55a. The Great Snail Race

Great, both Overrated and Overhated, The Gary stuff was a bit much, but apart from that it was solid.

8/10
 
This episode has issues, but it's not as bad as some people make it out to be. Most only dislike it for that scene of Gary crashing, but I think there's more than just that, that really push me over the edge.

First off, I don't really understand the setup of this episode, while it makes sense for SpongeBob to want to prove to Squidward that Gary isn't a slouch, the way he treats Gary over something he just found out about, is what I don't really get. He acts like this a life or death situation, and becomes "Coach WhoBob". I don't see SpongeBob acting that way, I always nag on post-movie for pushing SpongeBob's childish side, but this is what happens when you push his more mature side, he feels very out of character the way he does this. He acts like a mean coach, and I just don't see it. Yeah it's a parody on coaches, and it's relatable to me, but that doesn't make it fun to watch play out.

You want to do a coach? Why not make Squidward the one who pushes Snelly? I could see Squidward doing it more than SpongeBob. In fact, why not have SpongeBob be the one who's very mellow with it, while Squid is going too far. I see that WAY more in line with Squidward than SpongeBob, it would also prevent the next issue I have with this

I think it's horribly ironic how this episode makes fun of cliches while being one of the most generic, predictable episodes I have ever seen. When Gary is being pushed to the edge, it's obvious as heck as to what is going to happen at the race. Why couldn't we have more characters enroll in this race? It would be cool to have someone like Mr. Krabs or Sandy bring their pets, it would make this episode a lot less obvious as to what is going to happen.

Then the actual race, some of the gags at the race work, while some are very slow (looking at you Lightning Larry). Gary looks like a mess and GEE I WONDER WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN??? Sorry, but yeah he doesn't move when the race begins. And SpongeBob just screams at him! It makes sense from a coach standpoint, but not from a comedy standpoint. This maybe the most out of character he's been, rivaling Party Pooper Pants. Gary starts moving and the disgusting scene begins. I find it more sad how people are cheering after Gary explodes and Squidward is laughing, it just feels- wrong. They needed shock value, and that's why this scene happened, and it makes an otherwise mediocre episode a bad one, it is pretty hard to watch, especially when you know about it beforehand.

SpongeBob cries, and it's all typical stuff. And just when you think this episode couldn't get more cliche Snelly comes to comfort Gary, and this is an excuse a lot of people use to defend the scene, saying "Gary won in the end, he got a girlsnail". Here's my problem with that: he had never been shown to like Snelly, just because it's a snail that's a girl, doesn't mean they like each other. Gary was shown to like something, and guess what; IT WAS THE TV. All he wanted was to watch TV, not anything else, why couldn't we have a scene where Gary watches TV in the end, that would be a lot better. Patrick's rock wins, kind of predictable. And the story ends.

That is why I don't like this, but it's pretty close to not being bad. There were a few funny lines all throughout this episode, especially from Patrick that I did note. But there's just not enough, I find the Patchy segments from SpongeBob B.C. to be about as funny as this. There's also some tension to the race, there's also a nice title card with the "Now That We're Men" instrumental, but besides that it ranges from mediocrity to just bad.

I think that this episode is BAD: 3.7/10
 
I'm just going to get this out there before saying anything else: SpongeBob is a jerk in this episode. He's a meanie bo beanie who works his snail half to death so he can do what? Prove to Squidward that he can win a stupid contest? I've always had a problem with that aspect of the story, and that's one of the reasons this episode isn't in my top 20. However, the things this episode does right outweighs the things it does wrong, and that's why I couldn't have the heart to leave it off my list completely.

For one, this episode was chock-full of gags. Its writers knew how to keep me laughing, and keep me laughing it did. Also, the ending wrapped everything up perfectly. It not only redeemed SpongeBob and gave him a well-deserved kick to the seat of his pants (literally), but it brought Gary together with his first love interest in the series. After seeing him get tortured so badly, it was nice to see everything work out well for the old snail. All in all, I'd say that this episode, despite its faults, was a worthy member of Season 3.
 
For me, the love interest towards Gary doesn't work when they had absoutlly no foreshadowing of it. Why does it need that? Because it makes this entire ending pretty cliche. It's one of the more predictable, cheap endings, and also, when SpongeBob is a jerk to Gary, there's a period of the episode that isn't funny in the slightest. This may be just me, but it's really hard to laugh when I am pretty mad at SpongeBob. Yes it does actually have a nice amount, but a few fall flat due to bad pacing, and well the tone created by SpongeBob's jerkiness. It is my weakest bad episode of season 3 (between this one, Party Pooper Pants, and Krabby Land) but I still stand by the fact that it is a bad one.
 
This episode is hard to watch at times. SpongeBob pushing Gary over the edge was uncalled for and OOC, and the race itself is painful to watch due to Gary's treatment. What saves this episode from being worse is Patrick. He's really funny here.

Ranking so far:
1. Chocolate With Nuts (A+)
2. Snowball Effect (A+)
3. Wet Painters (A+)
4. Krusty Krab Training Video (A+)
5. Can You Spare A Dime? (A+)
6. Idiot Box (A+)
7. Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V (A)
8. Just One Bite (A)
9. No Weenies Allowed (A)
10. Nasty Patty (A)
11. Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy IV (A)
12. Rock-A-Bye Bivalve (B)
13. The Bully (B)
14. Doing Time (B)
15. Ugh (B)
16. Squilliam Returns (B)
17. The Algae's Always Greener (B)
18. Krab Borg (B)
19. One Krab's Trash (B)
20. Clams (B)
21. My Pretty Seahorse (C)
22. Club SpongeBob (C)
23. SpongeGuard on Duty (C)
24. New Student Starfish (C)
25. As Seen On TV (D)
26. The Great Snail Race (D)
27. Party Pooper Pants (D)
 
Another season 3 stinker IMO, I can see Spongebob as a lot of things but as a cruel pet owner, Nah, I also really don't like the scene with Larry its just a really dragged out pointless scene, and of course the Gary scene which I consider the worst moment of Pre Movie. However I do like the shoulders joke and also the sexist joke. And also the "ending" I mean of course Rocky will win but its too predictable and very unfunny, Patrick this episode is the highlight as he is just too pleasant and funny. Overall I don't like this one that much

Bad 4/10 #36 in Season 3
 
I was extremely conflicted on this episode, even more so than with Clams. On one hand, there's some really good comedy in this, like the whole thing about Squidward's last name being spelled wrong. There's other good gags, too, but I don't wanna list them all here. On the other hand, Spongebob is very unlikeable and just really cruel towards Gary, and seeing him be this sweaty and abused is really painful to watch. But I guess Spongebob did regret overworking Gary when he started to pretty much die, so it doesn't bother me too much I guess. After a lot of deliberating, I must say I do enjoy this episode, but Spongebob's behavior definitely does bring it down for me.

Good episode (7/10)

1. Chocolate With Nuts (10)
2. Krusty Krab Training Video (10)
3. Idiot Box (10)
4. Mermaidman and Barnacleboy V (10)
5. Wet Painters (9)
6. The Algae's Always Greener (9)
7. Snowball Effect (9)
8. Can You Spare A Dime? (9)
9. Rock-A-Bye Bivalve (9)
10. Just One Bite (9)
11. Krab Borg (9)
12. As Seen On Tv (8)
13. One Krabs Trash (8)
14. Nasty Patty (8)
15. New Student Starfish (8)
16. No Weenies Allowed (8)
17. My Pretty Seahorse (7)
18. Squilliam Returns (7)
19. Mermaidman and Barnacleboy IV (7)
20. The Great Snail Race (7)
21. Clams (7)
22. The Bully (7)
23. Doing Time (7)
24. Ugh (6)
25. Spongeguard on Duty (6)
26. Club Spongebob (6)
27. Party Pooper Pants (4)
 
I actually think that Gary abuse is WORSE than Squid abuse

Squidward abuse IS bad, don't get me wrong but he's an adult who can handle it easier vs a pet

In this episode, it really felt like SpongeBob was treating Gary like his personal slave and it was hard to watch!

The episode felt contrived & cliché

(especially the reveal that Gary and Snellie were boyfriend and girlfriend without foreshadowing said reveal!)
 
I rewatched it now and I really like this episde. Yeah, Spongebob is annoying, but except to that this episode is very good. I give it 7.5/10 instead of 8/10 just bceause Spongebob is annoying.
 
OLD REVIEW NEW ONE BELOW

For a while i had to ask people that this episode isnt that bad to me the jokes are pretty funny also its the origin of:

"SQUIDWARD TORTULLENI?!?!??!?!?!??!???!?"

LOL


8/10 Superb episode
 
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This one was pretty funny i am not gonna lie. It might have gary torture and SpongeBob pushing the poor snail too hard. But at least the jokes were very funny.

Rating: Great Episode

Rankings:
No Weenies Allowed (Golden)
Idiot Box (Perfect)
Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V (Perfect)
Krab Borg (Amazing!)
Wet Painters (Amazing!)
The Algaes Always Greener (Amazing!)
Just One Bite (Amazing!)
Squlliam Returns (Amazing!)
My Pretty Seahorse (Delightful)
Krusty Krab Training Video (Astonishing)
The Great Snail Race (Great)
Ugh (Great)
Doing Time (Great)
Snowball Effect (Great)
One Krabs Trash (Good)
Can you Spare a Dime? (Good)
SpongeGuard on Duty (Okay)
Rock-a-Bye Bivalve (Okay)
Club SpongeBob (Meh)
New Student Starfish (Meh)
MMABBIV (Meh)
Clams (Bad)
Nasty Patty (Bad)
The Bully (Bad)
As Seen on TV (Bad)
Party Pooper Pants (Sucky)
 
Oh my gosh, can it really be? Can this really be an episode focused on Gary the Snail? I think my heart might give out because of how happy it is about this phenomenon. Or, it would've. if "The Great Snail Race" was a more enjoyable episode. Yeah, this shouldn't surprise anyone. Well, what might surprise people is the fact that I do actually like this episode. But it's got some real problems that I will be talking about, so let's jump right into it.

I think this episode starts pretty well. I love how offended SpongeBob gets on Gary's behalf. Both because I like seeing the bond between SpongeBob and Gary, so this is gratifying, and also because SpongeBob very rarely gets mad at Squidward when he acts like a jerk, and y'all know how much I love to see that. I also love how this beginning scene gets right into it with the running joke of nobody knowing Squidward's last name, which is a joke that works every time here. Now, why Squidward decided he wants to enter a snail into a race is anybody's guess. Maybe he just really wanted a trophy or something. Maybe he sees it as something "cultured" people do. Who knows. Anyway, I like the back-and-forth between SpongeBob and Squidward here. It's not particularly funny or anything, but it is fun to watch. I like that SpongeBob is unphased until he realizes that Squidward is insulting Gary. Lastly, I love the quick cut to Sandy after SpongeBob says something misogynistic. This episode is very good at letting gags hang in the air before bringing them back at just the right moment. Because really, the audience has no actual reason to expect that this little bit with Sandy would be a brick joke, because as a joke it could've worked on its own without the ending bit. But there's no denying that the callback at the end is so much better.

The episode keeps up this good momentum for the next segment, when SpongeBob starts training Gary. The bit with the training smoothie is pretty funny, both because of SpongeBob's quips and Gary getting the heck out of dodge before SpongeBob can make him drink the nasty thing. And then the whole part with SpongeBob, Patrick, and Squidward is great. Their banter is really entertaining, just like it was at the beginning, and then the joke with Patrick standing on Squidward is hilarious.

Now this is about where the good momentum of the episode comes to a halt. If not a screeching halt, then at least a pretty quick deceleration. The montage of SpongeBob training Gary has me of two minds. First, it is admittedly entertaining to see SpongeBob take this thing so seriously, with the outfit and the yelling. But it isn't exactly funny. And seeing Gary do these activities is alright until we see the end result of him lugging SpongeBob in a wagon, all worn down. Not exactly a pretty or appealing sight. At all. But I will say that it could've been much worse than this, so there's that.

Luckily, we cut away from that to return to more funny stuff. I love the bit with Nat in the announcement booth before getting kicked out by the real announcer. It's so unexpected and hilarious. What isn't quite as funny, or really all that funny, is the bit with the old snail. Just a bit too slow and dull, much like the point of the joke. And then of course this only leads us back to Squidward and SpongeBob, where we again see a very tired Gary. SpongeBob yelling at Gary once the race starts is not appealing either.

However, things absolutely take a turn for the better once the results of SpongeBob's behavior towards Gary start to show themselves. First off, the visuals of Gary literally starting to explode are both impressive and grotesque. It's kind of funny how the pets are treated like cars in this race. And then I like that SpongeBob starts showing remorse pretty much immediately once this starts happening. Gary going out of control is deliciously dramatic, especially when the firefighters come in. Though I don't know why the crowd was cheering at all that, do you have no humanity??? And I love that Squidward gets his just desserts as well when his snail goes back to help Gary, which was wholesome. And I love that Patrick, who definitely treated his pet the best out of everyone, got the win here. It's absurd and also deserved.

And then, of course, we have the ending of the episode, which was the resolution of not one but two different brick jokes. Well, one was more of a running gag, but the writers knew what they were doing by having that gag go on for the first few minutes and then stopping until here at the end. But anyway, the "Squidward...Tortellini?!" line never gets old, it's delivered so well and it's absolutely hilarious. And then, just when the episode seems to be ready to close, we have the conclusion to the Sandy joke from earlier, with Sandy appearing out of nowhere and kicking SpongeBob's butt for the things he said yesterday. Unexpected and truly hilarious. And also a great way to give SpongeBob his own brand of universal justice.

"The Great Snail Race" is actually a pretty good episode, even though my intro might have implied I thought otherwise. Looking back on it, this episode did not have as much Gary torture as I used to think, which definitely gets my enjoyment up. It's enjoyable seeing SpongeBob and Squidward compete, as well as all the really great gags in this episode. However, Gary does absolutely get the short end of the stick in this episode, which is not so entertaining, knocking this episode down a tier to "Great".

Episode Tier: Great
Episode Score: 8/10
 
Pugs4Thugs said:
Oh my gosh, can it really be? Can this really be an episode focused on Gary the Snail? I think my heart might give out because of how happy it is about this phenomenon. Or, it would've. if "The Great Snail Race" was a more enjoyable episode. Yeah, this shouldn't surprise anyone. Well, what might surprise people is the fact that I do actually like this episode. But it's got some real problems that I will be talking about, so let's jump right into it.

I think this episode starts pretty well. I love how offended SpongeBob gets on Gary's behalf. Both because I like seeing the bond between SpongeBob and Gary, so this is gratifying, and also because SpongeBob very rarely gets mad at Squidward when he acts like a jerk, and y'all know how much I love to see that. I also love how this beginning scene gets right into it with the running joke of nobody knowing Squidward's last name, which is a joke that works every time here. Now, why Squidward decided he wants to enter a snail into a race is anybody's guess. Maybe he just really wanted a trophy or something. Maybe he sees it as something "cultured" people do. Who knows. Anyway, I like the back-and-forth between SpongeBob and Squidward here. It's not particularly funny or anything, but it is fun to watch. I like that SpongeBob is unphased until he realizes that Squidward is insulting Gary. Lastly, I love the quick cut to Sandy after SpongeBob says something misogynistic. This episode is very good at letting gags hang in the air before bringing them back at just the right moment. Because really, the audience has no actual reason to expect that this little bit with Sandy would be a brick joke, because as a joke it could've worked on its own without the ending bit. But there's no denying that the callback at the end is so much better.

The episode keeps up this good momentum for the next segment, when SpongeBob starts training Gary. The bit with the training smoothie is pretty funny, both because of SpongeBob's quips and Gary getting the heck out of dodge before SpongeBob can make him drink the nasty thing. And then the whole part with SpongeBob, Patrick, and Squidward is great. Their banter is really entertaining, just like it was at the beginning, and then the joke with Patrick standing on Squidward is hilarious.

Now this is about where the good momentum of the episode comes to a halt. If not a screeching halt, then at least a pretty quick deceleration. The montage of SpongeBob training Gary has me of two minds. First, it is admittedly entertaining to see SpongeBob take this thing so seriously, with the outfit and the yelling. But it isn't exactly funny. And seeing Gary do these activities is alright until we see the end result of him lugging SpongeBob in a wagon, all worn down. Not exactly a pretty or appealing sight. At all. But I will say that it could've been much worse than this, so there's that.

Luckily, we cut away from that to return to more funny stuff. I love the bit with Nat in the announcement booth before getting kicked out by the real announcer. It's so unexpected and hilarious. What isn't quite as funny, or really all that funny, is the bit with the old snail. Just a bit too slow and dull, much like the point of the joke. And then of course this only leads us back to Squidward and SpongeBob, where we again see a very tired Gary. SpongeBob yelling at Gary once the race starts is not appealing either.

However, things absolutely take a turn for the better once the results of SpongeBob's behavior towards Gary start to show themselves. First off, the visuals of Gary literally starting to explode are both impressive and grotesque. It's kind of funny how the pets are treated like cars in this race. And then I like that SpongeBob starts showing remorse pretty much immediately once this starts happening. Gary going out of control is deliciously dramatic, especially when the firefighters come in. Though I don't know why the crowd was cheering at all that, do you have no humanity??? And I love that Squidward gets his just desserts as well when his snail goes back to help Gary, which was wholesome. And I love that Patrick, who definitely treated his pet the best out of everyone, got the win here. It's absurd and also deserved.

And then, of course, we have the ending of the episode, which was the resolution of not one but two different brick jokes. Well, one was more of a running gag, but the writers knew what they were doing by having that gag go on for the first few minutes and then stopping until here at the end. But anyway, the "Squidward...Tortellini?!" line never gets old, it's delivered so well and it's absolutely hilarious. And then, just when the episode seems to be ready to close, we have the conclusion to the Sandy joke from earlier, with Sandy appearing out of nowhere and kicking SpongeBob's butt for the things he said yesterday. Unexpected and truly hilarious. And also a great way to give SpongeBob his own brand of universal justice.

"The Great Snail Race" is actually a pretty good episode, even though my intro might have implied I thought otherwise. Looking back on it, this episode did not have as much Gary torture as I used to think, which definitely gets my enjoyment up. It's enjoyable seeing SpongeBob and Squidward compete, as well as all the really great gags in this episode. However, Gary does absolutely get the short end of the stick in this episode, which is not so entertaining, knocking this episode down a tier to "Great".

Episode Tier: Great
Episode Score: 8/10
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I definitely agree but was it just me or was it a bit out of character for Spongebob to be so competitive? Idk, that was just something I thought when watching this but it was definitely entertaining regardless.
 
Squidwardspal said:
I definitely agree but was it just me or was it a bit out of character for Spongebob to be so competitive? Idk, that was just something I thought when watching this but it was definitely entertaining regardless.
Click to expand...
Maybe a bit in terms of how badly he treats Gary as a result, although we've definitely seen this kind of competitiveness from SpongeBob before, in "Employee of the Month" and "Pressure".
 
One half is bad and the second half is good. 5/10.
 
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not a fan of this episode I think this is worse than Squilliam returns
  1. Krusty Krab Training Video (15/10)
  2. Chocolate With Nuts (13/10)
  3. The Algae's Always Greener (10/10)
  4. Can You Spare A Dime? (10/10)
  5. Rock-A-Bye-Bivalve (10/10)
  6. No Weenies Allowed (10/10)
  7. Krab Borg (10/10)
  8. Idiot Box (10/10)
  9. Nasty Patty (10/10)
  10. Just One Bite (10/10)
  11. One Krabs Trash (9/10)
  12. Wet Painters (8.5/10)
  13. Club Spongebob (8/10)
  14. Mermaid Man And Barnacle Boy V
  15. Mermaid Man And Barnacle Boy IV (8/10)
  16. My Pretty Seahorse (8/10)
  17. As Seen On Tv (8/10)
  18. Clams (7.5/10)
  19. Snowball Effect (7.5/10)
  20. The Bully (7.5/10)
  21. Doing Time (7/10)
  22. Spongeguard On Duty (7/10)
  23. Ugh (6.5/10)
  24. New Studen Starfish (4.5/10)
  25. Party Pooper Pants (4/10)
  26. Squilliam Returns (3.5/10)
  27. The Great Snail Race (3/10)
 
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