SpongeBob SquarePants

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This article is about the series. For the title character, see SpongeBob SquarePants (character). For other uses, see SpongeBob SquarePants (disambiguation).

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SpongeBob SquarePants
Image:SpongeBob SquarePants.gif
Clockwise from top left: Sandy Cheeks, SpongeBob SquarePants, Patrick Star, Mr. Krabs, Squidward Tentacles, and Sheldon Plankton
Genre Animated comedy
Creator(s) Stephen Hillenburg
Starring Tom Kenny
Bill Fagerbakke
Rodger Bumpass
Carolyn Lawrence
Clancy Brown
Lori Alan
Mary Jo Catlett
Doug Lawrence
Dee Bradley Baker
Sirena Irwin
Jill Talley
Country of origin Flag of United States United States
No. of episodes 81½ (List of episodes)
Production
Running time 30/11 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel Nickelodeon
Original run May 1, 1999 – present
Links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary
Common rating
Australia G
Canada G (formerly C)
Germany o. A.
Great Britain U (Universal for all) (some episodes), PG(Parental Guidance) (some episodes)
Japan U
New Zealand G
Philippines G
United States TV-Y7 (most episodes)

SpongeBob SquarePants is an American animated television series and media franchise. It is one of Nickelodeon's "Nicktoons."

Although its original network is Nickelodeon, SpongeBob is now broadcast across the world (see International Following for more details). It was created by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg and is produced through his production company, United Plankton Pictures Inc. The series is set in the Pacific Ocean, in the city of Bikini Bottom and the surrounding lagoon floor. The pilot episode first aired in the United States on Nickelodeon after the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards on May 1, 1999. The "official" series premiere followed on July 17, 1999 with the second episode, "Bubblestand/Ripped Pants."

Contents

Setting

Main article: Bikini Bottom

SpongeBob SquarePants is a sponge who lives in a Pineapple, while his octopus[1] neighbor Squidward Tentacles lives in a moai head. SpongeBob's other neighbor and best friend (on the other side of Squidward), is a pink starfish named Patrick , who lives under a rock. Squidward always gets annoyed when SpongeBob and Patrick bother him.

SpongeBob's house-pet is a snail named Gary, whose "meow" is similar to a cat. Although Gary only speaks in a few episodes, the characters have shown an ability to understand him. In addition to this, underwater worms bark exactly like dogs, and are kept on chains. Jellyfish are the equivalent of Bees; buzzing, stinging with poison although appears to be an electric shock, and producing delicious "jelly", mocking the name "jellyfish", while still referencing a bee's honey. Fish act as the citizens of the community but, as a rule, are not important characters.

SpongeBob works as a fry cook at the Krusty Krab, a hamburger fast-food restaurant, with Squidward Tentacles who is the cashier. The Krusty Krab is owned by Eugene Krabs, also known as Mr. Krabs. Sheldon J. Plankton (commonly referred to as "Plankton") is Mr. Krabs' arch enemy who owns a low-rank fast-food restaurant called The Chum Bucket across the street which has never had a customer, and he spends most of his time plotting to steal the recipe for Mr. Krabs's popular Krabby Patty burgers. Only in the movie does he succeed; the formula is never actually revealed to the audience. Plankton's computer wife, Karen, alternately helps him in his schemes or bickers with him.

Sandy Cheeks is another friend of SpongeBob. She is a squirrel that lives in an underwater dome in Bikini Bottom. She was sent there by her bosses, chimpanzees. Sandy has a Texan accent and is from the state itself. When not inside her tree-dome, she wears an Astronaut Suit.

Instead of cars, the residents of Bikini Bottom drive boats. Once, while out in the wilderness, Patrick questions how they could have a camp fire on the lagoon bottom; the fire is immediately extinguished with a sizzle. A flurry of bubbles accompanies actions in many of the episodes, just to remind the viewer that everything is underwater. Ironically, when there is a body of water underwater a non-car boat must be used to cross it, because both SpongeBob and Patrick cannot swim.

Popularity

SpongeBob is the only cartoon to consistently make the Top 10 list in the Nielsen ratings, and is the first "low budget" Nickelodeon cartoon, according to the network, to become extremely popular. Low-budget cartoons had not garnered as much esteem as higher-rated (and higher-budgeted) shows, such as Rugrats, although when SpongeBob aired in 1999, it had gained a significant enough viewers in the ratings to be considered popular, eventually becoming more popular than Rugrats had ever been. SpongeBob follows other Nickelodeon shows that have attracted "older" followers: The Ren & Stimpy Show, Rocko's Modern Life, the Kablam! skits, Action League Now! and The Angry Beavers. Other shows have followed in this trend as well: Invader Zim and The Fairly OddParents won a similar fan base when they aired in 2001, and the latter is now second only to SpongeBob in popularity,[2] while the former attracted a cult following. The show debuted in 1999, and during that time, Pokémon was still the biggest craze. SpongeBob did not gain its popularity until around 2000, and it has remained popular since then. Its popularity is probably caused by its unique setting under water, which few other cartoons do.

Broad appeal

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Its popularity could also be due to its sophisticate and sometimes adult humour, which many fail to appreciate and again, other cartoons lack. The cartoon is designed to appeal to adults as well as children. This has a lot to do with the absurd way underwater life and situations are represented, and with the situations, references, and words used, which younger viewers might not understand. Certain innuendos also are intended to go over younger viewers' heads. For example, SpongeBob tried to show his grandma that he was a mature adult by wearing sideburns and a derby, and listening to 'free form jazz', jokes most children would not understand. Numerous marine biology in-jokes are woven into the show. There are often complex ironic scenarios that need close attention. Such as the episode "paper", Squidward throws away a piece of paper useless to him, Spongebob then reclaims the paper and considering it very valuable, insists on giving it back. Squidward refuses it, and Spongebob begins to play with it having great fun, making Squidward jealous. Craving the paper, although he earlier rejected it, he traded all of his possessions for it, later realizing what he had done. This makes Spongebob look as if he has done wrong when actually he was sensible at first as to treat as a valuable material, when Squidward, who comes across as much more mature, was being naive in assuming that it could not be used for anything.

SpongeBob is one cartoon in a long line of shows to put in more "adult" references, and has become so popular with teenagers and adults that the series was broadcasted on MTV and featured on Spike TV. A quote by Patrick ("It's gonna rock!" from the episode Mid-Life Crustacean) has been used as a promotional tag-line for rock stations. Ren and Stimpy, among others, had followed a similar path. The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, released on November 19, 2004, features a cameo appearance by actor David Hasselhoff, in a parody of his role from the Baywatch TV series. In the episode Krab Borg, SpongeBob makes notice of Mr. Krabs calling his radio player his "little buddy", with an accent similar to that of Tony Montana, the main character of the movie Scarface. Also, in the episode Bummer Vacation, Squidward calls for a "shell on a shingle", referencing a shit on a shingle.

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

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

Unlike the Nickelodeon network, SpongeBob features well-known independent musicians who contribute to its soundtrack. Alternative rock bands such as Wilco, The Shins, The Flaming Lips and Ween (who have contributed two original songs to the show and their 1997 song "Ocean Man" to the movie soundtrack), as well as metal bands Pantera, Motörhead and Twisted Sister have made appearances on the show and movies soundtracks, and heavy metal group Metallica even released a T-shirt featuring cartoon versions of themselves playing live with the characters SpongeBob and Patrick. British rock singer legend David Bowie announced that he will be a special guest on a future episode of SpongeBob SquarePants in 2009.[3]

Merchandising and Marketing

LEGO SpongeBob SquarePants
LEGO SpongeBob SquarePants

Merchandise based on the show ranges from Kraft Macaroni & Cheese and Kraft SuperMac & Cheese, Kellogg's cereal, and video games to boxer shorts, thongs, pajamas and t-shirts. A line of SpongeBob SquarePants was even produced. The show also spawned a large and popular merchandise line at Hot Topic, Claire's, RadioShack, Target, Wal-Mart and Toys "R" Us stores. There have been kids meal tie-ins at Wendy's for SpongeBob's House Party Special in 2002 and at Burger King restaurants in 2001, 2003, and for the movie in 2004. In 2006, another kids meal tie-in for Burger King was introduced for the Lost in Time special. SpongeBob was also featured on VH1's I Love the 90s: Part Deux: 1999 as part of a commentary by Michael Ian Black. A tie-in beverage for 7-Eleven convenience stores has been created, a pineapple-flavored Slurpee.

Events in the past with the SpongeBob SquarePants theme include an exhibit at Underwater Adventures Aquarium in the Mall of America called SeaCrits of Bikini Bottom during the summer of 2003. In October 2004, a NASCAR Busch Series race was named The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie 300, presented by Lowe's and broadcast on TNT featuring Jimmie Johnson's #48 Lowe's stock car and Kyle Busch's #5 stock car painted for the race with the SpongeBob Movie paint schemes. There were contests tied in with the movie where fans could win SpongeBob-related items or a trip to the Cayman Islands. The motion simulator/interactive movie ride "Escape from Dino-Island 3D" at Six Flags Over Texas was turned into "SpongeBob SquarePants 4-D", with water squirts, real bubbles, and other sensory enhancements. LEGO received license to produce SpongeBob SquarePants building sets, beginning to sell them in May 2006.

Other items featuring SpongeBob include a special edition Monopoly board game and Life board game as well as a SpongeBob SquarePants edition of Ants in the Pants and Yahtzee. SEGA Corporation introduced a ticket redemption game based on the show that has become popular with most video arcades.[4] The SpongeBob SquarePants market saturation has become something of a joke. In the comic strip "Sherman's Lagoon", Hawthorne the crab is showing off a small nuclear (Junior) reactor, and Herman the shark says "Boy, that SpongeBob will endorse anything!"

When the complete first season of SpongeBob SquarePants was released in the United Kingdom, it included some heavy editing (though not to the cartoons themselves). The audio commentaries were cut out, and only two extras were left in, possibly to avoid a 12 rating. A similar approach was taken with the second season; it included no audio commentaries and only one extra, Around the World with SpongeBob Squarepants.

History

Development (1993–1999)

SpongeBob's history can be traced back to 1993 when Rocko's Modern Life first aired. One of the producers was Stephen Hillenburg, a cartoon worker/marine biologist who loved both his careers. When Rocko's Modern Life was cancelled in 1996, Hillenburg began working on SpongeBob (although sketches trace back to 1987). He teamed up with creative director Derek Drymon, who had worked on shows such as Doug, Action League Now!, and Hey Arnold!. Drymon had worked with Hillenburg on Rocko's Modern Life as well, as did many SpongeBob crew members, including writer-directors Sherm Cohen and Dan Povenmire, writer Tim Hill, voice actors Tom Kenny and Doug Lawrence (aka "Mr. Lawrence"), actor-writer Martin Olson and animation director Alan Smart. Another crew member with previous Nickelodeon cartoon experience was former Angry Beavers story editor Merriwether Williams, who worked on that show for its first few seasons and switched to SpongeBob in July 1999.

During production of the show, Bobson provided a concept of short comics with the same style of the show, but the characters looked different. SpongeBob used to be named SpongeBoy,[5] and used to wear a red hat with a green base and a white business shirt with a tie. The name "SpongeBoy" did not make it into the show since the name was already officially trademarked by Bob Burden, creator of Flaming Carrot. Hillenburg later chose the alternative name "SpongeBob". The original name was once referenced in the show by Mr. Krabs' line, "SpongeBoy, me Bob!." The Krusty Krab was originally spelled with the letter C rather than K, but Stephen Hillenburg thought Ks were funnier and it would fit his Ukrainian heritage.

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

Peak years (2000–2003)

The first part of 2002 saw SpongeBob at its peak. The beginning of the third season produced many of classic episodes and focused on the same style and animation concepts.

Unfortunately things changed late in the year. Due to rumors of a movie, there was high speculation that the show would be canceled and that 2003/2004 would feature the last season of new episodes. Fans were devastated and online petitions were widely distributed to convince Nickelodeon to produce more episodes by showing continuing fan support. "SpongeBob Meets The Strangler/Pranks A Lot" was the last episode of this season, and aired in October 2004. It was also released on DVD at the end of 2003. Following this, the movie was released in November of that year.

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie poster.
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie poster.

Hiatus and movie era (2003–2005)

A hiatus from 2003 to 2005 challenged viewer loyalty, as only about 7 new episodes were shown while the previous two-year span, from 2003-2004, aired 20. This led to the program's lowest ratings ever, causing speculation that the show might even be cancelled after the feature's release.

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie achieved over $85,000,000 in revenue in the United States, considered to be under-expectations: People assumed that the show's popularity showed something of a decline at the time of its release. The Rugrats Movie, on the other hand, earned $100,494,685 in the United States. It was around this time that the animated series which it is based on, Rugrats, was at the height of its popularity. Interestingly, that movie would also be considered Rugrats' jump the shark moment by fans, while the SpongeBob movie was actually generally well received by fans who saw it.[citation needed]

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

Comeback (2005-Present)

The Fear of a Krabby Patty DVD.
The Fear of a Krabby Patty DVD.

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

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

The Star Online eCentral reported in December 2005 that Nickelodeon had ordered 20 more episodes, bringing the show’s total to 100.[6]

Spongebob SquarePants has been approved for a sixth season, which consists of thirteen episodes.[7]

In November 2005, Nickelodeon aired the special "Have You Seen This Snail?" and did not air new episodes until February 2006, when they showed the special "Dunces and Dragons". The show was sponsored by Burger King, and got 8.5 million viewers, one of the highest in SpongeBob's history. They then showed new episodes until June 2, 2006. On September 23, 2006 Nickelodeon began to air new episodes, which included "New Leaf", "Once Bitten" in September. SpongeBob also aired 2 October episodes and the November episodes include "The Best Day Ever", which featured a 24-hour marathon before its premiere. This drew 6.7 million viewers on November 9 along with "Wigstruck" (Originally October 20) and "That's No Lady," which aired late the same month. The new episodes in 2007 started airing on January 15 and, one of the first times in SpongeBob history, aired three new episodes back to back on February 19, 2007. It's announced in February 2007 that KISS rocker Gene Simmons will be voicing the Sea Monster in a new episode called "20,000 Patties Under The Sea", schedule to air in 2007. [1]

Cast

Guest appearances

Crew

Name Position Years
Steven Banks Head Writer 2004—present
Steven Belfer Music
Mike Bell Writer/Storyboard Director 2005—present
Peter Burns Writer 1999-
Nicholas Carr Music
Bradley Carow Music
Sherm Cohen Storyboard Supervisor/Artist, Writer, Director
Sean Dempsey Animation Director
Derek Drymon Writer 1999-
Storyboard Artist 1999-
Creative Director
Story Editor
Steven Fonti Writer/Storyboard Director 1999
C.H. Greenblatt Writer, Storyboard Artist, Director
Sage Guyton Music
Sam Henderson Writer, Storyboard Director
Tim Hill Writer
Stephen Hillenburg Creator 1999-
Executive Producer 1999-
Writer 1999-
Storyboard Director 1999-
Kaz Writer, Storyboard Artist
Chuck Klein Writer, Storyboard Artist & Director
Doug Lawrence (a.k.a. Mr. Lawrence) Writer, Story Editor
Jay Lender Writer, Storyboard Artist, Director
John Magness Storyboard Artist
Heather Martinez Storyboard Artist
Chris Mitchell Writer, Storyboard Artist 1999
Caleb Muerer Storyboard Artist
Mark O'Hare Writer, Storyboard Artist, Director
Andrew Overtoom Animation Director
Andy Rheingold Executive in Charge of Production
Ted Seko Storyboard Artist
Alan Smart Animation Director 1999-
Aaron Springer Writer/Storyboard Artist & Director
Jimmy Stone Animation Director
Paul Tibbitt Writer/Storyboard Director/Supervising Producer
Co-Executive Producer		 2004-present
2006-present
Brad Vandergrift Storyboard Artist
Jeremy Wakefield Music
Vincent Waller Writer/Storyboard Artist & Director/Technical Director (2005—)
Frank Weiss Animation Director
Erik Wiese Writer/Storyboard Artist
David Wigforss Special Effects (CG visual effects animator)
Merriwether Williams Story Editor/Writer
Tom Yasumi Animation Director
Oliver Truby Storyboard Artist Superviser

Awards

The following list shows the awards the show has won:

Annie Awards
Best Animated Television Production (2005)
Best Writing in an Animated Television Production (2006)
Kids' Choice Awards
Best Cartoon (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007)
Golden Reel Award
Best Sound Editing in Television Animation - Music (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003)
Best Sound Editing in Television Animation - Music (2000, 2003, 2004)
Television Critics Association Awards
Outstanding Achievement in Children's Programming (2002)

Episodes and media releases

Episodes:

Main article: List of SpongeBob SquarePants episodes

Film:

Shorts:

Music

Main article: Music of SpongeBob SquarePants

Magazine

In the United Kingdom, a SpongeBob SquarePants magazine is currently being published by Titan Magazines every four weeks. It was first published on February 3, 2005. The next issue was published on February 1, 2007 and was be the second anniversary of the magazine. The magazine contains comic strips, fan letters, competitions and several features.

Trivia

This article contains a trivia section.
Content in this section should be integrated into other appropriate areas of the article or removed, and the trivia section removed.
  • According to the book SpongeBob Exposed, series creator Stephen Hillenburg said that the policy of the show is to avoid referencing pop culture or current events. In order for the cartoon to be timeless, he even says that Bikini Bottom is isolated from the real world, being under the Pacific Ocean.[citation needed]
  • SpongeBob SquarePants was the first American cartoon to be broadcast in Iraq and Afghanistan after their US-led invasions.[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ Movie DVD Behind the scenes feature with Stephen Hillenburg explains that Squidward is an octopus.
  2. ^ www.allgame.com/cg/agg.dll?p=agg&sql=1:43920. Retrieved on January 22, 2007.
  3. ^ [http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/entertainment/stories.nsf/peopleinthenews/story/87ECF7AD42EF0 3BD862572050005F7E2?OpenDocument www.stltoday.com/stltoday/entertainment/stories.nsf/peopleinthenews/story...]. Retrieved on January 22, 2007.
  4. ^ www.segaarcade.com/pr/SpongeBob.asp. Retrieved on January 22, 2007.
  5. ^ "SpongeBob Exposed! The Insiders Guide to SpongeBob SquarePants" book
  6. ^ www.star-ecentral.com/news/story.asp?file=/2005/12/27/tvnradio/12578379&sec=tvnradio. Retrieved on January 22, 2007.
  7. ^ www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-mightybamypoehlerspongebobsixthseason,0,6061089.story?coll=zap-news-headlines. Retrieved on February 23, 2007.
  8. ^ www.stopglobalwarming.org/sgw_feature.asp?id=8. Retrieved on January 22, 2007.

External links

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  SpongeBob SquarePants
view • talk • edit
Episodes, shorts, and film: Episodes • The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie • Summer Splash • Astrology With Squidward • Patrick the Snowman • The Endless Summer • How The You-Know-Who Stole You-Know-What! • Plankton's Holiday Hits • A Random Act of SpongeBob • 12 Days of Nickmas • Best Day Ever Marathon
Cast and Crew: Stephen Hillenburg • Tom Kenny • Bill Fagerbakke • Rodger Bumpass • Carolyn Lawrence • Mr. Lawrence • Clancy Brown
Characters: SpongeBob • Patrick • Squidward • Mr. Krabs • Sandy • Gary • Plankton • Mrs. Puff • Pearl • The Flying Dutchman • Neptune & Mindy • Major characters
Bikini Bottom: List of Places • Places Beyond • Chum Bucket • Goo Lagoon • Krusty Krab • Mrs. Puff's Boating School
Media releases
Games: Battle for Bikini Bottom • Creature from the Krusty Krab • Employee of the Month • Legend of the Lost Spatula • Lights, Camera, Pants! • The Movie • Operation Krabby Patty • Revenge of the Flying Dutchman • SuperSponge • The Yellow Avenger • Bowling • Darts • Bikini Bottom Nightmare • Nicktoons Unite! • Nicktoons: Battle for Volcano Island • Freeze Frame Frenzy
Music: Original Theme Highlights • Movie Soundtrack • Yellow Album • Best Day Ever
Products: LEGO
Miscellaneous
Krabby Patty • Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy • Jellyfishing • International following • Running gags


Nicktoons
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Aaahh!!! Real Monsters • Action League NOW!: The Series • The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius • All Grown Up • The Angry Beavers • As Told by Ginger • Avatar: The Last Airbender • CatDog • Catscratch • ChalkZone • Danny Phantom • Doug • El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera • The Fairly OddParents • Hey Arnold! • Invader Zim • KaBlam! • Kappa Mikey • Mr. Meaty • My Life as a Teenage Robot • Nicktoons Film Festival • Oh Yeah! Cartoons • Pelswick • The Ren and Stimpy Show • Rocket Power • Rocko's Modern Life • Rugrats • SpongeBob SquarePants • The Wild Thornberrys • The X's

Upcoming Nicktoons
Back To The Barnyard • Diggs Tailwagger • Mighty B • Random! Cartoons • Tak and the Power of Juju • Wayside
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