Keeper of the Spatula
Keeper of the Spatula is a fanfic created by fanfiction writer NegiSpongie. It premiered on Fanfiction.net in March 14, 2011. The story is a parody of the Lord of the Rings trilogy in which SpongeBob finds a golden spatula (equivilent to the One Ring) that harbors the soul of a deceased fry cook that will negatively influnce whoever holds it for a long period of time. Which leads SpongeBob and friends to journey to the volcano in the Arctic Ocean in order to dispose of the cursed utensil. The story has become an instant success, being NegiSpongie's most popular story next to Future Shock. The story holds the rating of PG.
It was posted in the Spin-Off section on SBC in three different volumes, spoofing the length of the movies in which they are parodying. With only this airing featuring a chapter that wasn't posted in the Fanfiction.net airing on the story.
Volume 1
SBC Airdate: November-December 2011
Plot: While doing his job at the Krusty Krab, SpongeBob finds an underground cellar, and in it, he finds a golden spatula with the power to cook irresistably delicious krabby patties on its own. But Mr. Krabs soon learns about this and warns him and Squidward that the spatula was once owned by the first fry cook of the Krusty Krab, Hoagie Grindulas, who was obssessed with his job so much that he grew selfish and vain about his krabby patties, refusing to let anyone buy them until his firing led to his death. It is said that his spirit dwells in the spatula and will negatively influence anyone who holds it for a certain amount of time with his greed until they are completely possessed by him. SpongeBob, Mr. Krabs, Patrick, and Squidward begin a long journey to the Arctic Ocean to dispose of the spatula in an active volcano; with SpongeBob being the spatula's keeper, much to his excitement. Along the way, they are chased by what looks like a cloaked robber, the spatula causes trouble in a hub, and they journey through the Muerto Woods containing poisonous Black Toxicity Jellyfish. When camping for the night, SpongeBob accidentally disturbs said jellyfish and is stung with only twenty minutes to live, they are aided by a mermaid (who is pen-pals with Patrick) named Clarice, who brings the dying SpongeBob to her home Mertopia for treatment. After SpongeBob recovers, the mermaids give the group "fancy cloaks" and other items to aid them on their journey, along with a warning about a monster named "Kobra" residing in the Middle Caves. However, Mr. Krabs dismisses the warning and the group crosses the caves, ultimately meeting the vicious snakehead Kobra. While SpongeBob, Patrick, and Squidward make it out of the caves alive, Mr. Krabs is left behind after Kobra grabs his cash register and he self-plummets down a hole to retrieve it just as the cave collapses on him and Kobra. Afterwards, SpongeBob is distressed about Mr. Krabs's death, but vows to continue the journey to free Hoagie's soul and not let Mr. Krabs's "sacrafice" go in vain. Though he tries to send Patrick and Squidward home, the two insist on joining him the rest of the way, vowing (Patrick at the most) not to leave his side until the end.
Volume 2
SBC Airdate: December 2011-February 2012
Plot: Following Mr. Krabs's demise, SpongeBob, Patrick, and Squidward continue the journey to the Arctic Ocean to dispose of the cursed golden spatula in the volcano. But the three soon find themselves lost with no idea on which direction to take to the Arctic. They decide to stop for lunch, and when SpongeBob goes off to look for firewood, he runs into Plankton (who, earlier, had decided to follow the group in order to steal the spatula for his own gain). After learning of Mr. Krabs's fate, Plankton tricks SpongeBob into letting him into the group by promising to show them the way to the Arctic. Secretly planning to steal the spatula and leaving them to die. Along the way, SpongeBob slowly begins to succumb to the spatula's powers; refusing to eat the food he prepared himself, refering to Hoagie and himself as one, giving angry outbursts to his friends, and becoming paranoid about his companions' loyalty. Even SpongeBob himself is in shock over his behavior, but refuses to believe that it has something to do with the spatula. The group is soon captured by a tribe of natives, who are led by an eccentic food-loving chief. The Chief strikes a bargain with SpongeBob that if he can create a dish that the Chief enjoys, he will let SpongeBob and his friends go. But if not, they will remain his prisoners and use SpongeBob to clean his (the Chief's) bathroom (despite the fact that he doesn't have one). SpongeBob soon begins to conflict with himself over why he should save his friends with the spatula giving him a momentarily split-personality. During the taste-testing trial, SpongeBob cooks krabby patties for the Chief, but refuses to let him try more than one bite, insisting that the Chief should "observe their beauty and preserve their wellness". This strangely earns him the respect of the Chief and agrees to let Squidward, Plankton, and Patrick go, but SpongeBob has to stay. When admitting that the spatula is the true maker of the krabby patties, this only convinces the Chief to take the spatula instead. After a fight for the spatula, SpongeBob viciously attacks the Chief for the spatula and earns the crown as the well, gaining the loyalty of the villagers. Later on, Plankton becomes fed up with his failures to take the spatula and realizes that as long as SpongeBob is alive, he will never let go of the spatula and knows just the thing to take care of that. But first he must seperate SpongeBob from Patrick and Squidward. The group soon meet up with Plankton, unaware of his evil plans, and continue their jouney.
Volume 3
SBC Airdate: February-June 2012
Plot: While continuing their journey, Plankton leads them toward a "shortcut" to the Arctic Ocean. During which, Plankton begins to play on the spatula's hold over SpongeBob by convincing him that Patrick and Squidward will eventually betray him and ask to carry the spatula themselves, but SpongeBob dismisses the idea. They soon begin a rigerous climb over Mount Payne and soon take a break. While SpongeBob, Patrick, and Squidward sleep, Plankton takes SpongeBob's krabby patties and throws them over the side of the mountain. After the three awake, he pins the blame on Patrick and Squidward, leaving SpongeBob furious. Disturbed at seeing SpongeBob coddle the spatula in saddness, Squidward demands that he carry the spatula the rest of the way, shocking SpongeBob as he remembers Plankton's warning. Though the minute Squidward grabs a hold of the spatula, he becomes enraged as well and wrestles SpongeBob for possession of the spatula. But when SpongeBob is the victor, he demands Squidward and Patrick to go home and leaves by himself with Plankton to continue the journey to the Arctic. Plankton leads SpongeBob to a cavern which his home to the killer electric eel Eli. SpongeBob learns of Plankton's deception a little too late when he is left to fend for himself against Eli. SpongeBob narrowly escapes the cave, but is caught in surprise when Eli grabs SpongeBob and shocks him to death. Before the eel can eat him, Squidward and Patrick arrive and push Eli off a cliff. With his dying breath, SpongeBob apologizes for his behavior and passes out. When Patrick and Squidward leave, they see a group of frogs take SpongeBob's body after realizing that he had only passed out from dehydration and would wake up in a couple hours. Patrick and Squidward follow the frogs to their castle and rescue SpongeBob before the frogs can cook him. The three soon make it to the Arctic and tread through the harsh blizzard when SpongeBob suddenly has a brief conversation with Hoagie's spirit in his sub-conscious with Hoagie manipulating SpongeBob to keep the spatula and so they can work together to make all the krabby patties they want and no one will touch ever them. SpongeBob, Patrick, and Squidward soon reach the volcano, and when it comes time to throw the spatula into the pit of lava, the power of the spatula overcomes him and he refuses to let go of the spatula, vowing to be friends with Hoagie forever and to "protect" their krabby patties. But during SpongeBob's triumph, Plankton suddenly and madly grabs a hold of the spatula and the two struggle with it until they both fall into the volcano. SpongeBob manages to grab the ledge while Plankton refuses to let go of the spatula and falls into the lava (only to be spat out in the eruption afterwards) SpongeBob is pulled out in time by Squidward and Patrick just as the volcano erupts and destroys the spatula forever, freeing Hoagie's soul. The three are trapped by a river of lava, reflecting on what they've been through. They accept their untimely deaths until they are rescued by Mr. Krabs, who flies them back to Bikini Bottom in a helicopter. Days later, SpongeBob has easily gotten over the scars left by the spatula and continues to do his job happily as always
Production
After the completion of Future Shock 2, NegiSpongie desired to make another SpongeBob fanfic. She desired to make a simple fic after the last story being a suspenseful dark adventure fic. She originally began writing a whimsical adventure fic titled "Legend of the Golden Krabby Patty" featuring SpongeBob, Mr. Krabs, Patrick, and Squidward in search for a legendary golden krabby patty- with Plankton in tow to steal it for himself. But during production, NegiSpongie had noticed someone else had posted a similar with even the exact same title on Fanfiction.net. NegiSpongie fell into a slump until she watched the first Lord of the Rings movie and came up with the idea for a SpongeBob version of it. Wanting to be simple went right out the window at this point and carefully plotting to use the story idea without making it too similar to the source material like her other parodies written. NegiSpongie carefully worked with each character, trying to help them each be themselves instead of the film characters they were supposed to be portraying.
Reception
The story was well-received by critics, garnering 134 positive reviews after its completion and hitting over 6,000 views. Keeper of the Spatula was a nominee in the SpongeBob Fanfiction Awards in the SpongeBob forums of Fanfiction.net. The fic had won the award for Best SpongeBob Fanfiction, and NegiSpongie (under the name of SOLmaster) had won the award for Best SpongeBob Author.
Keeper of the Spatula has also been ranked #8 on Wumbology' Top 10 spin-offs in January 2014.
Triva
- This is the second SpongeBob story of NegiSpongie's to not feature an OC as one of the main characters- not counting Hoagie's involvement in the plot. The first is the Yellow Avenger.
- This is the first SpongeBob story NegiSpongie wrote to not feature the SpongeBob/Sandy pairing, and she has stated that this story was written for that purpose.
- The Mernish language was originally written as Atlantean. But after remembering there is a real Atlantean city in the show, it was changed an original almost gibberish language.