Production dates?

hooplakrabs · Feb 18, 2018

Does anybody know the exact dates or times that seasons 1-3 were actually made? I can't find ANYTHING. No scripts or anything. Except . . .
Saw a storyboard online somewhere from F.U.N. that was dated early March 1999

A script for Dying for Pie dated January 5th, 2000

the Easter Egg in Squidville that says August 2000.

There's like, several for Fairly Oddparents. But hardly any scripts for Spongebob.

My guess is season 3 started production sometime in December 2000/January 2001 but when did it end? I notice the latter half of season 2 (fall of 2001) has slightly different animation than the 1st half (fall of 2000/early 2001). Spongebob is a little darker yellow for one thing, in Frankendoodle, Procrastination, etc. Compare that to episodes like Patty Hype, No Free Rides, and Dying for Pie.

EmployeeAMillion · Feb 18, 2018

That’d be a rather interesting thing to ask, but at the end of the day, it’d be asking Nickelodeon for secure documents, which I don’t think they’d willingly let the public see free of charge.

CherrySponge · Feb 18, 2018

It's good that somebody asked this. I can't give you any answers, but I admit I'd like to know some of the real production dates myself.

MrColeslaw · Feb 18, 2018

I believe the SpongeBoy pilot was made sometime in 1997 (after Rocko's Modern Life wrapped up), and likely pitched to Nick in early 98 (didn't air until the 1999 KCAs) - I would assume production on full episodes began in mid or late 1998.

Vincent Waller might be able to answer some of this on his Twitter - hopefully something here helps.

hooplakrabs · Feb 18, 2018

Mid-late 1998 sounds about right. Like I said before, I saw one storyboard strip from F.U.N. which was dated March 6th 1999. I also noticed the calendar in Boating School, it says March and it looks like the days fell on the same days as 1999 (like the 6th was a Saturday that year). Would contacting Vincent Waller work?

hooplakrabs · Feb 19, 2018

EmployeeAMillion said:
That’d be a rather interesting thing to ask, but at the end of the day, it’d be asking Nickelodeon for secure documents, which I don’t think they’d willingly let the public see free of charge.

Funny you say that, because I've not only seen Fairly Oddparents scripts (as well as storyboards for pretty much all the Nicktoons) but I also saw some production notes/schedules/story pitches for Ren & Stimpy posted online, which showed the dates. Apparently the people at R&S were always behind schedule which ticked off the network. It was cool to see all of it though.

Original Raw and Uncut · Feb 19, 2018

I'm gonna take my hand at guessing:

Season 1: Pilot was made in Summer 1997, the rest of the season being produced from Mid-1998 until about December of '99.

Season 2: Made from December 1999 until.....I'd say early-2001, maybe late late late 2000.

Season 3: Produced from Late-2000 until Winter 2002, a good chunk of the episodes were made in 2001.

Season 4: I read somewhere that the first four or so episodes were completed in Autumn 2004. So, I'd say a good chunk of the season was being made until Late-2005.

Season 5: Made in 2006, I remember when spongebob was on netflix, all the episodes in this season were labeled 2006.

Season 6: The first half was made in 2007, the later half was probably being made until Late-2008

Season 7: Made from I'd say, November 2008, until Early 2010.

Season 8: Began in Spring 2010, with episodes like "Hello Bikini Bottom!", wrapping up production in either December 2011 or January 2012. "It's a Spongebob Christmas" possibly overlapped production with the last few episodes of the season.

Season 9: Every episode up to SpongeBob You're Fired was in post-production by December 2012

Season 9b, 10 & 11: Episodes are now being made so fast that some episodes are finished weeks before they air the promos.

hooplakrabs said:
Does anybody know the exact dates or times that seasons 1-3 were actually made? I can't find ANYTHING. No scripts or anything. Except . . .
Saw a storyboard online somewhere from F.U.N. that was dated early March 1999

A script for Dying for Pie dated January 5th, 2000

the Easter Egg in Squidville that says August 2000.

There's like, several for Fairly Oddparents. But hardly any scripts for Spongebob.

My guess is season 3 started production sometime in December 2000/January 2001 but when did it end? I notice the latter half of season 2 (fall of 2001) has slightly different animation than the 1st half (fall of 2000/early 2001). Spongebob is a little darker yellow for one thing, in Frankendoodle, Procrastination, etc. Compare that to episodes like Patty Hype, No Free Rides, and Dying for Pie.

I read somewhere that production for Season 3 was complete in February 2002.

SpongeBronyPH · Feb 20, 2018

The only thing I know is the calendar in the episode Boating School. The March calendar is set in 1999. (Wed, March 3 is Spongebob's boating exam.)

hooplakrabs · Feb 20, 2018

Original Raw and Uncut said:
I'm gonna take my hand at guessing:

Season 1: Pilot was made in Summer 1997, the rest of the season being produced from Mid-1998 until about December of '99.

Season 2: Made from December 1999 until.....I'd say early-2001, maybe late late late 2000.

Season 3: Produced from Late-2000 until Winter 2002, a good chunk of the episodes were made in 2001.

Season 4: I read somewhere that the first four or so episodes were completed in Autumn 2004. So, I'd say a good chunk of the season was being made until Late-2005.

Season 5: Made in 2006, I remember when spongebob was on netflix, all the episodes in this season were labeled 2006.

Season 6: The first half was made in 2007, the later half was probably being made until Late-2008

Season 7: Made from I'd say, November 2008, until Early 2010.

Season 8: Began in Spring 2010, with episodes like "Hello Bikini Bottom!", wrapping up production in either December 2011 or January 2012. "It's a Spongebob Christmas" possibly overlapped production with the last few episodes of the season.

Season 9: Every episode up to SpongeBob You're Fired was in post-production by December 2012

Season 9b, 10 & 11: Episodes are now being made so fast that some episodes are finished weeks before they air the promos.

I read somewhere that production for Season 3 was complete in February 2002.

Yeah I read that too, and your guesses seem pretty accurate. I also wonder how long in advance before airing did Tom Kenny tape the live action Patchy segments? The House Party one is the longest I think, if not the "lost" episode. I read somewhere years ago that they had a lot of fun just making up stuff on the spot. I also used to think that was his actual house, haha.

Original Raw and Uncut · Feb 20, 2018

hooplakrabs said:
Yeah I read that too, and your guesses seem pretty accurate. I also wonder how long in advance before airing did Tom Kenny tape the live action Patchy segments? The House Party one is the longest I think, if not the "lost" episode. I read somewhere years ago that they had a lot of fun just making up stuff on the spot. I also used to think that was his actual house, haha.

Patchy segments are probably done last, or filmed simultaneously with the episodes

Mr. Anthony · Feb 22, 2018

Original Raw and Uncut said:
Season 9b, 10 & 11: Episodes are now being made so fast that some episodes are finished weeks before they air the promos.

Especially TISS. Finished around March, aired in December ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Original Raw and Uncut · Feb 22, 2018

Mr. Anthony said:
Especially TISS. Finished around March, aired in December ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The Incredible Shrinking Sponge was probably finished around March.

Early-S9 episodes are finished ages before they air, Yeti Krabs was finished in December 2012, but didn't air until 2015.

hooplakrabs · Feb 24, 2018

I remember seeing pop up trivia facts on one of the DVD sets and it said episodes can take up to 2 months to make. Ummmm not true!!! I can't believe it takes less than a week to make a single South Park episode. The crew must work insane hours to get one episode done in that short of time. How long does storyboarding/writing take?

Original Raw and Uncut · Feb 24, 2018

There are other episodes that were finished ages before they aired, Goo Goo Gas was made in 2006, but didn't air until '09. A good chunk of season 3 was made in 2001 and early 2002 but some didn't air until 2004. The pilot episode was recorded in Summer 1997, but didn't air until May '99.

hooplakrabs · Jan 6, 2019

I know Plankton's Army was another episode that aired long after it was made. In KKTV, when Mr. Krabs catches Plankton, his "chipmunk" talk is from Plankton's Army, which must have actually been recorded before KKTV.

They actually did the same thing on Hey Arnold. Hey Arnold wrapped production in January 2001 despite airing the unofficial series finale in June of 04. The final episode produced was The Journal. So that final batch of episodes around 2002-2004 must have been made in like, 1999/2000 if The Journal was finished by January 2001. I guess Nickelodeon wanted to spread out those last few episodes instead of airing it's last new episode in 2001.

spongebranch · Jan 6, 2019

the SpongeBob episodes "Friend or Foe" and "The Original Fry Cook/Night Light" are copyrighted 2007 despite being between 2006 copyrighted episodes

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