Stephen Hillenburg: 1961-2018

I have another review on the way but I felt like this was necessary to talk about.

https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/spongebob-squarepants-creator-dead-dies-stephen-hillenburg-1203037362/

It's a shame that this is the second legend in the entertainment industry that we have had to write this kind of article about in the last month. Stephen Hillenburg, well-known for being the creator of SpongeBob SquarePants, succumbed to his ALS and passed away on Monday at the age of 57.

I found out that Hillenburg was diagnosed with ALS several months ago, so I knew he was living on borrowed time. However, it was important to Hillenburg that he continue working on SpongeBob for as long as he physically could. Along with being the creator of the long-running animated series, Hillenburg was the showrunner for the first three seasons, and worked on The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004) as the director, a co-writer and a producer. He also came up with the story for the movie. Hillenburg left SpongeBob after the first film and began to serve as more of an advisor. He returned for the second movie Sponge Out of Water (2015) as the story writer and an executive producer. When the series returned from hiatus that summer, Hillenburg was back as well with more creative input and executive producer status.

SpongeBob SquarePants was one of my favorite shows as a kid, and the first three seasons have aged like fine wine. In its prime, SpongeBob was a masterclass in kids television, as it told stories and featured characters that children gravitated to without alienating older viewers, and its humor was some of the best that any children's show has ever had. If it wasn't for shows like SpongeBob, I don't know who I would be or what I would be doing. Would I even be writing for this blog? Hard to say, but people like Stephen Hillenburg made it possible for me to be here.

At the end of the day, Hillenburg left behind a legacy that will never be forgotten. SpongeBob is now one of the most world's most recognizable and profitable cartoon characters, and lines from the show have made their way into everyday conversation. Hillenburg was bold enough to come up with the idea of a talking sea sponge having adventures underwater and turn it into a global phenomenon. Most people never get that opportunity. So rest in peace to a man that was creative, passionate, and by all accounts, an overall humble and principled individual.