It was 1999, though time felt fluid underwater. This was the beginning—the "Season 1" era where the colors were a bit softer, the lines a little hand-drawn, and the world felt small enough to fit inside a jellyfishing net.

But it wasn't all sunshine and kelp shakes. There was the time he and Patrick became "men" by growing seaweed sideburns to brave the trenches of Rock Bottom, waiting for a bus that seemed to actively despise them. Or the night he thought the "Hash-Slinging Slasher" was coming for him, only to find a nervous kid looking for a job.

By the time the moon rose over the Pacific, SpongeBob sat on his roof with Patrick, eating canned bread. The world was still new. Sandy Cheeks was still the mysterious karate-chopping squirrel from Texas, and Platoon’s plans for the Secret Formula were still hilariously doomed. SpongeBob SquarePants - Season 1

The sun hadn’t even crested the horizon over Bikini Bottom when the foghorn alarm clock shrieked. Inside a hollowed-out pineapple, SpongeBob SquarePants didn’t groan; he catapulted out of bed, landed in his pants, and shouted his manifesto to the sea:

Carefully applying the technique (bring it around town!) to blow the perfect bubble. It was 1999, though time felt fluid underwater

SpongeBob marched toward the Krusty Krab, his shoes squeaking with the rhythmic confidence of a guy who didn't yet know that his neighbor, Squidward, viewed him as a walking migraine. Today was different. Today, a busload of hungry anchovies was about to descend, and the fate of Mr. Krabs’ first dollar rested on a "hydrodynamic spatula with port and starboard attachments."

Realizing that a cardboard box is better than a flat-screen TV if you have "imagination." There was the time he and Patrick became

As he flipped patties with a frantic, rhythmic grace, the spirit of Season 1 hummed around him. It was a time of simple wonders: Learning that "F" is for friends who do stuff together.