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No Free Rides

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"No Free Rides" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season 2. In this episode, Mrs. Puff passes SpongeBob just so she doesn't have to deal with him.

Characters

Synopsis

File:No Free Rides 007.png
SpongeBob runs over the French Narrator.

The episode opens at Mrs. Puff's Boating School when SpongeBob's last boating exam of the year ends in failure after he runs over the French narrator. Despite the failing grade, SpongeBob remains optimistic that his next year in Mrs. Puff's class will be productive. Mrs. Puff, on the other hand, dreads the thought of another year administering boating exams for SpongeBob. In desperation, she offers him an extra credit exam: a short, ten-word thesis on one thing he learned in boating school. SpongeBob finds himself unable to decide what to pick and starts to have a nervous breakdown, but Mrs. Puff lets him pass anyway.

As SpongeBob leaves with his new driver's license, Mrs. Puff ponders over whether she's done the wrong thing and starts feeling guilt, then has a terrible daydream of him destroying the town with his driving. She consoles herself with the fact that SpongeBob lacks a boat to drive, much less one to wreck. Upon arriving at her home, however, she finds SpongeBob and his parents inside with a huge cake to thank her for her teachings, as futile as they had once seemed. Both SpongeBob and Mrs. Puff get another surprise when they see that SpongeBob's parents bought him a brand-new boatmobile. In utter amazement, SpongeBob falls into the cake in a dead faint. As SpongeBob's parents take him home, Mrs. Puff realizes the danger he now poses and decides to settle the matter before anyone figures out she let him skip through boating school.

File:No Free Rides 180.png
"And now back to KRUD with all of your personal 'you won't get away with stealing my car!' hits!"

SpongeBob's parents tuck him into his bed and tell him that, due to his head injury, he should avoid driving anywhere that night. As soon as his parents leave, he sneaks out his bedroom window, gets into the boat, and falls asleep. Not long after, Mrs. Puff hijacks SpongeBob's boat and drives it away. SpongeBob wakes up to find the masked Mrs. Puff in the process of stealing his vehicle and fights her off.

Mrs. Puff tries knocking SpongeBob out of the boat, but he grabs hold of the rear bumper. She next drives through various obstacles to lose him, but he catches up to her while two police officers watch the commotion from their vehicle. In their struggle, SpongeBob ultimately reveals the thief to be Mrs. Puff, rendering him senseless just as the boat crashes into the police car.

SpongeBob and Mrs. Puff talk in the Bikini Bottom Jail, where Mrs. Puff is being held for motor vehicle theft. Mrs. Puff apologizes to SpongeBob and says that she shouldn't have passed him when she knew he really wasn't ready. SpongeBob understands he'll have to relinquish his license, but Mrs. Puff tells him he can still continue his lessons with Mrs. Flounder, another driving teacher starting a new class on Monday. SpongeBob assures her she is the only one who he wants teaching him, giving her a tip that the warden will let her go early in exchange for free driving lessons.

Production

Art

Music

( ‣ ) Production music
( • ) Original music
( ◦ ) SpongeBob music

 ‣ Hen Pecker - The Surfdusters [Title card]
 ‣ Dingle's Regatta - Brian Peters [Opening at Mrs. Puff's boating school.]
 ‣ El Dementia - The Surfdusters ["No, SpongeBob, wait!"]
 ‣ Whisper from the Past [#64.02] - Gregor F. Narholz ["Don't worry. I'll be alright, Mrs. Puff."]
 ‣ Hawaiian Link (A) - Richard Myhill [Mrs. Puff inflates]
 ‣ Unease - Dick Stephen Walter ["Another year with him!"]
 • Puka A - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield ["Extra credit!"]
 • Closing Theme 2 - Steve Belfer [SpongeBob sharpening his pencil]
 ‣ Muscovite Rebellion - David Arnold, Paul Hart ["No, wait, I changed my mind!"]
 • Idea Sting - Nicolas Carr [SpongeBob's essay]
 ‣ Youthful Days - Mike Sunderland [SpongeBob's license]
 • Sting Ttension - Nicolas Carr ["And his name is SpongeBob SquarePants!"]
 ‣ The Nightmare Begins (A) - John Devereaux [Mrs. Puff imagines SpongeBob destroying the city]
 ‣ Hawaiian Link (B) - Richard Myhill [Mrs. Puff goes home]
 ‣ Sunny Samoa - George de Fretes, Jan Rap [Surprise party]
 ‣ Danger Zone - Mike Sunderland ["What have I done?"]
 • Undertow - Sage Guyton, Jeremy Wakefield [SpongeBob sneaks out of his room]
 ‣ Stepping into Danger - Mike Sunderland [Mrs. Puff in a ski mask]
 ‣ El Dementia - The Sufdusters [SpongeBob and Mrs. Puff scream]
 ‣ Hen Pecker - The Surfdusters ["Who are you and what are you doing in my boat?"]
 ‣ Gorgeous Girl - Kurt Schick [Mrs. Puff turns on the radio]
 ‣ Hen Pecker - The Surfdusters [Boat out of control]
 ‣ Holiday Dream - Max Mahlmann [Ending]

Release

Distribution

Reception

  • Mary Jo Catlett received a nomination at the 29th Annie Awards in 2001 for Best Voice Acting by a Female Performer in an Animated Television Production, for her performance as Mrs. Puff.[4]
  • "No Free Rides" was ranked #33 during the Best Day Ever event from November 9–10, 2006.

Trivia

General

File:SB161-162.jpeg
  • This episode was originally called "There's No Such Thing as a Free Lunch, Mrs. Puff," referencing the phrase "There ain't no such thing as free lunch," which was first used in the 1938 newspaper article "Economics in Eight Words."[5]
  • This episode originally had the packaging code of 30b, and was paired with "Squirrel Jokes."[6]
  • This episode, along with "I'm Your Biggest Fanatic," were set to premiere on March 24, 2001,[7] but were postponed to April 14.
  • In "Boating School," SpongeBob is upset about failing his driving test, but as of this episode, he does not care about failing. In later episodes, SpongeBob cries when he fails his driving test.
  • The fourth wall is broken when the French Narrator is run over by SpongeBob at the beginning of the episode.
  • This episode reveals that the French Narrator is actually a character in the show.
    • This is used as a plot point in a later episode, "Feral Friends."
  • Realistic Fish Head is voiced by Dee Bradley Baker in this episode instead of Doug Lawrence.
File:No Free Rides 107.png
The Droste effect.
  • SpongeBob and his parents hold a surprise party for Mrs. Puff at her house. When Mrs. Puff enters, a small picture of her standing at the door in the same shot can be seen. In addition, the same picture is seen in this picture. This is an example of a recursive image, one image that is repeated infinitely within itself. This became a key part of the insane Ms. Puff fan theory acknowledged in the show itself.
    • Another recursive image appears in the episode "Bumper to Bumper." Coincidentally, both are boating school episodes.
  • This is one of four episodes transcribed as a comic into the SpongeBob SquarePants/Tokyopop book Crime and Funishment. The other three were "Life of Crime," "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V," and "Nasty Patty."
  • In the Croatian dub, the episode's title is "Ništa zabadava," which translates to "Nothing for Free."[8]
  • SpongeBob is seen coming out of the radio slot in the car, but earlier in the episode, the same radio is shown and it still had a SpongeBob-like appearance before the event occurred.
  • There are candles on top of SpongeBob's bed posts that are lit. When SpongeBob's mother turns the lights out in his room, the candles go out too.
  • In Mrs. Puff's daydream of SpongeBob being on the road, the sign beside the bus is white.
  • When SpongeBob climbs inside Boaty, he is seen wearing socks. Although, seconds before, his socks fall on Boaty's floor.
  • In this episode, SpongeBob's room is missing his alarm clock and the top part of his bed.
  • "My leg!:" SpongeBob runs over the people having a birthday party in Mrs. Puff's fantasy.
  • When SpongeBob goes to Boaty, he has casts on his head. In the next shot, when he is out of the window, his head casts disappear from here and for the rest of the episode.
  • Apparently, Mrs. Puff has given a student a driver's license before and it ended in mayhem, like SpongeBob, as she says "I'll have to move to a new town, open a new boating school, with a new name! No. Not again."
  • The wallpaper in SpongeBob's room looks different than usual.
  • The radio station that SpongeBob hosts is called "K.R.U.D." (Crud)
  • In the Crime and Funishment book/Cine-Manga version of this episode, the scene between SpongeBob being kicked out of the boat and Mrs. Puff turning on the SpongeBob radio is cut out.[9]
  • This is the first episode for a few things:
  • This is the second episode in which Mrs. Puff goes to jail. The first is "Hall Monitor."
  • During the Best Day Ever marathon, this episode was paired up with "Squid's Day Off."[10]
  • This episode will be later used as a comic in SpongeBob and his Friends!. (Issue 10, Year 2011)
  • The accident company has the same phone number as the Tattletale Strangler (555-1234) in "SpongeBob Meets the Strangler."
  • The reference to educational TV being an obstacle refers to how CBS would not air the show due to lack of educational content.

Dub facts

  • In the French dub, Mrs. Puff says SpongeBob needs 610 points to pass his exam.
    • This was done as 610 in French (six cent dix) has the same amount of syllables as 600 in English (six hundred).

Episode references

  • The license that Mrs. Puff gives SpongeBob says it expires on December 14, 2003. This is the same one from the episode "Sleepy Time."
    • Additionally, when Mrs. Puff gives SpongeBob his driver's license, he licks it and comments "It tastes just like I dreamt it would." Incidentally, he dreams he is holding a driver's license and licks it in "Sleepy Time."

Errors

  • In the scene where the cops look at the boat, it is downhill, but when the boat comes toward them, it goes off a cliff. When it focuses on the cops again, it is back downhill, making the boat look like it got into the air from nowhere.
  • After SpongeBob gives the boat his socks, he has them back as soon as he hops onto the boat's side.
File:No Free Rides 187.png
  • When SpongeBob gets grated by cheese graters, his eyes come out of the graters several times.
  • The cliff that the police car is parked next to disappears in the next shot.
File:Sirena Irwn error in No Free Rides & I'm Your Biggest Fanatic.png
Sirena Irwn.
  • During the end credits, when Sirena Irwin's name is shown, her last name is misspelled as "Irwn."
  • There is no switch that turns on the light of the living room of Mrs. Puff's house as she walks in her house.
  • SpongeBob is riding his unicycle while chasing his boat with his eyes looking ahead. However, in the next scene by one frame, SpongeBob is looking at Mrs. Puff driving his boat while riding his unicycle.
  • Radio SpongeBob is installed in the box of SpongeBob's boatmobile after Mrs. Puff loses him when he sees the "Educational Television" sign, where his eyes act as the left and right tuning knobs and there are three eyelashes pointing upwards on each tuning knob and three freckles under each tuning knob, and his mouth acts as the rectangular-shaped speaker. Mrs. Puff turns the left tuning knob on Radio SpongeBob at 90 degrees clockwise, making the three eyelashes of the left tuning knob pointing to the right, and then Radio SpongeBob starts to speak through the speaker. However, Radio SpongeBob repeatedly speaks through the speaker, which contracts to the smaller size and reverts to the original size and vice versa instead of remaining the original size. Also, three freckles under each tuning knob are gone. Furthermore, in the scene where Radio SpongeBob squeezes out of the box and jumps on Mrs. Puff, the three eyelashes of the left tuning knob on Radio SpongeBob are pointed upwards.
  • Mrs. Puff is seen wearing the ski mask and her blue sailor cap on top of her starting from the scene where she is hijacking SpongeBob's boat and drives it away until the scene where SpongeBob's boat is about to crash into the police car when SpongeBob is hitting Mrs. Puff repeatedly with his left hand. In the next scene by one frame before SpongeBob rips off the ski mask to reveal who the culprit is, Mrs. Puff's blue sailor cap is gone.
  • SpongeBob rips off the ski mask to reveal that the culprit is Mrs. Puff, leaving the bottom part of the ski mask wrapping around her neck. However, in the next scene, the bottom part of the ski mask is gone, and Mrs. Puff is seen wearing her normal clothes.
  • SpongeBob's line reads, "And now back to KRUD, with all of your personal 'you won't get away with stealing my car!' hits." However, cars do not exist in Bikini Bottom.
  • Harold SquarePants shows SpongeBob and Mrs. Puff a brand new boatmobile in the living room of Mrs. Puff's house. However, Mrs. Puff's house is too small for the boatmobile to fit in.

Video

File:What I Learned In Boating School Is... - Full Scene (HD) - SpongeBob

Names in other languages

Language Name Meaning
Arabic الرخصة The License
Finnish Venekaappari Boat-napper
French Le permis par K-O License by K-O
German Der Schrecken der Straße The Terror of the Road
Hungarian Jogosítvány Driver's License
Italian A un passo dalla patente One Step Away from a Driver's License
Polish Nielekka jazda Non-Lightweight Ride
Russian Незаслуженная награда
Nezasluzhennaya nagrada		 Undeserved Prize
Spanish (Latin America) Nada de viajes gratis No Free Rides
Spanish (Spain) En la vida no hay nada gratis Nothing in Life is Free

References

  1. ↑ Date confirmed by SpongeBob Exposed!, The First 100 Episodes, and the iTunes listing.
  2. ↑ Cable Guide (UK) October 2001 - pg. 58
  3. ↑ Nickelodeon UK - Continuity - October 4, 2001
  4. ↑ Annie Awards - 29th Annie Awards
  5. ↑ Who Said TANSTAAFL First? | Cato at Liberty Blog
  6. ↑ squirrel jokes - Search - Newspapers.com
  7. ↑ NEW SHOWS CONTINUING IN MARCH!!!!!! - BB 2001
  8. ↑ List of episodes by language/Croatian
  9. ↑ Crime and Funishment
  10. ↑ Nickstory - November 10, 2006

es:Nada de Viajes Gratis hu:Jogosítvány id:No Free Rides nl:Geen gratis ritjes pl:Nielekka jazda pt-br:Pilotar, Sem Saber Não Vai ru:Незаслуженная награда

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