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Encyclopedia SpongeBobia

"No Free Rides" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season 2. In this episode, Mrs. Puff passes SpongeBob just so she doesn't have to deal with him.

Characters[]

Synopsis[]

No Free Rides 007

SpongeBob runs over the French Narrator.

The episode opens at Mrs. Puff's Boating School when SpongeBob's last boating exam of the year ends in failure after he runs over the French narrator. Despite the failing grade, SpongeBob remains optimistic that his next year in Mrs. Puff's class will be productive. Mrs. Puff, on the other hand, dreads the thought of another year administering boating exams for SpongeBob. In desperation, she offers him an extra credit exam: a short, ten-word thesis on one thing he learned in boating school. SpongeBob finds himself not able to decide what to pick, and he starts to have a nervous breakdown. But Mrs. Puff, completely tired of SpongeBob, lets him pass anyway.

As SpongeBob leaves with his new driver's license, Mrs. Puff ponders over whether she's done the wrong thing and starts feeling guilt, then has a terrible daydream of him destroying the town with his driving. She consoles herself with the fact that SpongeBob lacks a boat to drive, much less one to wreck. Upon arriving at her home, however, she finds SpongeBob and his parents inside with a huge cake to thank her for her teachings, as futile as they had once seemed. Both SpongeBob and Mrs. Puff get another surprise when they see that SpongeBob's parents bought him a brand-new boatmobile. In utter amazement, SpongeBob falls into the cake in a dead faint. As SpongeBob's parents take him home, Mrs. Puff realizes the danger he now poses and decides to settle the matter before anyone figures out she let him skip through boating school.

No Free Rides 180

"And now back to KRUD with all of your personal 'you won't get away with stealing my car!' hits!"

SpongeBob's parents tuck him into his bed and tell him that, due to his head injury, he should avoid driving anywhere that night. As soon as his parents leave, he sneaks out his bedroom window, gets into the boat, and falls asleep. Not long after, Mrs. Puff hijacks SpongeBob's boat and drives it away. SpongeBob wakes up to find the masked Mrs. Puff in the process of stealing his vehicle and fights her off.

Mrs. Puff tries knocking SpongeBob out of the boat, but he grabs hold of the rear bumper. She next drives through various obstacles to lose him, but he catches up to her while two police officers watch the commotion from their vehicle. In their struggle, SpongeBob ultimately reveals the thief to be Mrs. Puff, rendering him senseless just as the boat crashes into the police car.

SpongeBob and Mrs. Puff talk in the Bikini Bottom Jail, where Mrs. Puff is being held. Mrs. Puff apologizes to SpongeBob and says that she shouldn't have passed him when she knew he really wasn't ready. SpongeBob understands he'll have to relinquish his license, but Mrs. Puff tells him he can still continue his lessons with Mrs. Flounder, another driving teacher starting a new class on Monday. Before the episode closes, SpongeBob assures her she is the only one who he wants teaching him, giving her a tip that the warden will let her go early in exchange for free driving lessons.

Production[]

Art[]

Music[]

 ) Production music
 ) Original music
 ) SpongeBob music

  Hen Pecker - The Surfdusters [Title card]
  Dingle's Regatta - Brian Peters [opening at boating school]
  El Dementia - The Surfdusters ["No, SpongeBob, wait!]
  Whisper from the Past [#64.02] - Gregor F. Narholz ["Don't worry. I'll be alright, Mrs. Puff."]
  Hawaiian Link (A) - Richard Myhill [Mrs. Puff inflates]
  Unease - Dick Stephen Walter ["Another year with him!"]
  Puka A - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield ["Extra credit!"]
  Closing Theme 2 - Steve Belfer [SpongeBob sharpening his pencil]
  Muscovite Rebellion - David Arnold, Paul Hart ["No, wait, I changed my mind!"]
  Idea Sting - Nicolas Carr [SpongeBob's essay]
  Youthful Days - Mike Sunderland [SpongeBob's license]
  Sting Ttension - Nicolas Carr ["And his name is SpongeBob SquarePants!"]
  The Nightmare Begins (A) - John Devereaux [Mrs. Puff imagines SpongeBob destroying the city]
  Hawaiian Link (B) - Richard Myhill [Mrs. Puff goes home]
  Sunny Samoa - George de Fretes, Jan Rap [surprise party]
  Danger Zone - Mike Sunderland ["What have I done?"]
  Undertow - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob sneaks out of his room]
  Stepping into Danger - Mike Sunderland [Mrs. Puff in a ski mask]
  El Dementia - The Sufdusters [SpongeBob and Mrs. Puff scream]
  Hen Pecker - The Surfdusters ["Who are you and what are you doing in my boat?"]
  Gorgeous Girl - Kurt Schick [Mrs. Puff turns on the radio]
  Hen Pecker - The Surfdusters [boat out of control]
  Holiday Dream - Max Mahlmann [ending]

Release[]

Reception[]

  • "No Free Rides" was ranked #33 during the Best Day Ever event from November 9–10, 2006.

Trivia[]

General[]

  • This episode, along with "I'm Your Biggest Fanatic," were set to premiere on March 24, 2001,[3] but were postponed to April 14.
  • In "Boating School," SpongeBob is upset about failing his driving test, but as of this episode, he does not care about failing. In later episodes, SpongeBob cries when he fails his driving test.
  • The fourth wall is broken when the French Narrator is run over by SpongeBob at the beginning of the episode.
  • This episode reveals that the French Narrator is actually a character in the show.
    • This is used as a plot point in a later episode, "Feral Friends."
  • Realistic Fish Head is voiced by Dee Bradley Baker in this episode instead of Doug Lawrence.
No Free Rides 107

The Droste effect.

  • SpongeBob and his parents hold a surprise party for Mrs. Puff at her house. When Mrs. Puff enters, a small picture of her standing at the door in the same shot can be seen. In addition, the same picture is seen in this picture. This is an example of a recursive image, one image that is repeated infinitely within itself.
    • Another recursive image appears in the episode "Bumper to Bumper." Ironically, both are boating school episodes.
  • This is one of four episodes transcribed as a comic into the SpongeBob SquarePants/Tokyopop book Crime and Funishment. The other three were "Life of Crime," "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V," and "Nasty Patty."
  • In the Croatian dub, the episode's title is "Ništa zabadava," which translates to "Nothing for Free."[4]
  • SpongeBob is seen coming out of the radio slot in the car, but earlier in the episode, the same radio is shown and it still had a SpongeBob-like appearance before the event occurred.
  • There are candles on top of SpongeBob's bed posts that are lit. When SpongeBob's mother turns the lights out in his room, the candles go out too.
  • In Mrs. Puff's daydream of SpongeBob being on the road, the sign beside the bus is white.
  • When SpongeBob climbs inside Boaty, he is seen wearing socks. Although, seconds before, his socks fall on Boaty's floor.
  • In this episode, SpongeBob's room is missing his alarm clock and the top part of his bed.
    • It is likely that his alarm clock is being repaired and is therefore, not there.
  • "My leg!:" SpongeBob runs over the people having a birthday party in Mrs. Puff's fantasy.
  • When SpongeBob goes to Boaty, he has casts on his head. In the next shot, when he is out of the window, his head casts disappear from here and for the rest of the episode.
    • It's possible he removed the casts before leaving his house.
  • Apparently, Mrs. Puff has given a student a driver's license before and it ended in mayhem, like SpongeBob, as she says "I'll have to move to a new town, open a new boating school, with a new name! No. Not again."
  • The wallpaper in SpongeBob's room looks different than usual.
  • The radio station that SpongeBob hosts is called "K.R.U.D." (Crud)
  • In the Crime and Funishment book/Cine-Manga version of this episode, the scene between SpongeBob being kicked out of the boat and Mrs. Puff turning on the SpongeBob radio is cut out.[5]
  • This is the first episode for a few things:
  • This is the second episode in which Mrs. Puff goes to jail. The first is "Hall Monitor."
  • On the November 10, 2006 airing, this episode was paired with "Squid's Day Off."[6]

Episode references[]

  • The accident company has the same phone number as the Tattletale Strangler (555-1234) in "SpongeBob Meets the Strangler."
  • The license that Mrs. Puff gives SpongeBob says it expires on December 14, 2003. This is the same one from the episode "Sleepy Time."
    • Additionally, when Mrs. Puff gives SpongeBob his driver's license, he licks it and comments "It tastes just like I dreamt it would." Incidentally, he dreams he is holding a driver's license and licks it in "Sleepy Time."

Errors[]

  • In the scene where the cops look at the boat, it is downhill, but when the boat comes toward them, it goes off a cliff. When it focuses on the cops again, it is back downhill, making the boat look like it got into the air from nowhere.
  • While Mrs. Puff is scoring SpongeBob's driving test, he initially has a negative score. However, when he finishes his test and runs over the traffic cones before asking for his results, he mysteriously ends the test with a positive score.
  • After SpongeBob gives the boat his socks, he has them back as soon as he hops onto the boat's side.
No Free Rides 187
  • When SpongeBob gets grated by cheese graters, his eyes come out of the graters several times.
No Free Rides 100

It clearly says "live."

  • During Mrs. Puff's daydream of the chaos and destruction caused by SpongeBob driving, a news report is shown. It reads "Live," but at the end of the report, after being run over by SpongeBob, the reporter says, "Let's not use that take."; anything being shot live cannot be undone.
  • The cliff that the police car is parked next to disappears in the next shot.
No Free Rides 184

"Accidente."

  • The accident phone number where it reads "accident" is spelled as the Spanish equivalent "accidente," which may or may not be an error. It is certainly not an error in the Spanish dub of this episode.
Sirena Irwn error in No Free Rides & I'm Your Biggest Fanatic

Sirena Irwn.

  • During the end credits, when Sirena Irwin's name is shown, her last name is misspelled as "Irwn".
  • There is no switch that turns on the light of the living room of Mrs. Puff’s house as she walks in her house.
  • Harold SquarePants shows SpongeBob and Mrs. Puff a brand new boatmobile in the living room of Mrs. Puff’s house. However, it is impossible for the boatmobile to be moved out of Mrs. Puff’s house offscreen as the front door of Mrs. Puff’s house is too small for the boatmobile to fit in.
  • SpongeBob is riding his unicycle while chasing his boat with his eyes looking ahead. However, in the next scene by one frame, SpongeBob is looking at Mrs. Puff driving his boat while riding his unicycle.
  • Radio SpongeBob is installed in the box of SpongeBob’s boatmobile after Mrs. Puff loses him when he sees the “Educational Television” sign, where his eyes act as the left and right tuning knobs and there are three eyelashes pointing upwards on each tuning knob and three freckles under each tuning knob, and his mouth acts as the rectangular-shaped speaker. Mrs. Puff turns the left tuning knob on Radio SpongeBob at 90 degrees clockwise, making the three eyelashes of the left tuning knob pointing to the right, and then Radio SpongeBob starts to speak through the speaker. However, whenever Radio SpongeBob speaks through the speaker, the speaker contracts to the smaller size and reverts to the original size and vice versa instead of remaining the original size. Also, three freckles under each tuning knob are gone. Furthermore, in the scene where Radio SpongeBob squeezes out of the box and jumps on Mrs. Puff, the three eyelashes of the left tuning knob on Radio SpongeBob are pointed upwards.
  • Mrs. Puff is seen wearing the ski mask and her blue sailor cap on top of her starting from the scene where she is hijacking SpongeBob’s boat and drives it away until the scene where SpongeBob’s boat is about to crash into the police car when SpongeBob is hitting Mrs. Puff repeatedly with his left hand. In the next scene by one frame before SpongeBob rips off the ski mask to reveal who the culprit is, Mrs. Puff’s blue sailor cap is gone.
  • There is an error in SpongeBob's line, "And now back to KRUD, with all of your personal 'you won't get away with stealing my car!' hits." The word "car" should be replaced with the word "boat" as cars do not exist in Bikini Bottom.
  • SpongeBob rips off the ski mask to reveal that the culprit is Mrs. Puff, leaving the bottom part of the ski mask wrapping around her neck. However, in the next scene, the bottom part of the ski mask is gone and Mrs. Puff is seen wearing her normal clothes.


References[]

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Awards and nominations for SpongeBob SquarePants VE

Annie AwardsAnnie Award

Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Female Performer in an Animated Television Production

Voice actors: Mary Jo Catlett as Mrs. Puff (in "No Free Rides," 2001)

Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Male Performer in an Animated Television Production

Voice actors: Tom Kenny as SpongeBob SquarePants (in "Wormy," 2001)

Outstanding Individual Achievement for a Song in an Animated Production

Songwriters: Peter Straus and Paul Tibbitt for "The Very First Christmas" (in "Christmas Who?," 2001)

Directing in an Animated Feature Production

Directors: Stephen Hillenburg (for The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, 2004)

Music in an Animated Feature Production

Composers: Gregor F. Narholz (for The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, 2004)

Best Writing in an Animated Television Production

Writers: C.H. Greenblatt, Paul Tibbitt, Mike Bell, and Tim Hill (for "Fear of a Krabby Patty," 2005)Dani Michaeli, Sean Charmatz, Nate Cash, Luke Brookshier, and Paul Tibbitt (for "Patrick's Staycation," 2011)

Best Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production

Voice actors: Tom Kenny as SpongeBob SquarePants (in "Spy Buddies," 2007)Tom Kenny as SpongeBob SquarePants (in "Truth or Square," 2009)

Direction in an Animated Television Production

Directors: Alan Smart (for "Penny Foolish," 2008)Mark Caballero and Seamus Walsh (for "It's a SpongeBob Christmas!," 2012)

Best Home Entertainment Production

DVDs: SpongeBob vs. The Big One (2009)

Music in a Television Production

Composers: Jeremy Wakefield, Sage Guyton, Nicolas Carr, and Tuck Tucker (2010)

Character Animation in an Animated Television or other Broadcast Venue Production

Animators: Dan Driscoll and Savelen Forrest (for "It's a SpongeBob Christmas!," 2012)

Animated Effects in an Animated Production

Animators: Brice Mallier, Paul Buckley, Brent Droog, Alex Whyte, and Jonathan Freisler (for The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, 2015)

Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production

Voice Actors: Tom Kenny as SpongeBob SquarePants (for The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, 2015)

Best Animated Special Production

Episodes: "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout" (2019)

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