Gary Takes a Bath

Gary Takes a Bath
General
Production code:	5571-183
Season №:	2
Episode №:	33b
Airdate:	December 6, 2001 May 20, 2002 June 17, 2002 (Nicktoons TV) November 5, 2002 July 26, 2003 (Nickelodeon) October 23, 2006 October 31, 2008 See more... November 14, 2001 (EBS) January 16, 2002 February 19, 2002 February 20, 2002 August 3, 2002 August 13, 2002 (Canal 5) September 6, 2002 (Telétoon) October 2, 2002 (Super RTL) November 22, 2002 (SRF ZWEI) June 7, 2003 (TV Globo) July 12, 2003 July 16, 2003 October 15, 2003 (TNT) 2003 2003 November 11, 2003 (JEI TV) February 25, 2004 (Orf 1) October 5, 2004 November 29, 2004 August 28, 2005 September 23, 2005 November 15, 2005 (Nickelodeon) January 9, 2006 (Clan) January 21, 2006 (Nickelodeon) March 2, 2006 November 30, 2006 November 3, 2007 October 16, 2008 July 25, 2009 October 18, 2009 September 22, 2010 (QTV) May 21, 2014 November 6, 2016 March 5, 2018 (PLUS PLUS) March 28, 2018 (TET) June 16, 2019 August 13, 2020 July 15, 2021
U.S. premiere time (ET):	9:54 pm (Nicktoons) 8:20 pm (Nickelodeon)
Copyright year:	2001
U.S. viewers (millions):	N/A (Nicktoons) 2.96 (Nick)
Running time:	6 minutes, 31 seconds
Sister episode(s):	"Shanghaied"
Credits
Writer(s):	Aaron Springer C.H. Greenblatt Merriwether Williams
Storyboard Artist(s):	C.H. Greenblatt
Storyboard:	Aaron Springer
Animation:	Frank Weiss
Creative:	Derek Drymon
Chronology
Previous	"Shanghaied"
Next	"Welcome to the Chum Bucket"

"Gary Takes a Bath" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season 2. In this episode, SpongeBob attempts to make Gary take a bath, but fails.

Characters

• SpongeBob SquarePants
• Gary the Snail
• Subliminal message girl ^{(debut; cameo)}
  • Merriwether Williams
• French restaurant receptionist ^{(heard only)}
• Eugene H. Krabs ^(cameo)
• Shelley

Synopsis

"You're gonna have to get in that tub, Gary."

SpongeBob checks the clock and realizes that it is time for Gary's bath, but as usual, the snail does not want to take it. SpongeBob, wary of the battle he is in for, tries various methods he learned from his family to get Gary into the tub.

First, he throws a ball to the bathroom and tells Gary to fetch, but it is a Boomerang Pet Ball, so it comes right back. Next, he straps a bomb to his own chest and tells Gary that it will explode in three seconds if he doesn't take a bath, but Gary does not move. SpongeBob then tries to hypnotize Gary with subliminal messages and accidentally made Gary see a girl saying that he is sorry he had to see that, but the disturbing imagery does not help. He calls a French restaurant, but cannot understand the receiver's accent and appears to talk very fast.

SpongeBob then plays leapfrog with Gary and tosses him towards the bathtub, but misses and breaks Gary's shell. He then tries to bribe Gary with a dollar bill, but Mr. Krabs appears and snatches it. A dance routine and a fake treasure hunt leading to the bathtub also fail, as do his attempts to physically force Gary into the tub.

Furious, SpongeBob decides that if he cannot bring Gary to the water, he will simply have to bring the water to Gary. SpongeBob absorbs all the water in the tub and tries to spray it at Gary, who swiftly dodges every shot. Outside, he corners the latter in a tree and climbs up, unloading his ammo at what he presumes to be Gary.

"Yeah, yeah, Gary, I'm getting behind my ears."

At first, SpongeBob fears the force of his water jet tore off Gary's skin, but realizes he only sprayed a gramophone playing a record of meowing meaning Gary tricked him into thinking that he is stuck and that his skin is pulled off by putting the record on the tree. The real Gary then steals SpongeBob's ladder, leaving him stuck on top of the tree, saying that he is not the boss of him, and he does not have to take orders from him as well as saying it is a free country. Then, SpongeBob notices Gary sneaking towards a mud puddle. He gives him a three-second count to get away from the mud puddle. However, he refuses and accidentally causes SpongeBob to fall out of the tree into the mud himself. SpongeBob is then forced to take the bath under Gary's supervision instead, ending the episode.

Production

Art

Workprint

Music

( ‣ ) Production music

( • ) Original music

( ◦ ) SpongeBob music

 ‣ Nostalgic Hawaii - George de Fretes, Jan Rap [Title card]
 • Steel Licks 22 - Jeremy Wakefield ["You're gonna have to get in that tub, Gary."]
 • Vibe & Harp Hits - Nicolas Carr ["Now Gary, we can do this the hard way or the easy way."]
 • Steel Licks 22 - Jeremy Wakefield ["So that's how you wanna play it, huh?"]
 ‣ Hula Festival - George Elliott [Boomerang pet ball]
 ‣ Unease - Dick Stephen Walter [Subliminal messages]
 ‣ Hawaiian Link (A) - Richard Myhill ["Sorry you had to see that."]
 ‣ Cafe' De Paris - Trevor Jones [SpongeBob calls a French restaurant]
 ‣ Chief Taravana - Kapono Beamer [Leapfrog]
 ‣ Dingle's Regatta - Brian Peters [Pirate treasure map/"40."]
 ‣ Kerry Polka - Brian Peters [Bathtub painted to look like treasure chest]
 ‣ Dancing The Hula - Kapono Beamer ["Get in the tub!"]
 ‣ Six Powerful Cues D - Wilfred William Burns [SpongeBob hanging from the ceiling]
 ‣ Dramatic Cue (D) - Ronald Hanmer ["Bath delivery!"]
 • Spongemonger - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob spitting water at Gary]
 • Solo Steel 4 - Jeremy Wakefield ["Oh no! I bathed Gary too hard and removed his skin!"]
 • Solo Steel 2 - Jeremy Wakefield [Gary meowing mockingly]
 ‣ Lonely Heart's Club A - David Bell, Otto Sieben [SpongeBob chewing out Gary]
 ‣ Nostalgic Hawaii - George de Fretes, Jan Rap [SpongeBob taking a bath under Gary's supervision]

Release

• This episode is available on the Sea Stories, Complete 2nd Season, Absorbing Favorites, The Underwater Stories, First 100 Episodes, SpookTacular, Holiday Cruise Collection, The Ultimate SpongeBob Box Set, The SpongeBob SquarePants Collection, The SpongeBob SquarePants 8 Season DVD Collection, Out to Sea, Nicktoons TV Favourites Volume 2, SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 3, The Complete Second Season, The Houses of the Band, From the Beginning, Part 1, Snail's Meow, The First & Second Seasons, and The Best 200 Episodes Ever DVDs.
• This episode is also available on the Sea Stories and Absorbing Favorites VHS tapes.

Reception

• "Gary Takes a Bath" was ranked #74 during the Best Day Ever event from November 9–10, 2006.
• "Gary Takes a Bath" was ranked #39 during the SpongeBob's Top 100 event in the UK and Ireland from June 4-8, 2012.

Trivia

General

• This episode's Nickelodeon premiere preceded the All That special, R U All That?: Nickelodeon's Search for the Funniest Kid in America.
• This episode holds the record for having the longest amount of time between its airing on Nickelodeon and its sister episode's airing, being separated by 2 years, 4 months, and 17 days.
  • However, this Nickelodeon airing was not the actual American premiere of the episode, as in the United States, this episode premiered on Nicktoons TV first on June 17, 2002, only 15 months after the premiere of its sister episode.
    • It was also released on the Sea Stories DVD and VHS on November 5, 2002 -- half a year before airing on Nickelodeon.
    • This episode was released internationally between late 2001 and early 2002, prior to the release dates in the US. Its world premiere was in Canada on December 6, 2001 -- half a year before its American Nicktoons premiere, and a year and a half before the American Nickelodeon airing.
    • Furthermore, it was also the only episode to premiere on the Nicktoons Network until "Blood is Thicker Than Grease" in 2024.
• The title card background is similar to those of "Naughty Nautical Neighbors," "Karate Choppers," and "Squidville."
  • The title card is almost the same as the bubble title of the show in the theme song as well.
  • The title card text is very similar to the text of the title card for "Bubble Buddy."
• This is the third episode to run for less than eleven minutes. The first was "Help Wanted," and the second was "Reef Blower."
  • The reason that this episode is a short is due to the length of its paired episode, "Shanghaied."
    • This episode format was brought back occasionally beginning in season 10, with a 15-minute episode being paired with a 7-minute short. It has been used once every season since, beginning with "Feral Friends" and "Don't Wake Patrick."
• SpongeBob never manages to make Gary take a bath in the episode, contradicting the title.

Mr. Krabs' cameo in this episode.

The subliminal message girl.

• This is the only episode to only use one voice actor, Tom Kenny.
  • Tom Kenny voices both SpongeBob and Gary. Mr. Krabs also appears, but he has no lines.
• Gary's dislike of taking baths is based on how domestic cats don't like to get wet; Snails are the underwater facsimile of a cat in the show.
• Tom Kenny thinks this episode is more like a Looney Tunes short "SpongeBob-style."
• When SpongeBob calls the French restaurant, he tells them he has a snail won't take a bath — a popular French dish, "escargot" is made out of them. SpongeBob's plan immediately falls apart as he doesn't understand the man speaking on the other end (almost like he's speaking another language), quickly hanging up.
  • However, escargot is land snail, not sea snail.
  • SpongeBob only did this to scare Gary into taking a bath.
  • SpongeBob complaining about the French restaurant's language not only refers to the man on the other end can only speak French, but is also an inside joke at the gibberish that comes out of the phone during a one-sided call.
• This is the fourth episode to have a soundtrack bookend it, in this case, Nostalgic Hawaii. The first was "Take That! (a)" in "Karate Choppers," the second was "Down by the Riverside" in "Survival of the Idiots," and the third was "Daytime Drama" in "Dumped."
  • If including "Christmas Who?", this is the fifth time the occurrence took place.
  • This is the first short of the SpongeBob franchise to be bookended by a soundtrack.
• This is the first episode for a few things:
  • The first episode in which Gary's shell is broken.
  • The first episode to use "Lonely Heart's Club," "Hula Festival," "Solo Steel 2 Wakefield," and "Solo Steel 4 Wakefield."
• This is the second episode where a record player is used to replace a character. The first was in "Pressure."
• List of ideas that SpongeBob tries to get Gary to take a bath:
  • Throwing a ball to the bathtub. However, it is a "boomerang pet ball," so it comes right back, and so does the box it came in.
  • Strapping a bomb to his chest and telling Gary that it will explode if he does not take a bath; the bomb explodes because Gary does not take a bath and SpongeBob does not deactivate the bomb.
  • Sending subliminal messages to Gary. A disturbing picture of a girl comes up, prompting him to apologize.
  • Calling a French restaurant because France has a popular dish called Escargot, made from snail. He cannot understand a thing the person on the other end is saying.
  • Playing leapfrog with Gary. He tries to launch Gary into the tub, but misses and makes Gary's shell break.
  • SpongeBob tries to play leapfrog again, but Gary refuses and hits SpongeBob with a cane.
  • He bribes Gary with a dollar, telling him that the next person to take a bath in his house will receive it; Mr. Krabs arrives out of nowhere in a bathtub and takes it.
  • Different dances.
  • Fakes a treasure hunt and paints the bathtub to look like a treasure chest. Gary sees right through the deception.
• This episode was paired with different episodes in several marathons:
  • This episode was paired with "Dumped" following the premiere of "Have You Seen This Snail?"
  • During the Best Day Ever marathon, on November 10, 2006, this episode was paired with "Suds."
  • On May 14, 2016, this episode was paired with "Squid Plus One," and due to the episode's length a sneak peek of the then-upcoming The Angry Birds Movie was shown.
  • On the May 28, 2021 airing, this episode was paired with "Karen 2.0."

Dub facts

• In the French dub, SpongeBob calls a Chinese restaurant.
• In the German dub of this episode, the episode is called "Die Wanne ist Voll," which translates to "The Tub is Full." This is a reference to a German song from the 1970s.

Errors

Gary's purple eyes.

• In one of the frames where Gary first comes in shot to chase the Boomerang Pet Ball, his eyes are colored purple.

• During the bubble transition, a blue screen with the date January 27, 2001 from Rough Draft Korea can be seen.

Gary's pink eyelids.

• For a split second, Gary's eyelids are seen pink.
• When SpongeBob throws Gary off of his back, one of the frames has the outline around SpongeBob's eye incomplete.
• In the scene where Gary runs out of the pet door, it is visible from the outside, but when SpongeBob opens the door, the pet door is not there.
• The second time SpongeBob asks Gary if he wants to play leapfrog, both of his ring fingers are incorrectly outlined, leaving the fingers to look detached from the hand.
• When Gary hits SpongeBob on the head with his cane, the sound of it hitting his head actually plays before the cane is even in shot.
  • The same error of sound playing too early happens whenever SpongeBob kicks the paint can in the bathroom.
• During SpongeBob's dance, the first transition between dance moves is not correctly animated and it just snaps SpongeBob into a different position.
  • This is not intentional, however, as all of the other dance move transitions have animation showing SpongeBob moving into the correct position.
• In the still shot of SpongeBob's "treasure map," the wallpaper is the one of his living room even though SpongeBob is holding it up in the kitchen.
  • However, the door in the kitchen is in the right place. This means it is not a shot of the living room.
• SpongeBob had painted the tub to make it look like a treasure chest, but then in the next shot, it goes back to normal.

The bottom of SpongeBob's nose is outlined in dark yellow instead of black.

• When SpongeBob hands Gary soap and a rubber duck, after he says "I don't know what a snail would want with a brooch!," the next shot shows that they have disappeared.
• When SpongeBob is back to normal after spraying all of his absorbed water at "Gary," the bottom part of his nose outline is colored the same as his body outline instead of the usual black color.
• After Gary takes away the ladder that SpongeBob uses to climb the tree, a faraway view of the tree is shown, and the ladder is seen falling to the ground. However, in the next faraway view of the tree where SpongeBob falls out of the tree and into the mud puddle, the ladder is no longer there.

Video

SpongeBob SquarePants - "Gary Takes a Bath" Premiere Promo (July 2003)