THE GREAT SNAIL RACE
Episode Title: "The Great Snail Race"
Episode Airing Number: 54
Episode Production Number: 55
Original Airdate: January 24, 2003
Season: 3
On DVD: "SpongeBob SquarePants: The Complete Third Season," "SpongeBob Goes Prehistoric," "Where's Gary?"
On VHS: (none)
Aired With Episode: "Mid-Life Crustacean"
Running Time: 11:15
Storyboard Directors: Paul Tibbitt and Kent Osborne
Storyboard Artists: Chuck Klein, Carson Kugler, Caleb Meurer, and William Reiss
Writers: Paul Tibbitt, Kent Osborne, and Merriwether Williams
Animation Director: Andrew Overtoom
Creative Director: Derek Drymon
In Brief: SpongeBob trains Gary for a snail race so hard that the poor animal's too exhausted to even try beating Squidward's snail.
Story: One morning, SpongeBob and Patrick find that Squidward had just gotten a new snail named Snellie. The two go over to Squid's yard see her. SpongeBob mentions that Gary will have a new playmate, but Squidward insists the two will not be friends. Squidward also says that he's training Snellie for Sunday's snail race. He insults Gary by calling him a mutt and saying there's no way he could win, but that doesn't stop Spongebob from training his pet for the competition.
SpongeBob makes Gary a drink out of nails, raw eggs, and kelp powder and expects him to drink it, but Gary goes off to watch TV. After Patrick drops by to introduce his snail (a rock) to SpongeBob, SpongeBob pulls Gary from the TV for training.
SpongeBob has Gary do sprints, but the careless snail goes back to the TV. Squidward drops by to convince SpongeBob to not even try to train Gary because he'll lose. All day and night, SpongeBob makes Gary train by doing things like climbing up walls and punching a bag with his eye stalks until he's very tired.
The next day is the day of the big race at Oyster Stadium. After a torch lighting by a VERY slow snail, the race begins, with Snellie, Gary, and Rocky (Patrick's rock) competing. Snellie is the only one who passes the starting line because Gary is exhausted and Rocky's just a rock. SpongeBob yells at Gary to get moving. When Gary does, he ends up having a blowout and goes out of control. While Snellie is almost at the finish line, SpongeBob runs onto the track and apologizes for all the pressure he piled onto him. Snellie turns around to comfort Gary. He heals right away at the sight of her. The two fall in love. Rocky ends up winning the race, and Patrick gets his trophy engraved to Squidward (but having his last name spelled as "Tortellini") because he really wanted to win. Then Sandy comes and kicks SpongeBob's butt for making an insulting comment about ladies to Gary the day before.
Song: (none)
Quotes:
SpongeBob: Squidward's last name is Tentacles?
Patrick: Poor guy.
Squidward: *referring to Snellie* She's a purebred.
Patrick: Wow, a snail made out of bread.
Fish Announcer: And what a beautiful day for the sport of kings of which I am a huge fan. Seriously, I'm just a fan. I was on my way to the seat, the door was open-
REAL Announcer: Hey, what are you doing? *other fish runs out of announcing box*
Squidward: Well, SpongeBob, I must admit, I didn't think that mongrel mutt of yours would even find the starting line. Congratulations.
Squidward: I can't believe it. My purebred, which cost me seventeen-hundred dollars, lost to a rock.
Observations:
Early Sample of Movie Music The music played in the opening of this episode when "The Great Snail Race" title card is shown and the music the band plays at the snail race sounds exactly like the music from the SpongeBob SquarePants Movie song "Now That We're Men."
Other Character-Episode Appearances A snail that looks very similar to Snellie can also be seen in "The Sponge Who Could Fly." However, the snail belongs to Mrs. Puff in that episode. The mayor of Bikini Bottom also appears in "Doing Time."
Ribbon The ribbon attached to Snellie's pedigree paper has a picture of a seashell on it.
Shakers In the kitchen, SpongeBob has salt shakers hanging from his ceiling.
Second Appearance This is the second appearance of Oyster Stadium. The first was in "The Smoking Peanut."
Gary on a Poster The snail pictured on the "Built for Speed" poster in the announcer's booth looks like Gary.
Band Uniforms The uniforms the band playing at the race wear look pretty much the same as the ones worn by the band at the Bubble Bowl in "Band Geeks".
Magical Sweat The sweat puddles Gary makes at the starting line as SpongeBob yells at him disappear in front of our eyes when he starts to finally move.