SpongeBob SquarePantsSpongeBob SquarePants is an popular American animated television series shown on Nickelodeon, YTV, and Nicktoons Network created by marine biologist and animator, Stephen Hillenburg. SpongeBob SquarePants is a comedy set under the Pacific Ocean that uses puns (including the names of certain characters), non sequiturs, double-talk, breaking of the fourth wall, some crude humor, and other such antics to entertain the audience. The pilot episode first aired in the United States on Nickelodeon after the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards on May Day (May 1), 1999. SpongeBob SquarePants officially aired on July 17 of the same year with the second episode, "Bubblestand/Ripped Pants." Most episodes take place in the town of Bikini Bottom or the surrounding lagoon floor. PopularitySpongeBob is the first "low budget" Nickelodeon cartoon, according to the network, to become extremely popular. Low-budget cartoons had not garnered as much esteem as higher-rated (and higher-budgeted) shows, such as Rugrats, although when SpongeBob aired in 1999, it had obtained a substantial amount of viewers in the ratings to be considered popular. SpongeBob follows some other Nickelodeon shows that have attracted "older" followers: The Ren & Stimpy Show, Rocko's Modern Life, the Kablam! skits, Action League Now!, and The Angry Beavers. Other shows have followed in this trend as well: The Fairly OddParents and Invader Zim took a similar role when they aired in 2001, and the former is now second only to SpongeBob in popularity. Broad appealThe cartoon is designed to appeal to children as well as older viewers. This has a lot to do with the way underwater life and situations are represented, absurdly, as though they are almost equivalent to normal terrestrial lifestyles. Instead of cars, the residents of Bikini Bottom drive boats (with wheels). Once, while out in the wilderness, Patrick questions how they could have a camp fire on the lagoon bottom—the fire is immediately extinguished with a sizzle. A flurry of bubbles accompany many actions, just to remind the viewer everything is underwater. The main character, SpongeBob lives in a pineapple, while his neighbor Squidward lives in an Easter Island head and his other neighbor and best friend, Patrick lives under a rock. The suggestion is that both the head and the pineapple have fallen from a tropical island to become underwater habitats. SpongeBob's house-pet is a snail named Gary, who meows like a cat (though characters have shown signs of being able to understand him). In relation to this, underwater worms bark (and act) exactly like dogs, and are kept on chains. Jellyfish are the equivalent of bees (buzzing and stinging), but are collected or appreciated like butterflies and are used for their delicious jelly. Clams behave like birds, propelling themselves through the water with their shells and tweeting. In addition to this, instead of peanut butter, SpongeBob SquarePants uses what is called in Bikini Bottom "Sea-Nut Butter". SpongeBob's telephone is shaped like a conch and referred to as a "shell phone". Aside from the many undersea puns, some common products from the surface world have somehow found their way into Bikini Bottom, such as Canned Bread, Roast Beef, and even Pizza. SpongeBob works at the Krusty Krab, a restaurant seemingly based on McDonald's or Burger King. SpongeBob is one cartoon in a long line of shows to put in more "adult" references, and has become so popular with the adult crowd that it has been shown on MTV and Spike TV. A certain quote by Patrick ("It's gonna rock!") has been used as a promo for rock stations. Ren and Stimpy, among others, had followed a similar path. The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, released on November 19, 2004, features a cameo appearance by actor David Hasselhoff, reprising his role from the Baywatch TV series. Part of the show's appeal has to do with the childlike nature of SpongeBob and his best friend, Patrick, both of whom are idiots and display an innocence typical of human children. However, the characters are not immune from more adult avocations, including rock musicianship in a stadium performance reminiscent of a hard rock concert. When naming reasons why many fans believe Nickelodeon has gone downhill in recent years, SpongeBob is often listed as an exception. Its appeal to older audiences, as mentioned earlier, can be contributed to the show's crazy but witty and at times even sophisticated humor. The show also, unlike many current Nickelodeon cartoons, is not "mainstream" or "cliche". While many newer cartoons revolve around pre-adolescents with strange lives and feature massive amounts of pop-culture references (eg. Fairly Oddparents), SpongeBob chooses to go for a more teen/adult friendly formula that was used in highly sucessful older Nick cartoons such as Ren and Stimpy and Rocko's Modern Life, non-human young adults in crazy, unrealistic situations, with minimal pop culture references. Unlike its mainstream-culture-promoting network, SpongeBob features many semi-obscure musicians who contribute to its soundtrack. Non-mainstream alternative rock bands such as Wilco, The Shins, The Flaming Lips and perhaps most notably Ween (who have contributed two original songs to the show and their 1997 classic "Ocean Man" to the movie soundtrack), as well as metal bands Pantera, Motorhead, and Twisted Sister have made appearances on the show and movies soundtracks, and classic thrash metal group Metallica even released a T-shirt featuring cartoon versions of them playing live with Spongebob & Patrick [1] (leading to as of yet unproven rumors that the band will appear on a future episode of the show). However, in a more typical Nickelodeon-style move, Avril Lavigne did the movie theme song. Merchandising and marketingMerchandise based on the show ranges from Kraft SuperMac & Cheese, Kellogg's cereal, and video games to boxer shorts, pajamas, and t-shirts. The show also spawned a large and popular merchandise line at Hot Topic, Claire's, RadioShack, Target, Wal-Mart, and Toys "R" Us stores. There have been kids meal tie-ins at Wendy's for SpongeBob's House Party Special in 2002 and at Burger King restaurants in 2001, 2003, and for the movie in 2004; in 2004, thieves stole nine-foot-high by nine-foot-wide SpongeBob inflatables from the Burger King restaurant franchises, demanding Krabby Patties as ransom. The ransom note was signed by someone in Minneapolis, Minnesota claiming to be Sheldon J. Plankton, a character from the show. SpongeBob was also featured on VH1's I Love the 90s: Part Deux: 1999 as part of a commentary by Michael Ian Black. More recently, a tie-in beverage for 7-Eleven convenience stores has been created, a pineapple-flavored Slurpee. Events in the past with the SpongeBob SquarePants theme include an exhibit at Underwater Adventures Aquarium in the Mall of America called SeaCrits of Bikini Bottom during the summer of 2003. In October 2004, a NASCAR Busch Series race was named The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie 300, presented by Lowe's and broadcast on TNT featuring Jimmie Johnson's #48 Lowe's stock car and Kyle Busch's #5 stock car painted for the race with the SpongeBob Movie paint schemes. There were contests tied in with the movie where you could win SpongeBob-related items or a trip to the Cayman Islands. LEGO recieved license to produce SpongeBob SquarePants building sets, beginning to sell them in August 2006. HistoryOrigin (1993–1999)SpongeBob's history can be traced back to 1993 when Rocko's Modern Life first aired. One of the producers was Stephen Hillenburg, a cartoon worker/marine biologist who loved both his careers. When Rocko's Modern Life was cancelled in 1997, Hillenburg began working on SpongeBob (although some sketches trace back to 1996). He teamed up with creative director Derek Drymon, who had worked on shows such as Doug, Action League Now!, and Hey Arnold!. Drymon had worked with Hillenburg on Rocko's Modern Life as well, as did many SpongeBob crew members, including writer Tim Hill and voice actors Tom Kenny and Doug Lawrence. Another crew member with previous Nickelodeon cartoon experience was former Angry Beavers story editor Merriwether Williams, who worked on that show for its first few seasons and switched to SpongeBob in July 1999. During production of the show, Hillenburg provided a concept of short comics with the same style of the show, but the characters looked different. SpongeBob used to be named SpongeBoy, and used to wear a red hat with a green base and a white business shirt with a tie. The name "SpongeBoy" did not make it into the show since the name was already officially trademarked by Bob Burden, creator of Flaming Carrot. Hillenburg later chose the alternative name "SpongeBob." The original name was once referenced in the show by Mr. Krabs' line, "SpongeBoy, me Bob!." The Krusty Krab was originally spelled with the letter C rather than K, but Stephen Hillenburg thought K's were funnier. Rise to popularity (1999–2000)SpongeBob blowing the sand off Squidward with his reef-blower.In 1999, SpongeBob aired its first episode, "Help Wanted/Reef Blower/Tea at the Treedome", after the 1999 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. At this time, Rugrats was at the height of its popularity and had already outlived dozens of other lower-budget cartoons. SpongeBob, with its generally lower-class animation and humor style more rooted in clever word-play and culture-references unlike the potty humor that made Rugrats so popular, was expected to be just another one of those shows. Although it struggled in its early days, its ratings flew up. After about a year, it surpassed Rugrats as Nick's most highly rated show. SpongeBob's signature voice (provided by Kenny) and humorous style was enjoyable to both younger and older audiences. Many people attribute the "Fall Of Rugrats/Klasky-Csupo/Rise Of Low-Budget Cartoons" to SpongeBob. Peak years (2000–2003)The show began its second season in 2000 with more high-quality animation and even more popular episodes. By then it was clear to the world that SpongeBob had opened the door to many other cartoons to use more "adult" senses of humor and come from smaller companies. In 2001, The Fairly OddParents aired from the then-small Frederator company. It focused on a sense of humor similar to SpongeBob’s, only more realistic, slightly crazier (and more suggestive to "adult" topics), and with more pop culture references; this show managed to become a hit as well and currently ranks behind SpongeBob as Nick's second most popular show. That same year, Invader Zim aired, created by comic book writer Jhonen Vasquez; it had a dark but silly sense of humor (similar to Vasquez's other comic books) that managed to attract a very loyal cult following consisting more of teens and adults than young children (though also containing a moderate amount of preteens). SpongeBob, however, was the leader of all these shows and had by this time started its now famous merchandise line. 2002 also saw a bright side, as the first part of that year saw SpongeBob at its peak. The beginning of the third season produced many classic episodes and focused on the same style and animation concepts. The year also saw another more low-budget show with popularity (The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius), but things changed late in the year. Due to rumors of a movie, there was high speculation that the show would be cancelled and that 2003/2004 would feature the last season of new episodes. Fans were devastated and online petitions were widely distributed to convince Nickelodeon to produce more episodes by showing continuing fan support. SpongeBob Meets The Strangler/Pranks A Lot" was the last episode of this season, and aired in October of 2004. Following this, the movie was released in November of that year. Hiatus/Movie Era (2003–2005)The show continued to gain high approval ratings despite a lack of new episodes, and many fans feared they would never air. The president of Nickelodeon announced that the show would continue without Hillenburg featuring Paul Tibbitt as supervising producer and Derek Drymon taking over Hillenburg's spot as executive producer. As its movie only achieved over $85,000,000 in revenue in the United States, perhaps because of the shows popularity showing something of a decline at the time of it's release. The Rugrats Movie, on the other hand, earned over $100,000,000 in the United States. (It was around this time that the animated series which it is based on, Rugrats, was at the height of its popularity. Ironically, that movie would also be considered Rugrats' jump the shark moment by many fans.) See Controversy for more information. The Big Comeback (2005- )Fear of a Krabby PattyTV advertisements for SpongeBob's fourth season first aired publicly during the 2005 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. The new episodes began airing on May 6, 2005. So far, four new episodes and nine segments of new episodes have aired, with more upcoming including a sixth Mermaidman & Barnacle Boy. The first new episode of Season 4, "Fear Of A Krabby Patty/Shell Of A Man", was a huge hit with many fans who had long been bored with the show and many more faithful ones who have been waiting for new episodes for years. After airing three new episodes on Fridays from May 6 to May 20, Nickelodeon did not premiere any new SpongeBob episodes until September 2005. For the first time in SpongeBob's run, Nickelodeon began airing 11-minute segments of new episodes separately, spread over two weeks. This practice began with the airing of the episode "Selling Out" on September 23; its companion episode, "Funny Pants," premiered the following week on September 30 (Nickelodeon did air "Selling Out" and "Funny Pants" together as a rerun on October 9, 2005). Many fans are outraged, but it should be noted that the change in format is at Nickelodeon's insistence, rather than the SpongeBob creators. The Star Online eCentral reports that Nickelodeon has ordered 20 more episodes of SpongeBob Squarepants, bringing the show’s total amount of episodes to 100. The episodes are projected to have finished airing sometime in 2007. Regarding the new order of SpongeBob cartoons, Cyma Zarghami, Nickelodeon’s chief executive, responded, “It just doesn’t feel like we should stop yet.” This is quite relevant, as recently the show has seen some of it's highest ratings since it's peak years in the early 2000's, and, while some more observant fans are skeptical, has returned without an excessive amount of fans believing it has "jumped the shark". SpongeBob has been picked up for a fifth season on Nickelodeon, with potential for a sixth season; new episodes will air from 2006 to 2007. Characters
Voice actors and their characters
Guest Voices and Stars in Some Episodes
Guest Voices and Stars in the Movie
Theme songThe theme song, primarily based on the sea shanty, "Blow the Man Down", is the principal song used in the series. It is sung by Patchy the Pirate, voiced by Pat Pinney, and can be found on the soundtrack, SpongeBob SquarePants: Original Theme Highlights. A cover of the song by Avril Lavigne can be found on The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (soundtrack). A choral version was recorded for the SpongeBob Christmas special where the last words, "SquarePants", were replaced by "Christmas special". The song can also be found on The Yellow Album. ControversyDespite the show's popularity, SpongeBob has had to endure much controversy. This is not new for Nickelodeon. Many of its cartoons, including Ren & Stimpy, Rocko's Modern Life, The Angry Beavers, Invader Zim, and The Fairly OddParents, have sparked controversy in one way or another. However, SpongeBob's popularity has made the controversy surrounding it more noticeable and of a larger scale. Notably, SpongeBob's cheerful attitude and his close friendship with Patrick led some viewers to the conclusion that the sponge was the next gay icon. Around the beginning of the third season, SpongeBob and Patrick were frequently depicted holding hands. In the 2002 episode "Rock-a-Bye Bivalve", SpongeBob and Patrick adopt a baby scallop, furthering the rumours because of the implications that the two made major life decisions together, as a couple would. This episode was never aired in the Philippines India, Israel, and Italy because the people there may have thought the episode resembles homosexuality. In three episodes, SpongeBob is portrayed for brief moments in women's clothing, although it should be noted that other cartoon and slapstick characters, such as Bugs Bunny, have done the same; in this regard, SpongeBob falls squarely in the pantheon of characters who have actively gone above the limits and endured controversy as a result. Stephen Hillenburg, creator of the show, states SpongeBob to be asexual, as he is a sponge. In support of this statement, in early episodes it's revealed that SpongeBob reproduces by budding and making baby sponges come out of his holes; this is not so different than what real sponges do. But some fans argue that SpongeBob has a human-like sexual identity, because sometimes he will panic when he's shown not wearing underwear, as if he were a human, and run back to his pineapple and hide. There are actually many heterosexual relationships on the show (eg. Mr. Krabs/Mrs. Puff, SpongeBob's parents, Pearl/Octavious Rex, Plankton/Mama Krabs, Gary/Snellie, Plankton/Karen, Patrick/Mindy, and in many early episodes there is a slight romantic relationship between SpongeBob and Sandy, automatically disproving any rumors that Spongebob could ever be homosexual); aside from the "Rock-a-Bye Bivalve" controversy there are arguably no gay relationships at all. More recently, SpongeBob was featured in the pro-tolerance "We Are Family" commercial, along with many other cartoon characters. The video has sparked controversy because some conservative Christian groups believe that the We Are Family Foundation was using it to promote the normalization of homosexuality in American schools. A spokesman for the foundation suggests that anyone who thought the video promoted homosexuality "needs to visit their doctor and get their medication increased."[2]. Many fans have also pointed to the fact that many more characters besides SpongeBob were featured in the commercial, and SpongeBob's appearance is only a few seconds long. It has been incorrectly reported that James Dobson, a leading figure among many conservative Christians, believes SpongeBob is homosexual or promotes a homosexual lifestyle. Stephen Hillenburg announced publicly that SpongeBob and Patrick are not gay. Main Crew
Episodes, movies, and spin-offsSpongeBob SquarePants episodesSpongeBob SquarePants movies
SpongeBob SquarePants theatrical shorts
SpongeBob SquarePants spin-offs
Trivia
incident involving Mrs. Puff, who is a blowfish expanding into an air balloon.
This page about spongebob squarepants includes information from a Wikipedia article. Additional articles about spongebob squarepants News stories about spongebob squarepants External links for spongebob squarepants Videos for spongebob squarepants Wikis about spongebob squarepants Discussion Groups about spongebob squarepants Blogs about spongebob squarepants Images of spongebob squarepants |
|
Puff, who is a blowfish expanding into an air balloon. This is a list of the best sites dedicated to Habbo Hotel as voted by the members of that hotel's community. incident involving Mrs. Some Habbo Hotels maintain an official fansite list. Stephen Hillenburg announced publicly that SpongeBob and Patrick are not gay. All of these domains currently redirect to the US Habbo Hotel. It has been incorrectly reported that James Dobson, a leading figure among many conservative Christians, believes SpongeBob is homosexual or promotes a homosexual lifestyle. Opening dates are unknown. Many fans have also pointed to the fact that many more characters besides SpongeBob were featured in the commercial, and SpongeBob's appearance is only a few seconds long. These hotels' domains have been purchased by Sulake. A spokesman for the foundation suggests that anyone who thought the video promoted homosexuality "needs to visit their doctor and get their medication increased."[2]. There are currently 17 Habbo Hotels in operation:. The video has sparked controversy because some conservative Christian groups believe that the We Are Family Foundation was using it to promote the normalization of homosexuality in American schools. Names such as James are also banned from missions and many usernames are unacceptabled to hotel management because they used to belong to a very famous/well known habbo or it is a name being saved for future staff members. More recently, SpongeBob was featured in the pro-tolerance "We Are Family" commercial, along with many other cartoon characters. Again, all of this is dependent on the Hotel one is currently using. Puff, SpongeBob's parents, Pearl/Octavious Rex, Plankton/Mama Krabs, Gary/Snellie, Plankton/Karen, Patrick/Mindy, and in many early episodes there is a slight romantic relationship between SpongeBob and Sandy, automatically disproving any rumors that Spongebob could ever be homosexual); aside from the "Rock-a-Bye Bivalve" controversy there are arguably no gay relationships at all. Similarly, the word "light" is censored in Habbo missions, as many Habbos used a mission similar to "light it up", a reference to marijuana. Krabs/Mrs. "//" is censored from appearing in room names, descriptions and Habbo missions for being used to advertise websites, but is not censored from ordinary speech. Mr. For example, apostrophes on stickies (similar to Post-it Notes) are immediately changed into question marks, as they are popular for avoiding the filter. There are actually many heterosexual relationships on the show (eg. The amount of filtering also varies from medium to medium. But some fans argue that SpongeBob has a human-like sexual identity, because sometimes he will panic when he's shown not wearing underwear, as if he were a human, and run back to his pineapple and hide. The recent explosion of censorship has led to Habbos avoiding the filter by adding punctuation between letters and resorting to more leet options such as alt codes (using alt+number pad to create letters with accents on them), which has, in turn, caused more and more words to be filtered. In support of this statement, in early episodes it's revealed that SpongeBob reproduces by budding and making baby sponges come out of his holes; this is not so different than what real sponges do. In recent times, Habbos have become increasingly irritated by the filter, which has been known to filter out normal portions of speech, such as "My thoughts exactly!" or "looking to trade a red rug", due to the words "sex" and "drug" appearing in the respective phrases (see bolded portions.) Emoticons are not safe from the filter either, nor are some normal words like "successful" and "fuchsia". Stephen Hillenburg, creator of the show, states SpongeBob to be asexual, as he is a sponge. The level of censorship varies from hotel to hotel, with the UK Habbo Hotel having, in many user's minds, the most ludicrous amount of censorship possible. In three episodes, SpongeBob is portrayed for brief moments in women's clothing, although it should be noted that other cartoon and slapstick characters, such as Bugs Bunny, have done the same; in this regard, SpongeBob falls squarely in the pantheon of characters who have actively gone above the limits and endured controversy as a result. It has become to be known as the Bobba Filter on the most prominent hotels, due to its replacement of all offensive text with the simple word "bobba" (various hotels, mainly those not in English, use a different word than "bobba".) Replacement comes anywhere from benign words like "poop" and "ass" to highly offensive words, phrases and even websites. This episode was never aired in the Philippines India, Israel, and Italy because the people there may have thought the episode resembles homosexuality. There is a filter in place to block certain objectionable words and phrases. In the 2002 episode "Rock-a-Bye Bivalve", SpongeBob and Patrick adopt a baby scallop, furthering the rumours because of the implications that the two made major life decisions together, as a couple would. All Hobbas and ex-Hobbas were given a special Habbo Memorial badge to acknowledge their service to the hotel. Around the beginning of the third season, SpongeBob and Patrick were frequently depicted holding hands. Due to security concerns, the Hobba system was phased out worldwide on December 31, 2005. Notably, SpongeBob's cheerful attitude and his close friendship with Patrick led some viewers to the conclusion that the sponge was the next gay icon. The application process also involved telephone interviews, as well as a written contract between the individuals and Sulake Corporation. However, SpongeBob's popularity has made the controversy surrounding it more noticeable and of a larger scale. Hobbas applied for their voluntary position through the Hotel websites, and had to meet selection criteria (including a minimum age of 18 years) in order to file a valid application. Many of its cartoons, including Ren & Stimpy, Rocko's Modern Life, The Angry Beavers, Invader Zim, and The Fairly OddParents, have sparked controversy in one way or another. Hobbas recieved many of the same commands as moderators use, as well as access to a limited section of Housekeeping. This is not new for Nickelodeon. Hobbas were split into three groups - silver, gold, and super - each of which had different levels of powers. Despite the show's popularity, SpongeBob has had to endure much controversy. Hobbas were volunteer Habbo users who assisted moderators with moderation of the hotel. The song can also be found on The Yellow Album. The system has not yet been implemented on all hotels worldwide, however is in operation throughout all English speaking hotels. A choral version was recorded for the SpongeBob Christmas special where the last words, "SquarePants", were replaced by "Christmas special". The system, although praised by many, is also disputed by some Habbos as a form of favouritism, with many Habbos well known within their respective communities being selected for the program. A cover of the song by Avril Lavigne can be found on The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (soundtrack). These players (the number of whom varies between hotels but is usually between the range of 20-30) recieve a special badge to identify them to new players. It is sung by Patchy the Pirate, voiced by Pat Pinney, and can be found on the soundtrack, SpongeBob SquarePants: Original Theme Highlights. This is done through the selection of a number of regular Habbo players of any age, who are known to have a solid understanding of the Habbo Way and the Hotel in general. The theme song, primarily based on the sea shanty, "Blow the Man Down", is the principal song used in the series. This recently devised system is designed to present Habbo Hotel as a welcoming environment to new members. SpongeBob has been picked up for a fifth season on Nickelodeon, with potential for a sixth season; new episodes will air from 2006 to 2007. Habbo eXperts are commonly known throughout the hotels as Habbo Xs. Regarding the new order of SpongeBob cartoons, Cyma Zarghami, Nickelodeon’s chief executive, responded, “It just doesn’t feel like we should stop yet.” This is quite relevant, as recently the show has seen some of it's highest ratings since it's peak years in the early 2000's, and, while some more observant fans are skeptical, has returned without an excessive amount of fans believing it has "jumped the shark". Bans are placed on individual Habbo accounts, however, many more serious offences are punished by a Macromedia Shockwave ID or IP address ban. The episodes are projected to have finished airing sometime in 2007. As well as this ability, moderator staff can also kick Habbos from any room, mute them (prevent them from talking), and ban them from the hotel entirely. The Star Online eCentral reports that Nickelodeon has ordered 20 more episodes of SpongeBob Squarepants, bringing the show’s total amount of episodes to 100. These prove to be effective in preventing minor infringments of the Habbo Way, the guidelines that govern the community. Many fans are outraged, but it should be noted that the change in format is at Nickelodeon's insistence, rather than the SpongeBob creators. The tools in Housekeeping, as well as in-game controls (through commands typed with the syntax :command parameters), allow moderator staff to send messages to Habbos in the hotel, which appear as in-game popups. This practice began with the airing of the episode "Selling Out" on September 23; its companion episode, "Funny Pants," premiered the following week on September 30 (Nickelodeon did air "Selling Out" and "Funny Pants" together as a rerun on October 9, 2005). Moderators utilise in-game commands as well as a seperate web based tool known as Housekeeping. For the first time in SpongeBob's run, Nickelodeon began airing 11-minute segments of new episodes separately, spread over two weeks. Moderators will always have the prefix "MOD-" in their account name and have a Habbo Staff badge. After airing three new episodes on Fridays from May 6 to May 20, Nickelodeon did not premiere any new SpongeBob episodes until September 2005. Office staff moderate the hotel during local office hours, and are relieved by moderator staff outside of office hours. The first new episode of Season 4, "Fear Of A Krabby Patty/Shell Of A Man", was a huge hit with many fans who had long been bored with the show and many more faithful ones who have been waiting for new episodes for years. Moderator staff are police vetted Sulake employees who work from home. So far, four new episodes and nine segments of new episodes have aired, with more upcoming including a sixth Mermaidman & Barnacle Boy. Habbo Hotel's moderation is covered by paid moderator staff whom work in 4 hour shifts. The new episodes began airing on May 6, 2005. Office staff may also consist of player support staff, who respond to queries sent via contact forms by players; and pixel artists who create the vast amounts of imagery used both in-game and on the community's website. TV advertisements for SpongeBob's fourth season first aired publicly during the 2005 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. These staff generally include a 'Hotel Manager', or Content Manager, who oversees the hotel as a whole by communicating with the players through newsletters, creating competitions, and managing the content of the website; a Community Manager, who is responsible for moderation and guidance throughout the virtual community by managing in-game Moderators and Habbo eXperts; and a Country Manager, who manages the business side of the community such as sales, finance and administration. See Controversy for more information.. This office is the workplace of the respective hotel's senior staff. Ironically, that movie would also be considered Rugrats' jump the shark moment by many fans.). Each Habbo Hotel has an office associated with it, operated by Sulake employees. (It was around this time that the animated series which it is based on, Rugrats, was at the height of its popularity. Members of Habbo Club are also able to turn their badges on and off at their own discretion. The Rugrats Movie, on the other hand, earned over $100,000,000 in the United States. Two very useful additional features of Habbo Club include the Chooser (accessed by typing ":chooser"), which lists all occupants of a room, and Furni (":furni"), which lists all furni within a guest room. As its movie only achieved over $85,000,000 in revenue in the United States, perhaps because of the shows popularity showing something of a decline at the time of it's release. Habbo Club is an exclusive service in Habbo Hotel that enables a Habbo to:. The president of Nickelodeon announced that the show would continue without Hillenburg featuring Paul Tibbitt as supervising producer and Derek Drymon taking over Hillenburg's spot as executive producer. Furni, as well as credits, Habbos and guest rooms cannot be transferred from one hotel to another. The show continued to gain high approval ratings despite a lack of new episodes, and many fans feared they would never air. There are also seasonal items released a month in advance of such days as Valentine's Day, Easter, Halloween and Christmas. Following this, the movie was released in November of that year. Every so often, rare items will be sold through the catalogue for 25 credits for a period of around 14 days. SpongeBob Meets The Strangler/Pranks A Lot" was the last episode of this season, and aired in October of 2004. They can also purchase cats and dogs to occupy their room(s). Fans were devastated and online petitions were widely distributed to convince Nickelodeon to produce more episodes by showing continuing fan support. Habbos can purchase a wide selection of items for their guest rooms from the catalogue. Due to rumors of a movie, there was high speculation that the show would be cancelled and that 2003/2004 would feature the last season of new episodes. Credits are bought by paying actual money (usually by text message, credit card or mail orders) to Habbo Ltd. The year also saw another more low-budget show with popularity (The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius), but things changed late in the year. Catalogue items can either be purchased with credits or traded from Habbo to Habbo, as long as they are in a guest room which allows trading. The beginning of the third season produced many classic episodes and focused on the same style and animation concepts. Furniture for guest rooms can be purchased through the Catalogue. 2002 also saw a bright side, as the first part of that year saw SpongeBob at its peak. Recent versions of the Navigator sort both Public and Guest rooms under various categories for easier navigation. SpongeBob, however, was the leader of all these shows and had by this time started its now famous merchandise line. The navigator holds lists for a Habbo's own rooms and their favourite rooms, as well as a Search feature enabling searches by room name or owner's name. That same year, Invader Zim aired, created by comic book writer Jhonen Vasquez; it had a dark but silly sense of humor (similar to Vasquez's other comic books) that managed to attract a very loyal cult following consisting more of teens and adults than young children (though also containing a moderate amount of preteens). It also allows them to keep track of who is online and which room they are in (though it will only say "in guest room" if they happen to be in one.) There is also a Navigator which allows Habbos to select a public or guest room to enter. It focused on a sense of humor similar to SpongeBob’s, only more realistic, slightly crazier (and more suggestive to "adult" topics), and with more pop culture references; this show managed to become a hit as well and currently ranks behind SpongeBob as Nick's second most popular show. Habbos can keep track of their friends through the Console, which allows Habbos to send and receive messages to each other. In 2001, The Fairly OddParents aired from the then-small Frederator company. In guest rooms, Habbos and all furniture appear much larger than in public rooms; as a result, the isometric grid is much larger and guest rooms consist of much smaller grid sizes than public rooms (the largest guest room has 104 squares, where the average public room has three times that.) In either room type, the words of a Habbo will appear above their head in a long, one-line thought bubble that is colour-coordinated to match the colour of the respective Habbo's shirt. By then it was clear to the world that SpongeBob had opened the door to many other cartoons to use more "adult" senses of humor and come from smaller companies. There are templates for the size and shape of the room, which can be painted and filled with furniture (known as "furni"), all of which is purchasable from the Catalogue (see below.). The show began its second season in 2000 with more high-quality animation and even more popular episodes. Guest Rooms are fully customizable rooms made by Habbos and can be used for a wide variety of purposes: nightclubs, gaming rooms, trading rooms and even whole houses. Many people attribute the "Fall Of Rugrats/Klasky-Csupo/Rise Of Low-Budget Cartoons" to SpongeBob. Public Rooms are those that supposedly could be found in a normal hotel, including lobbies, a kitchen, pools, lounges and a theatre (see photo to the right.) The selection of public rooms will differ from hotel to hotel. SpongeBob's signature voice (provided by Kenny) and humorous style was enjoyable to both younger and older audiences. There are two main types of rooms: Public Rooms and Guest Rooms. After about a year, it surpassed Rugrats as Nick's most highly rated show. The chatrooms that make up each Hotel are large isometric structures that usually feature furniture, lighting and beverage dispensers. Although it struggled in its early days, its ratings flew up. The newly registered Habbo now has the option to choose from a variety of clothing, shoes, hair and skin colour, all of which can be edited later..... SpongeBob, with its generally lower-class animation and humor style more rooted in clever word-play and culture-references unlike the potty humor that made Rugrats so popular, was expected to be just another one of those shows. The system will not register any offensive names or any that closely resemble any of the player's personal information. At this time, Rugrats was at the height of its popularity and had already outlived dozens of other lower-budget cartoons. The player must provide a habbo name and, if they may, type in a mission, which is a descriptive line shown when the player is clicked on by another habbo. In 1999, SpongeBob aired its first episode, "Help Wanted/Reef Blower/Tea at the Treedome", after the 1999 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. To play Habbo Hotel, one must first create an avatar, referred to as "checking in for the first time." The Hotel will ask the person if they are a specified age limit, dependant on geographical location. Krabs' line, "SpongeBoy, me Bob!." The Krusty Krab was originally spelled with the letter C rather than K, but Stephen Hillenburg thought K's were funnier. . Hillenburg later chose the alternative name "SpongeBob." The original name was once referenced in the show by Mr. Since then, the Hotel chain along with its user base has continued to grow, and Habbo Hotel is currently one of the largest non-violent online game communities on the internet, operating in 17 countries. The name "SpongeBoy" did not make it into the show since the name was already officially trademarked by Bob Burden, creator of Flaming Carrot. The second member of the Habbo brand was launched in the United Kingdom in January of 2001. SpongeBob used to be named SpongeBoy, and used to wear a red hat with a green base and a white business shirt with a tie. The word Habbo was chosen following the submission of a team member. During production of the show, Hillenburg provided a concept of short comics with the same style of the show, but the characters looked different. The company soon decided that a more neutral name for the service would be required to attract larger recognition. Another crew member with previous Nickelodeon cartoon experience was former Angry Beavers story editor Merriwether Williams, who worked on that show for its first few seasons and switched to SpongeBob in July 1999. The major launch of the service in Finland saw it dubbed Hotelli Kultakala, Finnish for Hotel Goldfish, in August 2000. Drymon had worked with Hillenburg on Rocko's Modern Life as well, as did many SpongeBob crew members, including writer Tim Hill and voice actors Tom Kenny and Doug Lawrence. The pair later sold the project to the Finnish telecom giant Elisa Oyj. He teamed up with creative director Derek Drymon, who had worked on shows such as Doug, Action League Now!, and Hey Arnold!. The original idea behind Habbo Hotel, Mobiles Disco, was created as a small project by two young Finnish men, Sampo Karjalainen and Aapo Kyrölä using FUSE Technology, which they created, and was intended to promote a rock band called Mobiles. When Rocko's Modern Life was cancelled in 1997, Hillenburg began working on SpongeBob (although some sketches trace back to 1996). Habbo Hotel is a virtual community that combines the concept of both a chat room and online game, owned and operated by Sulake Corporation. One of the producers was Stephen Hillenburg, a cartoon worker/marine biologist who loved both his careers. Habbaz. SpongeBob's history can be traced back to 1993 when Rocko's Modern Life first aired. Rare Trade Values. LEGO recieved license to produce SpongeBob SquarePants building sets, beginning to sell them in August 2006. HabboTalk. There were contests tied in with the movie where you could win SpongeBob-related items or a trip to the Cayman Islands. BOBBA My Room. In October 2004, a NASCAR Busch Series race was named The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie 300, presented by Lowe's and broadcast on TNT featuring Jimmie Johnson's #48 Lowe's stock car and Kyle Busch's #5 stock car painted for the race with the SpongeBob Movie paint schemes. Habbox US. Events in the past with the SpongeBob SquarePants theme include an exhibit at Underwater Adventures Aquarium in the Mall of America called SeaCrits of Bikini Bottom during the summer of 2003. HabboHut. More recently, a tie-in beverage for 7-Eleven convenience stores has been created, a pineapple-flavored Slurpee. Blue Bobble. SpongeBob was also featured on VH1's I Love the 90s: Part Deux: 1999 as part of a commentary by Michael Ian Black. Habtips. Plankton, a character from the show. HabboDown. The ransom note was signed by someone in Minneapolis, Minnesota claiming to be Sheldon J. Habbo Discussion. There have been kids meal tie-ins at Wendy's for SpongeBob's House Party Special in 2002 and at Burger King restaurants in 2001, 2003, and for the movie in 2004; in 2004, thieves stole nine-foot-high by nine-foot-wide SpongeBob inflatables from the Burger King restaurant franchises, demanding Krabby Patties as ransom. HabboForum. The show also spawned a large and popular merchandise line at Hot Topic, Claire's, RadioShack, Target, Wal-Mart, and Toys "R" Us stores. Habbo Hotel USA - Fansite List. Merchandise based on the show ranges from Kraft SuperMac & Cheese, Kellogg's cereal, and video games to boxer shorts, pajamas, and t-shirts. Hobtech. However, in a more typical Nickelodeon-style move, Avril Lavigne did the movie theme song. HabboForum. Non-mainstream alternative rock bands such as Wilco, The Shins, The Flaming Lips and perhaps most notably Ween (who have contributed two original songs to the show and their 1997 classic "Ocean Man" to the movie soundtrack), as well as metal bands Pantera, Motorhead, and Twisted Sister have made appearances on the show and movies soundtracks, and classic thrash metal group Metallica even released a T-shirt featuring cartoon versions of them playing live with Spongebob & Patrick [1] (leading to as of yet unproven rumors that the band will appear on a future episode of the show). HabboFM. Unlike its mainstream-culture-promoting network, SpongeBob features many semi-obscure musicians who contribute to its soundtrack. HabboHut. Fairly Oddparents), SpongeBob chooses to go for a more teen/adult friendly formula that was used in highly sucessful older Nick cartoons such as Ren and Stimpy and Rocko's Modern Life, non-human young adults in crazy, unrealistic situations, with minimal pop culture references. Habbo-Addicts. While many newer cartoons revolve around pre-adolescents with strange lives and feature massive amounts of pop-culture references (eg. Habburgers. The show also, unlike many current Nickelodeon cartoons, is not "mainstream" or "cliche". Hab-World. Its appeal to older audiences, as mentioned earlier, can be contributed to the show's crazy but witty and at times even sophisticated humor. HabboDown. When naming reasons why many fans believe Nickelodeon has gone downhill in recent years, SpongeBob is often listed as an exception. HabboCafe. However, the characters are not immune from more adult avocations, including rock musicianship in a stadium performance reminiscent of a hard rock concert. YourHabbo. Part of the show's appeal has to do with the childlike nature of SpongeBob and his best friend, Patrick, both of whom are idiots and display an innocence typical of human children. Habbo Lane. The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, released on November 19, 2004, features a cameo appearance by actor David Hasselhoff, reprising his role from the Baywatch TV series. RobSladey. Ren and Stimpy, among others, had followed a similar path. Habbo Demand. A certain quote by Patrick ("It's gonna rock!") has been used as a promo for rock stations. v-Habbo. SpongeBob is one cartoon in a long line of shows to put in more "adult" references, and has become so popular with the adult crowd that it has been shown on MTV and Spike TV. Habbling. SpongeBob works at the Krusty Krab, a restaurant seemingly based on McDonald's or Burger King. Habbo Info. Aside from the many undersea puns, some common products from the surface world have somehow found their way into Bikini Bottom, such as Canned Bread, Roast Beef, and even Pizza. Habbo Paper. SpongeBob's telephone is shaped like a conch and referred to as a "shell phone". Bobbanet. In addition to this, instead of peanut butter, SpongeBob SquarePants uses what is called in Bikini Bottom "Sea-Nut Butter". Habbo Mania. Clams behave like birds, propelling themselves through the water with their shells and tweeting. Habbo Hotel UK - Fansite List. Jellyfish are the equivalent of bees (buzzing and stinging), but are collected or appreciated like butterflies and are used for their delicious jelly. Habz.net. In relation to this, underwater worms bark (and act) exactly like dogs, and are kept on chains. HabboUnderworld. SpongeBob's house-pet is a snail named Gary, who meows like a cat (though characters have shown signs of being able to understand him). HabboForum. The suggestion is that both the head and the pineapple have fallen from a tropical island to become underwater habitats. HabboWatch. The main character, SpongeBob lives in a pineapple, while his neighbor Squidward lives in an Easter Island head and his other neighbor and best friend, Patrick lives under a rock. HabboLitez. A flurry of bubbles accompany many actions, just to remind the viewer everything is underwater. HabboSoup. Once, while out in the wilderness, Patrick questions how they could have a camp fire on the lagoon bottom—the fire is immediately extinguished with a sizzle. Habbo Hotel Singapore - Fansite List. Instead of cars, the residents of Bikini Bottom drive boats (with wheels). Snilleblixten. This has a lot to do with the way underwater life and situations are represented, absurdly, as though they are almost equivalent to normal terrestrial lifestyles. Habbos. The cartoon is designed to appeal to children as well as older viewers. Habbaloo. Other shows have followed in this trend as well: The Fairly OddParents and Invader Zim took a similar role when they aired in 2001, and the former is now second only to SpongeBob in popularity. Habbo Hotel Sweden - Fansite List. SpongeBob follows some other Nickelodeon shows that have attracted "older" followers: The Ren & Stimpy Show, Rocko's Modern Life, the Kablam! skits, Action League Now!, and The Angry Beavers. HabboHeaven. Low-budget cartoons had not garnered as much esteem as higher-rated (and higher-budgeted) shows, such as Rugrats, although when SpongeBob aired in 1999, it had obtained a substantial amount of viewers in the ratings to be considered popular. HabboPalace. SpongeBob is the first "low budget" Nickelodeon cartoon, according to the network, to become extremely popular. HabboSite. . Habbo Hotel Norway - Fansite List. SpongeBob SquarePants officially aired on July 17 of the same year with the second episode, "Bubblestand/Ripped Pants." Most episodes take place in the town of Bikini Bottom or the surrounding lagoon floor. Pixeli. The pilot episode first aired in the United States on Nickelodeon after the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards on May Day (May 1), 1999. Nerokala. SpongeBob SquarePants is a comedy set under the Pacific Ocean that uses puns (including the names of certain characters), non sequiturs, double-talk, breaking of the fourth wall, some crude humor, and other such antics to entertain the audience. Kala-stamo. SpongeBob SquarePants is an popular American animated television series shown on Nickelodeon, YTV, and Nicktoons Network created by marine biologist and animator, Stephen Hillenburg. Habbo Hotel Finland - Fansite List. In the movie there is a second Krusty Krab (Krusty Krab 2), SpongeBob gets a promotion towards the end of the movie and dons a large "MANAGER" hat during the credits as well as other details. Airwaves FM. The events in the SpongeBob SquarePants Movie are not canonical with the events in the TV series. Habbo Twist. Nearly every episode contains one still or motion non-animated sequence. Habbo Info Canada. In "Bubble Buddy," Spongebob celebrates Leif Erikson Day, which is a real US observance held on October 9th; the narration indicated that Spongebob actually invented the day. Habrix. In the first series, it was possible to hear one fish scream "my legs!" in most or all episodes, usually at some point of inconsequential destruction, such as a boating school. Habbo Bikes. The show is "timeless" since the episodes have no dates that are set into stone and very few topical references or instances of continuity (the Krusty Krab is destroyed quite often). Habglitter?. Although the show occasionally does make reference to pop-culture, the examples are never specific. Canadian. Hillenburg has said that he intends to pass that concept over to the new people in charge of the show. Habboholics. He wants his cartoon to be a timeless classic. duckieworld. According to the insider book SpongeBob Exposed, the creator of the show, Steve Hillenburg, said that the policy of his show is to not do jokes about or reference pop culture and current events; the show's characters are isolated from the real world. Habbo Hotel CA - Fansite List. According to the Season 1 DVD, its name is Shelly. Hobtech. It can also be seen in the episode "Something Smells", along with many others. HabboHut. In the episode "Help Wanted", SpongeBob can be seen with a pet scallop in a cage next to his bed. HabboDown. The pirate in the painting saying "Are you ready kids?" - "I can't hear you" in the beginning theme sequence had a chroma key used for the moving lips. OrangeBobble. Krabs: Cancer. HabHolic. Mr. HabLux. Squidward: Capricorn (on the Tropical zodiac) or Libra (stereotype: likes the finer things in life, taking it easy, wants to do no work (on the Sidereal zodiac)). Tropical Habbo. In one short, Plankton is depicted as a Leo. Habbo Holes. Plankton: Leo (stereotype: diabolical and plotting), among others. Habboish. SpongeBob: Sagittarius (stereotype: overly enthusiastic, optimistic, and foolish). Habbo-Hood. Patrick: Taurus (stereotype: thick-headed). HabboParadise. Featured characters have included:
There will be a SpongeBob SquarePants theatrical short playing before the computer-animated 2006 film, Barnyard.. Habbo Hotel Poland. The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. Habbo Hotel Mexico. Sean Dempsey: Animation Director. Habbo Hotel Lithuania. Jimmy Stone: Animation Director. Habbo Hotel Liechtenstein. Andrew Overtoom: Animation Director. Habbo Hotel Latvia. Tom Yasumi: Animation Director. Habbo Hotel Greece. Alan Smart: Animation Director. Habbo Hotel Czech Republic. Andy Rheingold: Executive in Charge of Production. Habbo Hotel China (Expected in 2006). David Wigforss: Special Effects (CG visual effects animator). Habbo Hotel Belgium. Nicholas Carr: Music. ability to have a larger friend list. Jeremy Wakefield: Music. have priority in queues to enter full public rooms. Steven Belfer: Music. choose from a selection of four dance moves as opposed to one default dance (the "Hab-Hop" on English speaking hotels). Sage Guyton: Music. enter special HC-only public rooms. Bradley Carow: Music. create exclusively shaped guest rooms. Vincent Waller: Writer/Storyboard Artist & Director/Technical Director (2005—). have priority access to the hotel when logging in (actuality of this is in dispute). Mike Bell: Writer/Storyboard Director (2005—). receive a special rare furniture once a month. Chris Mitchell: Writer/Storyboard Artist (1999). select a wider array of hairstyles and clothing. Steven Fonti: Writer/Storyboard Director (1999). Mark O'Hare: Writer/Storyboard Artist & Director. Eric Wiese: Writer/Storyboard Artist. Tim Hill: Writer. Steven Banks: Head Writer (2004—). Greenblatt: Writer/Storyboard Artist & Director. C.H. Aaron Springer: Writer/Storyboard Artist & Director. Kaz: Writer/Storyboard Artist. Sam Henderson: Writer/Storyboard Director. Jay Lender: Writer/Storyboard Artist & Director. Chuck Klein: Writer/Storyboard Artist & Director. Lawrence): Writer/Story Editor. Mr. Doug Lawrence (a.k.a. Merriwether Williams: Story Editor/Writer. Caleb Muerer: Art Director/Storyboard Artist. Sherm Cohen: Storyboard Supervisor/Writer. Derek Drymon: Creative Director/Writer/Story Editor. Paul Tibbitt: Writer/Storyboard Director/Supervising Producer (2004- ). Stephen Hillenburg: Creator/Executive Producer (1999-2004; Remains Active In Production Team, But No Longer Producer Of Show). David Hasselhoff: Himself. Alec Baldwin: Dennis the Hitman. Scarlett Johansson: Princess Mindy. Jeffrey Tambor: King Neptune. Wilson: The Tattle-Tale Strangler, Reg, Marty, Patrick's father, others. Thomas F. Kevin Michael Richardson: King Neptune (voice in SpongeBob's House Party (Party Pooper Pants)). Sergio Ristie: King Neptune (SpongeBob's House Party (Party Pooper Pants)). John O'Hurley: King Neptune (Neptune's Spatula). John Rhys-Davies: Man Ray. Charles Nelson Reilly: The Dirty Bubble (Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy II/Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V). Tim Conway: Barnacle Boy. Ernest Borgnine: Mermaid Man. Tiny Tim: Himself (Musical Performer) (Help Wanted). Clea Lewis: Additional Voices (Seasons 2-). Wilson: Additional Voices. Thomas F. Carlos Alazraqui: Additional Voices (Seasons 1-3). Jill Talley: Karen (Plankton's computer wife). Marion Ross: Grandma SquarePants. Brian Doyle-Murray: The Flying Dutchman. Stephen Hillenburg: Polly the Parrot. Paul Tibbitt: Mama Krabs (Sailor Mouth, Mid-Life Crustacean). SquarePants (No Free Rides). Lauren Tom: Mrs. SquarePants, Mama Krabs (Enemy In-Law-present). Sirena Irwin: Mrs. SquarePants. Poppy Puff, Mrs. Mary Jo Catlett: Mrs. Lori Alan: Pearl Krabs, Patrick's mother. Plankton, Larry Lobster, Fred, Tom. Lawrence): Sheldon J. Mr. Doug Lawrence (a.k.a. Clancy Brown: Eugene Krabs. Carolyn Lawrence: Sandy Cheeks. Bill Fagerbakke: Patrick Star. Rodger Bumpass: Squidward Tentacles, Mama Tentacles, the Doctorfish,. Dee Bradley Baker: Squilliam Fancyson, Various squids, customers, vendors. SquarePants, Uncle Sherm SquarePants, Grandpa SquarePants, Fred (Home Sweet Pineapple), Tom. Tom Kenny: SpongeBob SquarePants, Gary the Snail, French Narrator, Patchy the Pirate, Mr. Main article SpongeBob SquarePants characters. |