My name is Harold, I’ve been working at a cable company for several years as of now and it has been going great. Well, Not THAT great but better than my previous job.
I was once an employee at Nickelodeon, Given the role as a Reviewer/Tester to make sure there weren’t any errors that have made it into the final broadcast. It wasn’t in the way to catch animation errors, but rather timing issues and unfinished scenes. Months after the Rugrats: All Grown Up Special aired on Nickelodeon, I was sent an early review copy of the Pilot for that said “All Grown Up” Show.
“Wow, They’re still going?” I said to myself. I was shocked that Nickelodeon was still on the Rugrats Craze given with how their catalog at the time wanted to Delve their focus on their current shows at the time, Such as the X’s, My life as a Teenage Robot, The Fairly Odd Parents, and of course… the sponge.
Nevertheless I popped in the tape into the Betacam Machine, grabbed my morning coffee in a Spongebob Mug, pulled out a pen and notepad from my pocket and began watching. As I expected this was Episode 1, “Susie sings the Blues”. A few things I spotted right off the bat were pretty obvious.
Except for the Intro and Credits, there was no music. There was a lack of on-screen production credits at the start of the episode and sound effects sounded really crunchy here and there, It was almost as if they were placeholders. Transitions to each scene were pretty much just a cut to black and cut back into the episode and there seems to be a TTS Voice reading Vice Principle Pangborns lines. I even spat out my drink, jokingly said “IS THAT MICROSOFT SAM?!”. At least I understand why though, Clancy Brown probably wasn’t at the recording booth at the time this was made. Besides that, It was mostly the same as it was in the Final cut of the Episode until the very end. Near the end of the Episode, Chuckie and Tommy talk after Pangborn instructs them to clean the school tomorrow.
[Pangborn] (still in that SAM voice): Tomorrow, You hoodlums will be chiseling off the dried glue from the boys room ceiling.
[Chuckie]: That’s it? No spinning toehold? No finger-four leg lock?!
[Tommy]: You haven’t gotten this danger thing out of your system?
[Chuckie]: Not a chance! I’m not finished flirting with danger and it’s not finished flirting with me!
[Tommy]: Oh, great, what’s next? Robbing a Bank?
[Chuckie]: Something even more dangerous.
The last line made me choke on my drink.
[Chuckie]: I’m gonna make sure nobody in this town ever sleeps tonight! Especially you, Harold.
Chuckie then gives off a sinister stare before cutting to black.
Coughing Noises “HUH, EXCUSE ME?!” I was terrified by the out of character response from chuckie. “WHO THE HELL PUT THAT IN?! HOW DID HE KNOW MY NAME AND HOW DOES HE KNOW I WORK HERE?!” I looked around every corner in the room I was in, Radio Silence. No one else but me was in this room. There wasn’t even a security camera in sight, Just Broadcast and Mixing Equipment with a couple of boxes and tapes here and there. I was petrified but I didn’t want to risk losing my job at the time. It was originally the only job I had and didn’t want people to think I’m crazy, So I sat back in my seat to finish my notes for the episode before sending it back to Klasky Csupo HQ.
A rough edit of the credits started to play. The background was the same but It had Bold Capital Text in Arial Font saying “CREDITS GO HERE”. The Credits music sounded really rough as it sounded like it was recorded off of a walkie-talkie and being slightly lower pitched as well. As expected, The Normal Klasky Csupo Ink Creature Logo showed up. As terrified as I was from before, the thought of having it finally end with the usual thing I’ve seen so many times gave me a sigh of relief. I pretty much memorized every part of it.
[SFX/Music]: (Ink Splattering sounds) The K-C Theme music plays.
[Splaat]: Klasky Csupo.
[SFX]: Zing! KABLBLBLBLBLA! HONK HONK!
All of a sudden, as it was about to play the Boing Sound… It Froze. The logo stayed on the screen for almost about 2 minutes, I was almost sure that it was finally time to eject the tape. I kept slapping the machine and TV to be sure if it wasn’t broken nor given up on me. After finishing writing down my notes, I was about to press the eject button when-
[Splaat]: So naive of you, Harold.
It spoke… It spoke to me. That Paper Ink Blob Creature knows who I am. I nearly fell out of my chair over what I heard. HOW DID IT KNEW WHO I AM?!
[Splaat]: You may think this is all just going to be forgotten in about a few years, but you’re wrong. We will never be forgotten. We feed into your mind for many decades to come until the world ends.
Suddenly, it cuts back to that Splaat Ink Creature. However, it has begun to stare at me as the background slightly loses saturation and an ominous ambience is heard. He continues to speak despite not having any mouth movements visually.
[Splaat]: We have populated Most of the Nickelodeon Animation Catalog. We’re an unstoppable force that has no sign of slowing down. Even If the studio ceases to exist in the future, They will remember us. They will remember me. You’ll remember me. I am already embedded inside your mind and it’s going to get worse in a few years. There is no way turning back now, our mindset has already fed on to you. YOU. ARE. KLASKY CSUPO.
After a few seconds, The hand from the beginning of the logo comes back on screen and covers the screen in darkness when finally…
[SFX]: Boing!
The Tape ejected itself.
I’ve been traumatized to say anything, my heart was having a panic attack, I was sweating immensely. I had no other choice but to finish what I’d have to do in the first place. I sent the tape back with my notes and I was done for the day. I had to take a long shower to realize everything that he said was 100% True. No matter how hard I try to take my mind off of Klasky Csupo, He’ll always come back. The next day, I was sent in a newer workprint copy of the same episode. There were still a few issues here and there but, thankfully it was all mostly normal. No sinister chuckie smile, nor an unsettling staring splaat. I was later sent an apology letter from KC themselves as well as a gift basket, and while I do appreciate the gift basket and apology letter… I still don’t think I can easily recover from this.
