Pearl and Dean - Spongebob Style

Pearl and Dean is a British cinema advertising company.
Kathryn Jacob, CEO at Pearl & Dean said: "We have a reputation for innovation and this ident will introduce yet more people to the iconic Pearl & Dean theme."
The promotion appeared in all Vue Cinemas nationwide before Chronicles of Narnia, WALL-E, High School Musical 3 and Harry Potter.

10th Anniversary Opening

Screen Novelties created a stop-motion intro for Spongebob's 10th anniversary special, "Truth or Square". Cee-Lo Green sings the accompanying jazzed-up version of the theme song.

Spongebob "Got Milk" Advertisement

Another Batch of Interviews

Today's interviews are all from December 2009, when Tom Kenny was appearing on shows in order to promote Spongebob's new holiday single, "Don't Be A Jerk (It's Christmas!)" I have quite a lot of these Christmas interviews and most of them involve "Spongebob" singing a verse or two down the phoneline, which is always fun.

Sundance Film Festival

The voices behind Spongebob perform a live reading of a "Spongebob Squarepants vs The Big One" at Sundance Film Festival, 2009.

SpongeBob SquarePants
Tags: SpongeBob SquarePants Episodes,SpongeBob SquarePants,SpongeBob SquarePants Games

Kids Choice Awards

Spongebob recently did well at the Annies, and now he is up for another award; Favorite Cartoon at the KCAs. Since 2003 he has taken this award home seven times.

The competition this year:

• The Penguins of Madagascar
• Phineas and Ferb
• Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorperated
• Spongebob Squarepants

Voting will start on the Nickelodeon website in March.

More Radio Interviews

My dialemma is that I have so many Tom Kenny/Spongebob interviews that if I uploaded them all in one post it would take days for the page to load. Therefore, I have decided to upload the interviews in randomly chosen batches of four. (Except for the "Don't Be A Jerk; It's Christmas!" performances, which I will try to group together.)
Without further ado, here are today's four interviews.

Concept Sketches and Final Designs

Spongebob Comics

"Spongebob Comics" is a new bimonthly comic book series, authored by Stephen Hillenburg (creator of Spongebob) for the first time.

“I’m hoping that fans will enjoy finally having a ‘SpongeBob’ comic book from me," says Hillenburg. “All the stories will be original and always true to the humor, characters, and universe of the ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ series.”


Every issue of SpongeBob Comics will feature a full 32-pages of feature length stories, shorts, and fun pages, suitable for all ages. Issue #1 debuts tomorrow, 9th February 2011.

Of course, that's only in the US - if you're an oversees fan, like me, you'll probably have to get it shipped across the pond. I don't know yet whether this series will be sold outside the US, but here's hoping. The pictures show the covers for issues #1 and #2.

Krusty Krab Reference Sheet

A Krusty Krab "cheat sheet" drawn by Kenny Pittenger (Spongebob Squarepants background layout supervisor).

Spongebob and NPR

NPR, of course, standing for National Public Radio. Spongebob (and his voice actor, Tom Kenny) have featured on NPR several times. Here are the links to the interviews:

This first one is about Spongebob's 10th anniversary.


A lengthy interview with Tom Kenny from 2004, when the movie came out.


A segment about voice acting.



Finally, NPR's video featuring most of the main cast, which went along with the 10th anniversary interview.

The Spongebob Sensation

The clip is from ABC Nightline. It looks at how the show is written, produced, and features an interview with the voice actors.

Annie Awards Results

Congratulations, Spongebob! He took home both awards that he was nominated for: Best Animated Television Production for Children and Music in a Television Production.

Full list of winners here: Annie Awards

I will link to the videos when they are uploaded later this month.

More Legends Promotions (Plus some exciting news!)

The first four "Legends of Bikini Bottom" radio promotions I posted can be found here:
http://spongeboyahoy.blogspot.com/2011/02/legends-of-bikini-bottom-radio.html
Since then, I have unearthed a couple more.

(Play 98.7)


(97.9X Rocks)

At the end of the second interview, Tom Kenny reveals that a new Spongebob Christmas episode is in the works. It will be based on and named after the Christmas single released in 2009: "Don't Be A Jerk, It's Christmas!"

Spongebob at Madame Tussauds

In honour of his 10th Anniversary, SpongeBob SquarePants was immortalized at the famed Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in New York City, becoming the first cartoon character to receive a statue made entirely out of wax.

This first clip is in German. Here is a basic translation:
A new resident has taken his place in Madame Tussauds Wax Museum - Spongebob Schwammkopf, or, how it's said in the USA, Spongebob Squarepants. The yellow cartoon character celebrates his 10th birthday on Wednesday. Spongebob is the first cartoon character to be immortalized in wax here. Incidentally, "Spongebob" speaks 25 different languages and is not only loved by children. President Obama and Prime Minister Gordon Brown have confessed to regularly watching Spongebob with their children.

Here is some more footage of the event, with another brief Tom Kenny interview.

Spongebob at the Annie Awards

A little bit about what the Annie Awards actually are, taken from their website:
"The highest honor given for excellence in animation. Each year, Annie Award trophies are awarded for the year's best feature film, video, television program, commercial, and animated interactive production; as well as individual achievement by artists, writers and voice talent."
http://www.annieawards.org/

Spongebob Squarepants has been nominated for many Annie Awards in the past. The awards that were actually won, I have highlighted in bold.

• 2001 - Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Female Performer in an Animated Television Production - Mary Jo Catlett as Mrs. Puff in "No Free Rides"

• 2001 - Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Male Performer in an Animated Television Production - Tom Kenny as SpongeBob in "Wormy"

• 2001 - Outstanding Individual Achievement for a Song in an Animated Production - Peter Straus and Paul Tibbitt for the song "The Very First Christmas"

• 2005 - Best Animated Television Production

• 2006 - Best Writing in an Animated Television Production - C.H. Greenblatt, Paul Tibbitt, Mike Bell, and Tim Hill in "Fear of a Krabby Patty"

• 2008 - Best Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production - Tom Kenny in "Spy Buddies"

• 2009 - Direction in an Animated Television Production - Episode: "Penny Foolish"

• 2010 - Best Home Entertainment Production - "Spongebob vs The Big One" DVD

• 2010 - Best Animated Television Production for Children

• 2010 - Best Voice Acting in a Television Production - Tom Kenny in "Spongebob's Truth or Square"

From 2005 to 2009, Tom Kenny was the host for the Annie Awards. In 2010, William Shatner took his place. Now, in 2011, Tom Kenny is set to host the Annie Awards once again. Spongebob is nominated for two awards this year. The ceremony will take place on 5th February.

• 2011 - Best Animated Television Production for Children

• 2011 - Music in a Television Production - Jeremy Wakefield, Sage Guyton, Nick Carr, Tuck Tucker

Last year's Annie Awards can be viewed on Youtube (37th Annie Awards). Tom Kenny collects his award in this video:


If ASIFA-Hollywood upload this year's ceremony to their website, I will create a new post linking to it so you can view it.

Keep your fingers crossed for Spongebob this Saturday!

Behind-the-Scenes: Voice Acting

Behind-the-scenes in the recording studio. Tom Kenny (Spongebob), Bill Fagerbakke (Patrick), Rodger Bumpass (Squidward) and Carolyn Lawrence (Sandy) act out scenes from a few season 1 and 2 episodes:
- Squidward tells Spongebob a scary story (The Graveyard Shift, S2)
- Spongebob and Patrick make fun of Texas (Texas, S1)
- Spongebob doesn't explode into a million pieces (Dying for Pie, S2)

Legends of Bikini Bottom: Radio Promotions

In the days leading up to the premiere of Legends of Bikini Bottom, Tom Kenny (voice of Spongebob Squarepants) appeared on radio shows to promote it. Here are the segments I have been able to find so far.

(Max, Shannon and Porkchop)

(WOC)

(98 Rock Baltimore)

(Jay Thomas Show)
(Mature content warning.)

Video Interviews with Tom Kenny and Bill Fagerbakke

Tom Kenny (Spongebob Squarepants) and Bill Fagerbakke (Patrick Star) talk about The Spongebob Squarepants Movie. (2004)

In a more recent interview, Tom and Bill discuss Spongebob's 10th anniversary. (2009)

Legends of Bikini Bottom

"Legends of Bikini Bottom" is a collection of six episodes that were released on DVD on November 16th 2010, and premiered on Nickelodeon on January 28th 2011. Nickelodeon marketed this anthology of episodes as a "special", but unlike most of the other Spongebob Squarepants specials, the episodes are the standard 11 minutes long, using the "legends" theming to tie them together:
- Trenchbillies (aired on Spongebob's Facebook page a day before the premiere)
- The Main Drain
- Sponge-cano
- The Curse of the Hex
- Welcome to the Bikini Bottom Triangle
- The Monster Who Came to Bikini Bottom

On the Nickelodeon premiere night, the segments were introduced and seperated by short live-action sequences featuring Patchy the Pirate (Tom Kenny), as is usual with Spongebob specials. An example of these sequences, directed by Marcus Wagner, can be seen here:

SpongeBob Packaging from Marcus Wagner on Vimeo.

Amy Sedaris and Ginnifer Goodwin guest starred in segments of this special, as "Ma Angler" (Trenchbillies) and a mermaid (Welcome to the Bikini Bottom Triangle) respectively.

The episode "Trenchbillies" was first shown at Comic Con 2010 during the Spongebob Squarepants panel. (I will go into the world of Spongebob at Comic Con in more depth at some point in the future.)

The DVD release of this special included a behind-the-scenes video, which can be viewed here:

Spongebob Legends of Bikini Bottom: Behind the Scenes Special from Christopher Ransdell on Vimeo.

Square Roots: The Story of Spongebob Squarepants

Square Roots is a documentary that was shown in on VH1 in 2009 as part of Spongebob's 10th anniversary celebrations. It is available as an extra feature in the "First 100 Episodes" box set, and also viewable online on VH1's website:

Square Roots: The Story of SpongeBob SquarePants Full Episode

The documentary talks about Spongebob's humble beginnings, his gradual rise to fame, and the pop culture phenomenon he has become today. It also covers bumps in the road, such as controversy over Spongebob's sexuality. There are interviews with cast members, celebrities and fans, and explanations of how the cartoon is made.

Size Comparison Chart

An early size comparison chart, used to show the relative heights of the main characters.

Concept Character Sketches

Spongebob

"Spongeboy", later known as Spongebob, of course. Note the "C" on his hat; early on, the Krusty Krab was spelled in the generic way - Crusty Crab. I also find it kind of ironic that fans complain about his "huge new cheeks" in the more recent seasons, but his cheeks in this early drawing are bigger than they've ever actually been in the animated show.


Patrick
Patrick is ... Patrick. I wonder why they got rid of his doorbell?

Squidward
Shorter and stockier than he ended up being, but even at this early stage he only had six limbs, despite the fact that he's an octopus. This decision was made to simplify things and make him easier to animate.


Mr Krabs
As mentioned above, note the way his name was originally spelled.



Mermaid Man
Pictured here with "Barnacle Bill", a character that was scrapped and replaced with Barnacle Boy.


And finally, a full cast drawing of the main characters.

"Spongeboy Ahoy!" Storyboards

It's difficult to know how to start a project like this; I have a seemingly neverending backlog of Spongebob "stuff" and I don't want to end up just posting it all at the same time. But I have to start somewhere, and where better to start than the beginning, with the images that gave this blog it's title?

These storyboard panels are from the Spongebob Squarepants pilot episode, "Help Wanted" (1997). Back then, Spongebob was known as Spongeboy, before his name had to be changed for legal reasons ("Spongeboy", it turned out, was already in use).