SpongeBob SquarePants (character)

This article is about the main character of the SpongeBob SquarePants series. For the series itself, see SpongeBob SquarePants.

SpongeBob SquarePants is the principal character in the animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants, which first aired on May 1, 1999 on Nickelodeon. The character was designed by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg, and is voiced by Tom Kenny. Although everyone refers to him as SpongeBob, in the episode Patrick SmartPants, the smart Patrick addresses him as "Robert."

SpongeBob is an incredibly optimistic sea sponge who lives in a pineapple house in the city of Bikini Bottom, with his pet snail Gary. He works as a fry cook at the local burger joint, the Krusty Krab alongside his neighbor, Squidward. SpongeBob is best friends with Patrick Star, and enjoys bubble blowing and jellyfishing. SpongeBob is a boating school student at Mrs. Puff's Boating School.

Appearance

SpongeBob is a porous yellow sea sponge with eyes, a mouth with prominent front teeth and dimples, arms, legs, hands and feet. He resembles a kitchen sponge more than a sea sponge. SpongeBob has the ability to morph into other shapes at will, and can grow back pieces that fall off him. His limbs can become variable in length and shape at will and are retractable as well as detachable.

SpongeBob typically wears a white shirt with brown pants, although he has been seen running about naked (or in his underwear). As a part of the attire, his shoes are shiny black, with an almost spheric bulge at the front (although still a part of the shoe proper, unlike the balls of clown shoes). He usually wears a pair of white briefs underneath his pants, although he has been seen wearing blue, green, and red briefs (all at the same time, nonetheless) and even pink to honor his best friend, Patrick. At night, he will sometimes wear a green bathrobe but mostly goes to sleep with his underwear, socks and shoes. When he goes "swimming", he wears a pair of blue swimming trunks (although he still wears his underpants, socks and shoes). He also wears a red bow tie in exchange for his necktie on special occasions.

Age

SpongeBob's age is yet to be confirmed. He is to be at least 20 years old even though he acts like a young child as in 2006. He lives by himself and can afford his own house. He has also taken a driving test at least 1,258,056 times. If the dates seen in SB-129 and SpongeBob's driving licence seen in Sleepy Time run parallel with each other, this would make SpongeBob around 30 years old.

Creator Stephen Hillenburg has always said that he wanted SpongeBob to remain ageless, but the show has dropped hints towards SpongeBob's age. In the episode "Sleepy Time", SpongeBob has a dream where he receives his driver's license, which states that his birth date is July 14. However, Hillenburg stated later in an interview that it was only in a dream and can't be confirmed. The same birthdate was seen in his temporary driver's license in the episode "No Free Rides," when Mrs. Puff slid him through school. This was not a dream, so this is a possible birthdate. SpongeBob mentioned in the episode "The Chaperone" that he couldn't get a date to his junior prom, meaning that SpongeBob must have at least graduated from high school. In the movie, SpongeBob has all of his 'Best employee awards' from the Krusty Krab are on his wall, and there are enough (374) to indicate that, with the total accumulation of the months, he is at least in his mid-forties. (Of course, this is probably an exaggeration.) In the commentary of the movies on the DVD, it said he's an adult that acts like a kid.

In "SB-129", when Squidward travels 2000 years into the future, it is 4017 on a calendar. This means the show could take place around 2017. In two episodes, SpongeBob's birthday is written on a driver's license as July 14, 1986. If the show takes place in 2017 and SpongeBob was born in 1986, this would mean that SpongeBob is 30 years old as of season one. However, this is just a speculation.

General

SpongeBob is described as sweet, kind, funny, cheerful, hard-working, and trusting. He has a buck-toothed grin, tremendously expressive face and square body that compliments his pure and good nature. SpongeBob will rarely knowingly do wrong or harm to anyone except on April Fools Day and never without remorse. However, he has been known to shout and curse (even "obscenities" such as Tartar Sauce, Fish Paste, or Barnacles) when angry or frustrated. Although he is an adult, he has a very childish nature, shown to great effect in the episode "Grandma's Kisses", at which he is at his most childish, as well as in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. Although a good-natured sponge, many characters seem to avoid him. SpongeBob is very easily overexcited about almost anything, like simple daily tasks and things of which he doesn't know of (such as when Squidward invited him to strike at the Krusty Krab, SpongeBob celebrated for it although he did not know the meaning of the word strike). This, along with his repetitive talking and loud, annoying laughter makes him a huge annoyance to others, especially Mrs. Puff, Squidward and Plankton.

Perhaps the most long-running paradox of this character is his strength. He has been known to have enormous difficulty lifting even the lightest of objects, yet thing, and, rather than fighting back, continues to go through his day normally, until the bully is too worn out to keep fighting. However, in "I Had an Accident", he broke his backside in a skiing accident.

SpongeBob loves Gary dearly and can't do without him, as shown in "Have You Seen This Snail?". Gary usually has solutions to help SpongeBob out of his dilemmas.

Gary and SpongeBob live together in a pineapple under the sea at 124 Conch Street, Bikini Bottom (this address was seen on SpongeBob's driver's license in the episodes "Sleepy Time" and "No Free Rides").

SpongeBob's best friend is Patrick Star, a starfish that is not so smart, and together their adventures often lead them into trouble. Like SpongeBob, Patrick too is very cheerful and acts childish.

Whilst characterized as immature, SpongeBob's mathematics are brilliant. The most noticeable instance of this is in "Squid's Day Off", where he offers the change for $1.00 in all sorts of forms, including: four quarters, ten dimes, twenty nickels, one hundred pennies, and one quarter/three dimes/seven nickels/ten pennies. Also, in Pre-Hibernation Week, he is able to calculate in two seconds flat, that there are 168 hours in 7 days, just by looking at a calender and with no maths equipment.

Career

SpongeBob has a career as a fry cook at the Krusty Krab restaurant, home of the Krabby Patty. He takes his job seriously. He was Employee of the Month 26 consecutive times, which would mean he has worked there for at least 2 years and two months.

SpongeBob works alongside Squidward–much to Squidward's dismay. Squidward manages the cash register for his money-obsessed boss, Mr. Eugene Krabs. SpongeBob, in some episodes, seems to have attained a celebrity like status in Bikini Bottom for his "masterful" fry cooking. In the episode "Squid on Strike," he is referred to as a "legend" by a young fry cook who wants to take his job and is asked to sign the young boy's spatula. In another episode, he is offered a job as King Neptune's fry cook, but turns it down because Patrick was forbidden to go with him. SpongeBob has never been a minute late for his job, except in "Hooky" - he was two minutes late because he got hooked - and in "Have You Seen This Snail?" - he was fifteen minutes late because he was so tired after searching for Gary. SpongeBob also failed to attend on time in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, where he was several minutes late after eating ice cream all night with Patrick at Goofy Goobers, and being passed over for a promotion.

He often prizes his punctuality as in "SpongeBob Meets the Strangler", where he has a party for his 100% on time percentage, and another party 20 seconds later for his birthday (although, Patrick stated that they do what the party invitations tell them to do, so it's possible they weren't celebrating his birthday).

SpongeBob also served a short stint in one episode as the speedster, "The Quickster" (parody of The Flash and Quicksilver) in the International Justice League of Super Acquaintances or the IJLSA for short.

Leisure

He frequently gets days off at the Krusty Krab, and as a result he spends his free time with his best friend Patrick Star, and especially enjoys practicing karate with his other friend Sandy Cheeks (a squirrel from Texas who wears a space suit to breathe underwater), as well as catching jellyfish at Jellyfish Fields. To date, he has caught, named, and let go every jellyfish in Jellyfish Fields at least once, except the blue jellyfish, until the end of the episode "Jellyfish Hunter" (who he calls "Friend", after the jellyfish helps him discover Mr. Krabs is using jellyfish to mass-produce special Krabby Patties in terrible conditions.).

SpongeBob has yet to keep a boating license (analogous to a driver's license), because he fails every driver's test at Mrs. Puff's Boating School, mainly due to a tendency to become nervous once behind the wheel (he has been shown to know what he's doing everywhere but inside the boat). Despite this, he perpetually and continuously attends boating school in an attempt to get his license (and because he enjoys it), much to the woe and frustration of his boating instructor Mrs. Puff. At one point, Mrs. Puff becomes so frustrated she gives SpongeBob his boating license by allowing him to do "extra credit". She then takes it back realizing how much chaos he could cause with his license. When Mrs. Puff is fired in "Mrs. Puff, You're Fired", SpongeBob's new teacher actually trains him so much, that SpongeBob can drive very well–but only if he is blindfolded.

In many episodes, such as "As Seen on TV", "Band Geeks", "The Camping Episode", "Ripped Pants", The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, and most SpongeBob video games, it is suggested he has brilliant guitar and singing skills. He also likes to blow bubbles, surf, sun bathe, play the ukulele, and watch his favorite TV show, The New Adventures of Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy.

Also, Spongebob likes to hang out with his friend Patrick. They enjoy jellyfishing, playing in a box, and making fools out of themselves. Patrick and Spongebob are good friends who are always hanging out with each other, and most of Spongebob's time has Patrick in it.

International Translations

Main article: International Following of SpongeBob SquarePants

Controversy

Main article: SpongeBob SquarePants controversy

SpongeBob SquarePants, like many other Nickelodeon shows, has had to endure controversy at one point or another. However, due to the show's almost "extreme" popularity, the controversy surrounding it has been more or less larger than with other Nicktoons. Some social conservatives claimed SpongeBob was gay but they later dropped the charges and Steven Hillenburg has denied this on numerous occasions. Mr. Hillenburg says that all the characthers is somewhat asexual.

Trivia

History Facts

• SpongeBob was originally going to be called SpongeBoy, but the name was already trademarked.
• SpongeBob was not always depicted as a kitchen sponge-type shape; in the early years of planning, he was depicted as a luffa.

Name

• The name Bob, is short for Robert, which is his full name, as Patrick refers to him in the episode Patrick SmartPants. However, his full name as Robert is not confirmed by Hillenburg.
• SpongeBob has been called many different names, in a similar style to his own, mainly by Patrick. These include: CowBob RanchPants, DadMom AngryPants, MuscleBob BuffPants, SpongeBob BacksassPants, SpongeBob FancyPants, SquareBob, SpringBoob SquirePin, RobotBob SpongechefPants, BobPants SpongeSquare, SpongeBoob, SpongeBob ScaredyPants, SpongeBob NudiePants, SpongeBob SecretStealerPants, SpongeBob SuperiorPants, SpongeBob LawyerPants, SpongeBoy, me Bob, and SpongeBob NoPants (The Simpsons,WorkaholicPants).

Voice/Character

• SpongeBob's voice is described as a combination of the mayor of Munchkinland from The Wizard of Oz, and Elroy Jetson from The Jetsons.
• SpongeBob's character was influenced by Jerry Lewis, Pee Wee Herman, and Charlie Chaplin.
• To create SpongeBob's laugh, Tom Kenny hits his throat with his hand repeatedly while making a high-pitched dolphin-like sound (somewhat sounding like "Ahh").
• Tom Kenny said he came up with the voice of SpongeBob when he heard an angry dwarf yelling.
• SpongeBob's voice has become more higher pitched in the Movie and fourth season that proceeded it.

Other Trivia

• Creator Stephen Hillenburg, say that he does not have a nickname for SpongeBob, but he sometimes calls him "Sponge". He says that him or any of his crew never call him "Bob", because he does not want people to confuse him with cheese.
• SpongeBob's welcome mat in front of his house says "Ahoy!".
• SpongeBob's first words were, "May I take your order?"
• Although SpongeBob has claimed several times he's an invertebrate, when his skeleton has been shown on certain occasions it appears to have a backbone.
• In particular season four episodes, SpongeBob appears more green than yellow. SpongeBob also appears more square in season four than in the first three. His voice also appears lighter.
• The episode "Just One Bite" is a parody of Dr. Seuss's children's book "Green Eggs and Ham".
• In the new episode "New Leaf", SpongeBob is a great DJ.
• SpongeBob's "house" is visible in the Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius episode Operation: Jet Fusion. When Jimmy, Carl and Sheen go to the Pacific Ocean, one can see a pineapple.
• Another Nicktoon reference can be found in the Fairly Oddparents episode Something's Fishy, where the king of Atlantis states that their diets consist of "crabs, starfish, and the occasional undersea squirrel", as a joke to their fellow Nick animators.
• Some episodes seem to have been edited while shown on air. One example being while Mr. Krabs searches for the Smitty Werben Jegar Man-Jensen grave and tries to remember what SpongeBob had told him while he was leaving. An earlier version had SpongeBob say "You'll never guess what I found in my pants last night", which is now heard as "You'll never guess what I found in my sock last night", because people said it sounded wrong.
• SpongeBob is ambidextrous; in Procrastination, he can be seen using his left hand to write. In other episodes he uses his right hand as his dominant.
• Spongebob's ability to tie his shoes varies. Aparently, his shoes have been tied since before birth, so he could not teach Patrick how to tie his new shoes. Gary the snail is aparently the only creature in Bikini Bottom who can tie a shoe, however in the episode "Rock Bottom", Spongebob reties his shoe to pass the time.