3 things you didn’t know about SpongeBob SquarePants, the iconic animated TV show
We all enjoy watching cartoons, irrespective of age and all of us have grown up watching many of them on television. Some of these animation shows have been good, some even transcendental. One such cartoon show is the SpongeBob SquarePants.
One and half decades ago, SpongeBob SquarePants and his friends residing in the fictitious Bikini Bottom rose to fame. The cartoon series gained enormous popularity since its debut in May 1999 on Nickelodeon. SpongeBob is a yellow sea sponge who loves working as a chef at the Krusty Krabs fast food restaurant owned by Mr. Krabs. The hit television series used various marine animals as the main characters. The plot revolves around daily adventures of SpongeBob and his best friends - Squidward, a misanthropic octopus, who is constantly annoyed by SpongeBob and Patrick, a starfish who is sweet but just as dumb as the rock he lives under.
The tiny touch of magic that makes SpongeBob popular among adults and children is that it is highly relatable. This humanoid sponge, living in a pineapple, at the bottom of the sea, has become a kids' icon. You easily fall in love with his positivity, compassion, and how he wins by surpassing every challenge. Let us dig out some interesting, lesser-known facts about this animation series, that is running its 13th season with uninterrupted high ratings.
The original name wasn’t SpongeBob SquarePants
The original name of SpongeBob SquarePants was ‘SpongeBoy’. Stephen Hillenburg, the show writer and former Marine biologist came up with the name SpongeBoy Ahoy! Due to copyright issues with a mop with the same name, it was renamed ‘SpongeBob’.
The lead name was inspired by the main character from Hillenburg's unreleased educational book, The Intertidal Zone. In the 1980s, he had compiled the book while educating visitors to the Ocean Institute in marine biology at Dana Point, California. SpongeBob SquarePants first appeared as a prototype in this educational comic before becoming the SpongeBob we know today. SpongeBob from the comic taught visitors about the local marine life in Southern California. Though it was never published, the creators took many characters we see in SpongeBob from Hillenburg's comic.
The pirate of the iconic theme was the author himself
Stephen Hillenburg, the man behind SpongeBob SquarePants, left his impression on each episode of the adored animated show. You remember the pirate who sings the iconic theme song? Well, the mouth of the pirate belongs to Stephen Hillenburg. As it turns out, the show's creator has appeared as a cameo in every episode of SpongeBob since its broadcast, and he will do so as long as it stays on the air!
Bikini Bottom is inspired by a real place
SpongeBob's fictional home of Bikini Bottom is inspired from an actual location in the Pacific Ocean. Bikini Atoll, a collection of islands in the Marshall Islands, USA, that includes a lagoon, is spelled as ‘Bikini atoll’ in the colonial style. The United States used Bikini and Enewetak to test and develop breakthroughs in nuclear weapons technology following World War II. The American Government detonated 67 nuclear bombs on these islands between 1946 and 1958. The Bikinians and their successive generations experienced immense tragedy due to these catastrophic explosions. The exiled Bikini people are currently displaced. They cannot return to their ancestral homes because of nuclear pollution that will last for decades. The SpongeBob animation occasionally references this past, but few viewers are likely to notice.