Historical Events  TV
Spongebob Squarepants

Alternate:
Contains Squidward snail morph scene

Current:
 Does not contain Squidward snail morph scene

I was a teenage Gary

There's an episode from the early days of SpongeBob SquarePants which has been hotly discussed amongst it's fans for years. The title of the episode is "I was a teenage Gary". It's interesting because it fits the exact pattern of a Mandela Effect without them realising that's what it is, because it concerns a scene many of them remember but can't find any references to today apart from those memories.

The scene is where Squidward gets accidentally injected with a medicine not meant for him, and he turns into a snail. The actual transformation is missing today, but there are many who remember seeing it and instantly wondered, when watching re-runs, why it had been deleted.

Origin

Spongebob Squarepants is the fifth longest-running American animated show, and has generated over $13 billion in sales and associated merchandising revenue. It's roots go back to 1989 when it's creator, Stephen Hillenburg, wrote an educational book which was never published: The Intertidal Zone. The show made the headlines when in 2011, a fungus in the real world was named after him: Spongiforma squarepantsii.

Fans

The focus here is that the fans are particularly attentive to every detail in the show. They know something is up with the missing scene, but don't have a name for it or explanation. Of course, when groups of people share the same false memory, we call it a Mandela Effect, even when it's within a closed group such as this one.

Other SpongeBob Mandela Effects

If you search for "SpongBob SquarePants Mandela Effects" you find quite a few, ranging from things he says being different, scenes missing and scenes changed. Some of these reports go back quite a while too, although he'd most likely grin and shout "No problemo!" if asked :-)