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— Sergeant Roderick, "Mrs. Puff, You're Fired"
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Sergeant Roderick[1] is a strict and authoritarian instructor who appears in the episodes "Mrs. Puff, You're Fired" and "Sandy, Help Us!"
Description
Sergeant Roderick's model sheet.
He is a dark gray buff male goblin shark with a drooping nose and a light gray dorsal fin. He wears an olive green hat and shirt, dark green pants with a dark brown belt with a golden buckle, and dark brown boots.
In "Sandy, Help Us!," Sergeant Roderick has a slightly different redesign. His outfit is now composed of a white shirt, a black tie, an olive green jacket with various military awards on it, and a general's hat. Additionally, he now has a light brown mustache, and his dorsal fin appears to have a bite taken out of it.
Personality
Roderick's personality is that of a stereotypical drill sergeant who is very serious about his job. When he first appears, his threatening and intimidating attitude causes him to throw two rule breaking students through the door for very minor infractions (one of which he deliberately set up to have an excuse to do it), with his antics scaring away everyone else in the class with the exception of SpongeBob.
As a boating instructor, Roderick took a much different approach to teaching SpongeBob how to drive, forcing him to complete a horrific obstacle course with numerous pitfalls. He also refused to let SpongeBob actually drive the boat through it, insisting that he had to first crawl, walk, then run through it successfully first. Even when SpongeBob was able to successfully do these, he still refused to let him get behind the wheel until he could do it blindfolded. Once this was done, he appeared quite proud of SpongeBob's progress and allowed him to start driving for real.
Unfortunately, his excessive dedication to this unusual teaching method proved to be Roderick's downfall. As he had emphasized SpongeBob completing the course blindfolded, even allowing him to intiially drive again while wearing it, SpongeBob could only successfully drive while blindfolded. Roderick tried to force SpongeBob not to, pointing out that doing so was illegal, and ignored SpongeBob's attempts to protest, ultimately leading to the latter going on another driving rampage which destroyed half of Bikini Bottom. His subsequent attempts to get the rampage to stop failed as a result of SpongeBob's utter stupidity.
Beyond this, he was shown to be very devoted to his role as a teacher, and at the prospect of saving lives at the cost of his own, as seen when he was horrified at SpongeBob's rampage and was willing to sacrifice himself in an attempt to stop the boat, even if it meant never seeing his wife again.
Role in series
"Mrs. Puff, You're Fired"
He replaces Mrs. Puff after she is fired from her position as driving instructor, due to SpongeBob's stupidity and failing too many driving tests. While teaching SpongeBob, Roderick's strict training technique of forcing him to complete the course blind-folded allows SpongeBob to drive perfectly. However, when SpongeBob begins his official driving test, Roderick finally convinces SpongeBob not to wear a blindfold, despite his training only being done with one.
SpongeBob then reverts to his old ways, rampaging across the city. Roderick, in an attempt to stop the dangerous driving of SpongeBob, sacrifices himself to stop the boat, stating that he wants Mr. Fitz to tell his wife that he loves her. His attempt is unsuccessful and he is simply flung away upon impact with the oncoming boat.
"Sandy, Help Us!"
He works for the Undersea Space Agency. He calls in Sandy to help prevent a meteor from destroying the Earth.
Trivia
Credits
- Sergeant Roderick's name is never spoken in the episode in "Mrs. Puff, You're Fired," but the closing credits reveal it.
- Even though Roderick is said to be a sergeant, the insignia on his shoulder shows that he is a corporal. Both of these insignias look very similar to one another. Sergeant is a higher rank than a corporal. This is correct according to Greek military rank insignia, however, as Greek insignias are upside down and sergeant is only two chevrons.
- He has a hoarse sounding Cockney accent.