Stories from the set

The creator and producer of the series, Stephen Hillenburg, taught marine biology at a college from 1984 to 1987, after which he decided to try his hand at animation. Hillenburg came up with a very unusual way to get the executives of the children's and teen channel Nickelodeon interested in the idea of a new series. He brought a filled aquarium to a board of directors meeting and explained to those present who and what lived in it. After that, Hillenburg placed a drawing of SpongeBob on the bottom of the aquarium and declared: “And this is SpongeBob, the main character of the new project.”

When voicing SpongeBob's distinctive laugh, voice actor Tom Kenny would say a drawn-out “Aaaaah...” while simultaneously lightly striking his throat with his hand.

The Mermaid Man's invisible boat-mobile is a 1959 Cadillac.

Transparent celluloid film was used only in the 1st season. Starting from the 2nd season, the creators of the series switched to coloring and editing using digital technologies.

The passage of time is announced to viewers by a voice with a French accent. This is a tribute to Jacques-Yves Cousteau (1910-1997), an explorer of the World Ocean who had a huge influence on Stephen Hillenburg.

SpongeBob was initially going to be named SpongeBoy, but that name was already copyrighted.

The cartoon band Boys Who Cry was inspired by the American pop rock band the Jonas Brothers.

SpongeBob was originally drawn wearing a green baseball cap.

The first Nickelodeon animated series to exceed 200 episodes.