A Dedication to Dead SpongeBob Guests

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Recently, musician David Bowie passed away. I knew he once made a guest appearance on SpongeBob SquarePants, so I was inspired to draw a picture paying tribute to guest stars and such on SpongeBob that have passed away.

We first see the porous manchild himself attending the grave of the singer Tiny Tim, born Herbert Khaury. Born in April 12, 1932 in Manhattan, New York City, he was famous for covering a lot of songs that were popular in the 1930's, and his cover of Livin' in the Sunlight, Lovin' in the Moonlight is mainly remembered for its use in SpongeBob SquarePants' pilot episode Help Wanted.

Tiny Tim died of a heart attack while just beginning to perform at a ukulele festival in Montague, Massachusetts on the date of November 30, 1996. Interestingly enough, Help Wanted didn't air until May 1, 1999, long after Tiny Tim died. Still, it's disappointing that Tiny Tim never lived to see his cover of an oldie made popular among a new generation.

We also see Master Udon from "Karate Island attending the grave of his voice actor Pat Morita, born Noriyuki Morita in Isleton, California on June 28, 1932. His death stands out because he actually died before his guest episode aired. Now you kiddies know what the photo at the end of that episode was for! Anyway, Pat Morita died of kidney failure in Las Vegas, Nevada on the 24th of November in 2005.

Next, we see the Flying Dutchman (his voice actor Brian Doyle-Murray is still alive at the age of 70 as of this submission) attend the grave of Davy Jones of The Monkees, who was born December 30, 1945 in Openshaw, Manchester, Lancashire, Englad.

As some of you fellow longtime viewers of SpongeBob might recall, it was a running gag to use Davy Jones' Locker as a stand-in for Hell. The post-movie episode "SpongeBob SquarePants vs. The Big One", in particular, had a visual gag where the Flying Dutchman ended up at Davy Jones' Locker, where the Monkees Davy Jones appeared in live-action, tossing dirty socks at the nautical ghost and taunting him while Daydream Believer played in the background. It was a hilarious gag at the time, but ever since Davy Jones died of coronary artery disease in Stuart, Florida on the date of February 29, 2012, the joke has unintentionally become darker, especially since the Davy Jones the characters were really referring to was basically the nautical Grim Reaper.

Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy are at the grave of Ernest Borgnine, born Ernes Effron Borgnino in Hamden, Connecticut on the 24th of January in 1917. Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy were among my favorite recurring characters on the show. I especially liked Mermaid Man getting all riled up every time someone said "evil". Ernest Borgnine passed away on July 8, 2012 in Los Angeles, California because of kidney failure. As a result, there have been no further appearances by Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy to this day.

As of this submission, Barnacle Boy's actor Tim Conway still lives at the age of 82, but unfortunately, death is unpredictable in nature, so there's a chance he doesn't have much time left. When he does pass away, he will be missed, for Barnacle Boy always was a great straight man to Mermaid Man.

Off in the distance, we see the one-shot character Lord Reginald from the episode "Chimps Ahoy". Lord Reginald was played by the late British actor Rik Mayall, who was born on March 7, 1958 in Harlow, Essex, England. Mayall died in Barnes, London on June 9, 2014. The cause of his death is unknown, but his wife believes he was a victim of cardiac arrest.

Last, but not least, we have the grave of the most recent deceased SpongeBob guest, David Bowie, visited by Lord Royal Highness, who appeared in the special Atlantis Squarepantis. At the risk of getting beaten within an inch of my life, I'd like to say that I actually liked that episode, though I was a bit irked by LRH promising SpongeBob and the gang that they're free to visit again only to make their return impossible behind their backs.

David Bowie was born David Robert Jones in Brixton, London on the date of January 8, 1947. He died in Manhattan, New York on January 10, 2016 because of liver cancer.

On a lighter note, while SpongeBob SquarePants has had its ups and downs ever since creator Stephen Hillenburg left, Mr. Hillenburg has been reported to return to the show starting with the 10th season, and the 9th season is generally agreed to be a considerable improvement over the previous movie seasons.

Indeed, Season 9 has had a good deal of better episodes. With the exceptions of Squid Baby and Little Yellow Book, pretty much every episode of Season 9 has left me in stitches. I especially like the episode "The Sewers of Bikini Bottom" because of the one-shot character Charlton Hawkfish (it helps that he was voiced by Jeff Bennett). It was also funny when Squidward joined SpongeBob in flushing stuff down the toilet for fun and when he made the mistake of grossing the customers out by saying that their food would be ready once he got the cook out of the toilet.

All these guests will be sorely missed, but I look forward to how SpongeBob will continue to redeem itself.

SpongeBob SquarePants (c) Nickelodeon