 Three nights before the official anniversary date , an hour @-@ long documentary of the series , Square Roots : The Story of SpongeBob SquarePants , premiered on VH1 . Critically acclaimed duo Patrick Creadon and Christine O 'Malley created the film as a followup to <unk> – a documentary on America 's financial situation . Creadon remarked , " After spending two years examining the financial health of the United States , Christine and I were ready to tackle something a little more upbeat . Telling the SpongeBob story feels like the perfect fit . " On Friday July 17 , Nickelodeon marked the official anniversary of the series , with a 50 @-@ hour television marathon titled " The Ultimate SpongeBob SpongeBash Weekend " . The marathon began with a new episode , " To SquarePants or Not to SquarePants " . Saturday saw a countdown of the top ten episodes as picked by fans , as well as an airing of The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie . The marathon finished on Sunday , which saw a countdown of episodes as picked by celebrities , as well as the premiere of ten new episodes . 
