46a. Snowball Effect

Bl4zeTMG

Four Twenny Blaze
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Probably my favorite season 3 episode. There's a lot of pre movie episodes that I love but don't make me laugh as much as this one. 10/10
 

777

Giant Clam
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WHY must I live in an area where snow is rarer than gold? It has totally ruined my view on the episode.
 

SquiddlyPie

random gal
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This is in my top 10 all time favourite episodes! It's also the last episode I watched for Season 3 ! I love this episode so much, so funny, so unique , it was my favourite back in 2009 (that's when I first watched it but it came out in 2003-2004 here in Greece) ! 10/10!!
 

CakeCup

Facing the BSOD
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This is another one of those classic episodes that always brings me joy when I watch it. Everything in this episode was consistently funny, from Mrs. Puff blowing snow off her boat to Squidward making a huge fort. Like Idiot Box, Squidward at first loathes the idea of something SpongeBob and Patrick are doing, but he can't help but join them later on. That setup is just brilliant. I also love when Patrick tries to make a snowball, but he instead makes a snow cube, a snow pyramid, and a snow double helix. Additionally, the slow-mo SpongeBob shooting snowballs into Patrick's mouth is of course hilarious. Overall, a season 3 episode that manages to entertain me with just a simple snowball fight. 10/10
 

Ice Dripping

Part Computer or Something
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This episode was great. I haven't seen it talked about a lot either. It was really fun to watch and there were some great jokes. 9.5/10
 

TheGreatServer

NOT a Bunny now!
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It's amazing but not one of the best, it was a little bland at times, but i love the running gag of Squidward's fire getting knocked out.

9/10
 
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I love this episode a lot. This episode is very underappreciated. I love everything in this episode, from the snowball fight, to the fireplace gag, to Squidward's fort, literally everything. I love it so much.

Ranking so far:
1. Snowball Effect (A+)
2. Idiot Box (A+)
3. Just One Bite (A)
4. Nasty Patty (A)
5. Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy IV (A)
6. The Bully (B)
7. Doing Time (B)
8. The Algae's Always Greener (B)
9. My Pretty Seahorse (C)
10. Club SpongeBob (C)
11. SpongeGuard on Duty (C)
 

JoeyBoi

Moby Dollar
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This is definitely one of the most memorable episodes for me. I think I had a DVD with a bunch of Christmas themed Spongebob episodes, and I just remember watching this episode more than any other for some reason. I can see why, too, because this is a really engaging episode. There's this energy throughout the episode that's just always present and makes it feel so much more interesting. There's a lot of great gags, the story works really well, and it also has really good animation. I keep coming back to this episode again and again to just appreciate it's construction and how everything plays out. I don't like it quite as much as I used to, but its still a really great episode.

Great episode (9/10)

1. Idiot Box (10)
2. The Algae's Always Greener (9)
3. Snowball Effect (9)
4. Just One Bite (9)
5. Nasty Patty (8)
6. My Pretty Seahorse (7)
7. Mermaidman and Barnacleboy IV (7)
8. The Bully (7)
9. Doing Time (7)
10. Spongeguard on Duty (6)
11. Club Spongebob (6)
 

SlipperytheTotodile

The Pokemon Enthusiast
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This is one of the most praised episodes of season 3. Though i dont really consider it really good i still like it. It is pretty action-packed but almost nothing caught my mind.

Rating: Great Episode

Rankings:
Idiot Box (Perfect)
The Algaes Always Greener (Amazing!)
Just One Bite (Amazing!)
My Pretty Seahorse (Delightful)
Doing Time (Great)
Snowball Effect (Great)
SpongeGuard on Duty (Okay)
Club SpongeBob (Meh)
MMABBIV (Meh)
Nasty Patty (Bad)
The Bully (Bad)
 

Pugs4Thugs

#1 SpongeBob Reviewer
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Next up, we've got an episode that's perfect for this winter weather that we here in the Northern Hemisphere are facing, "Snowball Effect"! I like how the excuse for the snow in this episode is that a glacier has drifted over Bikini Bottom, it makes enough pseudoscientific sense to me!

We've got a nice appearance of Realistic Fish Head in this episode, which I'm surprised I've never commented on. I love Realistic Fish Head, I think it's hilarious that in this fully-animated show we have a cutout of a real tuna fish with a flapping mouth. And he's such a good reporter! Along with Perch Perkins, of course.

Moving on, I love seeing all the fun everyone has in the snow. Well, I guess not everyone has fun. Mrs. Puff simply blows off her car, covering poor Fred, and Plankton gets literally crushed under the snow. But that's payback in the latter case, given that Plankton was being a bit megalomaniacal haha. I'm glad that SpongeBob at least has fun though, because it's adorable to see his excitement. And Gary is so cute in his little hats. This episode intro is on the not so funny side, but it's okay because they weren't trying to be funny. I prefer to see a lack of trying when it comes to unfunny jokes, you know? But this intro is all about introducing the context of the episode, since we'll be spending almost the entirety of "Snowball Effect" in a snowball fight. So I don't mind that the episode takes its time here.

One thing I like about this episode is all the cozy imagery it provides. I know it's such a small thing, and has no real bearing on the episode, but the sheer coziness exuded by Squidward's first scene, and the last scene of the episode is just...amazing, and makes me want to bundle up and drink hot chocolate by the fire immediately. I mean, winter in general makes me want to do that, but you know what I mean. Everyone's winter outfits, well I guess just SpongeBob's and Squidward's, are cool too. I like when shows do stuff like that, let characters change up their outfits. SpongeBob SquarePants does it so infrequently (the most common change-ups are the addition or subtraction of SpongeBob and Squidward's work hats, that's about it. I guess the karate gear SpongeBob and Sandy wear also make frequent enough appearances to count for something).

Poor Squidward is immediately roped into SpongeBob and Patrick's antics once he gets that lemon juice in his eye. And honestly, I relate. I too am startled by the loud conversations of my neighbors. Though I've never gotten lemon juice in my eye because of it. Either way, I feel him when he gets upset at the noise. This episode reminds me a lot of "Squidville" in that Squidward dismisses a game SpongeBob and Patrick are playing as childish, before getting in on it himself. You know, it also reminds me of "Idiot Box" and "The Paper" too, as Squidward starts embracing his childish side. Well, I guess he doesn't quite do that in "The Paper", but whatever.

SpongeBob and Patrick's snowball fight is entertaining to watch, from Patrick's failed attempts at making snowballs, to SpongeBob's declaration of war, to the slow mo shot of Patrick being pelted, and to my favorite part, which is Patrick banging on Squidward's door choking, before swallowing all the melted snow. The back and forth between Patrick and Squidward is pretty funny, as is the voice acting for Patrick in general. Things get even more entertaining once Squidward gets involved. It's a bit slow at first, when Squidward tries to get SpongeBob and Patrick to start their snowball fight again, but the whole playing pretend sequence is pretty funny. Once it's Squidward vs. SpongeBob and Patrick though, things get pretty good. You know you're acting pretty crazy when SpongeBob and Patrick think you're going too hard in a snowball fight. I love that Squidward ended up making a snowball with his clarinet in it, because it's funny and it raises so many questions, like where the h did he get his clarinet from???

I love how Squidward slowly gets more and more into the snowball fight, becoming increasingly paranoid. His whole military-speak about a simple snowball fight is hilarious, and I love the visuals of him making his fort, I don't know, they're just satisfying. I also really like the ending of the episode, with this tree appearing out of nowhere just to be Squidward's nemesis. I wonder what happened after the episode cut to black. How long did Squidward stay up in his fort? Hopefully he didn't get shot by a certain bearded man...

I really like "Snowball Effect", it's such a fun episode that feels like 11-minutes of childhood. Not just because it's SpongeBob SquarePants, but because of its featured topic of fun in the snow. I used to have snowball fights when I was a kid. Not so much now because I'm older and also because there's been less snowstorms...yeah not going to dwell on that. But anyway, this episode just feels very joyful and I like that. It's also a very funny episode, which of course earns it a lot of points with me. It has slow moments, but I find it to be largely pretty enjoyable, and I love all the effort and detail that went into the backgrounds in this episode, it's a very atmospheric episode, which y'all should know by now I love that. So "Snowball Effect" is yet another good edition to my "Amazing" tier.

Episode Tier: Amazing
Episode Score: 9/10
 
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