The Great Snail Race (SpongeBob SquarePants)

The Great Snail Race is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season three. In this episode, Bikini Bottom holds a snail race, and SpongeBob, Squidward, and Patrick enter their pets.

"The Great Snail Race"

Ironically enough, this ended up not being the last time Gary got into any morally wrong sort of predicament.

Series:	SpongeBob SquarePants
Part of Season:	3
Episode Number:	15a (55a)
Air Date:	January 24, 2003
Writer:	TV: Paul Tibbitt Kent Osborne Joe Liss DVD: Merriwether Williams
Director:	Andrew Overtoom (animation)
Previous episode:	Ugh Clams (Airing order)
Next episode:	Mid-Life Crustacean

Losing Qualities

This is a torture episode for Gary, as SpongeBob abusively trains Gary practically to the point of exhaustion, not even letting him take a break.
SpongeBob also makes a bad sexist insult towards Gary, which is pretty mean.
While not as bad as SpongeBob, Squidward is also unlikable for taunting SpongeBob, making fun of his snail, and even laughing when Gary crashes in the snail race.
The training montage of Gary being pushed by SpongeBob without any breaks was pretty painful to watch, considering that this happens to Gary, one of the most fun and loving characters of the show.
The slow snail with the torch, while a funny scene, was a pretty boring moment.
Squidward never gets punished or disqualified for his actions on SpongeBob and Gary, and even worse, near the end of the episode, Patrick rewards Squidward a trophy, despite his actions agents his friend.
The infamous scene where Gary’s eyes blow up, his shell breaks, and he spins and crashes on the course. And then everyone cheers.
Snellie never makes an appearance after this episode, when she could have made more appearances as Squidward’s pet.
It sends a bad moral to children and adults, which says you're allowed to abuse your pet, as shown with SpongeBob, which is seriously messed up.

Winning Qualities

The first 4 minutes were good.
Some funny moments, like people mispronouncing Squidward's last name, Sandy noticing SpongeBob saying something offensive about ladies, and Patrick’s rock, Rocky, winning the race. Speaking of which, Rocky is a funny gag with Patrick.
While unlikable, SpongeBob does eventually realize he’s gone too far when Gary crashes on the course and runs over to him crying and apologizes to him.
Good Ending: Snellie gives up the race to make sure Gary's ok, and the two have a cute romantic moment (much to SpongeBob's understanding and Squidward's shock). Also, Patrick’s rock, Rocky, wins the race (leaving SpongeBob and Squidward satisfyingly in the dust)
- Patrick giving the trophy to Squidward was a nice moment.
SpongeBob satisfyingly gets his comeuppance for what he did to Gary and the sexist insult he made when Sandy comes in and kicks SpongeBob into the air, saying "That's for yesterday, SquarePants!".
Snellie is a likable snail for her only appearance in the show, being a nice companion for Squidward, and being sweet to Gary.
- She does later reappear in the video game, SpongeBob's Truth or Square.
Gary, Patrick, and Sandy are still likable characters, as usual.
1. Despite Squidward's attitude towards SpongeBob, at least he treats Snellie kindly and fairly.
The music cue "Fight! Fight! Fight! (a)" played during the title card and when Lightning Larry lights the torch is catchy and is a great way to foreshadow The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie and one of its songs, "Now That We're Men", as this music cue is the tune of the aforementioned song itself.

Trivia

This episode and its sister episode was scheduled to air on November 22, 2002, but "Wet Painters" and "Krusty Krab Training Video" aired in their place. The episodes were rescheduled for December 20, 2002, but "Sailor Mouth" and "Artist Unknown" aired in their place.
The band members at the Snail Race are wearing the same uniforms as Squidward's Super Band from "Band Geeks".
"It's Okay Rocky, You Go When You Feel Like It" became an internet meme.

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