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By Angela Dawson
Entertainment News Wire
HOLLYWOOD -- Since its 1999 debut on Nickelodeon, "SpongeBob SquarePants," centering on an incurably optimistic sea sponge and his underwater pals, has developed a loyal, almost cultlike following of fans of all ages, with roughly 60 million viewers tuning in every week. It has also become a merchandising bonanza, with SpongeBob T-shirts, calendars, plush dolls, license-plate frames and more.
So how did an ordinary kitchen sponge evolve into a pop culture phenomenon who is now the star of an animated feature film?
SpongeBob Squarepants is the brainchild of Stephen Hillenburg, a mild-mannered artist and animator with a lifelong fascination for all things aquatic. In the 1990s, Hillenburg was working as a writer/creative director on Nickelodeon's "Rocko's Modern Life," an animated animal series, when he was inspired to create SpongeBob and the quirky undersea world of Bikini Bottom.
"I really wanted to do something about one character, an innocent who is surrounded by these more cynical beings," the native Oklahoman recalls. "The other characters try to take advantage of the innocent but he somehow manages to unhinge them, and that's a source of comedy."
After sketching and dismissing various aquatic creatures as his hero, Hillenburg hit upon a natural sponge, the most bizarre animal he could think of. He eventually simplified it to the common square-shaped sponge found next to any kitchen sink. He gave the character big blue eyes, crooked teeth -- and pants.
"He's literally a square peg in this world of animals," Hillenburg says.
The animator pitched the idea to his bosses at Nickelodeon, the family-oriented cable network behind the successful "Rugrats," "Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius" and "The Wild Thornberrys" series (which have all been turned into feature films).
Acting out all the lines with gestures and facial expressions, he got the go-ahead on the spot.
Eventually, Tom Kenny, a veteran voiceover artist, stepped in as the high-pitched voice of SpongeBob, giving the character a distinctive, goofball personality. "He's like an elf on helium," describes the bespectacled Kenny.
Nickelodeon launched "SpongeBob SquarePants" on its 20th anniversary, making "SpongeBob" the company's entree into original first-run programming on Saturday morning. The simply designed but colorfully animated series features the comical and sometimes nonsensical adventures of SpongeBob and his friends. After a two-year hiatus, 10-15 new episodes will be aired in 2005, according to Nickelodeon executives.
The yellow hero lives in a pineapple and loves his job flipping crabby patties at the Krusty Krab, operated by a money-grubbing crab named Mr. Krabs. SpongeBob's best friend is a chubby pink starfish named Patrick, who shares SpongeBob's love of ice cream sundaes and good times.
Other characters aren't so nice, such as SpongeBob's co-worker, an embittered octopus named Squidward Tentacles, or the power-hungry Plankton, a tiny, green, one-eyed organism that runs an unsuccessful rival eatery down the road.
While popular among school-age children and their parents, SpongeBob also has attracted a broader spectrum of fans. Some 30 percent of the show's audience is adults, many of whom do not have children, according to the network's research findings. The show is also a hit among college students.
Producer Julie Pistor says one young viewer summed it up best: SpongeBob is blissfully unaware. "It's because the world has become a complicated and scary place, so much so that sometimes we'd all love to be blissfully unaware," she adds.
After writing, directing and producing 60 episodes, Hillenburg was inspired to take SpongeBob to the next level -- a feature-length movie. "I had this idea about SpongeBob going on an extended road trip where he encounters the surface world and live-action is involved," he says.
Thus was born "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie."
Pistor, a senior vice president at Nickelodeon Movies, says Hillenburg wanted to take SpongeBob and Patrick on a hero's journey to the surface. But the story didn't fit the television series format, so a theatrical feature seemed the way to go.
For years, Hillenburg had resisted the idea of adapting SpongeBob into a movie, wary that it would simply be an inflated episode. But once he envisioned his square little hero going to the surface and melding the undersea world with the terrestrial world, he knew he was onto something.
"This movie is really SpongeBob's big adventure, his greatest adventure," he says.
The movie blends live-action with the animated style used in the television series. It opens with a live-action sequence in which pirates sing the catchy SpongeBob theme song, and then plunges into the animated world. The little guy thinks he is going to get the coveted job of managing a Krusty Krab outlet but is crushed when he finds out he has been passed over in favor of Squidward. Meanwhile, Plankton is hatching a plan to steal Mr. Krabs' secret recipe and eliminate his rival by implicating him in a crime. It's up to SpongeBob and Patrick to exonerate the wrongly accused Mr. Krabs.
In addition to the show's regulars, new characters are introduced in this animated action-comedy. "Arrested Development's" Jeffrey Tambor voices King Neptune; sultry Scarlett Johansson ("Lost in Translation") voices Mindy the Mermaid, Neptune's thoughtful and resourceful daughter; Alec Baldwin provides the voice of Dennis, a hit man hired by Plankton; and "Baywatch's" David Hasselhoff has a humorous cameo.
"He's a lifeguard. The beach is his domain," Hillenburg says of Hasselhoff's most identifiable role. "We wrote the entire sequence without asking him. Then I decided to call him and found out he and his kids are big fans of the show. He didn't even see the material. He said, 'I'm in.'"
Though not a musical, the animated comedy is full of songs, including music from Avril Lavigne, Wilco and The Flaming Lips.
The filmmakers were mindful not to stray from the lighthearted mentality that is the beloved character's essence. Indeed, SpongeBob's innocent qualities get him through his quest. "He's naive yet he launches into this journey where he manages in his own way to save the day, the town and himself," says Hillenburg. "There's some value in his point of view."
