Sponge Meets World: The Absorbing Tale Behind The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie

Sponge Meets World:The Absorbing Tale Behind The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie is a SpongeBob SquarePants special. It is a cartoon documentary about the development of The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie through the characters, and how it became a huge success.

The Story
It Starts with a news report about the upcoming SpongeBob film.The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie was long planned.[1] Nickelodeon and Paramount Pictures had approached series creator Stephen Hillenburg for a film based on the show, but he refused for more than a year.[2] Hillenburg was concerned, after watching The Iron Giant and Toy Story with his sons, about the challenge of SpongeBob and Patrick doing something more cinematically-consequential and inspiring without losing what he calls the SpongeBob "cadence."[2] He said, on a break from season-four post-production, "To do a 75-minute movie about SpongeBob wanting to make some jellyfish jelly would be a mistake, I think..." This had to be SpongeBob in a great adventure. That's where the comedy's coming from, having these two naïve characters, SpongeBob and Patrick, a doofus and an idiot, on this incredibly dangerous heroic odyssey with all the odds against them.

I never wanted to do a movie because I didn't think that what we wanted to say needed to be in a movie. I like the short form for animation. Then this story idea came up that lent itself to a longer format. You can't do a road trip adventure in a short form. - Stephen Hillenburg

In late 2002, Hillenburg and the show's staff stopped making episodes to work on the film after the show's third season.[3] The film's plot originally had SpongeBob rescue Patrick from a fisherman in Florida.[3] It was obviously a reference to the 2003 film, Finding Nemo. This was later said by Tom Kenny (the voice of SpongeBob) to be a "joke" plot to keep fans busy.[3] Stephen Hillenburg wrote the film with five other writer-animators from the show (Paul Tibbitt, Derek Drymon, Aaron Springer, Kent Osborne and Tim Hill) over a three-month period in a room of a former Glendale, California bank.[2] Osborne said, "It was hugely fun... although it did get kind of gamy in there."[2] At the beginning of the series, Hillenburg screened a number of silent shorts (from Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton) and work by two modern comic actors: Jerry Lewis and Pee-wee Herman, both obvious inspirations for SpongeBob.[4] For the film, the writers created a mythical hero's quest: the search for a stolen crown, which brings SpongeBob and Patrick to the surface.[4] Bill Fagerbakke (the voice of Patrick) said about the plot, "It's just nuts. I'm continually dazzled and delighted with what these guys came up with." When the film was completed Hillenburg wanted to end the series "so the show wouldn't jump the shark"; however, Nickelodeon wanted more episodes.[6] He said, "Well, there was concern when we did the movie [in 2004] that the show had peaked. There were concerns among executives at Nickelodeon."[7][8] Hillenburg resigned as the series' showrunner,[9] appointing Paul Tibbitt (the show's supervising producer, writer, director and storyboard artist) to succeed him.[10] Tibbitt was one of Hillenburg's favorite crew members:[11] "[I] totally trusted him."[12] Tibbitt is still showrunner and an executive producer.[10][13] Hillenburg no longer writes (or runs) the show on a day-to-day basis, but reviews each episode and submits suggestions: "I figure when I'm pretty old I can still paint [...] I don't know about running shows."[9][14] Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke and the crew confirmed that they had completed four episodes for broadcast on Nickelodeon in early 2005,[15][16] and planned to finish a total of 20 episodes for the fourth season.

In September 2003, during production, Hillenburg's mentor when he studied experimental animation at the California Institute of the Arts Jule Engel died. Hillenburg dedicated the film to him: "He truly was the most influential artistic person in my life. I consider him my 'Art Dad'."