Encyclopedia SpongeBobia

SpongeBob SquarePants - "Dunces and Dragons" (episode 66, season 4)

SpongeBob SquarePants - "Dunces and Dragons" (episode 66, season 4)

Today marks 20 years since the premiere of the #SpongeBob special "Dunces and Dragons."

This was the second most-viewed premiere in the show's history and the 6th most-viewed Nickelodeon premiere of all-time, with a total of 8.56 million viewers.

#SpongeBobSquarePants was the most-streamed kids' TV series on Amazon Prime Video in the U.S., as of September 2025.

It is also in the top 10 of kids' TV series overall by streams across Disney+, Netflix, Prime Video, and Hulu (the 4 most popular streaming services in the U.S.)

The #SpongeBob Movie: #SearchForSquarePants is now available to stream on Paramount+ U.S.

The #SpongeBob Movie: #SearchForSquarePants is set to be added to Paramount+ tomorrow.

#SpongeBobSquarePants was the 5th most-streamed series in the U.S. in 2025, with 34.3 billion total minutes of watch time.

The #SpongeBob Movie: #SearchForSquarePants has been nominated for Best Animated Film at the 53rd Saturn Awards.

#SpongeBob season 15 is now available on Paramount+ U.S.

The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants - Cinesite At Cinesite, we have several different dry hire spaces and rooms available for short/medium-term rental

The studio, having previously worked on Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021) and Smurfs (2025), have published their full case study on Search for SquarePants on their website:

A video showcasing Cinesite's Canadian team's work on The #SpongeBob Movie: #SearchForSquarePants:

The #SpongeBob Movie: #SearchForSquarePants has been nominated for Outstanding Sound Mixing in the "Motion Pictures - Animated" category at the 62nd Cinema Audio Society Awards.

A behind-the-scenes clip of Mark Hamill as the Flying Dutchman in The #SpongeBob Movie: #SearchForSquarePants, from @ign.com.

Exclusive Clip: 'The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants' Sails to Digital Release | Animation Magazine Key creative staff from 'The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants' discuss the toon icon's 3D CG makeover for the big screen.

The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants makes its debut on digital platforms (Amazon Prime Video and iTunes) tomorrow.

New feature clip from @animag.bsky.social, with the creative crew of The #SpongeBob Movie: #SearchForSquarePants discussing the design choices of the movie's CG animation:

For 18 months, I had to keep the secret that I didn't just voice The Flying Dutchman in the SpongeBob movie, but I also played him in live-action sequences. The hours it took flew by thanks to superb makeup artists Gage Munster & Marcel Banks who were both so kind AND hilarious. 🤣 Thanks fellas! 🙏

The #SpongeBob Movie: #SearchForSquarePants has been nominated for "Best Animated Feature Film" at the 30th Art Directors Guild Awards.

The #SpongeBob Movie: #SearchForSquarePants has been nominated for "Best Character Design - Feature" at the 53rd Annie Awards.

Reel FX Talks ‘The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants’ The leading animation studio translated the iconic property’s 2D origins into a fully realized 3DCG feature, exploring character deformation, lightweight rigs, and Houdini-driven workflows, balancing ...

Full interview from @animationworld.bsky.social:

"I feel very proud of the whole team that we were able to do that."

Schillaci: "We created this movie for the fans and original creators, but we are also part of the movie, too. So many different versions of SpongeBob have been done, but I think this film encapsulates the old and the new and gives people something fresh."

"And yeah, it had me sweating for a little bit, but it ended up working out really well."

...need to be overridden per shot with CFX (character effects) sims and mass moving around and repositioning was the most advanced case that I had worked on. That was a challenge, and I'm glad that we overcame it."

"It's lots of heavy assets in a dense and large environment. Having a system to take all the different models and efficiently get them into lighting and rendering is nothing new. But the number of animated pieces in the different set parts of the ship, all of which...

Fortner: "One of my biggest concerns was just this massive ship that has all these internal rooms and high detail, and a lot of characters have to fit on to the boat as well. Plus, this ship moves extremely quickly through a vast environment."

"So, it is dark – with goo rivers and skulls – but also very vibrant. We used tiki bar lighting as inspiration because those places usually have a lot of fun colors. But they also have moody lighting."

...to do things like move windows because sometimes Derek (Drymon) just wanted it to be clean with just a character and background. With the lighting in the underworld, we wanted to go darker, more mysterious, but we also didn't want to lose too much detail."

...where it's just a character and a metal wall background or horizontal lines. In order to get a good read on the character and have those cameras that we're used to from 2D SpongeBob, we had to have these sets that were built with two different scales and that were able to be rigged...

"The camera work in the original 2D show and how composition worked was so different than what is acceptable when you’re working with 3D environments. In 2D, there's a lot of cheated perspectives that are unique to SpongeBob...