When was spongebob squarepants invented

He was designed by the former marine biologist, Stephen Hillenburg. Hillenburg based SpongeBob on Bob the Sponge , a character he had created for his educational book " The Intertidal Zone " in the late s. SpongeBob is a childish, joyful, and clumsy sea sponge who lives in a pineapple with his pet snail Gary in the underwater city of Bikini Bottom.

He works as a fry cook at the Krusty Krab , a job which he is exceptionally skilled at and enjoys thoroughly. He attends Mrs. Puff's Boating School , and his greatest dream in life is to receive his boating license. Unfortunately, he tenses up whenever he has to drive a boatmobile , and he drives recklessly. SpongeBob is very good-natured and loves to hang out with his best friend Patrick. His teacher is Mrs. Puff and his boss is Mr.

In The SpongeBob Musical , SpongeBob's exact species of sea sponge is identified: Aplysina fistularis , a yellow sea sponge who's commonly found in open waters.

SpongeBob or some other form of him appears or is mentioned in every episode of the series, beginning with the series' pilot episode " Help Wanted.

SpongeBob is a poriferan, better known as a sea sponge. In this promo art, he is shown with his scientific classification. SpongeBob with his real-life counterpart, as seen in the book Underwater Friends.

While Stephen Hillenburg worked as a teacher of marine science at the Ocean Institute in California, he authored an educational book called The Intertidal Zone. The book was intended for children and taught about the behaviors of different sea creatures.

Bob the Sponge , a natural sea sponge with sunglasses, was the "host" of the book. Hillenburg revisited the concept of The Intertidal Zone in when he started sketching concepts for a cartoon series about undersea life. He wanted the title character to be an under-represented creature, with the rest of the main characters being iconic and easily recognizable sea animals: a crab , a whale , and a starfish.

The sponge came to mind," he recalled in An early colored sketch portrayed SpongeBob as wearing a red hat with a green base and a white business shirt with a tie. SpongeBob's look gradually progressed to brown pants that were used in the final design.

SpongeBob was designed to be a kid-like character who was goofy and optimistic in a style similar to that made famous by Jerry Lewis. This was discovered after voice acting for the original seven-minute pilot was recorded in When Hillenburg pitched SpongeBob to Nickelodeon in , the network gave him an order: they would only produce the show if SpongeBob was a kid who went to school, like "Arnold from Hey Arnold!

Puff and her Boating School as a compromise, allowing SpongeBob to attend school as an adult. Hillenburg was very fond of the "way things worked out," as Nickelodeon's order brought in a whole new main character, "Mrs. Puff, who I love. SpongeBob is voiced by veteran voice actor Tom Kenny. Hillenburg used Kenny's and other actors' personalities to help create the personality of SpongeBob.

Kenny first used the voice for SpongeBob for a minor female alligator character called Al on Rocko's Modern Life who appeared in the episode " Dear John. In SpongeBob SquarePants broadcast in non-English languages, the voice actors dubbing SpongeBob's voice use Tom Kenny's rendition of the character as a starting point but also add unique elements. SpongeBob's license is seen again with this birthdate in " No Free Rides ," but all further appearances of it remove the birthdate.

Stephen Hillenburg once joked that SpongeBob is 50 in "sponge years. Jokes aside, Hillenburg explained that SpongeBob actually has no specific age, but that "he is old enough to be on his own and still be going to driving school" firmly confirming him to be an adult.

He lives with his pet sea snail named Gary in a large pineapple-shaped house on Conch Street , Bikini Bottom. His next-door neighbor, Squidward Tentacles , who lives in an Easter Island head , is constantly annoyed by his antics.

SpongeBob is oblivious to this and believes Squidward to be his friend. Beside Squidward's house is the home of SpongeBob's best friend, Patrick Star, who lives under a rock.

SpongeBob works at the Krusty Krab, Bikini Bottom's most popular restaurant, where he is a fry cook and prepares all food served at the restaurant, most notably Krabby Patties.

In " Help Wanted ," SpongeBob applied for this job. He says that it has been his lifelong dream to join the Krusty Crew and that only now is he "ready. Krabs, wanting no part of him, send him on a fool's errand for a " hydro-dynamic spatula with port and starboard attachments and turbo drive.

SpongeBob soon returns, having found a hydrodynamic spatula, and saves their lives by feeding the anchovies, showing off his amazing cooking skills in the process.

SpongeBob's house is an orange pineapple with fully furnished windows and doors and has a gas pipe. When he first moved to Bikini Bottom, he viewed many different houses, but none seemed to his liking.

Just as he was about to give up, a pineapple from a boat above the waterfalls into the sea and lands onto the space that was Squidward's garden where Squidward was still gardening. He loves the house and buys it, leaving Squidward in misery by losing his garden and having SpongeBob living next to him. SpongeBob is not only extremely good at his job, being able to produce a Krabby Patty within seconds, but also has a strong passion and an abnormal love for it; something of a workaholic, he enjoys his job more than any other activity and is saddened whenever he cannot be at work.

He is also obsessed with Krabby Patties themselves; on numerous occasions, he has proclaimed them the best food in the world, and in " Just One Bite " and " Shuffleboarding ," he is shocked and horrified to see one thrown away.

He also has been shown making a perfect Krabby Patty on his first try when he was a baby. SpongeBob's skills as a fry cook could accurately be described as superhuman; in episodes such as " Help Wanted " and " Employee of the Month ," he is seen making them at rates of hundreds or even thousands per minute. He has won consecutive Employee of the Month awards at the Krusty Krab. In " Friend or Foe ," it is shown that SpongeBob, as an infant, made a perfect patty on his first attempt.

In " Neptune's Spatula ," he can pull the golden spatula from the grease, making him the "chosen one" of King Neptune. In that same episode, it is shown that the burgers made by Neptune himself are horrible compared to SpongeBob's.

While not working, SpongeBob spends much of his time playing with his best friend, Patrick Star. Patrick is childish, moronic, and fun-loving. The two have known each other since their early childhood, and are members of the "Best Friends Forever Club.

Their usual activities include jellyfishing, bubble blowing, and various others. The two's antics are of constant annoyance to their neighbor, Squidward, and he has been repeatedly put into harm's way as a result of their actions.

Because of this, he has tried to move away numerous times but always ends up returning. Despite Squidward claiming to hate SpongeBob and Patrick, they are completely oblivious to this and believe they are his best friends. Squidward is usually shown to dislike SpongeBob in particular, but the two share a close relationship. Squidward has hinted that he likes SpongeBob a lot more than he lets on.

One of SpongeBob's good friends is a squirrel from Texas named Sandy Cheeks, who wears a special suit and helmet to survive underwater. After giving in to his need to breathe water, SpongeBob and Patrick got bowls of water to wear over their heads from Sandy, which they typically wear whenever they visit the treedome. Sandy enjoys SpongeBob's company and they enjoy doing extreme sports together, most notably karate.

SpongeBob's skill in karate are shown to vary quite considerably; for example, in " Karate Choppers ," where he equals and even outmatches Sandy in skill. However, at most other times he is so weak to the point where Sandy can send him flying a considerable distance with a single punch. In " Karate Island ," Sandy openly states that her karate skills are better than SpongeBob's by "a country mile. Another of SpongeBob's friends is Pearl the whale.

According to " Bossy Boots ," she thinks he is "full of style," "oozes fashion," and most importantly, "is a great pal. In " A Cabin in the Kelp ," Pearl uses SpongeBob as a way to prank the Gal Pals , as her suspicion detects that the titular group will prank her first and is utterly saddened by the fact SpongeBob is missing. She is later delighted about how SpongeBob is safe but is just lost within a forest. SpongeBob attends Mrs. Puff's Boating School, where he is taught by his idolized teacher Mrs.

He studies extremely hard for school and knows every answer to the oral exam, but he becomes extremely nervous when actually behind the wheel of a boat, causing him to fail the final exam every time.

According to the episode " Mrs. Puff, You're Fired ," SpongeBob has failed the exam 1,, times, and is the only creature in the history of the school to fail the test. SpongeBob claims that he does know how to drive, but simply panics behind the wheel and cannot concentrate. In " Mrs. Puff's very tough military-like replacement and learns how to drive capably, but can only do so while blindfolded due to the teacher's strict drills and very specific teaching methods.

SpongeBob's official color palette top includes 16 colors, plus black and white. SpongeBob is a sea sponge with a rectangular shape. He is light yellow with a light olive-green outline. In earlier episodes, he is wider near the top and gets skinnier going further down, akin to that of a trapezoid. However, in the more recent episodes, he is more of a regular square shape. SpongeBob has light olive-green pores, dimples with three freckles on each cheek, a large mouth with two prominent front buck teeth, a long, slightly curved nose, and large light blue eyes.

Moreover, his eye color seems to be, uniquely, a shade of pacific blue or Crayola cerulean, complimenting the blue ocean background. Furthermore, he has three exceptionally wide, exposed, and effeminate eyelashes on each eye, which have sometimes - during close-ups in particular - been shown to be numerous eyelashes akin to a human, which is best prominent in " Tutor Sauce " when he is seen breathing heavily during a close-up.

Although rarely seen in the series, he has light yellow hair that goes hand-in-hand with his skin color, as seen on his driver's license, the spin-off series " The Patrick Star Show ," and in the episode " The Sponge Who Could Fly. He typically wears a white shirt with a scarlet-red tie, black leather shoes with white shoelaces, white socks with blue and red stripes, and brown rectangular pants with a black belt.

His utterly original characters and the world of Bikini Bottom will long stand as a reminder of the value of optimism, friendship and the limitless power of imagination. He began his animation career in , pursuing a degree in Experimental Animation at the California Institute of Arts in Valencia and earning his Master of Fine Arts in The series has aired nearly episodes to date.

It appealed not only to children but older viewers as well, with college students even organizing viewing parties for the show. The series has won both U. Hillenburg — or Steve as he was known to family, friends, and fans — was born August 21, , at Fort Sill in Lawton, Oklahoma.

After leaving the military, his father, Kelly N. Hillenburg, Jr. His mother Nancy taught visually impaired students. Home TV News. Nov 27, am PT. By Joe Otterson Plus Icon. The group went on to provide most of the music for later seasons, although Carr still draws from the Associated Production Music Library, as well as another library that he founded himself—Animation Music Inc. Nickelodeon began celebrating the series' 10th anniversary on January 18 , , with a live cast reading of the episode " SpongeBob vs.

The Big One ". The reading—a first for the series—was held at that year's Sundance Film Festival. They eagerly await new episodes. People who were young children when it started 10 years ago are still watching it and digging it and think it's funny.

That's the loving cup for me. Creadon remarked, "After spending two years examining the financial health of the United States, Christine and I were ready to tackle something a little more upbeat. Telling the SpongeBob story feels like the perfect fit. Saturday saw a countdown of the top ten episodes as picked by fans, as well as an airing of The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. The marathon finished on Sunday, with a countdown of episodes picked by celebrities and the premiere of ten new episodes.

Nickelodeon continued celebrating the anniversary through the rest of the year. Finally, on November 6th , a special hour-length episode, " Truth or Square ", debuted on Nickelodeon. On February 11, , Nickelodeon announced it would recognize the twentieth anniversary of SpongeBob SquarePants with a series of celebrations known as the "Best Year Ever". Some of these pieces were to be adapted into commercial products.

The collections received a standard nationwide release on August It held an average national Nielsen rating of 4. SpongeBob SquarePants was credited with helping Nickelodeon take the "Saturday-morning ratings crown" for the fourth straight season in In October , The Fairly OddParents ranked as the number two program for children between two and eleven years old.

At this time, The Fairly OddParents had a 6. We are hoping. But SpongeBob is so unique, it's hard to say if it will ever be repeated. In , however, it was reported that the series' ratings were declining. Wall Street Journal business writer John Jannarone suggested the series' age and oversaturation might be contributing to its ratings' decline and might also be directly responsible for the decline in Nickelodeon's overall ratings.

Philippe Dauman, the president and CEO of Viacom, contradicted that notion, saying: "We are getting nice revenues through these subscription VOD deals", adding Netflix only has "some library content" on its service. Juenger noted SpongeBob could affect the ratings of other Nickelodeon programming because children often change channels to find their favorite programs, then stay tuned to that network. SpongeBob SquarePants is one of Nickelodeon's longest-running series.

The series now joins the club of contemporary classic Nicktoons that have hit this benchmark, so we're incredibly proud. This page contains unverified information, since its sources are not cited. You may help by citing sources. September 3, Nickelodeon Explore. Hey Arnold! Marc Summers Kirk Fogg. Explore Wikis Community Central.

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