Back in 1999, who would have thought that a show about a talking sea sponge who works at a fast food restaurant would remain one of the most popular cartoons after 20 years? The brainchild of Stephen Hillenburd, a marine biology instructor that spent 10 years developing what would eventually help Nickelodeon become a powerhouse in kids entertainment, SpongeBob SquarePants remains the top-rated series in kids animation and has spawned hundreds of memes, an upcoming spinoff series, an upcoming third feature film, and even a Tony-nominated Broadway musical.
This past weekend, Nickelodeon marked SpongeBob’s 20th anniversary with a TV special, so in celebration, we’re taking a look back at what made this show special in the first place and why we still consider Mayonnaise an instrument!
SpongeBob Is an Optimist
Despite SpongeBob SquarePants the show being a show aimed at kids, SpongeBob the character is like most adults. He has a dead-end job working for a greedy and inconsiderate boss and he has an annoying neighbor and co-worker who despises him, yet he is one of the most optimistic characters in pop-culture. SpongeBob adores his job, thinks the world of his boss and co-worker, and never stops smiling.
Consider the now-classic episode “Pizza Delivery” in which SpongeBob and Squidward are forced to start making pizzas in addition to burgers because their boss, Mr. Krabs thinks there is extra money to be made. Squidward insists on SpongeBob driving despite him still being in boating school, resulting in them being stranded without gas in the middle of a desert. While Squidward is (righteously so) freaking the hell out about being stranded, SpongeBob is concerned about doing his job before the pizza gets cold. Ever the optimist, the little sponge does the best with what he’s got, using old pioneer tricks he saw in an old movie to find rescue and even singing one of the catchiest tunes of 1999 with “The Krusty Krab Pizza.” As an adult, I mostly identify with Squidward losing his mind as he wants to abandon the task and just head home, but as a kid I wanted nothing more than to believe you could still be like SpongeBob as an adult – facing adversity with a smile, a song and a pioneer trick.
SpongeBob Is Relatable
The little piece of magic that made SpongeBob popular not only with kids, but with adults, is that the show is very relatable. Maybe you’re a cynical adult who’s seen the cruelty of the world and is sick of it, or maybe you’re a kid who genuinely loves things like SpongeBob, there’s always something you can relate to. Think of the time SpongeBob spent an entire episode learning how to tie his shoes. Or the time SpongeBob becomes Squidward’s maid when he quits his job and moves in with SpongeBob while he is looking for a job, taking so long that the narrator quits his job. Or what is, at the time of writing, the episode I (and many others) most relate to – the “Procrastination” episode. We have seen how enthusiastic SpongeBob is about his boating lessons before, so it isn’t a surprise to see him being jumping with joy at the prospect of having to write an 800-word essay for Mrs. Puff.
Except it isn’t that easy to just start writing, as SpongeBob realizes his mind is completely blank on what one can do on a stoplight except for the word “The” which he spends hours stylizing. The episode is then devoted to show all the things SpongeBob decides to do to distract himself from the task at hand, including cleaning his entire pineapple home, and the absurdly increasing number of people that are aware of his essay, including a news reporter live on TV. Though increasingly cartoony scenes, the show perfectly combines relatable human situations with the kind of comedy only an underwater cartoon can provide. Anyone who has ever spend hours staring at a blank page trying to come up with words to put down will instantly relate to the episode. After watching episode after episode of SpongeBob facing adversity with a smile, it is funny to see him lose his mind over a relatively menial task, even if for him it is as big as The Odyssey.
The Storytelling Leans into Imaginative Situations
Of course, SpongeBob is still an animated show, and with the medium comes a lot of freedom to explore absurd and funny situations – this is a show about an underwater town that has a beach, after all. Unlike most shows, the SpongeBob writing team doesn’t rely on written scripts but instead on storyboards, with jokes and dialogue added after the outline is made. This makes for a show that is largely based on visual gags and one-liners, which makes for a perfect recipe for memes. Indeed, you can take almost any one shot from a random scene and turn it into a meme because you can easily understand exactly what it is trying to convey without any context.
Indeed, SpongeBob has managed to turn even the wildest and biggest of tasks like literally pushing the entire town of Bikini Bottom away to escape an Alaskan Bull Worm, and the smallest of problems like learning to tie your shoelaces or blowing a bubble into entire 11-minute episodes. And nothing exemplifies this better than the episode “SB-129.” Early in season one, while the show was still establishing itself, the writers decided to do a time-travel episode which sees Squidward go 2000 years into the future, and then back to pre-historic times. The end of the episode even introduces a time paradox, as Squidward realizes he changed the timeline by time traveling.
SpongeBob SquarePants has never been afraid to try something new in order to avoid falling into the same old stories. But the reason audiences come back year after year is because of SpongeBob himself. Despite being a sponge living in a pineapple under the sea, SpongeBob personifies what we all hoped we could be as adults, and the best of what we can still be. After 20 years, SpongeBob brings us happiness and reminds us that we can achieve the same happiness in our lives.