SpongeBob SquarePants has been one of the world's most popular cartoons since its debut in 1999. The show has outlived its initial contemporaries, most notably The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius, and The Fairly OddParents, spanning generations of fans.
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Few cartoons have enjoyed the longevity SpongeBob has. Yet there are still plenty of things about the show audiences may not know. But, of course, any show that has been around for 23 years is going to have its share of interesting facts and tidbits. You won't find an exception to this rule in the case of SpongeBob.
The working title for the show that became SpongeBob SquarePants was "SpongeBoy," which couldn't be used because a cleaning company had already trademarked it. The mops with the name are nearly impossible to find records of anywhere on the internet.
It's impossible to imagine SpongeBob existing under a different name due to the show's prominent presence in the lexicon of pop culture. However, SpongeBob SquarePants is also a much better name. It gets across the show's absurdity in a much clearer fashion than what the working title could ever have.
The character Patrick Star wasn't always conceived of as a layabout. He was initially supposed to be the bar owner, was angry, had a bad attitude, and was a bully. However, it wasn't until work on the pilot episode was in progress that the character became the starfish fans know and love today.
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The angry and bad attitude part of the character did remain, but it became benign and the source of many of SpongeBob's greatest moments. The character as he became is close to perfect in the show's earliest triumphs. His ineptitude is a pillar of why the show attained its success from the beginning.
Stephen Hillenburg had academic pursuits before he decided to become an animator. His first studies were in marine biology, and those studies would eventually aid his creative pursuits in animation. The SpongeBob creator, who tragically passed away far too early at 57 from ALS, held a Bachelor's degree in marine resources from Humboldt State University.
Hillenburg began conceiving of SpongeBob while at the Orange County Marine Institute. This unique story is one of the reasons why the show felt so singular and innovative in its early days. No one had ever seen characters quite like the residents of Bikini Bottom at the time.
Thomas F. Wilson, who famously played Biff Tannen, Griff Tannen, and Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen in the Back to the Future trilogy, lent his voice to several characters on SpongeBob. Among these are Flats the Flounder, the Tattletale Strangler, and Patrick Star's father, Herb.
The voice casting of Wilson as Flats and the Strangler, in particular, was perfect because these two characters are perfectly aligned temperamentally with the Tannens. His big, gruff, blustering voice is simply one of the most perfect voices a villain with a comedic purpose could possibly have.
"Band Geeks" (season 2, episode 15b) of SpongeBob featured the now well-known power ballad "Sweet Victory" by David Glen Eisley. Before the show premiered on September 7, 2001, virtually no one had heard the song, and it had all but been dumped into the trash of forgotten 80s and 90s power ballads.
That was until SpongeBob sang the song at the Bubble Bowl. This gave the song an actual life that it was never afforded at the time of its recording. It remains an inseparable memory from the show itself and a marker of when the show was at its best.
Stephen Hillenburg worked at a seafood restaurant long before SpongeBob made its debut. He based the character Mr. Krabs on his former manager from the restaurant, a muscular-built former army cook. This makes Mr. Krabs the only character from the show known to be inspired by an actual person.
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Krabs wasn't the first cartoon character based on a real person, but you can get the sense from watching the show that he feels like a real person. The way he serves as a sort of friend/mentor to SpongeBob, his contemptuous attitude toward Patrick and his rivalry with Plankton all feel organic.
An education minister from Kazakhstan named Zabira Orazalieva stated in 2014 that SpongeBob was a violent show for children and that the titular character, in particular, inspires children to engage in hooliganism. She also stated the character is clearly gay, implying there would be something wrong with that if he were.
The most astonishing thing about this is that by 2014 the show had already existed for 15 years and, while still popular, had nowhere near the kind of draw and appeal it had in its earlier days. Talk about striking up a fire with some ancient scraps. Yet, the show would continue on despite these ruffled feathers.
Ernest Borgnine had been around in the film and television industry for almost 50 years when he became the voice actor for Mermaid Man on SpongeBob. His acting credits include roles in classic films From Here to Eternity, Johnny Guitar, Bad Day at Black Rock, The Dirty Dozen, and The Wild Bunch.
He won an Academy Award for Best Actor in 1955 for his titular role in Marty, a great film about a 34-year-old man who has taken on a modest existence as he deals with the disappointment and depression he feels about his reluctant bachelorhood. He got the chance to give the world a funny yet strangely warm character as the voice of the long-retired superhero, and provides some of SpongeBob's best moments.
SpongeBob is the longest-running Nickelodeon show of all time, and it has recently ballooned to 277 episodes, a number that will continue to climb. Despite the fact that the show doesn't draw like it once did, it's still profitable enough to maintain its position as one of the network's main shows.
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It's unclear at this point when or if SpongeBob will end. It's also unclear how the show has maintained its level of popularity for so long, considering how different it is today than it was when it started 23 years ago. Comparing any recent episode with something from the classic first season would undoubtedly disorient.
SpongeBob may still be around and popular, but it's really outstayed its welcome. The first couple of seasons, particularly the first season, produced some of the best cartoon moments of all time. But unfortunately, the show has gradually become unwatchable in the years that have followed.
You're not the only one who feels this way, and this idea is more than just an opinion shared by a handful of snobs who remember the show in its early days. Various television critics have mentioned the decline in the show's quality numerous times over the years, so much so that it has become the consensus opinion.
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