SpongeBob SquarePants (series)

### Production companies:

Nickelodeon Animation StudioUnited Plankton Pictures, Inc.Disney Animation Television

### Distributor:

ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks (1999-2020)The Walt Disney Company (2025)

### Picture format:

480i (4:3 SDTV, 1999–2012)720p (16:9 HDTV, 2009 "Truth or Square")1080i (16:9 HDTV, 2012–present)

### Original run:

1999 - 2025

*SpongeBob SquarePants*, often referred to as just *SpongeBob*, is an animated television series created by marine biologist, science, educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for United Plankton Pictures Inc. and Nickelodeon since 1999 until 2025 and airs on Disney Plus in all the world.

The series premiered after the Kids' Choice Awards on May 1, 1999. It officially began airing on July 17 of the same year with the second episode "Bubblestand/Ripped Pants".

The main character is an accident-prone sea sponge, SpongeBob SquarePants, who lives in an underwater pineapple with his pet snail Gary. His neighbors are his best friend, Patrick Star, and a sour octopus named Squidward. SpongeBob works for a cheapskate crab named Mr. Krabs, who lives in an anchor with his whale daughter Pearl. SpongeBob is enrolled in a boat-driving school run by Mrs. Puff, a pufferfish, and often spends time with a thrill-seeking squirrel from land named Sandy. The villains of the show are Plankton and Karen, the owners of a failing restaurant called the Chum Bucket. Most episodes take place in the town of Bikini Bottom or on the surrounding sea floor.

The cartoon is designed to appeal to older viewers as much as to children. Underwater life and situations are represented, absurdly, as though they are almost equivalent to normal terrestrial lifestyles. Instead of cars, the residents of Bikini Bottom drive boats with wheels. A flurry of bubbles accompany many actions, to remind the viewer everything is underwater. Squidward lives in an Easter Island head and Patrick lives under a rock. The suggestion is that the characters' dwellings have fallen from a tropical island to become underwater habitats. Snails behave like cats, while jellyfish act like bees, worms are the undersea equivalent of dogs, and scallops are often likened to birds.

*The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie*, the first theatrical film based on the series, was released on November 19, 2004. According to *Square Roots*, the movie was also the reason for the long hiatus between season three's "Pranks a Lot" and season four's "Fear of a Krabby Patty". A second movie, titled *The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water*, was released on February 6, 2015.

In the first episode "Christmas with Star Butterfly" when Jackie says: I found the old SpongeBob books! and Star Butterfly said: I found some action fiction of SpongeBob! And in 'Channel Chasers' Marco was in the series, Marco meets SpongeBob and Patrick in Krusty Krab from Bikini Bottom, but Jackie and Star are going to rescue Marco from *SpongeBob SquarePants*.

*The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie*, the first theatrical film based on the series, was released on November 19, 2004. According to *Square Roots*, the movie was also the reason for the long production hiatus between the third and fourth season. A second movie, titled *The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water*, was released on February 6, 2015. A third movie, titled *The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run*, was released on August 14, 2020 in Canada and August 13, 2020 in the Czech Republic. It is yet to air in the United States.

In Channel Chasers, the Anti-Fairy Council Chambers take SpongeBob to Disney and swears that he will not return to Nickelodeon..