Spongebob Squarepants was a nickelodeon cartoon that started in 1999 by Stephen Hillenburg (R.I.P) and now has 12 seasons with no end in sight. It has won many awards and has been critically acclaimed since its first season, and was gaining massive popularity by season 2. Everybody knows who Spongebob is, you don’t have to have ever seen the show, you really don’t even have to have a TV. Unless you live in Africa or something you probably know who SpongeBob is. It is widely regarded as the best cartoon ever made, and I completely agree with that, here’s why…
Spongebob has had a bigger impact on the world than pretty much any other cartoon. Whether it be through iconic lines that people like to say, the fact that they have made 3 movies based on the show alone. The fact that it got its own broadway musical, or purely because of the meme value of the whole show. I mean can you think of any show that has spawned more memes than Spongebob, probably not, and that’s because it has so much material that is so good, it can be named into oblivion. Just simple screenshots with captions can make good memes, but you can do that with any show, but it’s much more popular with SpongeBob because so many people grew up watching it, so it resonates with more people. Just think of the primitive SpongeBob, the “ight imma head out” the “no this is Patrick” and the ever-iconic “Spongeboy me bob!” many others that are just simple screenshots that can be made into pretty much anything you can think of.
Besides the memes, the show itself is a comedic goldmine. With 262 episodes, all of them have some DANK content, and the rewatchability value is insane with this show, with episodes such as “Pizza Delivery,” “DoodleBob,” “SB-129,” the list goes on and on. But how did it all start you ask, well let me tell you..
According to the original creator of SpongeBob, Stephen Hillenburg, he first came up with the idea that would eventually become SpongeBob while teaching marine biology at the Ocean Institute in California in the 1980s. To help teach young students visiting the Institute about the various animals that lived in the Institute’s tidal pools, he created a comic book titled “The Intertidal Zone” that featured numerous anthropomorphic sea creatures that would serve as the basis for many later SpongeBob characters, including the main character called Bob the Sponge. He liked sponges because they were the “oddest of all the sea creatures” but he didn’t like the lumpy brown sponge that was “bob the sponge” in his original comic, so he made him into a nice square, a bright yellow sponge that we now know as “Spongebob”.
Despite the high quality of the comic, both in terms of content and art (Hillenburg majored in marine biology with a minor in art at college), it never really went anywhere, though Hillenburg did pitch it to a number of publishers. Just none of them were interested.
However, creating the comic did ignite a spark in Hillenburg who realized that he enjoyed art way more than he enjoyed marine biology. As such, he made the decision to return to college to pursue a master’s degree in animation, despite earlier reservations about art not being a smart career choice.
After graduating with a degree in experimental animation, Hillenburg met the creator of the cult shows Rocko’s Modern Life at an animation festival. He subsequently offered Hillenburg a job after the two hit it off and the quality of Hillenburg’s portfolio became apparent.
While working as the director and occasional producer, storyboard artist and writer for Rocko’s Modern Life, Hillenburg met and became close friends with voice actor Tom Kenny, who would later voice SpongeBob. According to a recent interview with Hillenburg, he made the decision to cast Kenny as the voice of SpongeBob moments after meeting him.
Now let’s get into some random facts about SpongeBob to get a better understanding of the decisions of the show and why they were made. First off, SpongeBob lives in a pineapple because pineapples are a common motif in Polynesian crafts. In addition, Hillenburg says he thought SpongeBob “would like the smell” of a pineapple home. Smell is a very important sense for sea animals. Next, SpongeBob was originally named SpongeBoy. However, that name was already trademarked, (legally owned by someone else). Also, Tom Kenny, who does the voice of SpongeBob, says his character’s laugh was meant to make viewers think of the ocean. It is based on the distinctive call of a dolphin, with just a touch of a seagull’s shriek. Another cool fact is that according to SpongeBob’s driver’s license, he was born on July 14, 1986. But he was already living on his own—and trying to get a job at the Krusty Krab—when the SpongeBob show debuted in 1999. Also, the recipe for Krabby Patties is a well-guarded secret, but creator Hillenburg has hinted that these mystery burgers may be vegetarian. Otherwise, some inhabitants of Bikini Bottom would-be cannibals.
