SpongeBob SquarePants 1998 Pilot

May 1st, 1999. That was the day that SpongeBob's made its grand debut, its first episode aired being Help Wanted/Reef Blower/Tea at the Treedome. Everyone loved it: fans loved it, critics loved, people of all ages loved it, and the show has only been growing stronger by the year, recently having its 20 year anniversary, an achievement that very few animated kids programs have been able to pull off.
Now we should all know the original pilot of Spongebob, but what if I told you that there was planned to be a completely different pilot for Spongebob, one that was vastly different from the pilot we know now. Allow me to explain. 
Back in 1998, I was hired as a storyboard artist for a supposed pilot for some sort of show about a undersea sponge working at a fast food restaurant. I didn't know anything about what I was gonna work on at the time, but nevertheless, I was still intrigued. I'll spare you the boring details of what happened during the production of the episode, but I will tell you this: the people working on this 1998 pilot were completely different than the people who worked on the 1999 pilot. I mean, I recognized Stephen Hillenburg and Paul Tibbitt, and Tom Kenny was there too, but that was it. not even the voice actors for Mr. Krabs or even Squidward were there.
I didn't think it was a big deal at the time, but after over 20 years of Spongebob being around, and the fact that we all know who worked on the 1999 pilot, it was very strange to know that almost all of the people who worked on the 1999 pilot weren't present for the 1998 version. It's almost as if the rest of the cast who worked on the 1998 version were.. replaced. Very weird...
Now me and the rest of the cast spent a good two months on the episode, and when it was finished, Stephen Hillenburg contacted multiple television networks to see if they could air the episode. Sadly, they all turned down the offer, so Stephen Hillenburg scrapped the episode and stored the episode away in a vault. However, he did make copies of the episode and handed them out to the employees, including me, for whatever reason.
I still currently own this episode in DVD format, and will now describe what this episode was about. In this version, the theme song was absent and instead, replaced with a new one. The theme song was basically Spongebob running out of his house and down the road for about 20 seconds while waving hello to random fish. while this happened, the names of the cast members scrolled by. At the end of the theme song, Spongebob enters the Krusty Krab, and it then shows an outside view of the Krusty Krab with the name of the show above it. After that it fades to black for a few seconds. 
It then fades to show the title card of the episode, which was, of course, "Help Wanted." The title card was exactly like the one used in the 1999 version. After that, it faded to an outside view of Spongebob's pineapple house. It then showed Spongebob sleeping in his bed. His alarm clock blares loudly and Spongebob jumps out of bed. One thing to keep note of is that Gary, as well as a few other characters weren't present in this version. I'm not entirely sure why, I guess maybe Stephen decided to add them on in the final version to add more depth to the show, that's just my guess.
Spongebob lands on his feet and exclaims in excitement, "Oh boy! Today is the big day I finally start my work shift at the Krusty Krab. I can't wait!!!" Spongebob then proceeded to shower, shave (apparently Spongebob had a small amount of facial hair in this version,) put on his clothes, and step out the door. 
"I'M READY!," Spongebob shouted as he ran out the door, ran over to his car that he apparently had in this version, buckled up and sped off. The bubble transition appeared and showed an outside view of the Krusty Krab, with Spongebob pulling into the parking lot. Spongebob stepped out of his vehicle and entered the Krusty Krab. Spongebob bursts the doors open and sees Mr. Krabs was sitting in the cash boat counting the money in his cash register. Mr. Krabs placed the money back in the cash register and began to speak, except he sounded like an elderly african american person.
"Ah, Spongebob," Mr. Krabs spoke. "You've made it! Welcome to your first day on the job!"
"Glad to be here" Spongebob replied with a smile.
"You're gonna have a wonderful time here, me boy," said Mr. Krabs. "Now for your first assignment, take out the trash. Mr. Krabs handed Spongebob a dirty, smelly trash bag.
"Aye aye, sir," Spongebob merrily replied. Spongebob then went into the kitchen, and out the back door before throwing the trash bag into the dumpster. It then cut back into the inside of the Krusty Krab, and we see a customer sitting at one of the tables eating a Krabby Patty. I recognized this man as Fred, the person who always kept screaming, "MY LEG," all the time. Fred then finishes his patty, got up out of his seat, placed a sticky note on the table and left the establishment. 
Squidward then walks out of the bathroom with the same unimpressed, dismal look on his face as usual. The sound of a toilet flushing is heard as Squidward's eyes locks onto the note left at the previously mentioned table. Squidward walked over to the table, picked up the note, and read it allowed. The note read as followed.
"Your food SUCKS.
- Fred."
Squidward then showed Mr. Krabs the note. As Mr. Krabs read the note, he had a cold, angry look on his face. Mr. Krabs started to growl a bit.
"Argh, SPONGEBOB ME BOY! GET IN HERE," Mr. Krabs yelled. It showed Spongebob cleaning one of the tables. Spongebob locked eyes with Mr. Krabs and asked, "What is it sir?" Spongebob proceeded to walk over to Mr. Krabs.
Mr. Krabs began to spoke. "Someone decided to leave a bad review about our food here. I need you to find the man who wrote this note and give him a taste of his on words, if ya know what I mean..."
"Aye aye, Mr. Krabs sir," Spongebob exclaimed as he grabbed the note, crumpled it into a ball, and ran out the door with it. Spongebob then got in his car and drove off.
The bubble transition appeared and showed what appeared to be a tall green house, assumably Fred's. Spongebob then arrives and parks his car in front of the house. Spongebob then unbuckled his seat belt and got out of the car while tossing the note in the air.
Spongebob then gently knocks on Fred's door. A few seconds later, Fred opens up the door and appears to be visibly confused as to why Spongebob was here.
"Spongebob? What are you doing here," said Fred. Spongebob had a very serious look on his face, meaning he clearly meant business.
"Listen here, Fred, if that's your real name," Spongebob said with a serious tone of voice. "You think ya gonna sit here and write bad reviews about the Krusty Krab? Think you're so tough, eh? Well I'm gonna make you regret those words." 
Spongebob then proceeded to slowly walk towards Fred. Fred slowly backed away up against the wall, visibly scared. 
"Listen here man. what do you want from me," Fred said as he shook in fear. Spongebob was towering over Fred still tossing the note in the air.
"I'll tell you what I want," said Spongebob in a sinister voice. "I want you dead...."
Spongebob then shoved the note down deep Fred's throat. Fred grasped his throat and tried to dislodge the note from his throat as he struggled to breath. His skin turned blue, his eyes were bloodshot, and his sounds of him gasping for air sounded so disturbing, it would make any person feel uncomfortable.
After an uncomfortably long amount of time of watching Fred choke, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he flipped to the floor with a loud thud. Spongebob then dusted his shoulders and walked out the door saying, "Mission accomplished."
The camera pans towards Fred's lifeless body one last time. He was all pale and thin, eyes blank, and all tiny bit of what appeared to be blood dripping from his mouth.
The bubble transition appeared and it showed Spongebob walking into the Krusty Krab. Spongebob then walks insides and greets Mr. Krabs. 
"Mr. Krabs," Spongebob shouted. "The mission was a success!"
"Aye good job, me boy," Mr. Krabs exclaimed. "I have a feeling you'll be a welcome member to the Krusty Krab crew! Welcome aboard, lad."
Mr. Krabs then places some sort of pin on Spongebob's shirt. The camera zooms in on the pin, making it easy to read what the pin said. The pin read, "Spongebob, official member of the Krusty Krab restaurant and hitman service." After that, it faded to black and ended with the end credits.
I think it's easy to see why all these television networks refused to air the episode, and I don't think Spongebob would've been nearly as popular as it is if this was what we were to expect from each episode. I think I'll cap off this post by saying this: I'm glad Stephen Hillenburg and the rest of the Spongebob cast changed the episode to what it is today.
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Category:SpongeBob
Category:Lost Episodes
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