SpOnGeBoB SqUaRePaNtS!!

Setting

Main article: Bikini Bottom

SpongeBob SquarePants is a sponge who lives in a pineapple under the sea, while his octupus^[3] neighbor Squidward Tentacles lives in a moai. SpongeBob’s other neighbor and best friend is a pink starfish named Patrick Star, who lives under a rock. SpongeBob and Patrick live on either side of Squidward, much to Squidward’s despair.

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.^{[citation needed]} A good 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. Stephen has said that he wants to leave the location of Bikini Bottom to the imagination, claiming that the Baywatch scene was just a reference to his favorite show of all time.

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 it appears as an electric shock), and producing delicious “jelly”, mocking the name “jellyfish”, while still referring to a bee’s honey. Fish act as the citizens of the community but, as a rule, are not important characters.

SpongeBob, who is absorbent, yellow, and porous, works as a fry cook at the Krusty Krab, a fast-food restaurant, with Squidward as the cashier. The Krusty Krab is owned by Eugene H. Krabs (Mr. Krabs). Sheldon J. Plankton (commonly referred to as “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. The Chum Bucket has almost never had a customer, and 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 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 Texas accent and is also from there. When not inside her tree-dome, she wears an astronaut-like suit. Sandy, just like a normal squirrel, hibernates once a year, as seen in a few episodes such as Prehibernation Week and Survival of the Idiots. She likes SpongeBob as much as SpongeBob likes her.

Instead of cars, the residents of Bikini Bottom drive boats. SpongeBob is still in boating school after failing the driving test over fifty-eight times. Once, during an episode set in a wilderness area, Patrick questions how a camp fire is possible on the lagoon bottom. As soon as the question is asked, the fire is immediately extinguished with a sizzle. A flurry of bubbles accompanies actions in many of the episodes to remind the viewer that the setting is underwater. Ironically, when there is a separate body of water underwater, such as a swimming pool or lagoon, a non-car boat must be used to cross it because both SpongeBob and Patrick cannot swim, they must be taught by Larry the Lobster. In the episode The Snowball Effect/One Krabs Trash (Episode 46 Season 3) it snows in Bikini Bottom. The show also frequently ignores its underwater setting when dealing with water in other uses; Bikini Bottom has functional baths, pools, and toilets.

Characters

Main article: List of SpongeBob SquarePants characters

• SpongeBob SquarePants — A very friendly and funny sponge that loves jellyfishing. He works at the Krusty Krab as the fry-cook.
• Patrick Star — SpongeBob’s best friend; a dimwitted, pink starfish.
• Sandy Cheeks — A clever Texas squirrel that has to wear an air helmet to breathe underwater.
• Eugene H. Krabs — A crab that is in charge of the Krusty Krab restaurant, where SpongeBob works. He is addicted to money and is selfish and greedy.
• Pearl Krabs — Mr. Krabs’s teenage daughter. She is a whale who acts like a stereotypical American teenage girl. She acts like a spoilt girl and her father is seen to both pamper and deprive her throughout the series.
• Squidward Tentacles — SpongeBob’s next door neighbor and co-worker at the Krusty Krab, where he is the cashier. He hates SpongeBob and Patrick, and openly displays his hatred towards them, not that they ever truly understand. He believes he is an amazing artist and clarinet player, but quite the opposite in reality.
• Gary the Snail — SpongeBob’s pet, his only sound is a “meow”, similar to a cat. In fact, he is considered to be a sea cat, like a worm is considered a sea dog.
• Sheldon J. Plankton – A small plankton who is Mr. Krabs arch rival. He intends on getting the secret Krabby Patty formula and putting the Krusty Krab out of business.
• Mrs. Puff — Widowed, husband captured and turned into a pufferfish lamp. SpongeBob’s pufferfish boating teacher. Mrs. Puff is eager to get SpongeBob out of her class.
• Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy — Old, retired and foolish superheroes who are adored by Spongebob, Patrick, and people from the “Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy” Fan Club.
• Larry the Lobster — Buff, good-looking and well-fit lobster, usually found at Goo Lagoon, Bikini Bottom’s local beach.
• Perch Perkins – The Bikini Bottom TV Reporter.

Comeback (2005 – Present)

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.^[8]

Spongebob SquarePants has been approved for a sixth season, which consists of thirteen episodes.^[9]

Nickelodeon aired the special “Have You Seen This Snail?” in November 2005. However, it was not until February 2006 that new episodes resumed, starting with “Dunces and Dragons” and continuing until June 2, 2006. Further new episodes appeared during September 2006 (“New Leaf” and “Once Bitten“), October (“Wigstruck“), and November (“The Best Day Ever” — drawing 6.7 million viewers — the Best Day Ever was a 25-hour 100-episode Spongebob TV event ending with the Spongebob Squarepants Movie although the Nickelodeon narrator made a goof about the marathon being 24 hours instead of the actual 25 hours. Fans voted for Karate Island as the most popular Spongebob episode. The Best 10 Ever airs after the Best Day Ever.

The new episodes in 2007 started airing on January 15, showing three new episodes back to back on February 19, 2007, officially beginning the airing of the fifth season which featured more potty humor than previously shown. 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 (except for Squid Wood, from season four) would air. This continued until the end of the second week.

On November 12, 2007 SpongeBob’s first TV movie, “Atlantis SquarePantis” premiered, after a SpongeBob marathon. A behind the scenes feature aired after the movie. Also on November 23, 2007, there was another SpongeBob marathon including a rerun of Atlantis SquarePantis and four new episodes.

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

Main article: List of SpongeBob SquarePants episodes

Episodes by season:

• Season one
• Season two
• Season three
• Season four
• Season five

Films:

• The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (November 19, 2004)
• Atlantis SquarePantis (November 12, 2007) (TV Movie)