Friend or Foe (SpongeBob SquarePants)

Plot

The episode opens with Patchy the Pirate and Potty the Parrot working at a restaurant called Poop Deck, hoping to become like SpongeBob. After an argument, Patchy ends their friendship and goes home, comparing himself and Potty to Mr. Krabs and Plankton. Potty later appears and claims to be assistant manager due to his book smarts. When Patchy's cooking tastes bad, Potty advises him to practice.

After a training montage, Patchy makes his first burger but finds it terrible and throws it away. Potty shows SpongeBob making his first patty perfectly. Another argument leads Patchy to throw patties at Potty, one hitting Mr. Pirateson, the owner. Patchy tells viewers to watch the rest of the SpongeBob episode while he watches Potty get fired.

After the episode, both are fired, and Patchy is replaced by a gorilla who throws patties at him. In the SpongeBob plot, after another attack by Plankton, SpongeBob asks Mr. Krabs why they hate each other. Mr. Krabs tells his side in flashbacks: he and Plankton were best friends from birth, outcasts bullied by others—Plankton seen as a nerd, Mr. Krabs extremely poor. Mr. Krabs finds a penny at a carnival and buys a balloon for Plankton.

They save money to buy a burger from Stinky's Burgers, located in a landfill and popular with children. When Stinky refuses to serve them, calling them "freaks," they decide to start their own burger business. Their burger is unwanted until the health department closes Stinky's, forcing children to eat at their dump-based "Plabs Burgers." Plankton wants to use the burgers to rule children, while Mr. Krabs argues for customer satisfaction.

Production

"Friend or Foe" was written by Casey Alexander, Zeus Cervas, Mike Mitchell, Steven Banks, and Tim Hill, with Alan Smart and Tom Yasumi as animation directors. Alexander, Cervas, and Mitchell also served as storyboard directors. The episode originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on April 13, 2007, with a TV-Y7 parental rating. A preview clip was released on TurboNick on April 2, 2007, and the episode was streamed on TurboNick immediately after its on-air premiere.

On April 5, Nick.com launched an online game themed to the episode called "Friend or Foe Trash Bash." Tom Ascheim, executive vice president and general manager for Nickelodeon Television, stated that the episode reveals the back story of the feud between Mr. Krabs and Plankton and that Nickelodeon offered interactive opportunities for kids. As part of the special programming event, Nickelodeon held "The Friend or Foe-Down," a convergent contest where two teams of children met challenges before the episode's premiere.

Team Krabs and Team Plankton each consisted of three children led by team captains Alexandra Gizela and Jordan Carlos, with each team infiltrated by a "foe" working for the other team. Tom Kenny as Patchy the Pirate refereed the physical group challenges. Team Krabs won. The episode was released on DVD of the same name on April 17, 2007, featuring six other episodes, the original uncut animatic, and a photo gallery.

It was also released on the SpongeBob SquarePants: Season 5, Vol. 1 DVD on September 4, 2007, and on the SpongeBob SquarePants: The First 100 Episodes DVD on September 22, 2009.

Marketing

In 2007, Nickelodeon and Stride Rite Corporation worked together to sponsor the SpongeBob SquarePants Friend or Foe? event on Friday, April 13. Stride Rite used Nickelodeon as its sole marketing channel for the SuperBall shoe line.

Company vice president Phil Risinger noted the partnership gave the brand visibility on the top-rated kids' show and boosted SuperBall awareness during the busy spring season. Nickelodeon also formed a strategic alliance with Kajeet, which involved sponsoring the episode. Kajeet and Nickelodeon introduced exclusive mobile content tied to the episode, and Kajeet was the sole sponsor of "Trash Bash."

Reception

"Friend or Foe" received mostly positive reviews. Paul Mavis of DVD Talk praised the live action scenes, calling Patchy and Potty funny and highlighting the gorilla throwing burgers. Mavis described the episode as "brilliant," noting that Mr. Krabs and Plankton are strong enough characters to sustain their own episode with only a cameo from SpongeBob, and called it hilarious with a funny look at the characters as babies. David Packard of DVD Verdict said the live action scenes add to the silliness and appreciated seeing Plankton and Krabs as chums and learning how their friendship ended and the Krabby Patty formula was developed.

Patrick Cossel of Blogcritics stated that children and adults would laugh at the slapstick antics and that the release would be a huge hit for SpongeBob fans. Lesley Aeschliman of Yahoo! Voices was negative, saying the episode felt like a regular episode with no reason to be hyped as a special.