Some episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants set up the gambit for interesting story ideas, but thanks to the show's formula, they end up never being capitalized on.
- "Karate Choppers": Sandy working with SpongeBob at the Krusty Krab would've been awesome! Unfortunately, due to Negative Continuity, not only is this development not carried over into future episodes, but Sandy is completely absent from all but a select few Krusty Krab-related episodes afterwards. It would take until "Hot Crossed Nuts" for this dynamic to be explored.
- "The Fry Cook Games" could've worked really well as a half-hour special, showing off all of the events at hand and how SpongeBob and Patrick's temporary rivalry escalates. Instead, all of the additional events are crammed into a five-second montage that's over as soon as it begins. Thankfully, the Plug 'n' Play Game from Jakks Pacific includes all the shown events, as well as adding some additional ones.
- "Atlantis SquarePantis" has several character arcs that don't really go anywhere, especially with Plankton being shoved into the story out of nowhere and only showing up again at the end. It doesn't help that you have a Musical Episode where the character voiced by David Bowie doesn't even get to sing.
- "To Save a Squirrel" starts in an interesting place, with SpongeBob and Patrick trying to prove to Sandy that they can be good survivalists. Instead, they quickly fall off the truck and burn through all their supplies. Sandy is hardly in the episode afterwards, outside of her cave fish disguise, which isn't revealed to be her until the very end.
- "What Ever Happened to SpongeBob?" has the premise of SpongeBob running away after his friends get angry at him, setting up a potential plotline in which SpongeBob's friends debate about if they really want him back before deciding that they really do like him after all. However, because their anger is caused by accidents rather than SpongeBob's flaws, they're able to get over their anger really fast and everyone (except Squidward) immediately wants him back with no conflicting feelings.
- "Boating Buddies": Squidward and Mrs. Puff's Commonality Connection of not being able to stand SpongeBob could have led to some connection between these two within the story, but it's never brought up again after a single offhand joke.
- "Truth or Square" crams in so many plotlines that none of them really get much time to develop or are inconsequential. In particular, trailers empathized a wedding between SpongeBob and Sandy and the Krabby Patty formula being revealed, but the former is relegated to a single flashback (which turns out to be a play) and the latter never happens.
- The first half of "A Pal for Gary" is about SpongeBob feeling that he is neglecting Gary because of his work at the Krusty Krab and he genuinely wants Gary to feel happy. The beginning suggests that this episode will be about SpongeBob trying to balance his work at the Krusty Krab and his time with Gary. However, all of this is forgotten when Puffy Fluffy makes his debut, and the episode turns out to be basically about Gary being terrorized by Fluffy and SpongeBob being oblivious to it and calling Gary out for his supposed jealousy and resentment.
- "Rodeo Daze" finally has SpongeBob and friends visit Texas for the first time — in one small scene at the very end of the episode, as nothing more than a gag.
- "Gramma's Secret Recipe" features Plankton having an Imagine Spot in which he attempts to sneak into the Krusty Krab disguised as an old woman to steal the formula. Still, he then shifts his plans to telling SpongeBob he's his great grammy-ma without even attempting his original idea even for so much as to get a humorous scene in which he immediately fails and has to change plans to the episode's main plot.
- "The Great Patty Caper": It's set up as a classic train mystery, which would have been a fun opportunity for an Out-of-Genre Experience. However, not only is the culprit really obvious (who'd have guessed it's Plankton?), but this tone is completely absent from the second half of the episode.
- "The Masterpiece" sets up a plot of SpongeBob disguising and infiltrating a shoddy restaurant and figure out why they have so many customers. This would be interesting, and there's even a scene of him showing off spy gadgets to Mr. Krabs... but he doesn't use any of them, and it's ultimately just a small part of the episode.
- In "Love That Squid", Squidward falls in love with a female squid named Squilvia, whom he's desperate to impress. The rest of the episode follows Squidward going on a date... with SpongeBob, to practice for his real date with Squilvia, which we don't even see. Squilvia's status as a One-Shot Character doesn't help, with many noting that she should have shown up more or at least been more involved in this episode.
- For a Vacation Episode, "A SquarePants Family Vacation" doesn't show much of the vacation. In fact, it doesn't show it at all. Nor do they show the Framing Device from the start at the end.
- Though "Super Evil Aquatic Villain Team Up is Go!" centers around the idea of Plankton teaming up with Man Ray, the direction the story goes isn't all that different from most other Plankton-centric episodes, seeming to ignore the potential of the team-up.
- "Hello Bikini Bottom!": The idea of SpongeBob and Squidward touring together as a duet with a manager voiced by Andy Samberg has the potential to be an excellent special, but then Mr. Krabs usurps Colonel Carper's managerial spot, and the rest of the episode involves him trying to take the cheapest venues available, with SpongeBob and Squidward rarely getting the chance to actually perform in full.
- "SpongeBob You're Fired": One scene that doesn't have much to do with the rest of the episode has SpongeBob, after only being able to make Krabby Patties, realizing can make some really good homemade snail food. There was an opportunity to use this plot point and make it his new job, with at least adding an extended gag of SpongeBob starting a successful snail-food business to really rub it in for Mr. Krabs' Laser-Guided Karma (and it's not like he hadn't done something similar before). However, this development gets dropped as quickly as it was brought up.
- "Squid's on a Bus" initially sets up a plot that focuses on Squidward without SpongeBob interfering for once, while SpongeBob interacts with a new and potentially interesting character, but then abandons it for yet another "Squidward wants to do something and SpongeBob and Patrick ruin it" plot.
- "Sea-Man Sponge Haters Club" gives us an anthology by some of SpongeBob's biggest enemies: Squidward, Mrs. Puff, Plankton, Bubble Bass, and... the mailman? His characterization highly depends on the plot, but he has no notable instances of him opposing SpongeBob. When the episode's preview came out, fans were interested to see what his story would be like. We never get to hear what it is, besides an Orphaned Punchline at the very end.
- "Food PBFFT! Truck" actually has an interesting opening where SpongeBob and Squidward are trying to sell Krabby Patties with a food truck, only for a bunch of other food truck owners to sabotage them and push their car out of the way every time. The "food truck wars" idea would work really well as a full episode, but then SpongeBob and Squidward crash land in Rock Bottom, at which point it just becomes generic chase scenes with them hunting down a customer who keeps inexplicably disappearing (no explanation is given by the episode). None of the other food trucks even show up again.
- "Upturn Girls" has what appears to be a subplot involving SpongeBob working at the Krusty Krab with Nobby. It gets one scene and then is dropped for the rest of the episode.
- "Captain Pipsqueak" doesn't make much use of Plankton teaming up with E.V.I.L. He doesn't get any kind of cool gadgets, or even have any real powers. They just order him to do lame, menial tasks and cheap pranks. By the time the Krusty Krab invasion happens, the episode is almost over.
- Before the release of "Plane to Sea", many viewers were excited to see what the resort would be like. An episode about Squidward taking a tropical vacation would be an interesting Throw the Dog a Bone moment, in the vein of "Enchanted Tiki Dreams". Instead, it ends up being a rehash of episodes like "Squid's on a Bus" and "Jolly Lodgers", but with a Cruel Twist Ending very similar to "Good Ol' Whatshisname" tacked on, and the resort appears for one shot at the very end of the episode.
- "A Skin Wrinkle in Time" is an episode starring GrandPat and very few other characters, as he goes through various time periods and surreal situations to make his way home. It's a good premise, but the episode runs for barely three minutes and doesn't have any time to develop. Thankfully, the Patrick Show would use this plot to its fullest potential in "The Patterfly Effect" three months later.
- "Karen for Spot" has Plankton finding a doomsday weapon at a supervillain convention in Shell City, which is basically a background detail to the main plot, despite the fact that it could practically be an episode in its own right.
- In "Spatula of the Heavens", SpongeBob undergoes training from a mountain guru to reforge his beloved spatula. At least, that's what we're told. We get a Failure Montage, a time card, and then he's suddenly able to do it perfectly, even though nothing he does to reforge it connected to anything he was being trained on earlier. It leaves the question of why we don't actually get to see this major plot point happening.
- "Big Top Flop" starts with Mr. Krabs having a long-standing (yet formerly unknown) rivalry with a circus ringmaster crab, who smugly mocks Krabs and tries to ruin his business. It seems like the episode will focus on their interactions, but Krabs quickly barricades the ringmaster into a trailer and he doesn't appear again until the last two minutes.
- "Blood is Thicker Than Grease" explores what it could be like if Plankton finally found comfort and happiness as a successful restaurant cook... for 30 seconds near the end of the episode, before he ruins it by adding chum to the food for no real reason.
- In "Necro-Nom-Nom-Nom-I-Con", SpongeBob winds up in the possession of an eldritch spellbook that he's meant to use to cook breakfast with. This is an awesome premise, with an early scene even showing some of the pages and things he could potentially make. But it just amounts to him making normal dishes that make the customers look weird and run around the Krusty Krab, with the conflict never going beyond that. He doesn't use the spellbook again afterward, and the magic he does get for the climax is just him summoning a Krabby Patty out of thin air.
