Sandy Cheeks is a fictional character in the American animated comedy television series SpongeBob SquarePants and the Nickelodeon franchise of the same name. She is voiced by Carolyn Lawrence and first appeared in the episode "Tea at the Treedome" that premiered on May 1, 1999. She was created and designed by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg who is also the creator of the series. Sandy is portrayed as an intelligent anthropomorphic squirrel who wears a diving suit and lives underwater.
Thomas James Kenny is an American actor and comedian. Since 1999, he has voiced the titular character in SpongeBob SquarePants and associated media. Kenny has voiced many other characters, including Heffer Wolfe in Rocko's Modern Life, the Ice King in Adventure Time and its spinoff Fionna and Cake, the Narrator and Mayor in The Powerpuff Girls, Carl Chryniszzswics in Johnny Bravo, Dog in CatDog, Hank and Jeremy in Talking Tom and Friends, The Penguin in various animated media based on DC Comics, and Spyro from the Spyro video game series. His live action work includes the comedy variety shows The Edge and Mr. Show. Kenny has won two Daytime Emmy Awards and two Annie Awards for his voice work as SpongeBob SquarePants and the Ice King. He often collaborates with his wife and fellow voice artist Jill Talley, who plays Karen on SpongeBob SquarePants.
Rocko's Modern Life is an American animated television series created by Joe Murray for Nickelodeon. The series centers on the surreal life of an anthropomorphic Australian immigrant wallaby named Rocko and his friends: the eccentric steer Heffer Wolfe, the neurotic turtle Filburt, and Rocko's faithful dog Spunky. It is set in the fictional town of O-Town. Throughout its run to present day, this show was infamously laden for its adult humor, including double entendre, innuendo, and satirical social commentary, similar to The Ren & Stimpy Show. The series has gained a cult following.
Nicktoons is a collective name used by Nickelodeon for their original animated series. All Nicktoons are produced partly at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio and list Nickelodeon's parent company in their copyright bylines.
Douglas Lawrence Osowski, known professionally as Mr. Lawrence, is an American actor, animator and writer. He is best known for his work as a writer and voice actor for the Nicktoons Rocko's Modern Life and SpongeBob SquarePants. On SpongeBob, he has provided the voice of Plankton and various recurring characters since 1999.
Joseph David Murray is an American animator, cartoonist, illustrator, writer, producer, and director. He is best known as the creator of Nickelodeon's Rocko's Modern Life, Cartoon Network's Camp Lazlo, and PBS Kids' Let's Go Luna!. Murray is the winner of two Primetime Emmy Awards for Camp Lazlo and the TV film Camp Lazlo: Where's Lazlo?.
Linda Wallem is an American actress, writer, and producer.
Camp Lazlo is an American animated television series created by Joe Murray for Cartoon Network. The series follows Lazlo, an anthropomorphic spider monkey who goes to a camp called "Camp Kidney", a Boy Scout–like summer camp in the Pimpleback Mountains. Lazlo resides in the "Jelly Bean" cabin with his fellow Bean Scouts; Raj, an Indian elephant, and Clam, a pygmy rhinoceros. Lazlo is often at odds with his pessimistic camp leader, Scoutmaster Lumpus, but usually gets along well with the second-in-command, Slinkman, and other campers. Camp Kidney sits just across the lake from Acorn Flats, which is home to the campsite of the all-female Squirrel Scouts. Camp Lazlo was one of the first Cartoon Network Studios series produced in a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9, despite originally being broadcast in the full screen aspect ratio of 4:3.
Rocko Rama is the main protagonist of the animated television series Rocko's Modern Life, the Netflix special Rocko's Modern Life: Static Cling, and the comic book series of the same name. Carlos Alazraqui provided the voice of the anthropomorphic wallaby.
Heffer Steer-Wolfe is a fictional character on the animated television series Rocko's Modern Life and the comic book series of the same name. Tom Kenny provided the voice of the anthropomorphic steer. Heffer is best friends with the title character, Rocko.
Martin Olson is an American comedy writer, television producer, author and composer. He is known for his unusual subject matter, and is an original member of the Boston Comedy Scene. He is the father of actress Olivia Olson.
Filburt Shellbach is a main and supporting character of the cartoon Rocko's Modern Life and the comic book series of the same name. He is an anthropomorphic turtle who is often pessimistic. In the Australian website of the television show, his name is sometimes spelled as Filbert and sometimes as Filburt. In the comic book, his name is spelled Filbert. On the show's creator Joe Murray's website and in the episodes "Born to Spawn" and "Uniform Behavior", his name is spelled as Filburt. In the episodes "Born to Spawn" and "Fortune Cookie", he is referred to as Mr. Filburt Turtle. However, in the episode "High Five of Doom" Rocko and Heffer read in Filburt's diary that his full name is Filburt Shellbach, which was officially considered his real name. Mr. Lawrence provided Filburt's voice.
LGBT representation in children's television is representation of LGBT topics, themes, and people in television programming meant for children. LGBT representation in children's programming was often uncommon to non-existent for much of television's history up to the 2010s, but has significantly increased since then.
Nickelodeon Digital, often shortened to Nick Digital and originally known as Nickelodeon Creative Labs, is an American animation studio based in New York City which opened in 1994. It is a division of Nickelodeon Animation Studio. Nickelodeon Digital produces some of Nickelodeon's animated series and creates digital content and motion graphics for the Nickelodeon Group. The company's Burbank, California branch creates CGI and visual effects for Nickelodeon's animated series.
Trash-O-Madness is a 1992 animated short created by Joe Murray, who, prior to this point, had made several independent animated shorts, as well as a MTV ID, and it was the pilot episode for what became Nickelodeon's Nicktoon, Rocko's Modern Life. During the series' first season, a new version of the pilot, that was extended for the purposes of including it as a regular episode, was produced. The new version was paired up "The Good, the Bad and the Wallaby." In addition, that episode featured an extended end credit sequence to accommodate the names of production crew behind "Trash-O-Madness". On February 7, 2012, the original pilot version found its way onto Shout! Factory's season 2 DVD as a special feature. In Rocko's Modern Life: Spunky's Dangerous Day, the second level is named after this episode.
Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus is a 2019 American animated science fiction comedy film based on the animated television series Invader Zim, created by Jhonen Vasquez. Serving as a continuation of the series, which originally aired on Nickelodeon from 2001 to 2002 and Nicktoons in 2006, the film was directed by Hae Young Jung, Young Kyun Park, and Vasquez and written by Vasquez. In the film, Zim discovers his almighty leaders never had any intention of coming to Earth, and he loses confidence in himself for the first time in his life, which is the big break his human nemesis, Dib, has been waiting for.
Netflix has contributed substantially to LGBTQ representation in animation. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, and transgender characters have appeared in various animated series, and some animated films, on the streaming platform. GLAAD described Netflix as a company taking "impressive strides in viewership and impact," when it came to LGBTQ representation. Scholars have stated that LGBTQ characters on streaming services, such as Netflix, "made more displays of affection" than on broadcast networks.
