Free the wild animal!
The Thing
Original air date: 1/15/2007 (produced in 2006; released on DVD on 1/9/07)
Squidward, trying to escape SpongeBob and Patrick, gets covered in muck, and when SpongeBob and Patrick find him, they believe he's an animal-like creature.
"The Thing" contains examples of:
- Animals Hate Him: The minute Gary sees "Smelly", he violently attacks him, with SpongeBob remarking that Gary's only ever attacked Squidward like that before (because ironically, Smelly is Squidward). When Animal Control later takes Squidward to the zoo, a giant clam in the back with him also ends up snapping at him and attacking him off-screen.
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: When SpongeBob and Patrick see that "Smelly" has been put in the zoo:SpongeBob: This isn't good.
Patrick: You're absolutely right. (takes out a hot dog) It needs mustard. - Butt-Monkey: Squidward, as usual.
- Comically Missing the Point:SpongeBob: Okay, Patrick, remember the plan?
Patrick: Oh, yeah. (takes out a hotdog) This one, right?
SpongeBob: (grabs hotdog) No, not that! I'm talking about the plan to break Smelly out of his animal prison.
Patrick: (takes a bite out of the hotdog) Mmm, good plan. - Dramatic Irony: The audience already knows "Smelly" is Squidward, but SpongeBob and Patrick don't. Best exemplified when Gary attacked him and SpongeBob notes Squidward is the is the only one in Bikini Bottom Gary would attack like that, not realizing that was Squidward whom Gary attacked.
- Eating Pet Food: Patrick fills up a food bowl full of kibble for "Smelly", and even eats some of it.
- Hilarity in Zoos: Squidward ends up being sent to the zoo after Patrick calls animal control on him, and the duo hatches a scheme to free him.
- Jerkass Ball: SpongeBob and Patrick ignoring Squidward's request for them to quiet down and then entering his house despite specifically being told not to.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Kelpy G is an octopus version of American smooth jazz saxophonist Kenny G.
- No Ending: Squidward ends up in the forest, away from home, surrounded by a group of strange creatures.
- Only Sane Man: Gary seems to be the only one in the episode who knew Smellie was Squidward, as shown when he attacks Squidward violently and SpongeBob tells him to stop, adding aside that Squidward is the only one whom Gary would attack that way.
- Overly Long Gag: SpongeBob and Patrick bothering Squidward during the Kelpy G show by asking him so many questions, to the point he has had enough and storms out.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The episode begins with SpongeBob and Patrick annoying and harassing Squidward so much that he snaps and storms out of his house to get away from them.Squidward: Once again, I'm going to have to leave my own home just to get some peace and quiet!
- Shout-Out: Towards the end of this episode, when SpongeBob and Patrick release "Smelly" into the wild amongst similar-looking creatures, SpongeBob paraphrases Baloo at the end of The Jungle Book (1967), saying, "But he's with his kind now, where he belongs, and on that note, let us go back to where we belong."
- Taken for Granite: Squidward is covered in concrete, which hardens around him to cause this effect.
- Trauma Conga Line: This episode is basically a huge Squidward Torture Porn from beginning to end. SpongeBob and Patrick enter his house uninvited and constantly pester him while he's trying to watch TV, leading him to storm out in annoyance. After which, he crashes into a cement truck, is coated in cement, falls through a sewage pipe, and lands in Jellyfish Fields, where jellyfish attack him. When the cement hardens, he's left wandering Jellyfish Fields for five days before Sponge and Pat find him, mistake him for an endangered species, and take him home. After being mauled by Gary, Squidward is taken to live with Patrick, who pelts him with a ball while trying to play catch, leading Squidward to snap and attack him. In response, Patrick panics and calls Animal Control, leading Squidward to be taken to the zoo. On the ride there, he is kept in the trunk with a vicious clam who mauls him for the entire ride. At the zoo, Jerkass patrons laugh at how hideous he is. SpongeBob and Patrick break him out of the zoo and go underground, dropping him down the well and then stepping on his face when they get to the bottom, and eventually coming across a group of creatures looking exactly like the cement-encased Squidward, leading to Sponge and Pat deciding to leave Squidward with his "own kind." The only saving grace Squidward has is getting to listen to Kelpy G play clarinet for the other Smellies, and the cement finally breaking and freeing him.
- The Unintelligible: When Squidward is covered in concrete, it causes him to only communicate through muffled grunts and moans. SpongeBob mistakes such for being excited.
The power of a Level 10 Wizard on full display.
Hocus Pocus
Original air date: 1/15/2007 (produced in 2006; released on DVD on 1/9/07)
SpongeBob gets a new magic kit and believes he turned Squidward into an ice cream cone.
"Hocus Pocus" contains examples of:
- Autocannibalism: The episode ends with a hungry Patrick asking SpongeBob to turn him into a jar of mayonnaise so he can eat himself. SpongeBob casts the spell, and amazingly enough, it works.
- Broken Pedestal: Downplayed. After hearing that Mr. Magic is just an ordinary businessman who can't turn Squidward back to normal and that he only cares about selling his product, SpongeBob dissolves to tears and claims that he has "ruined his faith in the magical arts." Mr. Magic's response is to call security to kick SpongeBob and Patrick out.
- Buffy Speak: "Hey SpongeBob, there's a guy in here talking into a tubey thing."
- Department of Redundancy Department: Mister Magic's Magical Magic Kit.
- Does Not Like Spam: Monroe cries that his ice cream is pistachio ice cream, a frustrated Tom asks why he'd ask for it then.
- Dramatic Irony: The viewers already know that the pistachio ice cream isn't Squidward.
- Good-Times Montage: We see a brief one of SpongeBob engaging in various activities with the ice cream cone he thinks Squidward has turned into.
- Magic Misfire: Invoked; SpongeBob thinks he's turned Squidward into a pistachio ice cream cone with a "simple card trick", but in reality, Squidward just left while he was distracted.
- Mistaken for Transformed: While SpongeBob has his eyes closed showing Squidward a card trick, Squidward leaves and a boy drops a pistachio ice-cream cone where he was. When SpongeBob opens his eyes, he thinks Squidward was transformed into the ice-cream cone.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: SpongeBob gives one to Horace B. Magic upon finding out that he can't change Squidward back and doesn't really care what his magic kit did.SpongeBob: Does that mean you can't change my friend back?
Horace: (chuckles) Ooh, I'm afraid not. So sorry about that, laddie. Your refund check is in the mail.
SpongeBob: I don't need a refund! I want my friend back! This isn't about money! You're nothing but a fake! Just a lying, corporate businessman, tainting the purity of magic with your corrupt commercial ways! You have ruined my faith in the magical arts! - Riddle for the Ages: Tom asks his son why he asked for pistachio ice cream if he doesn't like it.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Squidward gets so annoyed with SpongeBob's antics that he immediately boards a bus to escape, not caring where they go as long as it's away from SpongeBob. When he later returns and SpongeBob offers to transform him into something else, he stops a passing biker and rides away once more.
- Shout-Out: SpongeBob and Patrick follow the brown-tiled road and later discover that the floating head is actually a projection by a guy hiding behind a curtain, who has an Oh, Crap! when he gets found out. Pay no attention to the fish behind the curtain...
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Although Squidward is tormented by SpongeBob when he tries to show him his magic tricks, he gets to get away and, thanks to SpongeBob mistaking an ice cream cone for him, Squidward gets to spend the rest of the episode away from his annoying neighbor and it's implied that he was enjoying himself at a vacancy.
