The biggest and most famous rivalry in Hey Arnold!) but also one of the longest-running American animated series, and one that shows no signs of stopping soon.
SpongeBob SquarePants follows the daily adventures of the title character and his friends and enemies in the underwater city of Bikini Bottom. SpongeBob is often accompanied by his best friends Patrick Star and Sandy Cheeks, his neighbor and coworker Squidward, and his boss Mr. Krabs, and a recurrent villain in the series is Plankton, owner of The Chum Bucket. Plankton is Mr. Krabs’ long-time rival, whose main goal is to steal the secret recipe of the Krabby Patty to use it on his food and thus leave the Krusty Krab out of business, but his plans more often than not end up failing. Plankton and Mr. Krabs have been enemies since SpongeBob SquarePants began, but how did they end up hating each other?
The rivalry between Mr. Krabs and Plankton has gone from entertaining to downright cruel, such as when Mr. Krabs took advantage of Mr. Krabs and Plankton told their sides of the story of why they hate each other some much. As it turns out, Plankton and Mr. Krabs have known each other since day one, as they were born in the same hospital and on the same day. They attended school together, where they were bullied by other children – Plankton for being a genius and Mr. Krabs for being poor – but they were good friends. After saving money for a while, they were finally able to afford a burger from Stinky’s Burgers, which were terrible, but were the only place in town where they could get one. Stinky refused to serve them and told them they were bad for business, and after seeing him leave with lots of money, Mr. Krabs and Plankton decided they would go into the burger business together.
Not long after, Stinky was arrested and his establishment closed for numerous ethical and health code violations, so Mr. Krabs and Plankton opened “Plabs Burgers” on Stinky’s former site. After that, their versions of the story changed, but Karen (Plankton’s computer wife) came in to tell what truly happened, as she was a security camera back then. Plabs Burgers initially had no costumers, and when Old Man Jenkins tried one, he was knocked out by the bad taste of the burger. Mr. Krabs and Plankton began to argue and accuse each other of ruining the patty, and fought over the recipe, tearing it in two, with Plankton getting the bottom half of it which reads “...and a pinch of chum”. This was the end of their friendship, and as Plankton left, a shelf was knocked down, pouring various ingredients into the patty batter, making way for Mr. Krabs’ secret recipe.
Plankton ended up opening The Chum Bucket and using his part of the recipe, which has proven to be terrible, while the Krusty Krab has enjoyed a lot of success. Knowing the whole story behind Mr. Krabs and Plankton’s rivalry in SpongeBob SquarePants, it’s easy to see why Plankton is so angry, and it’s fun to imagine what would have happened had they had the patience to work together and find the right recipe for their Plabs Burgers.