A little over ten years ago, British sci-fi sitcom Red Dwarf broadcast new episodes on the UK’s Dave network for the very first time. The episodes composed something of a miniseries – “Back to Earth”, in effect, Series IX. With some careful editing, the series could be transformed into a feature-length film for the cult television show.
The reception was initially askance, and Back to Earth is still a somewhat divisive part of the Red Dwarf canon. However, it was a blockbuster success for the Dave Network and proved that the series still had a substantial amount of staying power twenty years after its debut. To this end, Dave would go on to commission three newer series (X to XII). Many fans consider this stretch of episodes to be quite decent, particularly in comparison with the more controversial Series VII-IX. Certainly not perfect, but they were generally respectable outings nonetheless.
Stephen Hillenburg, the marine biologist whose artistic creation SpongeBob Squarepants became the dominating force in animation for well over a decade (if not still being so today), has succumbed to Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis at the age of 57. Across the internet, there is a simultaneous sense of mourning and gratitude, sadness at the loss of Hillenburg, but gratitude at the sheer impact that he yielded on the cultural scene.
So much will be said over the next day about the impact that Spongebob has yielded over our lives. And I will be getting to that in a bit. But I have to say, Stephen Hillenburg is one of the best examples of how one can combine two seemingly separate passions to create something truly iconic.
After all, it was his lifelong passion with the water that led him to study marine biology. And it was his adult interest in art that led him to go to CalArts and enter the animation industry. Combine that with his work on the surrealistic slice-of-life cartoon Rocko’s Modern Life, and you have the perfect recipe for the show that would become SpongeBob SquarePants.
To this day, I consider those first three seasons of SpongeBob SquarePants to be amongst the most brilliant in animated TV history. Its protagonist was the well-meaning everyman that children, teenagers, and adults could relate to, engaging in beloved hobbies with his somewhat dimwitted best friend, trying to get a rather uptight neighbor to lighten up, befriending a newcomer who can run laps around him physically and intellectually, trying in vain to get his license to drive (much to the chagrin of his exasperated teacher), all while working in a field he loves for a rather parsimonious boss. And those are just our protagonists – the side characters, and even the occasional antagonist (“I WENT TO COLLEGE”), all provided us with an insight into our daily lives in the goofiest yet most brilliant way.
In short, the appeal of SpongeBob was vast. And this translated to the comedy – some of the most perfectly timed laughter that I have seen, to this day. From slapstick, surrealist humor, character comedy, and even occasional forays into intellectual humor, the show managed to create a world of laughs that still managed to feel natural, all in the world of Bikini Bottom that felt so vibrant.
I would argue that, right next to The Simpsons, SpongeBob SquarePants was the most influential animated TV show of the post-Simpsons era. While South Park gave us humor that really broke the standards of good taste (and then managed to send it back around again to make it brilliant) and Avatar and Adventure Time increased the serialization present within, Spongebob gave us the ability to use a wide range of comedy, all to create bright and memorable worlds beyond what we could imagine, all while never really losing that sense of innocence and wonder within. We still see that attitude today in some of the most acclaimed and popular animated shows on television, from Steven Universe, Star vs. The Forces of Evil, and so on.
No matter what your thoughts on the show – whether we think there was a decline and for how long, our opinions on certain characters and which way the show’s tone should go, how many times the network has aired the show, all of it… the impact that SpongeBob SquarePants has had on our lives is hard to measure. There’ve been two movies – even The Simpsons only got one. A Broadway play? A fungus named after the titular character? And twelve seasons – and hey, it seems like, after the more controversial middle seasons, Mr. Hillenburg’s return to the show four years ago gave the show a second wave of critical popularity.
Wow.
All that from a man who managed to chase both of his dreams, and worked to make them a reality. To this end, once diagnosed, he declared that he would work on the show for as long as possible.
Today, I do mourn – such a brilliant life coming to an end too soon. But ultimately, I thank Stephen Hillenburg. I celebrate the impact that he and his creation had not just on my life, but the lives of so many others.
Once upon a time, there was this little show called Gravity Falls. You might have heard of it. It revolved around these two kids, their scammer great-uncle, and their misadventures in the small titular town.
It was only the best damn thing ever to be produced by Disney, it’s quality all but ensuring my fandom from the moment I watched it and (alongside Red Dwarf) all but consuming my mind during the Spring and Summer of 2013. To this day, I consider it amongst my five favorite TV shows, period.
Even with the show’s major following and critical acclaim, I honestly doubted that the fine folks at the Disney Company would authorize a DVD Box Set. I mean, streaming appears to be where it’s at. Besides, Disney has entire sectors of media to take over (even if it did make Ripley a Disney Princess). There is no way that Disney would dedicate resources to a DVD Box Set of a cult TV show. A damn good cult TV show, but a cult TV show. I predicted that a DVD release was out of the question.
Then again, back in April 2017, I predicted that Theresa May would grind the Labour Party into a fine powder during the election later that year.
How can I put this calmly…
Alex Hirsch, you madman! I don’t know what strings were pulled to get this released, and frankly, I don’t give a damn. Continue reading →
The Review Nebula 
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