I’m A Goofy Goober: The SpongeBob (Birthday) Post💛

Oh, I'm a goofy goober, yeah!

You're a goofy goober, yeah!

We’re all goofy goobers, yeah!

Goofy, goofy, goober, goober, YEAH!

I'm a goofy goober, yeah!

You're a goofy goober, yeah!

We're all goofy goobers, yeah!

Goofy, goofy, goober, goober, YEAH!

Today I, Ethan Stranger, would like to announce that we’ve entered the month of my Birthday, so starting now, to shake things up, y’all be seeing some more “Non-Asperger Related Blog Posts” for a while. So to kick things off, I’ll be discussing with y’all (nearly) everybody’s favorite undersea Nicktoons Star, “SpongeBob SquarePants”. For those who recall from my “Bullies Club: No More Blog Post”, I mentioned that I was a big fan of SpongeBob (clearly the old episodes), for I would cite the series and it’s characters any chance I could (SpongeBob played an important part of my childhood as it became a refuge from a reality that I didn't quite understand at the time). I began coming out as a “class clown” and with that, I (unexpectedly) made several friends (for I just moved from my birth hometown of Juneau to the Texan Neighborhood of Cedar Park). With this, I found out that comedy could be a great ally when creating new relationships with others & that SpongeBob & the gang were great allies to me throughout my Elementary Years, but nothing lasts forever, so without further ado, allow me to explain the deep impact SpongeBob had on my childhood & the best times we had… before I stopped watching the series.

To start, SpongeBob aired on Nickelodeon in 1999 (3 years after I was born) & was created by the late great Stephen Hillenburg (who started off as a Marine Biologist) until diving into the world of animation, by combining these two ideas (Animation + Marine Biology) you get “An anthropomorphic Sponge who lived in a pineapple under the sea”.  Like I said already, SpongeBob played a major role in my childhood as it gave me some social tools that I really needed. Unfortunately at the time, all of the adults around me didn't quite enjoy SpongeBob because it appeared to be just a silly TV Show (I know that this also happened to many people about my age at that time). Thankfully, even though my parents weren’t fans of the show, they were open to seeing what it was about and, in the end, allowed me to watch and enjoy the show.

I recall that in 2004, The 1st SpongeBob Movie came out, I remember my Mom & Aunt reluctantly took me & my cousins to go see it & I thought it was great (especially since the tone was more adventurous compared to the actual series). What I didn’t know is that Creator Stephen Hillenburg wanted to end the series right after the movie, but due to SpongeBob's overwhelming popularity, Nickelodeon wanted to continue the series (even without the Creator’s involvement, that’s like sailing without a map then crashing to your doom). So a year later, new episodes of SpongeBob were released on Nickelodeon, but Stephen Hillenburg had already “Jumped the Shark”, while I didn’t mind these new episodes, for they somewhat had the same humor formula as the original, I was watching other shows on Nickelodeon (including the newly released/highly acclaimed “Avatar: The Last Airbender, but that’s another story”). However, somewhere along the line (towards the end of my Elementary Years ), I slowly began to watch SpongeBob less often as I was watching other stuff on TV (as well as preparing for my middle school years). Sometime around my middle years, I stopped watching SpongeBob altogether, because like I said, they’re better things on TV to watch & was busy with Middle School (though I would watch it a few times here & there), however, every new episode that came out just wasn’t as good as the original, for the new episodes were always “generic rehashing old material” from old episodes, but not in a good way (similar to what you see on Family Guy & The Simpsons these days), the old episodes had a moral to the story & understandable humor while the new episodes had a tone that was all over the place & there was no moral whatsoever. I feel like Nickelodeon continues milking the series for all it's worth. It’s overstayed its welcome (it’s just like what they’re doing to “The Loud House but that’s another story, which I highly doubt I'll like to discuss in blog form...)

In February 2015, I took my cousin to see the long-awaited SpongeBob Sequel, “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge out of Water” (though it felt more like a “Stand-Alone Movie than an actual sequel”), still, I enjoyed it, I felt like it returned some of the old SpongeBob humor back to the main character & friends. 

However, in November of 2018, tragedy stuck for SpongeBob & Friends when their beloved creator, “Stephen Hillenburg (who had returned to continue working on the series)” died due to being diagnosed Lou Gehrig's disease, which was truly heartbreaking (for also on that same month, we lost another legend, Stan Lee, NNNNNOOOOO!!!).

It’s such a shame that, even if one of my goals is working for Nickelodeon Animation Studios in the future, I’ll never meet (or shake hands  or even talk) to the guy who really made each day of my childhood “The Best Day Ever” (even if I stopped watching the series, I was really big fan of the Old Episodes, for it’s humor & how there was a moral to the story & you learn a thing or two towards the end of the episode). Now, in the present, I do plan on watching the 3rd SpongeBob Movie, Sponge on the Run (Seen only clips, looks alright, has a lot of the old SpongeBob humor), though not a big fan of the spin-off series, Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years, for it’s set to Set before the events of the television series, SpongeBob goes on a trip to Kamp Koral and meets some “new friends (by new friends, I mean from the original series)”, in my opinion that's so wrong, for that’s like punishing the audience for paying attention, for in the 1st episode of the original series, we learn how SpongeBob met Mr. Krabs & Sandy, yet Kamp Koral will revealed that SpongeBob met Mr. Krabs & Sandy at Kamp Koral & have “Ms. Puff as a Camp Counselor"? If I were working at Nickelodeon right now, I would’ve created a “Nicktoons-styled Crisis on Infinite Earths event” & have this show erased from Nicktoons Continuity (but that’s another story).

To end this, whether you (or your parents) are SpongeBob fans or not or you stopped watching the series completely, and to all those who are SpongeBob fans, think back to the old episodes (even the 1st movie), and recall that they had great humor & good everyday lessons to learn, even if you’re a goofball, you still can accomplish many things (like SpongeBob & Patrick did when they made it to Shell City in search for Neptune’s crown). Well Goofy Goober Fans, Ethan Stranger signs off & would like to point out a B-Day picture of mine (Center, Below) (I got my cousin to bake me a SpongeBob cake for my 12th B-Day (Back in 2008) & she really did a fine job, the only thing missing was Stephen Hillenburg, do you think he would’ve liked it if he were invited to my B-Day, plus, what his opinion about that “Kamp Koral” spin-off?).

What’s another Nicktoons show I can break down for future blog posts (trust me, I grew up with almost all of them & maybe discuss my Nicktoons Fan-Fiction in the Future), Let me know down in the Comment Section (and be prepared for my B-Day Surprise announcement)…