"The Great Snail Race" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season 3. In this episode, SpongeBob enters Gary into a snail race against Squidward and his new pet Snellie.
Characters[]
- Gary the Snail
- SpongeBob SquarePants
- Squidward Tentacles
- Patrick Star
- Snellie (debut)
- Sandy Cheeks (2 cameos)
- Muscular fish on can of Strongman Powder
- Crowd laughing (heard only)
- Rocky (debut)
- Fish on "Yeah!" poster
- Snail on the "Built for Speed" poster
- Incidentals
- Fred
- Incidental 3
- Steven
- John
- Incidental 7
- Incidental 13
- Referee
- Incidental 14
- Incidental 16
- Incidental 17
- Incidental 20
- Incidental 21
- Incidental 23
- Incidental 30
- Harold
- Scooter
- Incidental 39
- Harold
- Incidental 41
- Incidental 42
- Judy
- Incidental 46
- Sadie
- Incidental 49
- Incidental 60
- Incidental 64
- Incidental 68
- Incidental 69
- Incidental 81
- Old Man Walker
- Incidental 92
- Incidental 119
- Mr. Mailman
- Crowd (debut)
- Sports guy
- Mayor
- Larry Luciano (debut)
- Trumpet player
- French Narrator
- Paramedics (mentioned)
- Fire fish
- King Neptune (mentioned)
Synopsis[]
As the episode begins, SpongeBob wakes up and sees Squidward getting a package in the mail. Squidward opens what ends up being a cage, which turns out to contain a female snail named Snellie. He explains that Snellie is a purebred of the highest pedigree and that she is going to be entered in the Bikini Bottom Snail Race on Sunday, which he is sure Snellie will win easily. Upon hearing this, SpongeBob takes offense to Squidward's insult to Gary and decides to enter his pet into the snail race to retaliate against Squidward. Patrick also decides to enter into the competition, albeit with his pet rock, whom he christens "Rocky."
Exhausted Gary.
With only one day to go until the big day, SpongeBob abusively trains Gary practically to the point of exhaustion, not even letting him take a break, or sleep. On the day of the race, Gary is so exhausted from SpongeBob's abusive training that he is barely able to make it to the stadium. In fact, Gary's exhaustion is so great that he is initially unable to start in the race. During the race, his eyes burst like balloons, his shell breaks open like a car engine and he spins out of control, leaving skid marks. SpongeBob, seeing the error of his ways, tells Gary that he can stop, but Gary keeps on going, loses control of himself, hits the wall, and explodes completely as the firefighters use the extinguishers to turn off his fire. An upset SpongeBob runs up to him onto the track, which the announcer says is an "automatic disqualification," and embraces him, crying and apologizing for his abuse.
Snellie, who is almost at the finish line, feels sorry for Gary and turns around to comfort him, and the two instantly fall in love. Squidward is shocked at this and walks onto the track. SpongeBob and Squidward then see that, to their surprise, Rocky has won the race. However, Patrick has the trophy engraved in Squidward's honor knowing how much he wanted to win, and gives it to him. As part of a gag where Squidward's last name is mispronounced throughout the episode, Squidward's name is printed "Squidward Tortellini" to his dismay. The three laugh, until Sandy suddenly appears onscreen and ends the episode by kicking SpongeBob into the air for making a misogynistic comment the day before.
Production[]
This episode was in production in 2002.
Art[]
Model sheets[]
Music[]
| ( ‣ ) Production music |
| ( • ) Original music |
| ( ◦ ) SpongeBob music |
‣ Fight! Fight! Fight! - Will Schaefer [Title card]
‣ William Tell Overture - Robert Lee Frost [SpongeBob playing bugle]
‣ Dancing The Hula - Kapono Beamer [Squidward's new snail]
‣ Apalachian Banjo Duel - Larry Hochman ["Gary's a mutt."]
• Vibe & Harp Hits - Nicolas Carr [Gary imagines himself watching TV]
‣ Meet the Family - Alan Hawkshaw [Gary imagines himself watching TV]
‣ Deadline - Sam Spence ["Looks like we're gonna start our training now, ladies."]
‣ Astronauts March - Sam Spence [Protein shake]
‣ Meet the Family - Alan Hawkshaw [Gary watching TV]
‣ Pell-Mell - Sam Spence [Sprints]
‣ Meet the Family - Alan Hawkshaw [Gary watching TV again]
‣ Steve's March - Sam Spence [Training montage]
‣ Hawaiian Link (B) - Richard Myhill [Gary is exhausted]
‣ The Zodiac - David Lindup [At the stadium]
‣ Fight! Fight! Fight! A - Will Schaefer [pre-game ceremony]
• Bad Marching Band - Brad Carow, Robert Lee Faust, Ira Nepus [Tired band]
‣ Charge - Will Schaefer ["The torch is lit! Let the race begin!"]
‣ Open - Tom Hedden [Pep talks]
• Drum Creshendo - Nicolas Carr [Drumroll]
‣ The Wild Bunch - Sam Spence [Race starts]
‣ Dramatic Cue (G) - Ronald Hanmer [SpongeBob runs onto the track]
‣ Hawaiian Cocktail - Richard Myhill ["Oh, Gary, I'm sorry!"]
‣ Romeo & Juliet Overture - Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Fiachra Trench [Snellie comforts Gary]
‣ Miss World (C) - Tony Kinsey [Ending]
Release[]
- This episode is available on the SpongeBob Goes Prehistoric, Complete 3rd Season, Where's Gary?, The Ultimate Box Set, First 100 Episodes, Double Feature Volume 2, 3 DVD Pack, Exposed!: The Ultimate Box Set, The Ultimate SpongeBob Box Set, SpongeBob on DVD, SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 5, Mighty Sporting of You, Complete Third Season, From the Beginning, Part 2, The SpongeBob SquarePants Collection, Snail's Meow, The SpongeBob SquarePants 8 Season DVD Collection, Favorite Episodes, Easter with SpongeBob, Triple Pack 4, Favorite Episodes Volume 2, 2-Season TV Pack, The Third & Fourth Seasons, Big Hits: Volume 2, The Best 200 Episodes Ever, and The Best 300 Episodes Ever DVDs and on VideoNow.
- This episode is also available on the UK version of the SpongeBob Goes Prehistoric VHS tape.
Reception[]
- "The Great Snail Race" was ranked #35 during the Best Day Ever event from November 9–10, 2006.
Trivia[]
General[]
- This episode and its sister episode were originally scheduled to premiere on Friday, November 22, 2002 in the United States, but got replaced with a rerun of the episodes "Wet Painters" and "Krusty Krab Training Video."
- The episodes were rescheduled to air on Friday, December 20, 2002. Reruns of "Sailor Mouth" and "Artist Unknown" aired in their place.[1][2]
- The music cue "Fight! Fight! Fight! (a)" played during the title card and when Lightning Larry lights the torch is the tune to "Now That We're Men" from The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.
- According to sound designer Jeffery Hutchins, Gary breaking down like a car engine is actually coming from a Camaro as Hutchins pulled a spark plug wire out. A friend of his recorded the Camaro from his truck side by side up the hill to the Hollywood sign.[3]
- This is the first episode for a few things:
- The first episode in which Gary falls in love. It would happen again in "Gary in Love."
- The first episode where, while the title card is showing, a description of the music appears in the closed-captions (American TV airings only).[citation needed]
- This is the second episode in which SpongeBob is the main antagonist. The first being "Gary Takes a Bath."
- Specifically speaking, SpongeBob is an antagonistic to Gary because of his brutal training and enraged yelling at him for not taking off in the race.
- The Bikini Bottom mayor in this episode is also the first mayor of New Kelp City in "What Ever Happened to SpongeBob?"
- This episode was paired up with different episodes in different marathons:
- During the Best Day Ever marathon, this episode was paired up with "Survival of the Idiots."[4]
- On the December 21, 2013 airing, this episode was paired up with "Pet or Pests" as they are both pet-themed episodes.[5]
- There is an online game of the same name based on this episode.
- There is also a book of the same name based on this episode.
- The band members at the Snail Race are the same band members at Squidward's Super Band from "Band Geeks."
- The show that Gary watches in his daydream is implied to be the same one that Patrick watches in "Rock-a-Bye Bivalve."
- Sandy's scenes were removed in all book adaptations of this episode.
- This is the only episode on the Where's Gary? DVD that is not from season 4.
"The Great Snail Race" paired with "Gary in Love" on Amazon Prime Video.
"The Great Snail Race" paired with "Gary in Love."
- This episode was originally paired with "Mid-Life Crustacean." However, due to that episode being banned in 2021, this episode got paired up with the season 7 episode "Gary in Love" on American iTunes[6] and some streaming services.
Dub facts[]
- In the Indonesian dub, Squidward refers to Snellie's certificate paper as "koran" (newspaper).
- In the Brazilian dub, Squidward's last name "Tentáculos" is misspelled "Tem Tacos" (have clubs) by the mailman and "Tem Óculos" (have eyeglasses) by Patrick. Snellie is called "Caracolina," a combination of "Caracol" (snail) and "Carolina" (a given name).
- In the Hebrew dub, after after Patrick misspelled Squidward last name as "Sentacles" Squidward shout at him "It's testicles! Haaaa… Tentacles!"
Cultural references[]
- "Lightning Larry Luciano" is likely a reference to the mobster "Lucky Luciano."
- The torch that indicates the start of the race is a parody of the Olympic flame, a symbol of the Olympics.
- The part where the mailman, Patrick, and the trophy misspells Squidward's last name references the 1960 sitcom, The Andy Griffith Show, where the newspaper and book misspell Deputy Barney Fife's last name.
- The part where SpongeBob makes Gary a shake references the 1976 film, Rocky. There is even a snail that is named after Rocky Balboa, that movie's protagonist.
- The coffee mug that the sports guy drinks (the I ❤️ BB mug) is a reference to the I ❤️ NY slogan.
Errors[]
Merriwether Williams version.
Joe Liss version.
- Merriwether Williams is credited as the third writer in the opening credits of this episode in the original airing,[7] early airings,[8] DVD releases, and international non-US airings. However, in recent airings on Nickelodeon USA,[citation needed] Nicktoons USA,[citation needed] digital versions, and streaming releases, Joe Liss is credited instead.
Patrick's eyelids are pink instead of purple.
- Right after Squidward says, "That's Tennisballs...," Patrick blinks his eyes but his eyelids are pink instead of purple.
- When Patrick is standing on Squidward's neck, his legs are not seen out the window.
Snellie's eyelids are purple instead of blue.
- When Squidward says, "Well, SpongeBob, I must admit, I didn't think that mongrel mutt of yours would even find the starting line," Snellie blinks and her eyelids are purple instead of blue.
- When SpongeBob says, "Gary, are you listening to me?!," he is shown outside of the Oyster Stadium.
SpongeBob's coach pants are blue instead of red and Gary in the wrong lane.
- SpongeBob is wearing a red coach's outfit, but in Oyster Stadium when SpongeBob says, "Don't give me that look!," there is a close-up shot where Gary is on the floor and SpongeBob's pants are blue instead of red.
- Also in the exact same close-up shot, Gary is in the outer lane, when in reality, he is in the middle lane.
- When Gary is spinning out of control, there are at least five lanes on the track, but before, there are only three.
- Gary crashes into a wall and is still on the track.
- When the race begins, the track is in the center of the stadium, far from the walls.
- When SpongeBob runs to help Gary in the race, Patrick's "snail" disappears.
- Speaking of which, Squidward and Patrick would also disappear from the track when SpongeBob tells Gary, "You let Snellie take the lead".
Fred with no pants; Incidental 41's legs and Incidental 40's legs are missing.
- In the audience at Oyster Stadium, Fred is missing his pants. Also, in the back, Incidental 41's legs and Incidental 40's legs are missing.
- In early airings, the episode had an incorrect copyright year of 2001 in the credits. Later airings (and the original print of this episode) have the correct date of 2002.[9]
Videos[]
Names in other languages[]
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Russian | Большие улиточные гонки Bol'shiye ulitochnyye gonki |
The Big Snail Race |
| Spanish | La gran carrera de caracoles | The Great Snail Race |
References[]
- ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20030815081622/http://www.tvtome.com:80/SpongeBobSquarePants/season3.html
- ^ December 20, 2002 - Nickstory
- ^ Jeffery Hutchins (2018-05-30). That is true. The car was my Camaro. Twitter. Retrieved on 2017-05-30.
- ^ November 10, 2006 - Nickstory
- ^ December 21, 2013 - Nickstory
- ^ https://itunes.apple.com/us/tv-season/spongebob-squarepants-season-3/id201910200
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QT6OwKq-Ycc
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWfuS1sY1Zk
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woGMGnIxtdQ&t=33s
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