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{{SpecialTr
|title = Square Roots: The Story of SpongeBob SquarePants
|titlecard = Square Roots.png
|airdate = VH1={{Time|July 17}}, {{Time|2009}}
|DVD = The First 100 Episodes={{Time|September 22}}, {{Time|2009}}
}}

{{L|Realistic Fish Head|And now a special report. In July of 1999, the world was first introduced to SpongeBob SquarePants.}}
{{L|SpongeBob|I'm ready! ''[duplicates himself]'' I'm ready! ''[duplicates himself again]'' I'm ready! ''[duplicates himself again]'' I'm ready! ''[several flyswatters squish the SpongeBob duplicates.]''}}
{{L|Realistic Fish Head|First considered too bizarre for mainstream success, it has now become one of the most popular television shows in history. Join us as we discover how this little yellow sponge became a worldwide phenomenon.}}
{{L|Robert Thompson|It's not only a program it's become a lifestyle for a lot of people.}} 

I don't think we can possibly overestimate how

much this is penetrated American culture spongebob is the coolest thing on the planet we told you watch it gene you get

a big belly laughs and you feel good about it I mean I like the fact that he's yellow I like the fact that he's

porous I like the fact that he wears pants any age any race any type of

person and you can relate to this character

do you split my sides
{{L|Robert Thompson|It was a though the territory that had been once dominated by Mickey Mouse was now being rehab attained by SpongeBob SquarePants.}}

The central character is a sponge with distinctive taste in trousers. he's the top

show on a top cable channel running several times a day in animation there's

just so many hurdles so many obstacles so many difficult challenges how do you

know that your audience is gonna take to a sponge character I mean wow that's

that's quite a leap

{{L|Stephen Hillenburg|My name's Steve Hillenburg and I'm the creator of SpongeBob SquarePants. I've always been fascinated with the ocean. It's just a place that is unlike anywhere on the planet and there's unexplored areas and animals and plants that we don't even know about still.}} 
I stepped on one of these once I think my interest in the ocean started with those documentaries that Jacque

Cousteau did it was like looking at another planet once more I'd reached

down word for the blue spaces of this

I ended up getting a job right there teaching marine biology my dream job

also I was kind of like the staff artist I was drawing a comic book about tide

pool animals that was in that comic that I drew the first sponge named Bob which

eventually would become SpongeBob I decided I wanted to do a show about one

character that was innocent well-meaning and kind of an oddball

{{L|Derek Iversen|Especially at the time SpongeBob came out, there were a lot of shows that were sarcastic. They had characters who were almost like little adults.}} 

there's no question that you know when you look at the 90s the things that we're connecting were the South Park sand and the Ren and Stimpy

and that was great and it is what made SpongeBob so distinctively different i think SpongeBob was an attempt instead to make a character who's genuine and

earnest I think that's something people really connected with there is an innocence a naivety and a sincerity to

it that you get practically no place else on the television dial Mr. Krabs

is really cheap but SpongeBob doesn't care so bottom line is a sponge so we've

got it we've got it and they said what do you got they said we have something yellow and square it's a sponge you're gonna love it and I

was like okay

I'm not sure there was a lot of confidence and the idea that it was gonna go anywhere how do I make the

biggest show in the world you know I think if you try to synthesize that then there's no way that

you can succeed at it I had no idea what was going on with this cartoon I just thought it was just so many name pulp

for preschoolers I heard the initial concept for it I

said those guys must be crazy SpongeBob

SquarePants it just sounds weird there's a lot of pressure there's a lot of risk there's a lot of money riding on this and a lot of

people jobs all involved with this kind of thing I just wanted it to be funny and I didn't want to be embarrassed for

anything that I made there's a lot of executives that would have taken one look at that and said you've got to be

kidding you're gonna put this hallucination on our air no ultimately it's the audience that decides they are

the ones that have the final say in the success and failure what we do the audience is the ultimate jury on any

show

there's a lot of cartoonists who have ideas for cartoon shows Nickelodeon as

as daring as they are with the kind of shows they do you know each one is a

risk so fascinating so wonderful

here we see Bikini Bottom teeming with life home of one of my favorite features

SpongeBob SquarePants yes of course he lives in a pineapple you silly there's no science to funny

the things that strike you is funny they either strike you as funny or they don't

let's face it this is one weird puppy of a TV show these characters are strange

they behave in really strange ways things that look like snails meow like cats it was so different we just didn't

quite know what to expect but when we viewed the pilot I mean it was non-stop

laughter

[the next scene take place in a bar where adults are viewing SpongeBob, laughing, and making a toast.]

Like look at each other and going I say are you gonna get this but us I mean is

this just entertaining to us or you know I don't know let's see we have an excellent SpongeBob's I can't even say

it I don't know if Mark can SquarePants SpongeBob you know the cartoon guy it took a couple of seasons we were just going

about our business making a show that we thought was hilarious for the first year two or three he was

kind of quietly on the network gaining building his audience it wasn't in the papers I don't remember anybody making a

big deal about it any time a family with kids came over I'd say I've got someone want you to watch and everyone loved

that I thought oh man please someone recognize this besides me we're doing

jokes where you know they're so surreal and you're thinking no one's gonna get this but I guess more people than you

would think got it together his buddy Squidward yes

a little yellow sponge who's making a big splash

I mean it is the biggest most powerful argument for just being open to where your your passions bring you and you

know look look where they brought today Steve's passions were animation and the ocean he called me to come over to his

place then he showed me what he had drawings watercolor treatments of

SpongeBob's pineapple house and Squidward's big Easter Island Tiki head

house and the Krusty Krab lobster trap I just fell in love with the character the

visuals the relationships between the characters and I just wanted to be in on it so bad Steve and I started on Rocko's

Modern Life that's where I met Steve we had sort of a meeting of the minds as far as comedy what we thought was funny

there were a lot of ideas Steve wanted to do on Rocco that we eventually got to

do on SpongeBob like the live-action cutaways it was

sort of like well if any of us gets our own show we're gonna do all that stuff it's do it

I always hate going in there there was a

conscious effort to emulate what we grew up on we all wanted to do that kind of cartoon SpongeBob is a really

well-crafted show and part of that is the use of squash and stretch you know pulling and squeezing they can flatten

him like a pancake they can do anything with him material it's incredibly funny

and there's just fantastic writing a great storyboarding you know these are the elements of classic animation we

love Bugs Bunny and we talked about these things wasn't that awesome the way this worked and this happened and we used to talk it out for hours and hours

that kind of thing goes back to the old classic movie cartoons and the theatrical cartoons and the Bugs Bunny's

the things that were done in the 40s and 50s and haven't been done in decades we're trying to stay true to that what

we loved about cartoons when we were young

I'm sorry Mr. Krabs could you run that by me again sure I said I'm worried

that's what I thought you said now let me offer this as a rebuttal you know

Mark Twain says make your vocation of vacation animation is a lot of work so I

definitely felt like hey we're gonna be here every day is for friends who do

stuff together U is for you and me there

was a sign on my door that said it have fun or you're fired and I think in a way that's true it was a joke but you know

peaceful fire that burns down the whole town useful uranium bombs those things

aren't what fun is all about we just thought it would be fun to take

a day to the aquarium in Long Beach maybe getting some ideas and see some of the things that people were drawing

every day Steve's a great collaborator

and he was real open to our ideas and everyone was just really excited to be making a show that was so different one

of the most brilliant things Steve did on the show is choosing the group that's

on the show it is kind of like a relay race you know we have writers and then they hand their thing off to the

storyboard artists we take what's written here and you think of jokes that maybe you couldn't explain and writing

that gets handed off to the cast and that gets handed off to the animators one episode includes about 20,000

drawings you have to do it all by hand the single goal that everyone who works on the show has in mind is just bringing

all they can to their little piece of the pie along the way it's snowballing you know picking up everyone's input

along the way and I feel very lucky because I feel like everyone really just is focused on how do we make this the

best bunch of all cartoon that we can

ever be

very good standby for pickups on that my name is Andrea Romano and I'm the voice

director for SpongeBob SquarePants cartoons are made by recording a vocal track first the animation comes

afterwards somebody has to tell the actors what's going on how loud they need to be what does that stand for the

characters are the most important part of the show as crazy as they are you

would like to be their friend too the great thing is is that we were given such a wonderful set of characters

they're an ensemble that that you can just milk endlessly

{{L|Carolyn Lawrence|I'm Carolyn Lawrence and I play Sandy Cheeks on SpongeBob SquarePants. She's a land squirrel but she's living in the ocean as a scientist she's very bright she's very motivated as squirrels are.}} 

my name is Bill I am the voice of

Patrick Star so it's the only person

I've seen in fiction or documentary that I feel smarter that

you know the world thinks Patrick you know has nothing going on upstairs and that he's a doofus

SpongeBob doesn't put down Patrick he thinks Patrick's are pretty smart happening guy

My name is Clancy Brown and I play Mr. Krabs. if I could be any character on the

show to be a Mr. Krabs you got all the

money he always want more volume later word for I always say Squidward is me in

a comic sense I'm not that sarcastic Kyle really welcome to the Krusty Krab

where it's almost as if the evolutionary clock ticks backward living between

Patrick and SpongeBob Swit word is the recipient of all the craziness and he's

the one that gets hurt and knocked down and humiliated in the end

My name is Mr. Lawrence I play Plankton on SpongeBob's my favorite character is

plankton plankton this little tiny character but he's got

this big voice he has one goal in his life it's destroying him as soon as

people found out I was working on it they all went so crazy actors asking me please can you find something for me on

SpongeBob I'll come in and play a fish who just goes move because they want to be a part of it they want to be able to

save their kid there was a part of it a grown man came up to me you're so famous

and I said well happy days you know he said no he said you're a SpongeBob

SquarePants grandma come here give you a kissy Kissy my name is Tim Conway it

used to be Betty but I had to change it you know in the business and everything will you

stop calling me boy my granddaughter said you know have you seen spongebob and I said I don't think so and she said

you know you're on it so I tuned in and by golly she was right

I've had older people from up old men you're mermaidman I should have mermaid

oh I've had the great good fortune to

work with Tom Kenny on many different series but this show is really Tom Kenny's show he is SpongeBob SquarePants

my name is Tom Kenny and for the last dozen years or so I have been the voice

of Spongebob Squarepants that's really fascinating there's a little bit of Tom in the character you know there's an

innocence and a well-meaning attitude that I think Tom emanates I think his silliness the actors silliness

absolutely is incorporated into the character he really represents the ten-year-old and all of us who's got a day off from

school he lives in the moment he's very childlike and he takes things as they come

Hey I like that he always believes the best

of people he'll never see that Squidward's crabby it just won't ever happen he just you know that's his buddy

it all comes from an honest place I

think one of the most appealing things about spongebob is his lack of fear and

his lack of negative emotions and in the world that we live in now he is a beacon of how to be happy in this world the

flip side of that is that when he does occasionally hit a wall he just falls apart lows are just as precipitous as

his highs

spongebob throws himself into everything 110 percent

not because of what reward he's going to glean at the end but just because he can't help but be that way from episode

to episode these characters maintain their personalities those personalities are winning and appealing and that

really helps to account for the universal popularity of the show

nice and he's yellow and spongy there he is

there's a spongebob phenomenon there's nobody cooler than you spongebob kids of

all ages have been wondering what is going on at Bikini Bottom have you seen spongebob oh it's so

cuddly I don't know this becomes a kind of a cult-like following

it's always tough to figure out what makes a phenomena because who knows

sea-dwelling cartoon character on Nickelodeon is the second highest rated show for kids on TV we hoped it would go

one season we hoped it would go to season it's a figure you do the best you can and and and you hope it ultimately

became one of the biggest shows in the history of television invertebrate hoo

Nickelodeon reports is attracting 28 million viewers a month this crazy kitchen sponge in a tie and a pair of

private school shorts has managed to penetrate the culture in a way that very

very few other things have done hey I

saw you on TV last night new bran flakes bold new taste bran

flakes you did I don't know if you guys caught this but there's a poll in this

week's Us Weekly it's about the the sexiest stars around in sixth place

spongebob in seventh place just behind this sexy character not quite as sexy as

spongebob our own Simon it got to a point where you couldn't turn on the TV

without seeing Spongebob and not just on Nickelodeon happy Halloween everyone in case you couldn't tell I'm Katie

spongebob I think you'll agree

who doesn't love sponge it just suddenly was everywhere the rest of the world

finally caught on I took a trip to Europe and right on top of the garbage there was a little juice box with

spongebob giving the thumbs-up and winking one on the surf trip to Sumatra

and I cup and I see the schoolgirl on this little schoolgirl and I see this bag it's bright pink bag and it's a bootleg

spongebob back and I just I just couldn't believe it spongebob appeals to people everywhere

all around the world is an inanimate object that we can all project ourselves on to envision spongebob superfans

Michonne

in the world of cartoons it's as big as it comes and now getting bigger the

spongebob squarepants movie yes I saw

the movie and I liked it alive I will never know how spongebob learned all those life absorbed felt like you used

to be Knight Rider and was always Baywatch but now it's spongebob with all generation and kids had never saw Knight

Rider it's awesome we chose to do a movie and the show took a hiatus now we had paramount a big movie studio and

they had to be responsible and they were gonna prove everything and I was trying to explain it this is the movie process

and he's like Alby that's all fine but if it's not with my team we're not making a movie

for this we do it all right for a couple

of goofballs

I don't think Steve knew that this would become as big a show as it as it would I

don't think any of us knew that we didn't really expect the kind of reaction that we've gotten worldwide and

we're just trying to make ourselves laugh and the rest is gravy if something is culturally successful it means almost

by definition that you have got a lot of people who are committed to it things that really really reach success are

also you know the ones that are likely to be targeted is something about

spongebob that whispers

where you're gonna get it after had been on for a couple of years there were a few episodes that somehow acted as a

Rorschach card for some people where they would watch the show and they would say wait a minute these characters are gay one of the channels most popular

characters is coming under attack from Family Values advocate James Dobson first insidious pro homosexual agenda

which character SpongeBob SquarePants you have to bring up the James Dobson

thing because it was this bizarre bump in the spongebob Road Dobson told a

mostly congressional audience in January that SpongeBob SquarePants for his quote pro-homosexual

it becomes a lightning rod for people and they see different things in it and it becomes the stimulus for national

discussion are you SpongeBob SquarePants I gotta be honest I thought it was the

greatest the show did nothing to discourage that I remember one time they

were wrestling for the fry cook games and they found out that they were wearing each other's color underwear it

wasn't like when they threw the Beatles records in a big bonfire you know they everyone in the town came out with their

records nobody wanted to hear it there nobody showed up to the bonfire all I'm

saying is why is he wearing pants he has no jenos we're not even talking

about sex at all kids seem to get it it's only certain adults that don't get it you know I think it did help and it

did kind of give spongebob this kind of cultural hip nosotras show because it

has become such an icon of our family existence

how did I become president of the Spongebob Squarepants fan club I elected myself and luckily I accept it

graciously why do I love spongebob so much why do I breed the salty sea air

why do I drink a flag in a grog who knows it just feels right for me my name

is Kristen Flores I have been working on spongebob for about two years this here is a pile of fan mail dear

SpongeBob and Patrick I really like your movie because it's free Stephen Hillenburg my name is Jose I watched

spongebob every day we also watch it and the more I come you don't make spongebob a girl Fred isn't plankton just make

friends with mr. Krabs and SpongeBob you made Patrick tack so dumb it does get to be a little overwhelming

cuz everyone tends to like him I've gotten fan mail here and oddly enough a lot of it comes from prisons spongebob

is not just a television show it really is a lifestyle for a lot of people

Jennifer Jones of Des Moines is one of the nicest people you're ever going to meet this is the Sponge Bob room there

is a phenomenon of the superfriend it's curious to think about what makes them so zealous and their pursuit of the show

and everything to do with the show you've got a little addicting and it's everywhere her arms are covered with no

less than twenty spongebob tattoos I have the pineapple house too there are a lot of people who not only

watch Spongebob a lot they sleep in spongebob pajamas they eat spongebob

pasta spongebob pencils spongebob cups and cushions I could do

this all day meet you there's a really wide range of people that connect with the show I watch it with the grandkids

and sometimes I watch it when I'm by myself there's this dance called Spongebob dance and I know how to do

spongebob style is being featured in magazines dad and actor Rob Lowe as a fan we just wanted to make official best

spongebob episode ever Sailor man I was

fascinated to learn that the one time graffiti artist and now pop artist Claus really loves spongebob and uses this

Vistage in his art quite a bit it's a tree to the broad appeal of the show

this thing's much bigger than just a kid's merchandize play SpongeBob's penetrating the culture in ways you

never expect he's guest hosting countdown in a couple of weeks I don't think it's going too far human and a six-year-old California

boy is safe this morning after falling through a hole and being trapped underground in a drainage pipe last night immediately after a bayit pulled

him out the first thing he said was that he wanted to watch Spongebob Squarepants people have an intimate relationship

with these characters they mean something to them and it can get a

little out of hand Burger King had a promotion with SpongeBob and they used a giant

inflatable spongebob and they put them on top of the stores our number one

story in the countdown it's not funny now an Amber Alert for a yellow sponge SpongeBob SquarePants

snatched again and again from coast to coast it's the cartoon crime of this century ten different states in all

America was distraught who would steal some our fingering teens and college

kids with the crime wave they weren't deflating them or defacing them or anything they were taking them

we have received ransom notes set of requested various items like Krabby Patties we think there's probably a

serial spongebob thief police nationwide on the lookout for a kidnap Vic

wearing SquarePants we're gonna be very vigilant on our patrol plan what sick

mind could be behind something like this

what can I do for you boys if you can't

do the time don't do the front okay times up

now get out what makes great cartoon characters is a creator who has a strong

vision for what his character is and Steve Hillenburg was really the guiding

light he's the guy you've got some seriously awesome ratings from it from this show which was terrific but what

you gonna do when mr. Hillenburg leaves Sponge Bob was Steve Hillenburg baby

he worked around the clock you're still here get get out after years and years

honing and refining this idea there was a real question if the show could go on

without Steve Hillenburg experience

you

after the movie I had pretty much decided that I was gonna step back it was time to get some new blood the movie

had just been out and there was a real question if the show could go on without Steve Hillenburg trying to start running

a show that's not only become a phenomenon but that has somebody like Steve it was such an enormous job to

take on Lou is weird around here find it different that left some pretty big

shoes for Paul to fill Paul be one of my favorite board artist writer directors

on the show I talked to Paul about would you be interested in running show and he was he was pretty much the obvious

choice well training animation has worked on a lot of shows knows what it's like writing storyboarding all those

steps turned out he was the right guy

and it turned out he had all the right leadership qualities too so I wish

they'd leave us out of the politics

it really is interesting that of all the things that Barack Obama could have

mentioned that spongebob is one that actually gets his thumbs up Barack Obama's favorite TV character lives in a

pineapple under the sea SpongeBob SquarePants SpongeBob brings

us back to a more innocent time so to speak kids respond to it probably because they can relate to the way he

sees things there's one called the paper where the entire episode is about spongebob picking up a piece of paper

that Squidward discards and having fun with it for 11 minutes end of the show

Squidward finally gets that piece of paper back it's not magical it wasn't

the paper Squidward I am such an idiot whatever it is about spongebob that can

make a piece of paper the greatest fun toy on the planet that's the magic of spongebob

there is something comforting and knowing that you can make something that maybe is shown in another country in

another language and then they find it funny - and that maybe we all do have something in common I think that's the

thing I enjoy about it mouths spongebob it just brings a smile to everybody's face adults and kids alike we try to hit

the gamut from the four-year-olds that are just sitting to watch the silly haha stuff and hopefully there's something in

there for his dad who's sitting next to him Krabs is do you kiss your mother

with that mouth I don't think we really change I think you develop your sense of humor early and and it sort of it sort of sticks

with you I have plenty of children in my life and I watch it as an adult by myself oh yeah Sponge Bob makes me laugh why

Sir I'm flattered really I don't smell anything you're on you a

kid really whip the edge the brilliance I am a spongebob devotee sponges don't

have hearts the real ones they don't have hearts they don't have organs but spongebob has

a heart yes the secret ingredient of Spongebob Squarepants is heart but I

think it's the heart of a for you and a heart doesn't get much purer than that I think it's it's so good harder than has

such a nice generosity of spirit and just the neverending optimism of spongebob yeah he's so good he's just

always optimistic and it's and that's a great thing

well good luck with that I'm ready I've worked with nicole kidman I've worked with Mike Nichols Oliver

Stone I've worked with some pretty big people in this business everything is just left in the dust by Sponge Bob when all is said and done in

the history of animated cartoons I would by all means put Sponge Bob Squarepants

on the list of the masterpieces all the great characters in cartoon history you know Mickey Mouse Bugs Bunny the Pink

Panther you know SpongeBob SquarePants absolutely spongebob has arrived it's in

the culture it's in the zeitgeist there's something charming and wonderful and innocent and sweet and just so

completely huggable about Bob and that's why he has and will endure

I think there's a huge future for spongebob he's still got to get his

Krusty Krab franchise spongebob is not going away for a long long time I don't

know it could go 20 seasons I hope so I like it here

the best day ever is a song that incorporates SpongeBob's Ruby and his

philosophy very sunny very bubbly you've kind of a worldview and that's the son

that all kids come up and sing you know they--they all they all know that song

{{L|Squidward|Boy, I'm glad all that's over.}}