| Spongebob SquarePants Characters | |
| SpongeBob SquarePants | |
| |
| Character's Information | |
| Gender: | Male |
|---|---|
| Skin Color: | Yellow (with light olive green holes) |
| Eye Color: | Blue |
| Height: | 4 inches |
| Weight: | 1 oz. |
| Interests: | Jellyfishing at Jellyfish Fields Music blowing bubbles Krabby Patty flipping at the Krusty Krab dancing hanging out at Goo Lagoon sandboarding Karate training reading spending time with his friends annoying Squidward just for fun with Patrick fighting Plankton to protect the Krabby Patty Secret Formula |
| Occupation(s): | Fry cook at The Krusty Krab has also been a cashier waiter and manager Manager of The Krusty Krab 2 |
| Cartoon's Information | |
| First appearance: | "Help Wanted" |
| Portrayer: | Tom Kenny |
SpongeBob SquarePants (born July 14, 1986[1]) is the main protagonist and the eponymous character of the Nickelodeon animated comedy series of the same name. He was designed by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg, and is voiced by Tom Kenny. SpongeBob's a childish, joyful, eccentric sea sponge who lives in a pineapple in the underwater city of Bikini Bottom. He works as a fry cook at The Krusty Krab, a job which he is exceptionally skilled at. SpongeBob lacks a lot of knowledge and is a constant annoyance to those around him (especially Squidward Tentacles), but he is very good natured. He appears in all of the episodes in the series. He later was soon to be Nickelodeon's main mascot. In Patrick SmartPants, when Patrick is smart, he refers to SpongeBob as "Robert". It is unknown if this is SpongeBob's real name or just Patrick sounding smart.
Description[]
SquarePants is a cute sea sponge but he is drawn to resemble a kitchen sponge, being rectangular and bright yellow with a dark brown outline. In earlier episodes, he is wider near the top and gets skinnier going further down, but in more recent episodes, he is a more of a regular square shape. SpongeBob has large blue eyes, a long, slightly curved nose, a large mouth with two prominent front buck teeth, and dimples with three freckles on each cheek. He typically wears a white shirt with a red tie, black leather shoes with shoelaces, and brown rectangular pants with a black belt[2] (the entire outfit is sometimes referred to as his "pants", hence his name). While working at the Krusty Krab, he wears a tall, white hat with a small blue anchor on it as a uniform. SpongeBob sometimes sleeps in his underwear, and at other times pajamas (beginning in Season 5). Though SpongeBob has always been voiced by Tom Kenny, his voice has changed over the course of the series; his voice is lower than normal in the pilot episode,[3] and after the movie, his voice gets slightly higher-pitched. And also, SpongeBob never passed Boating School.
Personality[]
SquarePants is a very clueless, abnormal, immature, fun loving and hyperactive character with a happy-go-lucky personality. He is an extremely determined person, and will often stop at nothing to accomplish a task. He is also somewhat dramatic to the people who are kind to him, for example, to the Mailfish.[4] He is also very over-confident. Sometimes though he shows his devious side when trying to get Mr. Krabs and Plankton to work together. He also sometimes tends to make a big deal of small problems, such as losing his name tag.[5]
SquarePants is very kind-hearted and innocent, and very rarely acts openly mean to anyone, even his enemies. He is a very selfless and loyal person, especially towards those close to him. His selfless nature is most notably shown in "Best Day Ever", where he sacrifices his "perfect day" to help his friends. Despite his well-meaning intentions, SpongeBob's actions often annoy and cause trouble for those around him, most notably his next-door neighbor, Squidward Tentacles.
Spongebob "high smile".
SquarePants can become scared easily and usually panics when frightened. He is afraid of the dark (or what's in the dark) and clowns. Occasionally, SquarePants is too ignorant to notice impending danger and his unworldly thinking may put himself or others in peril. He also can't detect lies or malice information as easier as the other characters, mainly due to his naive nature.
SquarePants' innocence also makes him overly trusting and very gullible, and he is easily manipulated by people who intend to use and/or harm him, such as Squidward, Mr. Krabs and Plankton; most noticeably, he is always easily fooled by Plankton no matter how bizarre or obvious his disguises are. Even though he's generally good-natured and easygoing, when frustrated and angered, SquarePants can be sarcastic, rude and 'foul-mouthed' to his friends, even Mr. Krabs, whom he treats as a father figure/deity. Ironically, the funny fact is, Squidward is the only character that SpongeBob never insults when he's angry, with the exception of the episode, "Breath of Fresh Squidward".
Antagonistic Side[]
SquarePants is intelligent and his antagonism does not excuse him at all, including annoyance.
- In "Nasty Patty" he helped Mr. Krabs create a tainted patty to "kill" the health inspector. They both thought the health inspector was a fake one. He even put the nastiest things on the patty.
- In "Squirrel Jokes" He made fun of Sandy by calling her stupid. Even he promised Sandy that no more squirrel jokes, he broke the promise. And he told Sandy that people laugh "with" her but they laugh at her. However this stopped once Sandy started being dumb and injured Spongebob.
- In "Can You Spare a Dime?" he picked up Mr. Krabs tightly by the neck.
- In "Pranks a Lot" he and Patrick trespassed and scared everyone, and attempted to burn Mr. Krabs' money.
- In "Party Pooper Pants" Squidward went to his party when his cables were cut, obviously by SpongeBob.
Spongebob thought that Squidward was still dead.
- In "Squidward, the Unfriendly Ghost" He sent Squidward up in the sky even though Squidward said no more favors. But this was because he thought that Squidward was still dead.
- In "Rodeo Daze" He kidnapped people, who wouldn't help him, to help him save Sandy from a rodeo. That is technically illegal because it counts as kidnapping.
- In "Toy Store of Doom" He annoyed an employee by singing. He also hid in the store past open hours and someone could have thought he might have been robbing the store.
- In "Just One Bite" He forced Squidward to eat a Krabby Patty by handcuffing himself to Squidward.
- In "Ripped Pants" He tricked the life guard into thinking he was dying but it was a prank just to say he ripped his pants.
- In "Sailor Mouth", He used foul language, along with Patrick. (mostly sounding like aquatic animal noise's)
- In "The Thing", He and Patrick antagonized Squidward by asking so many questions.
- In "Walking Small" He ruthlessly took what he wanted and accidentally drove everyone from the beach but he was tricked by Plankton.
- In "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie" he ruthlessly scolded Mr. Krabs (though drunk but he was at the Goofy Goober place so there is no alcohol drink's sold there since it's a kids area) because Mr. Krabs didn't make him the manager of The Krusty Krab 2.
- In "Best Day Ever" he scolded everybody who made him fail in having the best day ever.
- In "Driven to Tears" he tore up Patrick's license and threw it out.
- In "Squidward in Clarinetland" Squidward must go through torture SpongeBob created to find his clarinet.
- In "A Pal for Gary" he scolded Gary for "being mean" to Puffy Fluffy, when it is actually Puffy Fluffy who is being mean to Gary. (and turned scary).
- In "Stuck in the Wringer" SpongeBob scolded Patrick for getting him stuck in the Wringer, and for not helping him at all (and also blinded by the point that Patrick tried to help, but SpongeBob was blinded by his general stupidity), Patrick runs off crying and all the Bikini Bottomites turn on SpongeBob telling him that he deserved what he gotten, sending SpongeBob in deep depression.
- In The Other Patty he created a new restaurant called The Flabby Patty which proves to better than the Krabby Patty. So he forces Mr. Krabs and Plankton to work together (much to their dismay) to get the recipy which they finally do, only to find out it wasn't a real recipe. And spongebob revieled it was he who created the Flabby Patty just to get them to work together.
Scapegoat Side[]
Big Fat Meanie.
- In New Student Starfish Patrick came with Spongebob to Boating school in which he wrote a letter calling Mrs. Puff a big fat meany and handed it to Spongebob. Mrs. Puff then took away one of Spongebob's good noodle stars eventhough it was Patrick's fault. However Mrs. Puff probably did find this out when patrick said "See you spongebob, see you big fat meany."
- In Stanley S. SquarePants Spongebob's cousin works with him at the Krusty Krab (as Squidward moved away) he broke many things which Spongebob claimed were his fault. However eventually Spongebob couldn't take it anymore, and explained it was Stanley's fault.
- In Keep Bikini Bottom Beautiful a piece of garbage fell off a statue of Squidward (made of garbage) so a cop gave him and Squidward a ticket for it eventhough it fell off on its own.
Skills[]
SpongeBob's bones in I Had An Accident.
Like many other cartoon characters, SpongeBob has been shown to have numerous extraordinary abilities and attributes over the course of the series (even though physically weak).
- Soft Pliable Body: Due to his soft, pliable frame, he is capable of shape shifting, has some degree of invulnerability, being able to absorb any type of physical impact, shown most notably in the episode, The Bully.[6]
- Regeneration: It is shown that he can quickly regenerate parts of his body that are injured or removed.
- Boneless: SpongeBob is usually shown to be boneless (sea sponges being invertebrates) however in some episode like I Had an Accident are shown on its X-rays.[7]
- Absorbent: Being a sponge, he is also absorbent, and can expand his body by absorbing liquids. When he cries, he often re-absorbs his tears. Such as in The Bully when Flats the Flounder kept on hitting him but Spongebob just absorbed all of his blows.[6]
- Singing and Nose Playing: SpongeBob is shown to possess a fantastic singing voice. He uses his nose as a flute, which he is very good at. He was also the lead singer in Band Geeks.[8]
- Fry-Cooking: SpongeBob has a job cooking Krabby patties at the Krusty Krab.
- Jellyfishing: SpongeBob and Patrick have jellyfished in several episodes, in Jellyfish Hunter, he caught every single jellyfish in the fields.[9]
- Tongue-Boarding: SpongeBob tongue-boarded in Pre-Hibernation Week,[10] he can also do it in the Battle for Bikini Bottom Video Game.[11]
- Survival Skills: In To Save a Squirrel, SpongeBob and Patrick almost ate each other to survive.[12]
- Bubble Blowing: SpongeBob can perform extraordinary moves with bubbles.[13]
- Driving: He drives perfectly in various episodes but he drives literally on the episodes which had the appearances of Mrs. Puff.
- Karate: He trains Karate perfectly but he rarely mix them up.
- Destruction: He though he doesn't know it and thanks to his poor driving skills, SpongeBob is actually skilled at Demolition Derbies. This was shown in Demolition Doofus as SpongeBob (who was using the name Le Squish) managed to defeat five other competors (also suriving against Mrs. Puff).[14]
Near-Death Experiences[]
Spongebob's Crashes in the ground and shatters his behind.
SpongeBob's life has most usually been in good luck at his Boating School driving tests, where he gets himself and others (usually Mrs. Puff) injured or almost injured from his reckless driving. He also gets injuries from extreme sports with Sandy and the Radicals, Patrick, or living like Larry. He also almost froze to death in Frozen Face-Off.[15] He also almost didn't make it against the Big One in Spongebob vs. the big one. He one time almost got eaten and starved to death in To Save a Squirrel.[12] SpongeBob was not concentrating and cracked his butt, in which the doctor said he was one of the lucky ones to survive in I Had an Accident.[7]
Creation and development[]
Stephen Hillenburg intended to create a series about an over-optimistic sponge that annoys other characters. Hillenburg compared the concept to Laurel and Hardy and Pee-wee Herman. As he drew the character, he decided that a "squeaky-clean square" (like a kitchen sponge) fit the concept.
The first concept sketch portrayed the character as wearing a red hat with a green base and a white business shirt with a tie. SpongeBob's look gradually progressed to brown pants that was used in the final design. SpongeBob was designed to be a kid-like character who was goofy and optimistic in a style similar to that made famous by Jerry Lewis.[16]
Originally the character was to be named SpongeBoy but this name was already in use. This was discovered after voice acting for the original seven minute pilot was recorded in 1997. The Nickelodeon legal department discovered that the name was already in use for a mop product.[17] Upon finding this out, Hillenburg decided that the character's given name still had to contain "Sponge" so viewers would not mistake the character for a "Cheese Man." Hillenburg decided to use the name "SpongeBob." He chose "SquarePants" as a family name as it referred to the character's square shape and it had a "nice ring to it".[18] The "Cheese Man" mistake was used twice, CheeseHead (or CheeseBoy by the citizens of New Kelp City) was used as SpongeBob's fake first name in WhoBob WhatPants? and Timmy Turner mistakingly called SpongeBob "a giant block of cheese" in the video game Nicktoons Unite!.
Although SpongeBob's driver's license says his birth date is July 14, 1986, which would make the character 12 (nearly 13) years old at the time of his debut appearance on May 1, 1999, Hillenburg joked that he is fifty in "sponge years". He explained that SpongeBob actually has no specific age, but that he is old enough to be on his own and still be going to boating school. The decision to have SpongeBob attend a boat driving school was made due to a request from Nickelodeon that the character attend a school.[19]
SpongeBob is voiced by veteran voice actor Tom Kenny. Kenny previously worked with Hillenburg on Rocko's Modern Life, and when Hillenburg created SpongeBob SquarePants, he approached Kenny to voice the character.[20] Hillenburg utilized Kenny's and other people's personalities to help create the personality of SpongeBob.[17]
The voice of SpongeBob was originally used by Kenny for a background character present in a crowd scene in Rocko's Modern Life. Kenny forgot the voice initially as he created it only for that single use. Hillenburg however remembered it when he was coming up with SpongeBob and used a video clip of the episode to remind Kenny of the voice.[17] Kenny says that SpongeBob's high pitched laugh was specifically aimed at being unique, stating that they wanted an annoying laugh in the tradition of Popeye and Woody Woodpecker.[21]
In SpongeBob SquarePants' broadcast in non-English languages, the voice actors dubbing SpongeBob's voice use Tom Kenny's rendition of the character as a starting point but also add unique elements. For example the French version has SpongeBob with a slight Daffy Duck style lisp.[17]