This episode is not on The Complete First Season DVD and The First & Second Seasons DVD, due to a copyright claim with the song “Livin’ in the Sunlight, Lovin’ in the Moonlight” by Tiny Tim, which is played during the episode. According to Derek Drymon, this is because Nickelodeon did not want to pay Tiny Tim’s estate for the rights. Because of that, this is the only season 1 episode not to be featured on those DVDs. However, it was included as a bonus in disc 3 of The Complete 3rd Season.
The only episode that does not feature any spoken dialogue. Also the only episode in season 1 to not have any bubble transitions.
The first episode of the series produced in 1999
This is the shortest episode to date, with a length of two minutes and fifty seconds. The reasoning for its shortened length was to fill an 11-minute segment, since “Help Wanted” runs for eight minutes, and when followed by “Tea at the Treedome,” a standard 11-minute episode, this equals a full 22 minutes.
“Reef Blower" aired as part of SpongeBob SquarePants pilot episode after the 1999 Kids’ Choice Awards on May 1, 1999.
I remember there was a rumor with this episode going around saying there was no dialogue in it because the studio’s sound equipment was broken?
That’s not a rumor. It’s been mentioned in a handful of interviews. There was dialogue planned for this episode along with a script but because of the recording equipment, they had to rework the entire episode.
