Nickelodeon Debuts First Full-Length Stop-Motion Special, It's A SpongeBob Christmas!, Dec. 9, At 7:30 p.m. (ET/PT)

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Nickelodeon celebrates the holidays with its first full-length stop-motion animated special, It's A SpongeBob Christmas!, premiering on Nickelodeon Sunday, Dec. 9, at 7:30 p.m. (ET/PT), following its CBS television premiere (11/23). It's A SpongeBob Christmas! was inspired by the classic Rankin/Bass specials (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus is Comin' to Town) and the popular SpongeBob song released in 2009, "Don't Be a Jerk (It's Christmas)," co-written by Tom Kenny (voice of SpongeBob) and Andy Paley. The half-hour special features John Goodman as Santa Claus.

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In It's A SpongeBob Christmas!, Plankton turns everybody in Bikini Bottom from nice to naughty by feeding them his special jerktonium-laced fruitcake all in an effort to get his Christmas wish--the Krabby Patty formula.  The Nickelodeon premiere will include bonus scenes featuring a stop-motion version of the character "Patchy," also voiced by Tom Kenny.

Work began on the It's A SpongeBob Christmas! special in October 2011 at Screen Novelties production studio, where the artists worked closely with Paul Tibbitt (Executive Producer), Steve Hillenburg (Creator) and Vincent Waller (Creative Director) to insure the two-dimensional cartoon characters were properly translated into three-dimensional puppets.  Six sets were going at one time where 60lbs of baking soda was used as snow, 42lbs of glitter added sparkle, 22lbs of wood chips created Sandy's tree house floor and 20 boxes of breakfast cereal covered the coral rocks.

Created by Nickelodeon Home Entertainment, and distributed by Paramount Home Media Distribution, SpongeBob SquarePants: It's a SpongeBob Christmas! DVD will be available on Nov. 6 for the suggested retail price of $14.99.  The DVD features exclusive content including behind-the-scenes making of the special and interviews with the cast and crew; a pre-color animatic and yule log.

SpongeBob SquarePants: It's a SpongeBob Christmas! iTunes Extras edition features over 30 minutes of exclusive behind the scenes footage, a sing along version of "Don't Be a Jerk (It's Christmas),"  a 360 degree SPIN-Tacular Character viewer plus more and is currently available for pre-order on iTunes. The special was released Oct. 30^th on iTunes, Xbox Video, Amazon Instant Video, PlayStation Network and Vudu.

Nickelodeon will also release the It's A SpongeBob Christmas! Album, available for digital download from online music retailers including Amazon and  iTunes.  Featuring 11 all new songs and the timeless Bikini Bottom classic, "Don't Be a Jerk (It's Christmas)," the album will be available Nov. 6 and retail for $9.99. 

Rounding out the holiday cheer, Nickelodeon will release the Don't Be a Jerk — It's Christmas ebook on Nov. 15, with a limited quantity of special edition hard copies available for sale exclusively on www.NickShop.com.  Additionally, a limited-edition SpongeBob stop-motion holiday-themed t-shirt will be available for purchase in 900 The Children's Place stores across the country Nov. 26 – Dec. 3. 

SpongeBob SquarePants is executive produced by creator Stephen Hillenburg, who previously worked as a writer, director and creative director on Nickelodeon's animated series Rocko's Modern Life.  Hillenburg graduated from the California Institute of the Arts with a master's degree in experimental animation and studied marine biology and art as an undergraduate. 

Paul Tibbitt served as a director and writer on SpongeBob SquarePants for its first three seasons and is currently executive producer.  He wrote some of the show's most memorable episodes such as "Ripped Pants" and "Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy."  Tibbitt was one of the co-writers and storyboard artists on The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.  SpongeBob SquarePants is a Nicktoons Production and is produced at the Nickelodeon Animation Studios in Burbank, Calif.

Nickelodeon, now in its 33rd year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The company includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, online, recreation, books, and feature films. Nickelodeon's U.S. television network is seen in more than 100 million households and has been the number-one-rated basic cable network for 17 consecutive years. For more information or artwork, visit www.nickpress.com. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIA.B).

SOURCE Nickelodeon