SpongeBob: Re-Hydrated (partially lost "SpongeBob SquarePants" animated short; 2003)

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SBSPLMWMatrix.PNG

Screenshot from the short.

Status: Found (Video)
Lost (Audio)

SpongeBob: Re-Hydrated (not to be confused with the similarly titled remake of the video game SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom) is a CGI-animated SpongeBob SquarePants short that aired in 2003. It was made in the style of a teaser trailer and features SpongeBob dressed as Neo from The Matrix film franchise fighting an army of Patrick Star clones dressed as Agent Smith.

The exact nature of the short was unknown for a long while, with people speculating it to be a game cutscene, a commercial, a fan animation, or even a full SpongeBob "episode" that slipped through the cracks. However, in 2017 it was clarified that the footage previously found was actually the entire short, minus the original audio.

History

Attention was first brought to the short in early 2016 after a few seconds of footage were discovered in a Nicktoons channel bumper from 2003. A thread was made on 4chan's /co/ board in an attempt to find more information on it, and one anonymous user claimed it to be a 10-minute short called The Spongetrix that was included on a VHS release of Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. This was quickly debunked as a hoax, but regardless, the rumor and fake title persisted for quite some time.[1]

Afterward, the search spread to sites such as the Lost Media Wiki and SpongeBuddy Mania. In April of that year, 30 seconds of footage was found in the 2013 portfolio of Nick Digital animator Goopy Rossi. It revealed the actual title of the short as Spongebob: Re-Hydrated, and also confirmed the connection with The Matrix Reloaded.

However, the find also left many unanswered questions about the nature of the short, and Rossi himself remained unresponsive. Other SpongeBob crew members were contacted, such as Vincent Waller, who was given a link to a low-quality wiki page that claimed the short to be a full 2017 episode. Vincent even accused it of being "bogus" before going back and admitting that he knew nothing about the short, and was simply saying so because it looked "weak" in terms of animation (having been led to believe it was made in 2017 and not 2003).[2][3]

Status

The search continued for a few more months but began to stall later that year due to a lack of any solid leads. However, on April 15th, 2017, YouTuber Vailskibum created a video on the topic. Despite containing a good deal of outdated information and inaccuracies, the video revived interest in the short. Later that day, animator Randy Gossman posted a public message to the Encyclopedia SpongeBobia Wiki to clarify these rumors.

Gossman stated the short was nothing more than an extra made by the animation team of the game Employee of the Month, and that it may have aired on Nicktoons in the network's early days. The short was made without involvement from the writers of the main series, and reused 3D models from the game Operation Krabby Patty. Most importantly, though, he stated that no more footage exists than the 30 seconds that were already available.[4]

Though the entirety of the video footage is now confirmed to be found, Gossman also claimed that short originally had a different audio track with sound effects.[5] This audio has yet to be found.

Gallery

Footage

Full short (without audio).

Videos

TheGamerFromMars' video on the subject.

See Also

SpongeBob SquarePants

Anthology and Short Series

Bumpers and Promos

Films

Game Shows

Inaugural Series

Live Action

Pilots

Other

External Links

References

  1. ↑ Archive of the original /co/ thread. Retrieved 15 Apr '17
  2. ↑ Tweet from Vincent Waller. Retrieved 15 Apr '17
  3. ↑ Tweet from Vincent Waller. Retrieved 26 Feb '18
  4. ↑ Mirror of Randy Gossman's blog post on the short. Retrieved 15 Apr '17
  5. ↑ Screenshot of a comment from Gossman, originally posted on the blog post. Retrieved 04 Oct '23. Archived from the original 04 Sept '17
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