SpongeBob SquarePants (1999– )
Trivia
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Spoilers (4)
The show's creator, Stephen Hillenburg, was a marine biologist. When he pitched the show to Nickelodeon, he brought a fish tank into the boardroom, and explained what was living inside. He then placed a cartoon drawing of SpongeBob into the tank and said "This is SpongeBob, the star of your new show."
Mr. Krab's birth date is November 30, 1942. SpongeBob's is July 14, 1986, as revealed on each characters driver's license, in dream sequences, in season one, episode fifteen, "Sleepy Time/Suds".
Stephen Hillenburg stopped making new episodes in 2002 to work on The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004). Nickelodeon had eight unaired episodes, and aired two or three a year.
Out of all the Nicktoons to air in the 1990s, this is the only one still in production, and the longest running one (as of April 2020).
To create SpongeBob's distinctive laugh, Tom Kenny hits his throat with his hand repeatedly while saying, "Ahh."
The Krusty Krab's siren is identical to the siren used in The Shawshank Redemption (1994), which also featured Clancy Brown.
Frequently, a French accented-voice comes on to note a passage of time. It's an homage to Jacques-Yves Cousteau, a leading influence on Stephen Hillenburg and his interest in marine biology.
Season one was the only season to use traditional cel animation. In season two, they started to ink, paint, and edit it digitally.
According to concept art, the "Krabby Patty" was originally going to be called the "Barnacle Burger".
SpongeBob's first words were, "May I take your order?" Before this, in his mother's womb, his first words were, "Krabby Patty," and followed this by eating the same Krabby Patty his mother ate.
Over the years, many fans of the show have asked Tom Kenny to lend SpongeBob's voice to their voice-mail and answering machines. In an interview, he joked that these custom messages might be more common than the factory-default voice.
Tom Kenny voices SpongeBob SquarePants, Gary The Snail, and the narrator. He also plays the live-action Patchy The Pirate.
Tom Kenny said he came up with the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants, when he heard an angry dwarf yelling.
While Stephen Hillenburg was a director for Rocko's Modern Life (1993), he showed the show's writer, Martin Olson, a comic book called "The Intertidal Zone", that Hillenburg drew in college. Olson loved it, and suggested that Stephen re-write it as an undersea cartoon series, which became SpongeBob SquarePants.
In South Korea, SpongeBob is called "Square Square Sponge", or, more often "Square Square Sponge Song." The title song needed four words to match the music, and most children refer to him the second way.
SpongeBob was originally named SpongeBoy, but that name was already trademarked for a cleaning product.
SpongeBob's last name is SquarePants, but all of his relatives are round, except Stanley, who is part square, as it was revealed in season five, episode twenty, "Banned in Bikini Bottom/Stanley S. SquarePants".
Worms are portrayed as dogs, and sea snails (or Gary in this case) are portrayed as cats. Gary says "meow".
SpongeBob has played his nose as a flute in SpongeBob SquarePants: Patrick SmartPants/SquidBob TentaclePants (2005), SpongeBob SquarePants: Best Day Ever/The Gift of Gum (2006), and SpongeBob SquarePants: Drive Happy/Old Man Patrick (2018).
Some of the music used was originally used in The Ren & Stimpy Show (1991).
The voice actors for Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy also played the main characters on McHale's Navy (1962).
The show, which premiered in May 1999, is the second-to-last Nicktoon of the 1990s (the last was Rocket Power (1999). It is also the longest-running Nicktoon, spanning four decades: the 1990s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s.
Squidward inks in SpongeBob SquarePants: Giant Squidward/No Nose Knows (2008), SpongeBob SquarePants: Spot Returns/The Check-Up (2017), and SpongeBob SquarePants: My Leg!/Ink Lemonade (2018). He also inks in The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015).
Upon the show's creation, creator Stephen Hillenburg had only three rules for operating the show. 1. SpongeBob can never get his boating license. 2. Pearl's mother can never be revealed. 3. No spinoffs.
Season one, episode fourteen, "SB-129", and season three, episode ten, "Krusty Krab Training Video", feature the credits on a space, and a black background, respectively, instead of the traditional underwater background.
"Squidward's Suicide," posted on YouTube, depicts Squidward committing suicide. The episode allegedly depicts scenes of "violence and gore", as well as quick flashes of dead children and other disturbing imagery. A story that provides background for the video states that the video was created in 2005, and was viewed by a select test screening at Nickelodeon. Show Writer Casey Alexander said that the episode was a "100% hoax."
The show has had 2 Christmas specials: SpongeBob SquarePants: Christmas Who? (2000) and SpongeBob SquarePants: It's a SpongeBob Christmas! (2012).
The signal flags hanging on the front of The Krusty Krab do not spell a word. The third signal flag (from left to right, facing the front door) doesn't exist in international nautical code. The first, second, fourth, and fifth are R, I, U, and K, although the U is only "right-side-up" if the flags are read from right-to-left. Inside Mr. Krabs' office is _, I, R, and M. The _ has no letter associated with the flag.
Contrary to popular belief, Squidward is an octopus, not a squid. He only has six legs, because, six was easier to draw than eight. Stephen Hillenberg has also gone on to say Squidward sounded funnier than Octoboy. Even so, in some foreign dubs, Squidward has been renamed Octo.
Sandy's line "We could be tighter than bark on a tree" led one internet humorist to animate a series of parodies in which this surreal expression is repeatedly dropped in among equally surreal characters and situations.
SpongeBob appears in every episode in some way. His alternate universe counterpart appears in SpongeBob SquarePants: The Algae's Always Greener/SpongeGuard on Duty (2002).
Squidward's name is a joke on Edward. Technically, however, it is a neologism meaning "Towards the Squid".
Clancy Brown and Bill Fagerbakke have both played corrupt prison guards. Brown played Captain Byron Hadley in The Shawshank Redemption (1994). Fagerbakke played Karl Metzger in Oz (1997).
Of all the "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy" themed episodes "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy III" is the only one where Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy are not a part of the storyline and only appear in the form of a cameo.
Back in 2004 Spike TV originally asked creator Stephen Hillenburg if he could make them an adult version of SpongeBob to be a part of their adult animation block. The show was also going to be similar to Ren & Stimpy 'Adult Party Cartoon' (2003). However Hillenburg refused to make it and the executives at Nickelodeon refused to sell the rights of SpongeBob to Spike TV.
Two episodes have Halloween themes, SpongeBob SquarePants: Scaredy Pants/I Was a Teenage Gary (1999) and SpongeBob SquarePants: The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom (2017).
Ernest Borgnine voices Mermaid Man. In real life, Borgnine was married to Ethel Merman.
Season 1, Episode 14 "SB-129" is the only episode in the show's history where the title is said aloud.
Mrs Krabs, Pearl's mother is never seen implying that she is either deceased or she and Mr Krabs are divorced.
Spoilers
Every time a license is seen, SpongeBob says something about a mustache (Except for when he got his Milkshake license, where he said, "If only it were this easy to get my boating license!", and laughs).
When series creator Stephen Hillenburg died on November 26, 2018 from ALS Nickelodeon aired a tribute commercial with the words "Thank You Stephen Hillenburg for making every day the best day ever".
Nickelodeon aired an eight hour SpongeBob marathon on December 2nd, 2018 as a tribute to series creator Stephen Hillenburg.
