The episode begins with a shadowy figure that looks like Plankton opening the safe that has the Krabby Patty formula inside of it. SpongeBob turns the light switch on, and it reveals it was just Mr. Krabs checking to make sure that the secret recipe is still safe and that Plankton did not try to steal it yet. He has not tried to steal it in a month, which, according to Mr. Krabs, means that he must be planning something big. Squidward then enters the office. When Mr. Krabs says that one of his employees will have extra work, Squidward leaves, leaving SpongeBob to work as a spy to follow Plankton in order to see what he is up to. After a parody of the opening sequence of several James Bond films, Patrick enters. After Patrick screams that he also wants to be a spy, Mr. Krabs gives them a Krabby Patty through which he (via a prerecorded message) tells them that their assignment is to follow Plankton to see what his plans are. If they fail to get the gadgets, and do not accept the task, they will be fired.
SpongeBob and Patrick visit Sandy's Treedome to ask her about spying, and Sandy shows them spy inventions. SpongeBob is excited to use the equipment, but Sandy refuses to let them use any of them, as she feels they will just mess it up. Patrick uses the knockout gun to knock Sandy out and they steal the equipment.
They start following Plankton, and it is revealed that Plankton buys baby clothes and has to buy stamps for mail. They tell Mr. Krabs everything through walkie-talkies and Mr. Krabs writes these down on a chalkboard. After loudly following Plankton (who tells them to quiet down), SpongeBob and Patrick set him on fire with a magnifying glass. When Plankton runs off, they persue him with a jetpack (which alights Plankton again after he cools himself down in a soda cup). They fly past him, but then jump into a boat outfitted with spy equipment. Almost instantly, Patrick hits the self-destruct option. Afterwards, Mr. Krabs calls them through Patrick's "pants-a-phone", reminding them to stay on task.
Later that night, SpongeBob and Patrick are on the rooftop of the Chum Bucket trying to get inside. Patrick uses the laser pants to make a hole for them. Plankton thinks that they came in late at night to eat his food while Mr. Krabs was not around. Patrick tells SpongeBob that he really has to go to the bathroom and he cannot hold it in. Patrick also says that his laser pants are not working correctly. Without his control, Patrick farts, causing the table behind him to disintegrate. As he keeps on trying to hold it in, Patrick's butt begins to shake because of the gas inside him.
Plankton tries to offer a raspberry iced tea, a bran muffin, and even a prune danish to Patrick, unaware that he has to use the toilet. Patrick tells SpongeBob that he really has to go. When the gas pressure becomes too much for him, Patrick begins to fart uncontrollably. As SpongeBob, Patrick, and Plankton scream, the lasers shoot out of the laser pants, making holes in the walls and destroying the Chum Bucket.
Angry, Plankton sends a giant blimp to the Krusty Krab. Mr. Krabs thinks the night had come early, but Squidward points to Plankton's blimp. When Mr. Krabs tells everyone to get into their positions, Squidward runs into the men's bathroom. Plankton pushes a button that starts playing annoying music that makes the customers leave. Mr. Krabs mentions that if he wants his customers, he can have them. He sucks them into a giant cannon, and shoots at the blimp using the customers and Squidward.
Unluckily, the attempt fails, as the customers bounce off the blimp. SpongeBob tells Patrick that it is all up to them to save the Krusty Krab, but Patrick jumps off the blimp and accidentally lands in the cannon, which fires him right at the blimp, causing it to burst. The Krusty Krab blows up as well.
Plankton, now with the secret formula in hand, laughs and states "I WIN! I ALWAYS WIN!," but SpongeBob reminds him that he always loses. Plankton corrects SpongeBob that he always wins and reveals that it is Mr. Krabs in disguise. The other Mr. Krabs is revealed to be actually a robot controlled by Plankton. Mr. Krabs and Plankton made a bet that if Mr. Krabs disguised himself as Plankton so he could steal the Krabby Patty formula better than him and if the Chum Bucket gets destroyed, Plankton would pay him a dollar.
After Plankton gives money as part of the bet, Patrick yells at them to stop and rips his skin off revealing that he is Squidward. SpongeBob wonders if the Squidward standing next to him is actually Squidward, then rips his face off. He takes his ripped face back from SpongeBob and walks off. The characters then continue to take off their disguises. After both of them return to their real selves, SpongeBob tells Mr. Krabs that he is confused that there are two Patricks, who both start laughing.
Production
Originally, instead of Plankton finding SpongeBob and Patrick, when they fall into the Chum Bucket, SpongeBob and Patrick were going to find a domestic dispute between Plankton and Karen, which featured Plankton not wanting to go to Karen's Mother-in-law's house because she was going to be a car alarm that was going to have only said, "Stay away from the vehicle." [1]
Music
( ‣ ) Production music
( • ) Original music
( ◦ ) SpongeBob music
‣James Blond - Jurgen Schlachter [title card] ‣Mission Improbable - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [opening] ‣The Dreadnought Tea Clipper (b) - Tim Laycock, Robert Alexander White ["Just making sure the formula's safe."] ‣Lap Steel - Nicolas Carr ["Spy?!"] ‣James Blond - Jurgen Schlachter [007 parody] ‣Gator - Steve Belfer [Patrick looking through a straw] ‣Mission to Kill - Tony Kinsey ["Hooray! We're spy buddies!"] ‣ ? - Nicolas Carr [guitar sting] ‣Mission Improbable - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony ["Your instructions are on this Krabby Patty."] ‣Mission Just Possible! - David Lindup ["The fate of the Krusty Krab rests in your hands."] ‣Secret Service - Syd Dale [SpongeBob and Patrick listening to instructions] ‣Towerstreet 17 [#6] - Gerhard Narholz [Sandy's spy gadgets] ‣Slinky Panther Pants - Nicolas Carr [SpongeBob spying on Plankton] ‣Off to Play - David Snell [Plankton buying baby clothes] ‣Slinky Panther Pants - Nicolas Carr [Plankton buys a stamp] ‣Towerstreet 17 [#5] - Gerhard Narholz [magnifying glass] ‣Towerstreet 17 [#7] - Gerhard Narholz [jet pack] ‣Steel Sting - Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob, Patrick's faces smeared] ‣Secret Service - Syd Dale [spy mobile] ‣Towerstreet 17 [#5] - Gerhard Narholz [phone call from Krabs] ‣ ? - Nicolas Carr [SpongeBob gets a quarter out of his pocket] ‣Secret Agent - David Lindup [Patrick and SpongeBob sneak into the Chum Bucket] ‣Zelle 503 - Gerhard Trede ["Secret mission, eh?"] ‣The Pollywog Strut - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [Plankton thinks they want to eat] ‣Zelle 501 - Gerhard Trede ["Can't you go later?"] ‣Licence to Thrill - Robert Cornford [blimp] ‣Zelle 502 - Gerhard Trede ["Merciful Neptune!"] ‣Beauty Parade - Syd Dale [Plankton pumps up the volume] ‣World in Action - Laurie Johnson [Krabs shoots customers at Plankton's blimp] ‣Towerstreet 17 [#33] - Gerhard Narholz [Plankton has the formula.] ‣Tension Bits - Nicolas Carr, Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield ["...Win!"] ‣Keel Row - Brian Peters [Krabs says he made a bet with Plankton] ‣Steel Licks (d) - Jeremy Wakefield ["You can't beat me, Plankton. I always win."] ‣Nude Sting - Nicolas Carr ["...and destroyed his place of business!"] ‣Vibe Sting - Nicolas Carr ["Not so fast!"] ‣Clownfish Capers - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [ending]
As of January 29, 2017, The Internet Movie Database (IMDB) gives this episode a rating of 7.1/10 based on 151 ratings by users.[2] TV.com users give this episode a rating of 8/10 based on 130 votes.[3]
Trivia
Template:Trivia
This episode aired in Germany on May 21, 2007, before it aired in the USA.
The episode title was going to be called "SpyBob" but later, it was changed to "Spy Buddies."
Amazon Video using the SpyBob name (also notice the   in the description for the episode)
Dish Network, Time Warner Cable, the Nickelodeon schedule, and Amazon Video mistakenly use the original title instead of the final.
This title is also used by iTunes.
The title card is on a dossier.
The two background music shots were heard in the credits roll of the Nickelodeon show Action League Now!
In the entrance to The Krusty Krab, the password was: 2684.
In the safe at Mr. Krabs' office at The Krusty Krab, the combination was: 35-20-0.
In "Plankton's Good Eye," an episode later in the series, the safe combination is 35-25-4. It is unknown why it is different, but most likely the crew members forgot what it was.
The Secret Formula: (x-2)+1=Krabby Patty as seen on the page of the secret formula after Plankton says "I always win."
On Mr. Krabs' calendar, the month starts with Monday and ends with Sunday. In real life, the only chance of this happening would be if February 1 started on Monday and February 28 ended on Sunday.
List of spy gadgets (Introduced and invented by Sandy)
Bermuda Shorts with Walkie-Talkie (Resembles Patrick's shorts; Patrick uses it.)
Microscopic nose cameras (They do not use it.)
The knock-out ray (Her favorite; Patrick uses it to put her to sleep.)
It is unknown what the stamps or baby clothes were for but Plankton was probably doing daily labors as baby clothes would be the smallest things Plankton can wear but still would not fit him.
It is unknown where SpongeBob and Patrick's spy mobile came from or how they knew about it.
When Plankton (Mr. Krabs in disguise) is in the blimp and plays music, Plankton (Mr. Krabs), is actually driving his own customers out of his restaurant.
Plankton's line "What the barnacles is going on here?" from "The Algae's Always Greener" was reused in this episode, but in this episode, SpongeBob says it.
In the Polish dub, the episode is titled "Sponge Bond," which is an obvious reference to James Bond movies.
This is the second time Plankton talks in a speedy, high-pitched voice. The first is in "Krusty Krab Training Video."
Cultural references
When SpongeBob is seen walking inside the dot (when Patrick was looking through the straw), it is a parody of the gun barrel sequence used in nearly every James Bond movie.
In this episode, SpongeBob walks into the dot onscreen and spins around with his spatula in hand.
In the movies, Bond walks into the dot (which is a gun-barrel pointed at him), spins around and shoots the screen.
When SpongeBob and Patrick get their mission through a recorded message in a Krabby Patty and then the object self destructs, It is a parody of the self destruct message object used in the Mission Impossible movies.
The bet between Krabs and Plankton, using their "usual wager" of one dollar, is a reference to the main antagonists of Trading Places.
Plankton (Mr. Krabs) says "I win, I always win" and laughs evilly, which Swayzak also does in the Toonami event Trapped in Hyperspace.
Errors
The Krusty Krab sign has black writing instead of red writing and is a bit darker.
After SpongeBob and Patrick fell on the sidewalk, SpongeBob was lucky to save his skin when his face was mixed up.
Patrick's body was scalded from the sidewalk falling.
When SpongeBob and Patrick were about to enter into a spymobile, SpongeBob runs to his right while Patrick runs to his left.
As they enter into the vehicle, Patrick somehow runs back to the right.
After Patrick cuts off a rectangular hole on Chum Bucket's roof, the excess roof is missing on the bird's eye view when SpongeBob enters.
The crash of the excess roof is not heard.
If one looks closely, when Patrick blows up, when he speaks his feet are skeletal, but when he pulls his pants up they are normal.
After Patrick destroyed the Chum Bucket with lasers, it was night. When they were lying on the ground after that, it was daytime.
This also happens when at the opening, it is nighttime. When Patrick screaming shakes up the Krusty Krabs, it is daytime.
Explosion cloud when the Krusty Krab is not being damaged.
If one plays it frame by frame, they can see closely in the explosion cloud that the Krusty Krab is not actually being destroyed. When the explosion cloud disappears, the Krusty Krab is instantly destroyed.
