In the beginning of the episode, an iceberg travels across the surface of the ocean and stops over Bikini Atoll, causing it to snow underwater in Bikini Bottom. The Realistic Fish Head reports on the scene to inform the Bikini Bottom citizens on the heavy snowfall across the city. Everyone notices and starts to have fun in the snow, while SpongeBob and Patrick decide to have a snowball fight. Meanwhile, Squidward is relaxing at his house, sitting near a fire and drinking a hot cup of tea. He hears the sounds of SpongeBob and Patrick building snow forts and tells them to quiet down. The duo tries to convince him to come out and play with them, both trying to get him on their own side, but Squidward turns down both their offers, dismissing snowball fights as childish, only for the two to (inadvertently) put out his fireplace twice.
Squidward decides that, as entertainment, he will watch them fight, hoping they will get hurt. However, SpongeBob and Patrick took Squidward's words to heart and signed a peace treaty. Squidward tries to convince them to continue for his entertainment, and eventually decides to let himself join in the fight. He demonstrates how to have a "proper" snowball fight and even creates a fort of his own but SpongeBob and Patrick point out that his fort is too small (as it was knee-high), even for demonstrative purposes. Squidward attempts to reassure them that it is okay but repeatedly gets hit with a snowball by Patrick as a result (the last of which involving Patrick pausing before throwing it for kicks). He then decides to throw a snowball at SpongeBob and Patrick, but misses both of them, putting out his fireplace once more.
SpongeBob and Patrick interpret the launching of snowballs as a declaration of "war," then proceed to duck behind their fort and mercilessly begin to pelt Squidward with snowballs (and a top hat after Squidward gets turned into a snowman). Fed up with their attack, Squidward (breaking free from his snowman-shaped prison) proceeds to throw a snowball in retaliation and hits SpongeBob right in the face. He quickly begins to enjoy himself and soon becomes exhilarated, before throwing another at Patrick. He starts to relentlessly pelt SpongeBob and Patrick with more snowballs, while the two take cover in response. After Patrick is hit by a snowball containing Squidward's clarinet, he and SpongeBob decide that Squidward is taking the snowball fight far too seriously and sneak off back to the pineapple.
Squidward throws snowballs from the top of his tower.
When Squidward notices that the snowballs have "stopped falling," he takes the opportunity to assess his defenses. Realizing his fort is too small, Squidward decides to make it bigger and eventually builds it to the size of a tower, later to be known as "Fort Squidward." When an overhead tree branch begins to drop snow on his head, Squidward believes snowballs are being thrown at him by SpongeBob and Patrick and repeatedly hurls out snowballs in random directions.
Meanwhile, SpongeBob and Patrick relax in the pineapple, watching TV while drinking hot chocolate and eating popcorn. SpongeBob faintly hears Squidward's yelling for a moment and asks Patrick if he also heard something. After Patrick replies, "Nope" (probably deciding to let Squidward have his fun), they continue to watch a news report about the snow, before the screen cuts to black, thus ending the episode.
Production
Deleted scene
There is a scene of Squidward showcasing a gigantic pile of snowballs, snowball-shooting cannons, and a snowman dungeon during his battle with SpongeBob and Patrick. This scene did not make it into the final episode due to being too graphic (with the dungeon featuring several snowmen getting tortured and executed), though a background does exist which would have been used in the dungeon scene.
Art
Title card background.
Concept art
Krabs' house covered in snow.
Snow Mermaid concept art
An unused shot of a snowman torture room.
Storyboard for the snowman torture room.
Storyboard for the unused scene of Squidward's snowball pile.
Storyboard for Squidward's cannnons.
Squidward's fireplace.
Jellyfish Fields during the snowfall.
Music
( ‣ ) Production music
( • ) Original music
( ◦ ) SpongeBob music
‣Wonderland of Snow - Terry Day [Title card.] ‣America A Dream Comes True - Gregor F. Narholz [Opening.] •Bell Jingles - Nicolas Carr [Sleigh bells.] ‣The Jolly Sleighride - Ib Glindemann [Bikini Bottom covered in snow.] ‣Danger Zone - Mike Sunderland ["This is serious, SpongeBob."] •Thats It ! - Nicolas Carr ["Snowball fight?"] •Vibe & Harp Hits - Nicolas Carr [Patrick makes a cube/Patrick makes a square pyramid/Patrick makes a double helix.] •Battle Begins - Nicolas Carr [SpongeBob and Patrick glare at each other.] •Going Hit - Nicolas Carr [SpongeBob and Patrick glare at each other.] ‣Romantic Waltz - Geoffrey Henman [Squidward relaxing.] •Steel Licks 22 - Jeremy Wakefield [Faintly plays.] ‣The Merry March (a) - Paddy Kingsland [SpongeBob and Patrick building forts.] ‣Tomfoolery - David Snell [Patrick choking on snow.] ‣Comic Walk - Sidney Torch ["Snowball fights are for immature children."] •Vibe & Harp Hits - Nicolas Carr ["Hmm..."] ‣Comic Walk - Sidney Torch ["Now there's something I'd actually like to see!"] ‣Tympup A - Sammy Burdson, John Charles Fiddy [SpongeBob and Patrick shake hands.] ‣Comic Walk - Sidney Torch [Peace treaty.] •12th St Rag - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Squidward trying to start another snowball fight.] ‣Marshall Strength Link - David Snell [SpongeBob and Patrick throw snowballs at Squidward.] •Thats It ! - Nicolas Carr ["That was actually kind of exciting."] ‣I Saw Three Ships 29 (C) - Richard A. Harvey ["I've never felt so alive!"] •Earls Revenge - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Squidward throwing snowballs.] •Idea Sting - Nicolas Carr ["What's going on?"] •Spongemonger - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [Ending.]
"Snowball Effect" was ranked #20 during the Best Day Ever event from November 9–10, 2006.
"Snowball Effect" was ranked #31 during the SpongeBob's Top 100 event in the UK and Ireland from June 4-8, 2012.
Trivia
General
This episode originally had the packaging code of 44a, and was originally paired with "Nasty Patty" before it was re-paired with "One Krabs Trash."[3]
When Squidward is sitting next to his fireplace, a replica of his head with moose antlers is seen hanging on a plaque on his wall. It is seen again in the video game Battle for Bikini Bottom (Rehydrated) in Squidward's house.
This episode was referenced in "Friendiversary" as Squidward's fireplace room reappears in that episode.
Dub facts
The scene where SpongeBob batters Patrick with a barrage of snowballs was rarely shown in Indonesia airings for many years due to time constraints.[citation needed]
However, more recently, it and other similarly early episodes are aired in Indonesia uncut.[citation needed]
Cultural references
Patrick's alias "Pink Menace" is a reference to the "Red Menace," a nickname for the Soviet Union that was popular in the United States and allied countries during the Cold War.
When Squidward considers aloud the possibility of being attacked in the rear, there is already a wall there. All he does is turn around, laugh, and pat the wall, but he is never seen building it.
When Mrs. Puff blows the snow off her boatmobile and onto Fred, he pops his head out and yells "Hey!" although his mouth does not move.
When SpongeBob is first seen with his fort, it is spherical and shorter than him, but when the camera returns to SpongeBob, his fort has changed shape and is about as tall as him. Finally, when the camera returns to the wide angle including Squidward's house, his fort returns to its original shape.
When the camera shows Patrick laughing after hitting SpongeBob with a snowball, his fort is smooth. Before, it was completely rugged. Also, when Patrick comes upon the barrage of snowballs SpongeBob serves at him, his fort is rugged again. Also, all the snow-cubes he was seen with are gone.
When Squidward angrily rushes to SpongeBob and Patrick, his house's eyebrows and nose are connected.
Squidward's house's eyebrows and nose are together instead of separated.
In the Bengali dub, the credits for this episode and its sister episode "One Krabs Trash" were swapped by accident.
The background is light blue rather than gray.
When a close-up of the DNA strand snowball Patrick made is shown, the sky is light blue, even though the sky is gray for almost the entire rest of the episode.
When Squidward gets frustrated by Patrick continuously throwing snowballs at him right after he builds his small fort, he attempts to throw back a snowball forward at Patrick but misses his shot. Instead, the snowball goes inside Squidward's house and puts out his fireplace. This would not have been possible because his house is behind him at the moment he throws the snowball.
Both the second and third times Squidward's fireplace is put out by a snowball, it shouldn't have happened since the snowball was thrown toward the first floor, but the fireplace was on the second floor.
Squidward's mouth disappears for one frame.
After Patrick throws a snowball at Squidward and he says "Patrick, why didn't you hit SpongeBob?", Squidward's mouth disappears for a frame mid-sentence.
When Squidward's head is pressed against the window when he sees SpongeBob and Patrick shaking hands, his tentacles are colored brown.
Patrick's house is missing, as is the snow which is on Squidward's house throughout the rest of the episode.
When Squidward builds his fort near the end of the episode, Patrick's house is not seen.
Also when Squidward builds his fort, the snow on Squidward's house disappears, only to reappear when the scene cuts to the exterior of SpongeBob's house.
Squidward's brown jaw.
In one of the frames of the scene where Squidward rapidly fires snowballs at SpongeBob and Patrick while they go home, the bottom of his jaw is erroneously colored brown like his sweater.
Videos
Get Into The Holiday Spirit with Patrick & SpongeBob The Patrick Show Holiday Special
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