Spongebob SquarePants

An Poster from the series

***SpongeBob SquarePants***, often shortened to ***SpongeBob***, is an American animated television series created by former marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It is chronologically the tenth Nicktoon to debut. The series is produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studio and United Plankton Pictures, Inc.

The series focuses on an optimistic sea sponge named SpongeBob SquarePants, who lives in an underwater pineapple with his pet snail Gary. His neighbors are his best friend, Patrick Star, and a grumpy octopus named Squidward Tentacles. SpongeBob and Squidward work together at a fast food restaurant called the Krusty Krab. Their boss is a cheapskate crab named Eugene H. Krabs, who lives 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 the surface named Sandy Cheeks. The villains of the show are Plankton and his computer wife, Karen, who own a failing restaurant called the Chum Bucket across the street from the Krusty Krab.

The series was first broadcast on May 1, 1999, as a "sneak peek" after the Kids' Choice Awards. It officially began airing on July 17 of the same year. The show was initially only greenlit for 6 half-hour episodes (twelve total segments); creator Stephen Hillenburg said, "I thought if it did go to a full season that we'd get twelve chances to write stories and that might be it...twelve shows and get cancelled." To his surprise, the show became a ratings success, and it has since run for 13 seasons. Season 14 has been renewed.

## Premise

The series takes place primarily in the fictional benthic underwater city of **Bikini Bottom** located in the Pacific Ocean beneath the real-life coral reef known as Bikini Atoll. Its citizens are mostly multicolored fish who live in buildings made from ship funnels and use "boatmobiles", amalgamations of cars and boats, as a mode of transportation. Recurring locations within Bikini Bottom include the neighboring houses of SpongeBob, Patrick, and Squidward; two competing restaurants, the Krusty Krab and the Chum Bucket; Mrs. Puff's Boating School, which includes a driving course and a sunken lighthouse; the Treedome, an oxygenated glass enclosure where Sandy lives; Shady Shoals Rest Home; a seagrass meadow called Jellyfish Fields; and Goo Lagoon, a subaqueous brine pool that is a popular beach hangout.

When the *SpongeBob* crew began production of the series' pilot episode, they were tasked with designing stock locations, to be used repeatedly, where most scenes would take place like the Krusty Krab and SpongeBob's pineapple house. The idea was "to keep everything nautical", so the crew used plenty of rope, wooden planks, ships' wheels, netting, anchors, boilerplates, and rivets to create the show's setting. Transitions between scenes are marked by bubbles filling the screen, accompanied by the sound of rushing water.

The series features "sky flowers" as a main setting material. When series background designer Kenny Pittenger was asked what they were, he answered, "They function as clouds in a way, but since the show takes place underwater, they aren't really clouds. Because of the tiki influence on the show, the background painters use a lot of pattern." Pittenger said the sky flowers were meant to "evoke the look of a flower-print Hawaiian shirt".

## Characters

* SpongeBob SquarePants

Main article: SpongeBob SquarePants (character)

SpongeBob SquarePants (voiced by Tom Kenny, Antonio Raul Corbo as young SpongeBob in *The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run*) is a yellow anthropomorphic sea sponge who usually wears brown short pants, a white collared shirt, and a red tie. He lives in a pineapple house and is employed as a fry cook at a fast food restaurant called the Krusty Krab. He diligently attends Mrs. Puff's Boating School but has never passed; throughout the series, he tries his hardest on the exams but remains an unintentionally reckless boat driver. He is relentlessly optimistic and enthusiastic toward his job and his friends. SpongeBob's hobbies include catching jellyfish, blowing bubbles, playing with his best friend Patrick, and unintentionally irritating his neighbor Squidward. He first appears in "Help Wanted".

* Patrick Star

Main article: Patrick Star

Patrick Star (voiced by Bill Fagerbakke, Jack Gore as young Patrick in *The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run*) a pink starfish who lives under a rock and wears flowered swim trunks. His most prominent character trait is his extremely low intelligence. He is best friends with SpongeBob and often unknowingly encourages activities that get the two into trouble. While typically unemployed throughout the series, Patrick holds various short-term jobs as the storyline of each episode requires. He is generally slow and even-tempered but can sometimes get aggressive, much like real starfish, and occasionally performs feats of great strength.

* Squidward Tentacles

Main article: Squidward Tentacles

Squidward Tentacles (voiced by Rodger Bumpass, Jason Maybaum as young Squidward in *The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run*) a turquoise octopus with a large nose who works as a cashier at the Krusty Krab. He is SpongeBob's next-door neighbor with a dry, sarcastic sense of humor. His house is between SpongeBob's and Patrick's houses. He believes himself to be a talented artist and musician, but nobody else recognizes his abilities. He plays the clarinet and often paints self-portraits in different styles, which he hangs up around his moai house. Squidward frequently voices his frustration with SpongeBob, but he genuinely cares for him deep down. This has been revealed in the form of sudden confessions when Squidward is in a dire situation.

* Mr. Krabs

Main article: Mr. Krabs

Eugene Krabs (voiced by Clancy Brown) is a red crab who lives in an anchor-shaped house with his daughter Pearl, who is a whale. He dislikes spending money but will go to great lengths to make Pearl happy. Krabs owns and operates the Krusty Krab restaurant where SpongeBob works. He is self-content, cunning, and obsessed with the value and essence of money. He tends to worry more about his riches than about the needs of his employees. Having served in the navy, he loves sailing, whales, sea shanties, and talking like a pirate.

* Plankton and Karen

Main article: Plankton and Karen

Sheldon Plankton (voiced by Mr. Lawrence) and Karen Plankton (voiced by Jill Talley) are the owners of the Chum Bucket, an unsuccessful restaurant located across the street from the Krusty Krab. Their business is a commercial failure because they sell mostly inedible foods made from chum. Plankton is a small planktonic copepod and the self-proclaimed archenemy of Mr. Krabs. His ultimate goal is to steal Krabs' secret formula for Krabby Patties, run the Krusty Krab out of business, and take over the oceanic world, but he never permanently succeeds, usually due to either SpongeBob and/or Krabs' efforts, his own incompetence and immaturity, or his own small size (except, temporarily, in *The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie*). Plankton is a skilled inventor and possesses a Napoleon complex due to his short stature. Karen is Plankton's own invention, a waterproof supercomputer who is more competent that Plankton, being the brains behind most of his evil plans to steal Krabs' secret recipe. She is married to Plankton and usually takes residence in the Chum Bucket laboratory. Karen speaks with a pronounced Midwestern American accent.

* Sandy Cheeks

Main article: Sandy Cheeks

Sandy Cheeks (voiced by Carolyn Lawrence, Presley Williams as young Sandy in *The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run*) is a squirrel from Texas who lives in an air-filled glass dome and wears a diving suit to breathe underwater. Whenever any aquatic creatures enter her home, they must wear helmets of water. Sandy works as a scientist, explorer, and inventor. She is a rodeo champion with a number of athletic interests, such as "sand-boarding" and karate. She speaks with a Southern drawl and uses typical Southern slang words and phrases.

* Mrs. Puff

Main article: Mrs. Puff

Mrs. Puff (voiced by Mary Jo Catlett) is a paranoid pufferfish who is SpongeBob's teacher at boating school, an underwater driver's education facility where students drive boats like cars. She wears a sailor suit and her school is a lighthouse. SpongeBob is Mrs. Puff's most dedicated student and knows the answer to every question on her written and oral exams, but always panics and crashes when he actually boards a vessel. She puffs up into a ball when she is scared or injured. As a running gag, she is frequently arrested by the police, usually due to her being responsible for SpongeBob when he causes destruction around Bikini Bottom during his boating test.

* Pearl Krabs

Main article: Pearl Krabs

Pearl Krabs (voiced by Lori Alan) is a teenage sperm whale and Mr. Krabs' daughter. She wants to fit in with her fish peers, but finds this impossible to do because of the large size inherent to her species. She will inherit the Krusty Krab from her father when she grows older, but is still in high school and does not yet have a job at the family business. Pearl's favorite activities are working at the Bikini Bottom Mall, using her father's credit card to buy anything that is in style, and listening to pop music.

* Gary the Snail

Gary the Snail (voiced by Tom Kenny) is SpongeBob's pet sea snail who lives with him in their pineapple home and vocalizes like a cat. Other snails and SpongeBob can understand and talk to him. Depicted as a level-headed character, Gary often serves as a voice of reason and a foil to SpongeBob and solves problems that his owner cannot. He has a pink shell that is impossibly spacious on the inside.

## Episodes

1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14

## Release

The **first** season of Spongebob was aired from May 1, 1999 until March 3, 2001 on Nickelodeon and included 20 episodes.

The **second** season of Spongebob was aired from October 20, 2000 until July 26, 2003 on Nickelodeon and included 20 episodes.

The **third** season of Spongebob was aired from October 5, 2001 until October 11, 2004 on Nickelodeon and included 20 episodes.

The **fourth** season of Spongebob was aired from May 6, 2005 until July 24, 2007 on Nickelodeon and included 20 episodes.

The **fifth** season of Spongebob was aired from February 19, 2007 until July 19, 2009 on Nickelodeon and included 20 episodes.

The **sixth** season of Spongebob was aired from March 3, 2008 until July 5, 2010 on Nickelodeon and included 26 episodes.

The **seventh** season of Spongebob was aired from July 19, 2009 June 11, 2011 on Nickelodeon and included 26 episodes.

The **eighth** season of Spongebob was aired from March 26, 2011 until December 6, 2012 on Nickelodeon and included 26 episodes.

The **ninth** season of spongebob was aired from July 21, 2012 until February 20, 2017 on Nickelodeon and included 26 episodes.

The **tenth** season of Spongebob was aired from October 15, 2016 until December 2, 2017 on Nickelodeon and included 26 episodes.

The **eleventh** season of Spongebob was aired from June 24, 2017 until November 25, 2018 on Nickelodeon and included 26 episodes.

The **twelfth** season of Spongebob was aired from November 11, 2018 until April 29, 2022 on Nickelodeon and included 26 episodes.

The **thirteenth** season of Spongebob was aired from October 22, 2020 until November 1, 2023 on Nickelodeon and included 26 episodes.

The **fourteenth** season of Spongebob began airing on November 2, 2023 and will include 26 episodes.

The **fifteenth** season of Spongebob has yet to be aired but was announced by Nickelodeon on September 29, 2023.

## Production

Series' creator Stephen Hillenburg first became fascinated with the ocean as a child and began developing his artistic abilities at a young age. Although these interests would not overlap for some time—the idea of drawing fish seemed boring to him—Hillenburg pursued both during college, majoring in marine biology and minoring in art. After graduating in 1984, he joined the Ocean Institute, an organization in Dana Point, California, dedicated to educating the public about marine science and maritime history.

While Hillenburg was there, his love of the ocean began to influence his artistry. He created a precursor to *SpongeBob SquarePants*: a comic book titled *The Intertidal Zone* used by the institute to teach visiting students about the animal life of tide pools. The comic starred various anthropomorphic sea lifeforms, many of which would evolve into *SpongeBob SquarePants* characters. Hillenburg tried to get the comic professionally published, but none of the companies he sent it to were interested.

A large inspiration to Hillenburg was Ween's 1997 album *The Mollusk*, which had a nautical and underwater theme. Hillenburg contacted the band shortly after the album's release, explaining the baseline ideas for *SpongeBob SquarePants*, and also requested a song from the band, which they sent on Christmas Eve. This song was "Loop de Loop", which was used in the episode "Your Shoe's Untied".