This Friday The 13th at 7pm, Nickelodeon presents a new one-hour SpongeBob SquarePants special, The Tidal Zone. It’s five surreal, bizarre, unpredictable and entertaining stories featuring beloved characters from SpongeBob SquarePants, The Patrick Star Show and Kamp Koral. Executive Producers and Bikini Bottom aficionados Vincent Waller and Marc Ceccarelli discuss the new special, the success of the three shows, the 2025 SpongeBob big screen movie and much more! (This Animation Scoop Q&A was edited for length and clarity.)

Jackson Murphy: Vincent, before we get into this special, since we last spoke “Kamp Koral” and “The Patrick Star Show” have become such phenomenons and huge hits in the SpongeBob universe. How have you seen the impact of these two spinoff shows firsthand?

Vincent Waller: (laughs) We’re just in the bunker working! We just hope everybody enjoys them.

Marc Ceccarelli: When they tell us that we’re doing so well… every once in a while we hear from the network how well we’re doing, we’re just pleased that people are watching the stuff that we’re immersed in.

VW: It’s not bad being No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3. (laughs)

MC: But it does kind of eat up your whole life.

VW: We’ve got about 14 hours a day that is just these things. (laughs)

JM: Wow. All that hard work is paying off. Huge shows — and big on social media. “The Tidal Zone” is “The Twilight Zone” meets “Treehouse of Horror”, with some sci-fi flair. Marc, tell me about the origins of doing “The Tidal Zone”.

MC: We did an episode years ago where we introduced the concept of “The Tidal Zone”, but it was sort of a button at the end of an episode, just kind of a joke or a gag. We love the fact that it gave us an excuse… the show’s already weird, so we hit a ceiling of weird. “The Tidal Zone” actually gave us a saw to cut a little hole in that ceiling of weird.

VW: There’s a lot of stuff up here!

MC: We could be even weirder! We love any sort of format concept like that, giving us an opportunity… as a hook in the writers’ room is so helpful.

VW: We grew-up loving anthology shows… things that change / something new. It’s really great to be able to dip our toes into that pool.

JM: There are definitely some bizarre but fun moments in this “Tidal Zone” special. Vincent, the first story involves Patrick and his family, who get really, really tiny. What have you enjoyed the most about exploring Patrick’s family through this and “The Patrick Star Show” over these past couple years?

VW: Patrick’s show is one with even less rules. It’s all in Patrick’s mind. Even the idea that he has a television show started with the fact that his room is just a television set. And his sister being there to help him run the show.

JM: And Marc, there’s a moment in that episode where a SpongeBob cake hits GrandPat in the head. For one of my birthdays years and years ago, I had the mold. So what is the craziest / wackiest SpongeBob swag item or product you’ve ever seen or owned?

MC: I have a SpongeBob spatula. I have a little bluetooth speaker that follows me everywhere.

VW: Mine followed me everywhere until someone stole it, but it was a relative, so I couldn’t do anything about it. I’ve got a couple of SpongeBob cups. That’s about it.

MC: My favorite SpongeBob stuff I’ve accumulated over the years is: our art director Peter Bennett does these amazing, off-model, fun, grotesque paintings of the characters. Every year, at least back when we were still in the studio, there would be an art show where different artists would put up their work, and he would always put up a bunch. And there would always be a frenzy of who would get to buy those. I have four or five of those around my house.

VW: The most memorabilia stuff I’ve had that I’ve really enjoyed is the crew stuff. One year there was a crew shirt that had a little SpongeBob in yellow and said “SpongeBob” on the back, and I wore that thing until it fell apart. They gave us a crew bag years ago that has a SpongeBob embroidered on it, and I’m still carrying that and sewing it together to keep it together because it’s slowly falling apart. It’s almost 15 years old.

JM: That’s awesome. Vincent, in “Welcome to Binary Bottom”, everything is transformed. How was it looking at all these staples — everything that’s understood in Bikini Bottom — and completely turning it upside down?

VW: Well, it was a big lift. (laughs) We [re-drew] every character in every scene and every background — turning it into a computer world. It was a huge lift but it was a lot of fun.

JM: You notice every little detail. It’s such a visual treat. And Marc, in the “Kamp Koral” episode, there’s some brain switching going on. So if you had the opportunity to switch brains with a “SpongeBob” character, who would it be and why?

MC: Oh my goodness. I wouldn’t mind getting inside Patrick’s head just to see what it looks like. It’s so weird. We say it’s empty, but I think it’s more of like a blank slate that’s ready for any crazy idea to zip past. I wouldn’t want to live there, but I wouldn’t mind getting in there and peering out.

VW: And he definitely has pockets of savant in there. Every once in a while he says something really smart.

JM: Yes! Patrick is a subtle genius. Even my generation, growing up with “SpongeBob” and all the video clips and memes circulating around again, realizes just how smart Patrick is. There’s an entertaining Mr. Krabs episode in this. Vincent, what does doing a special like this say about the “SpongeBob” brand in 2023 vs. the “SpongeBob” brand in 1999?

VW: In 1999, SpongeBob was focused on SpongeBob. If we even had 15 seconds without SpongeBob on screen, someone would go, “Ummm…. Can we get some more SpongeBob right here because we’re a little light on SpongeBob.” But over the 20 years, Steve [Hillenburg] designed these characters so well that they’ve all grown places in people’s hearts. There are Squidward freaks. There are Patrick freaks. There are Sandy freaks. There are even Squilliam freaks. I don’t understand them, but I don’t blame them for liking him. I just don’t know what they like.

JM: Fancy living! That sort of vibe! (laughs) This special airs this Friday The 13th. Marc, are you superstitious?

VW: He walks around with black cats in his pockets all the time. (laughs)

MC: Yeah, I constantly tempt fate. (laughs)

JM: Before we wrap up, there is a new “SpongeBob” movie coming in May of 2025. Are you two underway on it? Is there anything you can tell me about what’s coming in May 2025?

VW: We’re working on it!

MC: It’s another thing that’s on our giant, overflowing plate of content. It’s gonna be big and great and will probably go places that we haven’t seen before. That’s what we love to do — try and find new places to push these characters.

VW: Expand the scope.

MC: Expect to go some place that you haven’t seen before in “SpongeBob”. I can’t say what it is though!