The Thing

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Characters

• Squidward Tentacles/Smelly
• SpongeBob SquarePants
• Patrick Star
• SWAT team ^(debut)
• Gary the Snail
• Smellies ^(debut)
• Kelpy G ^(debut)
• Nat Peterson ^(cameo)
• Sadie Rechid ^(cameo)
• Isabelle Fish ^(cameo)
• Jellyfish

Synopsis

Squidward Tentacles notices that the neighbourhood is unusually quiet, and proposes that SpongeBob is gone for the evening. Back in his house, Squidward tries to relax and watch some smoothe jazz on public televison, only to be distracted by SpongeBob and Patrick, who emphasize that they're trying to 'enhance' Squidward's evening. Eventually, Squidward lets SpongeBob and Patrick watch with him, only to be bombarded with questions. At last, Squidward is fed up, and leaves Patrick and SpongeBob watching his television.

Departing the neighbourhood on his recumber bicycle, Squidward is hit by a truck of cement and flies off into Jellyfish Fields, where he stays for five days. SpongeBob and Patrick are jellyfishing where they spot him, and decide to adopt Squidward, who they think is a wild animal and refer to as 'Smelly'.

Back at SpongeBob's pineapple house, Gary attacks Squidward and SpongeBob determines that it is dangerous for Smelly to remain in his household. Patrick decides to take Squidward under his wing, and plays a game of catch with him at his rock, but ends up calling Animal Control, who come and take Smelly to the zoo. There, SpongeBob is horrified that everyone is treating Smelly so cruely, so that night, SpongeBob and Patrick break into the zoo and plan to free Squidward. However, they are caught by Animal Control and SpongeBob and Patrick only manage to lose them by going underground.

After a while, Patrick sees light and the gang find themselves in a jungle-like landscape. SpongeBob remarks that the creatures around them look just like Smelly, so they leave Smelly with his real family and return home. The creatures accept Squidward as one of their kind, and as Kelpy G starts playing his clarinet, Squidward's cement cracks open and he simply says to the creatures, "Um...hi."

Production

Music

( ‣ ) Production music

( • ) Original music

( ◦ ) SpongeBob music

 ‣ Clownfish Capers - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [title card]
 ‣ Footsteps of Horror (1) - W. Merrick Farran ["It's too quiet."]
 ‣ Dingle's Regatta - Brian Peters ["Could it be?"]
 ‣ SpongeBob Closing Theme - Steve Belfer, Nicolas Carr [Squidward yells at SpongeBob and Patrick]
 ‣ Squiddy G - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [smooth jazz]
 ‣ Seaweed - Steve Belfer [SpongeBob, Patrick at the door]
 ‣ Squiddy G - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [smooth jazz]
 ‣ Drama Link (b) - Hubert Clifford [Squidward screams]
 ‣ Baby Elephant - Dick Stephen Walter ["All I wanted to do was watch some smooth jazz on public television."]
 ‣ The Bachelor Life (c) - Laurie Johnson ["I think I've seen this before."]
 ‣ Comic Walk (Sidney Torch Version) - Sidney Torch [Squidward riding bike]
 ‣ Drama Link (d) - Hubert Clifford [Squidward gets covered with cement]
 ‣ Cartoon Capers (c) - Dick Stephen Walter [Squidward falls through a sewage pipe]
 ‣ Cartoon Capers (a) - Dick Stephen Walter [Squidward falls through a sewage pipe]
 ‣ House of Horror (5) - W. Merrick Farran [Squidward stung by jellyfish]
 ‣ Steel Licks (b) - Jeremy Wakefield [cement dries]
 ‣ Hawaiian Cocktail - Richard Myhill ["Day five, I think."]
 ‣ Vibe Sting - Nicolas Carr ["What is that thing, Patrick?"]
 ‣ Lonely Heart's Club (a) - David Bell, Otto Sieben ["Hi, stranger. I am SpongeBob."]
 ‣ Drama Link (d) - Hubert Clifford [SpongeBob and Patrick scream]
 ‣ Lonely Heart's Club (a) - David Bell, Otto Sieben ["Wait a minute, maybe he's not a monster."]
 ‣ Happy Holiday - Anthony Spurgin [back at home]
 ‣ Wooden Bear - Gil Flat, Tony Tape, Florian Voelxen [playing catch]
 ‣ Dramatic Cue (c) - Ronald Hanmer [Patrick calls Animal Control]
 ‣ Toys for Boys - Boris Schoska ["Sure, I'll hold."]
 ‣ Dramatic Cue (b) - Ronald Hanmer [Squidward tries to go home]
 ‣ Towerstreet 17 (#10) - Gerhard Narholz [SWAT team arrives]
 ‣ Dramatic Cue (e) - Ronald Hanmer [Squidward taken to zoo]
 ‣ Steel Licks (a) - Jeremy Wakefield ["Mommy, what is that thing?"]
 ‣ Drowsy Reef - Jeremy Wakefield, Sage Guyton ["This isn't good."]
 ‣ Mission Improbable - W. Merrick Farran, Gerhard Trade [SpongeBob and Patrick try to break Squidward out]
 ‣ West Side Rumble - Sam Spence [SWAT team chases them]
 ‣ Comic Walk (Sidney Torch Version) - Sidney Torch ["Let's see where this dark sewer tunnel leads."]
 ‣ Mysterious Things - jungle
 ‣ Hawaiian Link (b) - Richard Myhill ["I'm gonna miss him, SpongeBob."]
 ‣ Squiddy G - Nicolas Carr, Barry Anthony [ending]

Release

• This episode is available on the Season 4 Volume 2, Complete Fourth Season, and First 100 Episodes DVDs.

Trivia

Template:Trivia

• This is the first episode of SpongeBob SquarePants to air in 2007.
• The squid on TV looks similar to Squidward from in dream in "SquidBob TentaclePants."
• This is the 2nd episode in which Squidward has an accident while riding a bicycle in attempt to get away from SpongeBob and Patrick. The 1st was "Jellyfishing."
• SpongeBob's grape juice box background is yellow and Patrick's is purple, but later they are both purple.
• The clarinetist is a parody of Kenny G, and the credits list his character name as "Kelpy G."
• This is the 3rd of 4 episodes transcribed into a comic in the SpongeBob/Tokyopop book "Mistaken Identity." The other 3 were "Once Bitten," "That's No Lady," and "Rule of Dumb."
• Patrick says that Squidward hates pets. In "The Great Snail Race," Squidward shows great care for his snail.
• This is the first appearance of Kelpy G. The 2nd was "Smoothe Jazz at Bikini Bottom."
• The Unknown Creatures (Smellies) are known to resemble Pikmin, who are creatures from a Nintendo games.
• "Cool Jazz" will be heard once again in "Enchanted Tiki Dreams."
• Patrick never said where his house was, but somehow, the cops showed up right where they needed to.
• In this episode, Kelpy G's name wasn't revealed. However, in "Smoothe Jazz at Bikini Bottom," his name was revealed.
  • However, his name was revealed in the closing credits to this and the sister episode.
• When SpongeBob and Patrick were watching TV, the show played the same music in "Rock-a-Bye Bivalve" and Patrick said, "Oh wait! I think I've seen this before. This part's funny." It could be the same show Patrick watched in "Rock-a-Bye Bivalve."

Cultural references

• When Squidward is taken in by the other animals at the end, SpongeBob said to Patrick, "But he's with his own kind now, where he belongs, and with that, let us go back to where we belong." This was a reference to the Disney's The Jungle Book.

• The title is a reference to Marvel's Fantastic 4's, The Thing, the John Carpenter film, The Thing or Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.'s 2011 remake.

Errors

• At the beginning of the episode, the path to Patrick's rock is missing.
• The clarinetist's clarinet sounds more like a saxophone.
• The info on TV says that Squidward gets in a bicycling accident and gets covered in mud and leaves. He actually gets covered in cement.
• Squidward asks no one in particular if a hard-working squid could get a break. However, Squidward is an octopus, not a squid, and he doesn't even care about his job.