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It has been suggested that SpongeBob SquarePants controversy be merged into this article. (Discuss) Proposed since February 2007.

SpongeBob SquarePants
File:SpongeBob SquarePants.gifClockwise from top left: Sandy Cheeks, SpongeBob SquarePants, Patrick Star, Mr. Krabs, Nickelodeon Fish, Squidward Tentacles, and Sheldon Plankton
Created by	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	United States
No. of episodes	79½ (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Original release
Network	Nickelodeon
Release	May 1, 1999 – present

Template:Infobox TV ratings SpongeBob SquarePants is an American animated television series and media franchise. It is one of Nickelodeon's "Nicktoons." Although its original network is Nickelodeon, it is 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."

Setting

SpongeBob SquarePants is a sponge who lives in a pineapple, while his octopus neighbor Squidward Tentacles lives in a moai head. SpongeBob's other neighbor and best friend (on the other side of Squidward), is a pink sea star named Patrick Star, who lives under a rock. Squidward often gets annoyed when SpongeBob and Patrick bother him.

SpongeBob's house-pet is a snail named Gary, whose "meow" is similar to a housecat. 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, 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 at the Krusty Krab, a hamburger fast-food restaurant, as a fry cook with Squidward Tentacles who is a cashier. The Krusty Krab is owned by Mr. Eugene H. Krabs, commonly referred to as "Mr. Krabs". At the Krusty Krab, Spongebob makes Krabby Patties.

Sheldon J. Plankton (commonly referred to as "Plankton") is Mr. Krabs' archrival who owns a low-rank fast-food restaurant called The Chum Bucket across the street, and he spends most of his time plotting to steal the recipe for Krabs's popular Krabby Patty. 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, who are chimpanzees. Sandy has a Texan accent and is from the state itself. When not inside her tree-dome, she wears a diving suit with a globe helmet to allow her to breathe gaseous oxygen rather than drowning in the water.

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. Continuity is not consistent between episodes, however, as the creators seem to have forgotten the show takes place underwater in some episodes. 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, while the former attracted a cult following. At the time of writing, SpongeBob is the most popular cartoon on television, and it was considered to be the flagship cartoon for Generation Y. 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. SpongeBob is not only popular among small children, but adults also enjoy the "low budget" cartoon. However, SpongeBob SquarePants is the top TV series on Nickelodeon.

Broad appeal

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 which crop up, 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.

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.

While 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.

Merchandising and Marketing

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. 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!" There was even Spongebob Cine-Manga released by Viz-Media, along with The Fairly OddParents.

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, 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.

Debut (1999–2000)

On May 1, 1999, 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 show began airing its second season in 2000 with more high-quality animation and even more popular episodes.

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 cancelled 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.

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.

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 (2005–2007)

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.

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

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, is airing 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.

International following

Cast and characters

• Tom Kenny: SpongeBob SquarePants, Gary the Snail, Narrator, Patchy the Pirate, Mr. SquarePants, miscellaneous characters
• Bill Fagerbakke: Patrick Star
• Rodger Bumpass: Squidward Tentacles, Dr. Gill Gilliam
• Carolyn Lawrence: Sandy Cheeks
• Clancy Brown: Eugene Krabs
• Dee Bradley Baker: Squilliam Fancyson, miscellaneous characters
• Mr. Lawrence: Sheldon J. Plankton, Larry Lobster, miscellaneous characters
• Lori Alan: Pearl Krabs
• Mary Jo Catlett: Mrs. Poppy Puff
• Sirena Irwin: miscellaneous characters
• Lauren Tom: miscellaneous characters
• Stephen Hillenburg: Polly the Parrot
• Brian Doyle-Murray: The Flying Dutchman
• Jill Talley: Karen (Plankton's computer wife)
• Paul Tibbitt: Mama Krabs ("Sailor Mouth", "Mid-Life Crustacean")
• Thomas F. Wilson: miscellaneous characters
• Carlos Alazraqui: miscellaneous characters
• Clea Lewis: miscellaneous characters

Guest appearances

• Ernest Borgnine: Mermaid Man
• Tim Conway: Barnacle Boy
• Charles Nelson Reilly: Dirty Bubble ("Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy II")
• John Rhys-Davies: Man Ray
• Jim Jarmusch: self ("Hooky")
• John Lurie: self ("Hooky")
• John O'Hurley: King Neptune ("Neptune's Spatula")
• Kevin Michael Richardson: King Neptune (voice in "Party Pooper Pants")
• Amy Poehler: Grandma
• Pat Morita: Master Udon ("Karate Island")
• Martin Olson appeared in a live-action sequence as Chief of the Superheroes ("Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V")
• David Bowie: Set to appear in a future episode next year playing as Lord Royal Highness. (fact)
• Junior Brown: Sandy Cheeks ("Texas"; sung the last line: "I want to go home.")
• David Glen Eisley: SpongeBob SquarePants ("Band Geeks")
• Pantera: "Pre-Hibernation" plays in "Pre-Hibernation Week"
• 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."

Crew

• Steven Banks: Head Writer (2004—)
• Steven Belfer: Music
• Mike Bell: Writer/Storyboard Director (2005—)
• Nicholas Carr: Music
• Bradley Carow: Music
• Sherm Cohen: Storyboard Supervisor/Writer/Storyboard Artist & Director
• Sean Dempsey: Animation Director
• Derek Drymon: Creative Director/Writer/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/Executive Producer
• 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: Supervising Animation Director
• Aaron Springer: Writer/Storyboard Artist & Director
• Jimmy Stone: Animation Director
• Paul Tibbitt: Writer/Storyboard Director/Supervising Producer (2004- )/Co-Executive Producer (2006- )
• 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)

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:

Film:

• The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (November 19, 2004)

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
• A Random Act of SpongeBob

Cultural references

• In Part One of the first season finale of Avatar: The Last Airbender, the character Master Pakku coyly stated to one of his students, "Nice work... a couple more years and you might be ready to fight a sea sponge." The show's creators later said in the audio commentary of Siege of the North Part I that his statement was a friendly poke at SpongeBob SquarePants.
• In the film Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, there is a short scene in China where a family is watching the "Jellyfishing" episode of SpongeBob SquarePants in Mandarin.
• Clips from the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Bubblestand" are watched by Danny in Zathura.
• The SpongeBob SquarePants episode "No Weenies Allowed" is watched by Lance in Orange County.
• In the film War of the Worlds, Dakota Fanning's character can be seen watching "The Secret Box" episode of SpongeBob SquarePants just before the lightning starts.
• In Sleepover, Julie calls Rusell "SpongeBob" three times.
• An episode of The X Presidents (from TV Funhouse on Saturday Night Live) depicts SpongeBob refusing to star in a pro-Gulf War II propaganda commercial, and getting held prisoner for it. Tom Kenny provides SpongeBob's voice, which has relatively adult content.
• SpongeBob has been refered to five times on The Simpsons:
  • In the "She Used to Be My Girl" episode of The Simpsons, Lisa, needing a god to pray to, tells a newscaster she is praying to Jesus, Buddha, and SpongeBob. Then the camera shows heaven, where Jesus, Buddha, and crudely drawn SpongeBob are. Buddha asks Jesus, "Perhaps we should help." and SpongeBob interrupts, saying "Screw her!', then laughs insanely, while Jesus shakes his head.
  • In the "Fat Man and Little Boy" episode of The Simpsons, Krusty the Clown mentions a character called ScratchBob ItchPants while announcing character shirts.
  • In the opening credits of the episode "Pray Anything" of The Simpsons, SpongeBob is mentioned in Bart's blackboard gag.
  • In the The Simpsons episode "A Star is Born-Again", Ned Flanders says, "This movie is turning into SpongeBob NoPants."
  • In the episode of The Simpsons, The Wife Aquatic, Marge and Lisa go to an Aqautic Museum where there is an exibit that reads "The Science of SpongeBob".
• In the webcomic The Little Wolf and the Bad Little Girl, during the comic episode Television Trouble, SpongeBob made a cameo appearence on The "Arr"-Ons episode on the TV set. In the video of Inside: The Little Wolf and the Bad Little Girl, when Nate Speed is talking about Television Trouble, he says that "SpongeBob is not made in the 60s, and he's not a Hanna-Barbera character. He's made in 1999, and he's a Nickelodeon character".
• In the The Fairly OddParents episode "Wish Fixers", Timmy wishes to have running pants made of cheese, and then Cosmo calls Timmy "CheeseBoy SquarePants".
• In the Six Feet Under episode "You Never Know", Federico's son, Julio, was watching the SpongeBob SquarePants episode, "No Weenies Allowed".
• In Just Like Heaven, the main character's sister is cooking dinner when she yells "Who put SpongeBob in the pasta!?"
• In 2005, Sesame Street ran a spoof show called TriangleBob TrianglePants, on the Triangle-odeon network, starring the show's own Bob McGrath with his face stuck in a triangle-shaped cutout body vaguely reminiscent of SpongeBob's.
• In the Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide episode Guide to: School Photos, Ned said "Look like yourself, not someone you saw on TV". Then a kid in a SpongeBob suit (similar to the one shown in "SpongeGuard on Duty") was shown.
• In "Be A-Fred, Be Very A-Fred" of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, there was a blue monster that looked like SpongeBob.
• In Final Destination 3, the character Kevin Fischer brings up "SpongeBob" as a carnival prize when he and Wendy Christensen are trying to piece together the clues to another person's death.
• On the X Factor site, the contestant Ashley Mackenzie is wearing a SpongeBob t-shirt.
• In The Weather Man, a SpongeBob balloon can be seen in the parade.
• A SpongeBob SquarePants stuffed toy can be seen in the background in some episodes of The Andy Milonakis Show.
• In the Unfabulous episode "The Little Sister", SpongeBob was one of the nominees for class president.
• In the book Company Man by Joseph Finder, the main character's daughter, Julia, watches SpongeBob on TV several times.
• In the movie Firewall, the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Squirrel Jokes" is on the TV that the daughter is watching.
• In the TV series Scrubs JD has a SpongeBob SquarePants outfit which he gave as a present from himself to himself.
• In the TV series Hey Joel, Joel is seen talking to Alicia Keys and in the background is a SpongeBob SquarePants poster.
• The character Wooldoor Sockbat from the series Drawn Together is partially a parody of SpongeBob.
• In the movie, Daddy Day Care, a kid was wearing SpongeBob slippers.
• In the movie, Seeing Double from S Club, Hannah Spearritt was wearing SpongeBob slippers on the hands in a scene.
• In Robot Chicken, a kitchen sponge and starfish were animated using stop motion animation into dancing around giggling and snorting around similar to SpongeBob and Patrick.
• In the film Are We There Yet?, when Nick names off the things he does not have, one of them was SpongeBob.
• In the preview of Deck the Halls, a child says his codename is SquarePants.
• In the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Life Serial," Tara tells Buffy that she had once "spaced out" while watching SpongeBob SquarePants with Willow.
• In the popular MTV show, Yo Momma, in the best of LA Chuck from the Valley jokes about Jordan's tight pants by stating: "Lets all have a round of applause for SpongeBob Tightpants". Also, Spongebob SquarePants is frequently referenced in the show.
• Another Nicktoon reference can be found in the Fairly Oddparents episode, "Something's Fishy", where the king of Atlantis, Greg, states that their diets consist of "crabs, starfish, and the occasional undersea squirrel", as a joke to their fellow Nick animators.
• SpongeBob's pineapple house is visible in The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius episode "Operation: Jet Fusion" When Jimmy, Carl and Sheen go to the Pacific Ocean.
• In the "Prick Up Your Ears" episode of Family Guy, Stewie is seen playing with a SpongeBob doll. Also, in a later episode Road to Rupert, Peter watches The Camping Episode right at the Campfire Song scene.
• In It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, Whoopi Goldberg mentions SpongeBob when one of the scientists is at a giant garden and they watch a flying TV screen.
• At the 2005 Academy Awards, Robin Williams made a few jokes regarding SpongeBob, including the supposed rumor that SpongeBob is gay.
• In Family Guy episode Road to Rupert, as Meg drives the car, Peter watches the scene from The Camping Episode when SpongeBob and Patrick are singing the "campfire song" song.
• In an episode of Two and a Half Men, Charlie Harper refers to his nephew, Jake, as SpongeBob Gaypants when he begins imitating stereotypical homosexual phrases and hand gestures.
• In the South Park episode, "Hell on Earth 2006", SpongeBob can be seen in the background of Satan's party.

Music

• The painting of Painty the Pirate, which appears at the start of the opening theme song sequence, employs a chroma key for the moving lips. The lips are actually those of Stephen Hillenburg, and the voice is of Patrick Pinney.
• The SpongeBob SquarePants theme song is primarily based on the sea shanty, "Blow the Man Down". It is sung by Painty the Pirate, voiced by Pat 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 2, 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.
• 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." Various songs used in SpongeBob SquarePants come from the Associated Production Music library, some of which have also been used in shows such as Ren & Stimpy, Rocko's Modern Life, The X Factor, Camp Lazlo, and My Gym Partner's a Monkey. 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.) 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.

For more info on SpongeBob SquarePants's music, see Music of SpongeBob SquarePants.

Magazine

In the UK, 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 is published on February 1 2007 and will be the second anniversary of the magazine. The magazine contains comic strips, fan letters, competitions and several features.

Trivia

• 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.
• SpongeBob SquarePants was the first American cartoon to be broadcast in Iraq and Afghanistan after their US-led invasions.
• TNN (now SpikeTV) once proposed that Stephen Hillenburg make a mature version of the cartoon for its block of Adult cartoons such as Ren and Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon. However, Stephen refused and Nickelodeon refused to sell its rights to them.

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 2007-01-22.
3. "www.stltoday.com/stltoday/entertainment/stories.nsf/peopleinthenews/story..." Retrieved 2007-01-22.
4. "www.segaarcade.com/pr/SpongeBob.asp". Retrieved 2007-01-22.
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 2007-01-22.
7. "www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-mightybamypoehlerspongebobsixthseason,0,6061089.story?coll=zap-news-headlines". Retrieved 2007-02-23.
8. "www.stopglobalwarming.org/sgw_feature.asp?id=8". Retrieved 2007-01-22.

External links

• Official site
• Official site (Australia)
• Official site (UK)
• Official site (Latin America)
• Official site (Italy)
• Official site (Germany)
• SpongeBob SquarePants at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• SpongeBob SquarePants at YTV.com
• An interview with Stephen Hillenburg regarding the movie
• SpongeBob at epguides.com

• Articles to be merged from February 2007
• 1990s American television series
• 2000s American television series
• Television programs featuring anthropomorphic characters
• YTV shows
• SpongeBob SquarePants
• Media franchises
• Animated television series
• 1999 television program debuts
• American children's comedy series