The fifth season of the American animated television series ''

SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' (or simply ''SpongeBob'') is an American animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It chronicles the adventures of the title character a ...

'', created by former

marine biologist Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many scientific classification, phyla, family (biology), families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others th ...

and animator Stephen Hillenburg, aired on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

from February 19, 2007, to July 19, 2009, and contained 20 half-hour episodes. The series chronicles the exploits and adventures of the

title character The title character in a narrative work is one who is named or referred to in the title of the work. In a performed work such as a play or film, the performer who plays the title character is said to have the title role of the piece. The title of ...

and his various friends in the fictional underwater city of Bikini Bottom. The season was executive produced by series creator Hillenburg and writer Paul Tibbitt, who also acted as the

showrunner A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also th ...

. The season received high acclaim from media critics and fans. The show itself received several recognition, including the

Kids' Choice Awards The Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards (also known as the KCAs or Kids' Choice) is an annual American children's awards ceremony show that is produced by Nickelodeon. Usually held on a Saturday night in late March or early April, the show honors ...

for Favorite Cartoon in 2007. At the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards, the episodes "The Inmates of Summer" and "The Two Faces of Squidward" were nominated for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour), but lost to ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...

'' episode "

Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind" is the ninth episode of the nineteenth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 16, 2007. The episode averaged 1 ...

". The show won the 2007

BAFTA Children's Awards The British Academy Children's Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). They have been awarded annually since 1996, before which time they were a part of the main British Acad ...

for the International category. Tom Kenny was nominated at the

35th Annie Awards The 35th Annual Annie Awards, honoring the best in animation for 2007, was held on February 8, 2008, at UCLA's Royce Hall. This was the first change of venue for the awards in nine years, being held at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, California, si ...

for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production for his role as SpongeBob SquarePants in the episode "Spy Buddies". Several compilation DVDs that contained episodes from the season were released. The ''SpongeBob SquarePants: Season 5, Volume 1 and 2'' DVDs were released in Region 1 on September 4, 2007, and November 18, 2008, respectively, while the complete season set was released in Region 2 on November 3, 2008, and Region 4 on November 7, 2008. The first volume was released before the episode "Fungus Among Us" aired in the United States; the second volume was released before the episode "Goo Goo Gas" aired. On November 13, 2012, ''The Complete Fifth Season'' DVD was released in Region 1.

Production

The season aired on

, which is owned by

Viacom Viacom, an abbreviation of Video and Audio Communications, may refer to: * Viacom (1952–2006), a former American media conglomerate * Viacom (2005–2019), a former company spun off from the original Viacom * Viacom18, a joint venture between Par ...

, and was produced by United Plankton Pictures and Nickelodeon Animation Studio. The season's executive producers were series creator Stephen Hillenburg and Paul Tibbitt, who also acted as the series'

. While most episodes consisted of two shorts that were about eleven minutes long or specials that lasted the whole episode, certain episodes were made of one full eleven-minute episode, and two shorts, one of which was seven minutes long and the other only four minutes long. The animation was handled overseas in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

at Rough Draft Studios. Throughout the series run, from 1999 to 2008, ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' was drawn and animated using pencils. In 2008, the crew shifted and used Wacom Cintiqs for the drawings, instead of pencils. The episode "

Pest of the West "Pest of the West" is the 16th episode of the fifth season and the 96th overall episode of the American animated television series ''SpongeBob SquarePants''. In this episode, SpongeBob finds that he is a distant relative of SpongeBuck SquarePan ...

" was the first episode in the series that the crew used it. Series background designer Kenny Pittenger said that "the only real difference between the way we draw now and the way we drew then is that we abandoned pencil and paper during the fifth season." The crew began the shift while they were working on the episode. Pittenger said that "it was while we were working on 'Pest of the West', one of the half-hour specials, that we made the switch... did you notice?" The shift to Wacom Cintiqs let the designers and animators draw on computer screen and make immediate changes or undo mistakes. Pittenger said "Many neo-Luddites—er... I mean, many of my cohorts—don't like working on them, but I find them useful. There's no substitute for the immediacy of drawing on a piece of paper, of course, but digital nautical nonsense is still pretty fun." Animation directors credited with episodes in the fifth season included

Larry Leichliter Lawrence "Larry" Leichliter is an American animator and director who began his work in animation in 1975 with the made-for-TV ''Peanuts'' special ''You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown''. Throughout his career, he has worked on ''Peanuts'' animate ...

Andrew Overtoom John Andrew Overtoom is an American animation director, writer, photographer, and cinematographer. Recent credits include Nickelodeon’s ''The Patrick Star Show'' as well as the animated feature film '' The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run' ...

, Alan Smart, and Tom Yasumi. Episodes were written by a team of writers, which consisted of

Casey Alexander Casey Alexander (born June 8, 1972) is the head coach of the men's basketball team at Belmont University. He previously served as head coach at Stetson University and Lipscomb University. Playing career Alexander played college basketball at Bel ...

Steven Banks Steven Craig Banks (born November 27, 1954) is an American actor, musician, comedian, and writer of television, plays, books and cartoons, including ''CatDog'', ''Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi'', and ''SpongeBob SquarePants''. Performing In 1987, Banks ...

, Charlie Bean, Luke Brookshier,

Nate Cash Nathan Shawn "Nate" Cash (born March 31, 1976) is an American writer, artist and director. He was born in Utah, and his most well-known works are ''SpongeBob SquarePants'', ''Adventure Time'', and ''Over the Garden Wall''. In addition to that, ...

, Zeus Cervas, Tim Hill, Tom King, Dani Michaeli, Greg Miller, Chris Mitchell, Mike Mitchell, Richard Pursel,

Chris Reccardi Christopher Joseph Reccardi (November 24, 1964 - May 2, 2019) was an American animator, cartoon director, writer, storyboard artist, character designer, graphic designer, musician, and producer. He worked on numerous animated television series, i ...

, Eric Shaw, Aaron Springer, and

Tuck Tucker William Osborne "Tuck" Tucker III (August 20, 1961 – December 22, 2020) was an American writer, storyboard artist, animator, songwriter, and director who worked on ''Hey Arnold!'' and ''SpongeBob SquarePants''. Early life and education Tucker ...

. The season was

storyboard A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding process, i ...

ed by Alexander, Bean, Brookshier, Cash, Cervas, King, Miller, Chris Mitchell, Mike Mitchell, Reccardi, Springer, and Tucker.

Cast

The fifth season featured Tom Kenny as the voice of the title character

and his pet snail Gary. SpongeBob's best friend, a

starfish Starfish or sea stars are star-shaped echinoderms belonging to the class Asteroidea (). Common usage frequently finds these names being also applied to ophiuroids, which are correctly referred to as brittle stars or basket stars. Starfish ...

named Patrick Star, was voiced by

Bill Fagerbakke William Fagerbakke ( ; born October 4, 1957) is an American actor. He voices Patrick Star in the animated series ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' and played Michael "Dauber" Dybinski on the sitcom ''Coach''. He also appeared in 12 episodes of the sitco ...

, while Rodger Bumpass played the voice of Squidward Tentacles, an arrogant and ill-tempered

octopus An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttle ...

. Other members of the cast were

Clancy Brown Clarence John "Clancy" Brown III (born January 5, 1959) is an American actor. Prolific in film and television since the 1980s, Brown is often cast in villainous and authoritative roles. Brown's film roles include Viking Lofgren in ''Bad Boys'' ...

Mr. Krabs Eugene Harold Krabs, better known as simply Mr. Krabs, is a fictional character in the American animated television series ''SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' (or simply ''SpongeBob'') is an American animated comedy tel ...

, a miserly crab obsessed with money who is SpongeBob's boss at the Krusty Krab; Mr. Lawrence as

Plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) that are unable to propel themselves against a Ocean current, current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankt ...

, a small green

copepod Copepods (; meaning "oar-feet") are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (inhabiting sea waters), some are benthos, benthic (living on the ocean floor) ...

and Mr. Krabs' business rival;

Jill Talley Jill Talley (born December 19, 1962) is an American actress and comedian. She is a main cast member on the animated series ''SpongeBob SquarePants'', in which she voices Karen Plankton. Her other voice roles include Sarah Dubois on Adult Swim's ...

Karen Karen may refer to: * Karen (name), a given name and surname * Karen (slang), a term and meme for a demanding woman displaying certain behaviors People * Karen people, an ethnic group in Myanmar and Thailand ** Karen languages or Karenic l ...

, Plankton's sentient computer sidekick; Carolyn Lawrence as Sandy Cheeks, a squirrel from

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

;

Mary Jo Catlett Mary Jo Catlett (born September 2, 1938) is an American actress. She is a main cast member on the animated series ''SpongeBob SquarePants'', providing the voice of Mrs. Puff. She is also known for originating the role of Ernestina in the 1964 Bro ...

Mrs. Puff Mrs. Puff is a fictional character in the Nickelodeon animated series, animated television series ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' and List of SpongeBob SquarePants films, all three films based on the franchise. Voiced by Mary Jo Catlett, Mrs. Puff debu ...

, SpongeBob's boating school teacher; and Lori Alan as

Pearl A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is composed of calcium carb ...

, a teenage whale who is Mr. Krabs' daughter. In addition to the regular cast members, episodes feature guest voices from many ranges of professions, including actors, musicians, and artists. In the episode "The Original Fry Cook", American comedian and actor

Patton Oswalt Patton Peter Oswalt (born January 27, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and writer. He is known as Spence Olchin in the sitcom ''The King of Queens'' (1998–2007) and for narrating the sitcom '' The Goldbergs'' (2013–present) as ...

guest starred as the voice of Jim, a fry cook who had worked at the Krusty Krab before SpongeBob was hired. Oswalt reflected on his

voice-over Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non-Diegetic#Film sound and music, diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, th ...

work for the episode, saying "The best part was that I sat next to Clancy Brown in the studio. I'm a big ''

Highlander Highlander may refer to: Regional cultures * Gorals (lit. ''Highlanders''), a culture in southern Poland and northern Slovakia * Hill people, who live in hills and mountains * Merina people, an ethnic group from the central plateau of Madagascar ...

'' fan, so to see him do Mr. Krabs was really fun." In the episode "Night Light", Ernest Borgnine and Tim Conway returned to reprise their roles as Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy, respectively. Bob Joles replaced John Rhys Davies as the voice of Man Ray, as they both previously starred in ''

The Jungle Book 2 ''The Jungle Book 2'' is a 2003 animated adventure film produced by the Australian office at DisneyToon Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution. The theatrical version of the film was released in France on Febr ...

'' as the respective voices of Ranjan's father and Bagheera. It was also guest starred by

Mark Hamill Mark Richard Hamill (; born September 25, 1951) is an American actor and writer. He is known for his role as Luke Skywalker in the ''Star Wars'' film series, beginning with the original 1977 film and subsequently winning three Saturn Awards f ...

as the voice of the Moth. Brian Doyle-Murray reprised his role as the Flying Dutchman for "Money Talks". American

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

and book critic Gene Shalit made a vocal cameo in "The Krusty Sponge" as his " ish-ikeness", Gene Scallop. In the special episode and television film ''

SpongeBob's Atlantis SquarePantis ''SpongeBob's Atlantis SquarePantis'' is the 92nd episode of the American animated television series ''SpongeBob SquarePants'', and a 2007 made-for-television musical comedy film directed by Andrew Overtoom. It first aired on Nickelodeon in the ...

'', English musician and actor

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

guest starred as Lord Royal Highness (LRH). Bowie accepted the role when he was persuaded by his 6-year-old daughter, Alexandria Zahra, who is a fan of the show. Bowie wrote in his blog that he " shit the Holy Grail of animation gigs. We, the family, are thrilled. Nothing else need happen this year, well, this week anyway." In "BlackJack", Marion Ross returned to reprise her role as the voice of Grandma SquarePants. The episode was also guest starred by John DiMaggio as BlackJack SquarePants, SpongeBob's cousin. In "The Inmates of Summer",

R. Lee Ermey Ronald Lee Ermey (March 24, 1944 – April 15, 2018) was an American actor and U.S. Marine drill instructor. He achieved fame for his role as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in the 1987 film '' Full Metal Jacket'', which earned him a Golden Glob ...

appeared as the Prison Warden. In the entry "20,000 Patties Under the Sea", American musician and

Kiss A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...

vocalist

Gene Simmons Gene Simmons (born Chaim Witz; he, חיים ויץ, ; born August 25, 1949) is an Israeli-American musician. Also known by his stage persona The Demon, he is the bassist and co-lead singer of Kiss, the hard rock band he co-founded with Paul ...

guest starred as the Sea Monster, while his wife, Shannon Tweed, voiced the Mother. Ray Liotta guest starred in the episode " WhoBob WhatPants?" as Trevor, the leader of New Kelp City's Bubble Poppin Boys gang, and the main villain in the episode. In "Banned in Bikini Bottom", Andrea Martin voiced the character of Ms. Gristlepuss.

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

actor and director

Christopher Guest Christopher Haden-Guest, 5th Baron Haden-Guest (born February 5, 1948) is an American-British screenwriter, composer, musician, director, actor, and comedian. Guest is most widely known in Hollywood for having written, directed, and starred in ...

voiced Stanley S. SquarePants, SpongeBob's cousin, in the episode of the same name.

Reception

In 2008, Tom Kenny was nominated at the

for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production for his role as SpongeBob SquarePants in the episode "Spy Buddies". At the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards, the episode "The Inmates of Summer"/"The Two Faces of Squidward" was nominated for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour), but lost to ''

'' episode "

". At the

, the show won the International category. At the 2008 Golden Reel Awards, the episode "SpongeHenge" won the Best Sound Editing in Television: Animated category. The show itself received several recognition, including the

for Favorite Cartoon in 2009 and 2010. The series was nominated for the award in 2008, but lost to '' Avatar: The Last Airbender''. The series also won the same category at the Philippines Kids' Choice Awards and Indonesia Kids' Choice Awards, held in 2008 and 2009, respectively. At the

2009 ASTRA Awards The 7th Annual ASTRA Awards were presented on Monday, 20 April 2009 at The Entertainment Quarter in Sydney. Winners *Channels of the Year: Nickelodeon *Most Outstanding Performance by an Actor – Male: Wayne Hope *Most Outstanding Performance b ...

, the show was nominated for the Favourite International Program category. Furthermore, the show won the Choice TV Animated Show category at the 2009

Teen Choice Awards The Teen Choice Awards is an annual awards show that airs on the Fox television network. The awards honor the year's biggest achievements in music, film, sports, television, fashion, social media, and more, voted by viewers living in the United S ...

. The season received largely positive reviews from media critics and fans. In his review for DVD Talk, Paul Mavis "highly recommended" the Volume 1 season set, saying "

his His or HIS may refer to: Computing * Hightech Information System, a Hong Kong graphics card company * Honeywell Information Systems * Hybrid intelligent system * Microsoft Host Integration Server Education * Hangzhou International School, in ...

is another winner from Nickelodeon DVD, and a must-have for parents who can't get enough of the braying little yellow sponge. Oh yeah; the kids will probably like it, too." Mavis also praised the voice actors who contributed on the show, and wrote "As funny as the stories are, and in this collection, there are some real gems, I can't stress enough the importance of those voice talents in conveying the unhinged, manic quality that is so integral to the success of ''SpongeBob SquarePants''. In a separate review for the Volume 2 DVD, Mavis only "recommended" the set and wrote "SpongeBob may, and I repeat, 'may,' be starting to level off." He particularly criticized the later entries as "indication of that potential trend." Roy Hrab of

DVD Verdict DVD Verdict was a judicial-themed website for DVD reviews. The site was founded in 1999. The editor-in-chief was Michael Stailey, who owned the website between 2004 and 2016, and the site employed a large editorial staff of critics, whose reviews ...

was positive on the season, but wrote "I do not think that adults will be as entertained as in previous seasons. The comedy is more targeted at the kids than in the past." In particular, Hrab cited the episode "Rise and Shine" as "tiresome (for adults, anyway; kids will enjoy it)." In conclusion, he said "there's nothing new here and adults will be disappointed, but the latest installment of ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' delivers a lot of silly and good-natured fun for the kids and there's nothing wrong with that." In the Volume 2 review also for the DVD Verdict, Dennis Prince said "

he season He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

is not the series' best work but, nevertheless, is an improvement". He added " tdelivers more of what SpongeBob fans crave."

Episodes

The episodes are ordered below according to Nickelodeon's packaging order, and not their original production or broadcast order.

DVD release

The first 20 segment episodes of the fifth season were released on DVD by Paramount Home Entertainment in the United States and Canada on September 4, 2007. The "Volume 1" DVD release features bonus material including "Bubble Burst Trivia" for "Friend or Foe" and "The Krusty Sponge". The remaining 21 segment episodes of the season were also released under the title "Volume 2" in the United States and Canada on November 18, 2008. In Region 2 and 4, the DVD release for the season was a complete set. On November 13, 2012, ''The Complete Fifth Season'' DVD was released in Region 1, three years after the season had completed broadcast on television.

Notes

References

External links

Season 5
at

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

Season 5
at

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:SpongeBob SquarePants (Season 5) 2007 American television seasons 2008 American television seasons 2009 American television seasons SpongeBob SquarePants seasons