Squidward is working at the Krusty Krab, and SpongeBob accidentally karate chops him. Squidward asks what he was doing and SpongeBob tells him that he is planning to do karate with Sandy, which Squidward thinks is stupid. That night, Squidward is grocery shopping, and is approached by a large thug (The Creepy Creeper). Squidward assumes he is going to steal his groceries, so he runs to SpongeBob, and asks to be taught karate. SpongeBob then tries to teach him but because he's not very good at it himself, he is unable to teach Squidward.
They then go to Sandy for help. First, she makes Squidward promise not to use it for revenge and use it only for protection. Then, she and SpongeBob try to teach him, but can't. Sandy then decides to quit on him, but Squidward says he'd do anything. So Sandy makes him do all the work around the treedome saying that it will teach him the basic movements. Finally, Squidward decides to quit, however he accidentally flings acorns at himself that he was able to dodge. He then found out that in doing all the work, he actually did learn it.
So then, Sandy presents him his belt to show that he knows karate, but Squidward claims that he has "important business" to attend. He then finds the thug, and uses karate to beat him up (with a lot of the moves being related to the housework he did around the treedome).
However, it turns out that he never wanted to steal his groceries, he wanted to return them. SpongeBob and Sandy then came giving Squidward his belt only to find out that he used karate for vengeance. Sandy says that Squidward doesn't deserve his belt and she and SpongeBob walk away because Squidward dishonored their trust in him. Squidward is then arrested for assaulting the thug.
Production
Music
( ‣ ) Production music
( • ) Original music
( ◦ ) SpongeBob music
‣ ? - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [title card] ‣Steel Licks (c) - Jeremy Wakefield [Squidward lying on the floor] ‣Exotic Sting - Nicolas Carr ["I'm just practicing my karate chops."] ‣Bubble Popping Boys - "You never know what kind of creepy creeper could be creeping creepily around any creepy corner." ‣Vibe Q Sting - Nicolas Carr ["Well..."] ‣Goofy Conversation - Nicolas Carr and Barry Anthony [Squidward leaves work] ‣Disastrous Event 2 - Harry Lubin ["Hello? Is somebody there?"] ‣Charivari Clowns - Daniel Janin [SpongeBob and Gary watching TV] ‣Scary Search - Harry Lubin ["SpongeBob, open up!"] ‣ ? - "Teach me the way of tarake!" ‣ ? - Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob torn in half] ‣ ? - "I don't know, SpongeBob." ‣The Fruitcake Vendor - Nicolas Carr and Barry Anthony [Sandy says karate isn't for revenge] ‣ ? - Squidward promises to use karate only for protection ‣Retro Cool 03 095 D - Squidward's karate training ‣Down in Davy Jone's Locker - Nicolas Carr [Squidward describes his attacker] ‣Vibe Q Sting - Nicolas Carr ["Hmm..."] ‣Retro Cool 03 095 D - SpongeBob wearing a mask ‣ ? - Jeremy Wakefield ["Got you right where I want you!"] ‣ ? - "Vengeance?" ‣Steel Licks (d) - Jeremy Wakefield ["This is pointless."] ‣ ? - Squidward says he'll do anything ‣ ? - Sandy holds up a mop ‣Retro Cool 03 095 D - Squidward mopping and vacuuming ‣ ? - Squidward burying acorns ‣Steel Sting (f) - Jeremy Wakefield ["That's it! I am outta here!"] ‣Retro Cool 03 095 D - "Hey, I'm doing it!" ‣Exotic Sting - Nicolas Carr ["Yee-haw!"] ‣Retro Cool 03 095 D - "I can protect my groceries now!" ‣ ? - belt of basic competence ‣Evil Horror - Harry Lubin [huge guy approaches Squidward] ‣Retro Cool 03 095 D - Squidward attacks him ‣Steel Licks (b) - Jeremy Wakefield [huge guy gives Squidward his groceries back] ‣Cloak and Dagger [#69] - Phillip Green ["This guy's been karated!"] ‣Cloak and Dagger [#70] - Phillip Green ["For shame, Squidward!"] ‣Steel Licks (b) - Jeremy Wakefield ["Thanks for dishonoring our trust in you."] ‣The Mob (Nicolas Carr) - Nicolas Carr [ending]
This is the first episode to air in 2013, as it aired on New Year's Day.
This was Blake Lemons's first episode as writer/storyboard director.
This episode uses a karate chop transition rather than the regular bubbles transition.
This is the first and only episode that Squidward has learned and used karate.
This is the second time Squidward wears a water helmet in Sandy's Treedome. The first time was in "Squidtastic Voyage."
Squidward is the fourth main character to be seen doing karate, after Sandy, SpongeBob, and Patrick. Mr. Krabs, Plankton, and Gary are the only ones that have not learned it.
Squidward doing work around the Treedome to learn karate is a parody of the movie The Karate Kid in which the student had to do much work for his teacher to learn martial arts.
Irony: Squidward could've just called the police about the so-called "criminal" instead of going through all the trouble of learning karate, and getting arrested for assaulting someone with it.
Strangely, when SpongeBob, Sandy, and Patrick all learned karate, they all wore Karate Gear; however, Squidward never did.
This is the second time SpongeBob's half bodies can talk to each other. The first was "I Had an Accident."
Running Gags: SpongeBob getting sliced in half and characters criticizing Squidward's body by saying "What with the rubbery arms and the doughiness in the middle,". Also, SpongeBob saying, "You missed a spot." when Squidward did Sandy's chores.
When this episode premiered, it aired before "Eek, An Urchin!"
This is the second episode where a character (other than SpongeBob or Sandy) learns karate, the first being Patrick in "Karate Star." These two episodes coincidentally share similar title cards
This is one of the episodes where SpongeBob is shown to be no good at karate, like in "Karate Island," but there are also episodes where he is shown to be quite good at it, like in "Karate Choppers."
SpongeBob states that he has only be taking karate from Sandy for two years. If he met her in 1999, that means this takes place in 2001.
On Hulu, the SpongeBob promo is the scene where SpongeBob and Gary are laughing on the couch, except without sound and it is vertically flipped.
This episode premiered on Doug Lawrence's 44th birthday.
Cultural references
This episode's title is a spoof of "Self Defense."
The way how Squidward had to do chores is similar to the film, The Karate Kid, to which the main character, Daniel was tricked by Mr. Miyagi to do chores at his house.
When SpongeBob says "Creepy Creepers lurking behind every corner," this might have been a reference to the Creepers in the popular sandbox game, Minecraft. When SpongeBob states that they are lurking behind every corner, this is also a reference to Creepers in Minecraft since Creepers have been known to commonly ambush the player by walking up to them from around a corner.
Errors
When SpongeBob and Sandy first met in "Tea at the Treedome," it was revealed that both of them knew karate before they met each other. In this episode, SpongeBob tells Squidward that Sandy taught him karate, which obviously couldn't have happened before they met. Also, SpongeBob is not very skilled in this episode, when he is in episodes such as "Karate Choppers."
When Squidward first bangs on SpongeBob's door and the scene changes over to SpongeBob and Gary, they were sitting on the couch. After SpongeBob lets Squidward into his house and was spooked by Gary, the couch was missing and Gary was suddenly on the floor.
