Are you ready kids? Let’s take a trip to Bikini Bottom to meet your favorite sponge along with his friends. Fasten your seatbelts and here we go through the history of our favorite sea sponge.

 The animation “Spongebob Squarepants,” was directed by Stephen Hillenberg, and first started off as “The Intertidal Zone,” an informative book about tide-pool organisms that Hillenberg taught to his students. The first episode of the series first premiered in May 1, 1999 as a preview during the Kids Choice Awards, and officially premiered on Nickelodeon in July 17, 1999.

As for the cast, the characters Spongebob and Gary are voiced by Tom Kenny, Patrick by Bill Fagerbakke, Squidward by Roger Rumpass, Mr. Krabs by Clancy Brown, Sandy by Carolyn Lawrence and Plankton by Doug Lawrence.

As it has aired the show has gained enormous popularity during the second season leading to the current two spin-offs that were introduced to the series. The first being “Kamp Koral: Spongebob’s Under Years”. Which portrays  Spongebob and his friends when they were younger, the first episode premiered on Paramount + and then premiered on television Apr. 2, 2021.

Another spinoff added to the Spongebob universe was “The Patrick Star Show” in July 9, 2021. In this seperate show, Patrick is now the main character of the show with a couple of new characters introduced to the series. Instead of living under a rock, he lives in a house with his family. Throughout the show some of Patrick’s friends like Spongebob, Plankton and Squidward make a special appearance in some of the episodes.

As for movies in the Spongebob universe, there are three movies and I really enjoyed all of them. The one I remember seeing in theaters is “Spongebob: Sponge Out of Water.” Seeing Spongebob and his friends as superheroes was a really interesting and creative concept and what I found hilarious is that Sandy is just an ordinary squirrel and does not get a cool costume or power like the others did.Although I did enjoy it, “Spongebob: Sponge Out of Water” is also my least favorite movie out of the three.

However, my two favorite movies are “Spongebob: Sponge on The Run” and “The Spongebob Squarepants Movie.” The soundtrack for “The Spongebob Squarepants Movie” is very nostalgic as someone who grew up watching the show and I thoroughly enjoy the soundtrack “The Best Day Ever.” and “Ocean Man.” Along with the soundtrack, the animation in “Spongebob: Sponge on The Run” was really good.

Unfortunately, Stephen Hillenberg who was the director of “Spongebob Squarepants” passed away at his home at the age of 57, Nov. 26, 2018. He was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis which is a fatal disease that affects the motor neurons in the brain and the spinal cord. I was devastated when I heard the news as a Spongebob fan. Although I was fortunate enough to watch a special episode “Spongebob’s Birthday Blowout” and a movie “Spongebob: Sponge on The Run” which premiered in tribute to him and his career.

This series has come a long way since the first episode and I hope more people will check out the series. I am not sure what will happen in season 14 due to the passing of Stephen Hillenburg, but I hope it will be a good one despite the tragedy, and I hope Stephen’s legacy will continue to live on forever, and thank you Stephen for being a huge part of my childhood.