SpongeBob SquarePants (partially lost deleted scenes of Nickelodeon animated series; 1999-present)

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Justonebite deleted.png

Screenshot of the deleted scene from "Just One Bite."

Status: Partially Lost

SpongeBob SquarePants is an American animated television series that premiered on May 1st, 1999 on Nickelodeon. The series depicts the adventures of its title character, SpongeBob SquarePants, a child-like sponge living in the fictional city of Bikini Bottom.

The series is a massive success and continues to air new episodes to this day, generating over 8 billion dollars in revenue for Nickelodeon. However, several scenes and bits have been deleted or edited from episodes, with these scenes becoming obscure over time.

Season 1

Help Wanted

Status: Partially Lost (original pilot), Found (original storyboard)

The original 1997 version had a different opening and credits; this cut can be found online and on the Best of Nicktoons 1998 VHS.[1] Additionally, the 2007 book Not Just Cartoons! Nicktoons! contains a screenshot of a deleted storyboard where Gary eats some cactus.

The original audio where the titular character is called "SpongeBoy" is currently lost, which was confirmed to exist in a 2006 interview with Tom Kenny.[2] As for the original storyboards, a few panels were available until late August 2022, when the entire storyboard were leaked online. While the original upload was taken down, backups still currently exist.[3]

Tea at the Treedome

Status: Found

In the assets for the video game SpongeBob SquarePants: SuperSponge, an alternate title card can be found for this episode that features yellow outlined red text and a different background. This is the only place this title card can be found, as it was never broadcast on television or released on home media.

Additionally, early broadcasts and home media releases of the episode credited Edgar Larrazábal as the animation director. The credit was altered to attribute animation direction to Tom Yasumi in later releases.

Jellyfishing

Status: Found

An upshot of Squidward's house was made but never used in the episode.

Plankton!

Status: Lost

According to the Season 1 DVD commentary, there was originally a scene in this episode that depicted Squidward naked but was cut for obvious reasons (even though Squidward is seen naked in other episodes).

Pizza Delivery

Status: Found

There were two background paintings created for the Krusty Krab's open and closed signs. There was also a shot with the Krusty Krab clock.

Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy

Status: Found

There was a background painting of a cherry pie made but not used.

Squeaky Boots

Status: Lost

According to the few pitch bibles for SpongeBob, there would have been a scene where SpongeBob would manipulate the squeaking sound of the boots to replicate a musical instrument, in which people were amazed by the then-dubbed "musical boots".

Opposite Day

Status: Found

There was a background painting of the Bikini Realty building, likely meant for an establishing shot, that was never used.

Scaredy Pants

Status: Found

There was a close-up painting of SpongeBob with his brain exposed created, but it wasn't used in the episode.

I Was a Teenage Gary

Status: Non-existent

This episode was notorious for scaring children because of the scene that shows SpongeBob's seemingly painful and grotesque transformation into a snail. For years, there were rumors that in the original airing, there was an extra scene that depicted Squidward's transformation as well but was cut in re-runs due to either being too scary to children or for time reasons.

A common piece of "evidence" for this supposed deleted scene is that there is an odd transition placed when Squidward gets hit with the needle, which immediately cuts to him being a snail. Some say that this is a remnant of the edit, though others disregard this as just poor transition placement. Some also say that the episode still airs in its original version in Poland, but this was later proven to be false, as The Polish airing of this episode was found on a website that hosts Polish dubs of children shows and movies. This website did not include the scene in question. Some people even claimed to have footage of the missing scene.

On June 12th, 2016, YouTuber 90sGiveMeGoosebumps uploaded a video containing proof that this scene is fake. He insists that this is from the original airing, and he also claims to have more SpongeBob Squarepants Season 1 premieres on VHS tapes.

90sGiveMeGoosebumps has also dumped the whole premiere of "Scaredy Pants"/"I Was A Teenage Gary" onto multiple file-sharing sites. Analysis of footage and dialogue confirmed that it was from the original airing and that the scene was never in the episode, permanently debunking the theory about the scene.

As a further piece of evidence, current showrunner Vincent Waller confirmed that the so-called deleted scene was never drawn in the storyboard of this episode.[4]

On October 15th, 2022, the original outline of the story reveal that the transformation scene was planned at some point before the script/storyboard was even written or drawed.[5]

LSuperSonicQ's video on the supposed deleted scene of "I Was A Teenage Gary."

Karate Choppers

Status: Lost

According to the season 1 DVD commentary, this episode originally had a scene that showed Sandy karate-chopping a fish in the groin. This scene was cut for being deemed inappropriate.

It is also noteworthy that this episode, along with the episode "SB-129," was removed from rotation sometime in the early 2000s for unknown reasons, though they have since returned.

Sleepy Time

Status: Found

A cel using the background of Pearl's room was found on eBay, suggesting there was once a shot of Pearl sleeping in her room.

Suds

Status: Found

A cel of Dr. Patrick with a briefcase not seen in the final cut was found on eBay. There was also a painted closeup of one of SpongeBob's plugged holes but is not used in the episode. It can be seen on a set of trading cards from 2003.

Arrgh!

Status: Found

Right after SpongeBob says, "Hey! Mr. Krabs is getting all sweaty again!," there was a deleted scene that shows a vision of Mr. Krabs sitting atop of and sniffing a pile of treasure. Sherm Cohen, a writer/storyboard supervisor, posted a storyboard of the deleted scene on his DeviantArt account, proving that it indeed exists.[6]

Texas

Status: Found

In the scene when SpongeBob doesn't want Sandy to leave before following her to the bus, there were several frames of anticipation cut. Cels and sketches have appeared on eBay. Twitter user LarryInc64 attempted to recreate the scene using the material found. The last missing frame was found in January 2023, for the selling price of $599.95 ($450 as of April 2023).

Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy II

Status: Partially Found

Storyboard artist Jay Lender shared storyboards of several deleted scenes from "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy II."[7]

The first deleted scene shows SpongeBob's Krabby Patty statues of Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy getting eaten by the judges. According to Jay, Stephen Hillenburg told him that the Krabby Patty statues were a funny enough visual and to "not put a gag on a gag." The host was also an animated background character design instead of the realistic fish head. Numerous pieces of production art of this scene have popped up on eBay and other various websites, implying this scene may have been fully animated before getting cut.[8]

A second deleted scene involved SpongeBob, Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy looking at a dam and SpongeBob pulling out the plug, causing a flood. No production material of this scene has been found, so it may not have been animated.

A third deleted scene had the three stopping a bank robber. Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy try to stop the robber with a water ball but accidentally hit SpongeBob, causing him to absorb the water and crush them. Background of the Bikini Bottom First Nautical Bank was found, meaning this scene could've been animated.

A fourth deleted scene had Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy using their gadgets to close the door of a jewelry store, but SpongeBob accidentally breaks the window. Three background paintings of this scene have been found. Interestingly, the jewelry store would later be used in the season 10 episode "Whirlybrains" as well as the video game SpongeBob SquarePants: Employee of the Month.

Two other backgrounds exist, one clearly meant for the scene where Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy fight their cardboard cutout enemies and an upshot of a tower.

Season 2

Something Smells

Status: Lost

According to the Season 2 DVD commentary, after SpongeBob and Patrick hugged Squidward and ran away at the end of the episode, Squidward was supposed to say, "Ugly and smelly, two for one," but this was cut due to the whole screen fading to black at the end, so the dialogue wasn't needed.

Dying for Pie

Status: Found

The storyboard has a scene where SpongeBob is plugging up Squidward's heart during the surgery gag, and SpongeBob introduces Squidward to a random office worker.

Prehibernation Week

Status: Lost

According to the Season 2 DVD commentary, during the scene when Sandy is raking leaves, she originally was meant to make the symbol for "Girl Power," but it was changed to "Texas." Sandy also originally did a whole dance routine when she was stepping on the leaves, but it was cut due to time constraints.

Life of Crime

Status: Found

In the storyboards of this episode, the scene of SpongeBob and Patrick imagining all the fun they'll have with the balloon was replaced with them playing a game with it involving numerous sharp objects. This was likely changed due to the juxtaposition of the balloon popping following the former seeming funnier to the writers.

Christmas Who?

Status: Found

This episode has three deleted scenes:

  • Originally, Squidward (as Santa) gave the first girl a topiary shaped like him instead of a wrench.
  • After Santa (Squidward) gave the first girl her present, SpongeBob said: "I told ya he was real!."
  • Mr. Krabs originally said, "And don't forget about me, Pony!" while waiting for Santa.

All of these scenes were removed for reasons that so far remain unknown.

Animatic of the episode featuring all deleted scenes.

Survival of the Idiots

Status: Lost

According to the season 2 DVD commentary, there was originally a scene featuring Sandy's bed hanging from the ceiling of the Treedome, with much more saliva/drool than was seen in the final episode. Additionally, the DVD commentary also states that the original title for this episode was "Survival of the Morons."

Shanghaied

Main article: SpongeBob SquarePants "Shanghaied/You Wish" (found alternate "Patchy the Pirate" segments of Nickelodeon animated series special; 2001)
Status: Found

The episode Shanghaied premiered on March 9th, 2001. The original episode was promoted as a special SpongeBob television event called You Wish, in which people could call in during the commercial break to vote for the ending they wanted to see, and the ending with the most votes would become the canonical ending to the episode. SpongeBob's ending ultimately won the contest, being the version featured on all future reruns of the episode. Squidward's ending and Patrick's ending would both be featured in some DVD box sets including the episode, but Patchy's wraparound segments for said endings were ultimately lost.

In September 2016, YouTube user DarkLucario3000 would upload both wraparound segments to the website, but unfortunately, these were in Spanish, meaning the original English versions of the segments were still lost. The English audio for Squidward's wraparound segment was uploaded in January 2023 to Twitter by user Lamel Pizo, who used the Secondary Audio Programming option on their television to convert the original Spanish broadcast to English. Finally, an anonymous Discord user with access to SpongeBob production tapes uploaded the post-production version of Patrick's segment to an unknown Discord server in November 2023, from where it was downloaded and subsequently uploaded to YouTube by user "Nautical Nonsense."

The alternate endings with their original wraparound segments.

Welcome to the Chum Bucket

Status: Lost

According to the Season 2 DVD commentary, there was originally a scene that showed Plankton taking out SpongeBob's brain before putting it in the robot.

Graveyard Shift

Status: Found

In the special features of the Sponge Buddies DVD, you can find a storyboard of the episode which features a deleted scene. In the scene, it shows SpongeBob delivering mail to "Floorboard Harry." Also, Floorboard Harry was originally the one flickering the lights, not Nosferatu.[9]

Procrastination

Status: Found

There are three deleted scenes in this episode—these scenes aired in the US until 2005 when they were cut from all other airings afterward. The first scene shows SpongeBob looking out the window and seeing all his friends outside. He sees Patrick rubbing sunscreen on Sandy. The next scene right after that is SpongeBob imagining a live-action car crash. The last scene was him doing callisthenics. These scenes are on the season 2 DVD, the Christmas DVD, and on YouTube; they are also still on Canadian television airings.

It's still unknown why these scenes were removed in US airings. Some say they were cut for time reasons, while others say they were due to their content.

Starting in October 2019, Nickelodeon started airing reruns of the episode which include the deleted scenes on the Nicktoons channel. These versions of the scenes were also upscaled to HD to match the rest of the episode. The intact version of the episode, with all deleted scenes included, is also currently streaming on Paramount+.

Deleted scenes in "Procrastination."

Sailor Mouth

Status: Lost

According to the Season 2 DVD commentary for this episode, there was originally a scene where SpongeBob says to Patrick, "Go *dolphin noise* yourself" (Go f**k yourself) to which Patrick replies, "*dolphin noise* you too!" (F**k you too!). It was cut for being inappropriate for children, despite the rest of the episode is full of dialogue similar to this. It was possible this was because it was upfront profanity instead of the random nonsensical use of the dolphin noise in the episode (as it might lead one to believe that it sounded too much like the F word).

Additionally, a version of the episode is purported to exist where numerous characters actually swear, with the original audio being mentioned to exist by Tom Kenny and Rodger Bumpass at convention panels.

Artist Unknown

Status: Found

As seen in early production material, the infamous Bold and Brash painting was supposed to be more fish-like in terms of its design than what was seen in the final episode.

Jellyfish Hunter

Status: Found

The infamous "MORE!" scene was meant to have more grotesque closeups of Mr. Krabs but was cut. It is unknown if these made it past the storyboard phase.

Season 3

Just One Bite

Status: Found

There was a cut scene near the end of this episode. During the scene, Squidward is attempting to break into the Krusty Krab. As he walks into the building, he sets off their "security system" (a bucket of gasoline and a lit match), causing a massive explosion and leaving him charred black, and doing it again when he walks into the kitchen. The version that has been shown on TV since January 2nd, 2002 and on home media releases replaced the scenes with a slide/zoom cut to Squidward in the kitchen without any burns. However, there is another edited version that retained the first but not the second gas explosion.

It is commonly assumed that the cut was made because of 9/11. However, this is false as the episode aired a month after the attacks, yet the sequence was still included. Vincent Waller later confirmed the scene was changed because Nickelodeon doesn't tolerate stunts involving igniting the gas. This scene is still intact in Canadian, Korean and Bulgarian airings of this episode, and on the VideoNow and Apple TV Canada versions. It may also have been intact in Latin American airings in 2001. The scene can easily be found on YouTube.

Deleted scene from "Just One Bite."

Nasty Patty

Status: Found

An early animatic of Nasty Patty was compiled from a SpongeBob production CD by LMW user "milk tea" and their friend. It contains a completely different opening and ending as well as a deleted gag implying SpongeBob put the "Nasty Patty" down his pants, complete with scratch voices.

The full animatic.

Doing Time

Status: Lost

In the end credits of this episode, Tom Kenny is credited for providing the voice of Mrs. Puff's dad, despite this character making no appearance in the episode (or in the series as a whole). No details are known as to the contents of the scene featuring this character, other than the fact that the scene was cut after Kenny's dialogue had already been recorded.

The Snowball Effect

Status: Found

Former supervising director Adam Paloian tweeted a background and storyboard panel of a deleted scene depicting a snowman torture room in Squidward's fortress.[10] It was likely cut for being too graphic.

Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V

Status: Found

There were several scenes deleted in order to reduce the episode's running time, as it supposedly going to be a double-length episode, these include: Mermaid Man using his "telescope-vision," a press conference with E.V.I.L, the ice cream truck becoming a "Miss Thang" robot, a fish defeating Miss Thang with a disguise, SpongeBob rejoicing over the Mermalair's secret entrance, the real I.J.L.S.A. dying in a plane explosion, Patrick armpit-farting, The Quickster's original name: The Whizzer, Captain Magma skywriting, the Whizzer causing a tornado, Miss Appear being run over by a car, the Elastic Waistband being caught in the tornado and being defeated, and Mermaid Man's telescope-vision malfunctioning. These all can be found on the Fear of a Krabby Patty DVD.

Season 4-Present

Karate Island

Status: Found

The dedication card to Pat Morita (who voiced Master Udon in the episode) at the end was also removed after the Best Day Ever marathon, most likely because of the sudden appearance of Pat Morita's face. The dedication card scene, however, is still seen on YTV, Nickelodeon Asia, Nickelodeon Poland, DVD, older episode recordings and on YouTube.

To Love a Patty

Status: Found

In the storyboards, SpongeBob was seen wearing his outfit and wig from "The Chaperone".

The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom

Status: Lost

According to Vincent Waller, Pearl and Mrs. Puff would have been present in the episode and would have retained their designs from "It's a SpongeBob Christmas". However, the scenes featuring them were cut due to time constraints.[11]

See Also

SpongeBob SquarePants

Anthology and Short Series

Bumpers and Promos

Films

Game Shows

Inaugural Series

Live Action

Pilots

Other

External Links

References