SpongeBob SquarePants is an American animated television series and media franchise. It is currently Nickelodeon's highest rated show, the most distributed property of MTV Networks, and among Nicktoons Network's most-watched shows. [1]. It was created by artist, animator and former marine biologist Stephen Hillenburg, and is produced through United Plankton Pictures Inc. 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." The show reached popularity shortly after the beginning of its second season and has remained popular since.

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Setting

SpongeBob and his friends live in the underwater city of Bikini Bottom. Bikini Bottom is like a regular city with a downtown, suburbs, coastal areas, its own airport, bus system, and fair park. Stephen Hillenburg said once that Bikini Bottom was loosely based on Seattle, Washington. ^[2] An example of this statement is in the episode "Pre-Hibernation Week". Sandy and SpongeBob were fighting on a tall structure called the Sea Needle, referring to the Space Needle, a tall structure in Seattle. Hillenburg has said that he wants to leave the location of Bikini Bottom to the imagination, claiming that the Baywatch scene from the movie was just a reference to his favorite show of all time.

The residents of Bikini Bottom drive car-like vehicles called "boats".

Bikini Bottom is a city that is the main setting of the series, located at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. ^[3] It is where the series' main characters live and where most of the episodes take place. The city consists of various businesses, including restaurants, stores, and manufacturers. The city has a stable economy, balanced education and health systems, a structured government, and a firm law enforcement system. There are even stadiums, amusement parks, and other recreational facilities.

Bikini Bottom's geography is shown as consisting of mountains, dense forests, lakes, lagoons, caves, grasslands, reefs, rivers, and barren desert wastelands.

The city is divided by its main road, Conch Street, which runs from downtown and past the homes of SpongeBob, Squidward, and Patrick, through the Krusty Krab, the Chum Bucket and the Reef Theatre cinema. The road intersects with Barnacle Road and Coral Avenue. Anchor Way is not far off from Conch Street. Conch Street runs north-south as revealed in the SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom video game. Downtown Bikini Bottom is located in the northernmost point of the city, while SpongeBob, Squidward, and Patrick's House are on the southern part of the road. Goo Lagoon is located west of the road, while Jellyfish Fields is to the east. Other establishments are located more southerly, including Sandy's house, Shady Shoals retirement home, the Krusty Krab, the Chum Bucket, and the Movie Theater. The Kelp Forest is located more southerly.

In the center of Bikini Bottom, the citizens work and live in large, gray buildings made of metal. There are some other forms of buildings, mostly aquatic-themed as seen above. Further out from the town citizens need to use whatever is available and easy to live in, such as Patrick's rock, SpongeBob's hollowed-out pineapple, and the Easter Island Head Squidward lives in.

Surrounding towns include Rock Bottom, New Kelp City, Ukulele Bottom, Failuretown, Quittersville, and Loserburg.

Bikini Bottom's populace, like that of the rest of the series, consists mostly of various anthropomorphic fish, whales, crabs, sponges, squid, octopi, starfish, anchovies, lobsters, sharks, and most other forms of sea life, including sea monsters. Some forms of sea life, like jellyfish, seahorses, snails, manatees, and worms aren't anthropomorphic, and are treated like pets or wild animals. For example, clams represent bats and birds, snails represent cats, and worms represent dogs. Sandy and Craig Mammalton are the only land creatures seen living in modern Bikini Bottom. Land creatures like humans, bugs and birds are rarely seen. Inhabitants of Bikini Bottom are called "Bikini Bottomites".

Although the citizens of Bikini Bottom live underwater, they mostly do not float, and gravity usually applies. A flurry of bubbles accompanies actions in many of the episodes to remind the viewer that the setting is underwater. However, the laws of physics in Bikini Bottom change somewhat from time to time, but mostly the water acts like air. For instance, characters can pour a glass of liquid, and fire and electrical appliances are seen and fully functional. Bikini Bottom has functional baths, pools, toilets, lakes and streams. All creatures in the series, with the exception of Sandy, are completely dependent on water for survival; if any sea creature on the show (even those that can survive above water, such as crabs) goes on dry land, they begin to rapidly dehydrate and eventually suffocate.

In addition to this, underwater worms bark exactly like dogs, and are kept on chains. Jellyfish are the equivalent of bees; buzzing, "stinging" with electricity, and producing delicious "jelly", mocking the name "jellyfish", while still referring to a bee's honey. Clams act as birds, and fish act as the citizens of the community but generally are not important characters.

Characters

SpongeBob Squarepants SpongeBob SquarePants is a sea sponge (but whose shape and color more closely resemble a kitchen sponge) and lives in a pineapple under the sea. SpongeBob has a pet snail named Gary, who meows like a cat. Although Gary only speaks in a few episodes, the characters have shown an ability to understand him.

SpongeBob works as a fry cook at the Krusty Krab.

Patrick Star

SpongeBob's neighbor and best friend is a pink starfish named Patrick Star, who lives under a rock. He is commonly portrayed as having low intelligence.

Squidward Tentacles

SpongeBob and Patrick's other neighbor is Squidward Tentacles, an arrogant and egotistical octopus who lives in a moai and dislikes them (especially SpongeBob) for their child-like behavior. He attempts and fails to play the cello and to paint. Squidward is the cashier at The Krusty Krab.

Mr. Krabs

Mr. Krabs owns The Krusty Krab. He is a greedy, penny-pinching crab and ex-Navy officer.

Sheldon Plankton

Sheldon Plankton is Mr. Krabs's arch enemy who owns a low-rank fast-food restaurant called the Chum Bucket across the street from the Krusty Krab. Plankton 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

Sandy Cheeks is a squirrel with a Texan accent- another friend of SpongeBob. She lives in an underwater dome in Bikini Bottom. She was sent there to do research for her chimpanzee bosses. Sandy is an expert at karate. When not inside her tree-dome, she wears an astronaut-like suit because she cannot breathe in water.

Popularity

SpongeBob SquarePants was 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, higher-budgeted shows, such as Rugrats , although when SpongeBob SquarePants aired in 1999, it had gained a significant enough number of 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, while the former was cancelled despite gaining a cult following. Though the show debuted in 1999, SpongeBob did not become hugely popular until around 2000, and it has remained popular since then. It has achieved the "Great" rating on TV.com, with a 8.7 rating, the third best rating in Nickelodeon, the first being Avatar: The Last Airbender with a rating of 9.3 and the second being The Fairly OddParents with a rating of 8.8. ^[4]

Broad appeal

SpongeBob is one in a long line of cartoons that is designed to appeal to adults as well as children. This has much to do with the absurdity of the situations encountered in underwater life are represented. Situations, references, and language used may not be understood by the show's younger viewers. Certain innuendos, in particular, are intended to go over the younger viewers' heads. ^[5] 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 ; in one episode, Squidward tricked SpongeBob and Patrick into thinking he was a ghost; a coral reef sculpted like Toulouse-Lautrec's can-can girls stands in the background of a scene. Numerous marine biology in-jokes are woven into the show. Frequently, the characters will perform ludicrous activities, such as lighting fires or going into a lake, while being underwater.

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 and raising children.

Unlike other Nickelodeon shows, SpongeBob features well-known independent musicians who contribute to its soundtrack. Alternative rock bands such as Wilco, The Shins, The Flaming Lips and Ween, 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 David Bowie was a special guest on the SpongeBob SquarePants episode Atlantis SquarePantis, which aired on November 12, 2007. ^[6] The episode drew total 8.8 million viewers, the biggest audience in the show's eight-year history.

The show became so popular with adolescents and adults that the series was broadcast on MTV and featured on Spike TV. A quote by Patrick, "It's gonna rock!" from the episode Mid-Life Crustacean, has been used as a promotional tag-line for rock stations. Ren and Stimpy, among others, had followed a similar path. The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie features a cameo appearance by actor David Hasselhoff, in a parody of his role from the Baywatch TV series. In April 2009, as a tie-in to the special ‘’SpongeBob vs. The Big One’’, Burger King distributed two different commercials geared toward children and adult audiences. In ads broadcast on major networks, the commercial shows rapper Sir Mix-a-Lot recording a music video for his new song, “SpongeBob Got Back”.

Merchandising and marketing

Merchandise based on the show ranges from Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, Go-Gurt, Kellogg's cereal, and video games to boxer shorts, flip-flops, pajamas, t-shirts, slippers, PEZ dispensers, and radios. The show also spawned a large and popular merchandise line at Hot Topic, Claire's, Waldenbooks, Borders Books, Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, RadioShack, Target, KB Toys, Big Lots, Wal-Mart, Shopko, Meijer, Kmart, Sears, JCPenney, Kohl's, Lowe's, T.J. Maxx, Toys "R" Us and Ames stores in the United States as well as the Zellers, Wal-Mart Canada and Toys "R" Us stores in Canada, and a limited selection of merchandise in Australia at Kmart Australia and Target Australia.

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, and in 2007 for the "Friend or Foe" special featuring BK Chicken Fries in a box designed to look like SpongeBob. In November 2007, a Burger King Kids Meal was released to tie-in with the new episode "Atlantis SquarePantis". The most recent tie-in kids meal for Burger King features "Pest of the West" toys. Another kids meal tie-in was released at Burger King in April 2009 for SpongeBob vs. The Big One, featuring twelve collectible SpongeBob figures with stickers.

A McDonald's Happy Meal tie-in with SpongeBob-themed Happy Meal boxes and toys has not been released in North America yet, but was released in Europe and other international markets in the summer of 2007. ^[7] In Australia, the advertisement for the McDonald's SpongeBob Happy Meal won the Pester Power Award for the fact that the ads are enticing young children to want its food because of the free toy. In Japan, they had a kids meal tie-in with KFC which featured different toys based on the TV series. ^[8] since May 2008}}" style="white-space: nowrap;">[dead link] As a tie-in beverage for the SpongeBob SquarePants Movie , 7-Eleven convenience stores created a pineapple-flavored Slurpee in 2004, which was discontinued in 2005.

SpongeBob was also featured on VH1's I Love the 90s: Part Deux: I Love 1999: Part Deux as part of a commentary by Michael Ian Black and "Weird Al" Yankovic among other celebrities. 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. The SpongeBob SquarePants 4-D ride opened at the Noah's Ark Dive-In Theater located at Noah's Ark Waterpark in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin in the summer of 2007. LEGO received license to produce SpongeBob SquarePants building sets, which are available in stores until January 2010. SpongeBob appears at the Mall of America's new 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 next to the Dora the Explorer ferris wheel and across from the Pepsi Orange Streak. The theme park opened March 15, 2008. The SpongeBob Rock Bottom plunge features a statue of SpongeBob and Patrick riding a bus down a 90° angle holding a giant rubber glove.

In 2007, some new high-end SpongeBob-themed electronics have been introduced by Imation Electronics Products under the Npower brand, such as MP3 players, digital cameras, a DVD player, and a flatscreen television. ^[9] Other items featuring SpongeBob include a special edition Monopoly board game, Life and Operation 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. ^[10] since May 2008}}" style="white-space: nowrap;">[]

Pictures of SpongeBob SquarePants also started 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 get kids to eat their vegetables. ^[11] 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 issue published on February 1, 2007 was the second anniversary of the magazine. The magazine contains comic strips, fan letters, competitions and several features including games.

A SpongeBob SquarePants 2009 calendar has been released featuring the caption on the bottom right corner of the front cover, "Celebrating his 10th Anniversary!", which will be on May 1 and July 17, 2009 respectively. ^[12] On March 31, 2009 three songs from the show were released as downloadable content for the music video game series Rock Band . Nickelodeon has also created a Facebook page and Twitter account for SpongeBob. His best friend, Patrick Star, has been given a page on Facebook as well.

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 Junior nuclear reactor, and Herman the shark says "Boy, that SpongeBob will endorse anything!"The next SpongeBob SquarePants Viedo Game is SpongeBob's Truth or Square.

Production

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 canceled in 1996, Hillenburg began working on SpongeBob , although sketches trace back to 1987. ^[13] 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, 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 , ^[14] 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 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's signature voice, provided by Tom Kenny, and humorous style was enjoyable to both younger and older audiences.

Whilst 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 Nick executive Eric Coleman as "pretty amazing". ^[15] When given money and two weeks to write the pilot episode (“Help Wanted”), ^[16] Derek Drymon, Stephen Hillenberg, and Nick Jennings returned with, described by Nickelodeon official Albie Hecht, “a performance (I) wish (I) had on tape”. ^[17]

Although described as stressful by executive producer Derek Drymon, the pitch went “very well”; Kevin Kay and Hecht had to step outside because they were “exhausted from laughing”, making the cartoonists worried.

Beginning; Hillenburg Era (1999-2004)

SpongeBob aired its first episode, "Help Wanted/Reef Blower/Tea at the Treedome", after the 1999 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards . The series "officially" premiered July 17, 1999. When the first season completed airing in early 2000, Nickelodeon quietly ordered a second season of the series, with what some believed to be better writing and animation. The show propelled into stardom, with the help of a huge merchandising campaign that continues to this day. A third season began in 2001, and ended in 2004.

During that time, the crew had completed the third production order and began working on The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie in 2002. Nickelodeon, having aired half the season, decided to spread the remaining episodes out over two years. The show declined in popularity soon as rumors of cancellation spread. After three years, "SpongeBob Meets The Strangler/Pranks A Lot", the last episode of season three, first aired on television in October 2004. It was released on DVD at the end of 2004.

During this time, the show came under fire for alleged homosexual overtones between SpongeBob and Patrick. Series creator stated the character has no sexual orientation (and is in fact, asexual); crew members were startled such an issue had arisen. Nevertheless, the character is an icon for gay men in the United States. In early 2005, controversy erupted once again over a video distributed to schools by the We Are Family Foundation promoting homosexual tolerance. The video also starred Barney the Dinosaur and Dora the Explorer. Most recently, controversy began over a Burger King commercial aired in 2009 showing rapper Sir Mix-a-Lot remixing his hit song “Baby Got Back” into a song glorifying “square butts”.

Movie Era (2004-2005)

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie earned over $85,000,000 in revenue in the United States. It was announced late in 2004 that SpongeBob SquarePants would be continuing with a new season due in 2005. Hillenburg was rumoured to be leaving the show; despite this, he did not actually leave the show but resigned from his position as the show's executive producer. The job now belongs to Derek Drymon, with Paul Tibbitt taking over Drymon's job as creative director.

Post-Movie Era (2005-2008)

TV advertisements for ''SpongeBobs 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. ^[18]

In December 2006, SpongeBob SquarePants was approved for a fifth season with the first TV movie Atlantis SquarePantis. Season five began in January 2007. On July 23, 2007 Nickelodeon aired a special event, called the "SpongeBob New-New-New-New-New Week" in which from Monday to Friday, a new episode of season five would air. This continued until the end of the second week. On March 13, 2008, it was announced that SpongeBob SquarePants will have an additional thirty-nine episodes, which includes the remaining episodes of season six, and a season seven. ^{[19] [20] [21]} The last remaining episode from the fifth production season, "Goo Goo Gas", will finally air on July 19, 2009, completing the fifth season of the series.

10th Anniversary and Future (2009-present)

A beta version of a new SpongeBob website debuted January 9, 2009. On April 17, 2009, Johnny Depp guest starred as the voice of the surfing guru, Jack Kahuna Laguna (JKL) in the hit special, "SpongeBob vs. the Big One." Davy Jones of The Monkees was also on "SpongeBob vs. The Big One," when he made a cameo appearance as Davy Jones of Davy Jones' Locker. A primetime SpongeBob SquarePants 10th Anniversary documentary special, Square Roots: The Story of SpongeBob SquarePants , aired on VH1 on July 14, 2009, discussing the history of the cartoon, and its impact on popular culture. ^[22] Starting on July 17, 2009 at 8:00 PM EST, Nickelodeon aired a 50½-hour marathon titled "The Ultimate SpongeBob Sponge Bash." The marathon included the premiere of 11 episodes, countdowns of celebrities' and viewer-chosen top 10 episodes, and more. ^[23] In November 2009, Nickelodeon will debut an hour-long TV movie where SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward, and Mr. Krabs are locked inside the Krusty Krab freezer on the night of the restaurant's 117th anniversary celebration, "The Great Escape." While they are trapped inside, the friends look back on their shared memories with "shocking" reveals. ^[24] Several celebrities will guest voice on "Truth or Square,", including Will Ferrell, Ricky Gervais, Robin Williams, and Craig Ferguson. ^[25] Also Victoria Beckham is set to lend her voice as Queen Amphitrite, a Brit-accented goddess of the sea in an upcoming episode most likely to air during an hour-long special this summer. ^[26]

Specials (2000-present)

In addition to standard 11 minute episodes, Nickelodeon has produced double length episodes as specials. Nickelodeon aired the first special "Christmas Who?" on December 6, 2000. It was also the first of the show's episodes hosted by Patchy the Pirate, following "Shanghaied", "SpongeBob's House Party", "The Sponge Who Could Fly", "SpongeBob B.C. (Before Comedy)", "Friend or Foe", and "Atlantis SquarePantis".

On March 9, 2001, Nickelodeon held an event titled the "You Wish" special, hosted by Patchy. The episode "Shanghaied" premiered, and viewers got to vote (via phone or online) for which character they wanted to get the last wish at the end. Patrick and Squidward's endings were then shown and it was announced that SpongeBob's ending was the winner. ^[27]

The first special that was not hosted by Patchy was Have You Seen This Snail?",which aired in November 2005. In 2006, the special Dunces and Dragons was broadcast.

On November 12, 2007 SpongeBob's first TV movie, Atlantis SquarePantis premiered, after another SpongeBob marathon. A behind the scenes feature aired after the movie. The event also named the "Sweet Victory" scene in Band Geeks as the greatest moment in Nicktoons history.

Nickelodeon again used the marathon format, broadcasing special episodes with Pest of the West in April 2008. Burger King produced a line of Kid's Meal toys for the event and the special was later released on DVD. On October 13, 2008, Nickelodeon aired another SpongeBob special, advertised as, WhoBob WhatPants? . But the episode is titled, Whatever Happened to SpongeBob? . The theme song's lyrics were rearranged to be "WhoBob, WhatPants", rather than the usual "SpongeBob SquarePants". This different theme was not included in the Season 5: Volume 2 boxed set.

On April 17, 2009, Nickelodeon aired another SpongeBob special, SpongeBob vs. The Big One, which featured guest stars Johnny Depp as Jack Kahuna Laguna ("JKL") and Davy Jones as himself (as a reference to Davy Jones' locker).

Episodes and media releases

Episodes:

Season	Episodes	First Airdate	Last Airdate
Season 1	20	May 1, 1999	April 8, 2000
Season 2	20	October 26, 2000	September 6, 2002
Season 3	20	October 5, 2001	October 11, 2004
Season 4	20	May 6, 2005	July 24, 2007
Season 5	20	February 19, 2007	July 19, 2009
Season 6	20	March 3, 2008	July 19, 2009
Season 7	20	March 16, 2009	TBA
Season 8	12	TBA	TBA

Marathons

Marathon Name	Start Date	End Date	Episodes	Episode Length	Total Duration
Spongebob Gimme Five Week	March 3 2008	March 7, 2008	5	11 Minutes	5 Days
Ultimate SpongeBob Sponge Bash	July 17, 2009	July 19, 2009	Unknown	Normal Length	50½ hours
The Best Day Ever	2006	2006	100	Normal Length	25 hours
Ultimate Spongebob Marathon	August 24, 2009	August 30, 2009	115	Normal Length	7 Days
No Name	April 2008	April 2008	5	Specials (Unknown)	Unknown
SpongeBob Premiere Factor 5 (SPF5)	June 2 2008	June 6 2008	4	11 minutes	4 Days
Bikini Bottom Confidential	August	August	5	11 minutes	5 Days

Films:

Title	Release Date	Note	Length
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie	November 19, 2004	Theatrical Movie	3-Part
Atlantis SquarePantis	November 12, 2007	TV Movie	2-Part
SpongeBob SquarePants: The Great Escape	November 2009	TV Movie	TBA

Shorts

• Astrology With Squidward
• Patrick the Snowman
• Plankton's Holiday Hits
• How The You-Know-Who Stole You-Know-What!
• 12 Days of Nickmas
• The Endless Summer ^[28]
• A Random Act of SpongeBob - promotion for The Best Day Ever . These shorts were broadcasted during promos. They can now be seen on the SpongeBob Season Four Volume 2 DVD Box Set.
• The Foe-Gotten Years - promotional shorts for "Friend or Foe?"
• Journey to Atlantis by Vantis - promotional shorts for "Atlantis SquarePantis".
• Pest of the West Shorts- Promotion for Pest of the West. Shorts feature: "Saloon Door Sarrows", parody of an old short film from the 1910s. It shows SpongeBob’s great, great, great, etc. Grandfather, SpongeBuck trying to get into a saloon, but the doors will not open. "How to be a Tough Guy" SpongeBob wants to learn how to be a tough cowboy. And "Spur Skates" a parody on most commercials and a parody of roller skates.
• What if SpongeBob were Gone? - promotional shorts where Sandy, Pactrick, and Mr. Krabs try to do things when SpongeBob is gone missing.

Cast

• Bill Fagerbakke: Patrick Star
• Brian Doyle-Murray: The Flying Dutchman
• Carolyn Lawrence: Sandy Cheeks
• Clancy Brown: Eugene Krabs
• Dee Bradley Baker: Squilliam Fancyson, miscellaneous characters
• Frank Welker: animal vocal effects, talking Gorilla ("I Had an Accident")
• Jill Talley: Karen (Plankton's computer wife)
• Lori Alan: Pearl Krabs
• Mary Jo Catlett: Mrs. Puff
• Mr. Lawrence: Sheldon J. Plankton, Larry Lobster, miscellaneous characters
• Paul Tibbitt: Mama Krabs ("Sailor Mouth", "Mid-Life Crustacean") Potty the Parrot
• Rodger Bumpass: Squidward Tentacles, Dr. Gill Gilliam
• Stephen Hillenburg: Potty the Parrot
• Tom Kenny: SpongeBob SquarePants, Gary the Snail, Narrator, Patchy the Pirate, Mr. SquarePants, miscellaneous characters

Guest appearances

• Alec Baldwin: Dennis the Hitman (The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie )
• Alton Brown: Nicholas Withers ("House Fancy")
• Amy Poehler: Grandma ("Have You Seen This Snail?")
• Charles Nelson Reilly: The Dirty Bubble
• Christopher Guest: Stanley SquarePants ("Stanley S. SquarePants")
• Dan Green: The Old Mayor of New Kelp City ("Whatever Happened to SpongeBob?")
• David Bowie: Lord Royal Highness ("Atlantis SquarePantis")
• David Glen Eisley: SpongeBob singing "Sweet Victory" ("Band Geeks")
• David Hasselhoff : self (The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie )
• Davy Jones: himself, "SpongeBob vs. The Big One"
• Dennis Quaid: Mr. Krabs' grandfather in the episode "Grandpappy the Pirate".
• Ernest Borgnine: Mermaid Man
• Gene Shalit: Gene Scallop ("The Krusty Sponge")
• Gene Simmons: Sea Monster ("20,000 Patties Under the Sea")
• Ian McShane: The Leader of Vikings ("Dear Vikings")
• Jeffrey Tambor: King Neptune (The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie )
• Jim Jarmusch: self ("Hooky")
• John DiMaggio: BlackJack SquarePants ("BlackJack")
• John Lurie: self ("Hooky")
• John O'Hurley: King Neptune ("Neptune's Spatula")
• John Rhys-Davies: ManRay
• Johnny Depp: Surf guru Jack Kahuna Laguna in the episode "SpongeBob vs. The Big One." ^{[29] [30] [31]}
• Junior Brown: Sandy Cheeks ("Texas"; sang the last line: "I want to go home.")
• Kevin Michael Richardson: King Neptune ("Party Pooper Pants")
• Lux Interior: Bird Brains Singer ("Party Pooper Pants")
• Marion Ross: Grandma SquarePants ("Grandma's Kisses," "BlackJack")
• Mark Hamill: The Moth ("Night Light")
• Martin Olson: The Chief ("Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V")
• Nigel Planer: Dr. Marmalade ("Chimps Ahoy")
• Pantera: "Pre-Hibernation" performers ("Pre-Hibernation Week")
• Pat Morita: Master Udon ("Karate Island")
• Patton Oswalt: Jim ("The Original Fry Cook")
• Ray Liotta: One of the Bubble Popping Boys ("Whatever Happened to SpongeBob?")
• R. Lee Ermey: Prison Guard ("The Inmates of Summer")
• Rik Mayall: Lord Reginald ("Chimps Ahoy")
• Scarlett Johanson: Princess Mindy (The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie )
• Steve Kehela: Narrator ("Krusty Krab Training Video")
• Tim Conway: Barnacle Boy
• Ween: "Loop de Loop" is on a record Gary the Snail plays for SpongeBob to teach him how to tie his shoes in "Your Shoe's *Untied."
• Bob Joles ManRay(2007-current)

Music

• The SpongeBob SquarePants theme song was composed by Derek Drymon, Mark Harrison, Stephen Hillenburg and Blaise Smith and is primarily based on the sea shanty, "Blow the Man Down". It is sung by Painty the Pirate, voiced by Patrick Pinney, and can be found on the soundtrack SpongeBob SquarePants: Original Theme Highlights . This song is popularly misattributed to "Weird Al" Yankovic. A cover of the song by Avril Lavigne can be found on The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (soundtrack). Another cover by the Violent Femmes, which aired as a commercial on Nickelodeon to promote season two, can be viewed in the special features of the Nautical Nonsense/Sponge Buddies DVD. A choral version was recorded for the SpongeBob Christmas special where the last repetition of "SpongeBob SquarePants" was replaced by, "It's the SpongeBob Christmas special." The theme song is occasionally utilized as marching cadence. An instrumental version of the opening theme is used in Italy.
• Traditional sea shanties are used for the musical themes in the show. Most commonly used is that of "Drunken Sailor". In the episode "Krusty Krab Training Video," a young Eugene Krabs is shown walking to a soda vending machine, la-laing the shanty "Blow the Man Down." The majority of the background music used in SpongeBob SquarePants comes from the Associated Production Music library, some of which have also been used in shows such as The Simpsons , Ren & Stimpy , Rocko's Modern Life , The X Factor , Camp Lazlo , My Gym Partner's a Monkey , Bill Nye The Science Guy , and The Adventures of Pete and Pete . For competition-based episodes, some of Sam Spence's NFL Films music is used (such as "A Golden Boy Again" used in episodes such as The Fry Cook Games and "Ramblin' Man from Gramblin" is used in Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V. "The Lineman" is also used extensively in Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy episodes.) Ironically, one of Spence's more famous songs for the NFL Films library of music is an orchestral version of "Drunken Sailor" called "Up She Rises", first suggested by Steven Sabol to his father Ed because he liked the song at summer camp.
• Also used to great comedic and dramatic effect in the show, is Hawaiian steel guitar music. Various compositions featuring the Hawaiian steel convey happy, sad, or goofy emotions and situations. Many are traditional Hawaiian melodies such as "Aloha 'Oe" and are usually sampled from the above-mentioned APM music libray, and are from time to time performed by classic steel guitar artists.
• A number of songs are written and recorded by surf instrumental guitar-based rock bands, including The Woodies and The Langhorns. The MelTones' songs "Kung Fu Saturdays," "Polynesian Adventure" and "Rocket Sled To Oahu" were used in the series. The Surfdusters' songs "Henpecker", "Dementia" and "Kona Angel" were also used in the series.
• In the episode "Prehibernation Week," the music is played by the heavy metal band Pantera. Whenever SpongeBob does something dangerous, the music starts playing. The opening credits have a shot that reads "Special musical guests Pantera".
• The guitarist Newton Faulkner sometimes plays SpongeBob SquarePants in his set and has even invented a Jungle version: JungleBob.
• The episode "SpongeBob B.C." features background music including a track best known to British viewers as the theme to 1970s TV sitcom Terry and June . The music was written by John Shakespeare, a former member of 1960s pop group The Ivy League.
• The episode "Band Geeks" ends with a shortened version of the song "Sweet Victory", which was written and performed by David Glen Eisley and Bob Kulick.
• The episode "Reef Blower" which has no dialog in it was scored by the LA band "The Blue Hawaiians". The music from that episode has gone to be the "busy" music theme for montages whenever SpongeBob is busy doing something.
• The episode "Nautical Novice" featured background music that included the theme tune to The Navy Lark , a British radio series whose theme tune was created by harmonicist Tommy Reilly.

Crew

Name	Position	Years
Steven Banks	Head Writer	2004 – present
Steven Belfer	Music
Mike Bell	Writer/Storyboard Director	2005 – present
Peter Burns	Writer	1999 – present
Nicholas Carr	Music
Bradley Carow	Music	2009 - present
Sherm Cohen	Storyboard Supervisor/Artist, Writer, Director
Sean Dempsey	Animation Director
Derek Drymon	Writer	1999 – present
	Storyboard Artist	1999 – present
	Creative Director	1999 - 2005
	Story Editor
	Executive Producer	2005 - present
Steven Fonti	Writer/Storyboard Director	1999
C.H. Greenblatt	Writer, Storyboard Artist, Director	2000-2006 (left the show to work on Chowder on Cartoon Network)
Sage Guyton	Music
Sam Henderson	Writer, Storyboard Director
Tim Hill	Writer
Stephen Hillenburg	Creator	1999 – present
	Executive Producer	1999 – 2004
	Writer	1999 – present
	Storyboard Director	1999 – present
Kaz	Writer, Storyboard Artist
Chuck Klein	Writer, Storyboard Artist & Director
Doug Lawrence	Writer, Story Editor
Jay Lender	Writer, Storyboard Artist, Director
John Magness	Storyboard Artist	2009 - present
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	2009 - present
Ted Seko	Storyboard Artist	2009 - present
Alan Smart	Animation Director	1999 – present
Aaron Springer	Writer/Storyboard Artist & Director	1999-present
Jimmy Stone	Animation Director	2009 - present
Paul Tibbitt	Writer/Storyboard Director/Supervising Producer/Creative Director Co-Executive Producer	2004 – present 2006 – present
Brad Vandergrift	Storyboard Artist
Jeremy Wakefield	Music
Vincent Waller	Writer/Storyboard Artist & Director/Technical Director & Creative Director (2005 – present)
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 Supervisor

DVD releases

Season		Episodes	Originally aired	DVD release date			Discs
				Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
	Season One	19?	1999—2000	October 28, 2003	November 7, 2005	November 30, 2006	3
	Season Two	20	2000—2002	October 19, 2004	October 23, 2006	November 30, 2006	3
	Season Three	20	2001—2004	September 27, 2005	December 3, 2007	November 8, 2007	3
	Season Four, Volume One	10	2005—2007	September 12, 2006	November 3, 2008	TBA	2
	Season Four, Volume Two	10	2005—2007	January 9, 2007	November 3, 2008	TBA	2
	Season Five, Volume One	10	2007—2009	September 4, 2007	TBA	TBA	2
	Season Five, Volume Two	10	2007—2009	November 18, 2008	TBA	TBA	2
	Season Six	10	2008—2009	TBA	TBA	TBA	2
	Season Seven	TBA	2009—TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA

Note: The pilot episode, "Help Wanted" was not released on the first season DVD. However, it was added on the third season DVD as a bonus feature.

Awards

Year	Association	Award Category	Notes	Result
2000	Golden Reel Award	Best Sound Editing in Television Animation — Music	Episodes: "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy" and "Pickles"	Won
2000	Golden Reel Award	Best Sound Editing in Television Animation — Sound	Episode: "Karate Choppers"	Won
2001	Annie Awards	Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Female Performer in an Animated Television Production	Mary Jo Catlett as Mrs. Puff in "No Free Rides"	Nominated
2001	Annie Awards	Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Male Performer in an Animated Television Production	Tom Kenny as SpongeBob in "Wormy"	Nominated
2001	Annie Awards	Outstanding Individual Achievement for a Song in an Animated Production	Peter Straus and Paul Tibbitt for the song "The Very First Christmas"	Nominated
2001	Golden Reel Award	Best Sound Editing in Television Animation — Sound	Episodes: "Rock Bottom" and "Arrgh"	Won
2001	Golden Reel Award	Best Sound Editing in Television Animation — Music	Episodes: "Fools In April" and "Neptune's Spatula"	Nominated
2002	Emmy Awards	Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less Than One Hour)		Nominated
2002	Golden Reel Award	Best Sound Editing in Television - Animation	Episodes: "Secret Box" and "Band Geeks"	Won
2002	Golden Reel Award	Best Sound Editing in Television Animation — Music	Episodes: "Jellyfish Hunter" and "The Fry Cook Games"	Nominated
2002	Television Critics Association Awards	Outstanding Achievement in Children's Programming		Won
2003	Emmy Awards	Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less Than One Hour)	Episodes: "New Student Starfish" and "Clams"	Nominated
2003	Golden Reel Award	Best Sound Editing in Television Animation — Music	Episodes: "Wet Painters" and "Krusty Krab Training Video"	Won
2003	Golden Reel Award	Best Sound Editing in Television Animation	Episodes: "Nasty Patty" and "Idiot Box"	Won
2003	Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Cartoon		Won
2004	Emmy Awards	Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less Than One Hour)	Episode: "SpongeBob B.C. (Before Comedy)"	Nominated
2004	Golden Reel Award	Best Sound Editing in Television Animation — Music	Episodes: "The Great Snail Race" and "Mid-Life Crustacean".	Won
2004	Golden Reel Award	Best Sound Editing in Television Animation — Music	Episode: "Mid-Life Crustacean".	Nominated
2004	Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Cartoon		Won
2005	Annie Awards	Best Animated Television Production		Won
2005	Emmy Awards	Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less Than One Hour)	Episodes: "Fear of a Krabby Patty" and "Shell of a Man"	Nominated
2005	Golden Reel Award	Best Sound Editing in Television: Animated	Episodes: "Pranks A Lot" and "SpongeBob Meets the Strangler"	Nominated
2005	Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Cartoon		Won
2005	Satellite Awards	Best Youth DVD	Complete Second Season DVD	Nominated
2005	Television Critics Association Awards	Outstanding Achievement in Children's Programming		Nominated
2006	Annie Awards	Best Writing in an Animated Television Production	C.H. Greenblatt, Paul Tibbitt, Mike Bell, and Tim Hill in "Fear of a Krabby Patty"	Won
2006	Golden Reel Award	Best Sound Editing in Television: Animated	Episode: "Have You Seen This Snail?"	Nominated
2006	Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Cartoon		Won
2007	Emmy Awards	Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less Than One Hour)	Episodes: "Bummer Vacation" and "Wigstruck"	Nominated
2007	Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Cartoon		Won
2007	Television Critics Association Awards	Outstanding Achievement in Children's Programming		Nominated [32]
2008	Annie Awards	Best Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production	Tom Kenny in "Spy Buddies"	Nominated
2008	Golden Reel Award	Best Sound Editing in Television: Animated	Episode: "SpongeHenge"	Nominated
2008	Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Cartoon		Nominated
2008	Emmy Awards	Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less Than One Hour)	Episodes: "The Inmates of Summer" and "The Two Faces of Squidward"	Nominated
2008	Philippines Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Cartoon		Won
2009	Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Cartoon		Won
2009	Annie Awards	Direction in an Animated Television Production	Episode: "Penny Foolish"	Nominated
2009	Golden Reel Awards	Best Sound Edting: Television Animation	Episode: "Suction Cup Symphony"	Nominated

Broadcasting

|

Country	Channel	Title
	Nickelodeon, Nicktoons Network	SpongeBob SquarePants
	YTV (English), VRAK.TV (French)	SpongeBob SquarePants (English), Bob l'éponge (French, Bob the Sponge)
	Nickelodeon, Nicktoons	SpongeBob SquarePants
	Nickelodeon, Network Ten	SpongeBob SquarePants
	B92	Sunder Bob Kockalone (SpongeBob SquarePants)
	Diema Family	?????? ??? ????????? ???? (SpongeBob SquarePants)
	Super RTL, Nickelodeon	SpongeBob Schwammkopf (SpongeBob SpongeHead)
autocollapse	MTV Poland, Nickelodeon	SpongeBob Kanciastoporty
	Nickelodeon, Disney Channel Japan	????·?? (Suponji Bobu , ? )
collapsed	Nickelodeon, Télétoon	Bob l'éponge (Bob the Sponge)
	Israel 10, Nickelodeon	??????? ????????? BobSfog MichnasMeruba (BobSponge PantsSquare)
	Global TV	SpongeBob SquarePants
	TV9, Astro-Nickelodeon	SpongeBob SquarePants
	Italia 1, Nickelodeon	SpongeBob
	Nickelodeon	SpongeBob SquarePants
	Nickelodeon
	TG4.	SpongeBob SquarePants (Voiced Over in Gaeilge)
	Nickelodeon
	Nickelodeon,Rede Globo	Bob Esponja Calça Quadrada(SpongeBob SquarePants)
	Nickelodeon, TNT	????? ??? ?????????? ?????
	Nickelodeon, DR1	SvampeBob Firkant
	Nickelodeon	Svampebob Firkant
	Nickelodeon	SvampBob Fyrkant
	Nickelodeon
	Nickelodeon	????????
	Nickelodeon	????????
	Nickelodeon
	Nickelodeon
	Nickelodeon, Nick on TV5
	Nickelodeon
	Nickelodeon, ATV World	?????
	Nickelodeon
	ETTV Yoyo	????
	CCTV	????
	Nickelodeon	SpongeBob SquarePants
	Nickelodeon
	Nickelodeon
	Nickelodeon
	Nickelodeon, EBS	???? ????; ???? ????
	Nickelodeon	SpongeBob SquarePants
	Nickelodeon	Bob Esponja

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