We’re ready, we’re ready, we’re ready for the newest SpongeBob Halloween special, now resurrected in stop-motion animation!
Fans filled the room to the gills at San Diego Comic-Con 2017 for Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants: The Legend of Boo-kini Bottom panel on Saturday, July 22. During the panel, series’ notable voice actors Tom Kenny (SpongeBob), Bill Fagerbakke (Patrick), Rodger Bumpass (Squidward), Carolyn Lawrence (Sandy) Clancy Brown (Mr. Krabs) and surprise guest Brian Doyle Murray (Flying Dutchman) brought back our childhoods by performing a live table read of a fan-picked classic episode, “Shanghaied.” (For those of you like myself who grew up watching the show, this was the one where SpongeBob and Patrick help the Flying Dutchman terrorize Bikini Bottom.)
Not the perfume department!!
Moderated by Claudia Spinelli (Executive in Charge, SpongeBob SquarePants, Nickelodeon), this first look at the episode was presented by Nickelodeon’s Vincent Waller (co-executive producer), Marc Ceccarelli (co-executive producer), Mr. Lawrence (story editor, voice of Plankton) and Screen Novelties’ Chris Finnegan, Seamus Walsh, and Mark Caballero.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjVrNm0NgDg[/embedyt]
The panel’s sneak peeks included The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom trailer and clip, highlighting the upcoming stop-motion special and a first look at Boo-Kini Bottom’s spookiest citizen, the Flying Dutchman, in stop-motion.
The episode is set to premiere in October 2017. I can already feel the nostalgia from the very first SpongeBob Halloween special coming on…
Are you feeling it now, Mr. Krabs?
This newest special is being produced at Screen Novelties, a Los Angeles-based stop-motion animation production company, where miniature puppets and sets bring Bikini Bottom to life in three dimensions. The production features 27 unique sets, across five stages, where 15 boxes of breakfast cereal (not KELPO) were used to create texture on Bikini Bottom’s coral reefs; eight pounds of glitter were used to decorate SpongeBob’s Halloween pineapple house; hundreds of popsicle sticks created the planks of the rollercoaster track that Patrick and SpongeBob ride; and “black lights” were used to create a fluorescent glow across the puppets and sets.
(From L-R) Mr. Krabs, Flying Dutchman, Plankton, Squidward, Sandy, SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick in Nickelodeon’s stop-motion special, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom. Credit: Screen Novelties/Nickelodeon© 2017 Viacom International, Inc. All Rights
Ceccarelli and Waller are the supervising producers on SpongeBob SquarePants. The special was written by Mr. Lawrence, with Brian Morante serving as the storyboard director, directed by Mark Caballero and Seamus Walsh, and produced by Chris Finnegan of Screen Novelties.
Don’t go overboard if you didn’t attend Comic-Con–viewers can visit the SpongeBob SquarePants page on Nick.com, the Nick App and the Facebook page, along with the SpongeBob Facebook page and SpongeBob Instagram, to get an exclusive look at the series. Episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants are available on Nick.com and the Nick App, along with platforms including iTunes, Amazon Video, Google Play, Vudu, and Nick On Demand.
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SpongeBob SquarePants is voiced by Tom Kenny as SpongeBob SquarePants, an incurably optimistic sea sponge who lives in a pineapple under the sea; Bill Fagerbakke as Patrick Star, SpongeBob’s silly best friend; Roger Bumpass as Squidward, an aloof cashier of The Krusty Krab and SpongeBob’s neighbor; Clancy Brown as Mr. Krabs, SpongeBob’s boss and greedy owner of The Krusty Krab; Carolyn Lawrence as Sandy Cheeks, Bikini Bottom’s only resident rodent aquanaut and scientist; and Mr. Lawrence as Plankton, owner of the Chum Bucket and chief rival of Mr. Krabs.
SpongeBob SquarePants, who has dominated Nickelodeon since 1999 and whose humor is engrained in this current generation, is executive produced by creator Stephen Hillenburg, who previously worked as a writer, director and creative director on Nickelodeon’s animated series Rocko’s Modern Life. Hillenburg graduated from the California Institute of the Arts with a master’s degree in experimental animation and studied marine biology and art as an undergraduate. Hillenburg created and executive produced his first feature film, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, which debuted Nov. 19, 2004 and his second theatrical, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, hit theaters Feb. 6, 2015. The series is produced at Nickelodeon in Burbank.
