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"Reef Blower" is a SpongeBob SquarePants episode from season one. In this episode, SpongeBob attempts to move a shell off of his lawn.

Characters

Synopsis

The episode starts with Squidward going outside, only to spot a shell on his lawn. He kicks the shell onto SpongeBob's yard to keep his own clean, but it turns out SpongeBob is also very protective of his lawn, and gets out a reef blower from his garage to get rid of it, the noise of the machinery making Squidward irritated.

SpongeBob, struggling to blow away the shell, ends up blowing it so hard sand comes out and lands on Squidward. SpongeBob comes to Squidward and blows off the sand that landed on Squidward as well as his face. Seeing that there is a huge pile of sand on his yard, SpongeBob sucks it up, but the reef blower starts to break apart and throws out sand.

SpongeBob opens up the zipper behind the reef blower and puts the excess sand that was thrown out in there. He tries to start it again but it doesn't work. This prompts SpongeBob to pull the handle of the reef blower very far. Once he feels he's far enough, he lets go and quickly zips through the distance he went back onto the blower. SpongeBob starts sucking up the entire ocean, causing Squidward to almost suffocate, but quickly shoots all the water sucked up back out again. The episode ends with SpongeBob happy that his lawn is clean, while Squidward's lawn is filled with sand.

Production

Storyboards

Art

Music

( ‣ ) Associated production music

( • ) Original music

( ◦ ) SpongeBob music



• Heat - The Blue Hawaiians [First half]

• War Blowers - The Blue Hawaiians [Second half]



Release

Reception

"Reef Blower" was ranked #24 during the Best Day Ever event from November 9–10, 2006.

Trivia

General

A reef blower is a general parody of a leaf blower, which is used to drive abiotic factors off a person's property. In this episode, the reef bower is by SpongeBob to drive a shell off his lawn.

This is the first episode not to play any APM tracks.

This is the first episode where Patrick, Gary, or Mr. Krabs does not appear.

Squidward is purple above water in this episode, despite being his normal color above water in The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water .

. This episode marks the debut of Fred.

This is the shortest episode to date, with a length of two minutes and fifty seconds. The reasoning for its shortened length was to fill an 11-minute segment, since "Help Wanted" runs for eight minutes, and when followed by "Tea at the Treedome," a standard 11-minute episode, this equals a full 22 minutes.

This is the first episode where the title card does not have music. Instead, the title card music is replaced with seagulls.

This is the first episode to show SpongeBob and Squidward being neighbors; even though their houses are shown together in "Help Wanted," it is never stated in that episode that they live next to each other.

This is the first episode where the characters go out of water. This happens when SpongeBob manages to suck up all of the ocean water with his reef blower, however it explodes shortly afterwards.

This is the first episode of the series produced in 1999, while the previous episode, "Help Wanted," was produced two years prior as a pilot for the series in 1997.

This is Tom Yasumi's first episode as an animation director, although there are no opening credits in this episode. He would later be credited as an animation director in the next episode, "Tea at the Treedome."

Despite being the second segment of the series, this is the first episode on The Complete First Season box set, due to "Help Wanted" having copyright issues with the Tiny Tim song "Living in the Sunlight, Loving in the Moonlight."

This episode marks SpongeBob's first non-speaking appearance. He does not have any lines in "Whale Watching," but he laughs in said episode. As such, this is the only episode to date where Tom Kenny does not play a voice role.

This is the only episode that does not feature any opening credits after the title card.

This is the first episode where an incidental appears.

This is the only episode that does not feature any spoken dialogue. Originally, there was meant to be spoken dialogue, but because the studio's recording equipment didn't work properly, it was re-written without any. However, SpongeBob says, "You!," with a subtitle appearing at the bottom of the screen, but there is still no audio.

This is the first episode to use original music.

This is the only episode in season 1 to not have any bubble transitions.

According to the Complete 1st Season Disc 1 and the First 100 Episodes Disc 1 descriptions of this episode, the reef blower in this episode is new. This episode only contains two music tracks, the least of any episode in the series.

"Reef Blower" aired as part of SpongeBob SquarePants' pilot episode after the 1999 Kids' Choice Awards on May 1, 1999.

Cultural references

A reef blower is a parody of a leaf blower.

Errors

When the sand is piled in SpongeBob's walkway, the window on the first floor of his house is gone again.

When Squidward is in his yard eating, the flower in the pot from the beginning disappears.

Squidward is shown sitting on a doorstep before SpongeBob drains the ocean, but Squidward's house never had one before that moment.

The window on the first floor is missing. The plant disappears and Squidward doesn't sit on the doorstep.

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Running gags