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SpongeBob SquarePants
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This article is about the TV series. For the title character, see SpongeBob SquarePants (character).
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SpongeBob SquarePants
SpongeBob SquarePants
Genre
Children's comedy[1]

Format
Animated series
Created by
Stephen Hillenburg
Developed by
Derek Drymon
Tim Hill
Nicholas R. Jennings

Creative director(s)
Derek Drymon (1999–2004)
Vincent Waller (2005–present)

Voices of
Tom Kenny
Bill Fagerbakke
Rodger Bumpass
Clancy Brown
Carolyn Lawrence
Mr. Lawrence
(Complete list)

Theme music composer
Hank Smith Music
Opening theme
"SpongeBob SquarePants Theme" by Patrick Pinney
Composer(s)
Nicolas Carr
 Eban Schletter
Country of origin
United States
Original language(s)
English
No. of seasons
9
No. of episodes
188 (List of episodes)
Production

Executive producer(s)
Stephen Hillenburg
Paul Tibbitt (2007–present)

Running time
22 minutes
Production company(s)
United Plankton Pictures
Nickelodeon Animation Studios

Distributor
MTV Networks International
Broadcast

Original channel
Nickelodeon
Picture format
480i (4:3 SDTV) (1999–2012)
1080i (4:3 HDTV) (2009)
1080i (16:9 HDTV) (2012-present)

Audio format
Advantage Audio Services (NTSC) (1999–2009)
Advantage Audio Services 8.0 (2009–present)
Dolby Surround 5.1 (NTSC) (2009–present)

Original run
Pilot:
 May 1, 1999
Official:
 July 17, 1999 – present
Chronology

Related shows
Rocko's Modern Life
External links
Website
SpongeBob SquarePants is an American animated television series created by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg. The series chronicles the adventures and endeavors of the title character and his various friends in the fictional underwater city of Bikini Bottom. The series' popularity has made it a media franchise, as well as the highest rated show to ever air on Nickelodeon, and the most distributed property of MTV Networks. The media franchise has generated $8 billion in merchandising revenue for Nickelodeon.
Many of the ideas for the series originated in an unpublished, educational comic book titled The Intertidal Zone, which Hillenburg created in the mid-1980s. He began developing SpongeBob SquarePants into a television series in 1996 upon the cancellation of Rocko's Modern Life, and turned to Tom Kenny, who had worked with him on that series, to voice the titular character. SpongeBob was originally going to be named SpongeBoy, and the series was to be called SpongeBoy Ahoy!, but these were changed, as the name was already trademarked.
Nickelodeon held a preview for the series in the United States on May 1, 1999, following the television airing of the 1999 Kids' Choice Awards. The series officially premiered on July 17, 1999. It has received worldwide critical acclaim since its premiere and gained enormous popularity by its second season. A feature film, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, was released in theaters on November 19, 2004, and a sequel is currently in production, with a projected release date of February 6, 2015. On July 21, 2012, the series was renewed and aired its ninth season, beginning with the episode "Extreme Spots".[2][3]
Despite its widespread popularity, the series has been involved in several public controversies, including one centered around speculation over SpongeBob's intended sexual orientation. The series has been nominated for a variety of different awards, including 17 Annie Awards (with six wins), 17 Golden Reel Awards (with eight wins), 15 Emmy Awards (with one win), 13 Kids' Choice Awards (with 12 wins), and four BAFTA Children's Awards (with two wins). In 2011, a newly described species of mushroom, Spongiforma squarepantsii, was named after the cartoon's title character.


Contents  [hide]
1 Development 1.1 Early inspirations
1.2 Conception
1.3 Pitching
2 Production 2.1 Executive producers and showrunners
2.2 Writing
2.3 Voice actors
2.4 Animation
2.5 Music
2.6 Tenth anniversary
3 Broadcast 3.1 Episodes
3.2 International
4 Characters
5 Setting
6 Reception 6.1 Ratings and run-length achievements
6.2 Critical reception
6.3 Awards and accolades
6.4 Legacy
6.5 Criticism and controversy
6.6 Criticism of declining quality and 2012 ratings slide
7 Other media 7.1 Comic books
7.2 Films
7.3 Music
7.4 Theme park rides
7.5 Video games
7.6 SpongeBob SquareShorts
8 Merchandise
9 References 9.1 Works cited
10 External links

Development
Early inspirations



 Before creating SpongeBob SquarePants, Stephen Hillenburg taught marine biology to visitors of the Ocean Institute (located in Dana Point, California).[4]
Series creator Stephen Hillenburg first became fascinated with the ocean as a child. Also at a young age, he began developing his artistic abilities. However, these two interests would not coincide for a long time—the idea of drawing fish seemed boring to him. During college, he majored in marine biology and minored 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.[4][5]
While Hillenburg was there, he created a precursor to SpongeBob SquarePants: a comic book titled The Intertidal Zone, which was used by the institute to teach visiting students about the animal life of tide pools.[5] The comic starred various anthropomorphic sea lifeforms, many of which would evolve into SpongeBob characters.[6] Hillenburg tried to get the comic professionally published, but none of the companies to which he sent it were interested.[5]
Conception
During his time of employment at the Ocean Institute, Hillenburg attended an animation festival and determined that he wanted to pursue a career in that field. He had already been planning on returning to college for a master’s degree in art. Instead, he studied experimental animation at the California Institute of the Arts.[5] His thesis film, Wormholes, is about the theory of relativity.[7] It was screened at a festival in 1995, where it was seen by Joe Murray, the creator of the popular Nickelodeon animated series, Rocko’s Modern Life. Murray was impressed by the style of the film and offered Hillenburg a job.[7][8] Hillenburg joined the series during its third season as a writer, producer and storyboard artist and continued his position for much of the fourth season.[7][9][10]
Martin Olson, one of the writers for Rocko's Modern Life, saw The Intertidal Zone and encouraged Hillenburg to create a television series with a similar concept. At that point, Hillenburg had not even considered creating his own series. However, he realized that if he ever did, this would be the best approach. He began to further develop some of the characters from The Intertidal Zone, including one named Bob the Sponge — Hillenburg has described this character as "the announcer" of the comic. He wanted his series to stand out from the most popular cartoons of the time and felt that these were exemplified by buddy comedies, such as Ren and Stimpy. So, he decided to focus on one central character; the weirdest sea creature that he could think of. This led him to the sponge. Bob the Sponge resembles an actual sea sponge, and at first Hillenburg continued this design.[5][7] He became friends with Tom Kenny, who he later approached to become the voice of the main character, SpongeBob SquarePants.[11] "Steve described SpongeBob to me as childlike and naïve," Kenny said in an interview.[12] "He's not quite an adult, he's not quite a kid. Think a Stan Laurel, Jerry Lewis kind of child-man. Kind of like a Munchkin but not quite, kind of like a kid, but not in a Charlie Brown child's voice on the TV shows".[12]
After Rocko's Modern Life ended in 1996,[13] Hillenburg began working on SpongeBob SquarePants, teaming up with several Nickelodeon veterans and Rocko crew members.[7][14] For the voice SpongeBob SquarePants, Hillenburg approached Tom Kenny, who had worked with him on Rocko's Modern Life.[11] Originally, the character was to be named SpongeBoy and the show would be called SpongeBoy Ahoy!.[15] However, after voice acting the original seven-minute pilot in 1997, the Nickelodeon legal department discovered that the name was already in use for a mop product.[16] Another reason is that Flaming Carrot Comics creator Bob Burden already owned the trademark to a character of the same name.[17] Hillenburg decided that the character's given name still had to contain "Sponge" so viewers would not mistake the character for a "Cheese Man". Hillenburg settled on the name "SpongeBob". He chose "SquarePants" as a family name, as it referred to the character's square shape and "had a nice ring to it".[18]
Pitching
"The execs from Nickelodeon flew out to Burbank, and we pitched it to them from the storyboards. We had squeezy toys, wore Hawaiian shirts and used a boom box to play the Tiny Tim song ['Livin' in the Sunlight, Lovin' in the Moonlight'] that comes on in the third act. We really went all out in that pitch because we knew the pilot lived or died by if the execs laughed. When it was over, they walked out of the room to discuss it. We figured they would fly back to New York and we'd hear in a few weeks. We were surprised when they came back in what seemed like minutes and said they wanted to make it".
— Derek Drymon[19]
In 1997, while pitching the cartoon to Nickelodeon executives, Hillenburg donned a Hawaiian shirt, brought along an "underwater terrarium with models of the characters", and Hawaiian music to set the theme. The setup was described by Nickelodeon executive Eric Coleman as "pretty amazing".[7] When they were given money and two weeks to write the pilot episode "Help Wanted",[7] Derek Drymon, Stephen Hillenberg, and Nick Jennings returned with what was described by Nickelodeon official Albie Hecht as, "a performance [he] wished [he] had on tape".[7] Although executive producer Derek Drymon described the pitch as stressful, he said it went "very well".[7] Kevin Kay and Hecht had to step outside because they were "exhausted from laughing," which worried the cartoonists.[7]
In an interview, Cyma Zarghami, the current president of Nickelodeon, said, "their [Nickelodeon executives'] immediate reaction was to see it again, both because they liked it and it was unlike anything they'd ever seen before".[20] Zarghami was one of four executives in the room when SpongeBob SquarePants was screened for the first time.[20]
Production
Executive producers and showrunners
"It reached a point where I felt I'd contributed a lot and said what I wanted to say. At that point, the show needed new blood, and so I selected Paul [Tibbitt] to produce. I totally trusted him. I always enjoyed the way he captured the SpongeBob character's sense of humor. And as a writer, you have to move on—I'm developing new projects".
—Stephen Hillenburg, The Washington Post[21]
Series creator Stephen Hillenburg has served as the executive producer over the course of the series' entire history, and functioned as the showrunner from the series' debut in 1999 until 2004. The series went on hiatus, as Hillenburg halted production in 2002 to work on the film adaptation of the series, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.[17] Once the film was finalized and the third season finished, Hillenburg resigned as the series' showrunner.[20] He no longer writes or runs the show on a day-to-day basis, but reviews each episode and delivers suggestions. He said, "I figure when I'm pretty old, I can still paint ... I don't know about running shows".[20][22]
When the film was completed, Hillenburg wanted to end the series "so [it] wouldn't jump the shark." However, Nickelodeon wanted more episodes,[17] so he appointed Paul Tibbitt, who previously served as the show's supervising producer, writer, director, and storyboard artist, to take over his role as showrunner and produce further seasons.[23] Hillenburg considered Tibbitt one of his favorite members of the show's crew,[24] and "totally trusted him".[21] Tibbitt still holds the showrunner position, and also functions as an executive producer.[23][25]
Writing
For SpongeBob SquarePants a team of five outline and premise writers creates the initial storylines.[26] Writer Luke Brookshier said, "SpongeBob is written differently than many television shows". Writing for an episode of the series starts with a two-page outline that the storyboard director takes and fleshes out into a full episode with gags and dialogue.[26][27] Series writer Merriwether Williams described in an interview that she and Mr. Lawrence would write a draft for an episode in an afternoon and be done at 4 o'clock.[27]
Hillenburg decided early on, prior to starting the production of the series, that he wanted SpongeBob SquarePants to be storyboard-driven, rather than script-driven.[28] This required an approach in which artists "would take a skeletal story outline and flesh it out with sight gags, dialogue and a structure that would strike a balance between narrative and whimsy".[28] Hillenburg originally wanted "a team of young and hungry people" to write for the series.[19] The group, who worked had previously worked with Hillenburg on Rocko's Modern Life, consisted of Alan Smart, Nick Jennings, and Derek Drymon.[19] Head writer Steven Banks said, "The writers come up with an idea and write premises and outlines describing the story, and the storyboarders (who are also writers) write the dialogue while they draw the storyboard panels. Most other shows are script-driven. We don't write scripts and that has made all the difference!"[29]
The writing staff often used their individual life experiences for inspirations to come up with the storylines of the series' episodes.[19][21] For example, the episode "Sailor Mouth," in which SpongeBob and Patrick learn profanity,[21] was inspired by creative director Derek Drymon's experience of getting in trouble as child for using the f-word in front of his mother.[19] Drymon said, "The scene where Patrick is running to Mr. Krabs to tattle, with SpongeBob chasing him, is pretty much how it happened in real life".[19] The end of the episode, where Mr. Krabs uses more profanity than SpongeBob and Patrick, was inspired "by the fact that my [Drymon's] mother has a sailor mouth herself".[19] In the episode "The Secret Box", SpongeBob wants to see what is inside Patrick's secret box. The idea came to Drymon because he, too, had a secret box as a child.[21][30] Creator Hillenburg said, "[He] started telling us about it. We wanted to make fun of him and use it".[21]
Almost every episode is divided into two 11-minute segments. Hillenburg explained that "[I] never really wanted to deliberately try to write a half-hour show".[21] He added, "I wrote the shows to where they felt right".[21] Each 11-minute segment takes about nine months to produce.[31]
Voice actors
Further information: List of SpongeBob SquarePants cast members and List of SpongeBob SquarePants guest stars
SpongeBob SquarePants has six main cast members: Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Rodger Bumpass, Clancy Brown, Carolyn Lawrence, and Mr. Lawrence.
Kenny performs SpongeBob SquarePants, and his pet snail Gary, the French Narrator, Harold SquarePants, Patchy the Pirate, and the Dirty Bubble. Kenny previously worked with Hillenburg on Rocko's Modern Life and, when Hillenburg created SpongeBob SquarePants, he approached Kenny to voice the character.[32] Hillenburg utilized Kenny's and other people's personalities to help create the personality of SpongeBob.[16] The voice of SpongeBob was originally used by Kenny for a very minor female alligator character named Al in Rocko's Modern Life.[16] Kenny says that SpongeBob's high-pitched laugh was specifically created to be unique. They wanted an annoying laugh in the tradition of Popeye and Woody Woodpecker.[33]
Fagerbakke provides the voices of Patrick Star[34] and other miscellaneous characters in the series, including the City Mayor. In an interview, Fagerbakke compared himself to the character and said, "It's extremely gratifying".[35] Fagerbakke modeled his performance whenever Patrick is angry after that of American actress Shelley Winters.[36]
Bumpass provides the voice of Squidward Tentacles and other miscellaneous characters. Arthur Brown, author of Everything I Need to Know, I Learned from Cartoons!, has compared Squidward's voice to that of Jack Benny's.[37]
Brown performs the voice of Mr. Krabs.[38]
Carolyn Lawrence voices Sandy Cheeks.[39] Lawrence got the role of Sandy when she was in the Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles. She met Donna Grillo, a casting director, on a sidewalk. Lawrence was with a friend who knew Grillo, and she said Lawrence had an interesting voice. Grillo brought Lawrence in to audition and she got the part of Sandy.[40][41] Lawrence modeled her performance of Sandy after that of American actress Holly Hunter.[42]
Mr. Lawrence voices the series villain, Plankton,[19] and recurring character Larry the Lobster.[43] At the same time when Hillenburg, Derek Drymon, and Tim Hill were writing the pilot "Help Wanted," Hillenburg was also conducting auditions to find voices for the characters.[19] Hillenburg originally had Lawrence in mind for the role of voicing Squidward.[19] Drymon said, "We knew Doug from Rocko, where he was a storyboard director and where he also did the voice of Filburt. We were showing Doug the storyboard, and he started reading back to us in his Tony the Tiger/Gregory Peck voice. It was really funny, and we wound up having SpongeBob use a deep voice when he entered the Krusty Krab for the first time".[19] Hillenburg loved the voice and decided to give Lawrence the part of Plankton.[19]

Main cast members
Tom Kenny (2008).jpg Blank.JPG Blank.JPG Clancy Brown.jpg Carolyn Lawrence (cropped).jpg Blank.JPG
Tom Kenny Bill Fagerbakke Rodger Bumpass Clancy Brown Carolyn Lawrence Mr. Lawrence
SpongeBob, Gary, French Narrator, Harold SquarePants, Patchy the Pirate, Dirty Bubble, others Patrick, others Squidward, others Mr. Krabs Sandy Plankton, Larry the Lobster, others
The recurring characters of Karen, Mrs. Puff, Pearl and the Flying Dutchman are voiced by Kenny's wife Jill Talley,[44] Mary Jo Catlett,[45] Lori Alan[46] and Brian Doyle-Murray,[47] respectively.[48] Mr. Krabs' mother, Mama Krabs, who debuted in the episode "Sailor Mouth," was voiced by writer Paul Tibbitt.[49][50][51] However, voice actress Sirena Irwin overtook Tibbitt's role as the character reappeared in the fourth season episode "Enemy In-Law" in 2005.[52] Tom Kenny portrays Patchy the Pirate, the president of the fictional SpongeBob SquarePants fan club, while series creator Hillenburg voiced the character of Potty the Parrot.[53] After Hillenburg's departure as showrunner in 2004, Tibbitt was given the role in voicing Potty the Parrot.[54]
In addition to the regular cast, episodes feature guest voices from many ranges of professions, including actors, athletes, authors, musicians, and artists. Recurring guest voices include Ernest Borgnine, who voiced Mermaid Man from 1999 until his death in 2012;[55] Tim Conway as the voice of Barnacle Boy;[56] and Marion Ross as Grandma SquarePants.[57] Notable guests who have provided vocal cameo appearances includes David Bowie as Lord Royal Highness in the television film Atlantis SquarePantis,[58][59] Johnny Depp as the voice of the surf guru, Jack Kahuna Laguna, in the episode "SpongeBob vs. The Big One,"[60] and Victoria Beckham as the voice of Queen Amphitrite in the episode "The Clash of Triton".[61][62]
Voice recording sessions always include a full cast of actors, which Kenny describes as "getting more unusual".[63] Kenny said, "That's another thing that's given SpongeBob its special feel. Everybody's in the same room, doing it old radio-show style. It's how the stuff we like was recorded".[63] Show writer Jay Lender said, "The recording sessions were always fun ..."[64] For the first three seasons, Hillenburg and Drymon sat in on the record studio, and they directed the actors.[65] In the fourth season, Andrea Romano took over the role as the voice director.[65] Wednesday is recording day, the same schedule followed by the crew since 1999.[65] Casting supervisor Jennie Monica Hammond said, "I loved Wednesdays".[65]
Animation
Throughout the series' run, SpongeBob SquarePants has been produced domestically at the Nickelodeon Animation Studios in Burbank, California, and animated overseas at Rough Draft Studios in South Korea.[21][66] Approximately 50 people work together in animating and producing a SpongeBob episode.[26] According to Luke Brookshier, the series' storyboard director, "SpongeBob is structured differently than most cartoons".[26] Basically, the crew at the studio in California storyboard the episode and the crew in Korea will use it.[21] The crew in Rough Draft Studios animate it by hand, color its cels in the computer, paint backgrounds and send it back to the crews in the Nickelodeon Animation Studio for them to edit, and apply the music soundtrack.[26] Characters' designs are updated or modified every season to solve technical issues in animation.[67]
During the first season, SpongeBob SquarePants was animated using cel animation.[23] The show shifted to digital ink and paint animation during its second season in 2000.[23] In 2009, executive producer Paul Tibbitt said "The first season of SpongeBob was done the old-fashioned way on cells, and every cell had to be part-painted, left to dry, paint some other colours. It's still a time-consuming aspect of the process now, but the digital way of doing things means it doesn't take long to correct".[23]
In 2008, the crew shifted to using Wacom Cintiqs for the drawings instead of pencils.[17] The fifth season episode "Pest of the West" was the first episode in the series to which the crew applied this method.[17] Series background designer Kenny Pittenger said, "The only real difference between the way we draw now and the way we drew then is that we abandoned pencil and paper during the fifth season".[17] The crew began the shift while they were working on the episode. Pittenger said, "It was while we were working on 'Pest of the West', one of the half-hour specials, that we made the switch … did you notice?"[17] The shift to Wacom Cintiqs let the designers and animators draw on computer screens and make immediate changes or undo mistakes. Pittenger said, "Many neo-Luddites—er … I mean, many of my cohorts—don't like working on them, but I find them useful. There's no substitute for the immediacy of drawing on a piece of paper, of course, but digital nautical nonsense is still pretty fun".[17]
In 2012, Nickelodeon produced and debuted the eighth season episode "It's a SpongeBob Christmas!". The episode was the first full-length episode in the series that was produced in stop motion animation.[68][69] Mark Caballero, Seamus Walsh, and Christopher Finnegan of Screen Novelties animated it, and Caballero and Walsh also served as its directors.[70] Production on the episode began in October 2011 in Los Angeles.[71] According to Finnegan, it took about five months to shoot, with a couple of months on either end for research and development and post.[72] In 2009, Screen Novelties also animated the series' 10th anniversary special stop motion opening titles.[70]
Music
"[The music has gone] from mostly sea shanties and Hawaiian music à la Roy Smeck meets Pee-wee Herman—still the main style for the show—in the early episodes, but it now includes film noir, West Side Story to [Henry] Mancini, Jerry Goldsmith and [Steven] Spielberg. There's Broadway-type scores and plain old goofy, loopy, weird stuff. I try to push the envelope on this show without getting in the way of the story, and I try to push it up and way over the top when I can get away with it, all the time keeping it as funny and ridiculous as possible.
—Music editor Nicolas Carr[73]
The theme music was composed by Hank Smith Music, which consisted of Derek Drymon, Mark Harrison, Stephen Hillenburg and Blaise Smith.[74] The song is sung by Painty the Pirate, voiced by Patrick Pinney. A cover of the song by Avril Lavigne can be found on the SpongeBob SquarePants Movie soundtrack.[75][76] Another cover by the Violent Femmes aired as a commercial on Nickelodeon to promote the series' Season 2 DVD release.[77] The end credits music was performed and composed by Steve Belfer, a friend of Hillenburg from CalArts.[19] Hillenburg had told him about wanting to use ukulele music, and Belfer wrote the song on his own.[19] Drymon said, "It's so long ago, it's hard to be sure, but I remember Hillenburg having the Belfer music early on, maybe before the pilot".[19]
The series' music editor and main composer is Nicolas Carr.[73] Carr uses the Associated Production Music Library for most of the background music to give the show its "Ren and Stimpy/Rocko over-the-top style".[73][78] Hillenburg wanted to approach the music for SpongeBob the same way he had on Rocko.[73] He was "also very interested" in building a music library for the show, to build a SpongeBob music library that could be re-edited and reused in the various episodes.[73] Correspondingly, The Sponge Divers Orchestra was formed.[73] Carr said that the show has "a wide variety of styles to draw from".[73]
Alternative rock bands such as Wilco, The Shins, The Flaming Lips, and Ween, as well as metal bands Pantera, and Motörhead, have made appearances on the show and its soundtracks.[75][79]
Tenth anniversary
In 2009, Nickelodeon began celebrating the 10th anniversary of the show with Square Roots: The Story of SpongeBob SquarePants, a documentary special by filmmaker Patrick Creadon, that discusses the history of the show and the ascent of the "absorbing character's journey to pop culture stardom".[80][81][82] "Ten years. I never imagined working on the show to this date and this long," said series creator Hillenburg. "I really figured we might get a season and a cult following, and that might be it".[83] In an interview, Tom Kenny said, "What I'm most proud of is that kids still really like it and care about it ... They eagerly await new episodes. People who were young children when it started 10 years ago are still watching it and digging it and think it's funny. That's the loving cup for me".[84]
Nickelodeon broadcast a 50½-hour television marathon titled "The Ultimate SpongeBob SpongeBash Weekend". The marathon featured the 10 most memorable episodes as picked by its viewers on Nick.com. The night capped off with the television encore of The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie at 8 PM.[85] On July 19, 10 new episodes, including the special episode "To SquarePants or Not to SquarePants," premiered.[86][87] On September 22, 2009, Paramount Home Entertainment released a 2,200 minute, 14-disc DVD set titled The First 100 Episodes.[88][89][90] A second television film, titled Truth or Square, debuted on Nickelodeon on November 6, 2009.[91][92] Several celebrities made live action cameo appearances on the film, including Rosario Dawson, LeBron James, Tina Fey, Will Ferrell, Craig Ferguson, Robin Williams and P!nk, while Ricky Gervais provided opening and closing narration for the special.[93][94]
Broadcast
Episodes
Main article: List of SpongeBob SquarePants episodes
SpongeBob SquarePants series overview

Season
Episodes / (segments)
Originally aired
DVD release date

Season premiere
Season finale
Region 1
Region 2
Region 4

1
20 / (41) May 1, 1999 April 8, 2000 October 28, 2003[95] November 7, 2005[96] November 30, 2006[97]

2
20 / (39) October 26, 2000 July 26, 2003 October 19, 2004[98] October 23, 2006[99] November 30, 2006[100]

3
20 / (37) October 5, 2001 October 11, 2004 September 27, 2005[101] December 3, 2007[102] November 8, 2007[103]

4
20 / (38) May 6, 2005 July 24, 2007 September 12, 2006[104] November 3, 2008[105] November 7, 2008[106]
January 9, 2007[107]

5
20 / (41) February 19, 2007 July 19, 2009 September 4, 2007[108] November 16, 2009[109] December 3, 2009[110]
November 18, 2008[111]

6
26 / (47) March 3, 2008 July 5, 2010 December 8, 2009[112] November 29, 2010[113] December 2, 2010[114]
December 7, 2010[115][116]

7
26 / (50) July 19, 2009 June 11, 2011 December 6, 2011[117] September 17, 2012[118] September 12, 2012[119]

8
26 / (47) March 26, 2011 December 6, 2012 March 12, 2013[120] October 28, 2013[121] October 30, 2013[122]

9
26 July 21, 2012 TBA TBA TBA TBA

10[123]
TBA 2014[123] TBA TBA TBA TBA
International
The series airs on Nickelodeon in Australia and New Zealand,[124] Israel,[125] [126] Canada,[127] India,[128] and the United Kingdom and Ireland.[129] It airs on TG4 in Ireland,[130] YTV and Teletoon in Canada[131] and on Eleven in Australia.[132]
Characters
Main article: List of SpongeBob SquarePants characters



 The show's main characters: (from left) Plankton, Mr. Krabs, Sandy, SpongeBob, Squidward, Patrick, and Gary.
The show revolves around its title character and his various friends. SpongeBob SquarePants is an energetic and optimistic sea sponge (although his appearance more closely resembles a kitchen sponge) who lives in a pineapple under the sea with his pet snail, Gary, who meows like a cat. Living two houses down from SpongeBob is his best friend Patrick Star, a dim-witted yet friendly pink starfish who lives under a rock. Despite his "mental setbacks," Patrick still sees himself as intelligent.[133] Squidward Tentacles is SpongeBob's next-door neighbor and co-worker at the Krusty Krab.[37] Squidward is an arrogant and ill-tempered octopus who lives in an Easter Island moai and dislikes his neighbors (especially SpongeBob) for their childlike behavior. He enjoys playing the clarinet and painting self-portraits, but hates his job working at the Krusty Krab. Another close friend of SpongeBob is Sandy Cheeks, a squirrel from Texas.[134] Sandy is a scientist and expert in karate.[135][136] She lives in an underwater tree dome. When outside of her tree dome, she wears an astronaut-like suit because she cannot breathe underwater.[37] Mr. Krabs, a miserly crab obsessed with money, is the owner of the Krusty Krab restaurant and SpongeBob's boss.[37] His rival, Plankton, is a small green copepod who owns a low-rank fast-food restaurant called the Chum Bucket located across the street from the Krusty Krab.[137] Plankton spends most of his time planning to steal the recipe for Mr. Krabs's popular Krabby Patty burgers to obtain success and put the Krusty Krab out of business.[138]
Other recurring characters appear alongside SpongeBob. These include SpongeBob's driving teacher Mrs. Puff, Mr. Krabs' daughter Pearl, Plankton's computer wife Karen, and SpongeBob and Patrick's favorite superheroes, Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy.
Setting

A blue colored image of island with one island boxed in the northeast.

Bikini Atoll, with Bikini Island boxed in the northeast
Much of the series' events take place in Bikini Bottom, an underwater city located in the Pacific Ocean beneath the real life tropical isle of Bikini Atoll.[139][140] Much of this is supported within the context of the episodes themselves. However, despite implications of the city's location, as well as analogies to real life, Hillenburg has stated that he wishes to leave the city isolated from the real world.[141] The citizens of Bikini Bottom live in mostly aquatic-themed buildings, and use "boatmobiles," amalgamations of cars and boats, as a mode of transportation.[142] Notable establishments present in Bikini Bottom includes the Krusty Krab and Mrs. Puff's Boating School, which have become common settings in the series since their first appearance in 1999.
When the crew began production on the pilot, they were tasked with designing the stock locations where "... the show would return to again and again, and in which most of the action would take place, such as the Krusty Krab and SpongeBob's pineapple house".[143] Hillenburg had a "clear vision" of what he wanted the show to look like. The idea was "to keep everything nautical," so the crew used a lot of rope, wooden planks, ships' wheels, netting, anchors, boilerplates and rivets.[143]
The show features the "sky flowers" as a main setting material.[143] They first appeared in the pilot and have since become a common feature throughout the series.[143] 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".[143] Since the show was influenced by tiki, the background painters have to use a lot of pattern.[143] Pittenger said, "So really, the sky flowers are mostly a whimsical design element that Steve [Hillenburg] came up with to evoke the look of a flower-print Hawaiian shirt—or something like that. I don't know what they are either".[143]
Reception
Ratings and run-length achievements
By 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.[144] 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.[144] 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.[145] 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.[144][146][147] 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".[144] It was also reported that, of the 50 million viewers who watch it every month, 20 million are adults.[148][149]
In October 2002, another Nickelodeon show titled The Fairly OddParents ranked as the No. 2 program for children between 2 and 11 years old.[150] Its ratings at that time have been almost equal to SpongeBob, which had an average of 2.2 million viewers per episode.[150] It even briefly surpassed SpongeBob, putting it into second place, registering a 6.2 rating and nearly 2.5 million child viewers, while SpongeBob had a 6.0 rating and 2.4 million kids 2-11.[151] Nickelodeon "recognized" the OddParents for its climbing ratings and installed it into a new time slot, previously occupied by SpongeBob, at 8 PM.[150] In an interview, Nickelodeon president Cyma Zarghami said, "Are we banking on the fact that Fairly OddParents will be the next SpongeBob? ... We are hoping. But SpongeBob is so unique, it's hard to say if it will ever be repeated".[150]
SpongeBob SquarePants is one of the longest-running shows on Nickelodeon.[152] During the eighth season, the show became the Nickelodeon series with the most episodes, surpassing the 172 episodes of Rugrats with 178.[153] In its ninth season, a total of 26 episodes are in order, which would push the series over the 200th episode mark.[154][155][156] In a statement, Brown Johnson, animation president for Nickelodeon, said, "SpongeBob's success in reaching over 200 episodes is a testament to creator Stephen Hillenburg's vision, comedic sensibility and his dynamic, lovable characters. The series now joins the club of contemporary classic Nicktoons that have hit this benchmark, so we're incredibly proud".[157][158]
Critical reception
SpongeBob SquarePants received generally positive reviews from critics, and has been noted for its appeal towards different age groups. James Poniewozik of Time magazine considered the titular character as "the anti-Bart Simpson, temperamentally and physically: his head is as squared-off and neat as Bart's is unruly, and he has a personality to match–conscientious, optimistic and blind to the faults in the world and those around him".[159] According to Laura Fries of Variety magazine, the show is "a thoughtful and inventive cartoon about a hopelessly optimistic and resilient sea sponge ... Devoid of the double entendres rife in today's animated TV shows, this is purely kid's stuff ... However, that's not to say that SpongeBob is simplistic or even juvenile. It's charming and whimsical, but clever enough to appeal to teens and college-aged kids, as well".[160] The New York Times critic Joyce Millman said SpongeBob "is clever without being impenetrable to young viewers and goofy without boring grown-ups to tears. It's the most charming toon on television, and one of the weirdest. And it's also good, clean fun, which makes sense because it is, after all, about a sponge". Millman wrote, "His relentless good cheer would be irritating if he weren't so darned lovable and his world so excellently strange ... Like Pee-wee's Playhouse, SpongeBob joyfully dances on the fine line between childhood and adulthood, guilelessness and camp, the warped and the sweet".[161]
Robert Thompson, a professor of communications and director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University, told The New York Times, "There is something kind of unique about [SpongeBob]. It seems to be a refreshing breath from the pre-irony era. There's no sense of the elbow-in-rib, tongue-in-cheek aesthetic that so permeates the rest of American culture–including kids' shows like the Rugrats. I think what's subversive about it is it's so incredibly naive–deliberately. Because there's nothing in it that's trying to be hip or cool or anything else, hipness can be grafted onto it".[162] In a 2007 interview, Barack Obama named SpongeBob his favorite character, and admitted that SpongeBob SquarePants was "the show I watch with my daughters".[163][164][165] British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has also said he watches the show with his children.[20]
Awards and accolades
Main article: List of awards and nominations received by SpongeBob SquarePants
SpongeBob SquarePants has received many awards and nominations from several award bodies since its debut in 1999. It has been nominated for 15 Emmy Awards, and won Outstanding Special Class Animated Program in 2010.[166] The show received 17 Annie Awards nominations, out of which it has won six times,[167][168][169][170][171][172] as well as four BAFTA Children's Awards, out of which it has won twice. Since 2004, IGN's regional website in the UK placed SpongeBob SquarePants 15th in its top 100 animated series of all time list.[173] In 2006, IGN ranked the show at the same spot on its list of "Top 25 Animated Series of All Time".[174] In a 2013 list, the website ranked SpongeBob SquarePants 12th in "The Top 25 Animated Series for Adults".[175]
The show is among the "All-TIME 100 TV Shows" as chosen by Time television critic James Poniewozik. He said, "It's the most funny, surreal, inventive example of the explosion in creative kids' (and adult) entertainment that Nick, Cartoon Network and their ilk made possible".[176] Viewers of the UK television channel Channel 4 have voted SpongeBob SquarePants at No. 28 in its 2005's The 100 Greatest Cartoons.[177] TV Guide listed the character of SpongeBob SquarePants at No. 9 for its "50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time".[178] In 2013, the publication ranked SpongeBob SquarePants the eighth "Greatest TV Cartoon of All Time".[179] In June 2010, Entertainment Weekly named SpongeBob one of the "100 Greatest Characters of the Last 20 Years".[180] However, not all critical reception for the character has been positive. AskMen's "Top 10 Irritating '90s Cartoon Characters" ranked SpongeBob at No. 4 saying that his well-meaning attitude is extremely annoying.[181]
Legacy
In July 2009, Madame Tussauds wax museum in New York launched a wax sculpture of SpongeBob in celebration of the series' 10th anniversary.[182][183] SpongeBob is the first fictional character to be featured in Tussauds.[184][185] In May 2011, a new species of mushroom, Spongiforma squarepantsii, was described, named after the series' title character.[186]
The character has also became a trend in Egypt at Cairo's Tahrir Square.[187] After the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, SpongeBob became a fashion phenomenon, appearing on various items of merchandise from hijabs to boxer shorts.[188][189] The phenomenon led to the creation of the Tumblr project called "SpongeBob on the Nile". The project was founded by American students Andrew Leber and Elisabeth Jaquette, and attempts to document every appearance of SpongeBob in Egypt.[190] Sherief Elkeshta cited the phenomenon in an essay about the incoherent state of politics in Egypt in an independent monthly paper titled Midan Masr. He wrote, "Why isn't he [SpongeBob] at least holding a Molotov cocktail? Or raising a fist?"[191] The phenomenon has even spread to Libya, where a Libyan rebel in SpongeBob dress was photographed celebrating the revolution.[192]
In 2013, a clip featuring soldiers in Russia marching as they sing the SpongeBob theme was posted on YouTube.[193] According to English Russia, "One of the most popular marching songs in Russian army is SpongeBob SquarePants theme".[193][194] The video of the soldiers singing the theme was posted online on February 14, 2013.[193] The video garnered 50,000 hits in the first week.[195]
Criticism and controversy



James Dobson accused a promotional video featuring SpongeBob SquarePants of "promoting homosexuality due to a pro-tolerance group sponsoring the video". This incident led to questions whether the character is gay, which was denied by creator Hillenburg who considers him as "almost asexual".
In 2005, a promotional video which showed SpongeBob and other characters from children's shows singing together to promote diversity and tolerance[196] was attacked by an evangelical group in the United States because they saw SpongeBob being used as an "advocate for homosexuality".[197] James Dobson of Focus on the Family accused the makers of the video of "promoting homosexuality due to a pro-tolerance group sponsoring the video".[197] The incident led to questions as to whether or not SpongeBob is homosexual. In 2002, series creator Stephen Hillenburg denied the issue, despite the fact that SpongeBob's popularity with gay men grew. He clarified that he considers the character to be "almost asexual".[198][199] After Dobson's comments, Hillenburg repeated his assertion that sexual preference was never considered during the creation of the show.[200] Tom Kenny and other production members were shocked and surprised that such an issue had arisen.[16]
Dobson later stated that his comments were taken out of context, and that his original complaints were not with SpongeBob, the video, or any of the characters in the video, but rather with the organization that sponsored the video, We Are Family Foundation. Dobson indicated that the We Are Family Foundation posted pro-homosexual material on their website, but later removed it.[201] After the controversy, John H. Thomas, the United Church of Christ's general minister and president, said they would welcome SpongeBob into their ministry. He said, "Jesus didn't turn people away. Neither do we".[202]
Jeffrey P. Dennis, author of the journal article "The Same Thing We Do Every Night: Signifying Same-Sex Desire in Television Cartoons," argued that SpongeBob and Sandy are not romantically in love, while adding that he believed that SpongeBob and Patrick "are paired with arguably erotic intensity".[203] Martin Goodman of Animation World Magazine described Dennis' comments regarding SpongeBob and Patrick as "interesting".[204] In August 2012, the Ukrainian National Expert Commission for Protecting Public Morality attempted to ban the show for "promotion of homosexuality".[205][206] The Teletubbies, Family Guy, Pokémon, and The Simpsons are among other programs accused of promoting the "destruction of the family".[207]
In April 2009, in a tie-in partnership with Burger King and Nickelodeon, Burger King released an advertisement featuring SpongeBob and Sir Mix-a-Lot singing "Baby Got Back".[208] The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood protested the ad for being sexist and inappropriately sexual, especially considering that SpongeBob's fan base includes preschoolers.[209][210][211] In an official statement released by Burger King, they claimed that "this campaign is aimed at parents".[212]
“ The children who watched the cartoon were operating at half the capacity compared to other children. ”
—Angeline S. Lillard, University of Virginia[213]

A 2011 study conducted at the University of Virginia published in the journal Pediatrics suggested that allowing preschool audiences to watch the series caused short term disruptions in mental function and attention span due to frequent shot changes.[214][215] A Nickelodeon executive responded in an interview that the show was not intended for an audience of that age and that the study used "questionable methodology and could not possibly provide the basis for any valid findings that parents could trust".[216][217]

Criticism of declining quality and 2012 ratings slide
While the 2004 film adaptation of the series, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, was generally well received by fans of the show, it is also considered a turning point in the show's history, as many of said fans believe the television series has declined in quality since the film's release.[218] While episodes aired before the film were praised for their "uncanny brilliance",[219] ones aired after the film have been variously categorized as "kid-pandering attention-waster[s]",[220] "tedious",[221] "boring" and "dreck",[222] a "depressing plateau of mediocrity",[223] and "laugh-skimpy".[224] Following the film's release, fans "began to turn away from the show," causing online fansites to "[become] deserted".[218] Some believe the show's ratings decline as of 2012 correlates with the alleged decline in quality, and "whatever fan support [the show] enjoys is not enough" to save it from its ratings slide.[218]
In 2012, it was reported that the series' ratings were declining.[225][226] The average number of viewers aged 2 to 11 watching SpongeBob at any given time dropped 29% in the first quarter from a year earlier, according to Nielsen.[218] Wall Street Journal business writer John Jannarone suggested that the age of the series and oversaturation of the show might be contributing to the decline of the series' ratings, and might also be directly responsible for the decline in Nickelodeon's overall ratings.[227] Media analyst Todd Juenger directly attributes the decline in Nickelodeon's ratings to the availability of streaming video content on services like Netflix, a provider of on-demand Internet streaming media.[228]
Philippe Dauman, the president and CEO of Viacom, contradicted the notion, saying he did not think "the limited amount of Nick library content on Netflix ... has had a significant impact".[229][230] A Nickelodeon spokesman said SpongeBob is performing consistently well and remains the number one rated animated series in all of children's television.[227] He added, "There is nothing that we have seen that points to SpongeBob as a problem".[227] Dauman blamed the drop on "some ratings systemic issues" at Nielsen, citing extensive set-top-box data that "does in no way reflect" the Nielsen data.[231]
Juenger noted that SpongeBob could affect the ratings of other Nickelodeon programming because children often change channels to find their favorite programs, then stay tuned into that network.[227] Nickelodeon recently reduced its exposure in television. In the first quarter of 2012, the network cut back on the number of episodes it aired by 16% compared with a year earlier.[227]
On April 22, 2013, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings announced their intentions not to renew their existing deal with Viacom.[232] Since then, Viacom's deal with Netflix expired, and shows such as SpongeBob and Dora the Explorer were removed.[233] On June 4, 2013, Viacom announced a multi-year licensing agreement which would move its programs, such as SpongeBob and Dora the Explorer, to Amazon.com, Netflix's top competitor.[234][235] Amazon agreed to pay more than $200 million to Viacom for the license, its largest subscription streaming transaction ever.[236][237]
Other media
Further information: List of SpongeBob SquarePants merchandise
Comic books
In February 2011, creator Hillenburg first announced the release of the 32-page bimonthly comic book series, SpongeBob Comics, based on the show.[238][239] The release marked the first time Hillenburg authored his own books. He said, "I'm hoping that fans will enjoy finally having a SpongeBob comic book from me".[238][239] The comic book series is published by Hillenburg's production company, United Plankton Pictures, and distributed by Bongo Comics Group.[238][239] Although the characters of the show had previously appeared in Nickelodeon Magazine and in Cine-Manga, the first issue of SpongeBob Comics marked the first time the characters have appeared in their own comic books in the United States.[238][239] Hillenburg described the stories from the comic books as "original and always true to the humor, characters, and universe of the SpongeBob SquarePants series".[238][239]
Chris Duffy, the former senior editor of Nickelodeon Magazine, serves as managing editor of SpongeBob Comics.[238][239] Hillenburg and Duffy met with various comic book writers and artists—including James Kochalka, Hilary Barta, Graham Annable, Gregg Schigiel, and Jacob Chabot—to contribute to each issues.[238][239] Retired horror comics writer and artist Stephen R. Bissette returned to write a special Halloween issue in 2012, with Tony Millionaire and Al Jaffee.[240] In an interview with Tom Spurgeon, Bissette said, "I've even broken my retirement to do one work-for-hire gig [for SpongeBob Comics] so I could share everything about that kind of current job".[241]
In the United Kingdom, Titan Magazines publishes comics based on SpongeBob SquarePants every four weeks. These comics were first published on February 3, 2005.[242] Titan Magazines teamed-up with Lego to release a limited edition SpongeBob-themed comic.[243]
Films
Main articles: The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water
Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies produced The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, an animated film adaptation of the series that was released on November 19, 2004.[244] The film was directed by creator Stephen Hillenburg, and was written by long-time show writers comprising Hillenburg, Derek Drymon, Tim Hill, Kent Osborne, Aaron Springer, and Paul Tibbitt. Hillenburg and Julia Pistor produced the film, while the film score was composed by Gregor Narholz.[245][246][247] The film is about Plankton's evil plan to steal King Neptune's crown and send it to Shell City. SpongeBob and Patrick must retrieve it and save Mr. Krabs' life from Neptune's raft and their home, Bikini Bottom, from Plankton's plan. The film features guest appearances by Jeffrey Tambor as King Neptune, Scarlett Johansson as the King's daughter Mindy, Alec Baldwin as Dennis, and David Hasselhoff as himself.[248] It received positive critical reception,[249][250] and grossed over $140 million worldwide.[251]
A sequel to the 2004 film is currently in production and is expected to be released in theaters on February 6, 2015.[252] The series' main cast members are set to reprise their roles,[253] and will be traditionally animated in the manner of the series and its predecessor.[254][255] The film would have a budget similar to the previous film and would not cost more than $100 million to produce.[256][257][258]
Music
Collections of original music featured in the show have been released on the albums SpongeBob SquarePants: Original Theme Highlights (2001), SpongeBob's Greatest Hits (2009), and The Yellow Album (2005). The first two charted on the US Billboard 200, reaching number 171 and 122, respectively.[259][260] Several songs have been recorded with the purpose of a single or album release, and have not been featured on the show. For example, the song "My Tidy Whities" written by Tom Kenny and Andy Paley was released only for the album The Best Day Ever (2006). Kenny's inspiration for the song was "underwear humor".[261] Kenny said, "Underwear humor is always a surefire laugh-getter with kids ... Just seeing a character that odd wearing really prosaic, normal, Kmart, three-to-a-pack underwear is a funny drawing ... We thought it was funny to make a really lush, beautiful love song to his underwear".[261] The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie – Music from the Movie and More..., a soundtrack album featuring the score of The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, was released along with the feature-length film in November 2004. Various artists including the Flaming Lips,[262] Wilco,[263] Ween,[264] Motörhead,[264] the Shins,[265] and Avril Lavigne[266] contributed to the soundtrack that reached number 76 on the US Billboard 200.[267]
Theme park rides
Main articles: SpongeBob SquarePants 4-D and SpongeBob SquarePants Rock Bottom Plunge



SpongeBob SquarePants Rock Bottom Plunge ride at the Mall of America.
SpongeBob SquarePants 4-D film and ride opened in various locations, including Six Flags Over Texas, Flamingo Land Resort, and the Shedd Aquarium.[268] The ride features water squirts, real bubbles, and other sensory enhancements. In 2012, Nickelodeon teamed up again with SimEx-Iwerks Entertainment and Super 78 to produce SpongeBob SquarePants 4-D: The Great Jelly Rescue.[269] The attraction opened in early 2013 at the Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration.[270] The attraction was also released at the Nickelodeon Suites Resort Orlando in Orlando, Florida.[271][272][273] The seven-minute film follows SpongeBob, Patrick and Sandy to their old hijinks while rescuing the jellyfish of Jellyfish Fields from Plankton's evil clutches.[270]
SpongeBob SquarePants appears at the Mall of America's Nickelodeon theme park re-branded from the Mall of America's Park at MOA, formerly Camp Snoopy, to Nickelodeon Universe in the Minneapolis-St. Paul suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. The new theme park features a SpongeBob-themed Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter custom roller coaster, the SpongeBob SquarePants Rock Bottom Plunge, which has replaced the Mystery Mine Ride and Olde Time Photo store on the west end of the theme park, which opened March 15, 2008.[274][275]
Video games
Numerous video games based on the show have been produced. Some of the early games include Legend of the Lost Spatula (2001)[276] and SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom (2003).[277] The 2003 video game was added to the Greatest Hits by Sony.[278][279] It also served as the engine basis for a video game based on the The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. Heavy Iron Studios, the game's developers, tweaked the graphics to give the game a sharper and more imaginative look than that of Battle for Bikini Bottom. They also increased the polygon count, added several racing levels, and incorporated many of the creatures seen in the film.[280] In 2013, Nickelodeon published and distributed SpongeBob Moves In, a freemium city-building game app developed by Kung Fu Factory for iOS.[281][282][283][284]
SpongeBob SquareShorts
Nickelodeon launched the first global SpongeBob SquarePants-themed short film competition, SpongeBob SquareShorts: Original Fan Tributes, in 2013.[285][286] The contest encourages fans and filmmakers around the world to create original short films inspired by SpongeBob for a chance to win a prize and a trip for four people to a screening event in Hollywood. The contest opened on May 6 and ran through June 28, 2013.[287][288] On July 19, 2013, Nickelodeon announced the finalists for the competition,[289][290][291] and, on August 13, 2013, the "under 18 years of age" category was won by David of the United States for his "The Krabby Commercial," while the "Finally Home" short by Nicole of South Africa won the "18 and over" category.[292]
Merchandise
Further information: List of SpongeBob SquarePants merchandise
The popularity of SpongeBob SquarePants inspired merchandise from T-shirts to posters.[34] It was reported that the franchise generated an estimated $8 billion merchandising revenue for Nickelodeon.[147] It is also the most distributed property of MTV Networks.[264] SpongeBob is viewed in 170 countries speaking 24 languages, and has also become "a killer merchandising app".[293] The title character and his friends have been used as a theme for special editions of well-known family board games, including Monopoly,[294] Life,[295] and Operation,[296] as well as a SpongeBob SquarePants edition of Ants in the Pants,[297] and Yahtzee.[298]
In 2001, SpongeBob SquarePants signed a marketing deal with Target Corporation and Burger King, expanding its merchandising.[144] The popularity of SpongeBob has translated well into sales figures. In 2002, SpongeBob SquarePants dolls sold at a rate of 75,000 per week, which was faster than Tickle Me Elmo dolls were selling at the time.[299] SpongeBob has gained popularity in Japan, specifically with Japanese women. Nickelodeon's parent company Viacom purposefully targeted marketing at women in the country. Skeptics initially doubted that SpongeBob could be popular in Japan, as the character's design is very different from already popular designs for Hello Kitty and Pikachu.[300] Ratings and merchandise sales showed SpongeBob SquarePants has caught on with parents and with college audiences.[301] In a recent promotion, college-oriented website Music.com gave away 80,000 SpongeBob T-shirts, four times more than during a similar promotion for Comedy Central's South Park.[301]
Kids' meal tie-ins have been released in snacks and fast food restaurants in many different parts of the world, including Burger King in Europe and North America, as well as Wendy's in North America, and Hungry Jack's in Australia. A McDonald's Happy Meal tie-in with SpongeBob-themed Happy Meal boxes and toys was released in Europe and other international markets in the summer of 2007.[302] In Australia, the advertisement for the McDonald's SpongeBob Happy Meal won the Pester Power Award because the ads are entice young children to want its food because of the free toy.[303] As a tie-in beverage for the DVD release of The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, 7-Eleven released the limited edition "Under-the-Sea Pineapple Slurpee" in March 2004.[304] Pirate's Booty released limited edition SpongeBob SquarePants Pirate's Booty snacks in 2013.[305][306]
In 2007, high-end SpongeBob-themed electronics have been introduced by Imation Electronics Products under the Npower brand, including MP3 players, digital cameras, a DVD player, and a flatscreen television.[307] Pictures of SpongeBob SquarePants also began to appear on the labels of 8 oz. cans of Green Giant cut green beans and frozen packages of Green Giant green beans and butter sauce, which featured free stickers in 2007 as part of an initiative to encourage kids to eat their vegetables.[308] The Simmons Jewelry Co. released a $75,000 diamond pendant as part of a SpongeBob collection.[184][309] In New Zealand, the UK-based Beechdean Group unveiled the SpongeBob SquarePants Vanilla Ice Cream character product as part of a licence deal with Nickelodeon.[310] NZ Drinks launched the SpongeBob SquarePants bottled water.[311]
Build-A-Bear Workshop introduced the new SpongeBob SqaurePants collection in stores and online in North America on May 17, 2013.[312][313][314] Shoppers can dress their SpongeBob and Patrick plush in a variety of clothing and accessories. Sandy Cheeks and Gary the Snail are also available as pre-stuffed minis.[315] Build-A-Bear Workshop stores nationwide celebrated the arrival of SpongeBob with a series of special events from May 17 through May 19.[316]
On July 13, 2013, Toyota, with Nickelodeon, unveiled a SpongeBob-inspired Toyota Highlander.[317] The 2014 Toyota Highlander was launched on SpongeBob Day at the San Diego's Giants v. Padres game.[318][319][320] The SpongeBob Toyota Highlander visited seven U.S. locations during its release, including the Nickelodeon Suites Resort Orlando in Florida.[321]
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Works cited
Banks, Steven (September 24, 2004). SpongeBob Exposed! The Insider's Guide to SpongeBob SquarePants. Schigiel, Gregg (Illustrator). Simon Spotlight/Nickelodeon. ISBN 978-0-689-86870-2.
Neuwirth, Allan (2003). Makin' Toons: Inside the Most Popular Animated TV Shows and Movies. Allworth Communications, Inc. pp. 50, 252–253. ISBN 1-58115-269-8.
Lenburg, Jeff (2006). Who's Who in Animated Cartoons: An International Guide to Film & Television's Award Winning and Legendary Animators. Hal Leonard. ISBN 1-55783-671-X.
External links
Book icon Book: SpongeBob SquarePants
Book: Nicktoons


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SpongeBob SquarePants (character)
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SpongeBob SquarePants
SpongeBob SquarePants character
SpongeBob SquarePants
SpongeBob SquarePants

First appearance
"Help Wanted" (1999)
Created by
Stephen Hillenburg
Voiced by
Tom Kenny
Information

Species
Sea sponge
Gender
Male
Occupation
Fry cook
Relatives
Parents: Harold and Margaret SquarePants[1]
Grandparents: Grandpa[2] and Grandma SquarePants[3]
Uncles: Sherm[4] and Cap'n Blue[5]
Cousins: Todd,[6] Stanley[4] and BlackJack[5]
Grandchildren: Unnamed grandson[7]
Ancestors: Primitive Sponge[8]
 SpongeGar[9]
 SpongeBuck SquarePants[10]

SpongeBob SquarePants is the titular character and protagonist of the American animated television series of the same name. He is voiced by actor and comedian Tom Kenny, and first appeared on television in the series' pilot episode "Help Wanted" on May 1, 1999.
SpongeBob SquarePants was created and designed by cartoonist and marine biologist Stephen Hillenburg shortly after the cancellation of Rocko's Modern Life in 1996. Hillenburg intended to create a series about an over-optimistic sponge that annoys other characters. Hillenburg compared the concept to Laurel and Hardy and Pee-wee Herman. As he drew the character, he decided that a "squeaky-clean square" (like a kitchen sponge) fits the concept. His name is derived from "Bob the Sponge", the host of Hillenburg's comic strip The Intertidal Zone that he originally drew in the 1980s while teaching marine biology to visitors of the Ocean Institute. SpongeBob is a naïve and goofy sea sponge who works as a fry cook in the fictional underwater town of Bikini Bottom.
The character has received positive critical response from media critics and achieved popularity with both children and adults, though he has been involved in public controversy.[11] SpongeBob appeared in a We Are Family Foundation video promoting tolerance, which was criticized by James Dobson of Focus on the Family because of the foundation's link to homosexuality.


Contents  [hide]
1 Role in SpongeBob SquarePants
2 Character 2.1 Conception
2.2 Creation and design
2.3 Voice
3 Reception 3.1 Critical reception
3.2 Criticism and controversy
3.3 Cultural impact
4 Merchandising
5 References
6 External links

Role in SpongeBob SquarePants
SpongeBob is depicted as being an optimistic, cheerful, naïve, enthusiastic yellow sea sponge residing in the undersea city of Bikini Bottom alongside an array of anthropomorphic aquatic creatures. He works as a fry cook at a local fast food restaurant, the Krusty Krab, to which he is obsessively attached.[12] At work, SpongeBob answers to Eugene Krabs, a greedy, miserly crab who shows SpongeBob favor,[13] alongside his ill-tempered, hateful, snobbish next door neighbor Squidward Tentacles. His favorite hobbies include his occupation, jelly-fishing, karate (albeit at an elementary level, with Sandy Cheeks as his sensei),[14] relentless fandom of superheroes Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy, and blowing bubbles.[15]
He is often seen clowning around with his best friend Patrick, who lives on the same street as SpongeBob two doors down. However, SpongeBob's varying intelligence, unlimited optimistic cheer, and irritating behavior often leads him to perceive the outcome of numerous endeavors and the personalities of those around him as happier and sunnier than they often actually are; for instance, he believes that Squidward enjoys his company in spite of the fact that he clearly loathes him.[16] A recurring gag in several episodes is SpongeBob's extremely poor "boating" (driving) ability and his repeated failures to pass his road test at Mrs. Puff's Boating School.[17] He lives in an iconic pineapple with his pet snail Gary.
Character
Conception



 Bob the Sponge, the host of The Intertidal Zone
Stephen Hillenburg first became fascinated with the ocean as a child. Also at a young age, he began developing his artistic abilities. During college, he majored in marine biology and minored in art. He planned to return to college eventually to pursue a master's degree 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.[18][19] While he was there, he initially had the idea that would lead to the creation of SpongeBob SquarePants: a comic book titled The Intertidal Zone. The host of the comic was "Bob the Sponge" who, unlike SpongeBob, resembled an actual sea sponge.[20] In 1987, Hillenburg left the institute to pursue an animation career.[20][21]
A few years after studying experimental animation at the California Institute of the Arts,[21] Hillenburg met Joe Murray, the creator of Rocko's Modern Life, at an animation festival, and was offered a job as a director of the series.[20][22][23][24] While working on the series, Hillenburg met writer Martin Olson, who saw his previous comic The Intertidal Zone.[19] Olson liked the idea and suggested Hillenburg to create a series of marine animals. Hillenburg said, "a show ... I hadn't even thought about making a show ... and it wasn't my show".[19] It spurred his decision to create SpongeBob SquarePants and said, "It was the inspiration for the show".[19]
Rocko's Modern Life ended in 1996.[25] Shortly afterwards, Hillenburg began working on SpongeBob SquarePants. For the show characters, Hillenburg started drawing and took some of the characters from his comic—like starfish, crab, and sponge.[19] At the time, Hillenburg knew that "everybody was doing buddy shows"—like The Ren & Stimpy Show—and thought that "I can't do a buddy show," so he decided to do a "one character" show instead.[19] He conceived a sponge as the title character because, according to him, it is "the wierdest animal."[20] Hillenburg derived the character's name from Bob the Sponge, the host of his comic strip The Intertidal Zone, after changing it from SpongeBoy due to trademark issues.[20][26]
Creation and design



 An early drawing of the character by Hillenburg with the original name.
Hillenburg had made several "horrible impersonations" before he finally conceived his character.[27] Hillenburg compared the concept to Laurel and Hardy and Pee-wee Herman.[20] He said "I think SpongeBob [was] born out of my love of Laurel and Hardy shorts. You've got that kind of idiot-buddy situation – that was a huge influence. SpongeBob was inspired by that kind of character: the Innocent – a la Stan Laurel.[27]
The first concept sketch portrayed the character as wearing a red hat with a green base and a white business shirt with a tie. SpongeBob's look gradually progressed to brown pants that was used in the final design.[26] SpongeBob was designed to be a child-like character who was goofy and optimistic in a style similar to that made famous by Jerry Lewis.[28]
Originally the character was to be named SpongeBoy but this name was already in use.[26] This was discovered after voice acting for the original seven-minute pilot was recorded in 1997. The Nickelodeon legal department discovered that the name was already in use for a mop product.[29] Upon finding this out, Hillenburg decided that the character's given name still had to contain "Sponge" so viewers would not mistake the character for a "Cheese Man." Hillenburg decided to use the name "SpongeBob." He chose "SquarePants" as a family name as it referred to the character's square shape and it had a "nice ring to it".[30]
Although SpongeBob's driver's license says his birthdate is July 14, 1986,[31] Hillenburg joked that he is fifty in "sponge years". He explained that SpongeBob actually has no specific age, but that he is old enough to be on his own and still be going to boating school.[26] The decision to have SpongeBob attend a boat driving school was made due to a request from Nickelodeon that the character attend a school.[32]
Voice



Tom Kenny provides the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants.
SpongeBob is voiced by veteran voice actor Tom Kenny. Kenny previously worked with Hillenburg on Rocko's Modern Life, and when Hillenburg created SpongeBob SquarePants, he approached Kenny to voice the character.[33] Hillenburg utilised Kenny's and other people's personalities to help create the personality of SpongeBob.[29]
The voice of SpongeBob was originally used by Kenny for a very minor female alligator character named Al in Rocko's Modern Life. Kenny forgot the voice initially as he created it only for that single use. Hillenburg, however, remembered it when he was coming up with SpongeBob and used a video clip of the episode to remind Kenny of the voice.[29] When Hillenburg heard Kenny do the voice, he said, "That's it—I don't want to hear anybody else do the voice. We've got SpongeBob."[34] He said that to Nickelodeon; however, the network said, "Well, let's just listen to 100 more people." Kenny said, "But one of the advantages of having a strong creator is that the creator can say, 'No, I like that—I don't care about celebrities.'"[34] Kenny says that SpongeBob's high pitched laugh was specifically aimed at being unique, stating that they wanted an annoying laugh in the tradition of Popeye and Woody Woodpecker.[35]
SpongeBob's voice evolved from "low-key" to high-pitched. Kenny said, "I hear the change. I hear it. It's mostly a question of pitch."[34] He said that "It's unconscious on my part" because "I don't wake up and think, 'Hmm, I'm going to change SpongeBob's voice today, just for the hell of it." He described it that "It's like erosion: a very slow process. As time goes on, you need to bring him to different places and more places, the more stories and scripts you do."[34] Contrasting first season episodes to those of the seventh season, Kenny said that "there's a bit of a change [in voice], but I don't think it's that extreme at all."[34]
When SpongeBob SquarePants is broadcast in non-English languages, the voice actors dubbing SpongeBob's voice use Tom Kenny's rendition of the character as a starting point but also add unique elements. For example, in the French version of the series, SpongeBob speaks with a slight Daffy Duck-style lisp.[29]
Reception
Critical reception
Throughout the run of SpongeBob SquarePants, the SpongeBob character has become popular with both children and adults. In June 2010, Entertainment Weekly named him one of the "100 Greatest Characters of the Last 20 Years".[36] TV Guide listed SpongeBob SquarePants No. 9 on its "50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time" list.[37] However, not all critical reception for the character has been positive. AskMen's "Top 10: Irritating '90s Cartoon Characters" ranked SpongeBob No. 4, saying that his well-meaning attitude is extremely annoying.[38]
James Poniewozik of Time magazine considered the character as "the anti-Bart Simpson, temperamentally and physically: his head is as squared-off and neat as Bart's is unruly, and he has a personality to match–conscientious, optimistic and blind to the faults in the world and those around him".[39] The New York Times critic Joyce Millman said, "His relentless good cheer would be irritating if he weren't so darned lovable and his world so excellently strange ... Like Pee-wee's Playhouse, SpongeBob joyfully dances on the fine line between childhood and adulthood, guilelessness and camp, the warped and the sweet".[40] Robert Thompson, a professor of communications and director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University, told The New York Times, "There is something kind of unique about [SpongeBob]. It seems to be a refreshing breath from the pre-irony era. There's no sense of the elbow-in-rib, tongue-in-cheek aesthetic that so permeates the rest of American culture–including kids' shows like the Rugrats. I think what's subversive about it is it's so incredibly naive–deliberately. Because there's nothing in it that's trying to be hip or cool or anything else, hipness can be grafted onto it".[41]
In a 2007 interview with TV Guide, Barack Obama named SpongeBob his favorite character, and admitted that SpongeBob SquarePants was "the show I watch with my daughters".[42][43][44] British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has also said he watches the show with his children.[45]
Criticism and controversy



 Conservative groups, most notably James Dobson's (pictured) Focus on the Family, accused a video featuring SpongeBob homosexuality propaganda.
In 2005, a promotional video which showed SpongeBob along with other characters from children's shows singing together to promote diversity and tolerance,[46] was criticized by a Christian evangelical group in the United States because they saw the character SpongeBob being used as an advocate for homosexuality though the video contained "no reference to sex, sexual lifestyle or sexual identity."[47][48] James Dobson of Focus on the Family accused the makers of the video of promoting homosexuality due to a gay rights group sponsoring the video.[48]
The incident led to questions as to whether or not SpongeBob is a homosexual character. In 2002, when SpongeBob's popularity with gay men grew, Hillenburg denied that SpongeBob was gay. He clarified that he considers the character to be "almost asexual;"[49][50] he has been shown in various episodes to regenerate his limbs and reproduce by "budding", much like real sponges do.[51] After Dobson's comments, Hillenburg repeated this assertion that sexual preference was never considered during the creation of the show.[52] Tom Kenny and other production members were shocked and surprised that such an issue had arisen.[29]
Dobson later stated that his comments were taken out of context and that his original complaints were not with SpongeBob or any of the characters in the video but with the organization that sponsored the video, the We Are Family Foundation. Dobson noted that the foundation had posted pro-homosexual material on its website, but later removed it.[53] After the controversy, John H. Thomas, the United Church of Christ's general minister and president, said they would welcome SpongeBob into their ministry. He said "Jesus didn't turn people away. Neither do we".[54]
Jeffrey P. Dennis, author of the journal article "The Same Thing We Do Every Night: Signifying Same-Sex Desire in Television Cartoons", argued that SpongeBob and Sandy are not romantically in love, while adding that he believed that SpongeBob and Patrick "are paired with arguably erotic intensity." Dennis noted the two are "not consistently coded as romantic partners," since they live in separate residences, and have distinct groups of friends, but claimed that in the series, "the possibility of same-sex desire is never excluded."[55] Martin Goodman of Animation World Magazine described Dennis's comments regarding SpongeBob and Patrick as "interesting."[56]
In April 2009, in a tie-in partnership with Burger King and Nickelodeon, Burger King released an advertisement featuring SpongeBob and Sir Mix-a-Lot singing "Baby Got Back".[57] Angry parents and the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood protested the ad for being sexist and inappropriately sexual, especially considering that SpongeBob's fan base includes pre-schoolers.[58] Susan Linn, the director of the Campaign for Commercial-Free Childhood said "It's bad enough when companies use a beloved media character like SpongeBob to promote junk food to children, but it's utterly reprehensible when that character simultaneously promotes objectified, sexualized images of women."[59][60] In an official statement released by Burger King, they claimed that "this campaign is aimed at parents."[61]
Cultural impact
Throughout the run of SpongeBob SquarePants, the SpongeBob character has become very popular with children, teens, and adults. The character's popularity has spread from Nickelodeon's original demographic of two- to eleven-year-olds, to teenagers and adults,[62] including college campuses and celebrities such as Sigourney Weaver and Bruce Willis.[63] Salon.com indicates that the unadulterated innocence of SpongeBob is what makes the character so appealing.[64] SpongeBob has also become popular with gay men, despite Stephen Hillenburg saying that none of the characters are homosexual. The character draws fans due to his flamboyant lifestyle and tolerant attitude.[65]
In July 2009, the Madame Tussauds wax museum in New York launched a wax sculpture of SpongeBob.[66][67] SpongeBob is the first fictional character to be featured in Tussauds.[68][69] In May 2011, a new species of mushroom, Spongiforma squarepantsii, was described in the journal Mycologia. The mushroom was named after the famous cartoon character.[70] The authors note that the hymenium, when viewed with scanning electron microscopy, somewhat resembles a "seafloor covered with tube sponges, reminiscent of the fictitious home of SpongeBob."[70] Although the epithet was originally rejected by the editors of Mycologia as "too frivolous", the authors insisted that "we could name it whatever we liked."[71]
The character has also became a fashion trend. In 2008, American fashion designer Marc Jacobs donned a SpongeBob tattoo on his right arm. He explained that "Well, I just worked with Richard Prince on the collaboration for Louis Vuitton and Richard has done a series of paintings of SpongeBob. He had brought up in our conversation how he saw the artistic value of SpongeBob as the cartoon and I kind of liked it, so I did it." He further added that "It's funny."[72] The tattoo was described by blogger and TV personality Perez Hilton as one of the "Worst Celebrity Tattoos".[73] In the same year, A Bathing Ape released SpongeBob-themed shoes.[74][75] Singer Pharrell Williams backed a line of SpongeBob T-shirts and shoes targeted at hip adults.[68][76] In 2014, the character was among the popular culture icons referenced by American fashion designer Jeremy Scott in his Moschino debut collection at the Milan Fashion Week.[77][78]
In Egypt's Tahrir Square, after the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, SpongeBob became a fashion phenomenon, appearing on various items of merchandise from hijabs to boxer shorts.[79][80][81] The phenomenon led to the creation of the Tumblr project called "SpongeBob on the Nile". The project was founded by American students Andrew Leber and Elisabeth Jaquette, and attempts to document every appearance of SpongeBob in Egypt.[82] Sherief Elkeshta cited the phenomenon in an essay about the incoherent state of politics in Egypt in an independent monthly paper titled Midan Masr. He wrote, "Why isn't he [SpongeBob] at least holding a Molotov cocktail? Or raising a fist?"[83] The phenomenon has even spread to Libya, where a Libyan rebel in SpongeBob dress was photographed celebrating the revolution.[84]
Merchandising
The popularity of SpongeBob translated well into sales figures. In 2002, SpongeBob SquarePants dolls sold at a rate of 75,000 per week, which was faster than Tickle Me Elmo dolls were selling at the time.[28] SpongeBob has gained popularity in Japan, specifically with Japanese women. Nickelodeon's parent company Viacom purposefully targeted marketing at women in the country as a method of building the SpongeBob SquarePants brand. Skeptics initially doubted that SpongeBob could be popular in Japan as the character's design is very different from already popular designs for Hello Kitty and Pikachu.[85] The character also spawned a soap-filled sponge product manufactured by SpongeTech.[86]
In early 2009, the Simmons Jewelry Co. released a $75,000 diamond pendant as part of a SpongeBob collection.[68][87]
On May 17, 2013, Build-A-Bear Workshop introduced the new SpongeBob SqaurePants collection in stores and online in North America.[88][89] "For the first time ever, Build-A-Bear Workshop Guests can finally take home the underwater fun of SpongeBob SquarePants and his friends," said Maxine Clark, Build-A-Bear Workshop founder and chief executive. "We are excited to be working with Nickelodeon to bring this iconic series and its lovable characters to life at Build-A-Bear Workshop."[90] Shoppers can dress their SpongeBob and Patrick plush in a variety of clothing and accessories. Sandy Cheeks and Gary the Snail are also available as pre-stuffed minis.[91] Build-A-Bear Workshop stores nationwide celebrated the arrival of SpongeBob with a series of special events from May 17 through May 19.[92]
SpongeBob also inspired vehicle designs. On July 13, 2013, Toyota, with Nickelodeon, unveiled a SpongeBob-inspired Toyota Highlander.[93] The 2014 Toyota Highlander as launched at the SpongeBob Day at San Diego's Giants v. Padres game.[94][95][96] The SpongeBob Toyota Highlander visited seven U.S. locations during its release, including the Nickelodeon Suites Resort Orlando in Florida.[97]
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External links

Portal icon SpongeBob SquarePants portal
Portal icon Nickelodeon portal
Portal icon Fictional characters portal
SpongeBob SquarePants at the Internet Movie Database
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SpongeBob SquarePants


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"Help Wanted" ·
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 "Sailor Mouth" ·
 "Chocolate with Nuts" ·
 "The Sponge Who Could Fly" ·
 "Have You Seen This Snail?" ·
 "Dunces and Dragons" ·
 "Best Day Ever" ·
 "Friend or Foe" ·
 "Atlantis SquarePantis" ·
 "Pest of the West" ·
 "WhoBob WhatPants?" ·
 "SpongeBob SquarePants vs. The Big One" ·
 "To SquarePants or Not to SquarePants" ·
 "Truth or Square" ·
 "The Clash of Triton" ·
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 United Plankton Pictures ·
 Rocko's Modern Life ·
 Spongiforma squarepantsii
 

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Categories: Anthropomorphic martial artists
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Fictional characters introduced in 1999
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Fictional undersea characters
Fictional invertebrates
Fictional karateka
Nicktoon characters
SpongeBob SquarePants characters
Film characters








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This page was last modified on 22 July 2014 at 12:57.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpongeBob_SquarePants_(character)