- “Plankton: 1% evil, 99% hot gas.”
- ―Karen
Karen Plankton is one of the ten main characters of Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants franchise. She is a waterproof supercomputer who lives in the Chum Bucket laboratory. She is Plankton's wife and sidekick who supplies him with evil plans to steal the Krabby Patty formula. Karen and Plankton both debut in the episode "Plankton!"
As a computer, Karen is the smartest resident of Bikini Bottom and has a clever, analytical personality. She has two main forms: a big monitor on the wall or a portable wheeled computer. Along with her role as co-owner of the Chum Bucket, she works as the chef and cashier. She rarely has to fulfill these jobs due to the Chum Bucket's unpopularity.
Karen was named after Karen Hillenburg, the wife of the show's creator, Stephen Hillenburg.
Biography[]
Plankton is married to a waterproof computer named Karen, who is also his sidekick and best friend. She was Plankton's first invention when he was in grade school, and they dated before he became evil. Her system is built into most of Plankton's machines (including the Chum Bucket itself) so that she and Plankton can communicate while the latter is on a mission. She is a Mark II Surplus UNIVAC with 256 gigabytes of random-access memory.
Karen takes on various jobs at the Chum Bucket, including busser, chef and cashier; she rarely has to fulfill them because of the restaurant's unpopularity. She also tends to stay more focused than Plankton on the core mission of stealing Krabs' formula. Karen often reminds him to stay on task and encourages him to keep going when he loses confidence. Since she lacks a heart, Karen is usually unable to feel empathy for the people around her. Her interactions are not limited to helping Plankton, however; she is a friend of Sandy Cheeks, who is also intelligent and interested in science.
Karen is more competent than Plankton in formulating plots to steal the Krabby Patty recipe. Most of his effective plans have come from Karen, including "Plan Z"—the only scheme to result in Plankton successfully stealing the formula and using it to his advantage—in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. Nonetheless, he tends to take credit for them, much to her dismay. Karen has effortlessly stolen Krabs' formula without Plankton's help on many occasions, but her husband always inadvertently gets in the way. Because of their contrasting behaviors, Plankton and Karen have a tendency to argue. Tom Kenny, SpongeBob's voice actor, has called their marriage "Honeymooners-like," comparing them to the bickering couple from the sitcom The Honeymooners.
As a computer on the ocean floor, Karen's ability to operate underwater has not been explained in any of the series' episodes. Tom Kenny addressed this in a 2004 interview with the Associated Press, stating that Karen's functionality is a "don't-ask-why" aspect of SpongeBob and that "logic doesn't have a place" in the series' universe.
Development[]
Karen was also created by Stephen Hillenburg, who named the character after his wife, Karen Hillenburg (née Umland). Hillenburg initially designed a laboratory for Plankton to convey the character's technological abilities, leading to Karen's development as his lab's central computer system. Like Plankton, she was not initially intended to be a main character; her role in the series grew as Lawrence wrote ideas to give the Planktons more personality. Throughout the series' first and second seasons, Karen is not defined as Plankton's wife; Plankton's official biography from 2000 simply states that he works "with the help of his computer, Karen".
In the series' third season opener, 2002's "The Algae's Always Greener," Plankton refers to Karen as his wife for the first time. Aspects of their marriage, like their anniversary and their honeymoon, have become the frequent focus of episodes since then. In early episodes, Karen is always supportive and friendly toward her husband. As the series progresses, she becomes more cynical and sarcastic because of Plankton's relentless obsession with the Krabby Patty formula. However, she remains loving and affectionate toward him.
Many episodes written by Lawrence develop and explore the relationship between Karen and her husband. Lawrence has stated that he feels Karen makes Plankton-focused episodes more humorous and that her presence helps portray him as a multidimensional character. In a 2009 interview with Andy Goodman, he said, "I want more Karen on the show ... The married life of an evil genius is the funniest thing to me, so in that regard [Karen] definitely enhances Plankton's stories, making him more than just your typical bad guy."
For the first three seasons, Karen was usually depicted as a large, blue monitor in the Chum Bucket's laboratory; at other times, only her voice is heard from within Plankton's robotic creations. When Karen was promoted to a main character in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, a mobile unit was introduced to allow her to interact more easily with other characters. Showrunner Vincent Waller stated that the mobile unit was introduced because having Karen able to move was more convenient for storytelling purposes. Karen alternates between her multiple forms in most episodes produced after the film. As of the tenth season, her wall monitor is no longer used and her mobile form is always equipped with a pair of robotic arms.
Voice[]
Karen is voiced by American actress Jill Talley, who is married to SpongeBob's voice actor, Tom Kenny. Talley, a Chicago native, uses a Midwestern accent for the character. Whenever Karen talks, her voice is mixed over electronic sound effects by the series' audio engineers to create a robotic sound. Her voice, which was more monotonous in earlier episodes, has been described as "deadpan" by the Associated Press. Some of Karen's conversations with Plankton are improvised between Talley and Lawrence. The latter described this improvisation as his "favorite part of the voice over" in 2009. He elaborated in a 2012 interview, saying, "I always enjoy the back-and-forth. [Talley and I] start to actually overlap so much talking to each other that [the voice directors] have to tell us, 'hey, stop doing that, separate what you're saying!'" Lawrence also feels that voicing the characters for so long has built a close relationship between the two actors. On the topic, he said, "This on-TV marriage we have, the whole world knows us being married ... We start becoming a married couple [when recording]."
Reception[]
Critical response[]
Karen has received generally positive reactions from critics. In a 2010 review of SpongeBob's Last Stand, DVD Talk's Paul Mavis wrote highly of Karen and Plankton's dialogue, stating that the two "could have their own sitcom". Sandie Angulo Chen of Common Sense Media praised the amount of screen time given to Karen in Sponge Out of Water, calling her "hilarious". In 2015, Boston.com's Jamie Loftus cited Karen as her reason for naming 2002's "Welcome to the Chum Bucket" one of the sixteen greatest SpongeBob episodes. Gizmodo's Ryan Lufkin wrote in 2016 that SpongeBob's "90s-level weirdness" is proven by characters like Plankton and Karen. The About Group's Nancy Basile commended Jill Talley's portrayal of the character, saying that it is "no surprise she plays [the role] so well" due to her earlier work with Second City and Mr. Show.
In an analysis of how the show has changed throughout its run, Channel Frederator argued that the main characters of SpongeBob–specifically Sandy, Patrick, Mr. Krabs, Squidward and Karen–have been reduced from multidimensional to reliant on single traits. According to this view, "Karen is now a full-blown nag" in newer episodes. This aspect of Karen's character has also been criticized by author Joseph J. Foy, in his book SpongeBob SquarePants and Philosophy. He considers this trope one of several harmful stereotypes present on the program, writing that "the motif of the nagging wife is certainly an issue worthy of dissection in dealing with a young audience, along with the spoiled teen daughter Pearl and the stupid best friend Patrick".
Lampooning a controversy surrounding SpongeBob's sexuality, essayist Dennis Hans wrote a 2005 satirical piece for the National Catholic Reporter focusing on the marriage of Plankton and Karen. He remarked, in jest, that SpongeBob's sexual orientation was a lesser issue compared to the positive representation of Plankton's "technosexuality". Hans identified instances where both Planktons were portrayed as a loving couple and joked: "the subliminal message from SpongeBob's insidious creators ... [is that] the technosexual lifestyle means bonding forever with your one true love".
Appearance[]
Karen is seen in two main forms: a big supercomputer on one wall of the Chum Bucket laboratory, and a portable computer with wheels, first seen in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. Her mobile form is currently the most common one. In both forms, she is mainly a blue-bordered black screen with a neon green line that moves whenever she talks. The mobile forms was given arms in the tenth season.
In the first and third film she's silver.
Personality[]
Karen is Plankton's own creation, which he built from a calculator and a mass of wires. She was Plankton's first invention when he was in grade school, and she dated Plankton. When Plankton decided to become a villain, Karen did as well, because he created her. Her system is built into most of Plankton's machines, including the Chum Bucket itself, so that she and Plankton can always be in touch. Specifically, Karen is a Mark II Surplus UNIVAC with 256 gigabytes of random-access memory.
Karen has many jobs at the Chum Bucket, including busser, chef and cashier. She also tends to stay more focused than Plankton on their mission of stealing Krabs' formula. Despite being built by Plankton (as well as constantly assisting him), Karen has shown to have a very kindhearted side to her. She does occasionally blow up on Plankton, but he usually is in the wrong. Karen often reminds him to stay on task and encourages him to keep going when he loses confidence. She is a friend of Sandy Cheeks, who is also intelligent and interested in science. Karen has a habit of addressing SpongeBob as "the SpongeBob," although this has been phased out in recent episodes.
Trivia[]
- In the first three seasons and the first film, Karen had noticeably less personality and more limited sentience.
- She was named after Stephen Hillenburg's wife, Karen.
- Her voice actress, Jill Talley, is married to SpongeBob's voice actor, Tom Kenny.
- Karen's name is sometimes misspelled as an acronym ("K.A.R.E.N.") on merchandise. However it is just her name, and does not stand for anything.
- In the comic strip called "Krusty Karen," it is shown that Karen can change the color of her screen depending on her mood. It is blue when she is sad and red when she is angry.
- In several episodes, Karen appears in her mobile form with an extension cord. She is wireless in most of her other mobile appearances.
- She has a version called E.M.I.L.P. (short for Emergency Mother-in-Law Program).
- Karen and Plankton were promoted to the main cast in the credits of the 2004 movie. As a result, they have much more screen time after the movie than in the pre-movie seasons.
- She only makes three appearances in season 1, two appearances in season 2, and two appearances in season 3.
- She is often shown to be smarter than Plankton, a good instance of this is "Banned in Bikini Bottom," when Plankton thinks that Mr. Krabs changed the Krusty Krab's name to Closed, but Karen reveals that it's because the restaurant was closed down.
- Plankton once referred to Karen as an electroencephalograph. An electroencephalograph is a monitor that measures electrical activity in the brain.
- In "All That Glitters," a monitor that looks exactly like Karen in her portable form is seen in the hospital. In "Shellback Shenanigans," Plankton mistakes it for Karen.
- In "Not Normal," SpongeBob says that he needs to defragment his computer's hard drive. Karen also says that she does this.
- When SpongeBob puts tape on Karen's screen in "Plankton's Regular," her speech is muffled. This implies that her screen acts like a mouth.
- Similarly, in "Shellback Shenanigans," Karen is unable to see what SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs are saying without a telescope. This implies that her vision is similar to that of a character with real eyes.
- The fist on the Chum Bucket is very similar in appearance to Karen's hands.
- In "Single Cell Anniversary," Karen has a slot on the side of her screen that scans food. She also has this feature in the app SpongeBob's Game Frenzy.
- In "Krab Borg," Mr. Krabs says that he has had the Krusty Krab cash register ever since it was a calculator. This is similar to how Karen was a calculator as a baby.
- Karen mentions her hard drive in the episodes "Truth or Square," "Karen 2.0," "CopyBob DittoPants," and the film The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water.
- In the Finnish dub, Karen's name is Kaarina, which is pronounced very similarly to Gary's localized name, Kari.
- In the Latin American Spanish version of the second movie, Melanie Henriquez voices both Karen and Pearl.
- Many pieces of merchandise unrelated to the first movie use Karen's design from that film.
- In "Plankton Gets the Boot," Karen's wall form is seen in the background with a very different appearance. The monitor is thinner than usual with a dark blue keyboard and red/white buttons, instead of a silver keyboard and light red buttons.
- As of season 11, her mobile form is permanently equipped with arms.
- As of season 12, her mobile form has appeared more often than her wall form.
- Her mobile unit's model name is a reference to the UNIVAC computer, one of the first digital computers used for businesses.
- Her appearance in Kamp Koral was originally going to be a walkie-talkie instead of the calculating machine.
External Links[]
- Nickipedia
- Encyclopedia SpongeBobia
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plankton_and_Karen#Plankton
