SpongeBob SquarePants (series)

***SpongeBob SquarePants***, often referred to as just ***SpongeBob***, is an animated television series created by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg. 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 Texas 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. A third movie, titled The SpongeBob Movie: It's a Wonderful Sponge will be released on May 22, 2020.

## History

### Development (1993–1998)

*SpongeBob's* history can be traced back to 1993 when *Rocko's Modern Life* first aired. One of the producers was Stephen Hillenburg, a cartoon worker/marine biologist who loved both his careers. When *Rocko's Modern Life* was canceled in 1996, Hillenburg began working on *SpongeBob* (although sketches trace back to 1987). He teamed up with creative director Derek Drymon, who had worked on shows such as *Doug*, *Action League Now!*, and *Hey Arnold!*. Drymon had worked with Hillenburg on *Rocko's Modern Life* as well, as did many SpongeBob crew members, including writer-directors Sherm Cohen and Dan Povenmire, writer Tim Hill, voice actors Tom Kenny and Doug Lawrence (A.K.A. "Mr. Lawrence"), actor-writer Martin Olson, and animation director Alan Smart. Another crew member with previous Nickelodeon cartoon experience was former *Angry Beavers* story editor Merriwether Williams, who worked on that show for its first few seasons and switched to *SpongeBob* in July 1998.

During production of the show, Bobson provided a concept of short comics with the same style of the show, but the characters looked different. *SpongeBob* used to be named *SpongeBoy*, and used to wear a red hat with a green base and a white business shirt with a tie. The show itself also used to be called *SpongeBoy Ahoy!*However, the name "SpongeBoy" did not make it into the show since the name was already officially trademarked by Bob Burden, creator of *Flaming Carrot*. Hillenburg later chose the alternative name "SpongeBob." The original name was once referenced in the episode Squeaky Boots with Mr. Krabs' line, "SpongeBoy, me Bob!." The Krusty Krab was originally spelled with the letter C rather than K, but Stephen Hillenburg thought Ks were funnier and it would fit his Ukrainian heritage.

*SpongeBob* aired its first episode, "Help Wanted / Reef Blower /Tea at the Treedome," after the 1999 *Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards*. At this time, *Rugrats* was the most popular show on Nickelodeon and had already outlived dozens of other lower-budget cartoons. SpongeBob, with its generally lower-class animation and humor style more rooted in clever word-play and culture-references unlike the potty humor that made *Rugrats* so popular, was expected to be just another one of those shows. Following early struggles, its ratings soared, and a year after release, it surpassed *Rugrats* as Nickelodeon's highest rated show. SpongeBob's signature voice (provided by Tom Kenny) and humorous style were enjoyable to both younger and older audiences.

### Peak years (2000–2003)

Between 2000 and 2001, the show had flourished into Nickelodeon's No. 2 children's program, after *Rugrats*. Nearly 40 percent of the show's audience of 2.2 million were aged 18 to 34. As a result, Nickelodeon expanded the show's exposure on television from Saturday morning to almost-prime time, broadcasting at 6 PM, Monday through Thursday. In 2001, Nickelodeon took the "Saturday-morning ratings crown" for the fourth straight season, grabbing a 4.8 rating/21 share (1.9 million viewers) in kids 2-11, jumping 17% compared to the previous year. During its third season, *SpongeBob SquarePants* passed *Rugrats* and earned the title of the highest-rated children's show on cable, with a 6.7 rating and 2.2 million kids 2 to 11 in the second quarter of 2002, up 22% over 2001. *Forbes* called the show "a $1 billion honeypot," and said that the show was "almost single-handedly responsible for making Viacom's Nickelodeon the most-watched cable channel during the day and the second most popular during prime time". It was also reported that, of the 50 million viewers who watch it every month, 20 million are adults.

Unfortunately, things changed later in the year. Due to rumors of a movie, there was speculation that the show would be canceled and that 2002 would feature the last season of new episodes. Fans were devastated and online petitions were widely distributed to convince Nickelodeon to produce more episodes by showing continuing fan support. "SpongeBob Meets the Strangler / Pranks a Lot" was the last episode of this season, and aired in October 2004 after it was released on DVD in early 2004.

### Hiatus and movie era (2003–2005)

In late 2002, Stephen Hillenburg and the show's staff members decided to stop making episodes and work on the 2004 film: *The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie*, after completing the production of the third season.[3] As a result, the show went into a "self-imposed" two-year Hiatus on television. During the break, Nickelodeon expanded the programming for both the second and third seasons to cover the delay. However, according to Nickelodeon executive Eric Coleman, "there certainly was a delay and a built-up demand." Nickelodeon announced nine "as-yet-unaired" episodes would be shown. "The Sponge Who Could Fly" first aired during a two-hour "Sponge"-a-thon, while the other eight were broadcast subsequently. Gary Takes a Bath from Season 2,would also air in July 2003, two years after its sister episode Shanghaied. The last 2 episode segments from season 3 "SpongeBob Meets the Strangler" and "Pranks a Lot" were delayed for the longest amount of time. In October 2004, the last 2 episode segments were finally aired, just 1 month before the show's first film.

It was announced late in 2004 that SpongeBob would be continuing with a new season in 2005. Hillenburg, despite the rumors, did not actually leave the show, but resigned from his position as the show's executive producer (this job now belongs to Paul Tibbitt with Vincent Waller taking over Drymon's job as creative director).

The movie finally released in November 2004. In late 2004, Tom Kenny and Bill Fagerbakke and the rest of the crew confirmed they have completed four new episodes for broadcast on Nickelodeon in early 2005, The hiatus ended on May 6, 2005, when the 4th season officially premiered.

### Comeback (2005-2007)

#### Season 4

TV advertisements for the show's fourth season first aired publicly during the 2005 *Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards*. The new episodes began airing on May 6, 2005. The first new episodes of season 4 were "Fear of a Krabby Patty" / "Shell of a Man." After airing six new episodes on Fridays from May 6 – May 20, Nickelodeon showed no new episodes until September 2005.

For the first time in the series' run, Nickelodeon began airing 11-minute segments of new episodes separately, spread over two weeks. This practice began with the airing of the episode "Selling Out" on September 23; its companion episode "Funny Pants" premiered the following week.

The Star Online eCentral reported in December 2005 that Nickelodeon had ordered 20 more episodes, bringing the show’s total to 100.

Nickelodeon aired the special "Have You Seen This Snail?" in November 2005. However, it was not until February 2006 that new episodes resumed, starting with "Dunces and Dragons" and continuing until June 2 2006. Further new episodes appeared during September 2006 ("New Leaf /Once Bitten"), October ("Wigstruck"), and November ("Best Day Ever") — drawing 6.7 million viewers — "Best Day Ever" was a 25-hour 100-episode SpongeBob TV event ending with *The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie*, although the Nickelodeon narrator made a goof about the marathon being 24 hours instead of the actual 25 hours. Fans voted for "Karate Island" as the most popular SpongeBob episode. The Best 10 Ever airs after "Best Day Ever."

#### Season 5

The new episodes aired in an event called "Patrick For President." The event happened on February 19, 2007 and officially beginning the airing of the fifth season which featured more potty humor than previously shown. A special episode from season 5 aired on April 13, 2007. On July 23, 2007 Nickelodeon aired a special event, called the "NEW NEW NEW NEW NEW Week," in which from Monday to Friday, two new episodes of season five (except for "Squid Wood" from season 4) would air. This continued until August 3, 2007.

On November 12, 2007, SpongeBob's first TV movie "Atlantis SquarePantis" premiered, after a SpongeBob marathon. A behind the scenes feature aired after the movie. Also on November 23, 2007, there was another SpongeBob marathon including a rerun of Atlantis SquarePantis and eight new episodes. Season 5 officially finished airing on July 19, 2009 with the TV episode premiere of "Goo Goo Gas."

### Decline in Quality (2008-2015)

#### Season 6

*SpongeBob SquarePants*approved a sixth season, which consisted of twenty-six episodes. It started the sixth season on March 3, 2008, starting a week of new episodes, starting with "Krabby Road." On March 29, right after *Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards 2008*, Spongicus/Nautical Novice aired. Then, on April 11, "Pest of the West," a special, aired. Then on June 2, 2008, SpongeBob Premiere Factor 5 aired episodes.

Nick aired 7 new episodes of *SpongeBob SquarePants* on November 28, 2008 with the episodes "The Slumber Party /Grooming Gary," "Krusty Krushers / The Card," "Porous Pockets," and "Dear Vikings / Ditchin'" during SuperStuffed Nicktoons Weekend in November 2008.

Beginning on February 16, 2009, Nickelodeon aired a week of new episodes, beginning with "Shuffleboarding" and "Cephalopod Lodge." This was the first premiere week not to have episodes on Friday.

#### Season 7

In the summer of July there was a 10th Anniversary Marathon that aired 12 new episodes (six in season 7) starting on July 17, 2009. The first episode from season 7, "Tentacle-Vision" aired on July 19, 2009 in the morning. Then, another episode didn't air until October 24, 2009 with "The Curse of Bikini Bottom." Then a TV movie called "Truth or Square" aired in November 2009. This was done to celebrate the 10th anniversary.

In a special, Super Stuffed Nicksgiving Weekend formerly, Super Stuffed Nicktoons Weekend 2 new episodes aired on November 27, 2009.

In 2010, the first two episodes aired on January 2. On September 11, 2010 a special called Nick Saturdays started with "Yours, Mine and Mine" and" Kracked Krabs." Nick Saturdays aired new episodes of Nicktoons on Saturdays. On September 26, 2010, it was announced that when season 8 was believed to have already started, that season 7 was going to have 26 episodes instead of 20, so season 8 wasn't premiered yet. This was confusing to many SpongeBob fans.

#### Season 8

In December 2009, Nickelodeon ordered enough episodes to bring the series up to 178 episodes. Season 8 first aired on March 26, 2011 with the episodes "Oral Report" and "A Friendly Game." Another episode called "Sentimental Sponge" aired on April 2, 2011. After this, there was a new episode every Saturday in June, which was similar to the "New Episodes Every Friday in March" event in 2002. 4 new episodes aired on November 25, 2011, as part of Super Stuffed Nicktoons Weekend. There were no new episodes until March 31, 2012, which preceded a two-week premiere event from April 2 to April 13. On April 11, 2012, with the airing of "Squiditis", it surpassed *Rugrats* (which had 172 episodes) Nickelodeon's longest-running cartoon. A second Christmas special named "It's a SpongeBob Christmas!" premiered on December 6, 2012 to conclude the season.

### Return of Hillenburg (2015-2018)

#### Season 9

On January 3, 2011, Nickelodeon ordered 26 episodes for a ninth season, which began airing in 2012. It will bring the number of episodes up to 204, making SpongeBob SquarePants the first Nicktoon to pass the 200-episode milestone. Season 9 consists of episodes 179-204. It premiered on July 21, 2012, with the premiere of "Extreme Spots" and "Squirrel Record." This season makes the series transition on 1080i HD (widescreen.

On September 21, 2014, Vincent Waller tweeted that production of season 9 was halted half way through to concentrate further on "The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water." He states that season 9 is now in production again.

On December 10, 2014, Paul Tibbitt tweeted that Stephen Hillenburg was to return as Executive Producer in January 2015.

#### Season 10

Season 10 premiered in October 2016 in the United States. The production of the season officially began on October 12, 2015, and started airing with "Whirly Brains" on October 15, 2016.

#### Season 11

On March 2, 2016, Nickelodeon confirmed that season 11 was in the works. Season 11 premiered on June 24, 2017 with "Spot Returns" and "The Check-Up."

#### Season 12

On May 5, 2017, Vincent Waller tweeted that the series was renewed for season 12. Season 12 premiered on November 11, 2018 with "FarmerBob." Hillenburg was unable to return due to his death in November 2018.

## Settings

The series is set in an underwater city called Bikini Bottom, which is located on the floor of the Pacific Ocean beneath Bikini Atoll. The citizens are mostly fish of different colors who live in ship funnels and drive boatmobiles. Main locations within Bikini Bottom include Conch Street, the Krusty Krab and the Chum Bucket, Mrs. Puff's Boating School, Sandy's treedome, Jellyfish Fields, and Goo Lagoon. Special episodes of the show are usually presented from Patchy's house in Encino, California.

## Characters

* **SpongeBob SquarePants**- A square sea sponge who lives in a pineapple under the sea. He works at the Krusty Krab along with his boring neighbor Squidward. He has a best friend named Patrick Star.
* **Patrick Star** - A cheerful, naive and unintelligent starfish who is SpongeBob's best friend. He lives under a rock to the right of Squidward's house. He is unemployed but has held various temporary jobs throughout the series.
* **Squidward Tentacles** - An arrogant octopus who lives in an Easter Island head between SpongeBob and Patrick's houses. Although loved by the other characters, Squidward is pessimistic and asocial. He loathes his job as the cashier at the Krusty Krab.
* **Sandy Cheeks** - Another friend of SpongeBob's, Sandy is an athletic squirrel from Texas. She wears an astronaut suit and lives in an air-filled "Treedome" so that she can survive Bikini Bottom's ocean environment. She works as a scientist and an inventor.
* **Eugene H. Krabs** - The cheapskate, miserly owner of the Krusty Krab. Commonly known as Mr. Krabs, he is SpongeBob and Squidward's boss. He lives in an anchor with his daughter Pearl, who is a whale.
* **Sheldon J. Plankton** - A small green copepod who runs the failing Chum Bucket restaurant along with his sentient computer Karen. His goal is to steal the secret Krabby Patty formula and run Mr. Krabs out of business. He is a skilled inventor and often creates machines to assist him in his plots.
* **Karen Plankton** - A waterproof supercomputer who lives in the Chum Bucket laboratory. She acts as Plankton's sidekick and wife, providing him with evil plans to steal the recipe for Krabby Patties. Plankton always takes the credit for Karen's ideas and ends up messing them up.
* **Mrs. Puff** - SpongeBob's teacher at boating school. She is a pufferfish who blows up like an airbag whenever she is scared or crashes. SpongeBob is her longest-standing student. She is Mr. Krabs' love interest and girlfriend.
* **Pearl Krabs** - A whale who lives in a hollow anchor with her father, Mr. Krabs. When she grows up, her father wants her to continue the family business by inheriting the Krusty Krab and becoming its owner. She is currently a teenager who spends most of her time and money at the mall.
* **Gary** - SpongeBob's pet snail who meows like a cat, as do the other snails on the show. He is very intelligent, as revealed in the episode "Your Shoe's Untied". Gary actually wears shoes, and taught SpongeBob how to tie his shoes. Gary also has many other items stored in his shell.

## Popularity

*SpongeBob SquarePants* is the only cartoon to consistently make the Top 10 list in the Nielsen ratings, and is the first "low-budget" Nicktoon, according to the network, to become extremely popular. Low-budget cartoons had not previously garnered as much esteem as higher-rated (and higher-budgeted) shows, such as *Rugrats*. When *SpongeBob* first aired in 1999, it gained a significant number of viewers in the ratings, eventually becoming more popular than *Rugrats* had ever been. *SpongeBob* follows other Nickelodeon shows that have attracted "older" followers, including: *The Ren & Stimpy Show*, *Rocko's Modern Life*, *Hey Arnold!*, the *Kablam!* skits, *Action League Now!* and *The Angry Beavers*. Other shows have followed in this trend as well: *Invader Zim*, *My Life as a Teenage Robot*, *Avatar: The Last Airbender*/*The Legend of Korra*, *Danny Phantom*, *The Fairly OddParents* and *The Loud House*, which won a similar fanbase when they first premiered, though only *The Loud House* remains ongoing. During the time the show premiered, *Dragon Ball Z* and *Pokémon* were still the biggest crazes.

*SpongeBob* did not gain its popularity until around 2000, and it has remained popular since then, despite a five-month hiatus from April to October that year. It has extremely high ratings on TV.com, scoring an average of 9.0. *SpongeBob SquarePants* ranked #15 in IGN's Top 100 Best Animated Series, just five spots behind the top 10 list, but was able to place in the top 20.

### Broad appeal

*SpongeBob* is one in a long line of animated series that is designed to appeal to adults as well as children. This has a lot to do with the absurd way underwater life and situations are represented, and with the situations, references, and words used, which younger viewers might not understand. The show has become popular with younger viewers due to its silly characters, grade school-level jokes, fast pace, and colorful art style, while older viewers tend to praise the show for its writing, dialogue, cultural references, and innuendos. Certain innuendos also are intended to go over younger viewers' heads. For example, SpongeBob tries to show his grandma that he is a mature adult by wearing sideburns and a derby, and listening to "free-form jazz." In another example, when Squidward tricks SpongeBob and Patrick into thinking he is a ghost, a coral reef sculpted like Toulouse-Lautrec's can-can girls stands in the background (leading to a pun by Squidward). These are jokes most children would not understand. Numerous marine biology in-jokes are woven into the show. There are also often complex, ironic scenarios that need close attention.

While many newer cartoons revolve around pre-adolescents with strange lives and feature many pop-culture references (e.g. *The Fairly OddParents*), SpongeBob chooses to go for a formula that was used in highly successful older Nicktoons such as *Ren and Stimpy* and *Rocko's Modern Life*, with non-human adults in crazy, unrealistic situations, using minimal pop-culture references.

Part of the show's appeal has to do with the childlike nature of SpongeBob and his best friend, Patrick Star, both of whom are adults but display an innocence typical of human children. However, the characters are not immune from more adult avocations, including rock musicianship in a stadium performance, reminiscent of a hard rock concert, or Patrick turning to SpongeBob after they had nurtured a baby clam in the episode "Rock-a-Bye Bivalve," holding his arms out saying "Let's have another."

Unlike most shows on Nickelodeon, *SpongeBob* features well-known independent musicians who contribute to its soundtrack. Alternative rock bands, such as Wilco, The Shins, The Flaming Lips, and Ween (who have contributed two original songs to the show and their 1997 song "Ocean Man" to the movie soundtrack), as well as metal bands Pantera, Motörhead, and Twisted Sister have made appearances on the show and movies soundtracks, and heavy metal group Metallica even released a T-shirt featuring cartoon versions of themselves playing live with the characters SpongeBob and Patrick. David Bowie was a special guest on the *SpongeBob SquarePants* episode "Atlantis SquarePantis," which aired on November 12, 2007. The episode drew a total of 8.8 million viewers, the biggest audience in the show's eight-year history. A second *SpongeBob SquarePants* feature film, entitled *The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water* was released in theaters on February 15, 2015.

The TV movie "Atlantis SquarePantis" references numerous other movies or stories. David Bowie's character, Lord Royal Highness (with his upper class accent), and the locals looked remarkably like the Blue Meanies from *Yellow Submarine* - quite fitting for an underwater adventure. When the characters arrive at his habitat, he falls down as he proceeds down the red carpet (as Willy Wonka does in the *Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory* film), before leading them on a tour. A case can also be made for the yellow road used in the tour being a reference to *The Wizard of Oz* - along with the movie being a musical.

The show became so popular with teenagers and adults that the series was broadcast on MTV and featured on Spike TV. A quote by Patrick, "It's gonna rock!" from the episode "Mid-Life Crustacean," has been used as a promotional tagline for rock stations. *Ren and Stimpy*, among other Nicktoons, had followed a similar path. *The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie*, released on November 19, 2004, features a cameo appearance by David Hasselhoff, in a parody of his role from the *Baywatch* TV series.

## Trivia

* In 1997, a clip was shown featuring a unique opening with the title card music of "Hall Monitor," this might have been to be the opening before the SpongeBob SquarePants opening theme was written. This theme was originally used in 1997 version of the episode "Help Wanted."
* *SpongeBob SquarePants* is Nickelodeon's longest-running show, with *The Fairly OddParents*being a close second.
* *SpongeBob SquarePants* is the most-distributed property of MTV Networks.
* According to Vincent Waller, it takes approximately nine months to make a single episode.
* SpongeBob SquarePants is currently one of the only two Nickelodeon shows to still air in Japan after Nickelodeon Japan closed down on September 30, 2009 (the other one is *Game Shakers*), as well as being to only Nicktoon to still air in Japan, however it was confirmed that Nickelodeon Japan will return in 2018, meaning other shows (ex. *The Loud House*) will start airing in Japan.
* In 2005, Jesus-is-savior.com, a Westboro Baptist Church-apologist website, has criticized the show of promoting homosexuality and sodomy among children.