[366] The attraction opened in early 2013 at the Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration. In 2018, the series began airing its twelfth season; it was renewed for a thirteenth season on July 17, 2019, which began airing in October 2020. [40][46], Derek Drymon, who served as creative director for the first three seasons, has said that Hillenburg wanted to surround himself with a "team of young and hungry people". Puff, a paranoid but patient pufferfish. [272], On February 14, 2019, it was announced that a SpongeBob SquarePants spin-off is in development. He's not quite an adult, he's not quite a kid. Copyright © 2020 Multiply Media, LLC. [255][256] A Nickelodeon executive responded in an interview the series was not intended for an audience of that age and that the study used "questionable methodology and could not possibly provide the basis for any valid findings that parents could trust". In the first quarter of 2012, the network cut back on the number of episodes it aired by 16% compared to a year earlier. The fifth-longest-running American animated series, its popularity has made it a media franchise. Ashley Graham", "Remember the time when Washington saved 'Hello, Dolly!'? [397] The title character and his friends have been used as a theme for special editions of well-known family board games, including Monopoly,[398] Life,[399] and Operation,[400] as well as a SpongeBob SquarePants edition of Ants in the Pants,[401] and Yahtzee. [403] SpongeBob has gained popularity in Japan, specifically with Japanese women. [53][54] In his stead, Pete Burns was brought in for the job. He said, "It's the most funny, surreal, inventive example of the explosion in creative kids' (and adult) entertainment that Nick, Cartoon Network and their ilk made possible. [70], The writing staff often used their personal experiences as inspiration for the storylines of the series' episodes. A sequel to the 2004 film, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, was released in theaters on February 6, 2015. [226][227] The phenomenon led to the creation of the Tumblr project called "SpongeBob on the Nile". "[42] The network insisted on auditioning more actors, but Hillenburg turned them down; in the words of Tom Kenny, "one of the advantages of having a strong creator is that the creator can say, 'No, I like that—I don't care about celebrities. [72], Fagerbakke voices Patrick Star[73] and other miscellaneous characters. [35], In an interview, Cyma Zarghami, then-president of Nickelodeon, said, "their [Nickelodeon executives'] immediate reaction was to see it again, both because they liked it and it was unlike anything they'd ever seen before". [108] Animation World Network reported that "within the SpongeBob creative team, there was always talk of doing a more involved project together" with Screen Novelties. [324] Before this, SpongeBob SquarePants comics had been published in Nickelodeon Magazine,[323][325][326] and episodes of the television series had been adapted by Cine-Manga,[323][327] but SpongeBob Comics was the first American comic book series devoted solely to SpongeBob SquarePants. [35] They were given money and two weeks to write the pilot episode "Help Wanted". [44] Patrick Pinney voices Painty the Pirate, singing the theme song as the character. These included "Handsome Squidward", "Imaginaaation SpongeBob", "Mocking SpongeBob", "SpongeGar", and "Surprised Patrick". [152] In July, for the first time ever, SpongeBob SquarePants became the theme of a cosmetics line, which was released as a limited time offering by HipDot Studios. [247] The group sought to have the series banned, along with several other popular children's properties. I was pretty desperate ... so I ran into the hall after him and basically begged him for the job. [80], Mr. Lawrence had met Hillenburg before on Rocko's Modern Life. [405] In Australia, the advertisement for the McDonald's SpongeBob Happy Meal won the Pester Power Award because the ads enticed young children to want its food because of the free toy. ", "Analyst: Nickelodeon Might Be in Danger of Being Dropped by Some TV Distributors", "Viacom CEO Defends Nickelodeon's Netflix Deal Again", "Viacom CEO: Netflix Content Is Not Hurting Nickelodeon Ratings", "Viacom and Netflix to Scale Down SVOD Deal", "Adios, Dora: Netflix is starting to take Viacom shows offline", "Dora, SpongeBob Swap Sides in Fickle Web-Video World", "Amazon Inks Streaming Deal for Viacom Shows Like Dora, SpongeBob", "Amazon writes biggest streaming video check for Dora, SpongeBob", "Amazon swipes SpongeBob from Netflix in most expensive deal yet", "SpongeBob SquarePants Renewed for Ninth Season", "Nickelodeon's 'SpongeBob SquarePants' Renewed for Ninth Season", "Television/Radio; The Gentle World Of a Joyful Sponge", "Two Critics Pick The All-Time Best TV Shows. [16] The shift to Wacom Cintiqs let the designers and animators draw on computer screens and make immediate changes or undo mistakes. Some of the early games include: Legend of the Lost Spatula (2001)[374] and SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom (2003). '"[81] Jill Talley, Tom Kenny's wife, voices Karen Plankton. Where is Martha Elliott Bill Elliott ex-wife today? [195] In a 2007 interview, Barack Obama said SpongeBob is his favorite TV character and admitted that SpongeBob SquarePants is "the show I watch with my daughters. Puff endures one of SpongeBob's crashes or is otherwise frightened, she puffs up into a ball.[26]. [106][107] The abominable snow mollusk, an octopus-like creature made of clay who acts as the antagonist of the double-length episode "Frozen Face-Off," was also animated by the company. [24] When SpongeBob is not working at the Krusty Krab, he is often taking boat-driving lessons from Mrs. [79] Brown decided to use a "piratey" voice for the character with "a little Scottish brogue" after hearing Hillenburg's description of his boss. ", "The happiest place on earth is a pineapple under the sea! He enjoys playing the clarinet and painting self-portraits but hates his job as a cashier. [167] In an interview, Cyma Zarghami, then-general manager and executive vice president of Nickelodeon, said, "Are we banking on the fact that Fairly OddParents will be the next SpongeBob? [233][234] In response to fans' disappointment at not hearing the complete "Sweet Victory" song during the halftime show at the Super Bowl LIII, the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League showed a clip of the full "Sweet Victory" song during a game at the American Airlines Center. They eagerly await new episodes. [77] Arthur Brown, author of Everything I Need to Know, I Learned from Cartoons!, has compared Squidward's voice to that of Jack Benny's,[78] a similarity Bumpass says is mostly unintentional. This is the character! [Talley and I] start to actually overlap so much talking to each other that [the voice directors] have to tell us, 'hey, stop doing that, separate what you're saying! Club, and Vulture have reported that SpongeBob's popularity declined following the release of the 2004 film and Hillenburg's departure as showrunner. [244] Martin Goodman of Animation World Magazine called Dennis' comments regarding SpongeBob and Patrick "interesting". [171] He added, "There is nothing that we have seen that points to SpongeBob as a problem. [171] Nickelodeon reduced its[clarification needed] exposure on television. [30][36][40][41][42] He then considered modeling the character after a kitchen sponge and realized this idea would match the character's square personality perfectly. [167] The Fairly OddParents even briefly surpassed SpongeBob SquarePants, causing it to drop into second place. Series' background designer Kenny Pittenger said, "The only real difference between the way we draw now and the way we drew then is that we abandoned pencil and paper during the fifth season". It's still a time-consuming aspect of the process now, but the digital way of doing things means it doesn't take long to correct". Is your network connection unstable or browser outdated? Recurring locations within Bikini Bottom include the neighboring houses of SpongeBob, Patrick, and Squidward; two competing restaurants, the Krusty Krab and the Chum Bucket; Mrs. The first season's score primarily featured selections from the Associated Production Music Library, which Carr has said includes "lots of great old corny Hawaiian music and big, full, dramatic orchestral scores. Hillenburg explained: "[I] never really wanted to deliberately try to write a half-hour show".