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SpongeBob SquarePants S 3 E 6 "Snowball Effect" / "One Krab's Trash" - TV Tropes

  • ️Wed Jun 06 2018

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS3E6SnowballEffectOneKrabsTrash

SpongeBob SquarePants S 3 E 6 "Snowball Effect" / "One Krab's Trash" Recap

Snowball Effect

Original air date: 2/22/2002 (produced in 2001)

An iceberg has drifted over Bikini Bottom, so that means one thing: snow! This prompts SpongeBob and Patrick to have a snowball fight. Squidward wants no part of it, but then he's roped in and takes things too far.


"Snowball Effect" contains examples of:

  • Achievements in Ignorance: Patrick attempts to make a snowball and keeps failing; he can make a snow cube, a snow pyramid, and even a snow double helix, but not a snowball. He ultimately uses snow cubes in his snowball fight.
  • Bathroom Control: Patrick asks Squidward if he can use his bathroom during a snowy day. Squidward repeatedly turns down his request, only to cave in and tell him to be fast about it. Patrick then relaxes and says he no longer has to go.
  • Bottle Episode: Aside from the prologue, most of the episode is set at Conch Street.
  • Comically Missing the Point: Patrick doesn't pick up on SpongeBob's Not-So-Innocent Whistle and doesn't suspect that he was the one who threw a snowball at him.

    Patrick: This is serious, SpongeBob! Someone's after me! I think I'd better leave town...

  • Cold Snap: Bikini Bottom gets this after an iceberg drifts over it.
  • Crazy-Prepared:
    • SpongeBob and Patrick are so determined to uphold their treaty that they decide the master file is worth protecting.

      Squidward: Gimme that peace treaty! (rips up the treaty) There! Let the war continue.
      SpongeBob: Squidward, that wasn't the peace treaty; that was a copy of the peace treaty.

    • Because he's paranoid that Patrick's gonna run right through him, complete with predicting an aerial attack, Squidward ends up building Fort Squidward to the point that it's three times taller than his own house.
  • Dumbass Has a Point:
    • Patrick telling Squidward that not only do you need a fort during a snowball fight, the fort the latter made was too small, which SpongeBob even agrees with. Considering that Squidward is trying to demonstrate how to snowball fight "properly", they were right.
    • Patrick also has a point when Squidward tells Patrick to think of him as SpongeBob and hits Squidward with a snowball in response to Squidward throwing a snowball at Patrick in an attempt to get Patrick to throw one at SpongeBob, as shown in the Idiot Ball entry below.
    • Patrick is the one who encourages SpongeBob to Know When to Fold 'Em, as getting hit by a snowball with Squidward's clarinet in it makes him realize that Squidward is going too berserk with the snowball fight.
  • Eye Scream: Near the beginning when Squidward is about to enjoy a cup of tea, he accidentally squirts his lemon wedge in his eye.
  • Idiot Ball: Squidward actually grabs it. He tells Patrick to think of him as SpongeBob, to teach him how to have a snowball fight (while SpongeBob asks to be Mr. Krabs). Squidward throws a snowball at Patrick and says, "Now, what are you going to do?" Patrick throws a snowball back at Squidward, who had said not five seconds ago to think of him as SpongeBob. Squidward asks why Patrick didn't throw it at SpongeBob.
  • Imagine Spot: After SpongeBob and Patrick say they're going to knock each other's brains out with snowballs, Squidward imagines them doing it literally.
  • The Nicknamer: Squidward after he turns down SpongeBob's enlistment offer.

    Squidward: Thanks, but no thanks, Major Stupidity! You and General Nonsense over there will have to fight without me! (chuckles) Got 'em both.

  • Not So Above It All: Squidward claims to be above taking part in a snowball fight. He is soon proven wrong.
  • Not-So-Innocent Whistle: SpongeBob does this after throwing a snowball at an unsuspecting Patrick.

    Patrick: Thanks a lot, SpongeBob! While you were just standing there whistling, someone threw a snowball at me!

  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Squidward taking the snowball fight too seriously, to the point of throwing a snowball with his clarinet in it, is enough to unnerve SpongeBob and Patrick to the point that they decide to ditch the game.
  • Potty Emergency: After swallowing the melted snow, Patrick asks Squidward if he can use the bathroom. After saying 'No' repeatedly, Squidward finally yields and tells him to make it quick, only for Patrick to say "That's okay".
  • Running Gag: Each of the characters throwing a snowball into Squidward's fireplace, putting it out. Squidward even did when he was aiming nowhere near his house.
  • Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: After Squidward takes the snowball fight too seriously (having thrown a snowball with his clarinet in it), SpongeBob declares it's Time for Plan B, which is for he and Patrick to abandon the fight.
  • Snowball Fight: Squidward claims to be above such childish activities, but gets sucked in and goes into such a panic that he'll lose and builds a two-story-high impenetrable snow fort.
  • Snowy Sleigh Bells:
    • "Wonderland of Snow", the music playing during the title card, features extremely prominent sleigh bells.
    • "Jolly Sleighride", the music playing at the start of the episode during the montage of a snow-covered Bikini Bottom.
  • Taking Advantage of Generosity: When Patrick asks if SpongeBob could help him make a snowball, he ends up throwing the snowball he's given right back at SpongeBob.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d771136a_e891_47fd_b53c_fa5bc7e4e60d.png

"It was his hat, Mr. Krabs! He was #1!"

One Krab's Trash

Original air date: 2/22/2002 (produced in 2001)

Mr. Krabs holds a Garage Sale, and SpongeBob buys a novelty soda hat from him for $10. But then when another bidder comes and offers a million dollars for the hat, Mr. Krabs realizes he has dramatically undersold it, and desperately tries to get it back from SpongeBob.


"One Krab's Trash" contains examples of:

  • Accidental Truth: Mr. Krabs sells a soda drink hat to SpongeBob, and then, after finding out that it's apparently worth a million dollars, attempts to scare it off SpongeBob by telling him the hat is cursed and unless he returns it to the grave of its previous owner, Smitty Werbenjägermanjensen, he himself will be cursed. Imagine his surprise when he finds out that not only is Smitty Werbenjägermanjensen real, but the hat really was his when he was alive.
  • Accidentally-Real Fake Address: Mr. Krabs tries to scare SpongeBob out of a priceless soda-drinking hat by posing as a ghost, telling him the hat is cursed and must be returned to its deceased owner, Smitty Werbenjägermanjensen. Approximately one nanosecond later, SpongeBob announces he's gone and put the thing in the actual Smitty's grave.
  • Affably Evil: Smitty Werbenjägermanjensen. He may be willing to sic the entire army of the living dead on Mr. Krabs, but all he really wants is his hat back. If Krabs had just given him the hat back, Smitty would've left him alone.
  • All for Nothing: Krabs tried to re-scam SpongeBob out of his hat, robbed a grave of its original owner, and took on the army of the living dead, all to learn that the hat is now deemed worthless after the buyers learn that there is a warehouse full of them by the time he returns.

    Mr. Krabs: Well, that's a spirit breaker.

  • Creepy Cemetery: Floater's Cemetery, which is the burial place of the dead Bikini Bottomites and complete with spooky animals dwelling there. Only if you saw some funny-looking headstones...
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: The army of the living dead outnumbers Mr. Krabs by the thousands, but through grabbing the head of a swordfish skeleton, he destroys every single skeleton in the graveyard in a single night without a scratch.
  • Dem Bones: Krabs fights off an army of skeletons while getting the hat back.
  • Drama Queen: Squidward went to the trouble of erecting a gravestone to mourn the loss of his hopes and dreams. Mr. Krabs understandably calls him a baby for it.
  • Drool Deluge: Provides the trope image. After Mr. Krabs has sold a certain #1 hat to SpongeBob, some random rich fish comes to him and explains that that hat is actually rare and famous, and he'll pay a lot for it. Mr. Krabs starts gagging and drooling. Then another fish comes and offers him more money for that hat, and Krabs then drools so much he creates a mini river out of it. To top it all off, another fish offering an even higher price rows his boat over the drool river.
  • Dumpster Dive: How Krabs gets all the "treasures" he's selling.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Played for Laughs, of course. Smitty Werbenjägermanjensen may be willing to threaten Krabs with bodily harm to get his hat back, but even he's disgusted by Krabs' notion that he and his army are going to eat Mr. Krabs' brain.

    Smitty: That's disgusting! We just want the hat back.

  • Faux Horrific: "Oh, my gosh! A floating shopping list!"
  • Foreshadowing: Mr. Krabs finds the soda drink hat in a trash can, which hints the hat isn't as valuable as Mr. Krabs is later led to believe. It turns that there is a warehouse filled with hundreds of soda drink hats, thus making Mr. Krabs' hat worthless.
  • Full Moon Silhouette: Happens at one point to Mr. Krabs during the fight against the undead fish army.
  • Grail in the Garbage: Played with the soda hat, which at first looks ordinary, but then turns out to be very rare and valuable. However, by the time Krabs gets it back, a whole shipment of hats has been discovered and the hat is not as valuable anymore.
  • Grave Humor: The graveyard Mr. Krabs goes to is full of such graves, starting with the one that reads "Here lies Squidward's Hopes and Dreams". Later he sees one that reads "Stupid", next to one that reads "I'm with Stupid".
  • Here We Go Again!: After Krabs finds out the soda hat is worthless, SpongeBob walks by with a clapping hat, which the others now consider valuable and go after him.
  • Heroic Second Wind: Not exactly heroic, per se, but Mr. Krabs gets one after chopping a few skeletons and getting surrounded in circular formation, which allows him to defeat the entire army of the living dead all at once.
  • Honest John's Dealership: Mr. Krabs' Garage Sale consists of him selling literal trash, which he tries to pawn off as "antiques".
  • Hypocritical Humor: Squidward calling Mr. Krabs "a baby" at the end of the episode.
  • Ignored Epiphany: Mr. Krabs momentarily hesitates at the thought of grave robbing... but quickly gets over it.
  • Insult Backfire: In a strategy to manipulate SpongeBob into giving back the hat, Mr. Krabs insults SpongeBob by telling him that the hat makes him look like a girl. SpongeBob takes that as a compliment.

    SpongeBob: (blushing) Am I a pretty girl?

    • Then subverted when Mr. Krabs leaves the scene.

      Mr. Krabs: Ah, forget it! (sprints off, then returns) And you're not beautiful, either! (sprints off again)
      SpongeBob: (close to tears) I'm not?

  • In-Universe Factoid Failure: When trying to proclaim that the umbrella full of holes is an antique that belonged to a queen, Mr. Krabs uses a country that has a Federal Constitution instead of a Monarchy.
  • Ironic Echo: When Mr. Krabs goes to the graveyard, he sees Squidward giving flowers to a grave dedicated to his "hopes and dreams". He flat out calls him a baby. At the end of the episode, Mr. Krabs breaks down into tears after losing his chance at fortune. Squidward walks by and calls him a baby.
  • Kick the Dog: A brief one, but after failing to entice SpongeBob to give him the hat by calling him beautiful, he rudely takes back his "compliment", leaving the poor sponge with his feelings hurt.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: After tricking SpongeBob into giving away a hat he loved so much, grave robbing just to get it back, and implying he's ugly, all to make a gigantic amount of money, Mr. Krabs learns that the hat has lost all its value, leaving him with absolutely nothing to gain.
  • Leaning Tower of Mooks: Several skeletal mooks do this in the scene where Mr. Krabs tries to steal the soda drink hat. He easily destroys them in one swipe.
  • Little Known Facts: "Remember, licking doorknobs is illegal on other planets."
  • Men Are Generic, Women Are Special: The female collector has a unique design, while the males are generic incidental characters wearing business suits.
  • Mistaken for Gay: This exchange:

    Mr. Krabs: Listen, I didn't want to say this in front of Patrick. That hat makes you look like a girl.
    SpongeBob: (blushes) Am I a pretty girl?
    Mr. Krabs: Oh, well, um... you're... you're beautiful.
    (camera pans out to reveal a mailman giving Krabs a puzzled look)

  • Mouthscreen: "I'm gonna have to scare it off of him."
  • Non-Standard Character Design: The only female collector has a unique design while the male collectors are all common incidental characters, just in business suits.
  • Offscreen Teleportation: Before Mr. Krabs has even finished his ruse to scare SpongeBob into returning the hat, SpongeBob walks in behind him, having already buried the hat with Smitty Werbenjägermanjensen. Mr. Krabs is more than a little confused by this.
  • Oh Wait, This Is My Grocery List: The floating shopping list, which Mr. Krabs turns around to reveal his drawing of "the Ghost of Soda Drink Hats". SpongeBob is just as horrified at the former floating in front of him as he is of the drawing.
  • One-Man Army: Mr. Krabs manages to fight off an entire army of skeletons.
  • Overly Long Name: Smitty Werbenjägermanjensen, his tombstone even has a plank of wood attached to finish spelling his name (but the "jäger" part is still left out and it just spells Werbenmanjensen).
  • Pyrrhic Victory: Mr. Krabs defeats the skeleton army and claims the hat as his own, but before he could auction it off to the wealthy fish for at least $1 million, they found a lot more soda-drinking hats, making the hat worthless.
  • Real Joke Name: Krabs thinks Smitty Werbenjägermanjensen is a name he just made up on the spot, and is shocked to find out that there really was someone with that name.
  • Relative Button: Right before his Heroic Second Wind, Mr. Krabs does a somersault over the skeletons and taunts them as such.

    Mr. Krabs: Ho-ho! How's yer sister?!

  • Robbing the Dead: Mr. Krabs is fully prepared to dig up Smitty Werbenjägermanjensen's body and steal the soda drink hat back for $1 million.

    Mr. Krabs: Am I really gonna defile this grave for money? ...Of course I am!

  • Shout-Out:
    • When Mr. Krabs fights off the skeleton army, he says, "Look at me, I'm Errol Fin!", in reference to swashbuckling action star Errol Flynn.
    • The very messy way Mr. Krabs describes what the skeletons will do to him, makes it clear that late-show he was watching was Night of the Living Dead (1968).
  • Swordfish Sabre: When surrounded by hundreds of angry fish skeletons determined to get Smitty's hat back, Mr. Krabs snatches the skull of a swordfish and defeats every single one of them by using it as a cutlass.
  • Truth in Television: Finds of old warehouses/storage units filled with boxes of a "rare item" have happened both before and since, and these events usually destroy the value said item has in collectors' circles.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Mr. Krabs has one at the end after he finds the hat to be worthless.
  • Worthless Treasure Twist: When Mr. Krabs finally retrieves the soda drinking hat and presents it to the wealthy collectors, it's revealed that the hat is not the valuable rarity he was initially led to believe; in the time it took him to get that one hat back, an entire warehouse full of identical hats was discovered, rendering it worthless.
  • Wrong Genre Savvy: When Mr. Krabs first sees the army of the living dead, he begins panicking due to having seen scenarios like this on late night shows. He believes he is going to be Devoured by the Horde with some unpleasant specific details, but luckily Smitty simply says they just want the hat back.

    Mr. Krabs: Oh no! I've seen this on the late show. You ghoulish fiends hold me down and take turns nibbling on my innards! Then you eat my brain and leave my body for the buzzards!
    Smitty: That's disgusting! We just want the hat back.

  • You and What Army?: "Only the army of the living dead."
  • You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Mr. Krabs' reaction to a leaning tower of skeletons.

    Mr. Krabs: You must be kiddin'. (slices the skeletons) Back to oblivion!