In the B92 Serbian dub, SpongeBob, Mr. Krabs and all female characters are voiced by Vladislava Đorđević. The episode "The Slumber Party" is consequently an entire episode of Vladislava talking to herself.
In the Hebrew dub, Squidward and Squilliam are both voiced by Gilad Kleter.
In the Japanese dub, Sandy and Plankton are both voiced by Chie Matsuura (Yes, really).
Ascended Fanon: Fred. Originally a nameless background character (officially identified as "Incidental 1", see Word of Dante entry below), he became a fan favorite because of his status as the "my leg guy" and is the subject of numerous memes in the fanbase. The name itself was based on his appearance in "Patty Hype" and was quickly adopted by fans. He became an actual character in the series with the season 11 episode "My Leg!", where he is officially canonized as "Fred", the accident prone brown fish.
Baby Name Trend Killer: The series may have been responsible for the name "Patrick" steadily declining in popularity since the early 2000s. It used to be a perennial favorite, one of the top 50 most popular boy's names in the United States from 1948 through 1996, but it fell out of the top 200 by 2019, its lowest position since record-keeping began in 1880. Understandably, not many millennial parents want to name their sons after an overweight, dimwitted pink starfish.
In the United Kingdom, the paired episodes "Shanghaied" and "Gary Takes A Bath" were banned for several years. "Shanghaied" was banned because of its frightening images (especially a disturbing, surreal sequence where SpongeBob and Patrick are sprayed by perfumes, and Squidward falling through the Fly of Despair) and "Gary Takes A Bath" was banned for three reasons: the inclusion of an inappropriate "don't drop the soap" gag (which refers to prison rape), a scene where SpongeBob deliberately straps a bomb onto himself (which brings suicide bombers to mind, and with then ongoing wars in the Middle East it was seen as insensitive), and a short scene where a very creepy image of a deranged hillbilly girl appears without warning (SpongeBob is even disturbed by this, and apologizes to Gary, as well as presumably the audience). Even today, these two episodes remain controversial in the UK and are very rarely shown on British television.
"Kwarantined Krab" from Season 12 is not included on the season DVD box set due to sensitivity it would cause regarding the COVID-19 Pandemic, according to Vincent Waller's Twitter. The episode was released digitally in other countries, however and the ban was eventually lifted in the U.S. in April 2022.
"Mid-Life Crustacean" was deleted from Paramount Plus and digital retail outlets, reportedly due to the panty raid scene being viewed as inappropriate for children. Digital retail outlets would subsequently bundle its paired episode "The Great Snail Race" with "Gary In Love". However, it can still be bought on YouTube and iTunes (albeit only as part of the "From The Beginning Part 2 collection" on the latter), but in its pre-remastered quality. However, in July 2023, mysteriously reappeared on Prime Video via Paramount Plus, at least in the U.S., leading to fans thinking that Nick had lifted the ban. But it turned out to be a mistake, as it was removed again a few days later.
"Rock-a-Bye Bivalve" was banned from airing in some countries overseas due to its Ho Yay plot of Spongebob and Patrick becoming parents of a baby Scallop.
Similar to the above example, "Fry Cook Games" was banned in certain countries due to the ending of Patrick and Spongebob holding hands as some countries see that as "promoting homosexuality".
An image that spread around the internet features screenshots from the episode "As Seen on TV", during the scene where SpongeBob is buried in the ground, leaving only his nose popping out. False dialogue was added on◊, with Mr. Krabs saying, "please tell me that is your nose". He actually says "What are you doing, lad?" The misconception is mocked in this video.
There's also a meme that shows Patrick holding up some cash with the caption "I have $3". He actually says "I only have seven [dollars]", though given he's only shown holding up three physical notes, this is an understandable misconception.
Mr. Krabs has only said "SpongeBoy, me Bob" once, which was for a Mythology Gag in "Squeaky Boots". In fan depictions, especially memes, he always says that.
Some people, including Vulture and SpongeBob's Twitter account, quoted a conversation between SpongeBob and Patrick where SpongeBob exclaims "Patrick, you're a genius" and Patrick remarks that he gets called that a lot (called "Patrick", not "a genius"). While SpongeBob has exclaimed "Patrick, you're a genius" in "Missing Identity", "Squidtastic Voyage" and "Fungus Among Us", Patrick never responds with "Yeah, I get called that a lot" in the show (in fact, he doesn't reply with anything in those three episodes). It's likely that this is a conflation of two separate jokes from "Texas" and "Porous Pockets":
SpongeBob: Patrick, your genius is showing! Patrick:(covers his crotch) Where?!
SpongeBob: Good idea coming here, Patrick. Patrick: That's my specialty. SpongeBob: Having good ideas? Patrick: No, being called Patrick.
Another commonly-spread exchange that's never been on the show is SpongeBob saying, "What if I break your trust someday?" and Patrick replying, "Trusting you is my decision, proving me wrong is your choice." This one isn't based on any existing scene, but still feels in-character enough to make it plausible to believe.
Squidward's line "How do we tell him?" (referring to SpongeBob) from "Dying for Pie" is associated by memes with the image of Mr. Krabs pointing at SpongeBob instead of the frame where Squidward says it several seconds prior, resulting in people misattributing the line to Mr. Krabs.
A rerun of the episode "Eek, An Urchin!" on NHK E-Tele in Japan on March 20, 2021 was interrupted for news of a major earthquake in Miyagi.
It would happen again on January 15, 2022 on NHK E-Tele, this time during the episode "Sandy's Nutty Nieces", with the news story in question being the eruption of a volcano in Tonga that lead to tsunami warnings being issued.
Cash-Cow Franchise: Within its first 10 years, SpongeBob made over 8 BILLION DOLLARS in revenue, and is no doubt still making more. In fact, it's estimated that 60% of the station's annual revenue come from SpongeBob alone!
Popsicle released an ice of SpongeBob with black gumball eyes. Due to his simple design, it consists of his entire torso. The ice itself is fruit punch and cotton candy flavored. This one has managed to become such an ice cream truck staple that Nickelodeon has given their approval for a set of collectible figurines based on this beloved treat. It was briefly discontinued.
Peters Ice Cream of Australia had their own version◊. It has caramel and chocolate flavors.
"Sweet Victory" was originally just another stock music library track from the APM Music Library used to score the rest of the show, and wasn't intended for wide release. After "Band Geeks" aired, it gained a massive and unexpected surge in popularity.
Tiny Tim's version of "Livin' in the Sunlight, Lovin' in the Moonlight" has had a surge in popularity after it was featured in the pilot episode.
South Korea's EBS dub changes the title to Nemonemoseupeonjisong, which translates as "Square Square Sponge Song".
In the Chinese-speaking world (both Mandarin and Cantonese), the title roughly translates to "Sponge Baby".
The Vietnamese dub titles the show Chú bọt biển tinh nghịch ("The Mischievous Sponge").
Content Leak: On January 21, 2024, the entirety of the then-upcoming Netflix movie "Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie" was leaked online through platforms like Twitter before later being taken down. It is speculated that this leak occurred due to a networking error where Pipeline Studios, a company that did animation work for the film, had mistakenly left their entire file server open to the public for a brief period in 2023.
Creative director Vincent Waller claimed that he isn't too fond of "Dunces and Dragons". While he doesn't hate the episode, he felt it didn't benefit from its two part length and that its comedy would've been better suited to an 11 minute format.
In hindsight, Dani Michaeli thinks that the toenail scene from "House Fancy" did not age well. He said the scene was initially thought to be fun, but is now in poor taste.
Creator's Favorite: Pearl was Stephen Hillenburg's favorite character. She was inspired by his time as a whale watch instructor at the Ocean Institute. Whenever Steve visited the writers' room, he would try to suggest stories with her. He also liked Mrs. Puff and SpongeBob, of course. His history as a marine science educator made him partial to Mrs. Puff as a teacher, and SpongeBob's nerdy appearance was partially based on his younger self (down to the square front teeth). He also credits Mrs. Puff as having saved the show, since her creation allowed the show to give SpongeBob storylines of being a student in school (something Nickelodeon was apparently not budging on) without having to make him a kid.
Lori Alansaid how her favorite episodes include "Whale Of A Birthday" and "A Cabin in the Kelp" .
According to this video, Tom Kenny's and Bill Fagerbakke's favorite episodes are "Band Geeks" and "Help Wanted" respectively.
Based on the DVD Commentary for both it and "Survival of the Idiots", Aaron Springer and C.H. Greenblatt seem to be particularly fond of "Prehibernation Week".
Creator's Pest: For as much as post-sequel SpongeBob makes countless references to older episodes, Vincent Waller has gone on record to state that he has absolutely no plans for Squilliam Fancyson, who has yet to reappear past a cameo in "Code Yellow".
Mr. Krabs' mother was originally voiced by writer Paul Tibbitt, but she later became voiced by Serena Irwin.
In the Japanese dub:
Patrick was voiced by Ikuko Tani from seasons 1-8. She was replaced by the male Mitsuaki Kanuka beginning in season 9. The dub of the first movie has him instead voiced by Takashi Nagasako.
In "Mermaid Man Begins", the real names of Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy are revealed to be Ernie and Tim. Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy are voiced by Ernest Borgnine and Tim Conway, respectively.
Series creator Stephen Hillenburg was the original voice of Potty the Parrot. Paul Tibbitt and Mr. Lawrence have taken over since Hillenburg left the series.
Series writer Mr. Lawrence provides the voice of the villainous Plankton. Stephen Hillenburg had created Plankton as a potential villain for the show in 1997, but later feared that Plankton's plans would get repetitive and decided he would be better off as a one-time character. Mr. Lawrence loved the character and used both his writing skills and his voice to prove that Plankton could work as a major antagonist. If it weren't for Lawrence's dual role as both the voice and writer for Plankton, his character would likely never have become a major player in the show.
Starting in season 9, Tom Kenny, the voice of SpongeBob, takes over as the show's voice director.
In the Brazilian Portuguese dub, Wendel Bezerra, the voice of SpongeBob, is also the voice director.
The official Twitter account for the show posted a tweet quoting The Ugly Barnacle the same day Tim Conway — who voiced recurring character Barnacle Boy — died of complications from brain surgery. After fans complained, the tweet was removed.
The airing of "The Kwarantined Krab" was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic, since it revolved around the Krusty Krab being quarantined for an illness. However, it did air in France in March 2020 (and it would get digitally released in Canada later that year), shortly before most countries declared a state of emergency for the virus. This also applied to the episode "Hiccup Plague"(which unlike the former episode did manage to get onto the Season 12 DVD), as well as reruns of "Suds" and "Squid-itis". It wasn't until April 2022 that the ban on those episodes was finally uplifted.
Dub Name Change: Most characters are named aptly to fit their respective foreign dubs, most famously replacing "sponge" in "SpongeBob" into their language equivalent of the word. Then there are dubs that break that mold, such as in the German dub; instead of Squidward being translated into something squid-related or a variation thereof, he's simply named "Thäddeus".
There are two Norwegian dubs: the first one from 2000, the second one from 2006 (the latter dub is still ongoing to this very day). The reason for the redub was due to complaints from some parents to NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation) that SpongeBob's original voice was annoying. As a result, since the first movie retains the older voices, the Blu-Ray release of said film presents it in English with Norwegian subtitles, as not to confuse modern viewers (or likely because Paramount Norway couldn't redub the movie with the new voice actors due to them being busy with the current dub and other projects) note You can find the dub of the movie on the Norwegian feed for Netflix, as well as on SkyShowtime..
Incidentally, the original Norwegian dub (outside of the dub for the first movie) is now fully lost media, with only the second dub of the series being easily available as of 2023.
The series has two Turkish dubs: one for CNBC-e, and another for Nickelodeon. Oya Prosçiler voiced Sandy Cheeks in both dubs, while some of CNBC's voice actors returned for the first movie.
In South Korea, there are two dubs, one airing on Tooniverse and Nickelodeon South Korea, the other on EBS.
In Croatia, there are two dubs of the series: one made by Project 6 Studio that aired on RTL and one made by VSI-NET Croatia that's airing on Nickelodeon Croatia.
SpongeBob has a whopping 8 Persian dubs.
Several only covered a select few episodes. For example, Asia Resane Cinema Home Entertainment's dub only covers four episodes from season 9. Glory Entertainment's covers 22 episodes from 5 seasons. It was released between 2014 to 2017. Homa Media's covers only 2 and a half episodes.
IRIB TV2's dub is one of only two dubs to be official. It covered 2 seasons and was released from 2011 to 2016. The other official dub is MBC Persia's, which started at season 9.
Parsian Studios' dub is the only complete dub, and has gained infamy on the internet for it's poor censorship◊ and the fact that it has been used for military propaganda.No, we're not kidding.
In Portugal, there are two European Portuguese dubs of the series: the first one made by Graficine in 2000 which aired on SIC covering the first 3 seasons and the second one made by Pim Pam Pum which not only redubbed season 3 in 2005 on Nickelodeon Portugal, but also the first 2 seasons in 2009 on the same channel.
In Serbia, there are two Serbian dubs of the series: the first one made by B92 in 2002 which aired on said channel covering the first 10 seasons and the second one made by Gold Digi Net and VSI Serbia in 2017 that only covered season 8 episodes "Christmas Who?" and "Frozen Face-Off" and later covered season 11 onwards on Nickelodeon Serbia. Some of B92's voice actors returned for the third movie.
Early-Bird Release: Many episodes of SpongeBob have seen release on home media before they aired on TV.
"Graveyard Shift" was released on “Nautical Nonsense” 6 months before airing.
"Club SpongeBob" was released on “Sponge Buddies” 4 months before airing.
"Gary Takes a Bath" was released on “Sea Stories” 8 months and 24 days before airing.
"I Had an Accident" was released on “Bikini Bottom Bash” and “Tales from the Deep” 8-9 months before airing. The same goes for "Born Again Krabs" on “Deep Sea Sillies” and “Tales from the Deep”.
"The Sponge Who Could Fly" was released on the aptly-named VHS and “Lost at Sea” a mere 17 days before airing.
"New Leaf" was released on "Karate Island" DVD 2 months before airing.
"Wigstruck and "That's No Lady" were released on "Whale of a Birthday" DVD a month before airing.
Episodes 76-80 note except for 80a which premiered on Nickelodeon in November 10, 2006) were all released on disc 2 of "Season 4, Volume 2" 1 to 6 months before airing.
"The Original Frycook", "Night Light", "Fungus Among Us" and "Spy Buddies" were all released on the "Friend or Foe?" DVD 3 to 5 months before they aired.
ALL of the episodes featured on the "Bikini Bottom Adventures" DVD note "Boat Smarts", "Good Ol' Whatshisname", "New Digs", "Krabs à la Mode", "Roller Cowards", "Bucket Sweet Bucket" and "Breath of Fresh Squidward" were released a month before they aired.
"Goo Goo Gas" was released on "WhoBob WhatPants?" 9 months before it aired.
"SpongeBob SquarePants vs. The Big One" was released on the DVD of the same name a month before it aired.
"SpongeBob’s Last Stand" was released on the DVD of the same name a month before it aired.
Every episode on the Legends of Bikini Bottom DVD note "The Monster Who Came to Bikni Bottom", "Welcome to the Bikni Bottom Triangle", "The Main Drain", "Trenchbillies", "Sponge-Cano!", "The Curse of the Hex" was released two months before they aired.
The episodes on the SpongeBob’s Runaway Roadtrip DVD note "A SquarePants Family Vacation", "Patrick’s Staycation", "Walking the Plankton", "Mooncation", "Mr. Krabs Takes a Vacation" were released 2 months before they aired.
"It's a SpongeBob Christmas!" was released on the DVD of the same name a month before it aired.
A large chunk of season 12note with the exception of the episode "Kwarantined Krab" due to similarities to the COVID-19 Pandemicnote "My Two Krabses", "Knock Knock Who’s There", "Lighthouse Louie", "Pat Hearts Squid", "Hiccup Plague", "Plankton’s Intern", "Patrick’s Tantrum", "Bubble Bass’s Tab" and "Kooky Cooks" was released on the Season 12 DVD set well before any of the episodes aired. Though they did air earlier in other regions.
Since the mid-2010s, reruns of Seasons 1-3 on Nickelodeon have their audio sped up slightly (thankfully, it's not very noticeable), to make room for more commercial time. This does not affect Nicktoons airings.
The show's official YouTube channel features several episodes (mostly from the older seasons) edited down to five minutes.
In October 2019, Nick began airing a shortened version of "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout", which focused more on the tour. As a result, several scenes, such as the party planning, were removed, some of the dialogue was changed, the ending was altered so that SpongeBob's house isn't destroyed, and Patrick is next to SpongeBob in the beginning of the birthday song instead of being in the crowd of characters that join in.
Tom Kenny actually was very sick when recording SpongeBob's sniffly, sneezy dialogue in "Suds."
Though they tried to use fake swears at first, the cast actually did swear for real in "Sailor Mouth", which was censored out in post. This is because it is actually really difficult to fake swear without throwing the syntax of the rest of the sentence off.
Nickelodeon continued producing the show after its intended finale (the first movie). A 2002 Los Angeles Times article quoted Hillenburg saying that he didn't think Nickelodeon would actually continue the show without him - he said here, "I think they respect that my contribution is important. I think they would want to maintain the original concept and quality."
This show's success is the main reason why a lot of Nicktoons in the 2000s didn't last that long, as at the time there was a rule that said if a show wasn't doing as well as SpongeBob within a set number of episodes, it would be cancelled and put on the chopping block. This is why shows like El Tigre, My Life as a Teenage Robot, Catscratch, and Invader Zim were cancelled regardless of their viewership. While it's not directly SpongeBob's fault (as most fans usually claim), it's still a byproduct of the franchise's popularity.
Exiled from Continuity: According to Vincent Waller, there was a firewall between content created for the first SpongeBob film and content made for the show, hence why the movie's version of King Neptune and other characters created for it don't pop up in the show. Even images of Goofy Goober and the restaurants exterior were barred from being used, though mentions of him were still okay. This lasted up until season 10, with Goofy Goober's restaurant appearing several times and Princess Mindy making a voiceless cameo in "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout".
Fandom Nod: The episode "SpongeBob in Randomland" shows Red Mist Squidward from the popular creepypasta, "Squidward's Suicide". This scene was cut entirely from the UK airing of the episode after Nickelodeon standards and practices discovered the significance of the reference and subsequently replaced the scene for US repeats with a Baby Squidward reference from "Goo Goo Gas". Not even the Season 12 DVD release was safe from the censorship.
Flip-Flop of God: The Krabby Patty secret formula. On the very first SpongeBob DVD release, Tom Kenny said that the Formula is a real thing, and that revealing it was a fireable offense. But years later, current show director Vincent Waller said that the formula is "an idea, it isn't a thing"— in that it's strictly a plot device and that even the writers don't know what the formula and its details are.
Franchise Zombie: The show was supposed to end after the third season and The Movie, but popular demand has kept it going since, even with creator Stephen Hillenburg being less involved with future seasons. Many complain over the supposed deterioration of the main cast's personality traits and the decline of writing quality/general aimlessness of the series these days; but, of course, if you asked any current young child (anybody born after 2004, when the Movie and the show were supposed to wrap it up), the series is absolutely fine enough to go on for many more years. And, of course, SpongeBob remains Nickelodeon's most popular cartoon, running over 20 years straight now with that distinction. The show would eventually Win Back the Crowd when Stephen Hillenburg returned to the show in 2015. After Hillenburg's death in 2018, Nickelodeon pursued an aggressive push towards the production of spin-off series The Patrick Star Show and Kamp Koral alongside the main show.
The show does not have a consistent canon. Despite this, it is believed that The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie is meant to be the grand finale, taking place at the end of the timeline. While Stephen Hillenburg did say that he wanted to end the show at this point, he never stated it to be the official, canonical ending.
After a Spinoff Babies show titled Kamp Koral was greenlit, much outrage occurred because a lot of fans believed that Stephen Hillenburg stated that he did not want spinoffs and that Nickelodeon was essentially desecrating a dead man's wishes by going through with the spinoff after Hillenburg's passing. Vincent Waller clarified in a tweet that what Stephen Hillenburg actually said was that he did not expect any spinoffs, stressing that there is a difference between not expecting something to happen and not wanting something to happen, adding that Hillenburg once said that he didn't have an interest in making a movie, yet they later went on to make three movies (the first two of which were made and released in Hillenburg's lifetime).
In Memoriam: The end of "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout" has a tribute to the late series creator, Stephen Hillenburg.
Irony as She Is Cast: David Bowie as Lord Royal Highness in Atlantis SquarePantis. Because of how late he was cast, he's the only character that doesn't have his own musical number in that episode.
Three episodes had scenes removed that are only viewable today through reuploads of VCR and/or DVR recordings of them from when they first aired:
The uncut version of "Just One Bite" (which includes the deleted scene of the burglar alarm). It aired uncut for a while, but it was censored after a few reruns in 2002/2003 due to complaints from Moral Guardians. It hasn't aired uncut on American television (be it Nickelodeon or Nicktoons) for almost 15 years. Don't push your luck trying to find it on VHS and DVD, as all releases have the censored version. The only way to see it uncut is if you live in Canada.note ... Or you can find it on YouTube.
Likewise, the uncut version of "Procrastination" has not aired on the regular Nick channel since around the mid 2000s (though it is available uncut on DVDs and on streaming services). This episode actually had three scenes cut: one where SpongeBob sees his friends having fun without him, with Patrick asking him to join them while getting ready to rub sunscreen on Sandy's back, another scene where SpongeBob fantasizes about being able to obtain his driver's license, only for the episode to cut to stock footage of a racecar crash, and a final scene where SpongeBob does calisthenics with his nose and eyebrows. The former got axed due to complaints about the Accidental Innuendo of a man rubbing sunscreen on a woman, the latter got cut out due to concerns about violent content, and the lattermost got removed due to the motion of SpongeBob's nose being deemed obscene. It was reinstated on NickToons on 2019 when the channel began using remastered copies of the episodes, but it still airs rather rarely.
This edit also had an adverse effect of desaturating the colors of the episode's (and its sister, "I'm with Stupid") edited print, likely as an error while editing out these scenes. The remastered uncut version restores the episode's original colors.
A reference to the infamous "Squidward's Suicide"/"Red Mist" creepypasta in "SpongeBob in Randomland" was removed in UK airings, US repeats, and all home media releases of the episode, with the footage instead being replaced with a baby version of Squidward pooping his diaper.
"The Humpback Hop" by Theo Mondle, used as the party music in "Party Pooper Pants", has no official release from Nickelodeon, unlike Mondle's other composition for the show, "Bubble Beat Box" (used during the walk cycle in "The Sponge Who Could Fly"). Fans have contacted Mondle about this, who confirmed that Nickelodeon holds all the rights to his composition, but even Nickelodeon seems to not have the song readily available, as the menu music on the “Tales from the Deep” DVD is a watered-down remix of the song instead of the actual song.
Burger King loves selling SpongeBob toys. They often sold toys to promote various specials such as "Atlantis Squarepantis" and "Truth or Square". They even sold toys for The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. In fact, there was an incident where people stole the SpongeBob inflatables intended to promote the movie. There was also a 2009 incident where Moral Guardians protested a SpongeBob/BK commercial that had women twerking to "Baby Got Back".
The series had a McDonald's Happy Meal to promote the 2012 Summer Olympics.
A Wendy's promotion included the likes of a SpongeBob notepad and a Sandy pen. The toys were branded as a promo for the SpongeBob's House Party special.
Live on Stage!: The UK got a live show of this kind adapting the episode "The Sponge Who Could Fly". It's notable for having SpongeBob appear with a human face rather than a full-body costume.
Make-A-Wish Contribution: In the episode "No Nose Knows", Dean Kovanda voices a fish, as it was his wish to voice a character on the show. Specifically, he voices the fish who, after Patrick smashes his nose on a plate of jelly doughnuts, says "Well I guess I won't be eating those."
Marathon Running: For the longest time, this show was the king of this trope note in 2015, Teen Titans Go! took that crown, to the point of having enough examples to fill up a page.
Due to being holiday-themed, "Scaredy Pants," "Valentine's Day," and "Christmas Who?" only air a few times a year around their respective holidays. Consequently, the first two's sister episodes, "I Was a Teenage Gary" and "The Paper," are also rarely seen unless it's filler for a movie that's running short.
Nicktoons used to rarely air any episode past Season 5 unless they were doing a marathon or a simulcast. As of 2017, this has mostly changed, as they air episodes from Seasons 6-11 but they only air the first 9 episodes of Season 12.
Dee Bradley Baker subbed for Clancy Brown for the "Very first Christmas to me!" lines in "Christmas Who", since Clancy was unable to hit the high notes needed. Clancy did do his own singing for Krabs in the rest of the song, though.
While SpongeBob usually sings in his normal voice, on special occasions he shows off a fantastic singing voice that sounds nothing like him, with him being voiced by a different guest singer every time.
The Original Darrin: After four seasons dubbing Mr. Krabs, Carlos Vitale retired in 2015. So, after reaching an economical agreement, Luis Perez Pons reprised the character in the second film and midway through Season 9 onwards, until his death in October 2023, having finished recording his dialogues for Season 13's entire run.
Man Ray's first two appearances in "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy III" and "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V" had him voiced by John Rhys-Davies. All of his subsequent appearances are voiced by Bob Joles.
In general, the voices of the background fish are inconsistent and change a lot.
In the video game Battle For Bikini Bottom, Mr. Krabs and Mermaid Man were voiced by Joe Whyte instead of Clancy Brown and Ernest Borgnine for unknown reasons.
Similarly, Ernest Borgnine is again absent in Lights, Camera, Pants!, being replaced by Joe Alaskey.
In "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy II" and Lights, Camera, Pants!, the Dirty Bubble is voiced by Charles Nelson Reilly. After Reilly's death, Tom Kenny, who already filled in for Reilly in the episode "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V", took over the role permanently in the Dirty Bubble's later appearances.
Patrick's original German voice, Marco Kröger, was fired in 2013 after he complained that he and his colleagues were underpaid, and he was replaced by Fritz Rott.
Due to their deaths, Squidward's Chinese, German, Brazilian and Japanese voice actors had to be replaced.
In Germany, specifically, Squidward went through three voice actors. He was voiced by Eberhard Prüter until his death after the first half of season 9. In the second trailer for The Sponge Bob Movie Sponge Out Of Water he was voiced by Rüdiger Evers as a last-minute temporary replacement. For Sponge Out of Water itself, he was voiced by Tobias Lelle. The rest of the series from the second half of season 9 onwards has him voiced by Joachim Kaps, who sounds like none of them.
His original Dutch voice actor, Jan Nonhof, retired and was replaced by Louis van Beek starting with Abandon Twits.
In the French dub, Erik Colin (Patrick, the Narrator, and the Flying Dutchman) died in December 2014. Patrick is now voiced by Boris Rehlinger, and the Dutchman is now voiced by Paul Borne.
Paul Tibbitt was the original voice for Mrs. Krabs. Serena Irwin then took on the role.
Potty was voiced by Stephen Hillenburg before Paul Tibbitt took over in season 4. Starting with "Feral Friends", Potty is voiced by Mr. Lawrence, presumably because of Paul Tibbitt resigning as showrunner to focus on the third movie.
Members of the Hungarian voice cast have been replaced multiple times. SpongeBob's original Hungarian voice quit after Season 2 and was replaced with István Baráth in the first movie and Szabolcs Seszták in several Season 3 episodes. All season 3 episodes were later re-recorded with Baráth, who became SpongeBob's regular voice, while Seszták became his singing voice. Plankton was recast in the first movie, Mrs. Puff was recast during the tail-end of Season 9, and Mr. Krabs was replaced in the beginning of Season 11, all due to the death of their voice actors. Squidward's voice actor was replaced at the end of Season 11 for unknown reasons.
Plankton's German voice actor, Thomas Petruo, was replaced by Sebastian Christoph Jacob due to the former's death in 2018.
Squidward's Castillian Spanish voice actor (and the dub's director), Alberto Closas Jr., was replaced by Miguel Campos for a handful of episodes in seasons 5 and 6 due to a studio switch, although he did eventually reprise the role. Actress Silvia Gambino, who voiced Pearl and Mrs. Puff, was replaced after season 3 due to her leaving the show.
In the Ukrainian QTV dub, Dmitry Tvarkovsky replaced Alexander Chmyhalov as SpongeBob after he died.
Several of the voice actors in the Swedish dub changed around. First was Pernilla Wahlgren, who voiced every single female character, and in her replacement was Annelie Bhagavahn, who continued the feat. Then was Tommy Blom, voice for Mr. Krabs (and Painty the Pirate) who left in 2011 (three years before passing away in 2014) and was replaced by Stephan Karlsén. And lastly, Tommy Nilsson, who voiced Patrick until 2019 and was replaced by Björn Bengtsson.
The Latin Spanish was also met with several changes:
Kaihiamal Martínez is replaced by Luis Carreño as SpongeBob since Season 2. Martinez was fired by Etcetera Group for leading a labor union with other actors to earn a fair salary.
Paul Gillman, who voiced Patrick, retired from the dub to focus more on his music career. Because of this, he was replaced by Alfonso Soto since both the first film and Season 4.
Oscar Zuloaga, the voice of Plankton, due to him being fired by Etcetera Group over a salary dispute along with other actors, was replaced by Luis Miguel Perez after dubbing him in the first few episodes of Season 2. Midway through Season 9, Perez retired and was replaced by Hector Indriago (for one episode) and then Angel Mujica as the current voice of Plankton.
Luis Perez Pons, who voiced Mr. Krabs, was replaced by Carlos Vitale between Season 6 and Season 9 due to him resigning from Etcetera Group. Pérez reprised the role both in the second film and midway through Season 9. Due to his death in October 2023, Luis Pérez Pons was permanently replaced by Olin Garcés (who is Mexican) starting in Season 14.
Mercedes Prato, fired by Etcetera Group due to her involvement in the labor union, was replaced by Anabella Silva as Sandy from Season 2 to Season 6. Due to Anabella moving to London, she was replaced by Lileana Chacón.
Rocío Mallo, Karen's voice in Season 1, was replaced by Melanie Henríquez since Season 2. Due to her retirement, she was replaced by Sixnalie Villalba since Season 10.
The Other Marty: Man Ray was originally meant to be voiced by Guy Siner in "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy III", and he apparently recorded enough voice work to be listed in the end credits for said episode. However, he was replaced with John Rhys-Davies, who redid all of his dialogue. Oddly, the end credits weren't updated to reflect this change and still display Siner's name◊.
Only Barely Renewed: At first, Nickelodeon executives considered the show too odd for airwaves and gave it a mere initial 6 episode order. Its first season was only extended to 13 episodes - and then 20 - once the show reached unanimous praise from the animation studio.
Out of Holiday Episode: "Fools in April" airs with its sister episode "Neptune's Spatula" throughout the year, even when it's nowhere near April Fools Day. Unusually, this doesn't apply to any other holiday-based episodes.
Out of Order: Nickelodeon has historically had an extremely strange habit of airing the episodes out of order for this show, delaying episodes for a long time ("Goo Goo Gas", "The Incredibly Shrinking Sponge" and "Pineapple RV" got hit with this the hardest), and even airing season premieres when the previous season isn't finished airing. For example, "A Place for Pets / Lockdown for Love", the Season 13 premiere, aired in October 2020, when as mentioned above, Season 12 didn't even air all its episodes yet.
Ernest Borgnine was known for playing villainous roles. Here, he played the role of the famous aquatic superhero Mermaidman.
A dub variation; one of the actors in the Swedish dub, Tommy Nilsson, is an accomplished singer-songwriter, whose songs are known to be solemn/tragically romantic in their tone, with poetic lyrics to match. Guess which character he voices? Patrick. Not only that, but he does an exceptionally good job at portraying him as the dumb, lovable goofball he's supposed to be, being capable of varying his emotional vocal range to surprising degrees. In fact, most viewers couldn't guess it was him and wouldn't believe it until they looked it up. Lampshaded in a national TV Program, in which Nilsson himself said he enjoyed voicing the character because it's so unusual from what he usually does, giving him a breath of fresh air from his more serious work.
Production Posse: Many of the writers, artists and actors Stephen Hillenburg had become friends with through Rocko's Modern Life migrated over to this show with him.
Adam Paloian, one of the supervising directors, grew up watching the series as a child. He was around 8 years old when the show started airing and started working on the show right after he finished college.
Zach Hadel (better known online as psychicpebbles) grew up on the show, and has cited it as one of the many inspirations for his animation style. Come Season 11, and he was hired as a storyboard artist for "The Grill is Gone".
Quarter Hour Short: First introduced with "Hooky"/"Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy II" and "Shanghaied/Gary Takes a Bath", it became the norm for episodes to premiere one segment at a time instead of all together, starting with "Selling Out/Funny Pants" in Season 4.
While Karen is married to Plankton in the show, her voice actress, Jill Talley, is married to SpongeBob's voice actor Tom Kenny.
In the Brazilian dub, Pearl’s voice actress from Season 4 onwards, Angélica Santos, was married to Wendel Bezerra, SpongeBob's voice actor. The two have since divorced.
A few episodes have similar plots to other Nicktoons. For example, "Toy Store of Doom" has the same plot as the Rugrats episode "Toy Palace" (the main characters get locked in a closed toy store and are afraid the toys will attack them), and "Banned in Bikini Bottom" (Krabby Patties are outlawed and Mr. Krabs starts selling them at SpongeBob's house secretly) is similar to the CatDog episode "Just Say CatDog Sent You".
"Fear of a Krabby Patty" has a similar basic premise to the season 2 episode "Graveyard Shift", as both involve the Krusty Krab being opened for 24 hours. However, the plot of "Fear of a Krabby Patty" expands on the repercussions of the change by showing the Krusty Krab open for 43 days instead of one night shift.
"Squid Defense" is very similar to the Hey Arnold! episode "Mugged".
"Face Freeze!" is similar to season 1 episode "Hooky", since the plot of both episodes involve SpongeBob and Patrick being tempted to do something Mr. Krabs told them not to do.
"The Legend of Boo-kini Bottom" has some similarities to the season 1 Halloween Episode "Scaredy Pants", since both episodes involves SpongeBob being terrified of the scary part of Halloween and ends with him scaring the Flying Dutchman.
"Nasty Patty" is quite similar to the Rocket Power episode "It Was a Dark and Stormy Day", since both episodes take place on a rainy night with the main characters assuming that someone else was killed. Additionally, both episodes mostly take place in the Local Hangout restaurant of the series (Krusty Krab and Shore Shack, respectively), the cops get involved, and they both end with an "Everybody Laughs" Ending with the cops and main characters hanging out in the restaurant.
The basic plot of "Imitation Krabs" (Plankton disguises himself as someone else to steal the formula - in this case, Mr. Krabs) was reused multiple times with Plankton disguising himself as different characters: "Someone's in the Kitchen With Sandy" (Sandy), "Gramma's Secret Recipe" (SpongeBob's Grandma), "Shellback Shenanigans" (Gary) and "Married to Money" (a sentient wad of money called Cashina).
The setup for "SpongeBob In Randomland" is similar to "Pizza Delivery", in that the Krusty Krab receives a call for a delivery that's initially assigned to only one of the employees, only for the other one to be dragged into the assignment thanks to Squidward talking too much (Squidward in the former, and SpongeBob in the latter). Both plots play out completely differently, however.
"Chimps Ahoy" has the same basic premise as "Texas", as in SpongeBob and Patrick must stop Sandy from leaving Bikini Bottom. However in the latter where Sandy tries to leave out of homesickness, the former has Sandy having to leave against her will because of her almost losing her job. There's even a song Sandy sings that makes SpongeBob and Patrick cry in both episodes, but while in the latter episode it's about how much she wants to leave Bikini Bottom and return to Texas, in the former episode the song is about how she doesn't want to leave Bikini Bottom.
"Goofy Scoopers", "Sir Urchin and Snail Fail", and "We Heart Hoops", which aired in consecutive years, all have the exact same plot of SpongeBob and Patrick wanting to reunite a split-up group of celebrities they love. This same premise was also done in the first Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy episode.
Schedule Slip: While most seasons take only a couple of years to finish, season 9 took almost five years to finish airing in America. One of the reasons for the gaps between episodes was due to the production of The Sponge Bob Movie Sponge Out Of Water.
Season 3 also suffered this to a lesser extent, taking over three years to finish airing in America.
"Goo Goo Gas" aired on July 19, 2009, long after the rest of Season 5 had finished airing (in fact, this was the same day Season 7 premiered). Its sister episode had already aired 2 years prior.
The same incident happened earlier with "Gary Takes A Bath" which aired on July 26, 2003, long after Season 2 finished airing and Season 3 started airing. Its longer-than-normal sister episode already aired in March 2001.
Starting with Season 5, it has become the norm for new seasons to premiere before the previous season has finished airing, which could range from a few months to (in the case of season 6's premiere) years.
Season 12 seems to be getting the same treatment as Season 9 did, with several unaired episodes being released to DVD long before their airdate. In fact, Season 13 is now airing and three (Patrick's Tantrum, Kwarantined Krab and Hiccup Plauge) have aired in several other countries! The reason could be production being slowed down and affected due to the ongoing Coronavirus Pandemic, as well as production of The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run.
Science Imitates Art: The Spongiforma squarepantsii fungus was named after its fruiting body's resemblance to an orangish-yellowish sea sponge. The name was originally rejected by the Mycologia journal as being frivolous, but the fungus' describers were able to insist that, as its discoverers, they had the right to name it whatever they wished to.
Due to issues with certain musicians leaving APM (the company that SpongeBob gets its stock music cues from) over time, there are several music cues in the older episodes that can't be used in any newer episodes (such as Oyster Girls).
The DVD release of "The Complete 1st Season" in particular got hit pretty hard by this. Since Nickelodeon refused to pay royalties for some of the music tracks, some episodes had some tracks replaced ("Employee of the Month", "Karate Choppers", "Sandy's Rocket", "Culture Shock", and "Rock Bottom"). Most infamously, "Help Wanted" was not included in the boxset at all due to Tiny Tim's "Living in the Sunlight" playing in the climax. All of these episodes were rereleased on several compilation DVDs with the original soundtracks, and "Help Wanted" was released as a special feature on "The Complete 3rd Season" DVD.
On their Nicktoons channel, as it usually airs when most people are asleep and they used to only air episodes from the first 5 seasons. You were probably confused when you saw this trope on this page if you don't get Nicktoons. (This is probably because they don't need to air it on Nicktoons.)
By January 19, 2018, it was removed from Nicktoons' schedule entirely for reasons unknown, although it has been restored since then.
According to Vincent Waller, even the writers don't know what the Krabby Patty Secret Formula is and consider its details irrelevant to its purpose as a plot device. The only detail Stephen Hillenburg would give about it is that there is no animal protein in the formula.
"The secret Krabby Patty formula is an idea, it isn't a thing."
So My Kids Can Watch: The sole reason why David Bowie appeared as the voice of Lord Royal Highness in "Atlantis SquarePantis" was because his daughter was a fan of the show.
Spared by the Cut: A Deleted Scene in the season 3 episode "Clams" had Mr. Krabs call his parents before cutting to the parents' graves. Mr. Krabs' mother already made her debut in season 2's "Sailor Mouth" and she continues to make occasional appearances, while season 12's "Senior Discount" (which aired almost 17 years after "Clams") confirmed his father is alive as well.
Tie-In Cereal: SpongeBob SquarePants had a tie-in cereal on four occasions, twice in 2004 (once to tie in with The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie), once in 2014, and once in 2020 to tie in with The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run. All of the cereals except the 2014 one were similar to Lucky Charms in that they had grain bits with marshmallows shaped like SpongeBob, Patrick, and SpongeBob's pineapple (as well as Plankton in the original movie's cereal), with the pieces themselves shaped like jellyfish in all but the Sponge on the Run cereal; in the 2014 one, the pieces are shaped like SpongeBob and Patrick and no marshmallows are in it.
Trolling Creator: The Super Bowl LIII halftime show playing "Sicko Mode" instead of "Sweet Victory" while also giving the SpongeBob cast little screen time might have been the NFL attempting to troll the notoriously-unsatisfiable SpongeBob fandom, who requested the song in honor of Stephen Hillenburg's death. Originally, fans gave Nickelodeon heat for this, but they clarified that what little tie-in to SpongeBob that did occur was the best that could be done given that the NFL's plans for the show had be finalized months prior.
Un-Canceled: SpongeBobSquarePants initially ended production in 2002 on request of Stephen Hillenburg and Derek Drymon, who wanted to focus on The Movie. Nickelodeon tried so hard to convince Steve to resume production with the series but Steve and Derek denied the option. Around 2003-2004, there were negotiations to revive the series and Paul Tibbitt agreed to step in as showrunner for the new seasons. Production resumed in 2004 and with the completed movie finished to screen into theatres (designated to be the series finale of the original run), the show's new episodes began airing in 2005.
Underage Casting: In the Hungarian dub, István Bárath (born in 1990) began voicing SpongeBob in Season 3, when he was barely a teenager.
Unisex Series, Gendered Merchandise: SpongeBob is aimed at children of both genders, but most merchandise omits the female characters like Sandy and focuses on SpongeBob and Patrick.
Why Fandom Can't Have Nice Things: April "Pinkie" Davis, one of the storyboard revisionists for both this show and Kamp Koral, was sent death threats and homophobic bullying all because she worked on Kamp Koral. Regardless of what one thinks about the show's relation to Stephen Hillenburg's legacy, Steve wouldn't have wanted anyone to be bullied. She now limits her replies and has turned off direct messages permanently.
Word of Dante: For several years the SpongeBob wiki identified numerous background characters with not only names, but also identifiable personalities and relationships based on how they appear on the show. Behind the scenes however, these background characters are explicitly nameless blanks with their only "identity" being their number on the extras model sheet. Structured as "Incidental [numbers/letters]", these characters have no set personality and are used by the production crew as they wish. This had a large effect on the fanbase as several notable incidentals such as "Fred" (Incidental 1, brown fish with trousers) or "Harold" (Incidental 40, blue fish with white shirt) gained popularity and are often referred to with those names. After the fandom became more in touch with the production crew and the fact about Incidentals became well-known, the wiki underwent a massive reform and scrubbed off all the fanon names in favor of the Incidental code. However, with the large popularity of some of the characters, it led to some Ascended Fanon as "Fred" officially gained the name in the episode "My Leg!", while "Harold" is called such in several videos on the official SpongeBob Youtube channel.
Word of Gay: While SpongeBob has been thought of as Ambiguously Gay or Ambiguously Bi by for quite some time, Nickelodeon never actually confirmed his orientation in the show. During 2020's Pride Month, they included him with a list of LGBTQ+ characters without fully specifying where he fell on the spectrum. Hillenburg saw SpongeBob as being Asexual, a category that is occasionally included in the LGBTQ+ acronym.
Prior to passing away of ALS in 2018, Stephen Hillenburg made it perfectly clear that SpongeBobdid not feel sexual attraction.
Vincent Waller's stance on the two different King Neptunes (the one in the series and the one in the first movie) is that they serve the same figurehead and are basically interchangeable with each other, so the staff doesn't bother distinguishing between the two.
Writer Revolt: According to Mr. Lawrence, the show was at least partially conceived out of Stephen Hillenburg's frustration over having several gags and stories he'd come up with during his tenure on Rocko's Modern Life get vetoed.
Write What You Know: In addition to his history as a marine biologist influencing the show's universe, Stephen Hillenburg based the Krusty Krab on an actual nautical-themed burger joint he worked at as a teenager, with his "old sea dog" boss serving as the inspiration of Mr. Krabs. The call-and-response theme song was based on one of the restaurant's gimmicks where the wait staff dressed up as sailors and lead the children in sea shanties, usually beginning with "Are you ready kids!" to which the children were expected to respond "Aye aye, captain!"
"Sailor Mouth" was inspired by creative director Derek Drymon's own experience of being caught swearing as a kid by his mom. He said that Mr Krabs being caught swearing at the end was based on the fact that his own mother "had a sailor mouth herself".
. The Pukao on real Easter Island heads are meant to be hair
