Stephen Hillenburg

**Stephen McDannell Hillenburg** (August 21, 1961 - November 26, 2018; aged 57) was an American teacher of marine science, artist, and one of the creators of *SpongeBob SquarePants*, the other being Paul Winchell. He developed the idea for the series while working at the Ocean Institute in California. The character of SpongeBob was based on an educational book he had illustrated called The Intertidal Zone, and the character of Pearl was inspired by his time as a supervisor of whale watches at the Ocean Institute. He named Karen Plankton after his wife, Karen Hillenburg.

He and Winchell were the showrunners from 1999 until 2004, when the first movie was completed. He continued to be credited as the executive producer for seasons four to eight, but his role was much less involved; he received this credit for every episode, regardless of whether or not he contributed at all, making it a "vanity credit" rather than an actual one. According to Vincent Waller, Hillenburg did not do any drawing, directing, or writing whatsoever after the first movie; his only job was "being Steve."

It wasn't until season nine started production when Hillenburg became showrunner again and the third president of Nickelodeon. Other than behind-the-scenes work, he was the original voice of Potty the Parrot before the role was passed onto Frank Welker.

Hillenburg was a strong and firm proponent of "cute, stiff, on-model" animation for the characters. He was well known for being adamant about his visions for the show and for never changing his mind; he was even known to stay at the studio "late every night, going over all the storyboards, making sure SpongeBob was cute in every panel."[7] However, as his health deteriorated, the show's new crew from season 10 onward was able to get him to "loosen up" on a few of his former rules for the show. Mainly, they changed the animation from "on-model" to semi-off-model in the vein of *Rocko's Modern Life*, which Hillenburg and Winchell had previously worked on.

It was announced he was diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) on March 13, 2017. His deteriorating health made it difficult for him to speak or offer input on the series. However, he continued to occasionally visit Nickelodeon Animation Studio to check on progress.

Hillenburg passed away on November 26, 2018, due to complications linked to ALS.

## Biography

In 1984, Stephen Hillenburg graduated from Humboldt State University with a bachelor's degree in Natural Resource Planning and Interpretation, with an emphasis on Marine Resources. He became a marine biology teacher at the Orange County Marine Institute--now known as the Ocean Institute--in Dana Point, California. Hillenburg's love for the sea and its creatures inspired him to create teaching tools for his students with characters that would later become the main characters of SpongeBob SquarePants.[11]

In 1987, Stephen Hillenburg was contacted by Paul Winchell about his retooling of Hillenburg's orginal sketch into a show. Hillenburg approved of the idea, and told him that someday he would come work with him whenever the time was right. That same year, he pursued a degree in Experimental Animation at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia and earned his Master of Fine Arts in 1992. Also during the same year, he won an award for Best Animated Concept at the Ottawa International Animation Festival for his animated short "Wormholes," which was shown at several international animation festivals. From 1990 to 1999, keeping his promise to Winchell, he worked on the Nickelodeon animated series *Rocko's Modern Life*, created by Winchell; during this time, he continued to fine-tune the aquatic series concept that he had begun in the 1980s. It would eventually be pitched to Nickelodeon as *SpongeBob SquarePants*.

In 2007, a frivolous lawsuit, claiming that a toy inventor named Troy Walker came up with the SpongeBob concept, was filed against Nickelodeon and Hillenburg by a plaintiff wanting a "ridiculous" total of $1.6 billion from Nickelodeon. The claimant, Troy Walker, did not do enough research on his claims before making them, setting his implausible story in 1991, years after Hillenburg had started work on his concept. A summary judgment quickly ruled in Viacom's favor over the flimsy claims.

In January 2011, Hillenburg announced that he officially came back to the series as showrunner and had become the new president of Nickelodeon, a title previously held by Herb Scannell. On his second week, Hillenburg became concerned about some of the previous content and newer shows such as *Breadwinners*, fearing that they would stain the network's reputation. Each of the previous shows would be cancelled fater 1-3 seasons due to bad reception, while the "newer" shows would only gets 1-2 seasons for the same reason.

In March 2017, Hillenburg revealed that he had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a terminal illness that affects and causes the death of neurons that control the brain and the spinal cord. He tried to work on the series as best as he could from then on.

On November 26, 2018, Hillenburg passed away from ALS-related complication. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered across the coast of California, close to where Bikini Bottom resides. The future of the show is currently in doubt, though Vincent Waller has stated that the show would still continue.

## Trivia

* Sometimes, he was referred to as "Steven or Steve Hillenburg."
* Hillenburg was the second-longest-serving president in Nickelodeon history, having served from January 3, 2011 to November 26, 2018 (7 years, 10 months, and 23 days). The only person to serve longer was Paul Winchell.
	+ Like Winchell, he had tremendous respect for the creators of the shows for Nickelodeon, calling out the executives for treating them poorly. However, when a creator had done bad deeds, those would be the people he would call out.
* Stephen Hillenburg drew inspiration from his own life while designing the main characters. Mr. Krabs was based on Hillenburg's former manager at a sea-themed restaurant. Pearl was inspired by his regular supervision of whale watches while working as a marine science educator. SpongeBob's design was influenced by Hillenburg's appearance as a young child, with "nerdy gapped teeth."
* Following the release of The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie in 2004, Stephen Hillenburg left the series, because he wanted it to end. However, Hillenburg did not leave the series entirely; he still served as an executive producer during his lifetime.
	+ The only reason he came back as both showrunner and president of Nickelodeon was because he heard of the bad reputation seasons 5-7 received and the other Nickelodeon shows being canceled because of the show's popularity via a phonecall from Ralph Bakshi.
* On May 25, 2012, it was announced that Stephen Hillenburg would be working on The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water.
* Vincent Waller has confirmed on Twitter that Stephen Hillenburg was alive during the storyboard and writing phases of the episode "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout." However, he did not contribute to the episode's boarding or script.
	+ Additionally, a thank you and in memory of message for Stephen Hillenburg appears in the endings of "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout" and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run as a dedication to him.
* According to Vincent Waller, he was about 5 feet, 8 inches tall.
* According to Everybody's Talking: The Voices Behind SpongeBob SquarePants, while Paul Winchell was inventing the voice of SpongeBob, Stephen Hillenburg read several of Patrick's lines since his voice actor (Bob Weighton) had not been cast yet.
* When the Bikini Atoll island is shown at night, a human finger is visible in the water to portray a reflection of the moon. According to the "Christmas Who?" audio commentary, Stephen Hillenburg filmed the Bikini Atoll island at Steve Belfer's house in his friend's pool in California.
* During the start of SpongeBob, he made several rules and restrictions for the series.
	+ SpongeBob should never get his driver's license, no matter what he does. This is because Hillenburg loved the dynamic between SpongeBob and Mrs. Puff, so SpongeBob getting his license would end it. Another reason is that it saved the show from being butchered by Nickelodeon executives who wanted to turn SpongeBob into a kid.
		- Paul Winchell, as a response to this, made Dappermane Puff, a crime boss who causes SpongeBob to lose his license through many criminal deeds.
	+ No revealing the identity of Pearl's mother or the Krabby Patty Formula and keep them a secret throughout the series.
	+ SpongeBob should not have a romantic interest, so he made him able to reproduce asexually like real sea sponges.
	+ According to Vincent Waller on Twitter, Stephen Hillenburg himself said he hated the idea of SpongeBob having a crossover episode with another cartoon. This is because he believed that crossovers would not work out, due to the series taking place underwater and SpongeBob would be considerably smaller compared to other cartoon characters, as he is only four inches tall. His pineapple house did appear in *Jimmy Neutron: Operation Jet Fusion*.
	+ It is also known that Stephen Hillenburg himself said he didn't see any potential spin-off series for SpongeBob before he passed away, which had been misconstrued as him hating the idea. In fact, there have been petitions from fans trying to cancel these spin-off productions.[27] According to an interview with Paul Tibbitt: "Steve would always say to me, 'You know, one of these days, they’re going to want to make SpongeBob Babies. That's when I'm out of here.'"
	+ He also worried about the excessive merchandising of the show and the consequences it would have on the planet. In a New York Times interview here, Sherm Cohen recalled that Hillenburg told him: "My biggest nightmare is that I'm going to be at the beach one day, and one of these dolls is going to wash up on the shore like garbage." According to Cohen, "being a marine biologist who also surfs, Stephen doesn't want to be responsible for bringing a glut of garbage into the world."
	+ In the same interview, he treated one of his old classmates with disdain after said classmate introduced him as the creator of SpongeBob, due to his resentment towards the show's popularity.
	+ In some interviews, he recalled that when he first pitched SpongeBob, Nickelodeon executives said they would only greenlight the show if he made SpongeBob and the gang into children. He was about to quit Nickelodeon and give up on the show until he came up with a compromise (putting SpongeBob in a boat driving school so he could remain an adult-aged character).
* Stephen Hillenburg is the second creator of any Nickelodeon series to pass away, the first being Paul Winchell.