SpongeBob SquarePants

SpongeBob SquarePants
The current SpongeBob logo.
Created by	Stephen Hillenburg
Starring	Tom Kenny Bill Fagerbakke Clancy Brown Rodger Bumpass Mr. Lawrence Jill Talley Carolyn Lawrence Mary Jo Catlett Lori Alan
Composer(s)	Sage Guyton Nicolas Carr Steve Belfer
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	12
No. of episodes	204 (half-hours) 334 (episodes aired so far, 8 unaired) (list of episodes)
Release
Original network	Nickelodeon
First shown in	United States
Original release	May 1, 1999 – present
Chronology
Related shows	Rocko's Modern Life
Other websites
Website

SpongeBob SquarePants is an American animated comedy TV show made by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg that started on May 1, 1999 on Nickelodeon.

It is one of Nickelodeon's most popular shows, made into two movies, a Broadway musical that was nominated for twelve Tony Awards, and many pieces of merchandise.Spongebob lives in a pineapple under the sea, and is an adult sea sponge with childish features.

Characters

Main article: List of SpongeBob SquarePants characters

The show gets its name from its main character, SpongeBob SquarePants, who lives in a pineapple under the sea (as can be heard in the theme song that begins every episode). SpongeBob (whose voice is provided by Tom Kenny) is a sea sponge, but he looks more like a kitchen sponge used for cleaning dishes. His best friend is a starfish named Patrick Star. His grumpy neighbor is an octopus named Squidward Tentacles.

SpongeBob and Squidward work as employees at a restaurant called the Krusty Krab in the underwater town of Bikini Bottom. The Krusty Krab, which is run by a greedy crab named Mr. Krabs, is famous for its Krabby Patty burgers. The recipe for Krabby Patties is top-secret. Plankton and Karen, who are the owners of a different restaurant called the Chum Bucket, often try to steal the recipe.

• SpongeBob SquarePants is the main character and a sea sponge that lives in a pineapple under the sea. He is a fry cook in the Krusty Krab. He is very jolly and sometimes annoys his selfish neighbor, Squidward. His favorite pastimes are jellyfishing and blowing bubbles.
• Patrick Star is a starfish and SpongeBob's best friend who lives under a rock. Patrick is goofy and stupid, but is a fun-loving character and eats a lot. He is unemployed, but has worked at several places before.
• Squidward Tentacles is an octopus and SpongeBob's next-door neighbor. He plays the clarinet and is not good at it, even though he thinks so. He works at the Krusty Krab as the cashier. He says he hates SpongeBob, but SpongeBob thinks they are friends. Squidward is not friendly and thinks that he is better than almost everyone. He is voiced by Rodger Bumpass.
• Mr. Krabs is a crab who is the owner of the Krusty Krab restaurant, and SpongeBob and Squidward's boss. He is a single father with one daughter, a whale named Pearl. He and Pearl live in a big anchor. He is very greedy and loves money. He never wants to spend a lot of his money, and sometimes cheats to make more of it. He is voiced by Clancy Brown.
• Sheldon J. Plankton is an evil green plankton. He is an evil genius and Mr. Krabs' rival. His goal is to steal the secret recipe for Krabby Patties. He runs a restaurant called the Chum Bucket with the help of his talking computer wife named Karen. The Chum Bucket is very unpopular and they never get customers. He is voiced by Mr. Lawrence.
• Karen Plankton is a talking computer who is Plankton's helper, sidekick, and wife. She gives him his evil plans to steal the Krabby Patty recipe. She lives in the laboratory of the Chum Bucket which is labeled from the outside as the "kitchen." Karen does not have a face, but her screen shows a wavy green line that moves when she talks. She is voiced by Jill Talley.
• Sandy Cheeks is a squirrel from the state of Texas. She lives in a glass house called a Treedome that lets her breathe under water. When she is out of the dome, she wears a space suit and a fishbowl-like glass helmet around her head filled with fresh air. She is very athletic and works as a scientist. She is voiced by Carolyn Lawrence.
• Mrs. Puff is a pufferfish who is SpongeBob's teacher at the underwater driving school, Mrs. Puff's Boating School. She is old, patient, and easily scared. She wears a blue sailor hat and a yellow wig. SpongeBob really wants to pass Mrs. Puff's class, but he always fails his driving test. She is voiced by Mary Jo Catlett.
• Pearl Krabs is a big gray whale with blonde hair who is the daughter of Mr. Krabs. She is sixteen years old and has a job at the Bikini Bottom Mall. When she grows up, Mr. Krabs will give his restaurant and his money to her. She usually wears a pink cheerleading dress. She is voiced by Lori Alan.
• Gary the Snail is SpongeBob's pet snail who lives with him in their pineapple house. He meows and acts like a cat. He cannot talk, but SpongeBob can understand him. Gary is usually shown to be very smart. He is voiced by Tom Kenny.

Episodes list

Main article: list of SpongeBob SquarePants episodes

Season 1 (1995-1996)

Number in		Original air date	Production code	Episode title
Series	Season
1	1	May 1, 1999	101	"Bubbelstand" "Ripped Pants"
2	2	July 17, 1999	102	"Help Wanted" "Reef Blower" "Tea at the Treedome"
3	3	July 31, 1999	103	"Jellyfishing" "Plankton!"
4	4	August 7, 1995	104	"Naughty Nautical Neighbors" "Boating School"
5	5	August 14, 1999	105	"Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy " "Pickles"
6	6	August 21, 1999	106	"Pizza Delivery" "Home Sweet Pineapple "
7	7	August 28, 1999	107	"Hall Monitor" "Jellyfish Jam"
8	8	September 4, 1999	108	"Sandy's Rocket" "Squeaky Boots"
9	9	September 11, 1999	109	"Nature Pants" "Opposite Day"
10	10	September 18, 1999	110	"Culture Shock" "F.U.N."
11	11	September 25, 1999	111	"MuscleBob BuffPants" "Squidward the Unfriendly Ghost"
12	12	October 2, 1999	112	"The Chaperone" "Employee of the Month"
13	13	October 28, 1999	113	"Scaredy Pants" "I Was a Teenage Gary"
14	14	December 31, 1999	114	"SB-129" "Karate Choppers"
15	15	January 17, 2000	115	"Sleepy Time" "Suds"
16	16	February 14, 2000	116	"Valentine's Day" "The Paper"
17	17	March 15, 2000	117	"Texas" "Walking Small"
18	18	March 22, 2000	118	"Arrgh! " "Rock Bottom"
19	19	April 1, 2000	119	"Hooky" "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy II"
20	20	April 8, 2000	120	"Fools in April" "Netune's Spatula"

Season 2 (2000-2003)

Number in		Original air date	Production code	Episode title
Series	Season
21	1	November 2, 2000	201	"Your Shoe's Untied" "Squid's Day Off"
22	2	October 26, 2000	202	"Something Smells" "Bossy Boots"
23	3	November 16, 2000	203	"Big Pink Loser" "Bubble Buddy"
24	4	December 28, 2000	204	"Dying for Pie" "Imitation Krabs"
25	5	February 17, 2001	205	"Wormy" "Patty Hype"
26	6	March 6, 2001	206	"Grandma's Kisses" "Squidville"
27	7	May 5, 2001	207	"Prehibernation Week" "Life of Crime"
28	8	December 6, 2000	208	"Christmas Who?"
29	9	March 5, 2001	209	"Survival of the Idiots" "Dumped"
30	10	March 7, 2001	210	"No Free Rides" "I'm Your Biggest Fanatic"
31	11	November 27, 2000	211	"Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy" "Squirrel Jokes"
32	12	March 8, 2001	212	"Pressure" "The Smoking Peanut"
33	13	March 9, 2001 ("Shanghaied") July 26, 2003 ("Gary Takes a Bath")	213	"Shanghaied" "Gary Takes a Bath"
34	14	January 21, 2002	214	"Welcome to the Chum Bucket" "Frakendoodle"
35	15	September 7, 2001	215	"The Secret Box" "Band Geeks"
36	16	September 6, 2002	216	"Graveyard Shift" "Krusty Love"
37	17	November 30, 2001	217	"Procrastination" "I'm with Stupid"
38	18	September 21, 2001	218	"Sailor Mouth" "Artist Unknown"
39	19	September 28, 2001	219	"Jellyfish Hunter" "The Fry Cook Games"
40	20	October 12, 2001	220	"Squid On Strike" "Sandy, SpongeBob, and the Worm"

Season 3 (2001-2004)

Number in		Original air date	Production code	Episode title
Series	Season
41	1	March 22, 2002	301	"The Algae's Always Greener" "SpongeGuard on Duty"
42	2	July 12, 2002	302	"Club SpongeBob" "My Pretty Seahorse"
43	3	October 5, 2001	303	"Just One Bite" "The Bully"
44	4	March 1, 2002	304	"Nasty Patty" "Idiot Box"
45	5	January 21, 2002	305	"Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy IV" "Doing Time"
46	6	February 22, 2002	306	"Snowball Effect" "One Krabs Trash"
47	7	March 8, 2002	307	"As Seen on TV" "Can You Spare a Dime?"
48	8	March 15, 2002	308	"No Weenies Allowed" "Squilliam Returns"
49	9	March 29, 2002	309	"Krab Borg" "Rock-a-Bye Bivalve"
50	10	May 10, 2002	310	"Wet Painters" "Krusty Krab Training Video"
51	11	May 17, 2002	311	"Party Pooper Pants"
52	12	June 1, 2002	312	"Chocolate with Nuts" "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V"
53	13	September 20, 2002	313	"New Student Starfish" "Clams"
54	14	March 5, 2004	314	"Ugh"
55	15	January 23, 2003	315	"The Great Snail Race" "Mid-Life Crustacean"
56	16	October 4, 2003	316	"Born Again Krabs" "I Had an Accident"
57	17	April 3, 2004	317	"Krabby Land" "The Camping Episode"
58	18	January 19, 2004	318	"Missing Identity" "Plankton's Army"
59	19	March 21, 2003	319	"The Sponge Who Could Fly"
60	20	October 11, 2004	320	"SpongeBob Meets the Strangler" "Pranks a Lot"

"The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie" (2004)

Number in	Original release date	Movie title	Summary
1	November 19, 2004	"The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie"	When Plankton steals King Neptune's crown from him, SpongeBob and Patrick must take the long route to "Shell City" to find it.

"The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water" (2015)

Number in	Original release date	Movie title	Summary
2	February 6, 2015	"The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water"	When a diabolical pirate above the sea steals the secret Krabby Patty formula, SpongeBob and his nemesis Plankton must team up in order to get it back.

Main places

• The show takes place in a city called Bikini Bottom, which is in the Pacific Ocean.
• SpongeBob's pineapple house is SpongeBob's home. It has many big rooms even though on the outside it looks just like a small pineapple. It even has a huge library with many books.
• The Krusty Krab is a restaurant in the city of Bikini Bottom. It is run by a crab, Eugene H. Krabs. Two workers at the restaurant are SpongeBob SquarePants (fry cook), and Squidward Q. Tentacles (cashier). The fast food items that are sold include the popular Krabby Patty (which is similar to a hamburger), kelp fries, and drinks.
• The Chum Bucket is a restaurant that is across the street from the Krusty Krab. It is owned by Sheldon J. Plankton and Karen Plankton, but is very unpopular since the food is really bad. Plankton and Karen are always trying to steal the Krabby Patty secret formula, which only Mr. Krabs and SpongeBob know.
• Mrs. Puff's Boating School is the driving school where SpongeBob often goes to try to get his driver's licence. SpongeBob is normally not good at driving and can never really get his license without help from a friend. Whenever he gets his licence, he soon after loses it.
• Patrick's boulder is Patrick's home where Patrick lives and sleeps in. In some episodes, Patrick falls out of his boulder.
• Squidward's house, an Easter Island head owned by Squidward. In his house, Squidward practices his clarinet and paints pictures.
• Mr Krabs and Pearl's anchor house, a hollow anchor with lots of paintings on the walls. Mr. Krabs and Pearl live inside of it.
• Goo Lagoon is a popular beach. Even though the beach is under water, the water in the beach is called "goo". In some episodes it is just a lake but in some it is an entire ocean.

Controversies

In 2005, several groups, including the American Family Foundation, attacked SpongeBob for being a representative of homosexual people. The character had recently appeared on a music video with other kids characters to promote diversity and tolerance. However, the creator said in 2002 that SpongeBob is asexual.

Decreasing quality

Many fans and critics believe that after the first movie, the series started to decline in quality due to many writers from the old seasons leaving (except Doug Lawrence, Aaron Springer, Erik Wiese and C.H. Greenblatt). Some modern episodes have been received poorly because the characters don't act as they were in Seasons 1-3 (examples: One Coarse Meal, A Pal for Gary, Demolition Doofus, Yours Mine and Mine, etc.)