Gumball: The Downer (Original Version)

Hello, my name is Norm. I'd like to tell you about a real lost episode that's been known for quite some time, the original version of The Downer, and episode from The Amazing World Of Gumball. I was unfortunate enough to find the episode, and I am here to share with you all the events of this episode.

The Beginning

Back in April 2018, I used to be an animator for Cartoon Network. I grew up watching Cartoon Network shows like Dexters Lab, Courage The Cowardly Dog, Flapjack and more, so I thought working for CN would be my dream job. It truly wasn't. I joined the company in 2013, around the time Teen Titans Go started. For 5 years straight, I saw constant stupid decision after stupid decision made by the company, culminating when they announced the Thundercats reboot. I loved the 2011 show so I was outraged and ended up getting into a fight with one of the co directors.

Instead of being fired I was sent to clean out the CN archives. I thought it would be the worst day of my life but I actually found some cool stuff the studio just wanted to get rid of, like unaired TV show pilots, forgotten shows and more. I kept most of them to leak to the world but there was one thing I found that I didn't. Near the end of the day I found a dvd titled: Gumball The Downer Original Version, written crudely in marker. The Downer was a real episode of Gumball from season 3 and the original draft had been talked about for quite some time. When the day was over I took it and the rest of my findings home with me.

I greeted my son and watched some of the CN stuff with him. Having the bragging rights I worked on his favorite shows was really the only reason I kept working there (along with the good pay). I put the gumball dvd in front of him and went to my computer to start sharing the archives with the people at the lost media wiki, when about half an hour later my son went to my office. He was pale, and looked like he was on the verge of tears. I asked him what was wrong and he said "Daddy, is Gumball okay?". I assured him he was alright and had him go to bed as it was a school night. I was worried about what he might have saw so I decided to watch the dvd for myself.

The Episode

The episode started rather the same, until Gumball wished to be left alone. He tried to get out of bed to make it apparent and paced around the room. He got up on the dresser but started to lose his balance and fell out the open window. The next scene transitioned to a rough storyboard style as the episode was never finished. Gumball went downstairs to find his house empty. I thought that the episode seemed pretty much the same except for the window scene so I didn't get why they changed the episode.

The episode continued on as tried to fake his family being there, as he thought they just went to get some food and he was having a nightmare earlier. But after feeling lonely he decided to go to Banana Joe's house and play video games with him, only to discover the entire town was empty. No one was there. He started getting concerned about this, but ended up reassuring to themselves they're all just taking a vacation. The storyboards started getting more messy after this point.

Gumball decided to do things he couldn't do when people were around him like drive a car (poorly), or drink alcohol, which I found weird as this was a kids show that normally didn't show people getting drunk. Eventually the dark starts creeping towards Gumball as he starts getting more depressed. He tries to avoid the darkness but it surrounds him, and traps Gumball in the darkness, with him only being left alone with his thoughts. He tries to get free but it's no use. Eventually, he gets confronted with what happened to him.

After he fell out the window he was put into a coma, and his family fell apart. The town ended up abandoned and he's been stuck in that hospital slowly dying. At this point I finally saw why my son was so scared so I tried to turn off the tv but nothing happened. I put the batteries in and out but it didn't work. Gumball started to react.

"No, this can't be. My family, the entire town. Gone."

He started getting more and more upset as I searched through my cupboards looking for batteries.

" No. I won't accept this! This won't be how it ends! I just need to use my secret weapon! Begging!"

He gets on his knees and began to plea. "Please! I don't wanna die! I just wanna see my family! All my friends! Banana Joe, Tobias, Carrie, even Alan! I don't care just bring me back home!"

Suddenly, the sound of a door opening was heard. Darwin appeared in the darkness.

"Are you okay, Gumball?"

I finally got new batteries and returned to the couch but it was changing. The darkness disappeared and Gumball was back in his room. He hugged Darwin, saying he was sorry he tried to push him away. He went downstairs with Darwin, but the darkness was still there, Gumball just ignored it.

The episode ended

The End

I felt a sort of dread after watching that. The show basically said Gumball was stuck in a coma, and never truly showed him waking up. I could see why they didn't settle on this draft of the script. I threw the dvd out as I didn't want that stuff to be seen by another person. I went upstairs and my son was fast asleep, in a much better mood than previously. I went to bed too, trying not top think about what I watched, instead watching FOX to get that out of my head

The following day, I contacted Ben Boquelet in a discord chat.

" Oh my god, you found that? I'm very surprised. One thing, how on earth did you find it?"

"I found it in the CN archives."

"Yeah, we intended for the episode to be like a Garfield comic I read once, but it ended up with some very unfortunate implications, so we rewrote the episode. Me and the storyboard artists have agreed not to reveal the storyboards to the public, it would have ruined the image of the show."

'May I reveal them myself?"

"Look, I would personally not do it. Its honestly not worth it. I beg you not to reveal it. Its best to just be left alone."

*Ben Boquelet has left the discord chat*

Almost four years later, and I still remember that episode. I now work for Disney as an animator and I find it much better. Nowadays I don't regret not downloading the storyboards and posting them online, as I think it west best to respect Ben's wishes. I don't know what happened to the dvd but I hope it was destroyed at the dump. If the dvd does exist still, don't watch it. It's not worth your time.

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