 Nickelodeon began celebrating the 10th anniversary of the series on January 18 , 2009 with a live cast reading of the episode " SpongeBob vs. The Big One " . The reading — a first for the series — was held at that year 's Sundance Film Festival . The episode , which would not premiere on TV until April 17 , featured Johnny Depp as a guest star . Other celebratory actions taken by the network included the launching of a new website for the series ( <unk> ) and the introduction of new merchandising . A " SpongeBob and water conservation @-@ themed element " was also added to Nickelodeon 's pro @-@ social campaign The Big Green Help . In an interview , Tom Kenny said , " What I 'm most proud of is that kids still really like [ SpongeBob SquarePants ] and care about it ... They eagerly await new episodes . People who were young children when it started 10 years ago are still watching it and digging it and think it 's funny . That 's the loving cup for me " . 
