Super Bowl LIII Halftime Show short

"Super Bowl LIII Halftime Show short" is a SpongeBob SquarePants Super Bowl short. In this short, Squidward introduces Super Bowl LIII's halftime show right before the song "Sicko Mode" plays.

Characters

• Squidward Tentacles
• Mr. Krabs
• Mrs. Puff
• SpongeBob SquarePants
• Patrick Star
• Bikini Bottomites ^(cameo)

Synopsis

Squidward introduces a musical guest, and Mr. Krabs, Mrs. Puff, Patrick, and SpongeBob (while he is making his "eager face") are introduced in a recreation of the scene from "Band Geeks." Then an unchanged clip from the episode plays where fish play some trumpet fanfare.

Production

Art

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Development

After Stephen Hillenburg passed away in 2018, fans created a petition to have Sweet Victory play at Super Bowl LIII to honor his legacy.^[1] Soon after the petition reached one million signatures, the Mercedes Benz Stadium tweeted a gif of SpongeBob from "Band Geeks," hinting that the show would be featured at the Super Bowl.^[2] Furthermore, SpongeBob was spotted during rehearsals for the half-time show.^[3] Rodger Bumpass recorded some exclusive dialogue for this short, and archive audio of Tom Kenny was used.

The short was created at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio by Tim Prendergast and Emily Merl, two motion graphics designers who have worked on various shorts for the SpongeBob social media accounts. Prendergast animated the characters, and Merl handled cleanup and coloring.^[4] Nico Colaleo, a former Nickelodeon employee, edited the animatic and performed temporary vocals for Squidward before Rodger Bumpass recorded his lines.^[5]

According to Colaleo, the SpongeBob crew did not know which song would play after the animation.^[5] The animators were "in the mindset" that Sweet Victory would play, but Colaleo stated that "it was the NFL's decision, and the end result was them 'meeting us halfway' on the idea all the fans came up with online."^[5]

Reception

While many outlets noted the significance of SpongeBob SquarePants being featured,^[6][7] many fans were disappointed that Sweet Victory was not actually performed during the show, causing major backlash on sites like Twitter.^[8]

Trivia

General

• This is the first SpongeBob short to use Flash animation. The second short to use Flash animation was the 2019 Kids' Choice Awards short.
• The short was used to introduce Travis Scott who was performing his song "Sicko Mode."
• The short aired on CBS, a sister property to Nickelodeon as both are owned by National Amusements.
  • The season 8 episode "It's a SpongeBob Christmas!" also aired on CBS on November 23, 2012.^[9]

Videos

References