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SpongeBob SquarePants

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This article concerns the show itself; for specific information regarding the show's title character and namesake, see SpongeBob SquarePants (character)
SpongeBob SquarePants
Image:SpongeBobCast.gif
From left to right: SpongeBob SquarePants, Eugene Krabs, Sandy Cheeks, Squidward Tentacles, Patrick Star
Genre Animated sitcom
Running time 22 minutes approx.
Creator(s) Stephen Hillenburg
Starring Tom Kenny
Bill Fagerbakke
Rodger Bumpass
Carolyn Lawrence
Clancy Brown
Lori Alan
Mary Jo Catlett
Doug Lawrence
Dee Bradley Baker
Tim Conway
Ernest Borgnine
Sirena Irwin
Jill Talley
Marion Ross
Country of origin United States
Original network/channel Nickelodeon
Original run May 1, 1999 – Present
No. of episodes 71 aired so far
IMDb profile
SpongeBob SquarePants's ratings
USA United States TV-Y
GBR United Kingdom U
CAN Canada G (formerly C on YTV)
AUS Australia G

SpongeBob SquarePants is a popular American animated television series shown on Nickelodeon, YTV, and Nicktoons Network created by marine biologist and animator, Stephen Hillenburg. It's holdings company is Hillenburg's United Plankton Pictures, which is the studio responsible for SpongeBob. SpongeBob SquarePants is a comedy show set under the Pacific Ocean. The pilot episode first aired in the United States on Nickelodeon after the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards on May Day, May 1, 1999. SpongeBob SquarePants officially aired on July 24, 1999 of the same year with the second episode, "Bubblestand/Ripped Pants." Most episodes take place in the town of Bikini Bottom or the surrounding lagoon floor.

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Popularity

SpongeBob is the first "low budget" Nickelodeon cartoon, according to the network, to become extremely popular. Low-budget cartoons had not garnered as much esteem as higher-rated (and higher-budgeted) shows, such as Rugrats, although when SpongeBob aired in 1999, it had obtained a substantial amount of viewers in the ratings to be considered popular, and has eventually even surpassed Rugrats in popularity, becoming more popular than that show had ever been. SpongeBob follows some other Nickelodeon shows that have attracted "older" followers: The Ren & Stimpy Show, Rocko's Modern Life, the Kablam! skits, Action League Now!, and The Angry Beavers. Other shows have followed in this trend as well: The Fairly OddParents and Invader Zim took a similar role when they aired in 2001, and the former is now second only to SpongeBob in popularity, while the latter has been taken off the channel. SpongeBob is currently the most popular cartoon on television, although it has not always been. The show debuted in 1999, and during that time, Pokémon was still the biggest craze. SpongeBob did not begin his gigantic popularity until 2000, and he has remained popular since then.

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Broad appeal

The cartoon is designed to appeal to children as well as adults. This has a lot to do with the way underwater life and situations are represented, absurdly, and with the situations, references, and words used, which many younger viewers might not understand or get.

Instead of cars, the residents of Bikini Bottom drive boats (with wheels). Once, while out in the wilderness, Patrick questions how they could have a camp fire on the lagoon bottom—the fire is immediately extinguished with a sizzle. A flurry of bubbles accompany many actions, just to remind the viewer everything is underwater. The main character, SpongeBob lives in a pineapple, while his neighbor Squidward lives in an Easter Island head and his other neighbor and best friend, Patrick lives under a rock. Often times, objects from the surface, like fishing hooks, and pencils, appear in episodes. The suggestion is that both the head and the pineapple have fallen from a tropical island to become underwater habitats. SpongeBob's house-pet is a snail named Gary, who meows like a feline (though characters have shown signs of being able to understand him). In relation to this, underwater worms bark (and act) exactly like dogs, and are kept on chains. Jellyfish are the equivalent of bees (buzzing, stinging, and producing delicious "jelly", mocking the name "jellyfish" but still referencing a bee's honey), but jellyfish are collected or appreciated like butterflies. Scallops behave like birds, propelling themselves through the water with their shells and tweeting. In addition to this, instead of peanut butter, SpongeBob SquarePants uses what is called in Bikini Bottom "Sea-Nut Butter". SpongeBob's telephone is shaped like a conch and referred to as a "shell phone". Aside from the many undersea puns, some common products from the surface world have somehow found their way into Bikini Bottom, such as "canned bread", roast beef, and even pizza. SpongeBob works at the Krusty Krab, a restaurant seemingly based on McDonald's or Burger King. SpongeBob is one cartoon in a long line of shows to put in more "adult" references, and has become so popular with adults that it has been shown on MTV and Spike TV. A certain quote by Patrick ("It's gonna rock!") has been used as a promo for rock stations. Ren and Stimpy, among others, had followed a similar path. The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, released on November 19, 2004, features a cameo appearance by actor David Hasselhoff, reprising his role from the Baywatch TV series. Part of the show's appeal has to do with the childlike nature of SpongeBob and his best friend, Patrick, both of whom are idiots and display an innocence typical of human children. However, the characters are not immune from more adult avocations, including rock musicianship in a stadium performance reminiscent of a hard rock concert. When naming reasons why many fans believe Nickelodeon has gone downhill in recent years, SpongeBob is often listed as an exception. Its appeal to older audiences, as mentioned earlier, can be attributed to the show's crazy but witty and at times even sophisticated humor. The show also, unlike many current Nickelodeon cartoons, is not "mainstream" or "cliche". While many newer cartoons revolve around pre-adolescents with strange lives and feature massive amounts of pop-culture references (eg. Fairly Oddparents), SpongeBob chooses to go for a more teen/adult friendly formula that was used in highly successful older Nick cartoons such as Ren and Stimpy and Rocko's Modern Life, non-human young adults in crazy, unrealistic situations, with minimal pop culture references. Unlike its mainstream-culture-promoting network, SpongeBob features many semi-obscure musicians who contribute to its soundtrack. Non-mainstream alternative rock bands such as Wilco, The Shins, The Flaming Lips and perhaps most notably Ween (who have contributed two original songs to the show and their 1997 classic "Ocean Man" to the movie soundtrack), as well as metal bands Pantera, Motörhead, and Twisted Sister have made appearances on the show and movies soundtracks, and classic thrash metal group Metallica even released a T-shirt featuring cartoon versions of them playing live with SpongeBob and Patrick.

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Merchandising and marketing

Merchandise based on the show ranges from Kraft Macaroni & Cheese and Kraft SuperMac & Cheese, Kellogg's cereal, and video games to boxer shorts, thongs, pajamas, and t-shirts. A line of SpongeBob Squarepants whisks was even produced. The show also spawned a large and popular merchandise line at Hot Topic, Claire's, RadioShack, Target, Wal-Mart, and Toys "R" Us stores. There have been kids meal tie-ins at Wendy's for SpongeBob's House Party Special in 2002 and at Burger King restaurants in 2001, 2003, and for the movie in 2004. In 2004, thieves stole nine-foot-high by nine-foot-wide SpongeBob inflatables from the Burger King restaurant franchises, demanding Krabby Patties as ransom. The ransom note was signed by someone in Minneapolis, Minnesota claiming to be Sheldon J. Plankton, a character from the show. In 2006, another kids meal tie-in for Burger King was introduced for the Lost in Time special. SpongeBob was also featured on VH1's I Love the 90s: Part Deux: 1999 as part of a commentary by Michael Ian Black. More recently, a tie-in beverage for 7-Eleven convenience stores has been created, a pineapple-flavored Slurpee. Events in the past with the SpongeBob SquarePants theme include an exhibit at Underwater Adventures Aquarium in the Mall of America called SeaCrits of Bikini Bottom during the summer of 2003. In October 2004, a NASCAR Busch Series race was named The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie 300, presented by Lowe's and broadcast on TNT featuring Jimmie Johnson's #48 Lowe's stock car and Kyle Busch's #5 stock car painted for the race with the SpongeBob Movie paint schemes. There were contests tied in with the movie where fans could win SpongeBob-related items or a trip to the Cayman Islands. The motion simulator/interactive movie ride "Escape from Dino-Island 3D" at Six Flags Over Texas was turned into "SpongeBob SquarePants 4-D", with water squirts, real bubbles, and other sensory enhancements. LEGO received license to produce SpongeBob SquarePants building sets, beginning to sell them in May 2006. Other items featuring SpongeBob include a special edition Monopoly board game and Life board game as well as a SpongeBob SquarePants edition of Ants in the Pants and Yahtzee. SEGA Corporation introduced a ticket redemption game based on the show that has become popular with most video arcades. [1]

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History

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Origin (1993–1999)

* SpongeBob: "Hello. I'm SpongeBob SquarePants."* Sandy: "Howdy, SpongeBob. I'm Sandy Cheeks."
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* SpongeBob: "Hello. I'm SpongeBob SquarePants."
* Sandy: "Howdy, SpongeBob. I'm Sandy Cheeks."

SpongeBob's history can be traced back to 1993 when Rocko's Modern Life first aired. One of the producers was Stephen Hillenburg, a cartoon worker/marine biologist who loved both his careers. When Rocko's Modern Life was cancelled in 1996, Hillenburg began working on SpongeBob (although some sketches trace back to 1986). He teamed up with creative director Derek Drymon, who had worked on shows such as Doug, Action League Now!, and Hey Arnold!. Drymon had worked with Hillenburg on Rocko's Modern Life as well, as did many SpongeBob crew members, including writer Tim Hill and voice actors Tom Kenny and Doug Lawrence. Another crew member with previous Nickelodeon cartoon experience was former Angry Beavers story editor Merriwether Williams, who worked on that show for its first few seasons and switched to SpongeBob in July 1999.

During production of the show, Hillenburg provided a concept of short comics with the same style of the show, but the characters looked different. SpongeBob used to be named SpongeBoy, and used to wear a red hat with a green base and a white business shirt with a tie. The name "SpongeBoy" did not make it into the show since the name was already officially trademarked by Bob Burden, creator of Flaming Carrot. Hillenburg later chose the alternative name "SpongeBob." The original name was once referenced in the show by Mr. Krabs' line, "SpongeBoy, me Bob!." The Krusty Krab was originally spelled with the letter C rather than K, but Stephen Hillenburg thought K's were funnier.

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Rise to popularity (1999–2000)

* SpongeBob blowing sand off of Squidward
* SpongeBob blowing sand off of Squidward
* Squidward: "Where am I?" (SB-129)
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* Squidward: "Where am I?" (SB-129)

On May 1, 1999, SpongeBob aired its first episode, "Help Wanted/Reef Blower/Tea at the Treedome", after the 1999 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. At this time, Rugrats was at the height of its popularity and had already outlived dozens of other lower-budget cartoons. SpongeBob, with its generally lower-class animation and humor style more rooted in clever word-play and culture-references unlike the potty humor that made Rugrats so popular, was expected to be just another one of those shows. Following early struggles, its ratings soared, and a year after release, it surpassed Rugrats as Nickelodeon's highest rated show. SpongeBob's signature voice (provided by Tom Kenny) and humorous style was enjoyable to both younger and older audiences.

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Peak years (2000–2003)

* Squidward conducting the Bikini Bottom Super Band in what is widely considered to be SpongeBob's best episode, Band Geeks Music Video (2001)
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* Squidward conducting the Bikini Bottom Super Band in what is widely considered to be SpongeBob's best episode, Band Geeks Music Video (2001)

The show began its second season in 2000 with more high-quality animation and even more popular episodes. By then it was clear to the world that SpongeBob had opened the door to many other cartoons to use more "adult" senses of humor and come from smaller companies. In 2001, The Fairly OddParents aired from the then-small Frederator company. It focused on a sense of humor similar to SpongeBob’s, only more realistic, slightly crazier (and more suggestive to "adult" topics), and with more pop culture references; this show managed to become a hit as well and currently ranks behind SpongeBob as Nick's second most popular show. That same year, Invader Zim aired, created by comic book writer Jhonen Vasquez; it had a dark but silly sense of humor (similar to Vasquez's other comic books) that managed to attract a very loyal cult following consisting more of teens and adults than young children (though also containing a moderate amount of preteens). SpongeBob, however, was the leader of all these shows and had by this time started its now famous merchandise line.

2002 also saw a bright side, as the first part of that year saw SpongeBob at its peak. The beginning of the third season produced many classic episodes and focused on the same style and animation concepts. The year also saw another low-budget show with popularity (The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius), but things changed late in the year. Due to rumors of a movie, there was high speculation that the show would be cancelled and that 2003/2004 would feature the last season of new episodes. Fans were devastated and online petitions were widely distributed to convince Nickelodeon to produce more episodes by showing continuing fan support. SpongeBob Meets The Strangler/Pranks A Lot" was the last episode of this season, and aired in October of 2004. Following this, the movie was released in November of that year.

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Hiatus/Movie Era (2003–2005)

2003 to 2004 was arguably the worst time period that SpongeBob has ever faced. Constant re-runs caused some long time fans to fall out, and around this time the show saw its lowest ever ratings, many fans feared they would never air. As The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie achieved only over $85,000,000 in revenue in the United States, it has been assumed that the show's popularity showed something of a decline at the time of its release. The Rugrats Movie, on the other hand, earned over $100,000,000 in the United States. (It was around this time that the animated series which it is based on, Rugrats, was at the height of its popularity. Ironically, that movie would also be considered Rugrats' jump the shark moment by many fans, while the SpongeBob movie was actually generally well received by fans who saw it.)

Finally and to the relief of many fans, it was announced late in 2004 that SpongeBob would be continuing with a new season due in 2005. Hillenburg, despite many rumors, did not actually leave the show but has resigned from his position as the shows executive producer (this job now belongs to Derek Drymon, with Paul Tibbitt taking over Drymons job as creative director).

See Controversy for more information.

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Big comeback (2005–present)

TV advertisements for SpongeBob's fourth season first aired publicly during the 2005 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. The new episodes began airing on May 6, 2005.

The first new episode of Season 4, "Fear Of A Krabby Patty/Shell Of A Man", was a huge hit with many fans who had long been bored with the show and many more faithful ones who have been waiting for new episodes for years. Some fans, however, did not appreciate Spongebob's voice change (his voice was now much higher-pitched) and absence of non-animated scenes. Some feel the show has changed from its usual complex and at times meaningful plot lines to silly, almost Simpsons esque plots. Despite this, many fans do enjoy the new season and some see this change as reflective of the quick work the SB team had to do when they were ordered to make new episodes (they were rushed).

After airing four new episodes on Fridays from May 6 to May 20, Nickelodeon did not premiere any new SpongeBob episodes until September 2005.

For the first time in SpongeBob's run, Nickelodeon began airing 11-minute segments of new episodes separately, spread over two weeks. This practice began with the airing of the episode "Selling Out" on September 23; its companion episode, "Funny Pants," premiered the following week on September 30 (Nickelodeon did air "Selling Out" and "Funny Pants" together as a rerun on October 9, 2005). Many fans are outraged, but it should be noted that the change in format is at Nickelodeon's insistence, rather than the SpongeBob creators.

At Nick.com, it was announced that episodes such as "Krusty Towers", "Mrs. Puff, You're Fired", "Ghost Host", "Once Bitten", "Karate Island" and All That Glitters" would air starting in April 2006.

The Star Online eCentral reports that Nickelodeon has ordered 20 more episodes of SpongeBob Squarepants, bringing the show’s total amount of episodes to 100. The episodes are projected to have finished airing sometime in 2007. Regarding the new order of SpongeBob cartoons, Cyma Zarghami, Nickelodeon’s chief executive, responded, “It just doesn’t feel like we should stop yet.” This is quite relevant, as recently the show has seen some of it's highest ratings since its peak years in the early 2000s and, in addition, has returned, for the most part, with positive reception.

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Characters

Main article: List of SpongeBob SquarePants characters
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Voice actors and their characters

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Guest Voices or Bodies

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Singing Voices

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Controversy

Despite the show's popularity, SpongeBob has had to endure much controversy. This is not new for Nickelodeon. Many of its cartoons, including Ren & Stimpy, Rocko's Modern Life, The Angry Beavers, Invader Zim, and The Fairly OddParents, have sparked controversy in one way or another. However, SpongeBob's popularity has made the controversy surrounding it more noticeable and of a larger scale.

Notably, SpongeBob's somewhat feminine characteristics and his close friendship with Patrick led some viewers to the conclusion that he was a gay icon. Around the beginning of the third season, SpongeBob and Patrick were frequently depicted holding hands. In the 2002 episode "Rock-a-Bye Bivalve", SpongeBob and Patrick adopt a baby scallop, furthering the rumours because of the implications that the two made major life decisions together, as a couple would. This episode was never aired in Russia, Japan, France, Poland, Romania and Italy because it was thought to show a homosexual-like couple.

In four episodes, SpongeBob is portrayed for brief moments in women's clothing, although it should be noted that other cartoon characters, including classics such as Bugs Bunny have done the same if the gag calls for it. SpongeBob also is shown to be jealous of stronger male characters, indicating that SpongeBob actually longs to be the stereotypical "tough guy", but always fails, which is a very valid argument against the controversy. In many episodes, it's clearly shown that SpongeBob wishes he was more like Larry the Lobster, and is even envious when Larry is with Sandy.

In January 2005, James Dobson reportedly accused SpongeBob Squarepants of spreading a homosexual agenda. The character was featured in a pro-tolerance "We Are Family" commercial, along with many other cartoon characters. The video has sparked controversy because some religious groups, including Dobson's Family Research Council, believe that the We Are Family Foundation was using it to promote the normalization of homosexuality in American schools. [2].

Stephen Hillenburg announced publicly that SpongeBob is not gay, and is in fact, asexual, as he is a sponge (actually, sponges are able to reproduce sexually or asexually). In support of this statement, in early episodes it is revealed that SpongeBob reproduces by budding. However, some fans argue that SpongeBob has a human-like sexual identity. Patrick was strangely enough shown for a brief 5 seconds with long legs and women's high heels in the end of the SpongeBob movie, which didn't even add to the corresponding message of the song in the background, stating that it's okay to be a kid.

Also, the Spongebob movie was considered to the Vatican of Rome as a movie to promote a Sodomy lifestyle and to insult the religion, but, the Catholic Church later considered that as a false claim.

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Main crew

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Awards

The following list shows the awards the show has won:

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Episodes, movies, shorts, spin-offs, and parodies

Episodes:

Main article: List of SpongeBob SquarePants episodes

Movies:

Shorts:

Spin-offs:

  • Astrology With Squidward is a spin-off short from SpongeBob SquarePants. It features the character Squidward explaining astrological stereotypes, through characters on the show. Featured characters have included:
    • Patrick: Taurus (stereotype: thick-headed)
    • SpongeBob: Sagittarius (stereotype: overly enthusiastic, optimistic, and foolish)
    • Plankton: Leo (stereotype: diabolical and plotting, among others)
    • Squidward: Scorpio (on the Tropical zodiac) or Libra (stereotype: likes the finer things in life, taking it easy, wants to do no work (on the Sidereal zodiac))
    • Mr. Krabs: Cancer (because he is a crab)
    • Two Fish: Gemini
    • Pearl: Virgo

Parodies:

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SpongeBob SquarePants in popular culture

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Airings

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Trivia

  • Painty the Pirate Painting, who sings the SpongeBob SquarePants theme song, uses a chroma key for the moving lips. The lips are actually those of Stephen Hillenburg, and the voice is of Patrick Pinney.
    • If one looks closely, Patchy The Pirate appears to be lip-synching.
  • According to the insider book SpongeBob Exposed, the creator of the show,Steve Hillenburg, said that the policy of his show is to not do jokes about or reference pop culture and current events; the show's characters are isolated from the real world. He wants his cartoon to be a timeless classic. Hillenburg has said that he intends to pass that concept over to the new people in charge of the show. Although the show occasionally does make reference to pop-culture, the examples are never specific, except when Sandy Cheeks refers to her real-world place of origin, Texas.
  • The SpongeBob SquarePants theme song has a lot of history to it: The theme song, primarily based on the sea shanty, "Blow the Man Down", is the principal song used in the series. It is sung by Painty the Pirate Painting, voiced by Pat Pinney, and can be found on the soundtrack, SpongeBob SquarePants: Original Theme Highlights. This songis popularly misattributed to "Weird Al" Yankovic. A cover of the song by Avril Lavigne can be found on The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (soundtrack). A choral version was recorded for the SpongeBob Christmas special where the last words, "SquarePants", were replaced by "Christmas special".
  • The show uses words and phrases which are used similarly to real-life expletives, such as "barnacles" and "tartar sauce".
  • The 5 International maritime signal flags on the roof of the Krusty Krab spell out R, I, [nonexisting flag] U, K.
  • Nickelodeon refused to air "Rock-a-Bye Bivalve" in the Philippines, India, and Italy because some feel that the episode references homosexuality. Though due to piracy, it was shown in the banned countries via pirated DVDs of various SpongeBob episodes.
  • Almost every episode has a non-animated sequence.
  • In the French version of the theme song video, the instances of the text reading "SpongeBob Squarepants" is changed in some way. When the bubbles reading SpongeBob Squarepants appear, that is changed to a single bubble resembling SpongeBob. When the 4 banners come together to form the words SpongeBob Squarepants, a large outstretched Spongebob, ala Hooky appears. And when SpongeBob and his pants bounce on the words SpongeBob Squarepants, the words are changed to rocks and the backgrounds are changed to an outdoor background.
  • The 4th wall has been broken a few times in this series. It is usually broken seeing a TV showing this series.
  • Even though the show is based underwater, the characters can only swim in goo, in Goo Lagoon and in swimming pools. Also, some episodes have featured fires. In "Life of Crime", however, Patrick questions that how can there be a fire if they are under water. The fire then goes out.
  • Nicktoons Network aired a St. Patrick's Marathon (on March 19, 2006) in honor of St. Patrick's Day. The sponsor for the marathon was Patrick Star, because of his namesake.
  • A Dutch production company called Boom Chicago made a parody of the show being aired in China. It opens with Chairman Mao in place of the pirate, and has SpongeBob sporting a bowl haircut and slanted eyes. The main premise of the 2 minute, 15 second video is going to work, which Patrick doesn't want to do, and his actions get him into trouble with the Chinese army. [4]
  • The show is referenced in other Nicktoons. In the The Fairly OddParents episode, "Wish Fixers", Timmy wishes to be CheeseBoy SquarePants. In other Nicktoons, the show is also referenced somehow.
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See also

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External links

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