Written by Daniel Dominguez and Josh Androsky (Food Con Castaways) / Clare O’Kane (Snail Mail)
Storyboard by Chris Allison and Ryan Kramer (Food Con Castaways) / Chong Lee (Snail Mail)
Animation Directors: Alan Smart (Food Con Castaways) / Tom Yasumi (Snail Mail)
Original air date: 7/13/2016
The Krusty Krab crew (and Patrick) get lost in the woods during a road trip to Food Con. Patrick eats all but one of the Krabby Patties, and SpongeBob must prevent the others from eating it and successfully take it to Food Con.
”Food Con Castaways” contains examples of:
- All Animals Are Dogs: For some reason, there's a snail that howls like a wolf, rather than meowing like a cat.
- Call-Back: A subtle one; when Mr Krabs yells at SpongeBob, Patrick, and Squidward to pipe down he is drawn like Moar Krabs.
- Denser and Wackier: Thanks to the fact that it’s boarded by two Uncle Grandpa writers and boarders, the episode has a more surreal tone to it.
- Growling Gut: While being stranded in the woods with no food, SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward, and Mr. Krabs's stomachs start growling.
- Not This One, That One: When Mr. Krabs shows SpongeBob, Patrick, and Squidward the boat they'll be driving, they see a large luxurious boat, which drives away, revealing a small less cozy boat with a trailer attached to it.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Patrick somehow manages to swap the patty with one of SpongeBob's Nature Patties by the time SpongeBob reaches the Food Con stage.
- Oh, Crap!: SpongeBob get these twice. The first being when he unknowingly allows Patrick to watch over the krabby patty, and the second when he realizes the krabby patty got switched with the nature patty.
- Only Sane Man: While Patrick, Squidward, and Mr. Krabs are driven mad with hunger, SpongeBob is the only one who says calm enough to prevent them from eating the krabby patty they need for food con.
- Road Trip Plot: The episode focuses on SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward, and Mr. Krabs trying to get to Food Con.
- Running Gag: Squidward getting covered in ashes.
- A flying snail picking up Squidward.
- Suddenly Voiced: In one scene, the Krabby Patty starts talking, and is voiced by Lori Alan.
- Tastes Like Feet: When everyone tries SpongeBob's "Nature Patties", Squidward has this to say:Squidward: Ugh! It's like eating the inside of a lawnmower!
Original air date: 10/22/2016 note
SpongeBob lies to his pen pal about having the ability to fly after Gary changes the "r" in "frying" to an "l" and attends a flying show when he thinks his pen pal is dying.
”Snail Mail“ contains examples of:
- Artifact Title: Despite having "Snail" in the title, Gary only appears in the first half of the episode. Even though Vincent Waller actually made a drawing of Gary delivering mail.
- Brick Joke: When SpongeBob is about to fly a plane, Sandy offers him a pair of underwear, which he declines. Afterwards, Sandy and the firefighters are cleaning up the damage, SpongeBob takes the underwear from her.
- Call-Back: SpongeBob hides in the mailbox just like he did in "Chocolate With Nuts", except he doesn't scare the mailman.
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Gary to SpongeBob with water in order to get him to stop panicking.
- Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress: When the plane is about to hit the ground, it stops in mid-air because SpongeBob discovers the plane ran out of gas. When Patrick refuels the tank, the plane hits the ground.
- Imagine Spot: SpongeBob imagines a funeral for his pen pal. The highlights are his pen pal's corpse being inside a giant letter and said letter being put into a mail bin before being buried.
- Lampshade Hanging: When Gary's slime smudges the letter and changes the word "frying" to "flying", the narrator lampshades that this will come back to bite SpongeBob later. When SpongeBob gets a response from his pen pal, saying that he thinks SpongeBob is a pilot, the narrator lampshades this again.
- Motor Mouth: SpongeBob when he explains his problem to Sandy.
- Recycled Plot: It's basically a rehash of The Sponge Who Could Fly, except that SpongeBob attempts to be a pilot.
- Running Gag: Sandy offering SpongeBob some underwear when he's nervous.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: It turns out that SpongeBob's pen pal was Patrick and the only reason SpongeBob thought his pen pal was dying was because Patrick didn't mail the second half of the letter which said he was dying...to see him fly.
- Shout-Out: The plane stopping in mid-air right before it hits the ground because it ran out of gas is a reference to the gag in the Bugs Bunny cartoon Falling Hare.
- Who Is Driving?: When SpongeBob and Patrick are on the wing of the plane, celebrating, SpongeBob asks who's flying the plane. Patrick only responds "I am."
