SpongeBob SquarePants. He's a beloved TV cartoon character. The eponymous show he appears on is about a sponge living in a pineapple under the sea. Sounds like a delightful romp in a whimsical place called Bikini Bottom.

But let's take a closer look.

We've all seen documentaries about aquatic sea life. Whales, sharks, tuna, dolphins, etc. Pretty normal stuff. But did you ever see one that included a talking sponge? Sea sponges are indeed alive but they lack the biological and physical ability to speak. Even if they could speak, would we understand them? Even more, if we could understand them, would we care what they had to say?

We might...if they were trying to warn us of the threat of nuclear war.

And it's not just a talking sponge we're talking about. There's a talking starfish, a squirrel in a diving suit, an underwater restaurant... and an ungodly behemoth who has destroyed Tokyo many times. It's a lot to unpack.

So how did it happen?

Over the years, countless theories about the genesis of Bikini Bottom have been floated into the public discussions about the show. One bold theory is gaining ground more and more. Many now think that this magical underwater town was the result of a nuclear apocalypse. 

I can't disagree.

It may seem far-fetched, but SpongeBob is likely the product of nuclear radiation from all the nuclear testing after World War II.

That's my theory. 

In the years following the end of the war, the U.S. conducted many underwater tests at a place called Bikini Atoll.  Do we think that it's just a coincidence that a talking, anthropomorphic sponge lives at a place called Bikini Bottom?

Of course we don't.

It's pretty obvious that Bikini Bottom is directly beneath the waves of the waters surrounding Bikini Atoll. The mutations caused by the radiation are beyond our understanding. I mean, a talking sponge? A talking starfish? An underwater restaurant? A pineapple domicile? No one knows how this happened. These same nuclear blasts also created another legendary mutant who has wreaked havoc on our screens for decades. Not just in Tokyo. This other gigantic radiated terror doesn't have a cute name like Patrick or Sandy. His name still strikes bone-chilling horror into the hearts of millions. 

Godzilla.
Yep. That Godzilla. 

SpongeBob and Godzilla. These unlikely cousins are forever linked together by the splitting of the atom. Oppenheimer could not have known what the end results would be from his creation. If he had, he might have slightly altered his legendary quote. It might have read something like: "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds...and he who lives in a pineapple under the sea..."
It didn't even rhyme.