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).