The Krusty Krab's star chef is full of surprises. From unused designs to hidden meanings with certain gags, here are 10 interesting about Nickelodeon's literal golden boy.
#10: The show was originally gonna end at season 3
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| It's still the perfect end to SpongeBob's golden age! |
Series creator Stephen Hillenberg originally wanted to the series to end after season 3 with the movie. However, because the show was such a huge success, Nickelodeon decided to keep it running for much longer and as of this writing it has over 200 episodes and 3 movies.
#9: SpongeBob almost looked like a real sea sponge
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| Imagine if they had this guy serving up Krabby Patties. |
Early concept art for the show had SpongeBob looking like a real sea sponge, but this was changed to his familiar kitchen sponge shape to make animating him easier. Additionally, he was originally gonna be called SpongeBoy, but this was changed because that name was already trademarked. Finally, a similar character called Bob the Sponge appeared in The Intertidal Zone, an educational sea life book Stephen Hillenberg made years before he made SpongeBob.
#8: Doug Lawrence auditioned to voice SpongeBob
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| Plankton was almost the protagonist! Think about that for a second! |
Before he became the voice of the show's main antagonist, Doug Lawrence auditioned to play the main star, using the same voice he would use to voice Plankton. This take on the character was most likely rejected due to sounding too old and menacing for SpongeBob's appearance.
#7: What happens behind closed doors stays behind closed doors
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| That's the face I made when I saw these pictures! |
For years there was a lost SpongeBob book called "Behind Closed Doors" which is a collection of crude SpongeBob drawings that the storyboard artists made during productions. These drawings include SpongeBob and Patrick doing it and Mr. Krabs doing a massive number 2.
#6: A real-world species was named after SpongeBob
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| You know a cartoon character is iconic when they have a real species named after them! |
In 2011, scientists found a never before seen type of fungus in Malaysa. They called this fungus Spongiforma squarepantsii because it resembled a sponge.
#5: Bikini Bottom's hidden backstory
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| That would explain all the reasonless explosions. |
The city of Bikini Bottom was named after the real world location of Bikini Atoll. For those not in the know, Bikini Atoll is most known for being the site of multiple nuclear bomb tests in the 40s and 50s.
#4: The second episode didn't have audio problems
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| If anyone asks, Mr. Krabs was in charge of looking after the money! |
For years, it was thought that the shows second episode, Reef Blower, didn't have voice acting because of faulty recording equipment. This was disproven by storyboard artist Jay Lender in an X/Twitter post, where he said that the episode was silent because it was separate from the pilot episode and SAG rules mandated paying the actors a second set of session fees. That was around $2500 bucks total and the episode aired way before SpongeBob became one of the biggest names in Television.
#3: The crew had sailor mouths
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| Behold! The episode that essentially gave birth to SpongeBob edited videos! |
According to Tom Kenny, the cast actually did swear while recording lines for the episode Sailor Mouth. Originally they wanted to use fake swear words, but actually coming up with some was too difficult so they decided to have real swear words censored by various nautical noises. Additionally, he also said that the inspiration for SpongeBob's voice came from an angry elf that Tom heard cursing up a storm.
#2: Spike TV wanted an adult version
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| Thank god SpongeBob's Adult Party never saw the light of day! |
At one point Spike TV approached Stephen Hillenberg to product an adult version of the show. This version would've had SpongeBob and Patrick be a gay couple and most likely would've had tasteless jokes, similarly to Ren and Stimpy's Adult Party Cartoon. Fortunately, Hillenberg turned down this idea.
#1: Stephen Hillenberg is in every episode (sort of)
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| RIP Stephen Hillenberg. You will be missed. |
We all remember the classic SpongeBob opening, with the painting of a pirate who tells us to get ready. Well, according to the directors commentary on the Truth or Square DVD, the sycnro-voxed lips of the paint belongs to the show's creator, Stephen Hillenberg.
Just like the real world's oceans, the world of Bikini Bottom never stops being interesting. If you know some things I didn't or believe I screwed something up, please leave some comments down below. Thanks for reading and long live the sponge!
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