The Thing (Episode)

The Thing
© Viacom
Episode No.:	76a
Season:	4
Airdate:	January 15, 2007
Previous Episode:	That's No Lady
Next Episode:	Hocus Pocus
Characters	Voice actors
SpongeBob SquarePants	Tom Kenny
Patrick Star	Bill Fagerbakke
Squidward Tentacles	Rodger Bumpass
Gary the Snail	Tom Kenny
Squidward as Smelly © Paramount Global

The Thing is an episode from Season 4. In the episode, Squidward becomes trapped in quick drying cement, and SpongeBob and Patrick mistake him for an unknown species.

Info

Characters

Squidward Tentacles
- Smelly (debut)
Gary the Snail
Kelpy G (debut)
SpongeBob SquarePants
Patrick Star
Police
Other inhabitants of Bikini Bottom

Places

Plot

Squidward wants to watch TV. However, SpongeBob and Patrick keep asking him questions about the hot clarinet player channel. He made Squidward keep changing the channel. Finally, he gives up his TV time to watch his favorite Clarinet player to his most dismayed neighbors and go ride his bicycle. However, a cement truck loader carries him and the truck crushes him with lots of cement. The cement soon dries up and Squidward turned into The Thing and he ends up in Jellyfish Fields. There, Squidward complains about himself. He's hungry, lost, tired, and the only good thing he has is no SpongeBob. However, SpongeBob and Patrick a're jellyfishing. Then, they spot The Thing. SpongeBob and Patrick think that The Thing is an endangered species. SpongeBob and Patrick decided to take Squidward home.The Thing tries to get back in his house but Patrick tells him that Squidward is in the house. In SpongeBob's pineapple house, they name him Smelly and soon Gary attacks him. SpongeBob and Patrick decide that Smelly should be Patrick's pet. In Patrick's rock home, Patrick wants to play ball catch with Smelly. However, its getting a ricochet, and soon it gets so angry that he throws the ball at Patrick. Patrick is suddenly very afraid and calls the Animal Control. The police arrive very quickly and catch the Thing at the Easter Island head. SpongeBob tries to defend the Thing but the police officers in the battle and they place Smelly in the zoo exhibit Unknown Species. SpongeBob and Patrick visit the zoo and think that it's not right for Smelly to live a miserable life being laughed at by people at the zoo. The people that laughed at it should be ashamed of themselves for making fun of Smelly. At nighttime, they get inside his zoo cage and try to free him. However, SWAT surrounds them and jumps into the Thing's zoo exhibit to capture SpongeBob and Patrick. They run back inside the Thing's home cave and dive into a sewer hole while the police officers run through the sewer hole lid. While walking into the sewer, SpongeBob and Patrick find a mysterious rainforest with species that look exactly like the Thing.SpongeBob and Patrick decide to let the Thing live the animal species. The animal species carry the Thing to their home, and soon the Thing realizes that they live with the very hot clarinet player on television. Squidward decides to enjoy life, but soon the Clarinet music causes the Thing's cement skin shell to break, and Squidward is free but is still with the species.

Trivia/Goofs

This episode was first released on the Season 4, Volume 2 DVD on January 9, 2007.
Squidward's alter ego as the cement covered squid name "The Thing" is a parody of the Fantastic 4 hero "The Thing", or probably a parody of the alien (The Thing) from John Carpenter's 1982 science fiction horror movie The Thing (and that film's 2011 prequel of the same title).
This episode showed that Gary once attacked Squidward before, probably because Gary hated him after he didn't take care of him in I Was a Teenage Gary.
The famous hot clarinet player is first in a city concert, but now he's in the Forest way below Bikini Bottom Zoo
This is the second appearance of Bikini Bottom Zoo. The first was The Smoking Peanut.
This is also the first appearance of Kelpy G.
- Kelpy G is a parody of Kenny G.
Smelly looks like a Pikmin. (See Smelly article)
This is the third time when Squidward is wearing a purple robe from I Was a Teenage Gary and Good Neighbors.
In this episode SpongeBob was wearing glasses from Frankendoodle.
This is the first time something remotely close to a gun appears in Bikini Bottom (the SWAT team are holding harpoon guns). The second time is in To Save A Squirrel.
When Squidward is watching (or trying to) TV, he holds the remote in his right hand. Afterwards, he holds it in his left hand.
After this episode Squidward and Gary don't seem to hate each other.
The jungle in the sewers looks a lot like the Tiki world seen in Enchanted Tiki Dreams
When SpongeBob is saying how it's a great idea that Smelly should stay at Patrick's house, he is holding Gary upside-down.