Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? Shout it together, kids: "SpongeBob SquarePants." The cheerful cartoon character, more kitchen sponge than sea sponge in spirit and in shape, has been soaking up the spotlight for ten years. YTV begins a month-long salute to SpongeBob and all his Bikini Bottom brethren with a countdown to the Top-100 "SpongeBob SquarePants" episodes, beginning Monday at 5:30 in "The Zone."
A post-Saturday morning animated superstar, SpongeBob got his start on Nickelodeon, the U.S. cable channel aimed at children. A pilot episode aired May 1, 1999 but the series didn't officially begin until that July. It took a season or two to catch on but now there are theme park rides, Wendy's and Burger King kid's meals, video games, T-shirts, DVDs and countless other extensions. That's SpongeBob up in the sky every U.S. thanksgiving, with big balloon pals Snoopy and Kermit, in the annual Macy's parade. In 2004, the "SpongeBob SquarePants Movie" soaked up over $85 million at the North American box office, and - for better or worse - revived the career of guest star David Hasselhoff in the process. In 2007, Time magazine proclaimed "SpongeBob SquarePants" one of the greatest series of all time.
To Tom Kenny, it was just another job. He does the voice of SpongeBob as well as Gary, his pet snail (who meows), plus the narrator of the series along with several other characters. "We thought we were making a funny seven-minute short," he told TV critics earlier this year in Los Angeles (where he was helping to promote his latest voice-over job, crazed elementary school custodian Muhannad Sabeeh (Happy) Fa-ach Nuabar on the Fox animated sitcom "Sit Down, Shut Up").
The 46-year-old began his comedy career before the cameras as part of the cast of the short-lived Fox sketch series "The Edge" (which also introduced future "Friends" star Jennifer Aniston). Work in the early Nickelodeon series "Rocco's Modern Life" and "Camp Lazlo" led to "SpongeBob," as well as voice-over work on the "Powerpuff Girls." Now Kenny is a modern day Mel Blanc (the legendary Warner Bros. cartoon king who provided the voices of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig and even such Hanna-Barbera stars as Barney Rubble from "The Flintstones"), working everything from the animated "Transformers" to the TV version of "Dilbert."
Kenny says doing the voice of SpongeBob is like "every day job I ever worked, where these guys are so visible and so awesome and I'm like an undercover agent. I'm just trying to keep my head down and not get noticed."
"SpongeBob SquarePants" was the brain child of Stephen Hillenburg, an artist and animator who also happens to be a former marine biologist. That's why there are so many marine biology in-jokes on the series.
Hillenburg made sure his series had a broad enough appeal to entertain adults as well as children. Just like "The Simpsons," several well-known rock acts have appeared in or contributed music to the series, including Motorhead and Twisted Sister. David Bowie drew 8.8 million U.S. viewers when he appeared in the 2007 episode "Atlantis SquarePantis."
Other big names have made the SpongeBob scene. Johnny Depp recently voiced surf king Jack Kahuna Laguna in "SpongeBob vs. the Big One" (where the gang has to catch a perfect wave in order to get back to Bikini Bottom). Davy Jones of The Monkees can be heard in the same episode, voicing - who else? - that other Davy Jones, the one with the Locker. Victoria Beckham can be heard on an upcoming hour-long special as a goddess of the sea. Craig Ferguson, Will Ferrell, Ricky Gervais and Robin Williams all get into the animated undersea act in a future episode entitled, "Truth or Square."
An upcoming "best of" episode, "The Great Escape," will find SpongeBob, his simple-minded star fish friend Patrick, SpongeBob's long suffering neighbour Squidward and cranky restaurant owner Mr. Krabs locked inside the Krusty Krab freezer. While they plot ways to get out, they flashback to "shocking" moments from the past.
While some critics have complained that the series hasn't been the same with the departure several seasons ago of Hillenburg as executive producer, "SpongeBob SquarePants" will bounce into a second decade. The voice cast recently gathered for a live performance at the Sundance Film Festival. Later this summer, look for a 10th anniversary documentary special, "SpongeBob SquareRoots," examining the cultural impact of the cartoon.
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-Bill Brioux is a freelance TV columnist based in Brampton, Ont.
