big derailment from how they should've acted in this scenario. Their hatred for each other should've been presented in a more subtle way, because they're adults, not children. They're not SpongeBob and Patrick who get into childish fights/battles, they've been through plenty of feuds in the past where they never seemed to break the boundaries of their mature nature. Plankton especially would never act the way he does in this episode. As I said, he would've handled the situation in a sophisticated manner, bating Krabs by driving him nuts in more sublime ways, in order to make Krabs look bad, thus allowing him to be given the respect of Puff as the good student. He'd take advantage of Krabs' more brutal nature, he wouldn't act out like did in this episode. It should've been a battle of wits (Like the beginning of Plankton Retires), rather than the two yelling at each other, and attempting to harm one another physically.
 
McSpook said:
As for Krabs and Plankton always being rivals, yes it's expected for the two to not get along. However, the way they don't get along in this episode is a big derailment from how they should've acted in this scenario. Their hatred for each other should've been presented in a more subtle way, because they're adults, not children. They're not SpongeBob and Patrick who get into childish fights/battles, they've been through plenty of feuds in the past where they never seemed to break the boundaries of their mature nature. Plankton especially would never act the way he does in this episode. As I said, he would've handled the situation in a sophisticated manner, bating Krabs by driving him nuts in more sublime ways, in order to make Krabs look bad, thus allowing him to be given the respect of Puff as the good student. He'd take advantage of Krabs' more brutal nature, he wouldn't act out like did in this episode. It should've been a battle of wits (Like the beginning of Plankton Retires), rather than the two yelling at each other, and attempting to harm one another physically.
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It's probably an irony. Two adults began to behave like children in class.
 
Klu said:
It's probably an irony. Two adults began to behave like children in class.
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If it was irony, I think it should've had more of a proper build-up, like New Student Starfish had. Jumping right into the chaos definitely weakened their roles in the episode.
 
McSpook said:
Yeah, it makes sense they acted like that since a TTG writer wrote the episode, but he's done such a great job retaining the style of SpongeBob's writing in his past episodes that I felt as though it was necessary to critique this, making a comparison to his work on TTG.

As for Krabs and Plankton always being rivals, yes it's expected for the two to not get along. However, the way they don't get along in this episode is a big derailment from how they should've acted in this scenario. Their hatred for each other should've been presented in a more subtle way, because they're adults, not children. They're not SpongeBob and Patrick who get into childish fights/battles, they've been through plenty of feuds in the past where they never seemed to break the boundaries of their mature nature. Plankton especially would never act the way he does in this episode. As I said, he would've handled the situation in a sophisticated manner, bating Krabs by driving him nuts in more sublime ways, in order to make Krabs look bad, thus allowing him to be given the respect of Puff as the good student. He'd take advantage of Krabs' more brutal nature, he wouldn't act out like did in this episode. It should've been a battle of wits (Like the beginning of Plankton Retires), rather than the two yelling at each other, and attempting to harm one another physically.
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Pretty much everyone acts that way in boating school.

I didn't realize either of them acting differantly than usual either, idk, I'd kinda expect them to be like this.
 
McSpook said:
If it was irony, I think it should've had more of a proper build-up, like New Student Starfish had. Jumping right into the chaos definitely weakened their roles in the episode.
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SpongeBob and Patrick are also friends so it'd take longer for them to grow animosity. Mr. Krabs and Plankton hate each other. Unless there's something in the beginning of this episodes that contradicts that,
 
Honest Canadian Cartoon said:
SpongeBob and Patrick are also friends so it'd take longer for them to grow animosity. Mr. Krabs and Plankton hate each other. Unless there's something in the beginning of this episodes that contradicts that,
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I guess so, but I personally think their hatred was expressed in too much of an extreme manner. The conflict should've involved the two outwitting each other, thus allowing them to reach their breaking point at the climax to allow the extreme behavior represented in this episode.


Wintermelon43 said:
Pretty much everyone acts that way in boating school.

I didn't realize either of them acting differantly than usual either, idk, I'd kinda expect them to be like this.
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I don't blame them for being angry at each other, they do have a right to be angry at each other. But, the tipping point for me is when Plankton was trying to defend their actions after the climax, saying they should at least get a star for not getting injured at all, with Krabs agreeing with a smirk on his face that really bugs me.
 
McSpook said:
I guess so, but I personally think their hatred was expressed in too much of an extreme manner. The conflict should've involved the two outwitting each other, thus allowing them to reach their breaking point at the climax to allow the extreme behavior represented in this episode.




I don't blame them for being angry at each other, they do have a right to be angry at each other. But, the tipping point for me is when Plankton was trying to defend their actions after the climax, saying they should at least get a star for not getting injured at all, with Krabs agreeing with a smirk on his face that really bugs me.
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Well yeah, they wanted the star, of course they were going to say that. It's not like they were being good or anything, but they wanted the star so they were trying to convince her to give them one.
Honest Canadian Cartoon said:
SpongeBob and Patrick are also friends so it'd take longer for them to grow animosity. Mr. Krabs and Plankton hate each other. Unless there's something in the beginning of this episodes that contradicts that,
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There's not, it starts with Mr Krabs and Plankton doing basically the same thing as they do at boating school.
 
This episode shined over it's sister episode. The whole premise was fresh, and the Krabs-Plankton rivalry took place OUTSIDE The Krusty Krab or The Chum Bucket, and it was done right. I also like the supporting characterization of Mrs. Puff and SpongeBob (Mrs. Puff not having any of the two's nonsense, SpongeBob trying to stay out of it, but making sure nothing worse happens). The music is great, the visuals are strong, and the ending paying off to it's sister episode (which you rarely see in cartoons). It's all great. In fact, it might be a bit better than "Tutor Sauce".

9.4/10
 
This is definitely one of the funniest episodes they've ever done. This episode was just wall-to wall gags and I loved every second of it. More than any other episode this one really explored Krabs and Plankton's rivalry in a hilarious manner with an escalating plot that results in a hilarious climax. I don't have much to talk about because this episode just did everything right and I can't really explain too much of it other than pointing out jokes. This was great.

9/10
 
Who knew an episode with Mr. Krabs and Plankton in boating school could be so good? This episode was really funny, and the whole thing about Mr. Krabs and Plankton trying to be better than each other, and completely missing the point making SpongeBob look good in comparison was really well written. Kind of funny how Mr. Krabs was SpongeBob's driving instructor in Tutor Sauce, yet he's much worse here. Very entertaining episode.

THE LIST:
1. Teacher's Pests (A+)
2. The Legend Of Boo-Kini Bottom (A+)
3. Man Ray Returns (A+)
4. Spin The Bottle (A)
5. Larry The Floor Manager (A)
6. Stuck On The Roof (B)
7. There's A Sponge In My Soup (B)
8. Spot Returns (B)
9. Cave Dwelling Sponge (B)
10. The Clam Whisperer (C)
11. No Pictures, Please (C)
12. Krabby Patty Creature Feature (C)
13. The Check-Up (D)
 
From all S11 episodes,this one is big mystery for me,why a lot of people love this episode so much?I mean,I’m also really like this one,but it’s not even close to be best-of-the-best.Even people who dislike zaniness in this season loved it(Come on,I’m never believed that Honest Slug give it 9/10),in fact,S11 have episodes that mixed fair wackiness and storytelling much better than this one
 
Coffee_lover said:
From all S11 episodes,this one is big mystery for me,why a lot of people love this episode so much?I mean,I’m also really like this one,but it’s not even close to be best-of-the-best.Even people who dislike zaniness in this season loved it(Come on,I’m never believed that Honest Slug give it 9/10),in fact,S11 have episodes that mixed fair wackiness and storytelling much better that this one
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Nah he's not lying, he's honest :sbfunny:
 
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