263b

COVID-19 was a complete bitch of a period in my life that I personally would like to forget, however I don't think that's feasible considering what COVID-19 was about. In an ideal world, it would've never happened, and things would've gone smoothly for people. People such as the guys who wrote the episode of SpongeBob that has the production number #263b, more specifically the episode Kwarantined Krab.
I work as a censor editor at Nicktoons in the UK, basically editing any episodes of the shows we get from overseas to fit the censorship rules we have for British and Irish television respectively, such as not putting power drills into people's mouths to push buck-teeth together in the gums, or any form of feet related jokes. Admittedly I think our edits of the SpongeBob episodes we make are complete garbage since it would probably require reanimating some scenes, which is really a pain in the ass considering that the animators who worked on those scenes probably have lives of their own over in the United States. Realistically the only good part about the job is the money I get, it's frankly better than nothing.
When editing the episode with the production number #263b, I was working from home with my wife. It was one of the many episodes that was sent by Nickelodeon through gmail to me and fifteen other people to be shelved until needed. However the first day I had gotten the file for the episode something went wrong. The file name was called #263 instead of #263b. The b is always important because it's an indication that it's the second episode made during a production phase, the production phase being the number before the letter. I assumed that it was typo that I could fix myself if it was the right episode. Unfortunately, it was not.
The episode itself was similar to the actual episode that is supposed to air in the States next week as I'm typing this, the Krusty Krab goes under emergency quarantine, but no one knows who carries the mysterious illness, the people stuck in the restaurant are SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward, Mr Krabs, Pearl, Mrs Puff and Plankton. Mr Krabs turns against everyone throwing them in the freezer thinking they have the flu. Mrs Puff comes to the conclusion that he has the flu and they decide to the same thing to him, leading to a big fight between everyone.
This is where the alteration in the two versions starts.
Instead of the health inspector coming back to the restaurant saying he made a mistake and everyone leaving the restaurant, SpongeBob reluctantly knocks Mr Krabs out with a chair during the fight, locking him in the freezer as everyone leaves the restaurant, with SpongeBob crying on the way out. Cutting to 6,000 years later, Mr Krabs is being defrosted by some archaeologists and is completely unaware of the passage of time. As he regains his barrings he sees a fish flipping some Krabby Patties on the grill and wearing a chef's outfit. As he starts to panic, Mr Krabs walks out of the restaurant to get some air.
As he walks out he sees a large number of houses surrounding the Krusty Krab. Obviously scared shitless about what he's witnessing he starts running and doesn't stop. He eventually reaches Jellyfish Fields which has been turned into a cemetery and sees a lot of tombstones, a lot of them belonging to the people he's met in his life such as SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward, Sandy, Plankton, Mrs Puff, Larry the Lobster, Old Man Jenkins, Mermaid Man, Barnacle Boy, etc.
As he walks out of the cemetery, Mr Krabs comes to the conclusion that his world isn't here anymore and that he has nothing left to lose. He keeps walking into the sunset, with the screen fading to white and then to black, and the credits for the show come in.
As impressed as I was with this version of the episode, I think it was obvious enough that Nickelodeon had sent me the wrong file and I messaged them telling them so. They fixed that mistake two hours later so whatever. I frankly don't know what the intention of this episode could've been if it Nickelodeon went with this version and signed off on it, but none the less, I saw it.
The altered version is in the Nicktoons archive right now as we speak. We don't know when it will air, and personally, I don't care. If it comes out, it comes out, and that's all that matters to the kids.
Category:Nickelodeon