SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' is an American animated television series, animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It first aired as a sneak peek after the 1999 Kids' C ...

'' is an American

animated television series An animated series, or a cartoon series, is a set of Animation, animated films with a common title, usually related to one another. These episodes typically share the same main heroes, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series ...

created by

marine biologist Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms that inhabit the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology clas ...

Stephen Hillenburg Stephen McDannell Hillenburg (August 21, 1961 – November 26, 2018) was an American animator, writer, producer, director, voice actor, and marine biology educator. Hillenburg was best known for creating the animated television series ''SpongeBo ...

. Since the show's debut in 1999 on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

, numerous

fan theories The canon of a work of fiction is "the body of works taking place in a particular fictional world that are widely considered to be official or authoritative; speciallythose created by the original author or developer of the world". Canon is c ...

, or assumptions about the show and its characters, have been made, with some being regarded as "weird".

Fan theories

Theories about the Krabby Patty secret formula The Krabby Patty is a

veggie burger A veggie burger or meatless burger is a hamburger made with a patty that does not contain meat, or the patty of such a hamburger. The patty may be made from ingredients like beans (especially soybeans and tofu), nut (fruit), nuts, grains, seeds ...

sold by the

Krusty Krab The Krusty Krab is a fictional fast food restaurant in the American animated television series ''SpongeBob SquarePants''. In the television show the restaurant is famous for its signature burger, the Krabby Patty, the formula to which is a clo ...

, a fictional restaurant in ''SpongeBob SquarePants''. Numerous theories have spawned of what the Krabby Patty secret formula is made out of, ranging from completely nothing to

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

. A notable theory about the Krabby Patty secret formula explains that Krabby Patties are made out of

crab meat Crab meat, also known as crab marrow, is the edible meat found in a crab, or more specifically in its legs and claws. It is widely used in global cuisines for its soft, delicate and sweet flavor. Crab meat is low in fat, and provides about o ...

. Support for this theory comes from the

season 3 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

episode " Mid-Life Crustacean", in which

Mr. Krabs Eugene Harold Krabs, better known as simply Mr. Krabs, is a fictional character in Nickelodeon's animated television series ''SpongeBob SquarePants''. He is voiced by actor Clancy Brown and first appeared in the series' pilot episode " Help ...

states, "So that's what I taste like," upon eating a Krabby Patty In 2017, the series's creator

confirmed that the Krabby Patty contained no animal products, thus debunking the crab meat theory. Another theory explains that the Krabby Patty secret formula is made out of "Poseidon Powder", which according to

Urban Dictionary ''Urban Dictionary'' is a crowdsourced English-language online dictionary for slang words and phrases. The website was founded in 1999 by Aaron Peckham. Originally, ''Urban Dictionary'' was intended as a dictionary of slang or cultural word ...

, is

slang A slang is a vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in everyday conversation but avoided in formal writing and speech. It also often refers to the language exclusively used by the members of pa ...

for cocaine.

Theories about the characters of ''SpongeBob SquarePants''

Some notable theories about the main characters of ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' include: *Seven deadly sins theory: A theory explaining that the main characters of ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' are representations of the

Seven deadly sins The seven deadly sins (also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins) function as a grouping of major vices within the teachings of Christianity. In the standard list, the seven deadly sins according to the Catholic Church are pride, greed ...

, such as

Patrick Star Patrick Star is a fictional character in Nickelodeon's animated television series ''SpongeBob SquarePants''. He is voiced by actor Bill Fagerbakke and was created and designed by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg. He first ...

being compatible with

sloth Sloths are a Neotropical realm, Neotropical group of xenarthran mammals constituting the suborder Folivora, including the extant Arboreal locomotion, arboreal tree sloths and extinct terrestrial ground sloths. Noted for their slowness of move ...

, and

being compatible with

greed Greed (or avarice, ) is an insatiable desire for material gain (be it food, money, land, or animate/inanimate possessions) or social value, such as status or power. Nature of greed The initial motivation for (or purpose of) greed and a ...

. *Mental disorder theory: A theory explaining that the main characters of ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' each have and represent a

mental disorder A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness, a mental health condition, or a psychiatric disability, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is ...

, such as

having

ADHD Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and emotional dysregulation that are excessive and pervasive, impairing in multiple ...

and

having Down syndrome. The theory gained virality in early 2023 from a

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

video explaining the theory.

Tom Kenny Thomas James Kenny (born July 13, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He has been voicing SpongeBob SquarePants (character), the titular character in ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' and associated media since its debut in 1999. Kenny has voice ...

, the voice actor for SpongeBob SquarePants, revealed at the 2024 Motor City Comic Con that he considers the character to be

autistic Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing di ...

. Other theories about the characters include

having a

god complex A god complex is an unshakable belief characterized by consistently inflated feelings of personal ability, privilege, or infallibility. The person is also highly dogmatic in their views, meaning the person speaks of their personal opinions as t ...

and

having

antisocial personality disorder Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) is a personality disorder defined by a chronic pattern of behavior that disregards the rights and well-being of others. People with ASPD often exhibit behavior that conflicts with social norms, leading to ...

Theories about Bikini Bottom

* Mutated Bikini Bottom theory: Bikini Bottom is a fictional city in ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' that is set below

Bikini Atoll Bikini Atoll ( or ; Marshallese language, Marshallese: , , ), known as Eschscholtz Atoll between the 19th century and 1946, is a coral reef in the Marshall Islands consisting of 23 islands surrounding a central lagoon. The atoll is at the no ...

. A theory regarding Bikini Bottom explains that

nuclear radiation Ionizing (ionising) radiation, including nuclear radiation, consists of subatomic particles or electromagnetic waves that have enough energy per individual photon or particle to ionize atoms or molecules by detaching electrons from them. Some par ...

from

Operation Crossroads Operation Crossroads was a pair of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946. They were the first nuclear weapon tests since Trinity on July 16, 1945, and the first detonations of nuclear devices sinc ...

mutated the

marine life Marine life, sea life or ocean life is the collective ecological communities that encompass all aquatic animals, aquatic plant, plants, algae, marine fungi, fungi, marine protists, protists, single-celled marine microorganisms, microorganisms ...

of Bikini Bottom. * Skin theory: Popularized by Doug Woolever's

video essay A video essay is an essay presented in the format of a video recording or short film rather than a conventional piece of writing; the form often overlaps with other forms of video entertainment on online platforms such as YouTube. A video essay al ...

in 2019, skin theory is defined by him as "The metatextual analysis of Spongebob Squarepants which recognizes and explores the significance of glaring thematic references to sea creatures who knowingly wear, remove, and exchange various forms of costumes, disguises, and skins in Bikini Bottom."

In popular culture

*A 2011 ''

Robot Chicken ''Robot Chicken'' is an American adult animation, adult stop motion, stop-motion animated sketch comedy television series created by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich for Cartoon Network's nighttime programming block Adult Swim. The twelve-minute ...

'' segment references the Krabby Patty crab meat theory, in which SpongeBob also exposes

food items that are made from various

seafood Seafood is any form of Marine life, sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including Fish as food, fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of Mollusca, molluscs (e.g., bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters, and mussel ...

. *The Bikini Bottom radiation theory was the main topic for a 2021 video published by The Film Theorists.

References

{{improve categories, date=December 2023 SpongeBob SquarePants Television fandom Animation fandom 2020s in American television 2010s in American television