HAVE YOU SEEN THIS SNAIL?
Episode Title: "Have You Seen This Snail?"
Episode Airing Number: 70
Episode Production Number: 63
Original Airdate: November 11, 2005
Season: 4
On DVD:"Season 4, Volume 1," "Where's Gary?"
On VHS: (none)
Aired With Episode: (none)
Running Time:22:20
Storyboard Director: Aaron Springer
Writers: Aaron Springer and Paul Tibbitt
Supervising Producer: Paul Tibbitt
Creative Director: Derek Drymon
In Brief: Gary runs away from home after being neglected by SpongeBob.
Story: SpongeBob carries home a huge sack of Gary's snail food. He walks by Patrick's rock and Patrick says hey to him and asks how Gary is. SpongeBob struggles with the bag as Patrick talks to him. He walks off as Patrick is still talking. SpongeBob puts the bag of snail food down outside and notices a note on the front door saying that a package would be delivered to him later. The doorbell rings and it's SpongeBob's package. He cuts it open to reveal it's the official Mermaidman and Barnacleboy Paddleball set. SpongeBob decides that he's going to attempt to take the Dirty Bubble challenge. As he begins to play with the paddeball Gary crawls into the kitchen and sees that his bowl is empty. He checks the time and sees that it's snack time. He meows to get SpongeBob's attention but he's tells Gary he's too busy. He picks up his paddleball and Gary is stuck to it. SpongeBob fusses at Gary and he slithers off. He goes to his food bowl again and sees a tiny crumb of food left but spiders crawl out of it. Gary sadly packs his things and leaves.
The next morning Patrick comes out of his rock drinking coffee. After he finished it he eats the mug. He says to himself that he hasn't seen SpongeBob for a couple of days and that SpongeBob will be glad to know he remembers what he wanted to tell him. Patrick knocks on SpongeBob's door and then notices the bag of snail food outside. He walks in and hears SpongeBob's muffled voice. Patrick opens the door to the galley and sees SpongeBob laying on the floor but all he seems to care about is a crooked picture on the wall. He notices the paddeball in SpongeBob's hand. Patrick snaps SpongeBob out of it and he tells Patrick that he took the Dirty Bubble Challenge. Patrick starts to cry and tells him that he took the Dirty Bubble Challenge also but he lost the trophy they sent him. SpongeBob invites Patrick into the kitchen for kelp cookies and sea horse milk. He notices Gary's empty food bowl and it reminds him that he forgot to feed him. SpongeBob calls for Gary but he doesn't come. He asks Patrick how long he was taking the Dirty Bubble challenge. Patrick pours out sour, hard milk and eats it. He tells SpongeBob it's been about a week, maybe ten days. SpongeBob desperately searches the house for Gary.
Gary slithers across the desert. His stomach growls and howls at him and he sneezes. Back at SpongeBob's house he gets a can of Gary's favorite treat to try to lure him back home. Patrick shakes the can but it's empty. He belches and SpongeBob shakes his belly. Later on at night time SpongeBob and Patrick walk around outside searching for Gary. Patrick shakes his belly so they can hear the snail food shaking around in his stomach. Squidward hears them outside calling for Gary. SpongeBob and Patrick opens up his bathroom door while he's in the bathtub. Squidward screams hysterically and then pants. SpongeBob checks in the tub while Patrick pulls the sink out of the wall flooding the bathroom. Finally, SpongeBob and Patrick go out to SpongeBob's mailbox which is bursting from so much letters being in it. SpongeBob opens it and all the letters shoot out. They find a piece of paper with scribbles all over it. SpongeBob reads it and it's a letter from Gary saying that he's run away and had to move on and find a new owner. Cut to Gary crawling into a town and notices a couple walking by. He sees a diner and watches a guy eating a burger. The guy closes the blind. Gary keeps slithering along until he sees some nachos laying in an alley. He gets ready to eat them but three snails come out and interupt him. Gary quickly crawls away and runs until he sees a dark figure in front of him. The figure grabs Gary. It turns out to be an old woman who can't see. She thinks Gary is her snail named Miss Tuffsy. Grandma takes Gary home and feeds him some cookies and puts an electric blanket over him. She goes in the kitchen to get some more cookies and tells Gary (Miss Tuffsy) not to run away again. Grandma turns on some music and starts dancing until she hurts her back.
SpongeBob continues to call for Gary and looks in a hat store. He sees a reflection of a truck in the store window with a snail on the side of it. He turns around and it's a Snailpo truck. Back at Grandma's house she's sitting on the sofa with Gary watching TV. She tells him it's time for bed. When Gary crawls off the couch a picture of SpongeBob comes out of his bag. He sticks his tounge out at the picture. He goes into a brightly colored room. Grandma tucks Gary in and claps to turn the lights off. The next day, at the Krusty Krab SpongeBob comes in 15 minutes late. He's on his knees and exhausted. SpongeBob tries to explain to Mr. Krabs that Gary ran away but he doesn't listen and just puts SpongeBob hat on him. A customer tries to return her Krabby Patty because it's covered in SpongeBob's tears. Mr. Krabs goes in the kitchen to see what's holding up the patties. He tells SpongeBob that any problem can be solved with a little hard work. SpongeBob agrees and to Mr. Krabs surprise leaves work to find Gary.
Patrick is sleeping on the ground. SpongeBob runs up to him dropping office products on him. Patrick thinks it's the apocalypse. SpongeBob tells him they're gonna use the stuff to find Gary. Over at Grandma's house she's fixing "Miss Tuffsy" breakfast. She squeezes juice from an orange and then puts more syrup on Gary's pancakes. After he finishes eating they get in the car and Grandma drives over to "Martha's Craft Zone." They walk inside as SpongeBob and Patrick walk up the front door of the store with posters and tape. SpongeBob puts one of the posters on the door. It's says "Gary! I am sorry! Please come home! Love, SpongeBob." Patrick notices a sign saying that the store has scented pine cones on sale. He runs in to get some. Patrick runs up to Grandma and asks her where the scented pine cones are. She tells him that she bought all they had which really upsets him. Patrick sees Gary and says hey to him and walks out of the store. SpongeBob and Patrick walk off as Grandma and Gary come out. SpongeBob and Patrick get in an airplane and write "Gary Come Home" but they mess it up and it ends up saying "Lisa, will you marry me? A woman fish sees it and slaps her husband thinking it's a message from him to another woman. Grandma walks into her house and tells Gary there's a warm meat loaf in the oven. Gary sniffs a pile of newspaper and she asks him if he has to use the potty. She tells him to use a stack of fliers that Patrick gave her at the craft store. Gary reads the fliers that SpongeBob and Patrick made and imagines SpongeBob in a thought bubble telling him to come home. He opens a closet door and a bunch of empty, cracked snail shells fall out. Grandma comes with a fresh batch of cookies. Gary struggles to get out of the shell pile. He crawls out the pet door while Grandma tries to throw cookies at him but they get stuck in the door. Gary looks behind him to see Grandma approaching. He hides behind some trashcans and then notices one of the snails he saw in the alley earlier. Gary pushes him in Grandma's view and she picks him up and takes him home with her. Gary sighs with relief. Back at home, SpongeBob is on his sofa sobbing. Patrick tries to comfort him. SpongeBob runs out of the house and tries to forget about Gary but sees a huge billboard with Gary on it. SpongeBob starts talking to the billboard. Gary crawls on SpongeBob's head and he hears a very familiar meow. SpongeBob is thrilled to have Gary back and he promises that from now on their relationship will be different. They go in the house and SpongeBob offers Gary something to eat which makes him groan.
Song: "Gary's Song"
Gary, now I know I was wrong
I messed up, and now you're gone
Gary, I'm sorry I neglected you
Oh, I never expected you to run away and leave me
Feeling this empty
Your meow right now would sound like music to me
Please come home, 'cause I miss you, Gary
(Gary, come home...)
(Gary, come home...)
(Gary, come home...)
Gary, can't you see I was blind
I'll do anything to change your mind
More than a pet, you're my best friend
Too cool to forget, come back
'Cause we are family
And forgive me for making you wanna roam
And now my heart is beating like the saddest metronome
Somewhere I hope you're reading my latest three-word poem:
Gary come home
(Gary, come home...)
(Gary, come home...)
(Gary, come home...)
(Gary, come home...)
(Gary, come home...)
(Gary, come home...)
(Gary, come home...)
Gary come home
Gary come home
Gary, won't you come home?
Quotes:
SpongeBob: How long was I taking the Dirty Bubble challenge?
Patrick: About a week.
SpongeBob: A week? Are you sure?
Patrick: Hmmm. . . Well. . . *pours the solid, stale milk out and eats it* Yeah, it's about a week, maybe ten days.
Patrick: Old lady, quick. I'm looking for the scented pine cones. It's an emergency!
Grandma: Well, I hope you weren't looking to buy them, sonny, because Gramma already picked up all they had.
Patrick: Once again, you and I are kept apart, oh sweet scented pine cones. *notices Gary* Hey, Gary. *walks out of store*
Observations:
Note The note on SpongeBob's door about his package was from "The United Delivery Company".
Craft Store "Martha's Craft Zone" is probably a reference to Martha Stewart.
SpongeBob Specials This is the first SpongeBob half hour special that doesn't feature Patchy.
Feeding Gary This isn't the first time Gary doesn't get fed. Squidward almost starves him to death in "I Was a Teenage Gary."
Dirty Bubble The Dirty Bubble from the paddleball game appears in "MM and BB II" and "MM and BB V".
Pictures SpongeBob has pictures of Squidward, Gary and Sandy on the wall in his hallway.