The hit Nickelodeon Channel cartoon Spongebob Squarepants is about an innocent sponge-boy and his antics in Bikini Bottom, an underwater world where the Krabby Patties are plentiful and the jellyfish roam free.

Spongebob lives in a pineapple house with his pet snail, Gary, who oddly enough says "Meow." Spongebob's adventures are shared with his friend Patrick, a simple starfish who lives under a rock, his grouchy neighbor Squidward and Sandy Cheeks, a surfer-girl squirrel who gave up life on land for a diving-suit in Bikini Bottom. Spongebob works at The Krabby Patty, a burger joint run by penny-pinching Mr. Krabs.

Spongebob Squarepants was developed by Stephen Hillenburg, a former marine biologist who wanted to create an animated series about a nerdy optimist. The cartoon premiered in April of 1999 on Nickelodeon and went on the air full-time in July of the same year. Spongebob was recently listed in TV Guide's 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of all Time, given the respectable position of number nine, rated higher than well-known characters including Mickey Mouse, Scooby-Doo and Yogi Bear.

The little square sponge is also popping up all over the Internet, even gaining his own mock religious following (check out www.churchofspongebob.org)

This disc includes the following five Halloween episodes of Spongebob Squarepants, as well as five bonus episodes:

• Scaredy Pants
• Imitation Krabs
• Frankendoodle
• I was a Teenage Gary
• Squidward, the Unfriendly Ghost
• The Secret Box
• Band Geeks
• Welcome to the Chum Bucket
• My Pretty Seahorse
• Idiot Box
  

These episodes all follow the same basic storyline:
1. Spongebob is happy.
2. Something happens to Spongebob.
3. Spongebob's innocence causes this incident to escalate into chaos.
4. Some miracle occurs to solve the incident.
5. Spongebob is happy.

Despite the simplicity of Spongebob and his world, the show does a great job of constantly introducing entertaining and fresh challenges for Spongebob to overcome. There is a supporting cast of characters to call on for added interest including Plankton (voiced by Mr. Lawrence), a small fellow who owns the Krabby Patty competitor The Chum Bucket and is always trying to steal the secret recipe for Krabby Patties, and Mrs. Puff (voiced by Mary Jo Catlett), the widowed love interest of Mr. Krabs.

An additional level of humor is added to the show through the total lack of physics in Bikini Bottom. Kids who are watching the show barely notice, but adult watchers enjoy the ridiculousness of things such as fires burning, the beach at the water's edge, and Spongebob washing dishes in a sink full of water all occurring in this underwater land!

Spongebob Squarepants has found an audience in people of all ages with Nickelodeon estimating that 22 percent of its regular audience is 18 to 49, making Spongebob the Nickelodeon show with the largest adult audience. There is apparently a full-length, animated feature in the works for 2004, a 3D computer-animated ride film in development for North American Paramount theme parks and unless you haven't been to a store this year, you know about the quantity of merchandise available.