LOS ANGELES, March 7 (UPI) -- Voice actors Mr. Lawrence and Jill Talley say their SpongeBob SquarePants spinoff film Plankton: The Movie, on Netflix Friday, is a love story between SpongeBob villain Plankton (Mr. Lawrence) and his computer wife, Karen (Talley).
In the film, Plankton removes Karen's emotions chip to encourage her to develop a successful world domination plan. However, when she overpowers even Plankton, he and SpongeBob must travel back in time to see how Plankton originally invented Karen.
In a recent Zoom interview with UPI, Mr. Lawrence and Talley said the movie allowed them more character development than the usual 11-minute Nickelodeon shorts, or supporting roles in SpongeBob movies.
"It gets touching a couple times," Mr. Lawrence said. "We get a chance to really dive in a little bit further than we normally would."
The plot of Plankton: The Movie was originally an idea Mr. Lawrence had for a special. When asked to pitch ideas for SpongeBob spinoff movies, he expanded the idea into a feature film.
"It was all about what haven't we done yet?" Mr. Lawrence said. "Karen taking over, we hadn't done that yet."
Talley was delighted that the more Plankton tries to create his ideal partner, the more it backfires on him.
"The best thing about Plankton is that he creates a wife and the wife puts him down," Talley said. "She's not worshipful. She doesn't walk around just going, 'Yes, whatever you want, dear.'"
The removal of her emotions chip, which previously kept Karen from being as evil as Plankton desired, offered Talley new performance opportunities.
"Who wouldn't want to play a more villainous character or the dark side of your character?" Talley said. "That was just a blast to do."
Time travel shows Karen's earlier voices, which evolved with each update Plankton made. At one point, all of Karen's past voices speak to each other.
SpongeBob voice Tom Kenny directed Talley's recording sessions and helped her keep the different Karen voices straight.
"Sometimes I would answer in the wrong voice," Talley said. "We started trying to record it so that we stayed in one character which was helpful."
The biggest challenge of Plankton: The Movie, though, was singing. Bret McKenzie, Linda Perry and Devo's Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh wrote original songs for the film, which Karen sings in her robot monotone.
"I almost cried because I was so scared," Talley said. "It was stressful, but then when it was done, I was like wow, I did this thing."
Talley and Mr. Lawrence said the musicians were supportive, but they could not shake their nerves hoping to impress the recording legends. They recorded the songs at Perry's studio.
"All I'm thinking is, 'I hope she likes this,'" Mr. Lawrence said.
Karen has had one unintended legacy since the late SpongeBob creator Stephen Hillenberg created the show. On social media, "Karen" has become the name for any annoying woman who complains a lot.
"Yeah, didn't plan on that," Mr. Lawrence said. "Actually Steve Hillenberg's wife is Karen. That's where Karen came from, the name for it."
Talley expected the Karen phenomenon to pass, but it hasn't.
"It stuck around," she lamented.
